Ideological repression

Ideological repression

Ideological repression refers to forceful activities against competing ideologies and philosophies.Alan Wolfe defines ideological repression as "the attempt to manipulate people's consciousness so they accept the ruling ideology, and distrust and refuse to be moved by competing ideologies".Among...

 in the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

targeted various worldviews and the corresponding categories of people.

Ideological repression in arts

Until late 1920s various forms of artistic expression were tolerated. However the increase of the scope of the Soviet political repression, marked by the first show trial

Show trial

The term show trial is a pejorative description of a type of highly public trial in which there is a strong connotation that the judicial authorities have already determined the guilt of the defendant. The actual trial has as its only goal to present the accusation and the verdict to the public as...

, the Shakhty Trial

Shakhty Trial

The Shakhty Trial of 1928 was the first important show trial in the Soviet Union since the trial of the Social Revolutionaries in 1922.It is often alleged that the charges against the defendants were false, confessions fabricated, and torture or the threat of torture employed...

, brought into the focus of Bolsheviks the question whether "bourgeois intelligentsia

Intelligentsia

The intelligentsia is a social class of people engaged in complex, mental and creative labor directed to the development and dissemination of culture, encompassing intellectuals and social groups close to them...

", including workers of culture and arts, can be loyal to the Soviet power and can be trusted. As an early step was an instruction to the Russian Association of Proletarian Writers

Russian Association of Proletarian Writers

The Russian Association of Proletarian Writers, also known under its transliterated abbreviation RAPP was an official creative union in the Soviet Union established in January 1925....

 "to scourge and chastice [literature]" in the name of the Party", i.e., effectively encouraging censorship

Censorship

thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...

 of literature

Literature

Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...

 on ideological grounds. Among the first targets were Yevgeny Zamiatin and Boris Pilnyak

Boris Pilnyak

Boris Pilnyak was a Russian author. Born Boris Andreyevich Vogau in Mozhaysk, he was a major supporter of anti-urbanism and a critic of mechanized society. These views often brought him into disfavor with Communist critics...

.

Soon the concept of Socialist Realism

Socialist realism

Socialist realism is a style of realistic art which was developed in the Soviet Union and became a dominant style in other communist countries. Socialist realism is a teleologically-oriented style having its purpose the furtherance of the goals of socialism and communism...

 was established, as the officially approved form of art, an instrument of propaganda

Propaganda

Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....

, and the main touchstone

Touchstone

A touchstone is a small tablet of dark stone such as fieldstone, slate, or lydite, used for assaying precious metal alloys. It has a finely grained surface on which soft metals leave a visible trace.-History:The touchstone was used in ancient Greece...

 of ideological censorship

Censorship

thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...

.