Features of modern spiritual life in Russia. The spiritual life of Soviet society during the years of perestroika The main stages of perestroika in the USSR

Proclaimed M.S. Gorbachev, the principle of glasnost created conditions for greater openness in decision-making and for an objective rethinking of the past (this was seen as continuity with the first years of the “thaw”). But the main goal of the new leadership of the CPSU was to create conditions for the renewal of socialism. It is no coincidence that the slogan "More glasnost, more socialism!" was put forward. and no less eloquent “We need publicity like we need air!”. Glasnost assumed a greater variety of topics and approaches, a more lively style of presenting material in the media. It was not tantamount to affirming the principle of freedom of speech and the possibility of unhindered and free expression. The implementation of this principle presupposes the existence of appropriate legal and political institutions, which in the Soviet Union in the mid-1980s. did not have.

The focus of public attention in the first years of perestroika was journalism. It was this genre of the printed word that could most sharply and promptly respond to problems that worried society. In 1987-1988 the most topical topics were already widely discussed in the press, and controversial points of view on the ways of the country's development were put forward.

New authoritative authors from among prominent economists, sociologists, journalists and historians were in the epicenter of attention. The popularity of printed publications grew to an incredible level, publishing stunning articles about failures in the economy and social policy - Moskovskiye Novosti, Ogonyok, Arguments and Facts, and Literaturnaya Gazeta. A series of articles about the past and present and about the prospects of the Soviet experience (I.I. Klyamkina “Which street leads to the temple?”, N.P. Shmeleva “Advances and debts”, V.I. Selyunina and G.N. Khanin “Sly figure”, etc.) Yu.N. Afanasiev organized in the spring of 1987 the historical and political readings "The Social Memory of Mankind", they had a response far beyond the Moscow Historical and Archival Institute, which he led. Collections that printed publicistic articles under one cover were especially popular; they were read like a fascinating novel. In 1988, with a circulation of 50,000 copies, the collection “No Other Is Given” was released and immediately became a “deficit”. Articles by its authors (Yu.N. Afanasiev, T.I. Zaslavskaya, A.D. Sakharov, A.A. Nuikin, V.I. Selyunin, Yu.F. Karyakin, G.G. Vodolazov, etc.). ) - representatives of the intelligentsia known for their public position were united by a passionate and uncompromising call for the democratization of Soviet society. Every article read the desire for change. The "finest hour" of the press was 1989. Circulation of printed publications reached an unprecedented level: the weekly "Arguments and Facts" was published with a circulation of 30 million copies (this absolute record among weeklies was entered in the Guinness Book of Records), the newspaper "Trud" - 20 million, "Pravda" - 10 million.

Live broadcasts from the meetings of the Congresses of People's Deputies of the USSR (1989-1990) gathered a huge audience, people did not turn off their radios at work, they took portable TVs from home. There was a conviction that it was here, at the congress, in the confrontation of positions and points of view that the fate of the country was being decided. Television began to use the method of reporting from the scene and live broadcast, this was a revolutionary step in covering what was happening. “Live speaking” programs were born - round tables, teleconferences, discussions in the studio, etc. The popular, without exaggeration, popularity of journalistic and information programs (“Look”, “Before and after midnight”, “The Fifth Wheel”, “600 Seconds ”) was due not only to the need for information, but also to the desire of people to be in the center of what is happening. Young TV presenters proved by their example that freedom of speech is emerging in the country and free polemics around the problems that worried people are possible. (True, more than once during the perestroika years, TV management tried to return to the old practice of pre-recording programs.)

The most famous art films about modernity, without embellishment and false pathos, told about the life of the younger generation (“Little Vera”, dir. V. Pichul, “Assa”, dir. S. Solovyov, both appeared on the screen in 1988). “Forbidden” topics have essentially disappeared from the press. The names of N.I. returned to history. Bukharin, L.D. Trotsky, L.B. Kameneva, G.E. Zinoviev and many other repressed political figures. Party documents that had never been published were made public, and the declassification of archives began. Contemporary art also sought answers to the questions that tormented people. Film directed by T.E. Abuladze "Repentance" (1986) - a parable about global evil, embodied in the recognizable image of a dictator, without exaggeration, shocked society. At the end of the picture, an aphorism was sounded, which became the leitmotif of perestroika: “Why the road if it does not lead to the temple?” The problems of a person's moral choice turned out to be in the center of attention of two masterpieces of Russian cinematography different in themes - the film adaptation of the story by M.A. Bulgakov's Heart of a Dog (dir. V. Bortko, 1988) and Cold Summer of 1953 (dir. A. Proshkin, 1987). At the box office there were also those films that had not previously been allowed on the screen by censorship or came out with huge bills: A.Yu. Germana, A.A. Tarkovsky, K.P. Muratova, S.I. Parajanova. The painting by A.Ya. Askoldov "Commissioner" - a film of high tragic pathos.

At the turn of the 1990s. there was a period of rapid growth of the historical self-awareness of the nation and the peak of social activity. Changes in economic and political life were becoming a reality, people were seized by the desire to prevent the reversibility of changes. However, there was no consensus on the priorities, mechanisms and pace of change. Around the "perestroika" press, supporters of the radicalization of the political course and the consistent implementation of democratic reforms were grouped. They enjoyed the broad support of public opinion, which took shape in the first years of perestroika.

With their moral and civil position, such people as D.S. Likhachev and A.D. Sakharov, had a huge impact on the spiritual climate in the country. Their activities have become a moral guide for many in an era when the usual ideas about the country and the world around us began to collapse.

During the years of perestroika, numerous public initiatives independent of the state were born. The so-called informals (that is, activists not organized by the state) gathered under the "roof" of scientific institutes, universities and such well-known public (actually state) organizations as the Soviet Peace Committee. In contrast to previous times, groups of public initiatives were created "from below" by people of various views and ideological positions, all of them were united by the willingness to personally participate in achieving radical changes for the better in the country.

The flow of Soviet people who traveled abroad also increased sharply, and mainly not due to tourism, but as part of public initiatives (“people's diplomacy”, “children's diplomacy”, family exchanges).

Works that had previously been banned for publication in the USSR began to return to the reader. In the "New World" 30 years after the award to B.L. Pasternak received the Nobel Prize in Literature for the novel Doctor Zhivago.

In 1990, the USSR Law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations” was adopted; it guaranteed the right of citizens to profess any religion (or not profess any) and the equality of religions and denominations before the law, and secured the right of religious organizations to participate in public life. The recognition of the importance of the Orthodox tradition in the spiritual life of the country was the appearance in the calendar of a new public holiday - the Nativity of Christ (for the first time on January 7, 1991). But the process of the revival of religious life by that time was already in full swing. The number of people wishing to be baptized grew rapidly, at the turn of the 1990s. the level of religiosity of the people has risen markedly. There were not enough clergymen, the first centers of religious education were opened. The first religious literature accessible to the mass reader began to appear, parishes were registered and churches were opened.

Soon after the arrival of M.S. Gorbachev to the leadership of the country, emergency measures were announced to limit alcohol consumption. The number of outlets selling alcoholic beverages was sharply reduced, “non-alcoholic weddings” were widely promoted in the press, and plantations of elite grape varieties in the south of the country were destroyed. As a result, the shadow turnover of alcohol and moonshine brewing jumped sharply.

Major changes that took place in the East in XIX century, could not but affect the spiritual life and culture of Eastern society.
One of the main changes in the spiritual life of the Eastern countries at that time was the emergence of new ideas and values ​​that went beyond traditional ideas. This process began under the influence of the colonizers and was especially strengthened by the modernization of traditional society. The new model of development, which began to be established in the East, objectively required the emergence of a new person - an active person, aware of his human dignity, free from inertia in thoughts and actions, appreciating freedom.
A kind of "generator" of new ideas was the modernizing trend of the national intelligentsia. In the colonies, it arose largely thanks to foreigners who, in an effort to expand their social base, began to create schools of the European type and encouraged the departure of local youth to study at European universities. A similar policy was also pursued in Japan after the Meiji revolution, in the Ottoman Empire during the years of the Tazimat, and to some extent in China when pursuing a policy of "self-reinforcing". Representatives of the modernizing trend sought to overcome the backwardness of their countries by eliminating those negative phenomena of traditional society that hindered the movement of the eastern countries along the path of progress. The modernizers considered one of their main tasks to spread in the minds of people new ideals and principles of life, which were mainly borrowed from the West, but objectively met the needs of the forward movement of the Eastern countries.
The modernizing trend was divided into two directions: religious and secular. The religious direction was represented by a reform movement, whose representatives sought to adapt religious doctrines to the new realities of Eastern countries. Reformation affected mainly Hinduism and Islam. The beginning of the reform of Hinduism was laid by R. M. Roy and K. Sen, and in the second half XIX in. was developed in the works of Ra-makrishna and S. Vivekananda. major reformers of Islam in XIX in. were al-Afghani and M. Iq-bal. Common to the reformers was the call to overcome obsolete dogmas and traditions, the condemnation of the obedience, inactivity and inequality of people. They emphasized the outstanding role of the human mind and human activity in the transformation of society, put forward the idea of ​​fighting for the dignity of the human person.
Enlightenment became the secular direction of the modernizing trend. Its emergence is directly related to the cultural influence of the West, primarily with the ideas of the French Enlightenment XVIII in. Initially, the propaganda of the ideas of the human mind, the dignity of the individual, and its active participation in public life occupied a central place in the activities of the enlighteners. In the second half XIX in. these ideas were supplemented by the propaganda of the values ​​of freedom, the constitution, parliamentarism, the call for the elimination of feudal relations and traditional political institutions. In the end XIX in. ideas of the nation, the fatherland came to the fore in the enlightenment of the East, a call was made for a decisive struggle against the colonialists and for national liberation.
This rise of the national idea was also characteristic of reformism. For example, al-Afghani actively promoted the ideas of pan-Islamism, calling for the unification of all Muslims in the struggle for the liberation of the Islamic world from the colonialists, for the creation of a single Muslim state built on the principle of a constitutional monarchy. In India, S. Vivekananda also spoke out against colonial oppression and called for a resolute struggle to change the existing order.
The activities of the Enlighteners had an impact not only on philosophical thought, but also on cultural development in general. In the most developed eastern countries, the Enlighteners organized the publication of newspapers, translated the works of many Western authors into local languages, and contributed to the opening of new schools, for which they themselves sometimes wrote textbooks. Enlighteners play an important role in the development of the national language and in the development of new literature. For example, in India, the enlighteners abandoned the use of the dead Sanskrit and switched to the use of living languages ​​(Bengali, Urdu, Hindi), in which they wrote a number of works that were new in form and content. In the Arab countries, the enlighteners launched a broad propaganda of the Arabic language and history, laid the foundations of a new Arabic literature. It is no coincidence that the beginning of a cultural upsurge in the Arab world, called "Nahda" (revival), coincides in time with the activities of the enlighteners.
In the second half XIX in. in all eastern countries, one of the central places in cultural life was the question of the attitude towards Western achievements and Western culture as a whole. The appearance of this problem
consciousness, which gave rise to the desire to preserve the cultural identity of the East, to prevent the development in Eastern society of a number of negative phenomena inherent in the Western way of life (extreme selfishness and individualism, the cult of money, the priority of material values ​​over spiritual ones).
In relation to this issue, three approaches have been formed among the national intelligentsia:
1) "Westerners" were sharply critical of Eastern traditions and believed that only the complete borrowing of the Western way of life and Western culture would ensure progress for the peoples of the East;
2) the conservatives believed that it was necessary to isolate themselves from the West or, as a last resort, go for partial borrowing of those of its achievements that are vital to Eastern society;
3) supporters of the organic approach advocated a creative combination in the life and culture of the eastern countries of the best achievements of the two civilizations.
"Westernism" in the East prevailed in the first half XIX in., when foreign penetration was just beginning. Of the eastern countries, it was most common in India, where it was supported by the colonial administration. In China, on the contrary, for a long time a conservative current prevailed, relying on the support of the feudal state. In addition, the emergence of "Westernism" was significantly constrained by the belief developed over many centuries that China is the leader of the whole world. Only during the First World War in China did the widespread penetration of Western philosophy begin, the movement “for a new culture” arose, within the framework of which an attempt was made to move away from traditional ideas and cultural norms.
In general, at the beginning XX in. The "Western" trend in most eastern countries is relegated to second place. This is clearly seen in the example of Japan, which, after the Meiji revolution, took the path of extensive borrowing from Western movements. AT 70 - 90- e gg. XIX in. In Japanese society, a broad discussion has unfolded on the issue of attitudes towards Western culture. In the end, the supporters of the preservation of cultural identity won the victory,
received the support of the state, which declared Shinto, the national Japanese religion, the state religion of Japan. Shinto has largely become a means of preserving the identity of Japanese society. It did not have a detailed doctrine, which made it possible to fill its ritual side with new content. The ideas of the nation as a large family, the moral and ethical principles of Confucianism, the cult of ancestors, the idea of ​​the national uniqueness of the Japanese were introduced into Shinto. The state obliged the entire population of the country to study Shinto and carefully monitored that the priests did not deviate from the dogma developed by the government. As a result, Japan has become a unique country that has managed to organically combine the technical achievements of the West and its experience in organizing economic life with the country's traditional moral values ​​and family customs.
It should be borne in mind that all these new phenomena in the spiritual sphere, changes in consciousness affected XX in. only an educated part of Eastern society. The consciousness of the broad masses was still based on traditional values ​​and norms. This clearly showed the national liberation movement of the beginning XX in.

At the same time, the West influenced not only social thought, but also the culture of the Eastern countries as a whole. This influence is especially evident in the literature. Here, new themes, prompted by reality, gradually began to supplant traditional religious and mythological plots. Many writers of the Eastern countries turned to historical themes, seeking through history to better understand the present and look into the future. In the literature of the East, the overcoming of traditional forms began. New literary genres emerged: short story, drama, new poetry, and the European-style novel. Prominent writers - representatives of the new Oriental literature were Lu Xun in China and R. Tagore in India - Nobel Prize winner in literature (1913).
European influence also affected the architecture of the eastern countries, where in the architecture of large forms (mainly for public purposes), the European style increasingly replaced the local one. In a number of countries, attempts were made to combine Western canons and national traditions. However, in most cases, such attempts were not successful.
A more fruitful synthesis of traditional norms and European rules took place in painting, where the Eastern technique was gradually combined with the European rules of perspective and volume. Realistic approaches appeared in the works of some artists of the East, but in general, realism in the fine arts of the East during this period was not widespread.
At the same time, the formation of a new national art in the East took place in XIX in. So slow. Traditional canons as a whole retained their dominant position, especially in those forms of art that were intended for the broad masses of the people. In fact, the process of cultural renewal in the East was just beginning.
DOCUMENTS AND MATERIALS
Rabindranath Tagor (1861 - 1941)
TO CIVILIZATION
Give us back the forest. Take your city, full of noise and smoky haze. Take your stone, iron, fallen trunks. Modern civilization! Soul Eater! Return us shade and coolness in the sacred forest silence. These evening baths, the sunset light over the river, Herds of cows grazing, quiet songs of the Vedas, Handfuls of grains, herbs, return from the bark of clothes, Talk about the great truths that we always carried on in our souls, These days that we spent are immersed in thoughts. I don't even need royal pleasures in your prison. I want freedom. I want to feel like I'm flying again. I want the strength to return to my heart again. I want to know that the fetters are broken, I want to break the chains. I want to feel the eternal trembling of the heart of the universe again.
(Rabindranath Tagore. Selected. M., 1987. P. 33).
Hindustan
STON OF HINDUSTAN
I hear constantly, Since childhood, a quiet call has attracted me to the west: There the fate of India dances among the funeral pyres ...
Master and slave were pleased that
So that the country turned into a gambling house, -
Today she is from edge to edge -
One grave is solid. An end was put to the infamy and glory of past times. The might of the past has broken legs. old dreams
and faithful to visions
She lies in the shallowed Jamuna, And her speech is barely audible: “New shadows have thickened, the sunset has faded, This is the last hour of the past century.”
(Rabindranath Tagore. Selected. M., 1987. S. 70 - 71).
SLOGANS OF THE NEW CULTURE MOVEMENT IN CHINA
(From an editorial in the Xin Qingnian (New Youth) magazine)
“In order to defend democracy, it is impossible not to fight against Confucianism, against its etiquette and rituals, against its concepts of honesty and chastity, against the old morality and old politics. In order to defend science, it is impossible not to fight against religion and the old art. The struggle for democracy and science is impossible without the struggle against the old traditional school and against the old literature” (Qu Qiubo. Journalism of different years. M., 1979. P. 151).
EVALUATION OF THE MOVEMENT FOR A NEW CULTURE BY HISTORIANS
“The content of the movement “for a new culture” went far beyond the struggle in the field of culture. It was about the struggle for bourgeois-democratic transformations in the country, for the bourgeois educational ideology, against the feudal ideology of Confucianism and medieval superstitions. Fierce polemics were conducted around the main problems: political transformations and democratic rights of the people; superstitions, prejudices, Confucianism and old dogmas; ideological emancipation of the people; personal freedom and individual development; the reform of the Chinese language and the creation of new literature; new worldview and scientific method of thinking, etc. An ideological struggle was waged against representatives of the feudal landowner ideology, members of monarchist parties and militaristic cliques, representatives of the Buddhist and Taoist religions, and Christian missionaries” (New History of China. M., 1972, p. 575).
FRAGMENT OF A PROSE POEM BY THE CHINESE WRITER LU XUN (1881 - 1936)
Such a fighter
“...Here he passes through the ranks of incorporeal beings; everyone he meets nods to him... Banners with loud titles embroidered on them float over the heads of incorporeal beings: "philanthropist", "scientist", "writer", "senior in the family", "young man", "esthete" ... Below are all kinds of robes with beautiful words embroidered on them: "scholarship", "morality", "purity of the national spirit", "the will of the people", "logic", "public duty", "civilization of the East"...
But he raises his spear.
He smiles, throws a spear and hits them right in the heart.
All of them, drooping, fall to the ground. But it turns out that these are only mantles, under them is empty. The incorporeal beings have managed to escape and are celebrating victory, for now he has become a criminal who has stabbed the philanthropist and his ilk.
But he raises his spear...
Finally, he grows old and dies among incorporeal beings. Now he is no longer a fighter, but incorporeal beings - winners.
Now no one hears the cry of war: great peace...
But he raises a spear ”(Lu Xun. Selected. M., 1989. P. 343 - 344).
QUESTIONS
1. Can the emergence of new ideas and values ​​be called the modernization of the spiritual life of the East?
2. What factors influenced the changes in the spiritual life and culture of the countries of the East?
3. How natural was the emergence of religious reformism in the East?
4. Follow the evolution of the ideas of Eastern enlightenment. What explains it?
5. How did the approaches of the intelligentsia of the Eastern countries to the question of attitude towards Western culture change?
6. What influence did the West have on the culture of the East?
7. What changes have occurred in XIX in. in the culture of the eastern countries?

The changes that began after Stalin's death in the spiritual and political life of Soviet society were called the thaw. The appearance of this term is associated with the publication in 1954 of the story I. G. Ehrenburg "Thaw"in response to the call of the critic V. M. Pomerantsev to put a person at the center of attention in literature," to raise the true theme of life, to introduce conflicts into novels that occupy people in everyday life. "The spiritual life of society during the Khrushchev "thaw" was contradictory. On the one hand On the other hand, de-Stalinization and the opening of the "iron curtain" caused a revival of society, the development of culture, science and education.At the same time, the desire of the party and state bodies to put culture at the service of the official ideology remained.

development of science and education

In the middle of the twentieth century. science became the leading factor in the development of social production. The main directions of science in the world were the integrated automation of production, management and control based on the widespread use of computers; creation and introduction into production of new types of structural materials; discovery and use of new types of energy.

The Soviet Union succeeded in 1953-1964. achieve major scientific achievements in nuclear energy, rocket science, and space exploration. 27th of June 1954 in the city of Obninsk, Kaluga Region, the world's first nuclear power plant. I. V. Kurchatov was the scientific supervisor of the work on its creation, N. A. Dollezhal was the chief designer of the reactor, and D. I. Blokhintsev was the scientific supervisor of the project.

Nuclear power plant of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. in the city of Obninsk, Kaluga region.

The 4th of October 1957 The first in the world was launched in the USSR artificial earth satellite. A group of scientists headed by S. P. Korolev worked on its creation, consisting of: M. V. Keldysh, M. K. Tikhonravov, N. S. Lidorenko, G. Yu. Maksimova, V. I. Lapko, B. S. Chekunova, A. V. Bukhtiyarova.

Postage stamps of the USSR

Launched in the same year nuclear icebreaker "Lenin"- the world's first surface ship with a nuclear power plant. The chief designer was V. I. Neganov, the scientific supervisor of the work was Academician A. P. Aleksandrov; the nuclear plant was designed under the guidance of I. I. Afrikantov.

AT 1961 carried out for the first time in history human flight into space; he became a Soviet pilot-cosmonaut Yu. A. Gagarin. The ship "Vostok", on which Gagarin flew around the Earth, was created by the leading designer O. G. Ivanovsky under the guidance of the general designer of OKB-1 S. P. Koroleva. In 1963, the first flight of a female cosmonaut V. I. Tereshkova took place.

Yu. A. Gagarin S. P. Korolev

AT 1955 the serial production of the world's first turbojet passenger aircraft began at the Kharkov Aviation Plant " TU-104". The design of new, ultra-high-speed aircraft was carried out by aircraft designers A. N. Tupolev, S. V. Ilyushin.

Aircraft "TU-104"

The entry of the Soviet Union into the era of the scientific and technological revolution was marked by the expansion of the network of research institutions. A. N. Nesmeyanov, a prominent organic chemist, in 1954 opened the Institute of Organoelement Compounds of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In May 1957, in order to develop the productive forces of Siberia and the Far East, the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences was organized. In March 1956 Dubna established an international research center - Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in order to study the fundamental properties of matter. Famous physicists A.P. Aleksandrov, D.I. Blokhintsev, I.V. Kurchatov participated in the formation of JINR. Scientific centers near Moscow appeared in Protvino, Obninsk and Troitsk. I. L. Knunyants, a well-known Soviet organic chemist, founded the scientific school of organofluorine.

Synchrophasotron built at JINR in Dubna in 1957

Significant achievements were made in the development of radiophysics, electronics, theoretical and chemical physics, and chemistry. were awarded Nobel Prize for his work in the field of quantum electronics A. M. Prokhorov and N. G. Basov- together with the American physicist C. Townes. A number of Soviet scientists ( L. D. Landau in 1962; P. A. Cherenkov, I. M. Frank and I. E. Tamm, all in 1958) received the Nobel Prize in physics, which testified to the recognition of the contribution of Soviet science to the world. N. N. Semenov(together with the American researcher S. Hinshelwood) became in 1956 the only Soviet Nobel laureate in chemistry.

After the XX Congress of the CPSU, the possibility of studying classified documents opened up, which contributed to the emergence of interesting publications on national history: "Essays on Historical Science in the USSR", "History of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union. 1941-1945." and the journal "History of the USSR"

A characteristic feature of the "thaw" was stormy scientific discussions. The crisis in agriculture, disappointment in the economic councils, the need to find balanced solutions to a large number of problems contributed to the revival of economic thought in the USSR. In the scientific discussions of economists, two directions have been formed. At the head of the theoretical direction were Leningrad scientists L. V. Kantorovich and V. V. Novozhilov advocated widespread use mathematical methods in planning. The second direction - practices - demanded greater independence for enterprises, less rigid and mandatory planning, allowing the development of market relations. A group of scientists began to study the economics of the West. However, historians, philosophers, and economists could not completely free themselves from certain ideological attitudes.

L. V. Kantorovich

Official Soviet propaganda considered the achievements of Soviet science not only as symbols of scientific and technological progress, but also as proof of the advantages of socialism. It was not possible to fully ensure the implementation of a radical restructuring of the technical foundations of material production in the USSR. What caused the technical backwardness of the country in subsequent years in the most promising areas.

Much attention was paid during the "thaw" to secondary and higher education, fees were abolished in universities and technical schools. According to the data of the All-Union population census of 1959, 43% of the population had higher, secondary and incomplete secondary education. New universities were opened in Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Vladivostok, Nalchik and other cities.

The prestige of higher education, especially in engineering, grew, while the attractiveness of working professions for school graduates began to decline. To change the situation, measures were taken to bring the school closer to production. In December 1958 d. universal compulsory 7-year education was replaced by compulsory 8-year education. Graduates of the eight-year plan could graduate from a vocational school (vocational school) or a technical school to receive a complete secondary education and a working specialty.

At a school lesson in auto business

Mandatory industrial practice was introduced in the upper grades of secondary school. However, the choice of professions offered at the school (cook, seamstress, car mechanic, etc.) was narrow, and did not allow getting the training necessary for modern production. In addition, the lack of funds made it impossible to equip schools with modern equipment, and enterprises could not fully bear the pedagogical load. In 1964, due to the inefficiency of the school reform, the overload of curricula, they returned to a ten-year school education.

literature

The focus of attention of writers in the 1950s. turned out to be a man, his spiritual values, everyday life conflicts. Novels D. A. Granina("Searchers", "I'm going into a thunderstorm"). In the spotlight Yu. P. German(the novel-trilogy "The Cause You Serve", 1957, "My Dear Man", 1961, "I'm Responsible for Everything", 1964) - the formation of a person of high ideological and civic activity.

Interesting works about the life of the post-war village appeared (Essays by V. V. Ovechkin "Regional Weekdays" and "Notes of an Agronomist" by G. N. Troepolsky). In the genre of village prose they wrote during the years of the "thaw" V. I. Belov, V. G. Rasputin, F. A. Abramov, early V. M. Shukshin, V. P. Astafiev, S. P. Zalygin. The works of young writers (Yu. V. Trifonov, V. V. Lipatov) about young contemporaries formed the "urban" prose.

V. Shukshin and V. Belov

"Lieutenant" prose continued to develop. Writers who went through the war Yu. V. Bondarev, K. D. Vorobyov, V. V. Bykov, B. L. Vasiliev, G. Ya. Baklanov, K. M. Simonov), rethinking their experience, reflecting on the attitude of a person in a war, on the price of victory.

In the process of de-Stalinization, the topic of repression was raised in the literature. The novel caused a great public outcry V. D. Dudintseva"Not by Bread Alone", 1956, story A. I. Solzhenitsyna"One day of Ivan Denisovich", 1962.

On November 18, 1962, the Novy Mir magazine publishes the story "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" by A. I. Solzhenitsyn

The popularity of young poets grew: E. A. Evtushenko, A. A. Voznesensky, B. Sh. Okudzhava, B.A. Akhmadulina, R.I. Rozhdestvensky. In their work, they turned to contemporaries and contemporary themes. Great attraction in the 1960s. had poetry evenings at the Polytechnic Museum in Moscow. Poetry readings at the stadium in Luzhniki in 1962 gathered 14 thousand people.

E. A. Evtushenko B. A. Akhmadulina A. A. Voznesensky

The revival of cultural life contributed to the emergence of new literary and artistic magazines: "Youth", "Neva", "Our Contemporary", "Foreign Literature", "Moscow". The Novy Mir magazine (headed by AT Tvardovsky) published works by democratically minded writers and poets. It was on its pages that the works of Solzhenitsyn were published ("One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich", 1962, "Matryona Dvor" and "The Incident at the Krechetovka Station", 1963). The magazine became a refuge for anti-Stalinist forces in literature, a symbol of the "sixties", an organ of legal opposition to the Soviet regime.

Some cultural figures of the 1930s were rehabilitated: I. E. Babel, B. A. Pilnyak, forbidden poems by S. A. Yesenin, A. A. Akhmatova, M. I. Tsvetaeva appeared in print.

However, the "thaw" in the cultural life of the country had certain limits set by the authorities. Any manifestations of dissent were destroyed by censorship. This is what happened to B.C. Grossman, the author of "Stalingrad Essays" and the novel "For a Just Cause. The manuscript of the novel "Life and Fate" about the tragedy of the people plunged into the war in 1960 was confiscated from the author by the state security agencies. This work was published in the USSR only during the years of perestroika.

From the document (From the speeches of N. S. Khrushchev to the figures of literature and art):

... It does not mean at all that now, after the condemnation of the cult of personality, the time has come for free flow, that the reins of government are supposedly weakened, the social ship sails at the behest of the waves and everyone can be self-willed, behave as he pleases. No. The Party has pursued and will continue to firmly pursue the Leninist course worked out by it, implacably opposing any ideological wavering...

In the late 1950s Literary samizdat arose - typewritten or handwritten editions of uncensored works of translated foreign and domestic authors, and tamizdat - works of Soviet authors printed abroad. B. L. Pasternak's novel "Doctor Zhivago" about the fate of the intelligentsia during the years of revolutions and the Civil War was first distributed in samizdat lists. After the publication of the novel was banned in the Novy Mir magazine, the book was transferred abroad, where it was published in November 1957 in Italian translation. In 1958, Pasternak received the Nobel Prize in Literature for the novel. In the USSR, not without the knowledge of N. S. Khrushchev, a campaign of persecution of the writer was organized. He was expelled from the Union of Writers of the USSR, demanded to leave the country. Pasternak refused to leave the USSR, but under pressure from the authorities he was forced to refuse the prize.

At the Pasternak dacha on the day of the Nobel Prize: E. Ts. and K. I. Chukovsky, B. L. and Z. N. Pasternak. Peredelkino. October 24, 1958

The "Pasternak case" was a signal for a new tightening of censorship. In the early 1960s there was an increase in the ideological dictate in the field of literature, an even greater impatience for dissent appeared. In 1963, at an official meeting of the party leadership with the creative intelligentsia in the Kremlin, Khrushchev sharply criticized the poet A. Voznesensky and invited him to emigrate from the country.

Theatre, music, cinema

New theaters "Sovremennik" under the direction of O. N. Efremov (1957) and the Drama and Comedy Theater on Taganka under the direction of Yu. P. Lyubimov (1964) began to operate in Moscow, the performances of which were very popular with the audience. The theatrical productions of the young groups Sovremennik and Taganka reflected the mood of the era of the Sixties: a heightened sense of responsibility for the fate of the country, an active civic stand.

Theater "Sovremennik"

Domestic cinematography has achieved great success. Films about the ordinary fate of a man in the war were released: "The Cranes Are Flying" (dir. M. K. Kalatozov), "The Ballad of a Soldier" (G. I. Chukhrai). The Cranes Are Flying by Kalatozov became the only Soviet feature film to win the Palme d'Or prize at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival.

Shot from the film "The Cranes Are Flying"

In the best movies of the early 1960s. the theme of the search for a life path by the younger generation was raised: “I am walking around Moscow” (dir. G. N. Danelia), “Outpost of Ilyich” (dir. M. M. Khutsiev), “Nine days of one year” (dir. M. I . Romm). Many artists were able to visit abroad. In 1959, the Moscow Film Festival was resumed. After the Cuban Missile Crisis, the exposure of the "ideological vacillations" of literary and artistic figures intensified. Thus, the feature film by M. M. Khutsiev "Ilyich's Outpost", one of the symbols of the "thaw" era about the youth of the sixties, received a disapproving assessment of party and state leaders.

From the document (S. N. Khrushchev. Trilogy about the father):

As happens with strong natures, the father himself seemed to feel the weakness of his position and from this became even sharper and more implacable. I was once present at a conversation about the film "Zastava Ilyich" directed by Marlen Khutsiev. The whole style, the aggressiveness of this analysis made a painful impression on me, which I remember to this day. On the way home (the meeting was held in the Reception House on Vorobyovskoye Highway, we lived nearby, behind a fence) I objected to my father, it seemed to me that there was nothing anti-Soviet in the film, moreover, it was Soviet and at the same time high quality. The father was silent. The next day, the analysis of Zastava Ilyich continued. Having taken the floor, my father lamented that the ideological struggle was going on under difficult conditions, and even at home he did not always meet with understanding.

Yesterday, Sergei, my son, convinced me that we were wrong in our attitude to this film, - said the father and, looking around the darkness of the hall, asked: - Is that right?

I was sitting in the back rows. I had to get up.

So, right, the film is good, - I stuttered with excitement. It was my first experience of participating in such a large meeting. However, my intercession only added fuel to the fire, one speaker after another denounced the director for his ideological immaturity. The film had to be remade, the best parts cut out, it received a new name "We are twenty years old."

Gradually, I became more and more convinced that my father was tragically mistaken, losing his authority. However, doing something was far from easy. It was necessary to choose a moment, carefully express my opinion to him, try to convince him of the harmfulness of such peremptory judgments. In the end, he must understand that he is hitting his political allies, those who support his cause.

Since the late 1950s neo-folklorism developed in Soviet music. In 1958, the Central Committee of the CPSU adopted a resolution "On Correcting Mistakes in Evaluating the Operas The Great Friendship", "Bogdan Khmelnitsky", "From the Heart". Ideological charges were dropped from the composers S. Prokofiev, D. Shostakovich, A. Khachaturian. In 1955–1956 in the USA there were tours of outstanding Soviet musicians: D. F. Oistrakh and M. L. Rostropovich.

Songs written for the VI World Festival of Youth and Students were popular with Soviet people: "Moscow Evenings" (V. Solovyov-Sedoy, M. Matusovsky) performed by V. Troshin and E. Piekha, "If the guys of the whole Earth ..." ( V. Solovyov-Sedoy, E. Dolmatovsky), "Moscow Dawns ..." (A. Ostrovsky, M. Lisyansky), "The guitar rings over the river ..." (L. Oshanin, A. Novikov), etc. During this period, creative activities of composers E. Denisov, A. Petrov, A. Schnittke, R. Shedrin, A. Eshpay. The works of G. Sviridov and the songs of A. Pakhmutova to the verses of N. Dobronravov were very popular.

In the formation of the spiritual atmosphere at the turn of the 1950s and 60s. songwriting played an important role. The audience of B. Sh. Okudzhava, N. N. Matveeva, Yu. I. Vizbor, Yu. Ch. Kim, A. A. Galich was the young generation of "physicists" and "lyricists" values.

B. Okudzhava A. Galich

painting, architecture, sculpture

In the late 1950s - early 1960s. in the works of sixties artists from the youth section of the Moscow branch of the Union of Artists, our reflection of the everyday work of contemporaries, the so-called "severe style" arose. Pictures of representatives of the "severe style" V. E. Popkov, N. I. Andronov, T. T. Salakhov, P. P. Ossovsky, V. I. Ivanov and others sang the fate of contemporaries, their energy and will, "the heroism of labor weekdays".

V. Popkov. Builders of Bratsk

On December 1, 1962, N. S. Khrushchev visited the anniversary exhibition of the Moscow organization of the Union of Artists in the Manege. He attacked the young avant-garde painters of the studio of E. M. Belyutin with rude, incompetent attacks: T. Ter-Gevondyan, A. Safokhin, L. Gribkov, V. Zubarev, V. Preobrazhenskaya. The next day, the Pravda newspaper published a devastating report that launched a campaign against formalism and abstractionism in the USSR.

From the document (From Khrushchev's speech during a visit to the exhibition at the Manezh on December 1, 1962):

…Well, I don’t understand, comrades! Here he says: "sculpture". Here he is - Unknown. Is this a sculpture? Excuse me!… At the age of 29, I was in a position where I felt responsible for the country, for our party. And you? You are 29 years old! Do you still feel that you are wearing short pantaloons? No, you're already in your pants! And so answer!

If you don't want to keep up with us - get a passport, leave ... We don't send you to prison! Please! Do you like the west? Please!…Let's imagine it. Does it evoke any feeling? I want to spit! These are the feelings it evokes.

... You will say: everyone plays, so to speak, his own musical instrument - this will be the orchestra? It's a cacophony! This... This is going to be a crazy house! It will be jazz! Jazz! Jazz! I do not want to offend blacks, but now, uh, in my opinion, this is Negro music ... Who will fly to this fried, which you want to show? Who? Flies that rush to carrion! Here they are, you know, huge, fat ... So they flew! .. Anyone who wants to please our enemies can take up this weapon ...

Monumentalism flourishes in sculpture. In 1957, a sculptural group by E. V. Vuchetich "Let's Forge Swords into Plowshares" appeared near the UN building in New York. The military theme was represented by sculptural portraits of commanders created in Soviet cities by E. V. Vuchetich, N. V. Tomsky, the best masters of this genre.

"Let's beat swords into plowshares" Sculptor - Vuchetich E.V.

Soviet sculptors at that time captured historical figures and cultural figures. S. M. Orlov, A. P. Antropov and N. L. Stamm - the authors of the monument to Yuri Dolgorukov in Moscow in front of the Moscow City Council (1953-1954); A.P. Kibalnikov completes work on the monument to Chernyshevsky in Saratov (1953) and V. Mayakovsky in Moscow (1958). Sculptor M. K. Anikushin in a realistic manner executed the monument to A. S. Pushkin, installed on Arts Square in Leningrad, near the building of the Russian Museum.

Monument to Pushkin. Sculptor M. K. Anikushin

During the "thaw" the work of the sculptor E. Neizvestny went beyond the scope of social realism: "Suicide" (1958), "Adam" (1962-1963), "Effort" (1962), "Mechanical Man" (1961-1962), "Two-Headed giant with an egg "(1963. In 1962, at the exhibition in the Manezh, Neizvestny was Khrushchev's guide. After the defeat of the exhibition, he was not exhibited for several years, the disgrace ended only with Khrushchev's resignation.

E. Neizvestny Tombstone monument to N. S. Khrushchev by E. Neizvestny

After the death of Stalin, a new stage in the development of Soviet architecture begins. In 1955, the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted a resolution "On the elimination of excesses in design and construction", "contradicting the democratic spirit of the life and culture of our society." The Stalinist Empire style was replaced by a functional typical Soviet architecture, which, with some changes, survived until the collapse of the USSR. The districts of Khimki-Khovrino (architect K. Alabyan) and the quarters of the South-West of Moscow (architects Ya. Belopolsky, E. Stamo and others), the Dachnoye district of Leningrad (architects V. Kamensky, A Zhuk, A. Macheret), microdistricts and quarters in Vladivostok, Minsk, Kyiv, Vilnius, Ashgabat. During the years of mass construction of panel five-story buildings, standard designs and cheap building materials "without architectural excesses" were used.

State Kremlin Palace

In 1961, the Yunost Hotel was built in Moscow (architects Yu. Arndt, T. Bausheva, V. Burovin, T. Vladimirova; engineers N. Dykhovichnaya, B. Zarhi, I. Mishchenko) using the same large panels , which were used in housing construction, the cinema "Russia" ("Pushkinsky") with its extended visor. One of the best public buildings of that time was the State Kremlin Palace, 1959-1961 (architect M. Posokhin), during the construction of which the problem of combining a modern building with historical architectural ensembles was rationally solved. In 1963, the construction of the Palace of Pioneers in Moscow was completed, which is a complex of several buildings of different heights, united by a spatial composition.

EXPANDING CULTURAL LINKS

The liberalization of social and political life was accompanied by the expansion of international cultural ties. In 1955, the first issue of the journal "Foreign Literature" was published. It became for Soviet readers the only opportunity to get acquainted with the work of many major Western writers, whose books were not published in the USSR for censorship reasons.

In October 1956 in Moscow in the Museum. Pushkin I. Ehrenburg organized an exhibition of paintings by P. Picasso. For the first time in the USSR, paintings by one of the most famous artists of the 20th century were shown. In December of the same year, Picasso's works were sent to Leningrad, to the Hermitage, where the exhibition provoked a student rally in the city center. Students shared their impressions publicly.

VI World Festival of Youth and Students poster

In July 1957, the VI World Festival of Youth and Students was held in Moscow, the symbol of which was the Dove of Peace invented by P. Picasso. The forum became in every sense a significant event for Soviet boys and girls, they first got acquainted with the youth culture of the West.

In 1958, the first International Competition named after V.I. P. I. Tchaikovsky. The young American pianist H. Van Cliburn, a graduate of the Juilliard School, where he studied with R. Levina, a Russian pianist who left Russia in 1907, won the victory. Moscow in 1958, became the first American to triumph in Russia, where he became the first favorite; upon his return to New York, he was greeted as the hero of a mass demonstration.

The winner of the competition Tchaikovsky H. Van Cliburn

The first foreign tours of the teams of the Bolshoi and Kirov theaters caused a great resonance in the world musical life. M. M. Plisetskaya, E. S. Maksimova, V. V. Vasiliev, I. A. Kolpakova, N. I. Bessmertnova. In the late 1950s - early 1960s. ballet has become a "calling card" of Soviet art abroad.

M. Plisetskaya

In general, the period of the "thaw" was a beneficial time for the national culture. Spiritual uplift contributed to the formation of the creativity of the figures of literature and art of the new generation. The expansion of scientific and cultural contacts with foreign countries contributed to the humanization of Soviet society and the growth of its intellectual potential.

"Not by Bread Alone"

K. M. Simonov

"Alive and Dead"

V. P. Aksenov

"Star Ticket", "It's Time My Friend It's Time"

A. I. Solzhenitsyn

"One day of Ivan Denisovich"

B. L. Pasternak

"Doctor Zhivago"

Cinema

Theatre

START-1

Treaty on the Limitation of Conventional Armed Forces in Europe

Treaty on the Limitation of Conventional Forces in Europe, signed definitively in Paris November 19, 1990 was the most important act of ending the Cold War. The Soviet Union under this treaty promised the West a phenomenal reduction in its conventional superiority in Europe.
Although it was a multilateral treaty, the whole thing came down to US pressure on the USSR, where Gorbachev promised to make colossal cuts. The West has reduced the whole thing to the fact that the military in the Soviet Union is trying to use every kind of reticence or ambiguity in the treaty in order to save part of their reduced forces.
On May 27, 1991, Gorbachev had a very important telephone conversation with Bush.
Three topics dominated: CFE, START and economic cooperation. Bush told Gorbachev that if the Soviet side moved "just a little", the road would open for President Bush's trip to Moscow. Gorbachev replied that he had received Bush's letter and gave instructions to the Minister of Foreign Affairs (since January 1991) A. A. Bessmertnykh to introduce "new ideas" into the CFE. A key decision was made at a meeting between Baker and the Immortals in Lisbon on June 1, 1991.
On June 14, 1991, at a special session of ambassadors in Vienna, the CFE Treaty was signed.
For many years, the USSR had a significant predominance over the West in the European theater in conventional weapons: 60 thousand tanks (plus 4.4 thousand new tanks produced annually) gave a weighty argument to the ground forces of the USSR.
Now this argument is no longer valid. As a price to pay for normalizing relations with the West, Russia limited itself to 6,400 tanks. There is a drop in production in industries that created conventional weapons. The accumulated reserves may still be enough for 5-10 years, until it becomes clear that Russia needs to re-create its weapons.

US President George W. Bush Sr. arrived in Moscow in July 1991. The main issue of the meeting in Moscow was the signing on July 31, 1991 of the Agreement on the reduction strategic offensive weapons - START-1. 8 years were allotted for the implementation of START-1. American pressure on the Soviet side in 1991 was overtly brutal. This, in particular, was admitted by Secretary of State J. Baker: “For many years we have sought to convince the Soviet Union to reduce the number of their warheads. Now they finally agree with us, and we suddenly say to them: “No, wait! We've come up with an even more sophisticated way to disarm you."
Each side had the right to maintain 1,600 strategic launchers in land mines and submarines. The parties were limited to 6,000 nuclear warheads (4,900 ground-based ballistic missiles; 1,540 charges on heavy missiles; 1,100 charges on mobile launchers).
High-speed missile systems were subjected to the greatest reduction.
The cuts were unequal: 25% cuts for the United States and 35% for the Soviet Union. The USSR pledged to halve the number of heavy ICBMs.
The negotiation process was supposed to continue. The Soviet side wanted to know when it came to reducing tactical nuclear weapons, but the US leadership rather harshly rejected such ideas. The American side responded just as harshly to Gorbachev on another important issue - the cessation of underground tests. The answer was short: the American side not ready consider this issue.
Deterioration of the internal economic situation in the USSR in 1989-1991. forced the leaders of the country to seek financial and economic assistance from the leading countries of the world, primarily the countries of the "seven" (USA, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan). In 1990-1991 they provided the USSR with "humanitarian aid" (food, medicines, medical equipment). Serious financial assistance was not forthcoming. The G7 countries and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), promising such assistance, refused it in the summer of 1991, referring to the unstable internal political situation in the USSR. They were more and more inclined to support individual republics of the USSR, politically and materially encouraging their separatism. Nevertheless, through closed channels, large-scale assistance with loans was provided. As a result, the external debt of the USSR during the period of Gorbachev's rule increased from 13 to 113 billion dollars (excluding Lend-Lease debt).
On December 8, 1991, the leaders of the three Slavic republics, having decided to liquidate the USSR and create the CIS, first of all informed the US President about this.

1985 became a milestone in the spiritual life of the USSR. Proclaimed by M. S. Gorbachev principle publicity created conditions for greater openness in decision-making and for an objective rethinking of the past (this was seen as continuity with the first years of the “thaw”). But the main goal of the new leadership of the CPSU was to create conditions for the renewal of socialism. It was no coincidence that it was put forward slogan "More glasnost, more socialism!" and no less eloquent “We need publicity like we need air!”. Glasnost assumed a greater variety of topics and approaches, a more lively style of presenting material in the media. It was not tantamount to affirming the principle of freedom of speech and the possibility of unhindered and free expression. The implementation of this principle presupposes the existence of appropriate legal and political institutions, which in the Soviet Union in the mid-1980s. did not have.
The membership of the CPSU in 1986, when the 27th Congress was held, reached a record level in its history of 19 million people, after which the ranks of the ruling party began to decline (to 18 million in 1989). Gorbachev's speech at the congress was the first to say that that without glasnost there is not and cannot be democracy. The lack of unanimity on the question of the prospects for the country's development, which manifested itself in the course of the discussions gaining momentum in the party organizations, spilled over under the conditions of glasnost into a stormy public discussion of sore problems. It turned out to be impossible to keep glasnost in check, in metered volumes, especially after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (April 26, 1986), when the unwillingness of the country's leadership to give objective information and raise the question of responsibility for the tragedy was revealed. The term "glasnost" was used in Gorbachev's speech at the XXVII Congress of the CPSU in February 1986 Under the policy of glasnost began to understand openness, accessibility of information about all spheres of life. Freedom of speech, thought, lack of censorship of the media. Respect for the rights and freedoms of man and citizen. This opened up, as it seemed, inexhaustible opportunities for the formation of a new information field and for an open discussion of all the most important issues in the media. The focus of public attention in the first years of perestroika was journalism. It was this genre of the printed word that could most sharply and promptly respond to problems that worried society. In 1987-1988 the most topical topics were already widely discussed in the press, and controversial points of view on the ways of the country's development were put forward. The appearance of such sharp publications on the pages of censored publications could not have been imagined a few years ago. Publicists for a short time became real "rulers of thoughts". The popularity of printed publications grew to an incredible level, publishing stunning articles about failures in the economy and social policy - Moskovskiye Novosti, Ogonyok, Arguments and Facts, and Literaturnaya Gazeta. A series of articles about the past and present and about the prospects of the Soviet experience (I. I. Klyamkina “Which street leads to the temple?”, N. P. Shmeleva “Advances and debts”, V. I. Selyunin and G. N. Khanina “Sly Digit", etc.) in the journal "New World", in which the writer S.P. Zalygin was the editor, caused a huge reader response. The publications of L. A. Abalkin, N. P. Shmelev, L. A. Piyasheva, G. Kh. Popov, and T. I. Koryagina on the problems of the country’s economic development were widely discussed. A. A. Tsipko offered a critical reflection on the Leninist ideological heritage and the prospects for socialism, the publicist Yu. Chernichenko called for a revision of the agrarian policy of the CPSU. Historian Yu. N. Afanasyev organized in the spring of 1987 the historical and political readings "The Social Memory of Mankind", they resonated far beyond the Moscow Historical and Archival Institute, which he led. Collections that printed publicistic articles under one cover were especially popular; they were read like a fascinating novel. In 1988, with a circulation of 50,000 copies, the collection “No Other Is Given” was released and immediately became a “deficit”. Articles by its authors (Yu. N. Afanasiev, T. N. Zaslavskaya, A. D. Sakharov, A. A. Nuikin, V. I. Selyunin, Yu. F. Karyakin, G. G. Vodolazov and others) - The representatives of the intelligentsia, known for their public position, were united by a passionate and uncompromising call for the democratization of Soviet society. Every article read the desire for change. In a short foreword by the editor, Yu. Perhaps this is precisely what gives particular credibility to the main idea of ​​the collection: perestroika is a condition for the vitality of our society. Nothing else is given."
The "finest hour" of the press was 1989. Print circulation has reached an unprecedented level: the weekly "Arguments and Facts" was published with a circulation of 30 million copies (this absolute record among weeklies was entered in the Guinness Book of Records), the newspaper "Trud" - 20 million, "Pravda" - 10 million. Subscriptions to "thick" magazines jumped sharply (especially after the subscription scandal that erupted at the end of 1988, when they tried to limit it under the pretext of paper shortages). A public wave arose in defense of glasnost, and the subscription was successfully defended. Novy Mir in 1990 came out with a circulation of 2.7 million copies unprecedented for a literary magazine.
Live broadcasts from the meetings of the Congresses of People's Deputies of the USSR (1989-1990) gathered a huge audience, people did not turn off their radios at work, they took portable TVs from home. There was a conviction that it was here, at the congress, in the confrontation of positions and points of view that the fate of the country was being decided. Television began to use the method of reporting from the scene and live broadcast, this was a revolutionary step in covering what was happening. “Live speaking” programs were born - round tables, teleconferences, discussions in the studio, etc. The popularity of journalistic and information programs, without exaggeration, is universally popular (“ Look", "Before and after midnight", "The Fifth Wheel", "600 Seconds") was conditioned not only by the need for information, but also by the desire of people to be in the center of what is happening. Young TV presenters proved by their example that freedom of speech is emerging in the country and free polemics around the problems that worried people are possible. (True, more than once during the perestroika years, TV management tried to return to the old practice of pre-recording programs.)
The polemical approach distinguished the most bright non-fiction documentaries that appeared at the turn of the 1990s: “It’s impossible to live like this” and “The Russia we lost” (dir. S. Govorukhin), “Is it easy to be young?” (dir. J. Podnieks). The last film was directly addressed to the youth audience.
The most famous art films about modernity, without embellishment and false pathos, told about the life of the younger generation (“Little Vera”, dir. V. Pichul, “Assa”, dir. S. Solovyov, both appeared on the screen in 1988). Solovyov gathered a crowd of young people to shoot the last shots of the film, announcing in advance that he would sing and act V. Tsoi. His songs became for the generation of the 1980s. what the work of V. Vysotsky was for the previous generation.
From the press, essentially , "forbidden" topics disappeared. The names of N. I. Bukharin, L. D. Trotsky, L. B. Kamenev, G. E. Zinoviev and many other repressed political figures returned to history. Party documents that had never been published were made public, and the declassification of archives began. It is characteristic that one of the “first signs” in understanding the past were the works of Western authors already published abroad on the Soviet period of national history (S. Cohen “Bukharin”, A. Rabinovich “The Bolsheviks Go to Power”, the two-volume “History of the Soviet Union” of the Italian historian J. Boffa). The publication of the works of N. I. Bukharin, unknown to the new generation of readers, caused a heated discussion about alternative models for building socialism. The very figure of Bukharin and his legacy were opposed to Stalin; the discussion of development alternatives was conducted in the context of modern prospects for the "renewal of socialism". The need to comprehend the historical truth and answer the questions “what happened” and “why did this happen” to the country and people aroused great interest in publications on Russian history of the 20th century, especially in the memoir literature that began to appear without censored cuts. Into the light in 1988 the first issue of the Our Heritage magazine was published, on its pages appear unknown materials on the history of Russian culture, including from the heritage of the Russian emigration.
Contemporary art also sought answers to the questions that tormented people. Director's film T. E. Abuladze "Repentance"(1986) - a parable about world evil, embodied in the recognizable image of a dictator, without exaggeration, shocked society. At the end of the picture, an aphorism was sounded, which became the leitmotif of perestroika: “Why the road if it does not lead to the temple?” The problems of a person’s moral choice turned out to be the focus of attention of two masterpieces of Russian cinema, different in themes - the film adaptation of M. A. Bulgakov’s story “Heart of a Dog” (Dir. V. Bortko, 1988) and “Cold Summer of 53rd” (dir. A. Proshkin , 1987). In the box office there were also those films that had not previously been allowed on the screen by censorship or came out with huge bills: A. Yu. German, A. A. Tarkovsky, K. P. Muratova, S. I. Parajanov. The strongest impression was made by A. Ya. Askoldov's picture "Commissioner" - a film of high tragic pathos.
The intensity of the public discussion found visible expression in the perestroika poster. From a propaganda tool familiar to Soviet times, the poster turned into a tool for exposing social vices and criticizing economic difficulties.

At the turn of the 1990s. there was a period of rapid growth of the historical self-awareness of the nation and the peak of social activity. Changes in economic and political life were becoming a reality, people were seized by the desire to prevent the reversibility of changes. However, there was no consensus on the priorities, mechanisms and pace of change. Around the "perestroika" press, supporters of the radicalization of the political course and the consistent implementation of democratic reforms were grouped. They enjoyed wide support public opinion that took shape in the first years of perestroika.

Along with glasnost, another keyword of perestroika appears - pluralism , meaning diversity of opinion on the same issue

The presence of public opinion, based on the media, was a new phenomenon in Russian history. Leaders of public opinion appeared in the country from among the representatives of the creative intelligentsia - journalists, writers, scientists. Among them were many people of civic duty and great personal courage.
At the end of 1986 AD Sakharov returned from his exile in Gorky. Widely known as one of the creators of the hydrogen weapon, human rights activist and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize (1975), the scientist was also a tireless champion of morality in politics. His civil position was not always met with understanding. Sakharov was elected to the First Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR. "A prophet in the ancient, primordial sense of the word, that is, a man who called his contemporaries to moral renewal for the sake of the future," Sakharov was called in his farewell speech by an outstanding scientist, philologist and historian D. S. Likhachev.
The name of D.S. Likhachev is associated with a whole era in the development of the domestic humanities. In the conditions of growing disillusionment in socio-political ideals in the last Soviet years, he gave a personal example of the selfless public service of a Russian intellectual. "To be intelligent" he considered "the social duty of a person", investing in this concept, first of all, "the ability to understand the other." His works on the history of ancient Russian literature and culture are imbued with the conviction that the preservation and enhancement of the national spiritual heritage is the key to the successful development of the country in the 21st century. During the years of perestroika, this call was heard by millions of people. The scientist was known for his uncompromising position in the protection of historical and cultural monuments and tireless educational activities. More than once, his intervention prevented the destruction of historical heritage.
With their moral and civil position, such people as D.S. Likhachev and A.D. Sakharov had a huge impact on the spiritual climate in the country. Their activities have become a moral guide for many in an era when the usual ideas about the country and the world around us began to collapse.
Changes in the spiritual climate in society stimulated the rise of civic activity. During the years of perestroika, numerous public initiatives independent of the state were born. So called informals(i.e. non-state organized activists ) gathered under the "roof" of scientific institutes, universities and such well-known public (actually state) organizations as the Soviet Peace Committee. Unlike in the past, community initiative groups created from below people of very different views and ideological positions, all of them were united by the willingness to personally participate in achieving radical changes for the better in the country. Among them were representatives of emerging political movements, they created debating clubs (“ Club of Social Initiatives”, “Perestroika”, then “Perestroika-88”, “Democratic Perestroika”, etc.). At the end of 1988, the Moscow Tribune club became an authoritative socio-political center. Its members - well-known representatives of the intelligentsia, leaders of public opinion - gathered for an expert discussion of the most significant problems for the country. A whole range of various non-political and near-political initiatives focused on human rights activities has appeared (such as “ civic dignity"), to protect the environment (Socio-ecological union), on the organization of local self-government, on the sphere of leisure and a healthy lifestyle. The groups that set the task of the spiritual revival of Russia were mainly of a pronounced religious nature. At the beginning of 1989, there were about 200 informal clubs, similar forms of social self-organization existed in large industrial and scientific centers of the country. Such groups had a noticeable impact on public opinion and were able to mobilize supporters and sympathizers. On this basis, during the years of perestroika, a civil society was born in the country.
The flow of Soviet people who traveled abroad also increased sharply, and mainly not due to tourism, but as part of public initiatives (“people's diplomacy”, “children's diplomacy”, family exchanges). Perestroika opened a “window to the world” for many.
But a significant part of society, mindful of the unfulfilled hopes of the previous generation for change, took a wait-and-see attitude. There were loud calls "protect socialism" and the Soviet legacy from "falsification". A storm of responses was caused by an article published in the newspaper "Soviet Russia" in March 1988 by a teacher from Leningrad, N. Andreeva, under the telling title "I can't give up my principles." From other positions - the struggle against the penetration of "Western influences destructive for the nation" and for the preservation of identity - famous writers and artists spoke - V. I. Belov, V. G. Rasputin, I. S. Glazunov and others. The clash between supporters of Western-style democratic reforms and those who advocated the “reform” of socialism itself, for a return to “real” socialist ideals, adherents of openly anti-communist views and those who supported the idea of ​​a renewed restoration of the Soviet system, threatened to go beyond the bounds of passionate polemics in the press and on the podium of the Congress of People's Deputies. It reflected the beginning of the political division in society.
In 1986, Znamya magazine published A. A. Beck’s “thaw” novel The New Appointment, which was never published in the 1960s, a passionate exposure of the vices of the administrative-command system of the Stalin era. The most interested and sensitive reader had novels A. Rybakov "Children of the Arbat", V. Dudintsev "White clothes", Y. Dombrovsky "Faculty of unnecessary things", D. Granin's story "Zubr". They are united, like the brightest films of perestroika, the desire to rethink the past and give it a moral and ethical assessment. Ch. Aitmatov in the novel "The Scaffold" (1987) first addressed the problems of drug addiction, about which in Soviet society it was not customary to speak aloud. New on the topics raised, all these works were written in the "educational" tradition of Russian literature.
Works that had previously been banned for publication in the USSR began to return to the reader. In Novy Mir, 30 years after B. L. Pasternak was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, the novel Doctor Zhivago was published. Books were published by writers of the first wave of emigration - I. A. Bunin, B. K. Zaitsev, I. S. Shmelev, V. V. Nabokov and those who were forced to leave the USSR already in the 1970s - A. A. Galich, I. A. Brodsky, V. V. Voinovich, V. P. Aksenov. For the first time in the homeland, "The Gulag Archipelago" by A.I. Solzhenitsyn and "Kolyma Tales" by V.T. Shalamov, A.A.

AT In June 1990, the law “On the Press and Other Mass Media” was adopted, finally abolishing censorship . Thus, the Soviet system of cultural management was basically destroyed. It was a great victory for the supporters of democratic reforms.

Changes in political life led to a gradual normalization of relations between the state and the church. Already in the 1970s. the development of interaction between the state and religious organizations was facilitated by the active peacekeeping activities of representatives of the leading confessions (especially the Russian Orthodox Church). In 1988, the millennium of the Baptism of Russia marked as an event of national importance. The center of the celebration was the Moscow St. Danilov Monastery, transferred to the church and restored.
In 1990, the USSR Law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations” was adopted, it guaranteed the right of citizens to profess any religion (or not to profess any) and equality of religions and denominations before the law, secured the right of religious organizations to participate in public life. Recognition of the significance of the Orthodox tradition in the spiritual life of the country was the appearance in the calendar of a new public holiday - the Nativity of Christ (for the first time on January 7, 1991.

The wave of enthusiasm that rose after the new leadership came to power, after 2-3 years, sharply subsided. Disappointment in the results of the announced Gorbachev's course on "acceleration of socio-economic development". There is visible evidence that the country is rapidly on the path of deepening social inequality. The first alternative forms of employment and get rich quick emerged. The proliferation of trading and intermediary cooperatives that bought goods at state prices and resold them, or used state equipment to support their work, led to the appearance of the country's first rich people in an environment where many industries began to stand idle due to interruptions in the supply of raw materials, and wages quickly depreciated. A stunning impression was made by the appearance in the country the first "legal" millionaires: businessman, member of the CPSU A. Tarasov, for example, paid party dues from millions of incomes . At the same time, the announced campaign of "fighting unearned income" (1986) hurt those who earned money by tutoring, selling flowers on the street, private cabs, etc.
The beginning disorganization of production led to the destruction of redistribution mechanisms, and the economy continued to be pumped up with unsecured money supply. As a result, in peacetime and for no apparent reason, literally everything began to disappear from the shelves - from meat and butter to matches. In order to somehow regulate the situation, they introduced coupons for some essential goods (for example, soap), there were long queues in stores. This made the older generation remember the first post-war years. Goods could be purchased from resellers and in the market, but here the prices were several times higher and most of the population were not available. As a result, for the first time in many years, state prices for everyday goods crept up. The standard of living of the people began to fall.
The last large-scale campaign of the Soviet era left a very ambiguous impression - anti-alcohol.(1986) Shortly after MS Gorbachev came to the leadership of the country, emergency measures were announced to limit alcohol consumption. The number of outlets selling alcoholic beverages was sharply reduced, “non-alcoholic weddings” were widely promoted in the press, and plantations of elite grape varieties in the south of the country were destroyed. As a result, the shadow turnover of alcohol and moonshine brewing jumped sharply.
These and other emergency measures discredited the social and economic course of the Gorbachev leadership. Trying to "pat up the holes", the state began to cut funding for defense and scientific programs. Millions of people continued to formally be registered in production and scientific institutions, but in fact they stopped receiving salaries or received them at a level below the subsistence level. As a result, many were left without a livelihood and were forced to look for any employment opportunities that were not related to their qualifications, primarily in trade. The level of state social protection continued to fall, failures began in the healthcare sector, in the provision of medicines. To late 1980s the country's birth rate has plummeted. Man-made disasters (Chernobyl, the death of the nuclear submarine "Komsomolets") exacerbated disillusionment with the management's ability to deal with the crisis. Uncertainty about the correctness of the chosen course was also inspired by the "falling away" from the Soviet system of the countries of the socialist camp (1989).
characteristic trend of the late 1980s. there was a stormy interest in "soap operas" - the first Mexican and Brazilian series to appear on the screen. Non-traditional cults and beliefs, including aggressive sectarian ones, began to spread, foreign preachers appeared in the country. Healing has acquired the character of a mass hobby, which was broadcast on television. This testified to the confusion of people in the face of the growing socio-economic crisis. In the context of a sharp drop in income, for many, labor on the garden plot has become the main means of maintaining a standard of living. The Soviet people, accustomed to counting on the help of the state, found themselves face to face with these problems. A stormy discussion of topical issues in the press did not lead to visible changes for the better. Disappointment in the results of glasnost known publicist V.I. Selyunin expressed in a capacious formula: "There is publicity, there is no audibility."
"We want change!" - the heroes of the popular film "Assa" demanded. Characteristic were the words of the song by Viktor Tsoi (1988):

Our hearts demand change
Our eyes demand change.
In our laughter and in our tears
And in the pulsation of the veins ...
Change, we are waiting for change.

The Soviet era in the history of the country was ending

The country's transition to a market economy and radical changes in political and social life took place in conditions of information openness. The ideological dictate of the state and with it censorship disappeared. The information services market was rapidly saturated. Citizens received free access to the Internet, a global communications network. The number of its users in 2003 was about 11.5 million people.

In the early 1990s sharply reduced State spending on the development of culture. Clubs and creative centers, exhibition halls and cinemas, sports and tourist bases were closed. The circulation of literary and art magazines and newspapers, which once had huge audiences, fell.

In the conditions of a market economy, only those spheres of culture that enjoyed commercial success due to popularity with a mass audience developed most dynamically. Numerous private publishing houses appeared. The market of books and periodicals was rapidly saturated, primarily with entertainment publications.

Products of foreign mass culture, sometimes not of the best artistic quality, poured onto the screens and into the press in a wide stream. Such symbols of Western everyday life as the McDonald's fast food restaurant, as well as products of the well-known trademarks Coca-Cola and Reebok, etc., have become popular with the consumer.

In the domestic youth culture, subcultural groups have emerged, focused on styles of behavior and clothing borrowed from foreign everyday experience, imitation of the heroes of mass culture.

Thus, the Tolkienists (fans of the novels of J. R. Tolkien) were looking forward to the appearance on the screen of new films with the adventures of their idols. Aikidoka promoted the lifestyle of fans of martial arts. The punks were distinguished by special signs in clothing and in communicating with each other. Metalheads, rockers and rappers have defended their commitment to various trends in modern popular music. Their style of dressing copied the predilections in the clothes of their musical idols.

Entertainment centers - clubs, discos, reproducing Western standards have become popular forms of youth leisure. The trend of westernization (borrowing Western models) of youth culture vividly reflected the processes that took place in mass culture in the context of its rapid spread.

In the second half of the 1990s. the supply of mass cultural products of domestic design has increased. The leisure sector has developed rapidly. Domestic television series and commercial films, video clips and commercials appeared. As a result, the consumer-oriented entertainment industry has become one of the most dynamic sectors of the national economy. Book publishing and television, production and distribution of audiovisual products, show business, construction of new and refurbishment of old cultural facilities have become the focus of domestic business. Continuing the traditions of Russian philanthropy, the largest companies and banks provided financial support to musical and theater groups, publishing, educational and restoration projects.

A kind of response to the commercialization of mass forms of leisure was the growth of interest in the domestic cultural and spiritual heritage, in religious and secular traditions. Hundreds of Orthodox churches and many mosques were returned to believers. Attention to culture and traditions of Orthodoxy, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism and other faiths has increased. The sphere of religious education and upbringing has developed - from Sunday schools to seminaries, theological academies and universities, as well as publishing.

In search of sustainable value orientations, people turned to the historical and cultural heritage of the country. New forms of development of the national heritage have appeared - historical and cultural dramatizations that recreate episodes of major historical events - the Battle of Kulikovo, the Battle of Borodino, etc., which are always a success with the viewer.

Cultural tourism has become one of the promising areas for the economic development of Russian territories around historical heritage sites. In total, at the end of the past century, there were about 2,000 state museums in Russia, including 90 reserves.

The features of the spiritual life of the country were largely determined by the dynamics of social and cultural changes that took place in Russian society in the post-Soviet period.

The variety of forms of creativity has increased. Different directions, styles, schools and artistic personalities got the opportunity to express their own views and realize their potential. Many of them not only entered into creative disputes and conflicts with each other, but also caused fierce discussions in society. The process of spiritual rethinking of the past and the search for one's place in the globalizing world continued. Cultural life was open to influences and borrowings from other cultures and at the same time was looking for ways to update its own traditions. The primary task was the accumulation of intellectual capital - the main resource for the development of the modern world, improving the quality and level of education. As social stratification deepened, television became the main source of meeting the cultural needs of a significant part of the population (the average duration of watching TV programs was about 3-3.5 hours a day). Part of the Russians, who had a high level of income, on the contrary, focused on the elite leisure industry - paid TV channels, access to the Internet, expensive clubs and foreign tourism.