HISTORY 305 MIDTERM KEY

Group I, Question 1

What purpose were parades and public demonstrations supposed to serve in the Soviet Union during the 1930s? To what extent did they succeed in achieving their intended purpose?

Below are a variety of points that address the question. A thorough answer need not include every point, but the more of these points included in an answer, the higher the grade the answer received.

1) Note the purpose of parades and celebrations was to unify country under a single Soviet identity of order, patriotism, harmony

2) Point out the presence of hierarchies which diluted the message of the parades, such as:

• Distance between those in the parades and those who watched atop mausoleum

• Placement of workers based on merit

• Exclusive use of bronzed, perfect physical specimens

• Two meanings of Tank tops and Shorts (Muslim population’s culture is ignored)

• Placement and defining roles of outlying republics (Armenia guards border, Uzbekistan produced cotton)

3) Note that the regime tamped down of spontaneity and celebration despite the fact that the parades were intended as spontaneous celebrations of Soviet achievment

4) Important to explain the ultimate, overriding clash between the celebration of equality and the need for order.

Sample “A” Answer

In the 1930’s, Soviet authorities intended to use parades and public demonstrations to unite their vast country and create a universal Soviet identity based on order, patriotism and egalitarian harmony. In the organization of the parades, however, leaders relied heavily on the many hierarchies that existed within the supposedly monolithic Soviet society These hierarchies, based on such factors as age, appearance, gender, nationality, Party membership, place of residence, social status, and occupation, tended to undermine the very unifying message that the parades and public demonstrations were intended to convey. As a result, the Soviet citizenry read many ambiguous meanings into the nature of Soviet power and identity.

By their very nature, parades created an immediate distance between the elites and the less exalted members of Soviet society. Those who marched paid tribute to and sought approval from the top echelon of the party, particularly Stalin, who stood watching from his perch atop Lenin’s mausoleum. The order of march within the parade reflected additional hierarchies. For example, planners rewarded laborers who were judged the most productive—shock workers and Stakhonovites—with placement in the front ranks, while those who failed to meet their production goals were humiliated by bringing up the rear. Instead of fostering harmony, such differentiation resulted in tension, resentment, and rivalry among workers.

In physical culture parades, leaders sought to showcase the bronzed, perfectly fit specimen of the new Soviet man, thus disqualifying many enthusiastic, loyal Soviets who could not physically meet such an exalted standard. Additionally, by forcing participants to parade in shorts and tank-tops, the leadership strove to convey the victory of Soviet identity over that of more culturally backward peoples. For Muslim populations, in particular, such liberated garb symbolized sexual permissiveness and disrespect to women, hardly a unifying ethic.

The inclusion of delegations from outlying republics purported to demonstrate that the Soviet Union was comprised of equal sovereignties, and yet the Russian delegation was always deemed “first among equals.” The other republics’ participation did not reflect their unique nationalities, but rather were defined solely by their military and economic contributions to the Union. In this regard, the Uzbeks’ parade motif was cotton, representing the extent to which the Uzbekistan had become a one crop “colony” of the Moscow center.

The parade participants’ desires to spontaneously enjoy the celebrations clashed with the authorities’ efforts to use the parades to project a sense of Soviet control over even the remotest regions of the empire. Elements of rural culture and traditional holiday practice were unwelcome. The holiday spirit that sometimes led to drinking, even among party cadres who were supposed to supervise their constituencies, further eroded the sense of order and discipline that the parades were intended to promote.

In sum, Soviet officials’ attempts to celebrate equality clashed with their desire to represent order. The parades, therefore, delivered conflicting messages as they came to reflect a series of hierarchies then existing in Soviet society. The hierarchies included center over periphery, Russians over non-Russians, Christians over Muslims, party over non-party, military over civilian, good workers over bad workers, Soviet culture over folk culture, and Stalin over all.

Group I, Question 2

Why were both the bratushki and the bohemian fox-trotters a threat to the Soviet regime? Why didn’t they conform to the regime’s idea of being a “good communist”? Explain why each group posed a different kind of threat.

Below are a variety of points that address the question. A thorough answer need not include every point, but more of these points included in an answer, the higher the grade the answer received.

The bratushki

ü The bratushki (“little brothers”) were fiercely opposed to the New Economic Policy (NEP) of the Bolsheviks because they saw it as a retreat from socialism and the militancy of the revolution.

ü At the heart of the bratushki’s disillusionment with party authorities was a generational critique that accused the older generation of “selling out” Communist values. The bratushki felt that the older generation of Communists had betrayed the revolution.

ü The bratushki also criticized the Komsomol (Communist Party youth organization) for being too bureaucratic and failing in its role as a revolutionary organization.

ü The bratushki supported Trotsky and the radical wing of the party.

ü The youthfulness and militancy of the bratushki were ill-suited for a regime bent on stabilizing the country and solidifying its power through a moderate and gradualist approach to the consolidation of socialism.

ü The bratushki explicitly rejected official conceptions of communist youth culture, which stressed personal hygiene, cleanliness, politeness, and discipline.

ü The bratushki challenged the right of the Bolsheviks in power to determine and define the revolutionary agenda.

Bohemian foxtrotters

ü The NEP, by opening the channels of cultural exchange with the West, created the environment that allowed the bohemian fox-trotters to flourish. Not only elite Soviet citizens, but the working-class as well embraced jazz music and flapper fashions.

ü Western clothing and dance were visible reminders of the threat to a “healthy communist body politic” and challenged the more serious and puritanical aspects of Bolshevik culture.

ü Whereas the bratushki challenged the Bolsheviks on the grounds of the “embourgoisiement” encouraged by the NEP, it was the NEP that allowed the fox-trotters to embrace a level of individuality and sophistication that threatened the primacy of the collective interest.

ü In the contentious environment of postwar Russia, the bratushki and the fox-trotters were threatening to a regime struggling to retain control over definitions of proper communist behavior.

ü The blatant sexuality of the new dances signified a level of individuality and personal desire that was dangerous to the interests of the collective.

ü The embrace of flapper fashions reflected a yearning for independence and sophistication that was at odds with the modest, working-class lifestyle advocated by the Bolsheviks.

ü Some fox trotters rejected or ignored politics – a threat to a regime that wished to politicize every aspect of its citizens’ lives.

ü The open identification with bourgeois culture threatened the socialization of youth in the values and culture of communism.

Group I, Question 3

What are the components of a socialist realist movie? Why, during the 1930s, did the Stalinist regime insist that all movies follow the socialist realist formula? How did such a formula serve the purposes of the Soviet regime?

A thorough answer should include the following points:

1) Portrayal of the present as it will be in the future

2) Consciousness-raising structure: Hero, Mentor, Villain and lack of conflict

3) Crafted for the masses to educate, rather than entertain

4) Personal life sublimated to the collective (characters often single)

5) No place for irony or ambiguity – promoted the one truth

6) Intelligible for the masses

7) Government wants to push ideology while securing population from foreign ideas

8) Glorifying common heroes inspires workers to “keep at it.”

9) Fairy tales about the shining future designed to lift the people’s spirits and deflect their attention from grim conditions in their own lives

Group II, Question 1

What did American reformers have against many of the “new amusements” (dance halls, movies, cabarets, jazz)? Why did they think these amusements were corrupting influences?

Ø Critics of the new amusements were of two types: conservative and progressive. Traditional moralists, often of an evangelical background, saw popular entertainment in general as an affront to God. Genteel critics decried the vulgarity of popular culture and feared its degrading influence on civilization. Progressive critics—social gospel ministers, elite businessmen, and settlement workers—were not against entertainment per se, but thought its nature and content should be patrolled by the state so as to encourage moral uplift.

Ø Reformers feared the “commercialization” of entertainment that the new amusements represented. They did not want entertainment to be dominated by those only looking to make money; they believed the church, community, and parents should have more influence on what young people did during their free time.

Ø The new amusements eroded Victorian ideals of gendered behavior. The separate spheres ideology and the cult of domesticity came under sustained attack by the new freedom young women exercised. They could go out in public and mingle with young men from other social, class and ethnic backgrounds unsupervised by their parents.

Ø Reformers feared that changing sex roles would damage womanhood, weaken the family and in general lead to the decline of American civilization.

Ø Settlement workers especially believed that urban, co-ed amusements lured young women into prostitution.

Ø Reformers also feared the threat to their own moral and cultural authority posed by successive waves of immigration in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Ø Public dancing, drinking and mingling threatened the rigid segregation of gender, social class, and ethnicity enforced during the Victorian era. WASP women could now mix with “swarthy,” lower-class Italian and Jewish men.

Ø Because women were seen as the moral guardians of society, the moral corruption of the new amusements threatened the destruction of social progress and order.

Ø Pleasure-loving women would destroy male identity and the masculine work ethic.

Group II, Question 2

What factors contributed to the emergence of a new youth culture in the United States during the 1920s? (These factors can be economic, technological, political, or social.)

A thorough answer should take note of political, economic, social, and technological factors that converged to produce a distinct youth culture in the 1920s and also offer some examples of or explanation for the significance of each factor.

Among the points that should be included:

1) Explanation of the post-World War I disillusionment and how it affected the younger generation.

2) How young people rejected the optimism, confidence in technology, and hypocrisy associated with the Victorian generation.

3) Reference to changing gender roles and relations (dating vs courting; women expressing their sexuality more openly; more mingling between the sexes)

4) Reference the emergence of a peer culture with its own set of rules

5) Explanation of how 1920s prosperity affected youth (access to cars, more disposable income, consumerism, influence of advertising)

6) Reference to new entertainment outlets (movies, jazz, dance halls)

7) Reference to new fashions that gave youth a distinct look

8) Explanation of how high schools and participation in the “new entertainments” (dance halls, movies, etc.) blurred traditional boundaries to produce a youth subculture that crossed these boundaries

Group II, Question 3

How did economic, technological, and political factors influence the kinds of movies Hollywood produced during the Depression Era?

I. Economic

To retain audiences (and profits), between 1930-1934 Hollywood studios produced titillating and sensationalist ilms that emphasized sexual situations and sexual innuendo (She Done Him Wrong) as well as “leg” films like Goldiggers of 1933 and 42^nd Street. Similarly, violent action films were also considered reliable draws, so Hollywood offered numerous films in the war and gangster genres. Some studios even decided to move forward with big budget epics in the hopes that they would result in a major payoff at the box office.

II. Technological

The introduction of sound (noise, dialogue, and music) led to the production of wise-cracking comedies (often written by journalists or writers imported from the New York theater world), musicals, and gangster films. Even silent film star Charlie Chaplin incorporated sound into his films (Modern Times), though he used sound in imaginative ways and kept his signature character, the Tramp, from talking.

III. Political

Before FDR’s inauguration, some films took a dark, sardonic view of government and other social institutions, largely because both the filmmakers and their audiences believed these institutions had failed the country. The Marx Brothers Duck Soup is perhaps the best known example of such a film. But with the transformation of the national mood that accompanied the change in presidential administrations, the studios realized audiences wanted to see more upbeat, optimistic fare – films that appealed to their ideals, ambitions, and sentiments. The second generation of filmmakers also believed they could make more money if they gave audiences escapism and reassuring old-fashioned themes so as to release them from the tension, fear, and insecurity of their daily lives. Screwball comedies, which were satiric and sexual but ultimately restored order at the end, replaced the Marx Brothers’ more anarchistic, irreverent films. The Warner Brothers, who supported FDR both politically and financially, offered films with a “progressive” message that portrayed realistically (at least in the Warners’ view) the unfair fate that had befallen the “common man.”

Group III, Question 1

In what ways did Soviet popular culture during the 1930s differ from Soviet popular culture during the New Economic Policy (NEP) years? In other words, how did political developments in the Soviet Union affect the production of popular culture?

The key here is to show how developments in popular culture resulted from the changing political policies of the Communist regime.

Among the points a thorough answer should make are:

1) NEP cultural freedoms were emblematic of relatively weak Bolshevik political power

2) Under NEP, people have access to jazz, nightclubs, Western styles, and Western movies

3) Stalin asserts political control with first 5-year plan (industrialization, collectivization)

4) A Cultural Revolution follows that clamps down on the cultural diversity and relative cultural freedom of the NEP years (the new policy is more destructive than constructive, since it’s not yet clear what the new “positive” cultural policy will be.)

5) Stalin announces success of first plan and consolidates his political power

6) New “socialist realism” policy introduced as politics begin to control culture

7) Policies regarding popular culture are also Influenced by events in Europe (e.g. Nazis condemn jazz, so the Soviets have to avoid a blanket condemnation and “shape” jazz to fit the regime’s purposes.)

Sample Answer

Soviet popular culture in the twenties reflected the relative freedom of the NEP years, a time of unclear and ambiguous political direction. The Bolsheviks found themselves in no position to dictate either harsh economic reforms or cultural controls over a populace exhausted from World War I, revolution, and a civil war. After embracing forms of capitalism, the erstwhile evil, to save the country from economic ruin, the communist movement seemed to lose its focus. Young bohemians in the cities, some dressed like flappers, reveled in the wee hours of the night in casinos, cabarets, and cafes to the undulating rhythms of Western jazz. While the fox-trotting and Charleston crazes swept the cities, Izvestia ran ads for corsets and fashion magazines. Horrified young firebrands, the bratushkis, wondered how the wheels had come off their treasured revolution.

Soviet audiences of the NEP years also enjoyed a wide range of films, from proletariat agitprop to Western and domestic silent melodramas, comedies, and adventure films. American stars like Chaplain, Keaton, Pickford, and Fairbanks enjoyed enormous favor. In the wake of war and revolution, audiences wanted escapism and pure entertainment. Without the political muscle to impose a more political message, the Bolsheviks had no choice but to allow the marketplace to determine the fare.

All of this began to change in 1928 as Stalin consolidated his power and embarked on “the great change.” The introduction of the first five-year plan propelled the country, like it or not, onto the road to Industrialization and Collectivization. As Stalin demonstrated his ability to transform the political and economic landscape of the Soviet Union, he emboldened critics of the NEP cultural scene to launch the Cultural Revolution. On behalf of the proletariat, hard liners spoke out vociferously against the supposed vulgarities of frivolous, privileged NEP dilettantes. Western styles, science fiction, detective stories, escapist romances, fairy tales, folklore, and most certainly jazz were depicted as the poisons of a decadent class. The old intelligentsia was sent packing, literally in some cases, to the far reaches of the country, and older, revolutionary, ascetic values regained prominence. The revolution, however, was basically destructive. As the smoke cleared, it was easier to describe Soviet culture for what it was not (Western, modern, diverse, freely expressive) than for what it was.

With the end of the first five-year plan, Stalin sensed his exhausted nation needed a break. Thus for political reasons, he announced that “Life could become more cheerful, comrades.” He longed for just such a positive cultural message—one that was ideologically correct, easily accessible to the masses, and uncompromisingly upbeat. After a fierce debate among party functionaries and artists, the doctrine of socialist realism, which would dominate the Soviet cultural milieu for decades, emerged in 1934. It championed optimism, exuberance, comradely devotion, and education over entertainment, all wrapped up in a systematic story telling formula. With it, an emboldened Stalin strove to enact complete political oversight over cultural life in the Soviet Union. With an eye toward the troubling political developments in fascist Europe, the regime in effect closed the borders. It used Socialist realism to educate the masses on the bright shining future of communism while protecting them from dissident or subversive points of view. In fact, once the hated Nazis had declared jazz an abomination, it became incumbent upon Socialist Realists to find an ideological way to embrace it, resulting in the dysfunctional, but politically correct distinction between good, authentic, proletarian jazz and evil, capitalistic, exploitive jazz.

Socialist realism could bend jazz but it could never break it. As Stalin’s power continued to grow, it was far easier for his cultural commisars to shape the films that trumpeted the accomplishments of Stakhonovites, pilots, explorers, border guards and the like than to deal with jazz. Efforts to develop a top down alternative, like the dreadfully politically correct mass songs, were never successful. The emergence of a managerial class that enjoyed better salaries and relatively more access to forbidden Western goods further stoked the interest in jazz. This class, like the 20’s NEPmen, wanted to go out and be entertained in clubs and cafes. Soviet jazz bands continued to be tolerated and quietly proliferated, even though conservative elements continued to question their ideological propriety.

Group III, Question 2

What does S. Frederick Starr mean by the “Twin Revolutions of 1917?” Were these revolutions political, cultural, or both? Were they conducted as “top down” or “bottom up?” Regardless of which side you choose, explain your choice and back it up with specific evidence.

• World War I and the collapse of the nineteenth century world order called for new political ideals and caused a cultural vacuum. One can argue that the Bolsheviks were able to seize political power and this political revolution “from above” in turn produced a “top down” cultural revolution as Communist party authorities sought to control every aspect of the form, content, and distribution of culture.

• One could also argue that the Bolsheviks addressed the concerns of the people and came to power advancing what they claimed was an agenda to improve the quality of life of the average worker. Therefore the discontent that had been smoldering at the bottom of Russian society fomented a revolutionary situation and the Bolsheviks capitalized on this. In this sense, the Russian Revolution was “bottom up.”

• Starr’s “second revolution” occurred in the United States. The “Jazz Age” in America was a “bottom up” cultural revolution. Mass culture in the U.S. was truly popular and in no way beholden to the state. Starr argues that those trying to make money from the new forms of popular culture had to be particularly sensitive to what the public wanted, again showing the “bottom up” nature of this revolution.

• The technological revolution fueled the cultural revolution of jazz. Jazz, by nature spontaneous and experimental, could now be recorded, immortalized, and repeated at will with the use of novel recording techniques. It was this new recording technology that allowed the jazz revolution to spread around the world.

• It can be argued that although jazz in America was a “bottom up” phenomenon, it spread in Russia due only to the hard work and zeal of a few jazz partisans, thereby making it a “top down” development.

The key here is how well do you support your argument; how much corroborating evidence from the reading and lectures do you introduce to back up your choice regarding the “top down” or “bottom up” nature of the two revolutions.

The Maltese Falcon Question

Discuss ONE of the follow themes of The Maltese Falcon: Truth and Deception; Authority; Sam Spade as a detective. (You can use The Maltese Falcon study questions posted on the web as a guide for shaping your essay.)

(A thorough answer should address the various issues raised in the study questions pasted below.)

Truth and Deception

Does anyone tell the truth in this novel? How do the characters use deception and for what purposes? Does Hammett suggest that in the modern world, there are no “truths”? Or does he imply that by peeling back layers of deception, one can ultimately reach the truth? In Sam Spade’s world, must one resort to deception in order to survive? By trusting that someone is telling the truth does one insure betrayal? Of all the characters, why is Sam the most difficult to deceive?

• Characters are out for themselves and don’t tell the truth, though each one is after the truth. For some “truth” is more self-delusion, as they convince themselves of what they want to believe.

• Sam believes he can find the truth, but he doesn’t expect anyone to be honest with him. He must peel away layers of deception, though, ironically, he too must lie in order to get closer to the truth.

• The characters’ deceptions seem to allow them to survive (especially in Sam’s case) but other deceptions backfire, as in the case of Gutman’s attempt to reassure Wilmer; Cairo’s attempt to deceive Sam; Brigid’s attempts to deceive everyone; Archer’s attempt to deceive Thursby.

• Hammett suggests through Spade that we should be very skeptical of anyone preaching universal “truths.” We should also be careful before thoroughly trusting what people tell us. We shouldn’t assume someone is being honest simply because they tell a good story. We must decide based on our own powers of perception whether something is true. He has Sam say that you have to have a “system” but you also have to acknowledge when a situation falls outside what the “system” tells you is so – you have to be flexible and adapt to changing situations and not simply follow one prefabricated approach to life, since, inevitably, such “systems” come up short.

• Sam is difficult to deceive because, more so than any of the other characters, he can see the world from various perspectives, not just his own self-interested perspective.

Authority

What does this novel have to say about the legitimacy of authority and authority figures? What does Spade think of authority and “rules”? Are there any rules or is it best to make them up as one goes along? Is everyone corrupt, even Spade?

• Key point is for them to distinguish between “authority” per se and corrupt institutions that wield authority. Hammett suggests we should adhere to a certain individual code of ethics that respects authority (as Spade does), but that we should be very skeptical of those exercising authority since they are likely to be corrupt and abusive in their wielding of power and authority. (Many examples in the book of those who are trusted with power abusing it – the DA, the police, etc.)

• Spade believes there must be rules, but that rules should not be arbitrary or inflexible, otherwise they lose their usefulness. It seems one can make up the rules as one goes along, however, Spade seems to believe that one can only do this so long as one’s ultimate goal is just or that one adheres to fundamental rules: i.e. one looks out for one’s partner.

• Hammett presents Spade as a counterpoint to the corruption of the city and the corruption of the other characters. Despite his deceptions, he’s true to his own code of ethics. Similarly, Effie Perine is not corrupt. She is loyal to Spade and does not engage in deceptions. This may also make her appear to be naïve.

Sam Spade as a detective

How is Spade different than other famous literary detectives such as Sherlock Holmes – both as a person and as a detective? If he doesn’t use a magnifying glass and hunt for clues, how does he work? Is Spade any good at being a detective? If so, what skills does he have? Or does he simply leave things to chance? How does the context in which he works differ from that in which we find Holmes and other “genteel” detectives?

• Spade is actually considered a suspect during part of the novel and is deeply involved in the story rather than hovering above it and observing it after the fact. He must use violence to defend himself and his life is often put in danger.

• Spade doesn’t put the case together like an intellectual jigsaw puzzle; he doesn’t even have all the pieces. He must use his wits, deception, his ability to be flexible, his physical strength, and his ability to manipulate others to solve the crime.

• Spade is good at being a detective because he can see the world through multiple perspectives; he doesn’t delude himself as the others do. He reads people well; he is a skilled listener and he teases out the “truth” by listening to each character very closely and cross-checking what they say with what others say. By being sensitive to others’ points of view, he knows just what to say to win their trust or to extract information from them. He anticipates well and reacts quickly to changing situations. Physically, he uses his strength and quick reflexes to good effect.

• Spade operates in a context in which disorder reigns. The crimes and violence continue throughout the novel, whereas in a Sherlock Holmes story, the crime is usually overwith before the story begins and Holmes restores order by solving the mystery. Even at the end of The Maltese Falcon, order is not restored (Iva is at Sam’s door again.) Sam’s modern city is dangerous and unpredictable; Holmes is often solving crimes in the setting of a genteel country estate or in Victorian London. Holmes’ character is beyond reproach, whereas Sam is under suspicion throughout the novel and even the reader wonders just how honest he really is.

(In all three options, the stronger answers will give examples from the novel to illustrate their points.)