Even in Soviet art, this need to be “realistic” while the rest of the world went ga-ga over cubist perspectives is fascinating. I could never be a communist – I am too much of an individualist for that – and I think it’s interesting that most communist icons were all powerful and charismatic individuals. Thanks for the Trotsky tip!

I can’t say I lament the Fatherland that put so many good Communists to death. But the social engineering of the early Soviet regime is fascinating: they really had a sense that they were remaking the world, heightening the cultural level of the masses (‘culture’ in the older, social sense of the word, not only art.)

Trotsky has some great pieces in the collection “Problems of Everyday Life” which detail that effort. Like outlawing the word ‘thou’ in the army – reserved for officers and one’s social betters – and replacing it with ‘you’, to introduce linguistic equality. Like many measures – legalized abortion & homosexuality, collective kitchens, artistic pluralism – it didn’t last, but it showed a glimpse into what even a poor revolutionary society can accomplish.

Thanks for the chance to go on about communism & the USSR :-)

Anon2: Boots? That always makes me think of All Quiet on the Western Front. Something about boots – I think the character called Kemmerich dies and tells a certain Paul to give Müller his boots. Something about symbolism and death. Fascinating.