A New Era of Manipulation
“Vodka, the Church, and the Cinema” This writing by Leon Trotsky provides a glimpse into what Trotsky envisioned the new culture as. As one of the leaders of this new soviet endeavor Trotsky looked towards the future but also the past. He saw how the old fit with the new, and how the old would not work with this new nation of workers. Trotsky was an idealist, and a firm believer in this new communist world. However, in this writing we can see just how disconnected he was. Trotsky not only wished to fundamentally change Russia’s political and social structure but also its cultural structure. In doing this he set out to utilize a new player, cinema.
Trotsky first realized that Russia had devolved into an alcoholic state. This state had been produced by the czars and their monopoly on vodka that not only kept the people drunk and preoccupied but also filled their pockets. Trotsky recognized its use and potential but also realized that this would not fit in his new Culture. This pathological drinking would not create an educated and active proletariat. Trotsky however did understand that this would be a difficult change for the people to make so he needed to find a replacement for this entertainment.
Also on Trotsky’s chopping block was religion. He held that religion was a façade, a thing people just go through the motions of. He described that religion was empty and pointless and only served as a means to find some meaning or for entertainment. Trotsky seriously believed that almost all Russian people believed as he did that religion is a farce. He believed that it was only a means of pacifying the masses and in fact that everyone just went through the motions and now faith actually existed.
To replace these two facets of Russian culture cinema was the answer. Trotsky held cinema as the new way forward for Russian culture. It would serve as a venue for education as well as entertainment for the masses. A lever that the government could control and use for its purposes. Cinema would become the new way of controlling the people, a new method of propaganda and manipulation. This idea is genius and mad at the same time though. We can see Trotsky is a man of great resolve for the formation of a new culture however he is clearly out of touch. I believe that in reading this proposed plan we can see just how disconnected the party leaders would become from the people and why in the end the Soviet government would fall.
https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/women/life/23_07_12.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Trotsky
September 21, 2015 @ 8:16 pm
I thought this was a great insight to Trotsky’s article about cinema! You fully unpack his methodology and reasoning behind his push for the Party to take control of the cinema. I found it interesting how you called out Trotsky on being an idealist. You raise a valid point here, and give us a good snapshot as to how far he was willing to go to see his vision of socialism was realized by the USSR.
September 22, 2015 @ 12:37 am
You did a really good job on this and explaining how Trotsky saw vodka and the church. I really like how you compared them to being old culture of Russia and how they were just the motions of what people did and then on the flip side presented Cinema as a new culture. I think you were right in saying he was out of touch but at the same time cinema could have been used in a really great way to spread new culture throughout Russia. Good post!
September 22, 2015 @ 1:06 am
I thought you did a great job on explaining Trotsky and his viewpoints; everything was very clear. I also liked how you pointed out the disconnect between the party leaders and the people. It seems like an accurate description.
September 22, 2015 @ 2:25 am
It was definitely forward thinking for Trotsky to take such a strong stance on cinema and embrace it as the most powerful form of media. Do you think his efforts to redirect Russian culture were effective?
September 22, 2015 @ 2:29 am
Great post! I used the same image in my block, and I believe it captures the essence of what Trotsky had to say about the Soviet prohibition of alcohol. It’s quite interesting to think of something like cinema as a tool for influence and the proliferation of propaganda.
September 22, 2015 @ 3:30 am
I agree with the idea that Trotsky had of using the cinema as a way to reach the masses and fuel a revolution. He is genius and mad at the same time for being smart in using this new technology to accomplish his goal but mad at the same time for the sort of dark feeling and notion that this has. Cinema was the brand new propaganda go to and I agree that the government also saw it as a way to keep the people believing what the government wanted to them to believe. Basically with Cinema, the government could better control the people.
September 22, 2015 @ 7:30 am
I found the explanation of how Trotsky envisioned new russian culture really interesting. You did a great job explaining all of his views and how/ what he hoped to change. His idealism made him out of touch in a way but he still had a profound impact on the culture of the people and was successful in many ways.