Leaders from the Old Intelligentsia
Anti-intellectualism was very strong in the Proletkult movement, as indeed it was in many institutions in the early Soviet years. Whereas central leaders' criticisms of peasants and the
[33] From the delegate list for the 1921 Proletkult congress, TsGALI f. 1230, op. 1, d. 144. For general statistics, not broken down according to occupational standing, see Biulleten' vtorogo s"ezda Proletkul'tov , no. 1 (1921), pp. 92–93.
[34] From the delegate list to the 1921 national congress, TsGALI f. 1230, op. 1, d. 144, ll. 115, 124.
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petty bourgeoisie were often ignored, the negative language they employed against intellectuals struck a responsive chord among the membership. It evoked the deeply rooted resentment of the laboring masses against the privileged. In the words of a delegate at the first Proletkult national congress, "I know of only two classes—the oppressed poor and the rich exploiters."[35] The old intelligentsia, as a representative of the old elite, was easily consigned to the alien and hostile world of "the burzhui and their lackeys."[36]
However, this Manichaean worldview proved too simple to describe the complex social realities of Soviet Russia. The angry attacks on intellectuals, so common in the Proletkult press, were not consistent in their targets. Participants separated the intellectual elite into two camps; on one side was the hostile "bourgeois" intelligentsia, on the other a potentially friendly group of "socialist" or "revolutionary" intellectuals. Political sympathies, not social origins, determined an individual's assignation. Those who doubted the revolution were the enemies, but the ones who had proven their commitment to the working class through political work or longstanding involvement in proletarian cultural projects were often exempted from criticism.[37] They escaped condemnation through a metamorphosis from outsider to insider. This redefinition of friend and foe, based on attitude and function rather than on class standing, allowed Proletkult participants to entrust intellectuals with important positions without appearing to abandon the organization's principles.
The Proletkult's most important theorists contributed to this complicated use of social categories. Lebedev-Polianskii
[35] Protokoly pervoi konferentsii , p. 22.
[36] A. P., "Kholmskii s"ezd rabotnikov po vneshkol'nomu obrazovaniiu," Vneshkol'noe obrazovanie (Petrograd), no. 2/3 (1919), p. 96.
[37] See, for example, I. Fuks, "Intelligentsiia i kollektivnoe tvorchestvo," Griadushchaia kul'tura , no. 4/5 (1919), p. 20; S. Krivtsov, "Konferentsiia Proletkul'tov," Rabochii mir , no. 14 (1919), p. 32; and Knizhnik, Karl Ozol'—Prednek, and A.M., "God bor'by za proletarskuiu kul'turu," Griadushchee , no. 8 (1918), p. 18.
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was one of the most outspoken advocates of class purity. Intellectuals come to us, he said, and they have skills we need, but we should place them under strict controls.[38] Despite his own privileged background, he obviously excluded himself from the role of "suspect outsider." Bogdanov, another intellectual, argued for the integrity of the proletarian worldview, unsullied and unaltered by the manipulations of class-alien elements.[39] But he certainly did not question his own ability to articulate the thoughts of the proletariat.
Despite numerous rules regulating their involvement, socialist intellectuals took part in Proletkult leadership at all levels, from membership in the national central committee to advisory roles in factory circles. The most influential were those in the central organization, where intellectuals held some of the most important positions. They all had excellent revolutionary credentials. Like their worker-counterparts, they were members of the Communist Party, with the notable exception of Aleksandr Bogdanov.[40] Many also held high posts in other Soviet institutions.
The national Proletkult president from 1918–1920, Pavel Lebedev-Polianskii, was the university-educated son of a minor tsarist official. Born in 1881, he first attended a seminary school, went to the university to study medicine, and then turned to professional political work in 1903. In 1908 he fled Russia for Switzerland, joining the left Bolshevik Vpered faction. Lebedev-Polianskii did not return to Russia until 1917, when he officially rejoined the Bolshevik Party. He took on important positions in the new state, serving on the Petro-
[38] P. I. Lebedev-Polianskii, "Revoliutsiia i kul'turnye zadachi proletariata," Protokoly pervoi konferentsii , p. 26. See also his speech at the first meeting of the Proletarian Writers' Union in 1920, "Privetstyle Vserossiiskomu s"ezdu proletarskikh pisatelei ot mezhdunarodnogo biuro Proletkul'tov," in V. Volkova, comp., "Materialy Proletkul'ta v TsGALI," Voprosy literatury , no. 1 (1958), p. 183.
[39] See, for example, A. A. Bogdanov, "Proletarskii universitet," Proletarskaia kul'tura , no. 5 (1918), pp. 9–13.
[40] See "Neobkhodimoe ob"iasenie," TsGALI f. 1230, op. 1, d. 51, l. 6.
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grad soviet, the national soviet, and heading the literary publishing division of Narkompros, where he also edited a major educational journal.[41] In his role as national president and editor of Proletarian Culture Lebedev-Polianskii had the power to define the Proletkult's institutional identity.
Aleksandr Bogdanov was the Proletkult's main theorist and inspirational figure. A member of the Proletkult central committee and editor of Proletarian Culture , his influence extended well beyond his formal institutional position. His prolific writings on the themes of culture, science, and social organization earned him a following far outside the confines of the Proletkult. Bogdanov worked as a lecturer and educator in Moscow during the early Soviet years, giving his services to many different cultural groups, including the Socialist Academy.[42]
Other important intellectuals in the national organization included Anna Dodonova, who served on all national governing boards from 1918 until the Proletkult was disbanded in 1932. Born in 1888, Dodonova joined the Bolshevik faction in 1911. She took part in the October uprising as the secretary of the Moscow Military Revolutionary Committee and joined the cultural division of the Moscow soviet.[43] Vladimir Faidysh, a Moscow party member, also served on the Moscow Military Revolutionary Committee. Elected to the national Proletkult in 1918, he became vice president in 1921.[44] Fedor Blagonravov, an old Bolshevik, was a member of the Prolet-