Life Has Become More Joyous, Comrades

In the Soviet Union in the 1930s, public celebrations flourished, while Stalinist terror and repression intensified. How can this coincidence of terror and celebration be explained? Using films, literature, memoirs, songs, folklore, and print media and drawing extensively on documents from previously inaccessible Soviet archives, Karen Petrone demonstrates that to dismiss Soviet celebrations as a mere diversion from terror is to lose a valuable opportunity to understand how the Soviet system operated in the 1930s. The Soviet state attempted to mobilise citizens to participate in the project to create New Soviet men and women through celebration culture. More than a means to provide diversion for a population suffering from poverty and deprivation, the planning and execution of celebrations reflected the effort of the Soviet intelligentsia to bring social and cultural enlightenment to the people. Physical culture demonstrations, celebrations of Arctic and aviation exploits, the Pushkin Centennial of 1937 and the 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution, and the celebration of New Year's Day were opportunities for the Soviet leadership to fuse traditional pre-revolutionary values and practices with socialist ideology in an effort to educate its citizens and build support for the state and its policies. However, official celebrations were often appropriated by citizens for purposes that were unanticipated and unsanctioned by the state. Through celebrations, Soviet citizens created hybrid identities and defined their places in the emerging Stalinist hierarchy, allowing them to maintain and uphold the Soviet order while mass arrests and executions became increasingly frequent. This rich look at celebrations reveals the complex dialogues and negotiations between citizens and leaders as they endeavoured to create Soviet culture.