THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION: REFLECTIONS UPON THE PAST FOR THE FUTURE EDIFICATION

Abstract

The Cultural Revolution is usually associated with cardinal transformations of spiritual life of Russia such as wiping out illiteracy, introduction of compulsory primary and later secondary education, reorganization of secondary and higher schools. These innovations took place in Russia after the October Revolution of 1917. But the Cultural Revolution isn’t reduced to them. It’s multilateral. Three propositions on its role in the Soviet Society formation are chosen. First: interdependency between transformations in material and spiritual cultures during the Cultural Revolution. Second: an attempt to create the common multinational culture in Russia by means of the Cultural Revolution. Third: an attempt to eliminate the gap between two strata of Russian culture - the upper strata and the lower strata. Special attention is given to the place and the role of the intelligentsia in the Cultural Revolution. All these propositions haven’t lost their significance after the Soviet Union disintegration. They are as urgent as before.