Leon Trotsky, the Cultural Debates, and the Political Struggle in 1923

Abstract

This article examines interconnections between politics and culture in the early Soviet era, using Leon Trotsky’s activities in the campaign for a new everyday life (novyi byt) in 1923 as a case-study. Traditionally, scholars pay attention primarily to Trotsky’s writings on literature and art. In contrast, this article shows the important role of Trotsky’s brochure ‘Problems of Everyday Life’ in the development of a new field of political communication that became the space for criticism of different political and cultural aspects of Soviet power and Bolshevik rule. Using archival and press sources, it shows how the campaign was spread both from below and above, and what were the reasons for its failure to become an alternative cultural revolution.

Youthful Internationalism in the Age of ‘Socialism in One Country’: Komsomol’tsy, Pioneers and ‘World Revolution’ in the Interwar Period

“…20 Many found a champion in Trotsky who enjoyed significant support amongst Komsomol members. 21 For Anatoli Rybakov, born in 1911, Trotsky personified 'the romantic of the revolution' with his slogan of world revolution. He remembered how pivotal the ideals of internationalism, equality, brotherhood between the peoples of the world were amongst activists in the 1920s.…”