The Left-Wing and the Right-Wing Literary and Artistic Intelligentsia of the 1920s: On the Issue of Assessment

Abstract

The article examines the issue of assessing ideological divisions in the literary and artistic sphere of Soviet Ukraine in the 1920s. This scholarly problem is complex to study due to the diversity of approaches to self-identification within the intelligentsia and the definition of the concepts of “left” and “right” at that time as well as in contemporary humanities. The main methodological approach applied here is the evaluation of the ideological orientation of literary groups, taking into account the discrepancies between modern scholarly perspectives, contemporary evaluations, and the assessments of the repressive organs of the Bolshevik state in the 1920s. Thus public recognition of Bolshevik ideology and the use of revolutionary phraseology were mandatory prerequisites for engaging in any activity in the Ukrainian SSR in 1920s, including literary and artistic pursuits. In this regard, the Bolshevik leadership developed its own interpretation of the views of the intelligentsia and distinguished a “right wing” within the literary and artistic elite. The purpose of this article is to determine the specific features of the approaches and evaluations of rightwing and left-wing forces in the literary and artistic process in the Ukrainian SSR during the 1920s. In the period of early totalitarianism, ideological orientation defined the very possibility of creative activity and served as an indicator of loyalty to the Bolshevik regime. At that time, literature and art did not yet possess the social and political functions that were imposed on them by the Bolshevik regime in the 1930s. The struggle between the left and the right was most often a struggle of ideas, approaches to literary activity, and cultural orientations, rather than ideological positioning. Revolutionary and communist rhetoric in most groups reflected an awareness of the necessity of renewing literature and society as a whole. This is evidenced by the literary debate of 1925–1928. However, despite the ideological and intellectual confrontation among literary groups, the majority of them in the 1920s were united by the aspiration to develop Ukrainian national literature.