The "Cultural Revolution" was originally the most important condition for building socialism in the USSR. It was necessary to raise both the general educational level of the population, ensuring the fulfillment of the tasks of industrialization, and the level of perception of Marxist-Leninist concepts in society. The main goal of the party leadership was to give a communist orientation to cultural progress.

Targeted funding, the introduction of a planned start allowed the USSR to achieve the highest success in raising the level of education. Starting this process with the elimination of illiteracy and lack of literacy and ending with the creation of a coherent educational system from elementary to higher education, the Soviet authorities subsequently received the necessary scientific and technical personnel, thereby solving the tasks posed by industrialization.

The state has opened hundreds of new universities, mostly engineering and technical ones, where six times more students studied than in Tsarist Russia. For the period 1928-1937. universities and colleges prepared about 2 million specialists. The class composition of students has changed, among which 51.4% were workers, and 16.5% were peasants. On the eve of the adoption of the new Constitution of the USSR, in which it was planned to lift the restriction of citizens' rights on a class basis, on December 29, 1935, the CEC and SNK of the USSR issued a decree "On admission to higher educational institutions and technical schools" to abolish restrictions related to the social origin of applicants , and introduced for all entrance exams.

From 1936, exams began to be held when transferring students from course to course and graduation state ek-replacements with the issuance of a diploma of general education. In accordance with the resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) of November 14, 1938 "On the formulation of party propaganda in connection with the release of the" Short Course on the History of the CPSU (b) "compulsory courses on the" History of the CPSU (B) "were introduced at all universities of the USSR and "Marxist-Leninist Philosophy".

The school system has also undergone major transformations. In 1930, universal primary education was introduced in the USSR, and seven-year compulsory in the cities. During the first and second five-year years, the number of schools increased by almost 40 thousand. More than 30 million students enrolled in them, which was three times higher than the pre-revolutionary rates. The salary of teachers increased to the level of engineering and technical personnel in industry.

Since 1934, the teaching of world and Russian history was restored, stable textbooks and programs were introduced. A year later, translated and final exams were introduced in high school. School reform, along with the ongoing campaign to combat illiteracy, made it possible in the main to overcome the cultural backwardness of the Russian population, and the literacy rate in 1939 reached a mark of 87.4%.

The result of educational reform and processes related to the "rebirth" of bourgeois specialists was the formation of a socialist intelligentsia. The formulation and solution of the problem of reception, the perception and assimilation of spiritual values ​​created in the past or in a different national, social environment, deserves special attention.

The class approach in the reception, bringing the thesis “each class has its own intelligentsia” to its logical conclusion, led to a significant impoverishment of Soviet culture. Many works of Russian pre-revolutionary authors were banned. Architectural monuments of church and secular culture were destroyed. In Moscow in the 1930s. The Sukharev Tower, the Red and Triumphal Gates, the Temple of the Holy Christ of the Savior, the Kazan Cathedral, the Miracles and the Resurrection Monasteries in the Kremlin were destroyed. Many Russian monarchs began in the 30s. places of detention. The destruction of architectural monuments was primarily associated with large-scale construction in Moscow, whose population in the early 30s. dos-tiglo 3 million people.

New building complexes were built, museums, theaters, libraries opened, the network of protected cultural monuments expanded. If in 1923 about 3 thousand old buildings were protected (1,700 religious buildings), then in 1925 there were already 6 thousand (4,600 religious buildings), and in the 30s. the number of monuments only of republican value was about 1.5 thousand. Large-scale restoration work was carried out. At the same time, Russian art of the beginning of the 20th century became practically inaccessible. and the work of the modernists of the 1920s. The works of M. A. Bulgakov, S. A. Yesenin, A. M. Platonov, O. E. Mandelstam, painting by P. D. Korin, K. S. Ma-levich, P. N. Filonova, were subjected to persecution and hushing up. V. V. Kandinsky. D. D. Shostakovich and his opera "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" have been subjected to severe criticism for innovation in music.

The processes of enslavement of culture, which were designated in the second half of the 1920s, received a logical conclusion in the early 1930s. By the Decree of the Central Committee of the VKP (b) of April 23, 1932 "On the restructuring of literary and artistic organizations" numerous creative associations were liquidated, and their place was taken by centralized organizations: the Union of Composers and the Union of Architects (1932) .) and the Republican Union of Artists. The management of art institutions was strictly centralized and concentrated in the All-Union Committee on Arts under the Government of the USSR, created by a decree of the CEC and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR dated January 17, 1936. In 1938, the functions of political-ideological censorship were imposed on Glavlit and Glavpertkom.

"Socialist realism" was proclaimed the fundamental principle of Soviet culture. The control by the authorities and the imposition of ideological dogmas in culture led to the bureaucratization of the Soviet intelligentsia, to the penetration of dogmatism, conciliation and other negative phenomena into the Soviet culture. Along with the introduction of tougher censorship, incentive measures have become more common. Prestigious Stalin's state prizes are established, various honorary titles are widely practiced, which gave their carriers substantial privileges and privileges (Honored People's Artist of the Republic, USSR, Honored Artist, Honored Worker of Science).

The command-administrative methods of management and the desire for immediate payback of expended funds delayed theoretical and prospectively distant scientific research (theoretical mechanics, atomic physics), created a favorable environment for the pseudoscientific directions to flourish (T. D. Lysenko in biology, A. G. Kostikov in jet technology). At the same time, considerable success was achieved thanks to increased funding in the fields of physiology (I. P. Pavlov), biology (N. I. Vavilov), mathematics (M. V. Keldysh), physics and electronics (P. L. Kapitsa , A. F. Ioffe), theories of space research and rocket technology (K. E. Tsiolkovsky, Yu. V. Kondra-bale, F. A. Zandler). Studies of the North Pole-1 drifting station (I. D. Papanin), record non-stop flights by V. A. Chkalov, V. K. Kokkinaki, M. M. Gromova and V. S. Grizodubova became world-famous. The development of science and technology in the pre-war decade, although it was of an applied nature, nevertheless revealed qualitative changes, allowing to combine the economic power of the country with its scientific potential.

Certain achievements were in the field of art. Music by S. S. Prokofiev, D. D. Shostakovich, I. O. Dunaevsky, paintings and sculptures by V. I. Mukhina, I. D. Shadr, M. B. Grekov and A. A. Plastov, architectural structures A. V. Shchusev, N. Eck's films “Starting to Life”, S. Seven Syllahs by S. A. Gerasimov, Vasiliev brothers’s “Chapayev”, E. We are from Kronstadt by E. A. Dzigan, G. V. Alexandrov’s comedies were shown As in the conditions of the dictatorship of the party, Russian culture created samples of high art. In the literature of the 30s. There appeared works that supplemented Russian culture with beautiful examples of literature and philosophical thoughts. M. Gorky created the epic novel “The Life of Klim Samghin,” followed by “Raised Virgin Land” by M. Sholokhov, “The Country of Mu-rabi” by A. Tvardovsky. Was written, but hidden by "Requiem" by A. Akhmatova. The works of L. Leonov, V. Kataev, M. Zoshchenko, A. Platonov (published and banned, written “on the table”) enriched Russian culture.