Russia At the Turn of the Century:

Entering the 20th century Russia had been ruled by the Romanov family for almost 300 years. Economic disparity was ripe in Russia over the Romanov reign. Serfdom was legal well into the mid-1800s, and after it was made illegal a vast majority of the populace remained peasants. In the early 1900s tension created by agricultural, social, and labor inequalities came to a head. The 1905 Russian Revolution transformed the government from an autocracy to a constitutional monarchy, creating a Duma that would work as elected representatives with the ability check on the Tsar’s power. Though these changes were a step in the right direction, it fell short of solving the inequalities that had incited the revolution. Though the Romanovs were able to finish the decade in power, the 1910s would ultimately bring even more drastic changes.

In 1910 the Russian government was still adapting to the new power structure that had been created by the 1905 Revolution. Though a legislative State Duma had been created to represent the people, power remained in the hands of the political and social elites as a result of disenfranchisement that sought to reduce the influence the Russian lower-class could have (Suny, 2008, pp.  69). While Russia’s joining of World War I in 1914 helped create a temporary period of societal wide patriotism, by early 1915 dissatisfaction with the regime had returned (Freeze, 2009, pp. 270). Food supplies were low on both the front and at home, as Russia’s scorched-earth policy only further reduced production. 1917’s February Revolution saw the issue of food inequality come to a head. Protesters took to the streets in opposition of both the high prices for food, as well as its general scarcity. Within two weeks Tsar Nicholas II abdicated the throne. Additionally, his brother’s reluctance to immediately take the position of Tsar meant that the country was left without a monarch. In the power vacuum, the recently dissolved State Duma took control with a political identity based around liberal democratic ideologies. In addition, independent soviets began to formulate in order to represent and advocate for workers and soldiers. While initially the Duma worked with the soviets, Vladimir Lenin’s return to Russia in April 1917 ignited a push back against the provisional government. Revolutionary fervor was once again apparent in Russia, and dissatisfaction towards the Duma only continued to increase as time went on. The dissatisfaction culminated in the October Revolution of 1917, which saw the provisional government disbanded in favor of full soviet rule. As the soviets continued to expand out of St. Petersburg, a united oppositional coalition termed the White Army quickly rose, and by the winter the new government found itself engaged in a civil war that raged into the early 1920s.

Russian Art in the Early 20th Century:

For much of the Romanov’s reign adult and children’s literature in Russia primarily consisted of translated foreign works. During the 19th century celebrated writers such as Leo Tolstoy and Aleksander Pushkin, began creating original Russian works, many of which were aimed specifically at young readers (Hearn, 2003, pp. 6-7). By the beginning of 20th century, Russian children’s literature was in a much stronger place, and did well in drawing in young readers (Hellman, 2010, pp. 178). Though Russia’s production of original works had rapidly grown, its art continued to mostly be created by and for wealthy elites (Suny, 2008, pp. 581). Over the period of 1910-1939 we see a shift of not only trying to include the previously excluded majority but see them become the primary focus of written materials. Children’s books of these decades show this evolution, with vibrant images relaying the change from a top-heavy society favoring the economic elite, to a nation invested in the celebration of the everyman.

Before the 1917 revolutions art and culture was largely divided between the primary market of educated elite intelligentsia, and the ever growing group of lower-class cultural consumers (Suny, 2008, pp.  581). The revolution practically destroyed the market for art, leading some pre-revolutionary artists to pursue platforms that were widely approachable, and inexpensive to produce, such as children’s books (Steiner, 1999, pp. 14). The new Soviet government worked quickly to try and support and assimilate artists into their ranks so as to encourage the production of art geared towards the goals of the Communist Party (Senelick & Ostrovsky, 2014, pp. 15). As a means of doing so, Lenin formulated the Commissariat of Enlightenment, a government entity that would sponsor the intelligentsia, enabling them to create art and the structure for an expanded and modernized educational system (Freeze, 2009, pp. 304).  While art production slowed towards the end of the decade, the infrastructure put in place during this period proved vital for the cultural explosion that would occur in the 1920s and 1930s.