Uninspired art

Though Stalin and Hitler were tyrants of the same mould, significantly more than a few of the intelligentsia globally were sympathetic to the Russian dictator. Partly because Imperial Germany was blamed, unfairly, for starting World War I in which it fought to the bitter end. Furthermore, while the USSR had as little time for the Jews, it didn’t single them out for genocide as did the Third Reich.

And while both were intent on world domination, Moscow advocated peace, Berlin war. The threat was clear in Mein Kampf — lebensraum in the East. Russia had to go.

During the 1930s they both, German vs Slav, prepared for the inevitable conflict. The preliminary was during the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1937. Round one to the Fuhrer. Stalin battened down the hatches. Paranoid, if you didn’t worship Stalin you were an enemy of the people, hardly worth the bullet it took to liquidate you.

British author Julian Barnes recreates those days in The Noise Of Time. It is written from the point of view of a Russian at the time. Set mainly in Leningrad and Moscow, it emphasises that truth was whatever Stalin said it was, even when he contradicted himself.

The populace lived in constant fear of being accused of disagreeing with him. He was infallible. Everything he said and did had to be praised; he awarded himself the highest honours. For diplomacy, of course. For the arts, naturally.

Much of the book is given over to advising (ordering) composers and authors how to do their jobs for the good of the proletariat. True art comes not from faulty inspiration but from Communist ideology. That’s how critics must rate it. Formalist symphonies are too heavy. Music in films is more appreciated.

Stalin loosened the rack during World War II, tightening it again when he took over Eastern Europe. Barnes heaps scorn on the Western sympathisers. George Bernard Shaw was feted in the Kremlin while people in the provinces died of starvation and scoffed at rumours to the contrary.

Picasso made money painting trash in Paris while praising the New Soviet Man. Whether Stalin or Hitler murdered more Russians is a moot question. The author has no doubt that there were numerous actual and potential artists among them. Happily, times are better now.