EditorsNote

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1

ThisissueistheproductofacollaborationbetweenRedThreade-journalandSWEET60sproject.
Red Thread has provided a theoretical platform for SWEET 60s, a long term experimental,
curatorial, scientific and educational research project that investigates the hidden territories of
the revolutionary period of the 1960s through contemporary artistic and theoretical
perspectives, which has developed around itself a wide international network of interested and
cooperatingindividualsandinstitutions.

ThecuratorialandartisticfocusofSWEET60slieson"postideologicalsocieties"(inpost-Soviet,
postsocialist,EasternEuropean,MiddleEastern,WestandCentralAsianaswellasNorthAfrican
countries and in a second phase in China and Latin America), in making a comparative analysis
and contextualizing the historical developments in the arts, culture and societies of the 60s and
70s and researching their subsequent effects on contemporary socio-political and cultural
situations.

Theprojectmainlyconcentratesonthestillunderexposedglobalculturalshiftinthe60sandits
effects in countries that were omitted in the historical explorations of that particular
revolutionary period; situations that were developing beyond the, so to say, "Prague Line." The
generalperceptionofthe60speriodisstillassociatedwithWesterncultureandwiththeformal
fragmentedreplicationsofWesternprocessesinthe"peripheries"and"outskirts."

Despite the differences in their geopolitical and sociocultural contexts, the political, social and
culturalprocessesongoingincountriesinWestAsia,theMiddleEast,theSouthernCaucasusand
North Africa (including the Arab world) since the mid 60s were tightly interconnected with each
otherandtheyplayedamomentousroleinshapingsubsequentdevelopmentsonbotharegional
and a global scale. The effects and the logic of the political, social and cultural paradigms and
constructsthatwereestablishedinthatperiodcanstillbetracedtodaywhenwealsowitnessthe
culturalisationandaesthetizationofthisepochof"rebelliouseuphoria."

The project explores the differences and similarities of that turbulent period in the
aforementioned countries through a comparative analysis of the important (from the
contemporary artistic or critical points of view) symbols, expressions, and developments in the
social, cultural, political and economical fields (like social/political movements, significant works
andtrendsinarchitecture,literature,visualarts,cinema,popculture,massculture,subcultures,
etc...).

In the early 60s, a hopeful spirit of modernism had moved into the private ateliers in many art-
scapes that were then conceived as peripheral or provincial. In the so called Soviet Block, the
existential fears risen in the period of the Stalinist dictate of realism had already elicited initial
counter-reactions after 1956, leading to a reenactment of extreme subjectivism. In the
totalitarian and colonial art-scapes of the Arab world and North and Central Africa as well as
West and Central Asia, new groups and positions that emerged joined an international artistic
spirit of late modernist universalism and were able to feel accepted again in the international
canon with their kinetic objects, light works, and their structural-geometric abstractions. In the
second postwar decade, a generation of neo-constructivist artists on both sides of the Iron
Curtainandtheformercolonieshadformedakindofinternationalassociation.

During these years, the loosening of the repressive climate created more freedom regarding
artisticmeansofexpression-andalsoenabledanewapproachtoaestheticwork.Inaway,neo-
constructivemodernism,thenewabstraction,functionednotonlyasasignoftheendofanera,
but also a kind of repression machine: the new modernism was also a substitute for the errors
and oversights of fordism and socialism and their models of social modernization; it criticized
mass culture and its everyday objects, placed artistic work in an abstract space of work on the
form, and was the vanishing point of the real world of the Cold War. The era of the neo-avant-
gardes left their traces around the globe. Yet it is still the neo-avant-gardes of the centers that
havebeencanonized.

EditorsNote


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In contrast to the currently accepted master narratives and historical canons, the project
considerstheprocessesofthe60snotasaneruptionofavolcanogeneratingechoesintherest
of the world, but as a general socio-cultural, political, economical condition which evolved in a
global context and determined the development of parallel modernities interrelated with the
developmentofdiversesociopoliticalandculturalradicalprocessesineverypartoftheworld.

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Wedissolveinthehumanquantities,inyourspacesthePolitechnical
.Voznesensky

TheSoviet60srepresentaverycontradictorythesaurusofnarratives.Ontheonehand,thiswas
a period of the famous Thaw and of political expectations about the Soviet utopias
breakthrough. On the other hand, the 60s prove to be a decade of harsh disillusions ending up
with the Prague Spring of 1968 and entailing the recession of democratic revival and cultural
development.Thecontradictionsareevident:theflightofGagarintoouterspace(1961)andthe
erection of the Berlin wall (1961); emergence of international venues and festivals and the
notorious censorship of the Manege exhibition by the government (1962); severe prosecution
of Western, formalist modes of expression in art and everyday life; censorship of artists,
filmmakersandmusiciansfortheiranti-Sovietactivity(e.g.,thecaseofDanielandSinyavskyin
1965
1
) and the resurgence of avant-garde narratives and strategies in film, poetry, visual arts,
andmusic.

ItisgenerallyconsideredthatdespitetheThaw(1957-1964),theartandcultureofSovietRussia
in the 60s remained detached from the world procedures of modernization, as well as from the
neo-avant-gardecurrentsinart,nottosayanythingaboutthepoliticalresistanceinEuropeand
theUS.Thisisprobablytrueifonetakesintoaccountthedegreeofthesubversiveintensityofart
and politics in the Western 60s. There could have been no such thing under the governance of
theSovietpartybureaucracy.Ontheotherhand,itshouldbenotedthattheSovietliterature,art
and culture reaching the West since the end of the 50s were mainly dissident and anti-
governmental,buttheircriticalitytowardstheSovietregimedidntpresupposetheirbeingavant-
garde or politically subversive. On the contrary, despite being resistant to the party authority,
suchliteratureandartoftenhappenedtobeconservativeorevenreactionaryandtraditionalist.
Inotherwords,theWestdidnthavethechancetoknowthemodernizingtendenciesostensible
oftenratherinthenon-underground,oreventheso-calledofficialSovietmilieus(architecture,
science, film, music, theatre, art, social engineering); this is the reason why these layers of
culture remained internationally unaccepted for being Soviet. The year 1962 when the
exhibitionManege
2
includingworksbyvariousgenerationsofSovietartistsunderwentasevere
censorship of Khrushchev marked the split of culture into the official and non-official (or non-
conformist)realms.

Asitisknown,themaincauseforthepartycriticismwastheabuseofmodernist,abstractand
formalist methods in art. This ban on formalism and abstraction remained intact despite the
gradual discarding of the socialist realist canon and lasted until Perestroika. On the other hand,
exceptforthebanonabstraction,therehadbeennootherspecificprohibitionsinvisualculture.
Hence, all abstract art of the 60s appeared to be non-conformist and was often taken for the
great unacknowledged art, as was the case with many exhibitions at the Norton Dodge
Collection (Rutgers University Zimmerli Art Museum) consisting predominantly of Soviet
undergroundart.

IlyaKabakov,inhisNotesontheNon-officialLifeinMoscowofthe60sand70s,
3
callstheartof
the60sextremelypersonalistatendencythat,despiteiteludedSovietpropagandistart,could
not have been considered progressive in terms of international tendencies. Kabakov makes it
clear that the split in the artistic intelligentsia of the 60s was beyond a division between party
conformism and anti-Soviet non-conformism; i.e., part of the non-official artistic intelligentsia
tended towards rethinking the Russian avant-gardes aesthetic methodologies. For example Lev
Nusberg and his group Dvijenie [Movement] emerging in the 60s were relying on the

1
SovietwritersAndreiSyniavskyandJuliDanielwerecondemnedto7yearsofimprisonmentforpublishingtheirworks
abroadunderthepseudonymsAbramTerzandNikolaiArzhak.
2
SeeJuriGerchuk,HaemorrhageinMOSKH,M.,NovoeLiteraturnoeObozrenie,2008.
3
IlyaKabakov,60s,70sNotesontheUnofficialLifeinMoscow,M.,NovoeLiteraturnoeObozrenie,2008(inRussian).
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constructivist ideas of Naum Gabo. Although quite detached from the official art-nomenclature,
Nusberg, nevertheless, called himself a Leninist utopian and characterized his work as the
aesthetic organization of the environment. Researching the potentialities of kinetism, Nusberg
tookinterestininvestigatingtheanthropomorphicbackgroundofmechanicmovementsandthe
mechanictraitsofhumanbehavior.

Theinterestinavant-gardefuturologyandsyntheticartisticpractices,andintheinter-relationof
the mechanical and the natural was ostensible in works by Viacheslav Koleichuk another
memberoftheDvijeniegroup(wholaterfoundedhisowncreativeprojectMir)aswellasin
works by Fransisko Infante. Infante invented in the 60s photographic projects combining
geometricobjectsandnaturallandscapes,andhecalledthemartifacts.But,unlikeNusbergand
Koleichuk, his motivation was completely devoid of any utopian background or projections of
constructivistdesign.Interestingly,theabove-mentionedpractices(oftenabstractinform)were
not censured unlike the more conservative painting of non-conformists like Julo Sooster,
EduardShteinberg,OscarRabinandVladimirNemukhinprobablybecausetheyintersectedtoa
considerable extent with the format of architectural design, scientific experimentation and
cybernetics. The abstractionist artists appearing by the late 50s and later Yuri Zlotnikov, Oleg
Prokofiev,orBorisTuretskywereprobablynotpersecutedbecauseofthesamereasons.Many
abstract paintings by Zlotnikov were meta-artistic and interdisciplinary researches on the
psychophysiologyofsignalsystems,studyofmechanismsandtheproceduresofperception,and
were often based on his knowledge of mathematics and cybernetics. In this case abstraction
served as research on the objective languages of communication and the study of the material
features of the environment. Despite all that experimentation, it is still a question whether the
above-mentionedgroupsweretheavant-gardemovementsofthe60sintheirownright,andnot
just replications of the forms and ideas of the 20s (e.g., Kabakov characterizes these groups as
thedelayedutopianism).

As for the dissident non-conformist groups of the 60s, such as for instance the Lianosov group
(Eduard Shteinberg, Oscar Rabin, Evgeni Kropivnitskiy, his son Lev Kropivnitski, Vladimir
Nemukhin,LidiaMasterkova,GenrichSapgir,IgorHolinandothers),theyindulgedinanescapist
aesthetics which they called anti-aesthetics, and appeared as the complete reverse of the
socialist and communist recreation project of the 60s. The Lianosov group members were the
first to launch the tradition of the utmost hermetic commonality as the means of artistic
communication and production.
4
They deliberately rejected reflection on any issues related to
social life or political debate, reduced artistic issues to personal metaphysics and viewed reality
asawhirlpoolofdispersedepiphanicphenomenathestancethatwascalledconcretismand
influenced to a certain extent Moscow conceptualism. Juri Zlotnikov called such a stance a
metaphysicalsalonoftheunderground.

Although there is a big difference between the two tendencies of the unofficial art the
dissident and the neo-avant-garde undergrounds what they had in common was a certain
indifference towards reality, which for the soviet intelligentsia in its frequent elitist attitudes
represented nothing but a simulacrum of the ideological discourse. Hence such a preoccupation
eitherwithesotericandmetaphysicalmattersorscientificabstractions...

It was only later in the 70s that conceptualist art-experiences (in works by Eric Bulatov, Ilya
Kabakov, Andrei Monastyrsky, Dmitry Prigov) produced an analytical review of and a critical
reflection on Soviet ideology. Unlike the Western art space of the 60s in which the notion of
contemporary art had already become the embodiment of contemporaneity the 60s in Soviet
visual arts cannot be considered as the realm of a wide-range reflection on modernity.
Contemporaryartpracticestakenasthecontinuityofthesubversiveandradicalart-strategies
emerged in the visual art space only with the first attempts of the Moscow conceptualists to
subversively question the languages of cultural production and socialist propaganda. Such a
semiologicalanalysisoftherealityenabledanescapefromthequasi-modernistsymbolismofthe

4
Onthenon-conformistSovietartof50s-80sseeKarlEimermacher,FromUniformityTowardsDiversity,M.,Lotman
InstituteofRussianandSovietCulture,2004.
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60s and a deconstruction of the rigid rhetorical carcas of the worn-out images of utopia. At the
same time, (as was the case with Kabakov) the conceptualists produced the inner heterotopias,
theotherspacestheworldswhichweretooabsurdandpoetictobedigestedeitherbythe
stateapparati,orthepatheticaspirationsofthefinearts,stillsorelevantfortheartgeneration
ofthe60s.

II

Meanwhile, the question is why, when it comes to tracing avant-garde strategies, it is only
contemporary art that is mainly regarded as its subject and center. In its genesis, avant-garde
cannotsolelybereducedtorenovationofartisticorevenculturalmeans,butaimstoreconsider
lifeandpoliticsingeneral.Thereforewhatwaspoliticallyimportantfortheavant-gardecouldas
wellbesoughtinlife-stylesandself-organizedcollectivities.

If we consider avant-garde as a certain innovative artistic methodology (i.e., if we view it from

thepointofviewofcontemporaryarthistory)Moscowconceptualismofthe70sismoreavant-
garde than the previous 60s. But, reconsidering avant-garde in terms of the spirit of life
production and open spaces for social intersection, in terms of the emergence of free creative
timeascommongood,makethe60sdemonstrateastrongerandbroadereffortforbringingan
avant-gardespiritintopoliticalandartisticactivitiesevenincomparisonwiththeconceptualism
ofthe70s.

Therefore,itmaybeproductivetorethinktheSoviet60sasapotentialitywhichisnotreducedto
thelinearismofarthistory.Towitnesstheatmosphereofchangeandthepromotionoftheideas
of socialist modernization, we have to take the aspects of the Soviet 60s not connected directly
to contemporary art. Despite ideological domination, these features were evident: the rise of
lower social layers, the changes in urban spaces and the modes of inhabiting them (e.g., in the
60s peasants were granted passports and the freedom to migrate to cities and receive higher
education),urbanizationofruralareas,andtheemergenceofneo-Marxistthemesinphilosophy,
literatureandcinemathatalmostdisappearedinStalinistculturalpolitics.

Interestingly, in the post-Stalinist Soviet 60s, mass propaganda often overlapped with the
democraticprocesses.Theparadoxofsuchanoverlappingwasthefollowing:inmanycasesthe
officialideologywithitssocialprogramprovedtobemoredemocraticthantheanti-totalitarian
strife of many underground artistic circles, of the dissident intelligentsia which manifested its
detachment from people of non-prestigious professions, workers and farmers, thus
demonstratinganelitistattitudetowardstheproletariansociallayers.

Thismeansthatdespitethemainstreampartyideology,thenew,freshcurrentsevenwithin
the so-called official culture interpreted the hitherto forgotten avant-garde project as the
expansionoftheOctoberRevolutionanditslegacyratherthanaformalistmethodology.Thiswas
the case with the films of Marlen Hutsiev and his melancholy for the communist utopia in July
Rain (1966), or The Gates of Ilych, (1964); with Genadi Shpalikov and his screenplay on
Mayakovsky, who was also the scriptwriter for Khutsievs above-mentioned films; with Larisa
ShepitkoandherfilmWings(1966),whereshemanagestocombineapoeticattitudetowards
machines and technical achievements with the commemoration of World War 2 heroism and
criticismoftheemerginginterestinconsumersociety.

Devoid of control, for a very short period of time in Soviet history the social space of the 60s
acquired features that were probably even demanded and fought for by the revolutionary
generation of the Western 60s: the acceptance of all social layers into universities, criticism of
the hierarchy in cultural spheres, attacks on the bourgeoisie appropriating the common good
valuesofart,science,andpublicsphere.Inotherwords,thepartyshostilitytocertainaesthetic
features, considered abstract or formalist, could have been combined with the living spaces of
social equality and non-segregation. On the other hand, wasnt Greenbergian and Adornian
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modernist purism (adored by the Soviet artistic elitist intelligentsia), as well as consumer
cultures spectacular attractivity (adored by the Soviet stilyagas
5
and forbidden in Soviet
universities) criticized by the generation launching Situationist or feminist practices in the West
ofthe60s?

The paradox of Soviet socialism, which is definitely a mutant socialism, is the following: it arose
from an immature capitalist system and all those freedoms that had to be attained within the
developed bourgeois society individual rights, civil society, high standards of living and
consuming were missing in it. But strangely, lacking the technical and economic maturity
indispensible for socialism, Soviet socialism developed certain features amounting to
communisms mature humanist aspirations manifested in open education, high estimation of
scienceandcultureandfreecreativetimeasoneofthemaincommongoods.Thesocietythatin
theStalinistperiodretainedthenon-classparametersduetotheeconomicandpoliticalcontrol,
devoid of the authoritarian interference since the late 50s combined until, maybe, the late 60s
both: the non-class dimension and the relative freedom from the harsh proletarian labor of the
previous two decades. The non-class society in this case was not a forced condition but a real
disposition in the society not yet having the gentrified layers and still being based on the
proletariannegligencetolifestandards,commodities,fashionandqualityconsumervalues.

Returning back to the above-mentioned films by Marlen Khutsiev and Larisa Shepitko, they are
justafewcasesreverberatingthemainsocialandculturalconflictemergingintheSoviet60sand
dividingthesocietybythebeginningofthe70s.Theconflictwas:howtopreservefidelitytothe
radical social change that the October Revolution accomplished, and at the same time not
identifyStalinismwiththesocialistproject;howtorefertotheprojectofproletarianheroismand
its historic legacy, its positioning of the communisms avant-garde in the conditions of the
transitiontolateindustrialorpost-industrialsociety;howtomakecultureanopenspaceforthe
majority with still a considerable amount of peasantry on the one hand and the emerging
depoliticized learned and cultural elites on the other; and how to remain democratic within the
closedbordersandtheColdWarregime.

Marlen Khutsiev, in both of his classical films from the mid 60s July Rain and The Gates of
Ilych reproduces the non-ideological spaces of everyday life, contingent crowds and the
flaneurshipofanewpost-Stalingeneration.Atthesametime,heobserveshowthedimensionof
everydayserenitygraduallybecomesastanceofcomplacencywhichisethicallyandpolitically
looseandundemandingintermsofthefurtherpromotionofthecommunistproject.Thiswas,to
a considerable extent, a double bind, a dilemma of the Soviet 60s: whether the socialist ideals
canendeavorinsimpleeverydaylifewithoutstruggleorheroicsacrifice.

The1
st
ofMaylaborandsolidaritydemonstrationbecomes,inTheGatesofIlyich,asitewhere
personal melancholy and private life are transcended, a site where the individual story and the
collectivities overlap, or rather the individual event can only emerge from the collectivity: love,
friendship and social aspirations for the future take place at one and the same space. Such
multiplicity of people is different both from Antonio Negris and Paolo Virnos multitudes. For
Virno, the commons and multitudes do not have to constitute any gathering, or a space of
common joy. The main thing is the relation between individuals motivated by concrete
productionist goals. This is only natural for the post-Fordist capitalist society where the
multitudes have to subvert the spaces of capitalist production. In this case the common is
understoodasthegeneralintellectsharedbymeansofimmateriallabor.Suchcommongeneral
intellect,whenitisnotgeneralforallorsharedequally,shouldbesubtractedintheactofexodus
by multitudes. In this case the common is understood as a civil potentiality and is not
necessarilyexperiencedassuch.ThecollectivityoftheGatesofIlychisdifferent.Itisnotbased

5
AsubculturethatemergedintheUSSRattheendof50sandfollowedaWesternwayoflife,demonstratingadeliberate
anti-political attitude towards life and a negative attitude towards Soviet ethics. Stilyagas talked quasi-English slang,
indulged in entertainment (music, dance) and wore grotesque outfits in contrast with the Soviet way of life, its
minimalismanduniformityinstyle.

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on concrete relational proceedings and is not even productive. The day to celebrate the labor
solidarity is a day-off a free non-working time. The common, the general here is an
experiencethatexceedstheconcreteutilitariantrajectoriesandgoalsofexchangeandamounts
to sensing together the space of non-exploitation and equality in the already achieved non-
capitalistsociety(nomatterwhetheritwasareallyachievedstanceornot).Freeegalitarianlabor
is in sensing together the excess of that very time that is free from labor. Such free time has a
progressive purport only in the presence of others or as a time spent for the general good. As
soon as it is experienced in private solitude or for personal utilitarian aims, it generates
melancholyanddoubtaboutitbeinglostfornothing.

Thisiswhythesocialnarrativeofthe60sbringsforththeclashbetweentwoprotagonists:oneis
a collectivist, a heroic participant of World War 2, or maybe even remembers the revolutionary
past, usually not so well educated but politically precise; the other is a young individualist,
alreadyfascinatedbyentertainment,wellinformedandeducated,slightlybohemianandfedup
with the fidelity to the ethical super-ego and communism as its satellite. Both Shepitko and
Khutsiev solve this dilemma through introducing into the narrative a character combining a
revolutionary romanticism and a participatory attitude towards life and labor. Like the former
pilotandtheWorldWar2heroinewhobecomesaschooldirectorinShepitkosWings;orlike
the young student and worker who, in The Gates of Ilych, scandalously leaves his girlfriends
bohemian party, just because the guests mock the lifestyles of peasantry and workers. In the
narratives of the 70s, such a character is still highly anticipated, but is already seen by the
majorityasanidiotorasanexceptiontotherule.

***
In his article On the General
6
written at the end of 60s, the Soviet philosopher Evald Ilienkov
develops a Marxist interpretation of this notion. He claims that the General is neither a
metaphysical idea suspended over reality or imposed on it, nor a category of the positivist logic
thatconsidersthegeneralasanabstractinvariant.Itissomethingthatbeingcommontoallisat
thesametimepresentineachofall.Inotherwords,theGeneralisonlyunraveledviaobjective
reality, the material phenomena and their occurrences. But only those occurrences attain the
General whose specific feature, whose eventuality is in becoming the General. This parable of
dialecticstendstoshowthatwhatiscommontoall(oreventheuniversal)isneitherdistribution
or expansion, nor speculative abstraction. It is, first of all, experienced and sensed, and evolves
fromthematerialworld,andnotviceversa.Moreover,ithastobeconfirmedbylivingthroughit.
Therefore,whateverseemstobeanidealisgeneratedbylifeanddoesntcontradictitasincase
of Christianity. While the Soviet 60s still preserve such a continuity between universalist
aspirationsandlifestyle(continuitybetweenthethoughtsanddeedsastheprotagonistofthe
Gates of Ilych puts it), the early 70s already reveal the irretrievable rupture. Referring to the
General occurs to be just reduced to language, detached from life and deeds the rupture that
graduallybringstheendoftheSovietsocialismproject.

6
EvaldIlienkov,OntheGeneral,PhilosophyandCulture,Moscow,IzdatelstvoPoliticheskoiLiteraturi,1991,p.320-339
(inRussian).
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8ack ln Lhe 30s and Lhe 60s, Lhe SoclallsL lederal 8epubllc of ?ugoslavla (Sl8?) was seen by many
on Lhe LefL as Lhe model counLry for developlng Lhe sysLem of workers' self-managemenL and for
lnLroduclng new properLy relaLlons wlLh Lhe concepL of soclal properLy," lnsLead of prlvaLe
properLy characLerlzlng Lhe caplLallsL sysLem and sLaLe properLy characLerlzlng Lhe SovleL-Lype
soclallsm. ?eL, for Lhose furLher Lo Lhe lefL, Sl8? was a revlslonlsL counLry whlch by Lhe early 70s
developed a klnd of !"# $%&!'"!$(%# )%*+,-$-" [bourgeols soclallsm"] - as colned by one lLallan
communlsL afLer seelng Lhe emerglng developmenL of new prlvaLe houses and weekend
.'&,'$" belonglng Lo Lhe members of Lhe new ellLe (Lhe red bourgeolsle") and especlally Lo Lhe
new class of LechnocraLs appearlng as a consequence of Lhe economlc reforms ln Lhe mld 60s.
1hese reforms allowed llmlLed prlvaLe ownershlp (small manufacLures and small Lrade), yeL
malnLalned bureaucraLlc sLaLe conLrol over producLlon, whlch means LhaL Sl8? was acLually a
counLry wlLh Lhree Lypes of ownershlps.

Sl8? was also vlewed as Lhe mosL llberal of all real-soclallsL" counLrles (wlLh freedoms of Lravel
abroad and creaLlvlLy, and even allowlng some manlfesLaLlons of pollLlcal dlssenL), Lherefore
admlred by Luropean soclal democraLs as well as by many llberals: lL provlded Lhe so called
model for soclallsm wlLh a human face." 1he sLory of Lhe collapse of Sl8? has been mosLly seen
as an exLreme manlfesLaLlon of Lhe general collapse of communlsm" ln Lhe laLe 80s. Powever,
whaL collapsed ln Sl8? was noL some hard-llne communlsL dlcLaLorshlp (/# "' Ceausescu's
8omanla or Poxha's Albanla), buL a model very close Lo reformlsL soclal democracy (mlnus Lhe
mulLl-parLy sysLem). ConsequenLly, we have Lo see Lhe end of ?ugoslavla as parallel Lo Lhe
crumbllng of soclal democracy durlng Lhe reacLlonary 80s: Lhe end of ?ugoslavla was [usL an
aspecL of Lhe general crlsls of soclal democracy raLher Lhan Lhe end of some sLrlngenL communlsL
auLocracy. Also, aparL from belng an eLhnlc confllcL, Lhe war ln ?ugoslavla offered Lhe
sympLomaLlc model of prlvaLlsaLlon, of Lhe orlglnal accumulaLlon of caplLal" (always achleved
Lhrough resource exLracLlon, conquesL and plunder, or enslavemenL," as Marx summed lL), so
Lhls war was Lhe 8eal of Lhe celebraLed caplLallsL LranslLlon ln LasLern Lurope. 1herefore, ln facL
Lhe end of Sl8? marked, flrsL of all, Lhe end of Lhe posL World War 2 ldeal of soclal democracy
(prevalllng ln Lhe programs of ma[or soclallsL pollLlcal parLles ln power ln WesLern counLrles as
well as ln Lhose reformlsL communlsL parLles whlch declded Lo parLlclpaLe ln democraLlc
elecLlons"). 1hls end also marked Lhe beglnnlng of Lhe conLemporary ldeologlcal canon of neo-
llberallsm.

1he percepLlon of Sl8? has Lherefore shlfLed from almosL a role model for achlevlng promlslng
forms of soclal [usLlce and economlc prosperlLy, Lo a falled and Lo be forgoLLen experlmenL
lrrelevanL for conLemporary economlcal and pollLlcal currenLs. ConLemporary reflecLlons on Sl8?
mosLly range from a nosLalglc lefLlsL (and noL only lefLlsL!) melancholy Lo a full-blown anLl-
communlsL dlsmlssal. 1he laLLer ls characLerlsLlc of domlnanL pollLlcal and academlc dlscourses ln
almosL all ex-?ugoslav naLlon-sLaLes," whereas Lhe former has been becomlng a form of Lhe
culLurallsaLlon of Lhe ?ugoslavlan legacy. Lven !oslp 8roz 1lLo, Lhe cenLral flgure of Sl8?, ls elLher
dlsmlssed as a dlsasLrous auLocraL, or celebraLed as some camp" flgure because of Lhe nosLalglc
lnLeresL ln hls flamboyanL lmage - naLurally, an lnLeresL LhaL can be very easlly merchandlsed" ln
Lhe splrlL of culLural caplLallsm" and lLs endless process of consumerlsL self-creaLlon."

1herefore, lL seems very compllcaLed Lo remaln crlLlcally alerL when dlscusslng ?ugoslav-Lype
soclallsm and also Lo acL ln fldellLy Lo lLs orlglnal revoluLlonary concepLlon: Lhe very soclallsL
revoluLlon as a consLlLuenL parL of Lhe unlque form of arLlsan anLl-fasclsL sLruggle durlng Lhe
naLlonal llberaLlon war" (1941-1943). 8eLween resLoraLlve nosLalgla" and full-blown and
almosL consensual dlsmlssal, one has Lhe lmperaLlve Lo develop new means Lo address Lhls
lmporLanL pollLlcal, economlcal and culLural model. 1hls Lask ls very compllcaLed as lL flows
agalnsL Lhe currenL, lL lacks any sLrucLural, lnsLlLuLlonal and especlally academlc supporL, and
Lhere ls no pollLlcal wlll Lo re-Lhlnk Lhls perlod ln any of Lhe seven succeedlng counLrles of Sl8?
(maybe only parLly ln Slovenla where Lhe nosLalglc currenLs of Lhe culLurallsaLlon of Sl8? are Lhe
sLrongesL and are also generaLlng new crlLlcal lnLeresLs). ln Lhe perlod of posL-war
!"#$%&$'(#$)*#*+,$-./#$012/3&$4(5,&$06#,+7$$
89(5,$+,61,:#%(;&$(;$#.,$<+(=,:#$!>(1%#%:%/1$>+/:#%:,&$(6$8>(&#?@$A*B(&1/C$0+#7@$
0*'1!$"'2#3!(!4*!5-2!6#

$


!""#$%&'%

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reconclllaLlon," mosL of Lhese counLrles have economlc lnLeresLs for cooperaLlon, buL no
lnLeresL ln re-Lhlnklng Lhe ?ugoslav model almosL unanlmously declared as falled and burled.

As Lhere ls no lnLeresL wlLhln Lhe unlverslLy sysLem Lo explore Sl8?, lL Look a
group of lndependenL organlsaLlons (deallng wlLh conLemporary arL and crlLlcal
Lheory) Lo lnlLlaLe a large scale pro[ecL for re-Lhlnklng Lhe pollLlcal pracLlces of
(posL-)?ugoslav arL,"
1
as Lhe LlLle of Lhe pro[ecL expllclLly sLaLes. 1hese
organlsaLlons were esLabllshed durlng Lhe perlod of Lhe posL-soclallsL re-
organlzaLlon of Lhe culLural and arLlsLlc space and presenL, aL Lhe momenL, Lhe
sLrongesL culLural opposlLlon Lo domlnaLlng modes of educaLlon, producLlon
and presenLaLlon ln lnsLlLuLlonal pracLlces ln ex-?ugoslav space. 1he pro[ecL
was concelved and lnlLlaLed by relom collecLlve (8elgrade), WPW collecLlve
(Zagreb), kuda.org (novl Sad) and SCCA/roba (Sara[evo), and Lhe flrsL
comprehenslve publlc appearance of Lhe pro[ecL, Lhe exhlblLlon 8eLrospecLlve
01," was concelved and organlzed by !elena veslc from relom collecLlve as a
speclflc curaLorlal pro[ecL. 1he show was held by Lhe end of 2009 ln Lhe exhlblLlon venue of Lhe
Museum of ?ugoslav PlsLory ln 8elgrade wlLh conslderable supporL from Lhe Museum of
ConLemporary ArL, 8elgrade, a rare example of a sLaLe lnsLlLuLlon" whlch has conLlnuously
encouraged research on culLural and arLlsLlc producLlon ln Sl8?. AlLhough presenLed ln Lhe form
of an exhlblLlon, Lhls pro[ecL ls ln facL fllllng an educaLlonal gap ln Lhe currenL slLuaLlon ln whlch
Lhe offlclal academlc sysLem shows no lnLeresL ln LreaLlng Lhls legacy.

1he pro[ecL offers, flrsL of all, an alLernaLlve Lo Lhe prevalllng narraLlves of ?ugoslav arL, buL keeps
Lhe edlflce of ?ugoslav culLural space." 1hese narraLlves usually offer a slmpllfled llnear loglc
whlch can be brlefly summed up ln followlng way: afLer Lhe shorL perlod of soclallsL reallsm"
when ?ugoslavla was under SovleL lnfluence, slnce Lhe early 30s offlclal arL" was marked wlLh
Lhe noLlon of soclallsL modernlsm" champlonlng de-pollLlclsed arLlsLlc auLonomy and funcLlonlng
as an aspecL of general soclal modernlsaLlon whlch also condlLloned dlfferenL aspecLs of
dlssldenL arL" made by Lhose who were on Lhe marglns and who foughL for more llberal soclal
relaLlons. ln Lhe ?uarL" pro[ecL, Lhls llnearlLy was broken and some prevalllng arL-hlsLorlcal
noLlons were quesLloned. lnsLead of Lhe ldea of a dogmaLlc soclallsL reallsm, a new and Lhus far
from belng fully recognlzed aspecL of parLlsan arL" from Lhe llberaLlon war was acknowledged
and researched. lnsLead of Lhe usually adopLed noLlon of soclallsL modernlsm as some apollLlcal
and opporLunlsLlc form of offlclal culLure, Lhe exhlblLlon puLs forward Lhe
educaLlonal and emanclpaLory aspecLs of Lhose modernlsL Lendencles. And
flnally, lnsLead of Lhe noLlon of dlssldenL culLure" (and lLs herolsm" of clvlc
sufferlng under some auLocraLlc pollLlcal sysLem), Lhe exhlblLlon polnLs aL Lhe
appearance of crlLlcal arL close Lo Lhe ldeas of Lhe radlcal LefL ln Lhe 70s.
Powever, Lhe pro[ecL does noL lmply some new llnear narraLlve, buL Lrles Lo
collecL and presenL some slgnlflcanL and half-forgoLLen -2-14$ appearlng
mosLly on Lhe marglns of Lhe sysLem buL also fully belonglng Lo Lhe sysLem,
whlch can Lhus be vlewed under a dlfferenL crlLlcal llghL beyond nosLalglc
phanLasm and vulgar dlsmlssal.

lL seems LhaL Lhe overall model of Lhe ?uarL" show LacLlcally draws from Lhe example of one
of Lhe hlsLorlcal evenLs presenLed. WPW collecLlve's conLrlbuLlon Lo Lhe pro[ecL ls a
reconsLrucLlon of Lhe uldacLlc exhlblLlon" organlzed ln 1937 ln Zagreb (and Lhen ln some oLher
?ugoslav clLles) and shows an aLLempL by a group of arLlsLs from Zagreb (prevlously assoclaLed
wlLh Lhe neo-consLrucLlve group LxA1 31) Lo lnserL Lhe ldea of radlcal absLracLlon (based on Lhe
consLrucLlvlsL raLher Lhan Lhe posL-cublsL LradlLlon whlch was Lhen gradually becomlng a
domlnanL academlc form) ln a slLuaLlon where Lhls aspecL of arLlsLlc auLonomy wlLh clearly
pollLlclsed undercurrenLs was sLrongly opposed boLh by hard-llne ZhdanovlLe dogmaLlsm and by
Lhe lnherlLed bourgeols culLural expecLaLlons whlch managed Lo survlve" Lhe revoluLlon and

1
ollLlcke prakse (posL)[ugoslovenske umeLnosLl (?uarL).

"uldacLlc LxhlblLlon"
"ollLlcal racLlces of
(osL-)?ugoslav ArL"
exhlblLlon openlng

"uldacLlc LxhlblLlon"

!"#$%&$'(#$)*#*+,$-./#$012/3&$4(5,&$06#,+7$$
89(5,$+,61,:#%(;&$(;$#.,$<+(=,:#$!>(1%#%:%/1$>+/:#%:,&$(6$8>(&#?@$A*B(&1/C$0+#7@$
0*'1!$"'2#3!(!4*!5-2!6#

$


!""#$%&'%

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have lnfluenced, ln a more or less concealed way, Lhe lnsLlLuLlonal LasLe" for arL. 1he model of
Lhe uldacLlc exhlblLlon" from 1937 - almosL enLlrely conslsLlng of reproducLlons raLher Lhan
orlglnal arLworks whlch were unavallable or fully neglecLed lnsLlLuLlonally llke, for example, Lhe
only orlglnal Mondrlan palnLlng kepL deep ln Lhe deep vaulLs of 8elgrade's naLlonal Museum unLll
Lhen - ls, flrsL of all, offerlng a model for an exhlblLlon noL as a feLlshlsLlc sensaLlon buL as an
educaLlonal case sLudy ln whlch works of arL appear as hands-on maLerlal of culLural analysls
wlLhln Lhe sphere of publlc anLagonlsm. 1hls ls exacLly how Lhe ?uarL" exhlblLlon ls presenLed:
noL as a collecLlon of feLlshlzed arLworks (n.b.: Loday some arL works from soclallsL ?ugoslavla are
heavlly feLlshlzed ln arL collecLlons llke Lhe AusLrlan LrsLe 8ank CollecLlon or some smaller prlvaLe
collecLlons), buL as a classroom for ongolng arLlsLlc and pollLlcal research and debaLe. 1hls
dldacLlc" aspecL ls Lherefore noL shled away from (ln accordance wlLh domlnanL lnLellecLual
cynlclsm whlch does noL belleve ln any form of cognlLlve becomlng) buL openly pro[ecLed on Lhe
conLemporary slLuaLlon. Secondly, Lhe example of Lhe uldacLlc exhlblLlon" shows an efforL Lo
make an lnLervenLlon ln Lhe ldeologlcal space deflned noL only by Lhe proverblal culLural
dogmaLlsm of Lhe communlsL rule, buL also by Lhe enLlre legacy of bourgeols preferences ln arL
(as ls clarlfled ln Lhe Lelllng example of Lhe aLLlLude of Lhe naLlonal Museum ln 8elgrade Loward
lLs Mondrlan palnLlng, menLloned ln Lhe excellenL lnLervlew conducLed by WPW wlLh arLlsL lvan
lcel[, one of Lhe organlzers of Lhe 1937 uldacLlc exhlblLlon").

1he laLLer ls one of Lhe causes of Lhe surprlslngly llmlLed conslderaLlon glven Lo
parLlsan arL." 1haL ls why Lhe pro[ecL Pow Lo Lhlnk parLlsan arL?" (by Lhe
Slovenlan researchers Mlklavz komel[, Lldl[a 8ado[evlc, 1an[a velaglc and !oze
8arsl) makes an lmporLanL redlscovery. 8uL more Lhan LhaL, Lhls pro[ecL carrles
slgnlflcanL welghL for conLemporary debaLes because lL focuses on dlscoverlng
Lhe new coordlnaLes of arL ln Lhe process of shaplng a collecLlve revoluLlonary
sub[ecLlvlLy" as a breaklng polnL for creaLlng Lhe empLy space for Lhe sLlll non-
exlsLenL," and Lhus lL may be seen as a sLarLlng polnL for a crlLlcal reflecLlon on
conLemporary arL. 1herefore Lhe case of parLlsan arL" (here mosLly presenLed
from Slovenlan archlves and lncludlng prlmarlly parLlsan poems, buL also
varlous vlsual maLerlal conslsLlng of drawlngs, deslgns for pamphleLs and oLher prlnLed maLerlal,
even manuals for uslng bombs and weapons) offers an evenL of Lhe awakenlng of Lhe new
auLonomy of arL whlch ls noL ldenLlLarlan, nelLher vulgarly lnsLrumenLallsed nor belonglng Lo Lhe
noLlon of absoluLe arL," buL as a LhemaLlsaLlon of Lhe unbearable Lenslon wlLhln whlch Lhls new
auLonomy herolcally .-7!-.#!4$#%81#!(9%$$!)!"!4:;

1he exhlblLlon also lncludes some conLemporary arL pro[ecLs whlch reflecL on
Lhe hlsLorlcal evenLs presenLed ln opposlLlon Lo Lhe domlnance of neo-llberal
and naLlonallsL ldeologles. Such ls Lhe work <'*4!$'1# =%1+$9!-"># ?0-"+*'.-#
=4%*:@# by Lhe 8usslan collecLlve ChLo delaL? whlch [uxLaposes Lhe unlversallsL
legacy of Lhe parLlsan sLruggle wlLh conLemporary ldenLlLarlan pollLlcs, l.e. wlLh
Lhe lmposslblllLy of devlslng a coherenL reslsLance Lo Lhe domlnaLlng ldeology
when Lhls reslsLance ls spllnLered lnLo Lhe unrelaLed lnLeresLs of cerLaln
ldenLlLarlan groups. Cn Lhe one slde we have a cholr of parLlsans (resembllng
Lhe common way Lhe parLlsan sLruggle was culLurallzed ln Lhe soclallsL perlod),
and on Lhe oLher a myrlad of conLemporary characLers of oppressors (Lhe
llberal pollLlclan, Lhe naLlonallsL pollLlclan, Lhe buslness Lycoon, Lhe war
proflLeer, eLc.) and Lhe oppressed (a 8oma/Cypsy, a lesblan, a war veLeran and a worker). ln a
8rechLlan manner, each of Lhem uLLers Lhelr own soclal agenda," and ln Lhelr relaLlon Lo Lhe
dead parLlsans ln Lhe cholr a cerLaln re-gaLherlng of Lhese fragmenLs ls lnsLlgaLed. 1herefore, Lhls
work ls an lnLervenLlon ln Lhe sLruggle for new unlversallsm ln emanclpaLory pollLlcs, ouLslde of
Lhe parLlcularlsLlc lnLeresLs of fragmenLed soclal groups. ?eL, Lhls work also presenLs an open
dllemma relaLed Lo ldenLlfylng cerLaln culLural ldenLlLy groups (Lesblan, 8oma.) wlLh Lhe
prlnclpal ldenLlLy of Lhe 8%*A-*, Lhe flgure whlch has LradlLlonally been Lhe essenLlal
revoluLlonary sub[ecL. 1he flgure of Lhe worker has been culLurallzed ln Lhe llberal unlverse,
however, Lhls flgure sLlll cannoL slmply become yeL anoLher culLural ldenLlLy (as, slmply, a 8oma
"Pow Lo Lhlnk parLlsan arL?"

B<'*4!$'1#=%1+$9!-"B

!"#$%&$'(#$)*#*+,$-./#$012/3&$4(5,&$06#,+7$$
89(5,$+,61,:#%(;&$(;$#.,$<+(=,:#$!>(1%#%:%/1$>+/:#%:,&$(6$8>(&#?@$A*B(&1/C$0+#7@$
0*'1!$"'2#3!(!4*!5-2!6#

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or a homosexual can also be workers). Pence Lhls work poses many relevanL quesLlons and Lhls ls
lLs lmmedlaLe effecL.

1here are oLher conLemporary works lncluded ln Lhe exhlblLlon. A fllm by uavld
Mal[kovlc (8eLlred form") focuses on a sculpLure by vo[ln 8aklc (erecLed ln Lhe
Memorlal ark ln Zagreb ln 1968) dedlcaLed Lo Lhe vlcLlms of World War 2.
WlLh a fllm camera, Mal[kovlc lnvesLlgaLes Lhe absLracL form of Lhe sculpLure
buL never fully reveals lL, and aLLempLs Lo re-esLabllsh some communlcaLlon
wlLh lL. 1hls work relaLes Lo anoLher hlsLorlcal unlL of Lhe exhlblLlon, Lhe
pro[ecL on vo[ln 8aklc by WPW. 8aklc may be seen as an offlclal arLlsL" of Lhe
soclallsL perlod whose sculpLures were regularly commlssloned, buL aL Lhe
same Llme Lhe quallLy of hls work and hls undersLandlng of Lhe relaLlonshlp
beLween arL and ldeology ls excepLlonal and hls role lllusLraLes, as WPW puL lL,
Lhe ldeal of soclallsm LhaL was more progresslve Lhan LhaL of Lhe bureaucraLlc
power apparaLus." 1hls pro[ecL also reflecLs on Lhe anLl-communlsL and
naLlonallsL denlal of Lhe arLlsL ln conLemporary CroaLla: some of 8aklc's ma[or
works were demollshed durlng Lhe 90s war and Lhey are now elLher neglecLed
or seen solely as examples of lndlvldual work almlng for arLlsLlc auLonomy
agalnsL some dogmaLlc parLy llne. WhaL Lhe case of 8aklc shows ls Lhe flgure of
an auLonomous arLlsL (communlsL-modernlsL) who was LruLhful Lo Lhe evenL of
Lhe soclallsL revoluLlon and whose work cannoL be seen as merely
lnsLrumenLallsed by some offlclal parLy llne.

AnoLher recenL arLlsLlc pro[ecL reflecLs on - by means of repeLlLlon, anonymlLy
and re-arLlculaLlon - one of Lhe flrsL examples of new arLlsLlc pracLlce" ln Lhe
laLe 60s: Lhe evenL called 8ed erlsLyle," an anonymous lnLervenLlon ln Lhe
famous 8oman slLe ln SpllL ln 1967. ln 1997, lgor Crublc repeaLs Lhe whole
lnLervenLlon by only replaclng Lhe red colour wlLh whlch Lhe slLe was palnLed
ln Lhe orlglnal lnLervenLlon wlLh black. Crublc's lnLervenLlon was noL
clandesLlne" buL exposed, explolLlng Lhe conLemporary recklessness Lowards
Lhe publlc. 1he arLlsL presenLed hlmself as an auLhorlsed" person maklng
some repalrs on Lhe slLe, alLhough he openly placed a placard on Lhe
nelghbourlng shop wlndow saylng: ln Lhe honour of Lhe 8ed erlsLyle group
30 years afLer. A perlsLyle, llke a maglc mlrror, reflecLs Lhe sLaLe of soclal
reallLy." ln accordance wlLh hls noLlon of lndlvldual collecLlvlsm," Crublc
afflllaLes hls work wlLh Lhe pracLlce of arLlsLlc collecLlvlsm of whlch Lhe 8ed
erlsLyle group ls an example, and whlch ls LreaLed along oLher examples ln
anoLher hlsLorlcal unlL of Lhe show: 8emoved from Lhe crowd" (assoclaLlons
ouLslde Lhe programmaLlc collecLlvlLles ln Lhe arL of Lhe 60s and 70s ln Lhe
SoclallsL 8epubllc of CroaLla) by ueLve collecLlve members lvana 8ago and AnLonla Ma[aca.

CLher presenLed pro[ecLs reflecL dlfferenL aspecLs of new arLlsLlc pracLlces" from Lhe laLe 60s Lo
Lhe early 80s. relom collecLlve's research 1he case of Lhe SLudenL CulLural CenLre ln Lhe 1970s,"
ls an exhlblLlon noL of works of arL produced ln Lhls CenLre ln 8elgrade ln LhaL perlod (works by
noLed arLlsLs llke 8asa 1odosl[evlc, Marlna Abramovlc, nesa arlpovlc, Zoran opovlc, Coran
u[ord[evlc and Lhe oLhers), buL of dlfferenL documenLs, sLaLemenLs, phoLographs and press
cllpplngs whlch dlsclose Lhe lnsLlLuLlonal lnvenLlon of Lhe SkC ln Lhe posL-1968 cllmaLe. A
qulnLessenLlal vldeo LlLled C!1%#)-"-DA- by LuLz 8ecker ls also lncluded ln Lhe dlsplay and lL shows
mosL of Lhe proLagonlsLs of Lhls epoch and Lhelr arLlsLlc/pollLlcal aLLlLudes. 1he pro[ecL sheds llghL
on Lhe flrsL example of Lhe lnsLlLuLlonallsaLlon of alLernaLlve culLure" and all Lhe ldeologlcal
Lenslons of lefL dlssldence" ln a soclallsL counLry. A conLemporary mural by uarlnka op MlLlc ls
llnked Lo Lhls pro[ecL. lL ls a remake of Lhe mural SolldarlLy of Lhe ?ugoslav people wlLh Lhe
people of LaLln Amerlca" palnLed on Lhe ouLer wall of SkC ln 1976. 1he work by op MlLlc ls abouL

"8eLlred formB


"vo[ln 8aklc"


"8lack erlsLyle"

!"#$%&$'(#$)*#*+,$-./#$012/3&$4(5,&$06#,+7$$
89(5,$+,61,:#%(;&$(;$#.,$<+(=,:#$!>(1%#%:%/1$>+/:#%:,&$(6$8>(&#?@$A*B(&1/C$0+#7@$
0*'1!$"'2#3!(!4*!5-2!6#

$


!""#$%&'%

+%

Lhe muddled ldeologlcal relaLlonshlp beLween Lhe lnslde" of SkC as a slLe of a concepLual arL
scene, and lLs ouLslde" whlch had a clearly offlclal propaganda alm.

1he pro[ecL by Lhe kuda.org assoclaLlon LlLled 1he ConLlnuous ArL Class - 1he
novl Sad neo AvanL-garde of Lhe 60s and 70s" lnvesLlgaLes Lhls unlque local
example Lhrough lLs half-vlslblllLy and culLural marglnallLy whlch have ma[or
consequences for Lhe pollLlcal genealogy of conLemporary arL. Cn Lhe oLher
slde, Lhe pro[ecL As soon as l open my eyes l see a fllm - LxperlmenLs ln
?ugoslav arL ln Lhe '60s and '70s" by Ana !anevskl, explores Lhe producLlon of
amaLeur clnema clubs ln Zagreb, 8elgrade and SpllL, and ln general Lhe role of
amaLeurlsm" ln shaplng anLl-arL and anLl-conformlLy aLLlLudes. llnally, 1v
Callery" ls a pro[ecL whlch explores Lhe flnal ouLcome of new arLlsLlc
pracLlces" ln Lhe early 80s when, for Lhe flrsL Llme, a Lelevlslon program on Lhls
klnd of arL was lnlLlaLed on 8elgrade Lelevlslon by uun[a 8lazevlc. 8lazevlc ls a
person whose work colncldes wlLh Lhe perlods Lraversed by Lhls pro[ecL: flrsL
as Lhe lnlLlaLor and flrsL curaLor of Lhe Callery of SLudenLs' CulLural CenLre ln
Lhe early 70s, Lhen as Lhe edlLor of Lhe program 1v Callery" ln Lhe early 80s,
and Loday as one of Lhe parLners of Lhe pro[ecL ?uarL" represenLlng Lhe
Sara[evan SCCA/pro.ba.

All of Lhese pro[ecLs are hlsLorlcal ln Lhelr research dlmenslon buL
conLemporary ln Lhe lssues Lhey puL forward: Lhe conLemporary lnvlslblllLy of
some relevanL examples of radlcal arL ln Lhe local conLexL, Lhe lack of lnLeresL
ln Lhe educaLlonal sysLem ln Lhese examples and new lnLervenLlons
lndependenLly fllllng Lhls lack, Lhe ldeologlcal lmpllcaLlons of Lhe dlsLlncLlon
beLween professlonallsm and amaLeurlsm, Lhe lack of any lnLeresL ln Loday's
medla ln radlcal arL pracLlces, pasL or conLemporary, and ln general, Lhe fadlng
of Lhe educaLlonal componenL of Lelevlslon whlch was raLher promlnenL ln
Sl8? as one of Lhe aspecLs of Lhe general sLraLegy of modernlsaLlon.

lnsLead of opLlng for a hlsLorlcal arL exhlblLlon (wlLh all lLs
lnsLlLuLlonal/admlnlsLraLlonal sLandards" and much hlgher budgeLs), Lhe
auLhors of Lhls pro[ecL sLrucLured a documenLary exhlblLlon as a collaboraLlve
LacLlcal form. 1he pro[ecL ls based on lndependenL self-organlzaLlon and
deparLs from a concreLe guldlng Lask ln a slLuaLlon where a general dlsmlssal of
Lhe arLlsLlc legacy aL sLake causes lnsLlLuLlonal dlslnLeresLedness. Cpposlng Lhls,
Lhe pro[ecL marks a [olnL efforL Lo Lake over Lhe educaLlon and research roles
for whlch educaLlonal lnsLlLuLlons should be responslble. 8y Laklng Lhls
responslblllLy, and a burden of lnvesLlgaLlng conLroverslal Loplcs, Lhls pro[ecL
offers an alLernaLlve Lo Lhe culLurallzaLlon and feLlshlzaLlon of Lhe ?ugoslav arL
of Lhe soclallsL perlod, whlch may soon be half-[oklngly called 1he LrsLe 8ank
PlsLory of ?ugoslav ArL." 1hls ls a process where powerful lnsLlLuLlons are
caplLallzlng upon Lhe lnsLlLuLlonal crlsls ln Lhe ex-?ugoslav LerrlLory and
spreadlng new forms of culLural hegemony on Lhe basls of old geo-pollLlcal
dlvlslons.

As ls clearly sLaLed ln relaLlon Lo anoLher work shown aL ?uarL," Lhe vldeo
E%F*1'"# 1%;G by PlLo SLeyerl, Lhe domlnanL form of crlLlque of culLural
lnsLlLuLlons galns a reacLlonary characLer - Lhe naLlonallsL crlLlque vlews Lhem
as noL grounded ln some ldea of an lndlgenous" culLure, whereas Lhe neo-
llberal crlLlque dlmlnlshes Lhe role of Lhose lnsLlLuLlons whlch are seen as noL
capable of adapLlng Lo Lhe requlremenLs of Lhe markeL. 1herefore, Lhls pro[ecL
does noL fall lnLo Lhe Lrap of a naive lefLlsL lnsLlLuLlonal crlLlque, buL by worklng
ouLslde of Lhe lnsLlLuLlonal sysLem and also by Laklng over Lhe responslblllLy of
educaLlonal and culLural lnsLlLuLlons, lL negoLlaLes new forms of overground"
hoLograph Laken ln Lhe SkC ln 1972


"1he case of Lhe SLudenL CulLural CenLre ln Lhe
1970s"


"klno beleske"




A remake of Lhe mural "SolldarlLy of Lhe ?ugoslav
people wlLh Lhe people of LaLln Amerlca" palnLed
on Lhe ouLer wall of SkC ln 1976.by uarlnka op
MlLlc

!"#$%&$'(#$)*#*+,$-./#$012/3&$4(5,&$06#,+7$$
89(5,$+,61,:#%(;&$(;$#.,$<+(=,:#$!>(1%#%:%/1$>+/:#%:,&$(6$8>(&#?@$A*B(&1/C$0+#7@$
0*'1!$"'2#3!(!4*!5-2!6#

$


!""#$%&'%

,%

self-organlzaLlon and crlLlcal collaboraLlon whlch may creaLe an afflrmaLlve alLernaLlve.

neo-llberallsm ls noL abouL sLrengLhenlng Lhe lnsLlLuLlonal sphere, nelLher can
Lhe opposlLlon Lo Lhe conLemporary "'!$$-HI7'!*- culLure be based on an assaulL
on such a crumbllng lnsLlLuLlonal sysLem. neo-llberallsm and lLs anLl-globallsL
opposlLlon are merely Lwo sldes of Lhe same coln, dependenL on each oLher.
1he weakenlng of lnsLlLuLlons ls one of Lhe maln goals of Lhe neo-llberal
fragmenLaLlon and prlvaLlzaLlon of publlc sphere, as well as Lhe fragmenLed
and de-unlversallzed world of Lhe anLl-esLabllshmenL. lnsLlLuLlons have slmply
become empLy shells, llke empLy offlce bulldlngs have become sLale symbols of
neo-llberal economy. So, any response Lo Lhls slLuaLlon should noL be abouL
demollshlng lnsLlLuLlons: raLher lL should be abouL lnLellecLually and pollLlcally
squaLLlng" Lhem or formlng new clusLers loosely aLLached Lo Lhelr empLy
shells, llke mud and sLraw houses around old 8oman forLresses ln medleval
Llmes. Such lndependenL organlzaLlons and alllances may flll Lhe educaLlonal
vacuum caused by Lhe neo-llberal soclal collapse only lnsofar as Lhey have
preLenslons Lo become symbollcally sLronger Lhan lnsLlLuLlons around whlch
(or wlLhln whlch) Lhey operaLe.







"As soon as l open my eyes l see a fllm -
LxperlmenLs ln ?ugoslav arL ln Lhe 1960s and
1970s"
"1v Callery"


"1he ConLlnuous ArL Class - 1he novl Sad neo AvanL-
garde of Lhe 60s and 1970s"

!"#$%&'($)*&+$&,("")-.+/)&0)1(23&&
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?@:)$&A2)/*5#.3#$&&




!""#$%&'%

(%

)*"+*,%-./$01%23$14$5%*6$/%1.5%3177%
86154%9:%

1he beglnnlng of 2010 ln ?erevan was marked by an unprecedenLed acLlvlsL movemenL whlch
began rlghL afLer Lhe Armenlan CovernmenL made cerLaln changes ln Lhe LlsL of PlsLorlcal and
CulLural MonumenLs of Lhe ClLy of ?erevan. 1he changes concerned Lhe open alr hall of Lhe
Moscow Clnema 1heaLer, a brlghL example of Lhe laLe modernlsLlc archlLecLure of Lhe 60s, whlch
was Laken ouL of Lhe llsL wlLh a subsequenL commlsslon LhaL lL should be desLroyed and Lhe
church of SL. oghos-eLros (SL. aul and eLer) LhaL had been desLroyed durlng SLalln's
anLlrellglous campalgn ln Lhe 30s should be consLrucLed ln lLs place.

1he declslon provoked an lmmedlaLe and qulLe unexpecLed (ln lLs scale)
reacLlon. A lacebook group called SAvL Clnema Moscow Cpen Alr Pall" was
formed and 6000 members [olned Lhe group ln a shorL perlod of Llme. ln
addlLlon, an acLlvlsL lnlLlaLlve LhaL organlzed varlous Lypes of acLlons, publlc
dlscusslons, eLc. was formed. Cne of Lhe mosL effecLlve acLlons was Lhe
slgnaLure campalgn LhaL was held for a week durlng whlch more Lhan 26000
slgnaLures were collecLed for preservlng Moscow Clnema 1heaLer open alr
hall. ulfferenL professlonal unlons, nCCs and oLher publlc lnsLlLuLlons also
supporLed Lhe lnlLlaLlve. 1he campalgn sLarLed Lo galn wlde publlc resonance,
shlfLlng Lhe dlscourse Lo broader soclo-culLural and pollLlcal levels, whlch was
raLher unexpecLed and unwanLed for Lhe governmenL and for Lhe church.
AfLer hoL debaLes ln Lhe press, 1v, radlo and Lhe lnLerneL, Lhe church, as well
as Lhe governmenL declded Lo pull back and suspend Lhe lmplemenLaLlon of
Lhelr plans for a whlle. 1hey announced LhaL Lhe quesLlon was belng
consldered by dlfferenL commlsslons, whlch could elLher mean real
dlscusslons or lL can be Lhe usual LacLlc employed Lo sLagnaLe Lhe problem by
freezlng publlc aLLenLlon.

1he problem regardlng Lhe Moscow Clnema 1heaLer open alr hall ls acLually
more complex Lhan lL may seem aL flrsL slghL. ln a sLrange way, lL Lles up Lhe
epoch when lL was bullL, wlLh lLs Lenslons, emanclpaLory energles and
paradoxes, Lo Lhe neoconservaLlve conLexL of neollberal soclo-pollLlcal and
culLural acLuallLy.

1he open alr hall was consLrucLed beLween 1964 and 1966 by archlLecLs
SparLak kndeghLsyan and 1elman Cevorgyan. lL has been one of Lhe besL
examples of Lhe revlved funcLlonallsL approaches ln posL-SLalln SovleL
Armenlan archlLecLure LhaL were developlng parallel Lo Lhe lnLenslve
urbanlzaLlon of Lhe clLy of ?erevan. ArchlLecLs masLerly Lransformed a
consLrlcLed backyard beLween Lwo bulldlngs lnLo a raLlonally used space
where Lhe comblnaLlon of concreLe forms wlLh developed superfluous spaces
mlxed wlLh lnLegraLed naLural elemenLs creaLed a dlsLlngulshed ensemble ln
Lhe very hearL of ?erevan.

An amphlLheaLer wlLh an exLenslve foyer underneaLh, lL used Lo be one of Lhe mosL popular and
acLlve cafes ln Lhe clLy. 1he wlde Lerrace LhaL unlLed Lhe amphlLheaLer wlLh Lhe sldewalk broke
Lhe rlgldness of Lhe glven Lopographlcal geomeLry by lnLervenlng wlLh and obeylng lL aL Lhe same
Llme and allowlng Lhe Lrees on Lhe sldewalk Lo grow Lhrough Lhe flrmness of lLs concreLe and ln
Lhls way creaLed many new perspecLlves for observlng Lhe surroundlng reallLy as well as Lhe very
archlLecLure. 8uL one of Lhe mosL lmporLanL feaLures of Lhls archlLecLure (as well as many oLher
archlLecLural forms creaLed ln Lhe very same perlod ln ?erevan and Armenla) LhaL l would llke Lo
focus on ls how lL formed cerLaln surplus spaces ln Lhe urban envlronmenL whlch could be
regarded as klnd of blank or so Lo say exLraLerrlLorles", LerrlLorles LhaL shaped new percepLlons
Moscow Clnema 1heaLer open alr hall, 1963



Moscow Clnema 1heaLer open alr hall, 1963



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of urban space, new urban culLures and pollLlcs, Lhe formaLlon of whlch was LlghLly lnLerLwlned
wlLh Lhe appearance of Lhe quallLaLlvely and essenLlally new publlc spaces ln Lhe clLy Lerraln.
Powever, slnce Lhe mlddle 90s Lhose speclflc spaces have been vanlshlng from Lhe urban
envlronmenL elLher by belng desLroyed or corrupLed beyond recognlLlon. lL could seem LhaL ln a
newly developlng posL-ldeologlcal socleLy Lhese consLrucLlons and spaces have remalned as
examples Lo or remlnders of someLhlng else/dlfferenL LhaL could hardly flL ln Lhe economy and
pollLlcs of a new soclo-culLural paradlgm. 1he LendenLlous demollLlon of Lhese sLrucLures and
spaces was evolvlng wlLh Lhe reconslderaLlons of hlsLorlcal narraLlves, and Lhe occupaLlon of
Lhese exLraLerrlLorles" of Lhe clLy ln a symbollc way was an erasure of cerLaln zones from
collecLlve memory, a phenomenon LhaL, ln a paradoxlcal way, [uxLaposes LhaL cerLaln Lrend ln Lhe
perlod of Lhe 60s Lo form blank spaces ln Lhe urban envlronmenL wlLh Lhe formaLlon of blank
spaces ln collecLlve memory. 1hus, we are deallng wlLh a forced or naLural collecLlve amnesla Lhe
sympLoms of whlch could be Lraced back Lo Lhe very 60s.

-*77$+4.;$%10/$".1%1/<=*5%>71/?%"6*4"%*@%43$%AB"%

8eflecLlng on Lhe SovleL 60s nowadays, we are deallng wlLh such an enormous
amounL of lnformaLlon, lmages, personages and narraLlves as well as Lhelr
lnLerpreLaLlons LhaL (boLh durlng Lhe SovleL and posL-SovleL Llmes) Lhere have
been only few subLle reconslderaLlons connecLed wlLh changes ln Lhe pollLlcal
and culLural paradlgm. 1he connecLlon beLween Lhese elemenLs may seem
qulLe conLradlcLory and someLlmes really forced as lf you are Lrylng Lo puL
LogeLher a [lgsaw puzzle knowlng abouL a cerLaln lmage, buL Lhe pleces elLher
do noL flL or compose oLher/dlfferenL fragmenLed plcLures leavlng exLenslve
blank zones ln beLween.

uesplLe Lhe facL LhaL Lhe epoch of Lhe 60s ls flrmly sLamped ln Lhe collecLlve
memory of ex-SovleL socleLles as an exLremely lmporLanL parL of Lhelr
hlsLorles LhaL condlLloned, ln many senses, Lhe subsequenL developmenL of
Lhelr culLural, soclal and pollLlcal envlronmenLs, lL ls also posslble Lo follow
how Lhls memory ls flxaLed on cerLaln evenLs and daLa whlch are assoclaLed
only wlLh Lhe esLabllshed local hlsLorlcal masLer narraLlve whlch ls malnly
belng called up Lo raLlonallze Lhe presenL sLaLe of Lhose socleLles. Scarce
publlcaLlons abouL Lhe perlod malnly focus on cerLaln sub[ecLs and mosLly
deal wlLh Lhem ln qulLe narrow and lndlvlduaLed conLexLs. 8uL as soon as you
Lry Lo sLep beyond Lhe LrlLe and general sLorles abouL Lhe Lhaw,"
kbtosbevkos," dlssldenL culLure and pollLlcs, revlved naLlonal self-
consclousness and [usL Lalk Lo people of Lhe 60s abouL Lhe 60s, qulLe ofLen
you may confronL an lnLeresLlng buL aL Lhe same paradoxlcal slLuaLlon where
a very sllghL alluslon Lo LhaL perlod rouses an lnLenslve flow of fragmenLed
prlvaLe memorles lnLerLwlned wlLh scrappy buL aL Lhe same Llme brlghL
lmages and emoLlons whlch are generally lnLerrupLed by a deep lmpeneLrable
spoLLy memory effecL. lL mlghL seem LhaL Lhe selecLlve processlng of prlvaLe
memory ls consLanLly correlaLlng personal daLa wlLh Lhe [uncLures lnscrlbed ln
Lhe Llme llne of Lhe hlsLorlcal narraLlve (belleved Lo be a collecLlve memory) as
well as wlLh Lhe conLemporary conLexL whlch seems Lo be ln LoLal opposlLlon
Lo Lhe paradlgms of Lhe romanLlc rebelllous epoch." And whaLever does noL
flL ln Lhe narraLlve ls self-censored, lgnored or [usL deleLed from memory.

Lxplorlng Lhe LransformaLlon of ?erevan clLy ln Lhe perlod of Lhe 60s, l
dlscovered a very lnLeresLlng case of collecLlve memory loss LhaL concerned
Lhe change of Lhe mosL vlslble symbols of Lhe clLy.

ln Lhe beglnnlng of Lhe year 1962, Lhe monumenL of SLalln LhaL was
waLchlng" Lhe clLy from Lhe helghLs of one of ?erevan hllls was dlsplaced and
Lhe roof of Lhe World War 2 vlcLory Museum's bulldlng LhaL used Lo serve as a
SLalln's monumenL ln ?erevan (1930 - 1962)




MonumenL of MoLher Armenla (1967)




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huge podlum for Lhe monumenL remalned empLy Llll 1967. AfLer a 3 year break anoLher
monumenL, MoLher Armenla, was puL on dlsplay Lo subsLlLuLe Lhe laLher of Lhe naLlons."

1hough lL mlghL sound lronlc, lL Look qulLe a long Llme and a loL of efforL Lo flgure ouL Lhe exacL
daLe Lhe monumenL of SLalln ln ?erevan was dlsplaced. uesplLe Lhe facL LhaL lL was one of Lhe
blggesL and mosL well-known monumenLs ln Lhe SovleL unlon made by Sergey Merkurov, lLs
dlsplacemenL hasn'L been covered well enough nelLher ln books nor ln documenLarles
1
.

lor some people, Lhe daLe Lhe monumenL was Laken down was assoclaLed wlLh Lhe 20
Lh
Congress
of Lhe CommunlsL arLy of Lhe SovleL unlon ln 1936 where khrushchev denounced SLalln's crlmes
and Lhe culL of personallLy." Cr Lhere was anoLher flxaLlon LhaL Lhe monumenL had been
removed ln 1967, rlghL before Lhe MoLher Armenla was lnsLalled ln Lhe same place. 1he only
Lhlng LhaL goL lmprlnLed ln collecLlve memory was Lhe case abouL Lhe Lwo workers who were
kllled durlng Lhe removal process.

ln Lhe book abouL !akov Zarobyan (Lhe flrsL secreLary of Lhe CommunlsL arLy of Lhe SovleL
8epubllc of Armenla ln Lhe perlod of 1960-1966) wrlLLen by hls son nlklLa Zarobyan Lhere ls a very
lnLeresLlng deLall LhaL descrlbes Lhe whole pollLlcal conLexL of Lhe perlod when SLalln's
monumenL was dlsplaced ln ?erevan. lL was ln facL one of Lhe laLesL dlsplacemenLs of SLalln's
monumenLs ln SovleL caplLals and Lhe son of Lhe former flrsL secreLary descrlbes Lhe reason for
Lhls delay as a form of hldden dlplomacy beLween Armenla and Ceorgla. And Lhls sLory ls also
connecLed wlLh anoLher velled and/or forgoLLen eplsode from Lhe SovleL pasL.

SponLaneous large-scale demonsLraLlons Look place ln 1blllsl as well as oLher clLles ln Ceorgla
(Corl, Sukhuml, 8aLuml) rlghL afLer Lhe 20
Lh
congress of Lhe CommunlsL arLy of Lhe SovleL unlon
ln 1936, where Lhe offended demonsLraLors were Lrylng Lo defend Lhe ouLraged honor of Lhelr
compaLrloL !osef SLalln. 1he 1blllsl revolL lasLlng flve days (beLween 3 and 10 March) LhaL was
vlolenLly suppressed by mlllLary forces (Lhe number of esLlmaLed casualLles varles from several
dozens Lo several hundreds) could be consldered a breaklng polnL and a sympLomaLlc evenL ln
SovleL hlsLory. Aslde form belng a palnful reacLlon of a socleLy aL Lhe end of Lhe SLallnlsL myLh, lL
also became Lhe sLarLlng polnL for Lhe developmenL of new naLlonallsLlc conLexLs and separaLlsL
dlscourses ln SovleL soclo-pollLlcal and culLural slLuaLlons LhaL were belng shaped parallel Lo Lhe
evolvlng soclal dlsbellef ln Lhe feaslblllLy of a new soclal order.
2


1he connecLlon beLween Lhe 1blllsl demonsLraLlons and Lhe laLe dlsplacemenL of SLalln's
monumenL ln ?erevan ls explalned ln Lhe memolrs abouL !akob Zarobyan Lo be Lhe very concreLe
and slmple lnLenLlon of Lhe flrsL secreLary of Lhe Armenlan CommunlsL arLy of LhaL perlod Lo
keep good nelghborly relaLlons wlLh Ceorgla.
3
AlLhough Lhls descrlpLlon mlghL seem really

1
lL was also lmposslble Lo flnd any archlval phoLos wlLh a mlsslng monumenL, buL Laklng famlly phoLos wlLh Lhe
monumenL of SLalln and Lhen MoLher Armenla ln Lhe background was popular. l am sLlll ln Lhe process of looklng for such
an lmage, buL aL Lhe same Llme, lL ls clear why such lmages are mlsslng: lL dld noL occur Lo anybody Lo have a plcLure
Laken ln fronL of an empLy podlum - a mlsslng lcon.
2
ln hls book LlLled uokowo u55k - tbe Aotoqoolsm 8etweeo 5oclety ooJ tbe lowet 5ystem vladlmlr kozlov wroLe abouL
Lhe developmenL of Lhe 1blllsl ouLbreak ln 1936 among many oLher small scale and blg scale ouLbreaks ln Lhe SovleL
unlon durlng Lhe SLalln, khrushchev and 8rezhnev perlods and ldenLlfled lL as one of Lhe mosL sympLomaLlc ouLbreaks as
lLs sLarL had qulLe a symbloLlc characLer where advocacy for SLallnlsm was lnLerLwlned wlLh a naLlonallsLlc background,
whlch aL Lhe end (on Lhe 4
Lh
day of manlfesLaLlons) Lurned lnLo appeals concernlng Lhe separaLlon of Ceorgla from Lhe
SovleL unlon, unbellevable for LhaL perlod of Llme. 1he auLhor of Lhe book Lhlnks LhaL even lf Lhose appeals had a
fragmenLed and parLlcular characLer, Lhelr effecL on Lhe subsequenL developmenL of Lhe soclo-culLural and pollLlcal
slLuaLlon ln Ceorgla as well as ln oLher republlcs of Lhe uSS8 and Lhe SoclallsL 8lock was Lremendous.
8rauuup Areicanpouu osrou PLn38LC1PLP CCC. C1n8CC1C+PnL PACA n 8nAC1n 1933-1983 lraua
7Cnn1n+LCnL 8CnPLPn+ 8 lv3nn CCnL xx CLL3A CC
hLLp://kroLov.lnfo/llb_sec/11_k/oz/lov_va4.hLm
nsaerscuo CnMA-LCC 129073, Mociua, 3uesnsu 6yrsuap, 23 CnMA-LCC uxou u rpynny iounanuu
3AC CnMA MLnA lv onucano u neas 22.11.03
3
nlklLa Zarobyan, Iokov 2otobyoo ooJ nls pocb, ?erevan, publlshed by 8Au - 8usslan Armenlan (Slavlc) unlverslLy 2008,
p. 92. ulsplacemenL of SLalln's MonumenL ln vlcLory ark
Puiua 3apo6nn +iou 3apo6nn u ero anoxa Lpeuan, usaerscuo Av - occuucio Apunnciuu (Craunnciuu)
vnuepcue 2008, cp 92 euona+ uonyuena Carun u apie o6es
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unsophlsLlcaLed lL also slgnlfled anoLher lmporLanL conLexLual shlfL: Lhe perlpheral republlc
declded Lo pursue lLs own auLonomous pollLlcs by deflnlng lLs sLraLeglc prlorlLles connecLed wlLh
Lhe fuLure developmenL of Lhe relaLlons wlLh lLs nelghbors wlLh a clear undersLandlng LhaL Lhe
regulaLlon of naLlonal quesLlons ls no longer under Lhe same auLhorlLarlan conLrol of Lhe cenLer
as lL used Lo be durlng Lhe SLalln perlod, whlch, aL Lhe same, Llme supposed Lhe advance of Lhe
lndlvlduallzaLlon process LhaL sLarLed Lo develop ln Lhe soclo-pollLlcal, economlcal and pollLlcal
slLuaLlons ln every one of Lhe 13 SovleL republlcs.

1he 1blllsl rloL, as well as many oLher lnsurrecLlons LhaL Look place ln Lhe SovleL unlon ln Lhe
khrushchev perlod (Murom 1961, novocherkassk 1962, SumgalL 1963, eLc.) had a very complex,
mulLlfarlous and lnLerLwlned characLer (pro-SLalln, soclal, pollLlcal, anarchlsLlc) where Lhere could
be blg dlscrepancles beLween Lhe essenLlal moLlvaLlons and Lhe flnal demands. uemonsLraLlons
ln Lhe early 8rezhnev perlod were galnlng a more speclfled characLer ln Lhe sense of ralslng
concreLe pollLlcal demands (?erevan 1963, Moscow 1963, eLc). 8uL, anyhow, all Lhose lmporLanL
hlsLorlcal eplsodes of publlc upsurges were sLrlcLly Labooed durlng Lhe SovleL perlod. 1hey remaln
only ln Lhe memorles of Lhe local parLlclpanLs ln Lhose rebelllons, buL fade away by belng
myLhologlzed and loslng conLexLual parLlcularlLles.

lL mlghL sound paradoxlcal, buL even afLer Lhe fall of Lhe SovleL unlon only a mlnor porLlon of
Lhese hlsLorlcal eplsodes were [usL parLly unvelled. 1he mulLlfarlous essence of Lhese soclal
rebelllons LhaL represenLed, ln a cerLaln way, Lhe amblguous characLer of Lhe very epoch was
perhaps Lhe maln reason why Lhose narraLlves were reLold Lo Lhe publlc vla selecLlve and
fragmenLed lnLerpreLaLlons. 1he edlLlng of hlsLory LhaL sLarLed ln posL-SovleL socleLles wlLh Lhe
revlslon of Lhe narraLlves and lmages (demollLlon of monumenLs and symbols) of Lhe communlsL
pasL, Lo a cerLaln exLenL, revlLallzed some of Lhose eplsodes LhaL were flLLlng Lo Lhe pollLlcal and
culLural conLexLs of Lhe llberallzlng posL-ldeologlcal socleLy. As a rule, Lhose lnLerpreLaLlons
obeyed Lhe myLhlcal narraLlon, and whaL ls mosL lnLeresLlng, Lhey were malnly deprlved of Lhe
afflrmaLlon of lmagery. And accordlng Lo Lhe same loglc, [usL llke Lhere were no lmages of an
empLy podlum from Lhe lnLerval beLween Lhe dlsplacemenL of SLalln's monumenL and Lhe
erecLlon of Lhe new monumenL MoLher Armenla ln ?erevan, a loL of oLher lmages LhaL mlghL glve
some lnformaLlon and/or propose oLher conLexLual readlngs of Lhe phenomenon had been elLher
losL or Laken ouL from publlc clrculaLlon and laLer on from collecLlve memory.

8uL comlng back Lo LhaL parLlcular perlod beLween 1962 and 1967, LhaL speclflc Lemporal vold"
LhaL was opened wlde ln Lhe mldsL of an epochal shlfL marked by Lhe change of Lwo monumenLal
symbols ln ?erevan, whlch slgnlfled dlfferenL epochs and dlfferenL pollLlcal and culLural
hegemonles, lL ls posslble Lo Lrace how same klnd of volds were appearlng ln Lhe dlfferenL sLraLa
of Lhe soclo-culLural, pollLlcal and even economlcal reallLy of LhaL perlod. And Lhose weren'L [usL
Lhe Lype of volds LhaL could appear ln a confused socleLy LhaL, afLer loslng lLs leader also losL lLs
bellef ln Lhe ldeas of a brlghL fuLure." 1hose Lypes of volds were very soon fllled by Lhe
subsLlLuLlon of Lhe personallLy culL" wlLh Lhe culL of Lhe naLlon"
4
as a new sysLem of conLrolllng
a socleLy sLrlpped of ldeologlcal blas.

1he process was much more complex and mulLllayered, as complex and mulLllayered as Lhe
socleLy lLself. Maybe lL ls approprlaLe Lo menLlon LhaL aslde from LhaL blg lnLer-ldeologlcal vold
Lhere were many oLher volds of dlfferenL scales and dlfferenL characLers LhaL had appeared ln or
were generaLed by Lhe same socleLy elLher ln order Lo exLend Lhe spaLlal and ldeologlcal (formal
and lnformal, new and old) llmlLaLlons, or Lo prolong Lhe Lemporal vold for auLonomous
reconslderaLlons of Lhe pasL, Lhe presenL and vlslons of Lhe fuLure.

AcLlvely evolvlng urbanlzaLlon of ?erevan and rural areas, lnLenslve developmenL of dlverslfled
lndusLrles ln Lhe whole republlc wlLh a gradual shlfL Lowards advanced Lechnology producLs,
esLabllshmenL of sclenLlflc lnsLlLuLes, lmprovemenL of llfe sLandards, lnLenslfylng lnLerrelaLlons
wlLh Lhe world (ln Lhe 60s Lhere was Lhe lasL blg wave of repaLrlaLlon of Armenlans from Lhe

4
ln Lhe same perlod of Llme Lhe monumenLal symbols of MoLherlands were erecLed ln almosL every SovleL naLlonal
republlc (MoLher Ceorgla, MoLherland klev, MoLher 8elarus, eLc.).
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kobeo Atevsbotyoo



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ulaspora), and many oLher progresslve developmenLs ln Lhe 60s had really lnfluenced Lhe reallLy
by revlvlng SovleL uLoplas. ?erevan, as well as many oLher clLles ln Lhe republlc, had galned a new
modernlsLlc appearance LhaL was ln conLrasL Lo SLallnlsL archlLecLure. ln parallel Lo Lhe
appearance of new envlronmenLs ln Lhe urban space new urban culLures LhaL were also shaplng
up new lmages of lndlvlduals were emerglng. 8elnLegraLlon (alLhough parLlal and dlsLanced) wlLh
worldwlde soclopollLlcal and culLural processes and a clear vlslon of lLs own parLlclpaLlon ln Lhe
blg Cold War perlod geopollLlcal seLup on Lhe one hand sLlmulaLed unlversallsLlc perspecLlves
Lhough Lhey were consldered wlLh a local focus, and on Lhe oLher hand suggesLed
reconslderaLlons of Lhe known as well as forgoLLen narraLlves of lLs own hlsLory of modernlzaLlon
- llke Lhe formaLlon of Lhe flrsL republlc beLween 1918-1920, Lhen Lhe formaLlon of Lhe SovleL
SoclallsL republlc ln 1920. ln Lhe 60s, SovleLlzaLlon sLarLed Lo be consldered ln varlous lnLellecLual
and pollLlcal dlscourses as an lmporLed and new form of colonlzaLlon and Lhls was propagaLed ln
socleLy ln dlrecL and lndlrecL ways desplLe Lhe facL LhaL slnce Lhe beglnnlng of Lhe 20Lh cenLury,
Lhe Caucasus used Lo be one of Lhe lmporLanL cenLers where communlsL and soclallsL
revoluLlonary movemenLs were developlng.

1he oLher lmporLanL evenL ln LhaL perlod whlch deLermlned Lhe subsequenL
developmenL of Lhe whole soclopollLlcal and culLural paradlgm was Lhe
demonsLraLlon of sLudenLs and lnLelllgenLsla ln ?erevan on 24 Aprll 1963 (LhaL
overgrew lnLo a large scale naLlon-wlde demonsLraLlon) demandlng Lhe
recognlLlon of Lhe Cenoclde of Armenlans ln Lhe CLLoman Lmplre ln 1913 - an
lssue LhaL was sLrlcLly banned durlng Lhe SLalln perlod. ln Lwo years, Lhe
memorlal for genoclde vlcLlms was ralsed on 1slLsernakaberd Plll ln ?erevan
and lL became a unlfylng symbol for Armenlans scaLLered all over Lhe world.

All Lhose and many oLher processes and newly developlng dlscourses
concernlng, ldenLlLy, hlsLory, perspecLlves abouL Lhe fuLure, eLc. have opened
new spaces ln Lhe collecLlve consclousness and memory. 8esldes acLlvaLlng
some forgoLLen segmenLs and drlvlng ouL oLhers Lo Lhe zone of obllvlon, Lhey
have also opened up a space beLween percepLlons abouL uLoplas and Lhe
doomed consLancy of exlsLence, beLween modernlsms and anLlmodernlsms.
An open space for conLemplaLlon, Lenslons, confuslons, drlfLlng, floetle. A
space LhaL appeared ln Armenlan llLeraLure, clnemaLography and archlLecLure
of Lhe mld 60s.

ArLavazd eleshlan, applylng ln hls fllms hls meLhod of dlsLanced monLage"
based on a re-deflnlLlon of Lhe spaLlo-Lemporal sLrucLure and Lhe relaLlonshlp
beLween lmage and sound was creaLlng a cerLaln klnd of space beLween
sequences, brlnglng Lhem closer Lo or furLher from each oLher, and leLLlng Lhe
specLaLor Lo enLer LhaL space and conLemplaLe lL, swlLchlng ln beLween
lmages of modernlsms and anLlmodernlsms. ln hls shorL-fllms, eleshlan used
hls meLhod for sLrucLurlng Lhe slmulLanelLy of dlverse eplsodes Laklng place ln
dlfferenL Lemporal and slLuaLlonal conLexLs, and deplcLed vanlLy as Lhe poeLlcs
of Lhe modern epoch conLrasLed Lo Lhe onLology of exlsLence (presenLed wlLh
lmages of consLanL movemenL, mlgraLlon, LranslLlons and LransmuLaLlons,
caLaclysms, eLc). vanlLy was unlversallzed and ldenLlfled wlLh Lhe noLlon of
eLernlLy.
3


ln lrunze uovlaLyan's fllm Pl, lLs me!" (F3paucuyu, ao n!"% Armenfllm,
1963) young sclenLlsL ArLem
6
endlessly sLrolls ln and beLween ?erevan and

3
LarLh of eople" 8ln (all-uSS8 SLaLe lnsLlLuLe of ClnemaLography) produced ln 1966, 8eglnnlng" 8ln (all-uSS8 SLaLe
lnsLlLuLe of ClnemaLography) produced ln 1967, WL" ?erevan SLudlo of uocumenLary lllms, produced ln 1969.
6
1he proLagonlsL was based on a real characLer, physlclsL ArLem Allkhanlan, one of Lhe founders of nuclear physlcs ln Lhe
SovleL unlon, Lhe founder of Lhe ?erevan hyslcs lnsLlLuLe and Lhe cosmlc ray sLaLlon on AragaLs mounLaln aL 3230 m, and
one of Lhe creaLors of Lhe ?erevan synchroLron.
hLLp://en.wlklpedla.org/wlkl/ArLem_Allkhanlan
uemonsLraLlon of sLudenLs and lnLelllgenLsla
demandlng Lhe recognlLlon of Lhe Cenoclde of
Armenlans ln 1913 ln Lhe CLLoman Lmplre, Lenln
Square ?erevan Aprll 24, 1963



ConsLrucLlon of Lhe memorlal for Lhe vlcLlms of Lhe
Cenoclde of Armenlans ln 1913 ln Lhe CLLoman
Lmplre (1963-1967)


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kobeo Atevsbotyoo



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Moscow, ln hls own memory space, havlng a dlalogue wlLh hls alLer ego, he
drlfLs beLween Lhe pasL and fuLure, conLemplaLlng all Lhe way. Pls floetle ln a
cerLaln way becomes Lhe maln process and meanlng of Lhe whole fllm LhaL aL
Lhe end ls unexpecLedly lnLerrupLed, when all of a sudden, Lhe proLagonlsL
wraps up hls analysls of Lhe pasL, percelves (as a klnd of eplphany) hls ldenLlLy
and desLlny and leaves Lhe boundless space of ldle drlfLlng, golng away
Lowards Lhe mounLalnous landscape ln Lhe flnal scene.
hLLp://www.youLube.com/waLchv=98vmPWl11kk

1he physlcal maLerlallzaLlon of Lhose blank-open-free spaces could be beLLer
observed ln Lhe LransformaLlons ln urban spaces and ln SovleL Armenlan
archlLecLure of Lhe mld 60s, parLlcularly conslderlng Lhe case of ?erevan.

GH4514$55.4*5.$"%*@%451/"@*50./I%J$5$;1/%./%43$%AB"%

?erevan, ln comparlson Lo oLher clLles ln Armenla, has experlenced Lhe mosL
lnLenslve and radlcal LransformaLlons ln Lhe 60s LhaL affecLed Lhe whole
characLer of Lhe clLy. Cne of Lhe mosL lmporLanL reasons for such an acLlve
developmenL of Lhe clLy was Lhe lnLenslve growLh of Lhe clLy populaLlon LhaL
was hlghly exceedlng Lhe populaLlon growLh sLlpulaLed by Lhe 3
rd
masLer plan
of ?erevan clLy developed ln 1931. ln 1961, work began on Lhe 4
Lh
MasLer lan
LhaL supposed noL only new scales and new sLraLegles regardlng Lhe clLy's
developmenL buL was also based on a new phllosophy relaLed somehow wlLh
SovleL uLoplas (llke khrushchev's famous declaraLlon LhaL Lhe SovleL socleLy
would aLLaln communlsm as early as Lhe 80s), buL whlch aL Lhe same Llme was
deallng wlLh a soclal and culLural sLrucLurlng LhaL was dlfferenL from Lhe
radlcal vlslons of early SovleL uLoplas.

1he modernlsLlc Lrends ln early SovleL archlLecLure and urban plannlng LhaL
were lnLerrupLed ln Lhe 30s experlenced a revlval ln 60s. 1haL was also a
perlod when some of Lhe lmporLanL archlLecLs (llke Mlchael Mazmanlan and
Cevorg koLchar) LhaL belonged Lo Lhe avanL-garde consLrucLlvlsL grouplngs of
Lhe 20s and 30s reLurned Lo Armenla from exlle and were acLlvely lnLegraLed
lnLo Lhe archlLecLure and urban developmenL pro[ecLs for ?erevan, oLher
clLles and rural areas of Armenla. ln 1936, a group of archlLecLs led by Mlchael
Mazmanlan developed a resldenLlal area plan for Lhe Achapnyak dlsLrlcL ln
?erevan composed of only prefab houses (so called kbtosbcbevkos), and ln
1971 Mazmanlan led anoLher group LhaL developed Lhe masLer plan scheme
of ?erevan accordlng Lo whlch Lhe clLy galned an emphaslzed modern
characLer and lLs fuLure modus of developmenL was lald ouL.

Cevorg koLchar reallzed several lnLeresLlng archlLecLural pro[ecLs. ln Lhe 60s
he had Lhe chance Lo conLlnue and compleLe some of Lhe complexes and
ensembles LhaL he sLarLed Lo deslgn and bulld ln Lhe laLe 20s. 1he besL
example Lo Lhese ls Lhe summer resorL for Lhe unlon of WrlLers ln Sevan.

8esldes Lhose archlLecLs LhaL belonged Lo Lhe early consLrucLlvlsL grouplngs
Lhere were many oLher archlLecLs from Lhe younger generaLlon who had
managed Lo Lravel abroad, someLlmes even for shorL-Lerm sLudles or
researches. ln Lhe 60s, archlLecLural communlLles LhroughouL Lhe SovleL unlon
sLarLed Lo organlze speclallzed professlonal Lrlps and exchanges lnslde and
ouLslde Lhe unlon parallel Lo Lhe acLlvaLed reclprocal professlonal vlslLs of
archlLecLs from Lurope, Lhe unlLed SLaLes and !apan. 1haL was also a perlod
when some Luropean professlonal archlLecLural magazlnes were clrculaLed
regularly and Lhe llbrary of Lhe unlon of ArchlLecLs was enrlched day afLer day
Clrcle baslns on Abovlan SLreeL

yuvarlak havuzlar




SayaL-nova Cafe





ergolas on Abovlan SLreeL




8us sLaLlon



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kobeo Atevsbotyoo



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wlLh professlonal llLeraLure LhaL was comlng Lo Armenla Lhrough dlfferenL
ways (professlonal exchanges, connecLlons wlLh Lhe ulaspora, eLc.).

AL Lhe Llme, Lhe unlon of ArchlLecLs used Lo be one of Lhe lmporLanL publlc
lnsLlLuLlons LhaL, along wlLh Lhe sLaLe archlLecLural flrms, munlclpallLles and
Lhe governmenL, parLlclpaLed ln declslon-maklng processes and provlded a
venue for acLlve dlscusslons on archlLecLural and urban developmenL pro[ecLs.
1hose dlscusslons Lackled dlfferenL sub[ecLs among whlch, one of Lhe mosL
domlneerlng ones was Lhe quesLlon concernlng form-bulldlng prlnclples
regarded from Lhe perspecLlves of funcLlonallLy of archlLecLure and lLs relaLlon
Lo Lhe speclflclLy of Lhe local conLexL whlch lnvolved conslderlng noL only Lhe
relaLlon of archlLecLure Lo Lhe naLural buL also Lhe culLural envlronmenL. 1haL
was, ln facL, Lhe conLlnuaLlon of a qulLe Lense dlscourse LhaL developed slnce
Lhe 20s and was lnLerrupLed ln Lhe mld 30s beLween Lwo ma[or archlLecLural
groups/schools (Lhe naLlonal school and consLrucLlvlsLs) and was revlved ln
Lhe new ldeologlcal conLexL of Lhe khrushchev perlod LhaL puL sLrlcL
llmlLaLlons on consLrucLlon norms, correlaLlng lL wlLh resLrlcLed flnanclal
means.

ueallng malnly wlLh a dull, sLandardlzed archlLecLure ln Lhe second half of Lhe
30s where lL was only posslble Lo make lnnovaLlons ln Lhe fleld of urban
developmenL, ln Lhe beglnnlng of Lhe 60s archlLecLs as well as local auLhorlLles
sLarLed Lo flnd some way ouLs from Lhe monoLonous consLrucLlon and budgeL
dlcLaLes, creaLlng low-budgeL buL exLremely lnLeresLlng archlLecLural forms
LhaL lmparLed new energy and new lmages Lo Lhe clLy characLer of Lhe 60s.

Comlng back Lo Lhe aforemenLloned Lendencles ln Lhe 60s regardlng Lhe
formaLlon of blank spaces, Armenlan archlLecLure LhaL sLarLed Lo develop ln
LhaL perlod of Llme presenLed perfecL examples of such exLra LerrlLorles, or
exLra volumes desplLe Lhe facL LhaL Lhe ldeologlcal docLrlne of Lhe perlod was
waglng a war agalnsL excesses ln archlLecLure.

1here was a sLory abouL khrushchev's vlslL Lo Armenla ln 1961 when Lhe
leader of Lhe SovleL CommunlsL arLy goL furlous (and LhaL anger Lurned ln Lo
a blg scandal well propagaLed by Lhe SovleL press of LhaL Llme) when he saw a
small archlLecLural volume resembllng Lhe form of seagull dlsplayed as a
roadslde slgn for Lhe norLhern exlL of ?erevan clLy. 1haL archlLecLural volume
made of concreLe (acLually a really low budgeL consLrucLlon) became an
ob[ecL of khrushchev's hard crlLlclsm. Pls phrase, 1haL ls how you are
squanderlng naLlonal money!" became a warnlng Lo oLher republlcs Lo keep
away from LhaL klnd of dlsslpaLlons.

1hough khrushchev ldenLlfled LhaL small archlLecLural volume as a
squanderlng, Lhere was an lnLenslve developmenL of new spaces and volumes
ln urban envlronmenLs LhaL could be assoclaLed wlLh a wasLe of means,
LerrlLory and purpose. WlLhouL golng over budgeL llmlLs, archlLecLs LogeLher
wlLh local auLhorlLles, employed new LacLlcs as well as a new phllosophy
regardlng Lhe organlzaLlon of urban space. 1he consLrucLlon of new sLreeLs
and avenues (llke SayaL nova avenue LhaL was lnauguraLed ln 1963), Lhe
reconsLrucLlon of some of Lhe old sLreeLs ln Lhe clLy, Lhe lmprovemenL of clLy
parks and Lhe developmenL of new recreaLlon areas were lmparLlng Lo Lhe clLy
a new horlzonLal characLer formlng spaclous zones for pedesLrlans.

WaLer surfaces of dlfferenL scales, and geomeLrlcal shapes appeared ln Lhe
parks and even on Lhe pavemenLs of some reconsLrucLed sLreeLs. nexL Lo
Lhose baslns, qulLe ofLen Lhere appeared pergola Lype sLrucLures LhaL were
Cafe AragasL



Seagull" road mark aL Lhe norLhern enLry of
?erevan




ergola Cpen Alr Cafe
on Abovlan SLreeL




!"#$%&'($)*&+$&,("")-.+/)&0)1(23&&
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kobeo Atevsbotyoo



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elLher used as open alr cafes (new and lmporLanL publlc spaces ln ?erevan
developed ln LhaL perlod) or marked by Lhelr presence funcLlonless or
mulLlfuncLlon LerrlLorles on Lhe pavemenLs. Cpen alr cafes LhaL appeared ln
?erevan ln Lhe 60s weren'L [usL a new Lype of publlc space LhaL formed a new
clLy culLure buL Lhey were also brlghL examples of new horlzonLal archlLecLure
where lL was posslble Lo see Lhe dlrecL lnfluences of organlc archlLecLure as
well as some echoes of Lhe concepL of empLlness comlng from modern
!apanese archlLecLure.

1he llberaLlon and democraLlzaLlon of urban space ln ?erevan paralleled Lhe
revlval of modernlsLlc Lrends ln archlLecLure and Lhe hlsLorlclsL prlnclples of
Lhe naLlonal sLyle (LhaL slnce Lhe mld 30s was lnLegraLed lnLo Lhe SLallnlsL
sLyle) reLreaLed, openlng up a shorL and Lemporal gap for free
experlmenLaLlons LhaL were more unlversallsLlc ln Lhelr essence.
LxperlmenLaLlons LhaL were ln conLrasL Lo exlsLlng naLlonal and SLallnlsL sLyles
ln archlLecLure succeeded Lo shape noL only Lhe new characLer of ?erevan buL
also a new soclal, culLural and psychologlcal slLuaLlon ln urban llfe. 1haL shorL
lasLed LransformaLlon of Lhe clLy, whlch occurred ln Lhe Llme beLween Lhe
replacemenL of one hegemonlc symbol by anoLher, succeeded ln glvlng rlse Lo
a new socleLy and Lo new lndlvlduals who had Lhe chance Lo choose Lhelr
poslLlons when sLrolllng around Lhe exLra spaces of Lhe new clLy and Lhe new
archlLecLure LhaL was free from Lhe aesLheLlcs of Lhe pasL and dld noL have
dlrecL amblLlons concernlng Lhe sLrucLurlng of Lhe fuLure. 1he funcLlonal
essence of LhaL archlLecLure LhaL was based on Lhe prlnclples of raLlonal
dlsLrlbuLlon and usage of space also broughL forward a dlscourse concernlng
otbet posslble funcLlonallLles of space LhaL could sLlmulaLe a sense of
commonallLy ouLllned by Lhe slmple composlLlons of concreLe forms and
sLrucLures as well as a sense of lndlvlduallLy conveyed by lndlvldual aesLheLlcal
and concepLual soluLlons.

?eL Lhe mosL lmporLanL change suggesLed by Lhese archlLecLural forms was a
new correlaLlon beLween sub[ecL and archlLecLure where Lhe exLra space
provlded foremosL requlred Lhe presence of Lhe sub[ecL who would modlfy,
arLlculaLe and subsLanLlaLe LhaL archlLecLure. ln reLurn, Lhls new feaLure
formed a new buL aL Lhe same Llme amblguous lnLerrelaLlon beLween sub[ecL
and commonallLy, beLween Lhe parLlcular and Lhe unlversal. Cn Lhe one hand,
Lhere was greaL exclLemenL abouL Lhe self-poLency granLed by Lhe
unlversallsLlc world ouLlook whlch offered an opporLunlLy Lo shape reallLy, buL
on Lhe oLher hand, lL generaLed Lenslons relaLed Lo a fear of belng absorbed
or losL ln Lhe no one's exLraLerrlLorles of commonallLy.

1he Lrend changed ln [usL a few years (or leL's even say lL was developlng as a
parallel process) and parLlcularlLy Lurned lnLo a maln prlnclple regulaLlng local
soclal, pollLlcal and culLural processes. 8y Lhe end of Lhe 60s new models of
local modernlLles" began Lo appear. 1hey were elLher blg scale
represenLaLlves of supranaLlonal archlLecLure (alLhough lL mlghL sound
conLradlcLory Armenlan laLe modernlsLlc archlLecLure of Lhe 70s and 80s had
also been consldered ln Lhe SovleL unlon as a cerLaln naLlonal parLlcularlLy), or
examples of a new naLlonal sLyle ln archlLecLure LhaL had concepLuallzed and
conLexLuallzed sLrucLures and forms of LradlLlonal archlLecLure lnslde a
modernlsLlc modus operandl.

1he shorL-lasLed sLraLum of urban culLure wlLh lLs sLrucLures and landscapes
was overshadowed by Lhe parLlcularlLy of blg scale represenLaLlonal
archlLecLure LhaL conLlnued Lo develop excesslve" spaces for otbet funcLlons
whlch were already dlfferenL from Lhe exLraLerrlLorles" of Lhe 60s.
krunk 8esLauranL





WrlLers Summer 8esorL ln Sevan




arvana Cafe ln Prazdan Canyon, ?erevan





ConsLrucLlon of 8ussla" clnema LheaLer (early 70s)





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kobeo Atevsbotyoo



!""#$%&'%

M%


23$%@14$%*@%$H4514$55.4*5.$"%%
1/<%
)*"+*,%-./$01%23$14$5%*6$/%1.5%3177%
86154%N:%

1oday, Lhe archlLecLure of Lhe 60s ln ?erevan ls almosL compleLely swepL away
or has been dlsLorLed beyond recognlLlon. 1he effecLs of neollberal economlcs
and urban pollcy were flrsL felL ln publlc spaces, recreaLlon areas, hlsLorlcal
cenLers of Lhe clLy, eLc. Cf course, ln Lhls process of Lhe vlolenL reshaplng of
Lhe clLy bulldlngs and dlsLrlcLs LhaL belong Lo dlfferenL perlods of Llme were
desLroyed and each of Lhese desLrucLlons had lLs own hlsLory and problems.
As a maLLer of facL, cerLaln pro[ecLs concernlng Lhe radlcal modernlzaLlon of
Lhe clLy cenLer (llke Lhe consLrucLlon of Lhe norLhern Avenue) were belng
developed slnce Lhe very early masLer plans of ?erevan were made.

And of course, when Lhe clLy was looslng dlsLrlcLs developed aL Lhe end of Lhe
19
Lh
and Lhe beglnnlng of Lhe 20
Lh
cenLurles, when symbollc bulldlngs of
consLrucLlvlsL and SLallnlsL sLyles, and laLe modernlsLlc archlLecLure were
parLly or compleLely desLrucLed or Lerrlbly corrupLed (SporLs CommlLLee
8ulldlng, Sevan PoLel, former 8ussla Movle 1heaLer, ?ouLh alace, eLc), when
Lhe conLlnuous green zones and recreaLlon areas of Lhe clLy were fragmenLed
and were hldden behlnd Lhe facades of Lhe newly erecLed bulldlngs, when Lhe
problem of Lhe loss of publlc spaces ln Lhe clLy whlch ls a soclal problem and a
maLLer of Lown plannlng became a burnlng pollLlcal lssue, quesLlons
concernlng such ephemeral" spaces LhaL were developed ln Lhe perlod of Lhe
60s can sound really naive and romanLlc.

Powever, Lhe case of Lhe Moscow Clnema 1heaLer open alr hall LhaL led Lo Lhe
exploslon of such an lncredlble self-organlzed publlc reacLlon LhaL Lurned lnLo
a serlous soclal movemenL sLruggllng wlLh Lhe pollLlcal power and Lhe church
ln order Lo proLecL an archlLecLure LhaL bore, ln lLs sLrucLure and form,
someLhlng LhaL was neglecLed, covered and forgoLLen, was really sympLomaLlc
conslderlng Lhe complexlLy of currenL soclal, pollLlcal and culLural processes ln
Armenla.

Cne of Lhe keys Lo undersLandlng Lhe complexlLy of Lhe slLuaLlon LhaL
developed around Lhe clnema LheaLer can be found ln Lhe LexL LlLled 1be oJ
of tbe 5tote (ot o New lotm of 5ocletol Otqoolzotloo) publlshed ln 2008 by
1lgran Sargsyan, Lhe currenL rlme MlnlsLer of Armenla.
7
Analyzlng Lhe
evoluLlon of SLaLes ln Lhe conLexL of posLlndusLrlal socleLles, 1lgran Sargsyan
concludes LhaL tbe stote os we petcelve lt toJoy ls oeotloq oo eoJ. New fotms
of oetwotkeJ sttoctotes of pobllc otqoolzotloo ote comloq to teploce lt.

1o summarlze hls polnL: lo o postloJosttlol wotlJ, lo occotJ wltb tbe oew pbllosopby ooJ
ootoloqy, we sboolJ fltst cooceptoollze oot competltlve oJvootoqes lo oetwotkeJ fotms of self-
otqoolzotloo. we bove oo oppottoolty to poll tbtooqb tbe petlpbety of blstoty ooJ cteote o oew
oetwotkeJ clvlllzotloo - tbe Atmeoloo wotlJ. ltom tbe petspectlve of tbe obove JesctlbeJ
metboJoloqy ooJ bypotbesls, we coo cooceptoollze Atmeoloos os o oetwotk. nlstoty testlfles tbot
oftet tbe loss of stotebooJ, tbe Atmeoloo people JemoosttoteJ oo oltetootlve fotm of self-
otqoolzotloo tbot belpeJ tbls ootloo to sotvlve. 45)& -5@2-5 come lo to toke oo tbot fooctloo of
self-teqolotloo. As socb, tbe metboJs ooJ tbe fotm of otqoolzotloo tbe cbotcb oseJ wete
complyloq wltb tbe oetwotk loqlc.

7
hLLp://www.gov.am/flles/docs/217.pdf

?ouLh alace ln ?erevan (deslgned ln laLe 60s
consLrucLed ln early 70s)




ConsLrucLlon of Lhe ?ouLh alace ln ?erevan




ueconsLrucLlon of Lhe ?ouLh alace ln ?erevan
(2003-2004)



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1hls fragmenL from Lhe rlme MlnlsLer's LexL could, ln facL, serve as a key puzzle plece LhaL wlll
brlng LogeLher Lhe whole plcLure. And lL deals wlLh Lhe same space/vold/Lenslon beLween
modernlsLlc vlslons of unlversallsm and phoblas regardlng loss of parLlcularlLy l.e. conLrol over
socleLal self-organlzaLlon processes.

lor Lhe Armenlan conLexL and many oLhers, Lhe end of Lhe 60s suggesLed a slmple superposlLlon
of Lhese Lwo vlslons as a resulL of whlch parLlcularlLy had been unlversallzed, revlLallzlng and
unlversallzlng good old lnsLlLuLes of power llke Lhe naLlon and Lhe church.

1he sLruggle for Lhe Moscow Clnema 1heaLer open alr hall was ln facL Lhe conLlnuaLlon of LhaL old
confllcL where Lhe archlLecLure of Lhe LheaLer (as well as oLher rare examples of modernlsLlc
archlLecLure from LhaL perlod LhaL are preserved) has, ln a cerLaln way, Lurned lnLo an evldence
and bearer of oLher models of unlversallsms whlch, Llll Loday, were able Lo encourage a sense of
unlLy and self-organlzaLlon ln osL-SovleL fragmenLed socleLles.

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Whlle 8usslan ConsLrucLlvlsm and SLallnlsL archlLecLure are famlllar enough Lo an lnLeresLed
publlc ln AusLrla, knowledge of SovleL Modernlsm ln Lhe posLwar perlod ls sLlll llmlLed. 1hls
applles especlally Lo urban plannlng ln perlpheral reglons. Cne concern of Lhls pro[ecL ls Lo
presenL a perlod of SovleL urbanlsm LhaL by no means broughL forLh only monoLonous concreLe-
slab houslng developmenLs, buL whlch ln parL demonsLraLes marked orlglnallLy and ls ln many
polnLs congruenL wlLh WesLern plannlng and concepLs. uocumenLlng Lhls archlLecLural epoch
appears all Lhe more urgenL now LhaL so many bulldlngs are menaced wlLh demollLlon or ruln.

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AfLer Lhe revoluLlon ln 1917, Lhe 8olshevlks Lrled Lo deal wlLh Lhe dlre houslng
slLuaLlon ln Lhe clLles by ousLlng Lhe mlddle classes from Lhelr resldences.
lollowlng Lhe Lransfer of prlvaLe properLy lnLo munlclpal hands, Lhe
auLhorlLles dlvlded up Lhe aparLmenLs lnLo separaLe unlLs LhaL were Lhen
occupled by mulLlple households. 1hese communal aparLmenLs, known as
!"##$%&'(&," were a flxed componenL of everyday SovleL llfe for decades.
AL Lhe same Llme, Lhe 20s wlLnessed a serles of avanL-garde and munlclpal
bulldlng pro[ecLs almlng aL a radlcal soclal and aesLheLlc renewal of socleLy.
ALLracLed by Lhe soclallsL uLoplas apparenLly ln Lhe maklng, forelgn archlLecLs
also flocked Lo 8ussla, among Lhem LrnsL May and Pannes Meyer, supplylng
Lhelr own plans and bulldlngs. lrom Lhe SovleL polnL of vlew, urbanlzaLlon"
was aL flrsL an excluslvely caplLallsL phenomenon. 1hls gave rlse Lo Lwo vlslons
of Lhe soclallsL clLy": on Lhe one hand, Lhe anLagonlsm beLween clLy and
counLry" was Lo be overcome by resLrlcLlng urban growLh and mechanlzlng
Lhe vlllages. Cn Lhe oLher, Lhe demand for soclal hyglene Lhrough loosely
grouped bulldlngs" was dlrecLed agalnsL Lhe clLles of Cld Lurope, whlch were
based on Lhe prlnclple of urbanlLy Lhrough denslLy." 1he fundamenLal ldea
behlnd Lhe soclallsL model conslsLed of a close spaLlal connecLlon beLween
work and llvlng areas, whlch were Lo be separaLed from one anoLher by green
zones. 1hls module ln Lurn formed a spaLlal sub-sysLem LhaL allgned lLself
along a maln axls wlLh oLher, ldenLlcal, unlLs Lo form Lhe overall clLy. 1he
concepL of Lhe so-called llnear lndusLrlal clLy was ln parL applled when clLles
such as volgograd or MagnlLogorsk were lald ouL. 1oday Lhls era ls vlewed as
Lhe consLrucLlvlsL phase of SovleL urbanlsm.

ln Lhe early 30s, SLalln ordalned a break wlLh Lhe avanL-garde aesLheLlc. 1he
parLy declared such archlLecLural experlmenLs Lo be formallsLlc" and
bourgeols." Modernlsm was replaced wlLh a brand of neoclasslclsm LhaL
soughL lLs models ln Lhe 19
Lh
-cenLury 8usslan pasL. SovleL archlLecLs were
called upon Lo rework and furLher develop Lhe greaL legacy of naLlonal
archlLecLure." ln all of Lhe caplLals LhroughouL Lhe SovleL republlcs
monumenLal edlflces rose up wlLh archlLecLure deslgned Lo powerfully brlng
across Lhe ldea of Lhe SovleL sLaLe, whlle underllnlng Lhe respecLlve naLlonal
culLural LradlLlon ln each reglon. new aparLmenL bulldlngs were elLher
lnserLed ln Lhe old quarLers or bullL as houslng blocks on Lhe ouLsklrLs of Lhe
clLy. 1helr aesLheLlc quallLy by all means corresponded wlLh Lhe prevalllng
socleLal ldeals of Lhe Llme. 1he bulldlngs of Lhls era were solldly crafLed and
relaLlvely comforLable Lo llve ln.

1he sLraLegy of relenLless lnner colonlzaLlon dld ln facL have Lhe effecL of Lransformlng Lhe huge
counLry from an agrlculLural backwaLer lnLo an lndusLrlallzed socleLy, buL Lhe boom ln lndusLrlal
[obs ln Lhe clLles progressed much fasLer Lhan Lhe consLrucLlon of Lhe requlslLe houslng. 1he
ma[orlLy of Lhe urban populaLlon conLlnued Lo have no cholce buL Lo llve ln overcrowded
communal aparLmenLs or ln barracks.
lounLaln of naLlonal 8adlo AlmaLy (kazakhsLan)

ulsused hoLel, 8aku (Azerbal[an)

Cog rallway sLaLlon, 1lbllssl (Ceorgla)


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ln Lhe wake of SLalln's deaLh (1933), archlLecLs Lurned away from decoraLlve
bulldlng pracLlces. 1he problem wlLh hlsLorlclsm was noL so much a dlsLasLe
for elaboraLely ornamenLed facades as Lhe conLradlcLlon beLween Lhe
arLlsanal characLer of such archlLecLure and Lhe lncreaslngly urgenL need for
lndusLrlal consLrucLlon meLhods. A rapld and comprehenslve lmprovemenL ln
Lhe houslng slLuaLlon Lhus formed one of Lhe maln plllars of Lhe reform
pro[ecL lnlLlaLed by Lhe new parLy head, khrushchev. AL Lhe All-unlon
Conference of ArchlLecLs ln november 1934, he launched a polemlc agalnsL
anLlquaLed consLrucLlon Lechnology, ornamenLal bulldlng facades and Lhe
lnadequaLe sLandardlzaLlon of bulldlng Lypes. 1he xxLh Congress of Lhe
CommunlsL arLy of Lhe SovleL unlon ln 1936 seL Lhe goal of puLLlng an end Lo
Lhe houslng deflclL wlLhln 20 years. Long neglecLed by SLallnlsL
lndusLrlallzaLlon pollcles, Lhe consLrucLlon lndusLry was granLed more fundlng
and Lhe resolve made Lo lncrease producLlvlLy ln Lhls secLor.

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1he kremlln leadershlp now urged sclenLlsLs, Lechnlclans and archlLecLs Lo seL
ln moLlon a radlcal modernlzaLlon ln Lhelr dlsclpllnes and Lo orlenL Lhemselves
wlL more advanced, WesLern, meLhods. Whlle Lhe arLy remalned resLrlcLlve
wlLh regard Lo any devlaLlons" ln flelds such as arL, modern archlLecLure by
conLrasL was largely glven free reln, slnce lL was regarded as an ldeology-free
Lechnology.

ConLacLs beLween SovleL lnLellecLuals and speclallsLs and forelgn lnsLlLuLlons
were now more relaxed ln comparlson wlLh Lhe SLallnlsL perlod, alLhough Lhey
conLlnued Lo Lake place under Lhe close monlLorlng of Lhe SovleL SecreL
Servlce. 1hese exchanges soon allowed Lhe SovleL archlLecLs Lo come up wlLh
Lhelr own, up-Lo-daLe Lechnlcal soluLlons. 8ooks on WesLern archlLecLure
were publlshed, aL flrsL ln Lhe form of LranslaLed LexLs, and laLer Lhe orlglnal
verslons as well. CreaL modern archlLecLs such as Le Corbusler, WalLer
Croplus or Ludwlg Mles van der 8ohe - once abhorred as formallsLs" - now
recelved renewed recognlLlon. SLarLlng ln Lhe laLe 30s, ln parLlcular lrench
and SovleL urbanlsLs began Lo collaboraLe more closely. 1hus Lhe flrsL SovleL
serles of houslng blocks consLrucLed uslng Lhe concreLe slab meLhod was bullL
based on a lrench consLrucLlon sysLem.

8uL Lhe mosL lmporLanL forelgn source of lnfluence came from Lhe soclallsL
counLrles of LasLern Lurope. 1he new SovleL aesLheLlc was above all lnsplred
by publlcaLlons from Czechoslovakla and oland, where Lhe modern
movemenL ln archlLecLure and deslgn had conLlnued, only lnLerrupLed for a
shorL Llme ln Lhe laLe 40s and early 30s. AnoLher source of lnsplraLlon came
from Lhe lnland abroad," Lhe 8alLlc republlcs, whlch acLlvely parLlclpaLed ln
shaplng a new sLyle. 8eLween Lhe wars, Lhese counLrles had developed Lhelr
own archlLecLural Modernlsm aL a hlgh level of quallLy. Annexed by Lhe SovleL
unlon ln 1940, Lhe urbanlsL dlsclpllnes ln Lhe 8alLlc reglon only had Lo adapL
Lhemselves Lo SLallnlsL dlcLaLes for a brlef perlod. 1hls ls why Lhey Look up
modern sLandards much earller Lhan Lhose republlcs LhaL had from Lhe sLarL
belonged Lo Lhe SovleL unlon.

1he aesLheLlc of Lhe consLrucLlvlsL perlod was also rehablllLaLed, alLhough
usually ln slmpllfled form. 1wo sLaLe decrees ln november 1933 ushered ln
noL only lndusLrlallzaLlon and cosL reducLlon ln Lhe bulldlng lndusLry, buL also
prohlblLed any form of pomp or decoraLlon.
1echnlcal unlverslLy, AlmaLy (kazakhsLan)



laneLarlum, AlmaLy (kazakhsLan)



Clrcus, karaganda (kazakhsLan)



Clrcus, karaganda (kazakhsLan)



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naLurally, SovleL archlLecLs conLlnued Lo be sub[ecL Lo exLenslve rules and
regulaLlons. 1hey could only acL wlLhln Lhe speclflcaLlons puL forward by Lhe
sLaLe plannlng organlzaLlon, consLralned by consLrucLlon norms and
regulaLlons LhaL were Lo be followed Lo Lhe leLLer. lans were Lo be allgned
wlLh a caLalogue of prefabrlcaLed bulldlng elemenLs LhaL offered only a llmlLed
selecLlon. 1o make Lhe dlsclpllne more sclenLlflc, archlLecLure offlces were
now called 8esearch lnsLlLuLes for Lhe uevelopmenL of 8esldences, Schools
and PosplLals." 1he endeavor Lo sub[ugaLe archlLecLural conslderaLlons Lo a
bulldlng's Lechnlcal and economlc funcLlons relnforced Lhe uLlllLarlan
Lendencles ln SovleL urbanlsm. 1he lmperaLlve of proflLablllLy and of
consLrucLlon managemenL crowded ouL arLlsLlc lssues and quesLlons of
quallLy. 1hls reducLlon Lo Lhe elemenLary lefL lLs mark on Lhe enLlre
archlLecLural pracLlce, especlally when lL came Lo Lhe consLrucLlon of mass
houslng. Cnly a few archlLecLs had Lhe good forLune Lo be puL Lo work on
more lndlvlduallsLlc pro[ecLs, such as LheaLers, museums, banqueL halls or
sporLs faclllLles.

1he bulldlng program puL lnLo effecL ln 1937 foresaw an lncrease ln avallable
houslng by more Lhan eleven mllllon square meLers by 1960. 1wo years laLer,
Lhese forecasLs were regarded as lnsufflclenL and were ralsed agaln
subsLanLlally. 1hanks Lo Lhe developmenL of Lhe consLrucLlon lndusLry, Lhe
share of prefabrlcaLed parLs cllmbed from 23 percenL ln 1930 Lo 70 percenL ln
1938. 8rlck was now regarded as a maLerlal LhaL exuded backwardness -
economlcally lnefflclenL and counLeracLlve Lo lndusLrlallzaLlon. Walls were
lncreaslngly made of pressed sLone lnsLead, and sLeel-relnforced concreLe
replaced Lhe quarry sLone once used Lo bulld foundaLlons. ln Lhe early 60s,
Lhe proporLlon of new bulldlngs made of brlck was sLlll hlgh, buL Lhe use of
new and more advanced consLrucLlon maLerlals was on Lhe rlse.

lollowlng Lhe flrsL generaLlon of brlck houses wlLh prefabrlcaLed celllngs and
lnLerlor walls, a changeover soon occurred Lo large-scale block consLrucLlon
and Lhen Lo large-scale panel consLrucLlon. Serles producLlon and assembly
now domlnaLed consLrucLlon organlzaLlon. 1he necesslLy of comblnlng Lhe
new lndusLrlallzed producLlon meLhods wlLh redeflned resldenLlal Lypologles
led Lo a far-reachlng change ln Lhe seLLlemenL model. 1he Lyplcal clLy houslng
blocks of Lhe SLalln era, wlLh bulldlngs surroundlng lnner courLyards, made
way for freesLandlng aparLmenL complexes. AL flrsL, clLy dlsLrlcLs rose up wlLh
unlform flve-sLory llnear bulldlngs wlLhouL elevaLors, arranged ln parallel llnes
or perpendlcular Lo one anoLher. 1hen, from abouL Lhe mld-60s, Lhls flve-sLory
model was dlsconLlnued, slnce lLs relaLlvely hlgh developmenL cosLs had
proven Lo be uneconomlcal. 8eplaclng lL were nlne- Lo Lwelve-floor resldenLlal
slabs puncLuaLed by hlgh-rlses of 16 Lo 30 sLorles.

Modern SovleL archlLecLure developed aL Lhe lnLerface beLween sLandard
bulldlng Lypes and experlmenLal archlLecLure. AL Lhe end of Lhe 30s, Lhe goal
of execuLlng 90 percenL of planned bulldlngs as sLandardlzed Lypes was
envlsloned, whlle Lhe resL was Lo be reserved for lnnovaLlve and cusLomlzed
soluLlons.

1hls funcLlonallsL rlgor dld noL lasL long, however. ln Lhe course of Lhe 60s,
archlLecLural deLalls from Lhe 30s once agaln surfaced. ln Lhe varlous SovleL
republlcs, parLlcularly ln Lhe Caucasus and ln CenLral Asla, Lhe naLlonal
LradlLlons gave rlse Lo more lndlvlduallsLlc archlLecLure sLyles. unllke whaL
happened ln Lhe SLalln era, however, Lhls Llme Lhe recourse Lo a reLrospecLlve
sLyle was made based on a modern archlLecLural vocabulary and lndusLrlal
naLlonal 1heaLre, 8aku (Azerbal[an)




naLlonal 1heaLre, 8aku (Azerbal[an)




naLlonal 1heaLre, 8aku (Azerbal[an)




8eservolr rocLorhouse, Medeo (kazakhsLan)





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bulldlng meLhods. ArchlLecLs chose Lo draw on hlsLorlcal rooLs" noL only as a
(posLmodern) crlLlque of monoLonous funcLlonallsm, buL also due Lo Lhe
lnfluence of burgeonlng naLlonallsL ldeologles ln Lhe republlcs.

=0-#>$-.56%:$-.,56*.?%5-1%:0-:,$.$%"654%4#*61*-7%%

A key concepL ln SovleL urbanlsm was Lo shape socleLy Lhrough urban
plannlng. ArchlLecLure was concelved as a symbollc acL, as monumenLal
sculpLure lllusLraLlng fuLure CommunlsL llfesLyles. 1he ldea was Lo creaLe
celebraLory spaces LhaL would aL Lhe same Llme underpln Lhe unlLy of eople
and arLy. Lven Lhough Lhe emoLlonallsm of Lhe SLalln era was
deconsLrucLed" by khrushchev, Lhe SLaLe and arLy leadershlp conLlnued Lo
seL lLs slghLs on mega-pro[ecLs and grandlose edlflces. 1he mlsslon of urban
plannlng was Lo lend clear physlcal expresslon Lo soclal hlerarchles. 1he SovleL
collecLlve was Lo be spoLllghLed, whlch was also consLlLuLed Lhrough rallles
and Lhus aL Lhe same Llme leglLlmaLed Lhe rule of Lhe arLy. lor Lhls Lype of
publlc manlfesLaLlon, correspondlngly spaclous boulevards were requlred
(maglsLrals") Lo serve as marchlng grounds. Around vasL publlc squares -
whlch were supposed Lo form pollLlcal hubs for Lhe workers," buL acLually
had more Lhe effecL of generaLlng a feellng of lndlvldual helplessness ln Lhe
face of such powerful sLaLe auLhorlLy - were grouped Lhe governmenL and
arLy bulldlngs, deparLmenL sLores, culLural palaces and monumenLs.

1he cenLral dlsLrlcL formed a crysLalllzaLlon polnL for Lhe hlerarchlc urban
fabrlc. lL funcLloned noL only as a focus for clLy servlces, buL also represenLed
- ln Lhe pollLlcal, culLural and admlnlsLraLlve sense - Lhe SovleL sLaLe power.
1he ldea of an urban plannlng concepL deslgned Lo form a pollLlcal cenLer
remalned a key focus up unLll Lhe end of Lhe uSS8. ueclslve here was Lhe facL
LhaL all urban pro[ecLs could be carrled ouL wlLhouL conslderaLlon of prlvaLe
properLy. 1he laws of Lhe caplLallsL land-based economy had been annulled.
1he sLaged power seLLlng Lhus represenLed a dellberaLely conLrlved
conflguraLlon, whlch ln some cases also enLalled drasLlc reconsLrucLlon and
Lhe demollLlon of enLlre clLy dlsLrlcLs. 1he alm was Lo casL Lhe clLy from a
slngle mold, wlLh Lhe lndlvldual ob[ecLs Lhereln sub[ugaLed Lo an overall
ensemble.

1he SovleL clLy was lacklng ln dlverslLy. ln conLrasL wlLh Lhe proleLarlan
quarLers ln Lhe WesL," Lhere was no way Lo escape Lhe cramped llvlng
condlLlons by spendlng Llme ln bars or game halls wlLh Lhelr speclflc forms of
seml-publlcness. CanLeens and cafes were avallable for qulck eaLlng, whlle
resLauranL dlnlng was sLrlcLly reglmenLed and exLremely cosLly. 1here was also
a ma[or shorLage of publlc LolleLs, whlch, Lo make maLLers worse, were ofLen
closed. 1he auLhorlLles Lrled Lo drlve beggars, dlsabled and prosLlLuLes ouL of
publlc space by lnsLlLuLlng sLrlcL publlc order pollcles. ln Lhls sense one mlghL
say LhaL Lhere was a less vlslble marglnallLy ln Lhe SovleL clLles Lhan ln Lhe
Lyplcal caplLallsL meLropolls.

1he counLerparL Lo Lhe dramaLlzed seLLlngs ln Lhe clLy cenLer was formed by Lhe concreLe-slab
houslng developmenLs on lLs frlnges. SLaLe regulaLlon of houslng consLlLuLed an lnLegral
componenL of Lhe SovleL reward sysLem. AparLmenLs were handed ouL accordlng Lo Lhe
appllcanL's acLlvlLles and lnfluence. Whlle prlvlleged" flgures ln socleLy, such as pollLlclans,
members of Lhe mlllLary or lnLellecLuals, llved ln Lhe clLy cenLers, Lhe plaln folk were housed
elLher ln communal shared aparLmenLs or ln huge developmenLs on Lhe urban ouLsklrLs. Slnce
quanLlLy and proflLablllLy Look precedence ln mass houslng, Lhe quallLy of consLrucLlon and Lhe
ouLflLLlng of Lhe rooms suffered. 1he developmenL of a LransporL lnfrasLrucLure and of soclal
Coffeehouse, AlmaLy (kazakhsLan)






1heaLre loyer, SumgalL (Azerbal[an)






Coffeehouse, AlmaLy (kazakhsLan)






8us SLaLlon, 1lbllssl (Ceorgla)







!"#$%&#'()*(#+*!,#,%()*-.(/&0**
-"1,&'*!"+&2#,3%*,#*42/5,'&/'$2&*(#+*627(#*8)(##,#9:*4#*;#'2"+$/',"#*
!'&$)*+"%%,-,./,.*&%0*1,"./*2345''4&##,.*
*
*


!""#$%&'%

@%

faclllLles llkewlse lagged behlnd Lhe dynamlc growLh of Lhese perlpheral areas. new aparLmenLs
bullL ln Lhe 30s and early 60s were exLremely small, buL anyone who had prevlously llved ln a
!"##$%&'(&" LhoughL havlng Lhelr own klLchen, baLhroom, runnlng waLer and dlsLrlcL heaLlng
was a Lremendous sLep forward. Cnly when aparLmenLs flnally became more spaclous ln Lhe
8rezhnev era dld Lhe rapldly and cheaply bullL khruschevoka" no longer seemed all LhaL
appeallng. 1he aesLheLlc monoLony of many new houslng developmenLs, especlally Lhe flve-sLory
aparLmenL bulldlngs blankeLlng Lhe landscape, was repeaLedly crlLlclzed by Lhe SovleL publlc.

An lmporLanL basls for clLy plannlng was provlded by Lhe 8ules and norms for urban lannlng
and uevelopmenL" lnsLlLuLed ln 1938. now Lhe clLles were Lo be dlvlded lnLo dlfferenL usage
funcLlons, wlLh zones for llvlng, lndusLry, Lrafflc and communal servlce faclllLles, each separaLed
from Lhe oLhers Lhrough green areas. So-called #63.".&6"%s" formed Lhe baslc spaLlal unlL for
plannlng houslng developmenLs. 1hese were 0.3 Lo 0.3 square kllomeLers ln slze, had a
populaLlon of 10,000 - 13,000 and dlsposed over Lhe baslc supply faclllLles. Several #63.".&6"%s
were ln Lurn unlLed Lo form a resldenLlal zone wlLh lLs own shops, cllnlcs and culLural cenLers.
llnally, Lhe clLy cenLers covered resldenLs' more speclallzed needs, offerlng deparLmenL sLores,
LheaLers, hoLels and unlverslLles.

Powever, even Lhe glganLlc houslng developmenLs of Lhe 8rezhnev era ulLlmaLely pursued Lhe
ldeals of a small-Lown communlLy. 1here were parks, playgrounds, garages and speclal seLLlngs
for communlcaLlon. 1hls klnd of manageably slzed resldenLlal dlsLrlcL was deslgned Lo deepen
lnLeracLlon beLween Lhe resldenLs, represenLlng Lhe SovleL varlaLlon on Lhe nelghborhood
concepL we are famlllar wlLh ln Lhls parL of Lhe world. WlLh Lhe help of self-admlnlsLraLlon
lnsLlLuLlons such as 8esldenLlal Cfflces" and 8esldenLlal CommlLLees," Lhe auLhorlLles
furLhermore Lrled Lo promoLe a collecLlve form of llvlng. 8uL, [usL llke ln Lhe WesL, soclal reallLy
presenLed an enLlrely dlfferenL plcLure. MosL resldenLs Lrled Lo elude sLaLe conLrol. Lveryday
soclal llfe ln mosL households was domlnaLed by famlly and frlends, self-made communlLles LhaL
dld noL correspond Lo Lhe sLrucLures of Lhe #63.".&6"%s.

A5"*:%$6$>$-."%0+%203*$.%#,45-*">%%
%
ln Lhe mld-80s, Lwo-Lhlrds of Lhe SovleL populaLlon llved ln clLy houslng developmenLs, up from
[usL 18 percenL aL Lhe Llme of Lhe revoluLlon. noLlceable here ls Lhe marked concenLraLlon on blg
clLles. Whlle ln Lhe mld-20s only Moscow and Lenlngrad boasLed more Lhan one mllllon
lnhablLanLs, Lhe number of mllllon-populaLlon clLles had swelled Lo 24 by 1990. 1he uSS8 Lhus
experlenced an urbanlzaLlon process on a scale unparalleled anywhere ln Lhe world.

Lven Lhough urbanlsm here evlnced many parallels wlLh WesLern concepLs, a
hosL of slngular feaLures can be made ouL ln Lhe SovleL unlon's verslon of Lhls
process, even golng beyond Lhe naLlonallzaLlon of land and properLy. lor
example, economlc pollcy clearly domlnaLed reglonal and urban plannlng
pollcy. 1he land use scheme was subordlnaLed Lo Lhe general plan for
dlsLrlbuLlng producLlon locaLlons. Along wlLh recommendaLlons for where Lo
locaLe producLlon slLes, Lhls plan also lncluded guldellnes for Lhe developmenL
of reglonal urban sysLems based on Lhe producLlon pro[ecLs.

8esponslble for urban and archlLecLural plannlng on slLe was Lhe chlef
archlLecL ln Lhe respecLlve munlclpal execuLlve commlLLee and hls
deparLmenL. 1hese funcLlonarles reporLed ln Lurn Lo Lhe SLaLe 8ulldlng
CommlLLee ln Lhe Councll of MlnlsLers of Lhe uSS8, as well as Lo Lhe SLaLe
CommlLLee for Clvll 8ulldlngs and ArchlLecLure, whlch supervlsed boLh Lhe
general plan and bulldlng plan and Lhelr execuLlon ln accordance wlLh
sLandardlzed guldellnes and norms. neverLheless, desplLe all cenLrallsm, Lhe
reglonal and local auLhorlLles sLlll had a cerLaln amounL of laLlLude. ueclslons
on planned pro[ecLs and Lhelr fundlng were made ln Moscow, buL ln acLual
ulsused warehouse,
1lbllssl (Ceorgla)







Cpera Pouse,
1lbllssl (Ceorgla)







ulvlng plaLform, 1lbllssl (Ceorgla)







!"#$%&#'()*(#+*!,#,%()*-.(/&0**
-"1,&'*!"+&2#,3%*,#*42/5,'&/'$2&*(#+*627(#*8)(##,#9:*4#*;#'2"+$/',"#*
!'&$)*+"%%,-,./,.*&%0*1,"./*2345''4&##,.*
*
*


!""#$%&'%

B%

admlnlsLraLlve pracLlce Lhe subalLern apparaLuses were able Lo undermlne Lhe
clearly deflned governmenL pollcles and ulLlmaLely have flnal say ln how Lhe
avallable resources were puL Lo use. 8y means of faked reporLs and decepLlve
maneuvers, Lhe local funcLlonarles were able Lo glve Lhelr own prlorlLles
precedence over Lhose of Lhe cenLral reglme.

1he federal sLrucLure of Lhe mulLl-eLhnlc SovleL sLaLe llkewlse played an
lmporLanL role here. 1he pollLlcally slgnlflcanL 8ase naLlons" malnLalned Lhe
sLaLus of unlon republlcs. 8ased on poslLlve dlscrlmlnaLlon," a recrulLmenL
and promoLlon pollcy prevalled ln Lhe SLaLe and arLy apparaLus LhaL favored
Lhe respecLlve LlLular naLlon, leadlng Lo developmenL of lndlgenous leadershlp
ranks. WlLhouL Lhls lndlrecL form of governmenL, lL would have been
lmposslble for Lhe SovleLs Lo rule Lhe glganLlc counLry. 1he cenLral reglme puL
maLerlal and flnanclal resources aL Lhe dlsposal of Lhe unlon republlcs, whlch
were admlnlsLered largely lndependenLly by provlnclal prlnces." 1here was,
ln general, even greaLer freedom when lL came Lo culLural affalrs and
archlLecLural pro[ecLs. ln exchange for Lhls leeway, Lhe reglonal leaders had Lo
accepL Lhe supremacy of Lhe Lop echelons ln Moscow.

8esources and flnanclal granLs were dlsLrlbuLed accordlng Lo a hlerarchlc
prlnclple. 1he wlnners ln Lhe SovleL developmenL sLraLegy were, aparL from
Moscow, above all Lhe ma[or meLropollses ln Lhe unlon republlcs and Lhose
lndusLrlal clLles LhaL were vlLal Lo economlc pollcy. 1hey recelved
dlsproporLlonaLely generous sLaLe subsldles, whlle small and medlum-slzed
clLles were dlsadvanLaged. 1here was a correspondlngly sLrong dlvlde
beLween clLy and counLry. up unLll Lhe end of Lhe reglme, a resLrlcLlve pass
sysLem dlscrlmlnaLed agalnsL people from rural areas, ln order Lo proLecL Lhe
meLropollses from an unconLrolled lnflux of new resldenLs. noneLheless, Lhe
mlgraLlon movemenL sLlll goL ouL of hand. 8ural fllghL empLled ouL vlllages
and broughL provlnclal ways Lo Lhe clLy. 1he effecLs of Lhls phenomenon can
sLlll be felL Loday.
%
C9$%/,01#:.*0-%0+%#-$D#56%"/5:$"%%%
%
lrench phllosopher and space LheorlsL Penrl Lefebvre already predlcLed Lhe
downfall of Lhe uSS8 back ln Lhe early 70s. Pe argued LhaL Lhe SovleL model
consLlLuLed a revlslon of caplLallsL accumulaLlon, worklng Lo acceleraLe Lhls
process even furLher. lnLenslfled growLh was Lo be achleved prlmarlly by
prlvlleglng ouLsLandlng producLlon locaLlons.

uesplLe whaL offlclal ldeology proclalmed, however, Lhls LerrlLorlal concepL
never succeeded aL produclng sufflclenL synergy effecLs Lo seL lnLo moLlon a
self-supporLlng developmenL LhroughouL Lhe counLry. 1he hlerarchlc
sLrucLures only led Lhe growLh poles Lo become ever sLronger and Lhe
neglecLed reglons Lo weaken. 1he grand presLlge pro[ecLs and monumenLal
bulldlngs Lhus ulLlmaLely remalned lmposlng gesLures whose symbollc
lnLegraLlonal power was noL enough Lo lasLlngly secure Lhe leglLlmacy of Lhe
sysLem. 1he lnsoluble conLradlcLlon beLween Lhe lmaglnary space of power
dramaLlzaLlon and Lhe real space of everyday llfe llkewlse conLrlbuLed Lo
soundlng Lhe deaLh knell of Lhe SovleL emplre.

1heaLre, SumgalL (Azerbal[an)








AparLmenL block, 1lbllssl (Ceorgla)







avlllon, 8aku (Azerbal[an)








Cog rallway sLaLlon, 1lbllssl (Ceorgla)







!"#$%$&'()'(*+',-.+#%+$/+')0'(*+'123'
4'5%3/"33%)$'6+(7++$'8"9%:;'<)#)=%$;'>49?;(:@';$A'B9;$'5C;.;#)D'>E%3*=+=@'




!""#$%&'%

(%

!%
%
)#*+,-% ./0/1+2-3 lor me Lhe 60s was deflnlLely a very speclal Llme. l sLarLed rememberlng and
reallzed LhaL Lhe LlLle SweeL 60s" ls qulLe exacL. So, ln shorL, everyLhlng led Lo chlldhood
emoLlonal conLenL. 1he maln Lhlng ls LhaL afLer such a nosLalgla abouL chlldhood, Lhe presenL
Llme ls annoylng, as one can reallze whaL a creaLlve Llme lL used Lo be. Cur parenL's generaLlon
succeeded ln flndlng Lhe nerve of local modernlLy. All Lhese people, Lhey were on Lhe border of
Lhe dlscovery. 1haL lnLernaLlonal conLexL was suddenly Lransformed lnLo someLhlng new wlLh
local nuances and wlLhouL any marglnallLy. LaLer Lhls was losL and now lL ls golng Lo be Lrampled
down. lL's so hablLual here, flrsL Lo bulld someLhlng and Lhen Lo desLroy lL. 1hls has a depresslve
lnfluence on me.

lL was hard Lo concenLraLe for me because, of course, we are noL experLs of such a speclflc lssue
llke Lhe 60s. Well, aL leasL l am noL and you nelLher, l Lhlnk. 1hese speclflc lssues, Lhey demand
lmmerslon, buL Lhls ls lmposslble here as qulLe a rapld reflecLlon ls requlred. 1haL's why l feel llke
belng confused. 8uL when l sLarLed researchlng Lhe maLerlals of Lhe [8L]vlslon
1
pro[ecL, or Lhe
book 5et of Atcbltectotol Mooomeots of Almoty ooJ Almoty ltovloce (by L. Mallnovskaya
2
), Lhen l
[usL goL sLuck. 1hls especlally relaLes Lo AlmaLy archlLecLure, as we have qulLe a loL of palnful
lssues here. Cur offlclals Lry Lo demollsh all hlsLorlcal bulldlngs. WhaL horrlble Lhlngs Lhey are
maklng wlLh archlLecLural monumenLs!

4*-2%56-7-0/83 8ot moybe lt wos olwoys llke tbot - petloJs of Jevelopmeot ote teploceJ by
tlmes of tefotmottloq of tbose petloJs? AoJ lt seems to me we bove to osk two ot tbtee poestloos
bete.

lltst poestloo. wbot ls so lmpottoot fot os tlqbt oow lo tbe expetleoce of tbe 60s? 5ecooJ
poestloo. wbot wos speclflc to tbls tlme ooJ wbot kloJ of moolfestotloos JlJ tbot petloJ bove lo
Jlffeteot otts?
lot lostooce lf well cooslJet kytqyz cloemo of tbe 60s tbeo well see tbot tbe moolfestotloo of
moJetolsm wos tbe seotcb of selfbooJ fotms. 1bot lovolveJ lotqe omooot of wotk wltb ootloool
toots, lJeotlty, locol cootexts ooJ petsoooqes - o cettolo kloJ of btotol ooJ sttooq cbotoctets.
1bot wos locol moJetolsm wblcb wos Jeveloploq tbtooqb tbe teoolmotloo of lost feototes.
5peokloq fotmolly, tbe lofloeoce of Iopooese ooJ ltolloo cloemo ls vlslble bete.

AoJ we coolJ soy tbot lo 8lsbkek (fotmet ltooze) tbe fltst cleotly moJetolst ptojects oppeoteJ lo
otcbltectote lo tbe beqlooloq of tbe 60s. 1bls mlqbt bove beeo tbe lofloeoce of Mles voo Jet kobe,
cotboslet, ooJ Iopoo - cleot ploos ooJ locoolc Jeclsloos, cooctete wltb qloss wete Jomlooot. AoJ
evetytbloq wos petfectly Jooe lo tetms of composltloo tblokloq, bot oll tbot wos coooecteJ
oeltbet wltb tbe ploce, oot wltb ooy locol cootext. 5ocb o ftoqmeot of lotetootloool style.
%
./0/1+2-3 8uL ln AlmaLy we had Lhls connecLlon ln archlLecLure.

56-7-0/8. otllet lo tbe 50s (ooJ lotet, ot tbe eoJ of tbe 70s, beqlooloq of tbe 80s) tbls coooectloo
wos lo tbe fotm of otoomeototloo ooJ otbet pseoJo-ootloool motlves. Aftet tbot, lo tbe beqlooloq
of tbe 60s, otcbltects-moJetolsts totoeJ op ooJ most of tbem boJ oewly ottlveJ. 1bey wete qlveo
jobs bete, bot lt wos evlJeot tbot tbey wete well eJocoteJ ooJ wete lofloeoceJ by Moscow,
leoloqtoJ ot oootbet otcbltectote scbool. 1bey koew wbot wos qoloq oo lo otopeoo otcbltectote,
so tbey come bete well ptepoteJ. As yoo mlqbt koow, lo 8lsbkek tbe fltst otcbltectote focolty wos
foooJeJ ot tbe eoJ of tbe 60s, ooJ tbe fltst ptofessloools qtoJooteJ ot tbe eoJ of tbe 60s ooJ tbe
beqlooloq of tbe 70s.

l woolJ llke to Jtow yoot otteotloo to o polte omosloq tbloq.

1
[8L]vlslon 60/90 ls a research dedlcaLed Lo Lhe comparlson and reLhlnklng of kyrgyz clnema of Lhe 60s and Lhe 90s, and
conslsLs of auLhored LexLs and archlve maLerlals (edlLor ln chlef: ulan u[aparov).
2
LllsabeLh Mallnovskaya ls an academlc, speclallsL ln 20
Lh
and 21
sL
CenLury archlLecLure ln kazakhsLan and CenLral Asla.
!"#$%$&'()'(*+',-.+#%+$/+')0'(*+'123'
A ulscossloo betweeo ollyo 5otokloo (Almoty) ooJ uloo ujopotov (8lsbkek)
'


!""#$%&'%

'%

cbloqlz Altmotov
J
lofloeoceJ kytqyz cloemo vety mocb. A mojot oombet of sceootlos ote boseJ oo
bls potobles, stotles ooJ oovels. AoJ tbots wby o cettolo tbteoJ - o ootloool, etbooqtopblc
tbteoJ ot l Joot koow bow else l coolJ speclfy lt - ls vlslble ptoctlcolly lo oll fllms.

lo otcbltectote, loJeeJ, tbe lofloeoce of tbe lotetootloool cootext wos Jomlooot. lo qeoetol,
otcbltectotol sbopes ooJ towo ploooloq Jeclsloos JlJot bove tbls Jellcote belooqloq to tbe ploce
ooJ lts spltlt, lts lmoqes etc.

AoJ tbot ls tbe potoJox. some ottlstlc lmoqes become tbe lmoqes ooJ, lo foct, tbe spoces of oot
lJeotlty tbtooqb lltetotote ooJ cloemo. lot exomple, tbe fllm by 8. 5bomsblev
4
, wblte
5teomsblp, wos ptoJoceJ opptoxlmotely ot tbe beqlooloq of tbe 70s. 5o, tbtooqb cloemo tbls
lmoqe of wblte 5teomsblp boJ o sttooq lofloeoce oo otcbltects - ooJ oot ooly locolly, bot lo
Moscow os well - wbo JeslqoeJ tbe beoltb tesott oo tbe lssyk-kol loke. AoJ tbey cteoteJ oo
object wblcb cooceptoolly qtew ftom tbls otcbetyplcol lmoqe. lt wos vlslble tbtooqb tbe ploooloq
ooJ sttoctote ooJ some ottlstlc Jeclsloos. 5o, lo tbe beqlooloq of tbe 70s, tbe lofloeoce of tbe
qtoooJwotk of tbe 60s (lo lltetotote, cloemo etc.) wblcb wete boseJ oo ootloool, etbolc ooJ
teqloool otcbetypes, stotteJ to spteoJ lo vlsool otts ooJ otcbltectote. AoJ tbeo lotet lo 70s-80s,
oot otcbltectote stotteJ to ose tbese ootloool lmoqes ooJ motlves. AoJ sometbloq llke tbot wos
qoloq oo tbtooqboot tbe tettltoty of tbe u55k.

1bete ls ooe mote omosloq momeot. lotet (lo tbe mlJ 60-s) most otcbltects stotteJ to ploy
postmoJeto qomes - wbeo lt wos posslble to feel ftee to ose Jlffeteot styles, cootexts wltboot
feotloq tbot lt woolJ look eclectlc. AoJ tbe oppllcotloo of tbe locol speclflclty become oo
elemeot of socb o ptofessloool qome.

l tefet to tbe foct tbot tbete wete people befote os, wbo ttleJ to Jo sometbloq meooloqfol eveo
ooJet socb vety llmlteJ cltcomstooces, bot tbls wos moolfesteJ Jlffeteotly lo Jlffeteot ottlstlc
Jlsclplloes. AoJ oow tbe momeot of cootloolty ls tbe molo tbloq fot me. wbot coo we cooslJet to
be lotetestloq ftom tbe expetleoce of tbe ptevloos qeoetotloos, coo we see ooJ ooJetstooJ ooy
texts, stotemeots ftom tbe petspectlve of tbelt ottlstlc qestotes? AoJ oftet oll, lt ls llkely tbot oot
qeoetotloo bos lts owo olm. Moybe tbe expetleoce of tbe 60s wlll belp os tecooslJet sometbloq os
well. uofottoootely, otcbltectote bos socb o Jtomotlc momeot tbot wbeo ooe ttles to pteseot oo
loteqtol ottlstlc exptessloo lt moy become JlloplJoteJ, tecoosttocteJ, bockoeyeJ lo tlme . 5o, lt
loses lts sbope.

./0/1+2-3 ?es, lL ls Lyplcal ln archlLecLure here. Me Loo, when l sLarLed Lo sLudy books, Lhen l
reallzed LhaL all our, you know, Lenln alace (currenL alace of 8epubllc, 1970, archlLecLs v.Alle,
v. klm, ?. 8aLushnyl, n. 8eplnskly, A.Sokolov, L. ukhoboLov and oLhers), kazakhsLan PoLel (1981,
archlLecLs L. ukhoboLov, ?. 8aLushnyl, A.Anchugov, v.kashLanov), Weddlng alace (1971,
archlLecLs A. Lepplk, M.Mendlkulov), Lhese very bulldlngs were consLrucLed by people who were
famlllar wlLh Lhe modern conLexL and who knew abouL Corbusler. Powever, Lhey Lrled Lo apply
some local flguraLlveness ln Lhelr archlLecLural forms. 1hrough new lmages, noL always dlrecLly -
as for example we may see ln Lenln alace agaln, Lhere ls noL any clrcular plan ln lL, buL lL sLlll has
Lhe feellng of an orlenLal LenL, or, ln Lhe case of Alma-ALa PoLel, Lhere ls someLhlng lmpercepLlbly
orlenLal ln lL and LhaL ls exacLly Lhe modernlsL approach, whlch ls noL dlrecL. 1haL's whaL l llke.

56-7-0/83 1bls ls o cettolo styllzotloo.

./0/1+2-3 noL acLually a sLyllzaLlon, buL raLher a search for some form, whlch lndlrecLly expresses
Lhe local conLexL Lhrough an assoclaLlve llne. 1haL ls archlLecLure whlch has already been
esLabllshed on Lhe basls of Lhe percepLlon of local pecullarlLy and ls lnfluenced by feellngs raLher
Lhan by dlrecL lmages. 1hls ls very clear ln Lhe cases of Lhe Clrcus or Lhe 8aLh Pouse, whlch are

3
Chlnglz AlLmaLov (1928-2008) ls a famous kyrgyz auLhor and publlc flgure, whose novels sLrongly lnfluenced kyrgyz arL
and culLure (novels, wblte 5teomsblp, CooJbye Colsoty and oLhers).
4
8oloL Shamshlev ls a famous kyrgyz clnema-dlrecLor. Pls graduaLlon fllm Manaschl" won Cran-rlx aL Lhe Cberhausen
fllm fesLlval. Pls mosL popular fllms are ShoL on Lhe karash ass," 1968, WhlLe SLeamshlp,"1973 and oLhers.
!"#$%$&'()'(*+',-.+#%+$/+')0'(*+'123'
A ulscossloo betweeo ollyo 5otokloo (Almoty) ooJ uloo ujopotov (8lsbkek)
'


!""#$%&'%

9%

dlrecLly connecLed wlLh Lhe orlenLal conLexL. And lf we Lalk abouL Lhe medlaLed lmage. Well, our
archlLecLs usually used small Lhlngs llke logglas lnsLead of facades, or sun-breaker grlds, whlch
were boLh ornamenLal decoraLlons and funcLlonal aL Lhe same Llme. lL ls obvlous LhaL compeLenL
people worked here. Well, l am noL sure abouL nowadays, you know, how our 8alLerek
3
was bullL,
for example. l heard a legend LhaL our resldenL drew Lhe scheme of 8alLerek on hls napkln. And
Lhe vorobyevs
6
made a pro[ecL abouL Lhls. And Lhere are many examples llke Lhls. So, Who pays
for Lhe glrl, wlll dance wlLh her." unforLunaLely, our archlLecLure dances" Loday wlLh qulLe
susplclous creaLors. WhaL are Lhey dolng? lor example our SporL alace (1966, archlLecLs
v.kaLcev, C. naumova) - Lhere ls (was already) some flguraLlveness ln lL - Lhe semlclrcular roof
cuL was Lhere, Lhere were grafflLl by Sldorkln
7
on slde facades.. 1hey have LoLally rebullL lL now.
1hanks Cod, Lhe ArchlLecLure unlon and Lhe ArLlsLs' unlon preserved Lhe grafflLl, Lhey managed
Lo remove Lhe grafflLl off Lhe walls and laLer sLuck lL on Lhe new enlarged walls. 8uL Lhe bulldlng
has been changed compleLely, of course.

5C;.;#)DF 1bete wete polte o few lotetestloq moJetolst bollJloqs coosttocteJ
ot tbe beqlooloq of tbe 60s (fot exomple, 1be Moseom of M. ltooze, otcbltects
. kotlkb ooJ C. kototeloJze). nowevet, tbe kossloo utomo 1beotet (otcbltect
A.Albooskly) ls my fovotlte ooe lo 8lsbkek. lt wos pteseoteJ lo wotkloq
Jtowloqs lo tbe mlJ 60s, ooJ tbeo coosttoctloo stotteJ ot tbe eoJ of tbe 60s
ooJ wos cootlooeJ fot sevetol yeots. 1bls bollJloq wos obsolotely oeottol,
wbeteos lotet oo tbe lofloeoce of otleotol lmoqes lo otcbltectote wos vlslble.
1be kossloo utomo 1beotets otcbltectote wos vety mocb llke otopeoo, ot
eveo lloolsb otcbltectote, llke Alvoto Aolto, ot moybe tbls wos tbe tesolt of tbe
Iopooese lofloeoce wltb tbelt coocept of emptloess. Nevet mloJ, tbete ote
oo Jltect tefeteoces lo lt. 8ot lt ls cleot tbot tbe ootbots speclol qestote ls
vlslble lo bow tbe bollJloq ls sltooteJ lo uobovyl lotk, oo tbe llttle ctossloq
potbs, bow lt bolJs o spoce otoooJ lt, ooJ bow Jlffeteot Jetolls ooJ elemeots
socb os tbe stolts, stoloeJ qloss wloJows ooJ otbets wotk. AoJ lo tbls cose
otcbltectotol Jeclsloos Jo oot tely oo ooy speclflc lmoqes wblcb bove ooy
ptototypes, etbolc ot teqloool tefeteoces olo Otleot. lo tbe exomple of tbe
kossloo utomo 1beotet ooe coo see bow some oew woys wete estobllsbeJ,
bow some oooJJtesseJ sbope coolJ ossemble tbe spoce otoooJ ooJ qlve lt oo
obsolotely Jlffeteot poollty lo occotJooce wltb tbe ootbots comptebeosloo.

./0/1+2-3 lL seems Lo me LhaL you are rlghL, mosL of Lhem belonged Lo Lhe
new generaLlon who had newly arrlved afLer graduaLlng from Moscow
unlverslLles, or oLher unlverslLles, llke 8eplnskly
8
, he graduaLed from klev
unlverslLy, sLudled aL ZholLovskl's and vesnlns' sLudlos... 8uL all of Lhem
worked ln a very accuraLe and absorbed way. LveryLhlng developed qulLe
organlcally ln Lhelr case.
%
56-7-0/83 ollyo, l llke yoot wotJ obsotbeJ. oo koow, sometlmes lt mlqbt boppeo tbot wbeo
yoo wotk wltb tbe cootext of o speclflc ploce (etbolc ot blstotlcol cootext), ot tbe eoJ tbete mlqbt
come oot o ptoqtommeJ wotk... Ot tbete mlqbt be oootbet votloot, lt ls oot oecessoty tbot yoo
sboolJ be teolly flxeJ oo o cettolo lssoe bot lf yoo bove cettolo otteotlveoess to o cooctete
sltootloo (spotlol, ot eveo wotlJly ot coltotol) tbeo yoo stott to lotetoct exoctly wltb tbls sltootloo
wbeo cteotloq some ottlfoct. uotloq tbls ptocess some lotetestloq tbloqs coo oocooscloosly come
op. Iost becoose yoo wotk Jellcotely ooJ cotefolly, wltb some tespect. 1bots wbot l llke. AoJ

3
8alLerek ls a monumenL-Lower ln AsLana, Lhe new caplLal of kazakhsLan. 1he auLhor of Lhe pro[ecL ls norman losLer, a
popular 8rlLlsh archlLecL. lL ls well known LhaL Lhe confldenLlal auLhor of Lhe monumenL ls Lhe presldenL of kazakhsLan,
nursulLan nazarbayev. ln Lhe bulldlng Lhere are many concepLual references Lo myLhology and symbols, buL Lhe
kazakhlsLanl people enLlLled lL Chupa-Chups" (lL looks llke a famous candy).
6
?elena and vlcLor vorobyevs, kazakhsLanl conLemporary arLlsLs.
7
?evgenly Sldorkln (1930-1982), SovleL arLlsL, Ponoured ArL Worker of kazakh SS8.
8
nlkolay 8lplnskly (1906-1969) ls an ouLsLandlng kazakhsLanl archlLecL and SLaLe uSS8 Award lauraLe. Llke many famous
culLural flgures, he was repressed and banlshed from kazakhsLan. Pls name ls assoclaLed wlLh Lhe furLher developmenL of
Lhe kazakh archlLecLure school.
Pouslng ln AlmaLy, phoLograph by Alexander ugay

!"#$%$&'()'(*+',-.+#%+$/+')0'(*+'123'
A ulscossloo betweeo ollyo 5otokloo (Almoty) ooJ uloo ujopotov (8lsbkek)
'


!""#$%&'%

:%

tbose wbo bove beeo obsesseJ wltb tbese Jocttloes, ootloool ot ooy otbet, tbey obooJooeJ tbe
spoce of ott, fot tbe coltotol, soclol ot eveo polltlcol spoces. AoJ tbose spoces sopposeJ otbet
qomes.
./0/1+2-3 Maybe LhaL was because Lhey were acLually loose, Lhls land was noL Lhelr bone and
flesh, you know. Maybe lL was even easler for Lhem Lo work wlLh Lhls, as wlLh a klnd of a fraglle
conLexL. 1hey had Lo be pollLlcally correcL wlLh Lhose conLexLs. Well, aL Lhe same Llme, Lhe same
8eplnskly, whaL dld he do? lL ls well known LhaL he encouraged local archlLecLs Lo develop.
8efore hlm Lhere were only archlLecLs who had newly come Lo kazakhsLan from dlfferenL parLs of
Lhe SovleL unlon. And lL was he, who led kazglprosLrolpro[ecL," noL personally yeL, buL Lhrough
hls Leam.

56-7-0/83 1be sltootloos wete somebow slmllot lo Almoty ooJ 8lsbkek (fotmet ltooze). 5ome
tlme oqo tbey oseJ to look slmllot botb lo tetms of tbelt scole ooJ tbelt otmospbete. 1bete wete
op to teo-tweoty petsoos lo otcbltectote, cloemo, ooJ lo otbet flelJs. 1bete wete lleloJs
composeJ of cooctete petsooolltles wbo boJ o meooloqfol potpose. 1bey ttleJ to cotcb op o
qeoetol wove ooJ to Jo sometbloq lo tbelt teol sltootloo. AoJ oevettbeless tbete ls ooe ooooce
bete. tbete ls o Jlffeteoce betweeo tbe opptoocbes ooJ ossessmeots of kossloo-speokloq ooJ
ooo-kossloo-speokloq people. 1be post ls lJeollzeJ sometlmes.

wbeo l stotteJ to explote tbe stotlstlcs motetlols oboot ltooze cltlzeos Jotloq 5ovlet tlme l wos
sotptlseJ to leoto tbot lo tbe 70s-80s people of kytqyz ootlooollty fotmeJ ooly 11-17X of tbe
wbole popolotloo. lot exomple, lo oot closstoom, oot of 40 poplls ooly 6 ot 7 wete tepteseototlves
of tbe tltle ootloo (l.e. kytqyz). 1bls looks llke o sptloq, wblcb ls comptesseJ oo ooe slJe, ooJ ls
expooJloq to oootbet extteme oo tbe otbet slJe.

lo tbelt sttoctote, botb Almoty ooJ ltooze wete cltles wblcb wete estobllsbeJ by sttooqets -
oewcomets wbo btooqbt otopeoo coltote.
%
./0/1+2-3 Well, lL's llke whaL people say now abouL conLemporary arL: AgenL of Lhe WesL". So,
Lhey were Lhe modernlsL agenLs of Lhe WesL.
%
56-7-0/83 es, yes, yes. veo tbe tepteseototlves of tbe locol lotellectools, tbose wbo tepteseoteJ
tbe ootlve popolotloo, tbey wete oot so oometoos lo compotlsoo. nowevet, wbeo ooy tefeteoce
to tepteseototloo lo coltote, scleoce, ot qovetomeotol sttoctotes wos moJe, tbelt oomes wete
well koowo. wbot l om tolkloq oboot ls. tbot clty sttoctote, oll lts lostltotloos - mlolsttles,
foctotles, oolvetsltles - wete lmpotteJ ooJ jost oJopteJ by tbe locol popolotloo. lltetolly, o few
yeots posseJ ooJ tbete wos some estobllsbeJ fotm, of tbls clty, of tbe soclol otJet. 8ot tbot fotm
wos somebow mecboolstlc, extetool, ooJ olleo.

AoJ tbots wby tbe followloq poestloo comes op. wby Jo we bove lo
kytqyzstoo so mooy people wbo tevete tbe 60s pbeoomeoo lo kytqyz cloemo?

1bots becoose oll tbese people wbo boJ jost moveJ ftom tbe vllloqes obtoloeJ
blqbet eJocotloo, llveJ lo tbese 2-J floot booses, become employeJ - tbey
tepteseoteJ tbe fltst qeoetotloo. 8ot oll tbot wos sometbloq lofoseJ fot tbem.
AoJ soJJeoly, lo tbese fllms, tbey tecoqolzeJ tbemselves ooJ tbelt owo
tettltoty lo tbe cootempototy wotlJ. uo yoo ooJetstooJ? lt seemeJ llke tbey
llveJ lo oo loJepeoJeot stote, bot lt wos o fotmol spoce fot tbem - oo olleo
spoce. AoJ bete, lo tbe fllms, tbey feel tbemselves ot bome eveo lf jost
vlttoolly. AoJ some voqoe ootlooollst lJeos stotteJ to motetlollze ooJ become
fotmoloteJ. At tbot tlme lt wos o sotptlse, tbot yoo bove yoot owo oolpoe
ploce. 1bete ls lts owo pteblstoty, owo betoes ooJ potoJox petsoooqes. 1bete
wete o lot of octots ooJ octtesses wbo petsoolfleJ someboJy ootlve ooJ bolf-
fotqotteo. lot exomple, 5olmeokol cbokmotov
9
wbo petsoolfleJ tbe lmoqe of

9
Sulmenkul Chokmorov (1939-1992), arLlsL, kyrgyz acLor, eople's ArLlsL of Lhe uSS8, maln roles 8ahyLgool ln ShoL on
Lhe karash ass," 1968 and Achangool ln leroclous," 1973.
CapLure from Lhe fllm ShoL on
karash ass" (1968)

!"#$%$&'()'(*+',-.+#%+$/+')0'(*+'123'
A ulscossloo betweeo ollyo 5otokloo (Almoty) ooJ uloo ujopotov (8lsbkek)
'


!""#$%&'%

;%

o ftee petsoo, lt wos wllJ ooJ Jlstloctlve... we Jo oot bove socb betoes ooy
mote. l wooteJ to Jtow yoot otteotloo to tbls. 1bot lo tbe 60s tbe feelloq of
lJeotlty exlsteJ exoctly lo vlttool spoce.
%
./0/1+2-3 ?es, l agree ln general. And curlously enough, LhaL very allen culLure
makes lL posslble Lo expose all LhaL, and Lhere ls a slmllar slLuaLlon wlLh
kazakh clnema as well. kazakh clnemaLography was also lnfluenced by lLallan
and !apanese fllms, neverLheless lL succeeded Lo esLabllsh lLself. 1haL same
Shaken Almanov
10
- he looks llke a local proLagonlsL wlLh speclal LexLure -
Aldar kose, u[ambul eLc. Almanov was a unlversal person wlLh regard Lo hls
experlence and relaLlonshlps, buL he was also LoLally local by blrLh whlch was
clear [udglng from hls characLer. Pe [usL Lransformed lnLo Lhese characLers
and llved Lhelr llves. Cr anoLher flgure - SallhlLdln AlLbayev
11
, our arLlsL, he
was qulLe charlsmaLlc as well. Pe was born ln Lhe kyzylorda provlnce and
LhaL's why he had LhaL very powerful naLlonal LexLure, he was keen on
modernlsL Lrends whlch were forbldden ln our LerrlLory aL LhaL Llme - all Lhese
so called bourgeols lsms." 8uL he was really a LlLanlc person: he was fearless,
he dldn'L glve a damn abouL anyLhlng. So, he was llke a real rebelllous botyt
(eplcal hero). And hls arL was llke LhaL, monumenLal. And one can feel
someLhlng speclal Lhere. 8y Lhe way, l can always Lell lf a palnLlng ls done by a
kazakh person, or by a local buL noL a naLlve, even lf Lhe plcLure ls noL slgned.
8ecause Lhe feellng of color LranslLlons and LexLures ls somehow dlfferenL.
1hls was done by Lhe generaLlon of 60s and we can say LhaL lL was done qulLe
clearly: LhaL blendlng of Lhe modernlsL pro[ecL wlLh local rooLs. lL was done ln
an organlc way wlLhouL any sLralns.
%
56-7-0/83 wbeo l wos teteoJloq jk]vlsloo, tbete wete o few momeots tbot
cooqbt my otteotloo. At tbe some tlme lo tbe beqlooloq of tbe 60s, tbe fltst
fllms wblcb moybe qove tlse to tbe pbeoomeooo of kytqyz cloemo, wete Jebot
fllms. neot by lotlsso 5bepltko (196J) ooJ 1be lltst 1eocbet by AoJtoo
koocbolovsky (1965), wblcb wete botb sbot lo kytqyzstoo. 1bese movles
tecelveJ o lot of owotJs ot Jlffeteot festlvols ooJ of cootse tbey boJ o
powetfol oestbetlc. 8ot lo tbose fllms oll tbe molo ttlcks wete fotmol, loteoJeJ
fot extetool ottlstlc effect, wblcb JlJ oot teflect kytqyz meotollty occototely,
ooJ tbls wos obvloos. AccotJloq to AoJtoo koocbolovskys memolts, be opeoly
oseJ kotosowos plostlc ttlcks, jost teoovoteJ tbem occotJloq to locol teolltles
ooJ tbeo cottleJ tbem to tbe polot of obsotJlty. ne jostlfleJ tbls tefettloq to
Jtomo lssoes.

5o, yoooq kytqyz Jltectots wbo took pott lo tbese movles os osslstoots boJ to
moke tbelt owo cbolce. ltbet tbey boJ to toke tbe sbottest toote, wblcb wos
sbowo to tbem by 5bepltko ooJ koocbolovsky, wbo boseJ tbelt mostetpleces
oo slmple locol motetlol. Ot lt wos oecessoty to cotefolly exomloe some blJJeo
ptocesses lo tbe commoolty ooJ teveol wbot boJ JlsoppeoteJ os o tesolt of
tbe collopse of tbe ttoJltloool kytqyz llfestyle.

1be most koowo ote two Jltectots - 1olomosb Okeev (5ky of Oot cbllJbooJ, 1966) ooJ 8olot
5bomsblev (Jocomeototy movle Moooscbl,1965 ooJ 5bot oo kotosb loss, 1968). 8ot lt wos
oootbet Jltectot wbo temoloeJ lo tbelt sboJow. Mells ubokyeev. ne ls oo ooJesetveJly evoJeJ
flqote. 8y tbe woy, be become ooe of tbe fltst coltotoloqlsts lotet, be moJe cooceptool teseotcbes
oboot kytqyz blstoty ooJ tbe Mooos epos. ne wos oo ftleoJly tetms wltb Comllev
12
.

10
Shaken Almanov (1914-1970), kazakh SovleL acLor, dlrecLor, eople's ArLlsL of Lhe uSS8, laureaLe SLalln's Award (1932)
and SLaLe Award of kazakh SS8 laureaLe.
11
SallhlLdln AlLbayev (1938-1994), arLlsL, Ponoured ArL Worker of kazakh SS8, Lenln komsomol Award laureaLe.
12
Lev Cumllyev (1912-1992), SovleL and 8usslan sclenLlsL, hlsLorlan-eLhnologlsL, hu ln hlsLory and geography, poeL,
LranslaLor from larsl. lounder of Lhe 1heory of asslon LLhnogenesls. Son of 8usslan poeLs Anna AkhmaLova and nlkolay
Papplness" by S. AyLbaev, oll on
canvas (1968)

CapLure from Lhe fllm llrsL 1eacher"
by A. konchalovskl (1963)


!"#$%$&'()'(*+',-.+#%+$/+')0'(*+'123'
A ulscossloo betweeo ollyo 5otokloo (Almoty) ooJ uloo ujopotov (8lsbkek)
'


!""#$%&'%

<%

%
./0/1+2-3 .Lhey all were on frlendly Lerms wlLh Cumllev.
%
56-7-0/83 ne ttleJ to ooJetstooJ mooy Jlffeteot mottets. ne ttleJ to tetblok
tbe most lmpottoot ooJ Jtomotlc petloJs of kytqyz blstoty lo bls fltst fllms.
%
./0/1+2-3 And who ls Lhe auLhor of WhlLe MounLalns"?
%
56-7-0/83 lts bls fllm. wblte Moootolos ot oootbet tltle neovy ctossloq,
1964, tbots wbot yoo meoo? cloemo ctltlc 1ollp lbtolmov moJe tbe followloq
temotk oboot lt. 1bot ls tbe fltst fllm lo wblcb tbe kytqyz tecoqolzeJ
tbemselves.

./0/1+2-3 Well, such a chlc fllm! l saw lL a few Llmes.

56-7-0/83% ne wos o petsoo wbose posltlooeJ blmself o blt owoy ftom tbe
molostteom, bot oo tbe otbet booJ, be lofloeoceJ tbe Jevelopmeot of kytqyz
cloemo cooslJetobly. l temembet, lo my cbllJbooJ, l wotcbeJ oo 1v o movle
tltleJ Ak-Moot wblcb lookeJ llke o Jtomo ploy (lt wos obvloos tbot
evetytbloq wos Jooe lo o povllloo) - lt wos ooe leqeoJ. 8ot wbot o qteot
oestbetlc ooJ teosloo ooJ bow lt wos Jooe. lt wos o oew symbollc tooollty, oo
wblcb tbls movle wos boseJ. lotet oo lt wosot vety ctltlcol oeltbet fot oot
cloemo, oot fot tbe tbeotet.

5o, tbot momeot of bovloq tbe oetve, beloq bolJ, tbe feelloq tbot sometbloq ls
qoloq oo ooJ yoo ote tokloq pott lo lt - tbot ls oo lotetestloq momeot.

1bete ls oo lotetestloq Jltectot, Motot 5otolo, wbo solJ. 1be movles by oot
cotypboeos wete lotetestloq Joe to tbelt Jebot exptessloos. we moy soy tbot
sometbloq wos occomoloteJ lo tbe collectlve oocooscloos of tbe people,
sometbloq wblcb oeeJeJ to come oot, ooJ tbls boppeoeJ tbtooqb tbese fltst
fllms of tbe kytqyz Mltocle. AoJ tbeo Motot soJ. lt wos oecessoty to cteote
tbe secooJ ootote, to wotk wltb ottlstlc fotms, wltb meooloqs, bot oot to
potosltlze oo tbe etboo-motetlol bose. AoJ oofottoootely tbls JlJ oot boppeo.
lotet lo tbe 70s-80s oot cloemo become completely ootemotkoble.
%
./0/1+2-3 ?ou see, we have a problem - a problem Lyplcal of any marglnal
LerrlLory: our people llke Lo work (and always dld, l Lhlnk) on Lhe basls of Lhelr
human naLure, buL modernlsm does noL forglve Lhls, lL requlres speclal skllls.
And here, as Calya lyanova, Lhe dlrecLor of A81&SPCk 1heaLer, says: Lhe
skllls should be flxed." And when l analyze Lhe sLraLa of Lhe 60s and 70s, and
our currenL acLlons as well, l reallze LhaL Lhere lsn'L enough flxaLlon here.
Cnce someLhlng has already been founded, llke Lhe chernozem has been
removed, Lhen lL ls lmporLanL Lo make some professlonal flxaLlons. 8uL
noLhlng comes ouL of lL, because everyLhlng was done by LreaLlng Lhe naLure,
and Lhough Lhere ls sLlll LhaL lnsLlncLlve longlng for dlgglng ln back lnLo LhaL
naLure, we fall as Lhe Lopsoll has been removed. SomeLhlng llke LhaL ls golng
on.

We acLually dld noL have such a phenomenon ln kazakhsLan. Pere, everyLhlng
was bullL on varlous myLhologems, on some narraLlves. 1here was no such
vlsual LexLure llke ln kyrgyz clnema ln Lhe 60s and laLer. lL was more narraLlon,
a pollLlcal Lhread, more of someLhlng else, buL noL such a LexLure.
%

Cumllyev. Pe was repressed repeaLedly and for someLlme durlng hls lmprlsonmenL he was kepL ln Lhe camp near
karaganda clLy ln kazakhsLan.
CapLure from Lhe fllm 1he Sky of our Chlldhood"
(8akay's asLure) (1966)

CapLure from Lhe fllm Manaschl" by 8. Shamshlev
(1963)

CapLure from Lhe fllm Pard Crosslng" (WhlLe
MounLalns) by M. ubukeev (1964)
)

CapLure from Lhe fllm Ak-Moor" by M. ubukeev
(1969)

!"#$%$&'()'(*+',-.+#%+$/+')0'(*+'123'
A ulscossloo betweeo ollyo 5otokloo (Almoty) ooJ uloo ujopotov (8lsbkek)
'


!""#$%&'%

=%

56-7-0/83 well, yoo qove Olzbos 5olelmeoov os oo exomple.
%
./0/1+2-3 erhaps, yes, Clzhas Sulelmenov, LhaL ls an unconvenLlonal flgure.
%
56-7-0/83 8ot lf we compote blm ooJ cbloqlz Altmotov, we wlll see tbe Jlffeteoce betweeo tbelt
Jeplctloos, occeots of otttoctloo, ooJ lo qeoetol tbelt oestbetlcs of exptessloo.
%
./0/1+2-3 ?ou see, Lhey are compleLely dlfferenL people. l know AlLmaLov by hls wrlLlngs only and
don'L know how he llved and whaL he dld. And of course, l know much more abouL Sulelmenov,
as he ls from here and he regularly makes hlmself remembered. noL dellberaLely, raLher he ls a
very acLlve person. And hls personallLy has lmpressed me as he ls a so called 8enalssance
erson" - he sLarLed as a poeL, buL when hls book A2lA" was banned and lLs coples selzed, he
[olned a Chess Club, and a volleyball league. AfLer LhaL, he organlzed Lhe anLlnuclear movemenL
nevada-SemlpalaLlnsk," and laLer on he [olned unLSCC, eLc. And whaL ls Lyplcal of hlm, he
always succeeded ln whaL he sLarLed, such a LlLanlc person. CurrenLly, he has been exlled" Lo a
remoLe locaLlon where he can'L puL a spoke ln a wheel" (he can perfecLly do Lhls Lo prevenL
sLupld acLlons). And now he works ln arls as Lhe kazakhlsLanl Ambassador ln unLSCC. Pe ls
flnallzlng a large eLymologlcal dlcLlonary LlLled 1001 wotJs and he ls noL allowed Lo do someLhlng
here. And unforLunaLely many kazakh people, parLlcularly Lhe young generaLlon, abuse hlm ln
every way, because he ls also supposed Lo be a WesLern AgenL." 8uL lL ls Lhe oLher way around.
Pe promoLes Lhe ldea LhaL Lhe 1urklc and Slavlc culLures have more lnLerrelaLlons Lhan lL ls
usually belng accepLed. Pe was also on frlendly Lerms wlLh Cumllev, and furLhermore hls faLher
was a prlsoner ln one camp wlLh Cumllev. And he sald LhaL Lhere was noL a serlous confllcL
beLween Lhese culLures, (so, llke Cumllev sald) and pracLlcally lL was more of a compllmenLary
relaLlon Lhan anlmoslLy. And he argued LhaL by comparlng Lhe common plasLlc of Lhe Lwo
languages raLher Lhan looklng aL hlsLorlcal facLs (he ls blllngual and speaks boLh 8usslan and
kazakh perfecLly well). And lf you read A2lA, you mlghL see LhaL hls argumenL ls qulLe
convlnclng, LhaL ls why hls opponenLs sLlll cannoL sLand hlm. l [usL would llke Lo say LhaL
Sulelmenov he ls. llke, you know, lf we may choose a PumanlLy 8epresenLaLlve" from each
counLry, Sulelmenov can be Lhe PumanlLy 8epresenLaLlve" from kazakhsLan. Pe ls absoluLely a
60s person and l can'L lmaglne LhaL a slmllar person can appear nowadays, lL's lmposslble.
%
56-7-0/83 l teoJ tbe ottlcle by Oksooo 5botolovo ooJ Allo Cltlk
1J
oboot tbe kyzyl-1toktot
14

Ctoop. l llke tbe metomotpbose wblcb boppeoeJ wltb tbose ottlsts. 5o, tbey wete keeo oo
moJetolst teoJeocles lo tbe beqlooloq. AoJ lotet wbeo tbey wete Jeep lo lt ooJ evlJeotly tbey
teseotcbeJ ooJ lmltoteJ some fotm of 5optemotlsm ooJ otbet ottlstlc ptoctlces, tbey stotteJ to
qet loto tbe toots of lotetmototloo. AoJ lt ls foooy tbot ot tbe eoJ evetytbloq bos beeo bompeteJ
by sbomoolsm. wbeo l teoJ lt, l tbooqbt tbot ls o fotmol slJe of tbls ptocess, bot tbete ls olso
oootbet slJe. wbeo yoo stott to Jlscovet sometbloq, yoo mlqbt teocb o teol powet. lotet lt coo be
ttoosfotmeJ loto some stoqe oJoptotloo, wblcb slmpllfles yoot eotlte toot. 8ot l wos lotetesteJ lo
tbls momeot wbeo tbey teocbeJ tbe fooJomeotol ptloclples of eoetqy, powet, oototol elemeots,
soctol tbloqs, oftet Jlscovetloq tbe boslcs of polotloq ooJ composltloo. 1bot momeot ls lotetestloq
fot me.
%
./0/1+2-3 Well you know LhaL Lhe group broke up and now Lhere are only Lwo of Lhem who
conLlnue Lhelr arLlsLlc exlsLence: Sald ALabekov and Moldacul narymbeLov. 1hey are qulLe
dlfferenL even lf Lhey were from Lhe same group. And lf we examlne whaL Lhey do now, Lhey boLh
came back Lo modernlsm. 8oLh are dolng Lhls ln dlfferenL ways, buL boLh swlLched over Lo Lhls.
So, Lhey dlgesLed all Lhe essenLlal lnformaLlon, whlch you are Lalklng abouL, and now Lhe clrcle of
arLlfacLs came. LvldenLly, Lhere ls some clrcle: you have absorbed ln some lnformaLlon, and afLer
you galned access Lo naLure, Lhen you sLarL Lo creaLe Lhose arLlfacLs.

(connecLlon break)
%

13
Cksana ShaLalova and Alla Clrlk are kazakhsLanl arLlsLs and arL-crlLlcs.
14
kyzyl-1racLor ls an arL group from ShymkenL, kazakhsLan.
!"#$%$&'()'(*+',-.+#%+$/+')0'(*+'123'
A ulscossloo betweeo ollyo 5otokloo (Almoty) ooJ uloo ujopotov (8lsbkek)
'


!""#$%&'%

>%

!!%
%
?6#"@%-A@$0%@B$%'
2C
%D,0E,F%G$8/*#@+/2H%(;IJ:I(JK%
%
./0/1+2-3 We have dlscussed dlfferenL LransformaLlons and formal momenLs, leL's come back Lo
Lhe message of Lhe 60s, Lo Lhe acLuallLy of LhaL Llme for us.
llrsL of all, we should say LhaL we are now Lalklng [usL afLer Lhe revoluLlon ln kyrgyzsLan and all
Lhose Lerrlble evenLs. 1o be honesL, l LhoughL durlng Lhese evenLs LhaL we are dlscusslng whaL we
have afLer Lhe 60s, clnema, archlLecLure. And Lhen all Lhese flres, maraudlng, Lhe lnformaLlon
LhaL Lhe Museum was ransacked, and l LhoughL: Ck, whlle we were Lalklng everyLhlng was
burned up and desLroyed and we may be lefL wlLh noLhlng excepL Lalks aL Lhe end." WhaL do
you feel abouL LhaL? We are Lalklng abouL varlous messages, Lhelr acLuallLy, so, where ls Lhe
acLuallLy of Lhe 60s for 8lshkek now, when all LhaL horror ls golng on and nobody knows whaL wlll
happen (we [usL hope LhaL lL won'L Lurn lnLo a clvll war)? ls lL meanlngful Lo Lalk abouL Lhe 60s
and lLs acLuallLy?

56-7-0/83 wbeo l ovetvlew tbe ptess covetloq kytqyz eveots, especlolly tbe fotelqo ptess, lt seems
to me tbot tbete ls oot oo oJepoote pteseototloo of tbe sltootloo. A ooe-slJeJ vlew ooJ JlsJolo
ptevolls.

l lmoqloe tbe sltootloo llke tbe followloq. kytqyz people (os well os kozokb) JlJ oot expetleoce
tbelt owo stotebooJ llke tbe westeto moJel. lo tbls teqotJ, tbe ptocess of seotcb fot oo oJepoote
fotm of soclol otJet ls qoloq oo oow. uotloq tbe 5ovlet tlme tbe fotm boJ beeo ottlflclolly
lmposeJ.

AoJ wbeo tbe fotm of tbe soclol otJet ls oot oJepoote wltb tbe meotollty, ttoJltloos,
expectotloos, ooJ tbe cotteot teollty, tbeo soooet ot lotet tbete comes o tlme to poy tbe blll.
vetytbloq folls, ls beloq vloloteJ, bomoo llfe ls ooJet tbteot, ptopetty ls beloq teollocoteJ,
sometbloq olmost cbootlc ls qoloq oo. lo socb o sltootloo lt ls teolly botJ to Jeol wltb tbe ooooces.
AoJ tbls ls cleotly boppeoloq oo o lotqe scole. AoJ ooJet socb cltcomstooces tbe stotemeot of tbe
ott commoolty ls lmpottoot - bow to Jeol wltb oll tbot?

8ot lets tetoto to oot poestloo. wbot ls tbe messoqe of tbe 60s?

1be 60s qeoetotloo ttleJ to moJetolze tbe 5ovlet sttoctote, wblcb JlJot teflect tbe expooJeJ
oeeJs, ooJ tbe tevlveJ self-cooscloosoess of ootloos. AoJ tbots wby tbe expetleoce of tbe 60s ls
lotetestloq, wbeo some tepteseototlves of tbe ottlstlc commoolty, Jesplte beloq sometlmes lo
polte testtlcteJ cltcomstooces, wete ttyloq to lmplemeot teol lotqe scole ptoqtommeJ ptojects
wblcb JlJ oot ossome to be ooly styllstlcolly ooJ fotmolly lotetestloq ooJ fot beyooJ tbe potpose
of settloq op wltb llttle sttokes tbe coltotol eovltoomeot otoooJ tbemselves, tbey wete olso ttyloq
to lJeotlfy lo oo loJltect woy some esseotlol motlvotloos. uefloltely fot yestetJoy's oomoJs oll
tbose Jesttoctloos - ttoosltloo to clty llfe, otopeoolzeJ coltote, 5ovlet lJeoloqy, otbet soclol
telotloos - oevet come so eosy, om l tlqbt? 1bls JemooJeJ toJlcol cbooqes lo tbe complex llfe-
cooceptloo. AoJ tbot wos ooe of tbe molo lssoes lo ott ooJ coltote.

now ls lt posslble to tefotmot tbls oew llfe, oew telotloos, lo otJet to moke tbem os oJepoote os
tbe olJ ooes oseJ to be some tlme oqo? AoJ tbls sboolJ oot be oo o motqlool scole, bot to teocb o
Jesetvloq ploce lo tbe cootempototy wotlJ.

AoJ oow, oftet tbe 90s, oftet tbe cbooqe lo tbe soclol potoJlqm, sometbloq slmllot ls qoloq oo.
1bete ls some lotetool lotellectool fetmeototloo qoloq oo ooJ l tblok we bove polte tbe some tosk.
lo splte of beops of boslc ecooomlc ooJ polltlcol ptoblems, people of ott ooJ coltote ote lookloq
fot ptototypes of some oew soclol telotloos, eveo by cteotloo of ottlfocts ooJ spotlol fotms. we Jo
oot bove o bockqtoooJ we coolJ tetoto to. All oot bockqtoooJ ls eltbet mytboloqlzeJ, ot otcbolc.
we bove ooly ooe cbolce. tbe Jevelopmeot of o totolly oew moJel of telotloos. 1bls seotcb fot o
moJel, fot o oew tooollty, fot oew woys ls lotetestloq becoose lt moy qlve os tbe oestbetlcs of oew
soclol telotloos.
!"#$%$&'()'(*+',-.+#%+$/+')0'(*+'123'
A ulscossloo betweeo ollyo 5otokloo (Almoty) ooJ uloo ujopotov (8lsbkek)
'


!""#$%&'%

L%

%
./0/1+2-3 l almosL agree wlLh you, aparL from Lhe asserLlon LhaL Lhls ls only Lrue for kyrgyzsLan
buL noL yeL for oLher CenLral Aslan counLrles. l hold Lhe oplnlon LhaL CenLral Aslan arLlsLs are
unlLed lnLo one enclave. 1here ls no pollLlcal unlL, no counLry unlL, counLrles compeLe wlLh each
oLher, dlspuLe, buL for a long Llme arLlsLs of conLemporary arL have been perslsLenLly unlLlng
under Lhe new sLrange unlflcaLlon CenLral Asla." And many people unfamlllar wlLh Lhe conLexL,
even arL-professlonals are curlous: Why dldn'L you presenL yourself separaLely as kazakhsLan,
kyrgyzsLan eLc., why have you unlLed as a reglon?" And lL seems Lo me LhaL we managed Lo come
up wlLh some model here. And lL ls connecLed wlLh Lhe asplraLlon of Lhe generaLlon of Lhe 60s Lo
adopL Lhe global progresslve experlence when maklng Lhelr models. We have an lnformal, more
famlly-llke hlerarchy. 1he nelghbor's problems are percelved llke posslble domesLlc ones and
acLually llke a parL of our own problems. 1he achlevemenLs of one are percelved llke common
achlevemenLs. 8uL neverLheless, we share Lhe progresslve achlevemenLs of worldwlde culLure
and exlsL ln a local as well as ln global conLexLs. unforLunaLely lL may noL be Lrue LhaL our model
ls belng percelved ln Lhe rlghL way. And lL ls a blg danger LhaL any reformaLLlng wlll noL happen aL
all. And vlce versa, a sLralghL rollback Lo Lhe archalc pasL may happen. Some people say LhaL
CenLral Asla would have been someLhlng llke sheer AfghanlsLan lf Lhe CreaL CcLober 8evoluLlon
ln 1917 (whlch acLually broughL modernlsLs culLure here) dld noL break ouL. And lL ls Lerrlfylng
how acLual LhaL ls and how allen Lhe modernlsLs' models are Lo Lhe local menLallLy.


1ranslaLed from 8usslan by lrlna 8ousakova and ?ulla Soroklna



MelihCevdetAnday:AftertheSecondNew
OrhanKoak

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1

1

Iranafterit,cursingmyquestionsandmymind,andhappilyletmyselfgointhefrothing
water.Thefleshbeingbathedwasnotmybody,itwaswritinginscribedwithaninkpenon
a piece of wood; the indigo water was erasing the writing on the surface of the wood;
whatever was left behind was what was really mine and as I lifted my head out of the
waterIsawtheoldwritingwasdisappearinglinebyline.
...
As I was thinking that, all of a sudden I had the notion my love had ceased to exist.
Because I was erased as a thing and remained as a common noun, a generic name: A
humanbeing,aman...ifyoulike,wecanadd:Youngerandluckier.Yes,wasntitrareluck
tobealonewithagirllikethisinafar-offvillagehouse?Butifyouputsomeoneelseinmy
place,someonemoreorlessmyage,nothingwouldchange.Thenthegirlwouldbeloving
him,sleepingwithhim.ThefairytalewasceasingtoexistanderasingIalongwithitself.
OnceIwaserased,ofcourse,lovewouldhavenoplacetobeeither.
M.C.A.,Raziye
Itsthefaceofthesky,isourbrainsskin,
Birdsandcloudswanderinside.
M.C.A.,Tekneninlm[DeathoftheSkiff]

Emptysky.WhereverItiemyhorse.
M.C.A.,Gnete[IntheSun]

In Andays poetry there is something which prevents the reader from identifying with it,
somethingthatpusheshimback,leaveshimoutside.Wecanteasilymakeitours,cantdrawit
into the continuity of our experience. It does not become part of our inner time even when
recorded in memory, it doesnt open us to ourselves; among the familiar voices which make up
the self, it remains the voice of another, the voice of otherness. We cannot experience this
poetryasajourneyofself-discoverywhoseeachmomentisatonewithus.
Butotherpoetryis.Ithasbeensaidthatpoetryisamomentofself-knowledgeforthereader
as well. Poets who reflect on how the work they do is bound up with human life and everyday
speechhavetalkedofthatinstantilluminationpoetrycreatesinthosewhoreadit,thatfeelingof
recognition and recall. A feeling of finding again something very old: The saying of a truth we
never think of but seem always to have known, an obscure, fugitive experience won for speech
andself,amomentaryequationsetupbetweenthefamiliarandthealien:recall.
The poet of Tandk Dnya [Familiar World], however, speaks to us not from the realm of recall
butthelacunaofforgetting.Heproclaimsnotthecontinuityofexperiencebutitsdiscontinuity.
He takes up residence in the emptiness between us and the things we think we know. A
placeless, atopic poetry whose only place to be is in indeterminate images of nature belying all
feeling of ownership: Showing how easily words and images we suppose to be anchored in
shared experience or the continuity of an unshakable sense of self can, in the light of thought,
unravelandfadeaway:Thatimpatient,distillate,unenchantablelightwasbreakinguptheentire
mapofmyimagination(leUykusundanUyanrken(WakingfromaMid-dayNap)).
One feature of lyric poetry which has not changed much since Romanticism is the continuous
subject or self. The continuity seems to break down in Mallarm and Rimbaud (I is another),

1
ThistextwastranslatedfromtheoriginalpublishedinDefterno.14July-November,1990.WewouldliketothankOrhan
KoakandMetisPublishingforgivingusthepermissiontopublishitagain.
MelihCevdetAnday:AftertheSecondNew
OrhanKoak

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2

but is reconstructed in the Surrealists: The subject or consciousness expands to absorb object
andunconscious,itchangesshape,butisalwaysthesameself.Therehavebeensomeextreme
experiments in modernist lyric as well, problematizing not only the self but its contents the
experiencethatisitsfunction:IamthinkingofPaulCelan.Andaytooisanextremeexperiment:
Heoffersanewlyricatthepointwhereexperiencehasbecomeimpossible.Perhapsthelastlyric
poetry.
Whatever else, we are confronted with a difficulty, a blockage: A difficulty which prevents the
subject from identifying with his own experience, and the reader from identifying with the
subject in poetry. I have tried to come to terms with it before. But I went about things in the
wrongway,tryingtogoaroundtheobstacle,makethealienfamiliar,readdifficultyassomething
easy.Myattemptwasunfinished.Iwillnotcontinuewithithere;thisisafreshstart.Itaimsto
putforthAndaysspecificityinacomparisonwiththeSecondNew.
***
Therearecertainculturalphenomenanotsufficientlyunderstoodbecausetheyhavenotmetup
with the concepts proper to them. This is true of certain historical periods also: Because they
havenoboundingconcepts,itisnotevenclearwhethertheyconstituteaspecificperiodornot.
Theyremainblurred,indistinct,invisiblepiecesofliving.
Conceptsarethoughtsinstrumentsofterror;theyviolatethesweetobscurityofbeing:Theycut,
trim,compressandcondense,seekingtogiveitaclarityitdoesnotreallypossess.Butinorderto
speakofwhatisbeyondboundaries,wemusthaveboundariestobeginwith;weneedconcepts
inordertoknowwhatcannotbeconceptualized.
Muchhasbeensaidaboutpost-1950Turkishmodernism.Butthefoundationalconceptcapturing
what was new about it has rarely been uttered. (The writings of smet zel are an important
exception in this regard. I will quote passages from those pioneering texts below in this essay.)
Concepts are where thoughts and words conjoin, where thought touches language and clots,
solidifies.ThisconjunctionwasnotgenerallyrealizedinthedebatesoverSecondNewpoetryand
the modernist short story in Turkey: Those who employed the concept itself (its philosophical
content)didnotlookforatermappropriatetoit;andthosewhoemployedthetermfeltnoneed
toconceptualizeit.Themissingtermisexperience[yaant].Wecanunderstandthenewnessof
thenewliteratureonlywiththehelpofthisconcept.
2

Thepre-historyofaconcept
Yaant and deneyim these two words, often used interchangeably to mean experience, are
terms which signaled a concept quite new to Turkish culture. Until recently, up until the 1950s,
Turks did not have experience; they had life as flux [hayat] or a predestined term [mr]. And
they had knowledge of life gained from observation [tecrbe]. The important date is 1959. The
wordyaantdidnotappearinthethirdeditionoftheoldTurkishLanguageCommitteesTurkish
Dictionary published in that year. Deneyim was defined as An experiment performed for a
specificpurposeinconformitywithspecificmethodsandrules.Thesamedictionarydefinedthe
oldertecrbe,whichhasinrecentyearsbeguntogivewaytodeneyiminpersonnelwantads,as.
1. Trial, test. 2. Observation of convention [grg]. 3. physics. Experiment. There is also the
verbtolive[yaamak],whichhasanapparentlyricherfieldofmeaning:
1. To be alive: Is your grandfather living? 2. To exist: Fish live in water. 3. To reside, stay:
Toliveinavillage,toliveinacity.4.Tosubsiston:Itisnteasytoliveonthisincome.5.To
abide in a certain condition: To live as a bachelor. To live alone. To live in a crowd. 6.
metaphorical. To continue: His memory will live on. 7. metaphorical. To have a pleasant

2
smetzelalsomadeexperience[yaantordeneyim]acentralconceptinhiswritingsonmodernpoetry.Inapiecefirst
publishedin YazkoEdebiyatin1982,hewrote:Modernpoetrywasbornnotasaliterarygenrebutasanexperience.
Reprinted in smet zel, iir Okuma Klavuzu [Guide to Reading Poetry] (Istanbul 1989), p. 88. I would like to point out
here that to employ certain explanatory concepts while avoiding taking responsibility for them, and especially with an
anti-intellectualstance,aszeldidinthatpiece,isfrivolousatleast.
MelihCevdetAnday:AftertheSecondNew
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time:Theyliveontheislands,ontheBosphorus.8.Tobeingoodspirits:Ifthisworksout,
wellliveitup.
No,inthisdictionarywecannotfindthebasicelementsofthemeaningthewordyaantbegan
to acquire in this country during the 1960s. Firstly, the aspect of experience which comes from
the past and opens out from the present onto the future, into the new, into the unknown; its
affinityforencounterswithnihility.
Secondly, the subjective dimension of experience: The individual subjects encounters with
objects, the data of life, and his interpretation, transformation, and distortion of these as he
carries them over into his private recording system, writing them into his memory, his self.
Thirdly,althoughexperiencecomesfromthepastandopensouttothefuture,itispredisposed
to value, even exalt, the now: The here and now gathers past and future into itself, condensing
them into a single instant. When these elements are thought of in combination, there emerges
another dimension of experience the dictionary does not clarify: The apparent continuity of
subjective experience the tendency of the subject to maintain the same self throughout all its
encounters; its ability to penetrate everything and draw all into itself. Thus, in philosophical
terms,wecanthinkofexperienceasasubject-objectunity.
3

Butwearestillin1959.Intheofficialdictionary,therealmofexperienceisunderoccupationby
life as flux [hayat], as an allotted term [mr], as observation of convention [grg], and by
scientificexperiment[bilimseldeney].
Life as hayat is an exceedingly general concept, it is everything, it is what goes on despite
everything. Although it signifies a kind of continuity, it is one of a kind different from the
subjective continuity of experience: It does not include the new, the not yet, the unknown. The
unknown of experience always brings with it an emptiness, a possibility of annihilation or
inabilitytoescapenihility;thatiswhyexperiencehurlspassionatelytowardtheobject,inwant,
and embraces the data of life, because of the feeling of loss which always accompanies it, the
fear of a return to nothingness. Hayat does not have that fear because hayat is always there:
WhenIceasetobe,itwillstillbethere.Itisnotarisk,itisasupport.Itisnotspiritual,norcan
itbeconsideredphysical:Itisorganic.Moreprecisely,itisthemetaphorofanorganism.Anditis
notindividual,itisgeneral,public.NazmHikmetmostrepresentsitinourliterarymodern.Allof
Nazms middle-period poems are dominated by the hayat metaphor. (Were the young poets
who discovered Nazm after 1960 aware that as they made an absolute of hayat and put it
forward as an alternative to experience, turning it into a hypothesis, they actually reduced it
againtoanexperience,orexperiment,acontentionwhichmustcontinuallybeproven?Hayatis
not the rival of experience but its last resort. Their absolutism deprived the hayat concept in
Nazm of its self-confidence. What was left to it? A continual struggle to be sure of itself: One
experienceamongmanypossibleothers.)
mr:LiveasanallottedtermisYahyaKemalsterritory.
4
Andthatofallaturcasong.Aconcept
olderthanhayat,moreclassicbecausemoreboundedandlocal.mrisgrantedtothesubject;

3
The unity of being idea is doubtless nothing new; more precisely, it is the oldest idea. It plays a central role in all the
great religions, and particularly in Sufism and Western mysticisms. But the unity of being (vahdet-i vct) is for these
traditional systems ontologically prior and fundamental; partition is either illusory or ex post facto. Modern thought
regardstheunityofmanandnature,ofthinkingandthethingthought,notasapointofdeparturebutaresult.Unityis
attheendoftheroadcalledexperience,theendofaroadthatcanalwaysbewipedaway;inmodernthoughtunityis
infactnottheendofthelinebutastopalongthewaymakingonesensethattheroadtraveledisimportant.Erfahrung,
theGermanwordforexperience,isderivedfromtherootfahre,meaningroad,andithastheassociationoftravelas
well.InThePhenomenologyofSpirit,Hegelusedthetermtomeanthesubjectsencounterwiththeobject,thesubjects
destruction of the objects autonomous being and internalization of it, the acquisition of the object for itself. In Hegel
experienceisconnectedwiththesubjectsinsufficiency,emptiness,itsbeingwithoutanobject;thesubjectisadesire:An
emptinesswaitingtobefilled.
Experience as a becoming, flux or continuity ensuring the subject-object encounter comes to the fore in the early
twentieth century in the philosophy of life (lebensphilosophie, vitalisme) in Bergson, in Dilthey, and most of all in
LuckacssteacherSimmel.InHistoryandClassConsciousnessLukacstriedtointerpretthehistoricalprocessasasubject-
objectdialectic.Hereweshouldpointoutthetensionbetweenthetwoelementsofthisconceptofexperience(fluxand
continuityontheonehand,andthefullnessofasingleinstantoutsideoffluxontheother).
4
So much so that the meticulous poet sometimes could not stop himself from using the word twice in consecutive
verses:
MelihCevdetAnday:AftertheSecondNew
OrhanKoak

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thesubjectbearsittrustingin(orrebellingagainst)God.Itexcludestheillusionofnever-ending
life.Butwithinitsallottedterm,itseekstoenjoylifetothefull,valuingwhatlifehastooffer.Itis
not impossible for mr to open out to experience. The likelihood that it will increases to the
degreethatmrdistancesitselffrommindlesshedonism,exitsfromtherealmofpleasantries
and moves closer to stoicism, to endurance in trial, to tragedyone of the oldest formal
expressions of experience. The term comfort-loving, used of old to shame people when they
behavedselfishly,demonstratesthetensionwithinmrcultureinthisregard.AndYahyaKemal
showed,inhiswritingsandsomeofhispoetrywherehespokeofthepleasuresofpain,thatan
education in solitude can open up a realm of experience even at a crowded dinner party.
5
For
mr to make room for experience depends upon its coming face-to-face with emptiness. This
canarisefromthefearofdeathwhichnailsapersontothepresentmoment,andcanappearin
the form of the sudden expansion and joy in living which comes of escaping a heavy burden. If
Cahit Stk and Ziya Osman Saba exemplified the first, Orhan Veli and the Strange movement
werespokesmenforthesecond.Inbothcases mr,thelifeoftheindividual,hasacquiredthe
tendency to move away from its own natural, traditional, cultural fabric and toward
independence.
Grg, which the dictionary gave as one definition of tecrbe, is the most alien to experience
of these concepts. Whether we take grg as the etiquette of social intercourse or the
accumulation of experimentation which is passed down, it is always already complete and
indicates a totality of knowledge given to the subject from outside. Grg is not felt when it is
there,itisonlynoticedwhenitislackingorinexcess.Becauseitisnotamatterofexperienceor
experiment: a person who tries to turn grg into an experience, to experiment with it or add
newrulestoit,onlyshowsthathelacksit.Butviolationofgoodmanners,thecallownesswhich
all of a sudden tears the membrane of traditional or public manners which veil experience,
bringing raw experiment out into the open, is one of the sources of experience.
6
The
embarrassmentofaglassknockedover,asocialblundercommitted,canbeamomentwhenthe
reversal of thought upon itselfthe famous Hegelian selfconsciousnessis born. The
transition to experience begins with selfconsciousness. Someone elses grg becomes the
contentofexperienceforapersonwhoadmiresordisdainshim.TanpnarsadmirationofYahya
Kemal, for example, is experience because Tanpnar knewthat he would never be able to write
likehisteacher,neverbeabletobelikehim:Thedistanceinbetweenisanemptinessarousing
andnourishingselfconsciousness.
It may seem strange, but of its family of concepts the closest to experience is scientific
experiment, rejected or kept at a distance by all the philosophical and art movements which
undertook to speak for it (Romanticism, Symbolism after Baudelaire, Impressionism,
Expressionism, Anarchism, Existentialism). In experience too, there is a timidity, an
indecisiveness reminiscent of the trial-and-error, groping-in-the-dark practice which lies at the
rootofscientificexperiment.Likeexperience,scientificexperimententersintotherealmofthe
unknown,acquiresterritorythere,securesmoreinformation,andtransformsnihilityintobeing.
Both have one foot in emptiness, and both are nourished by a division between subject and
object (life) experiment with its cold neutrality situating the issue beyond the scientists
subjectivity,emotionandwill;experiencewithitsconstantfearoflosingtheobjectandreturning
to the emptiness from which it came. But the resemblance ends there. In scientific experiment
thethesistobetestedisknownfromthestart,itisastatementformulatedoutsidethebounds

Enjoymyheartsthronelongasmyallottedtermoflifelasts!
Merelytoloveaneighborhoodisworthonesallottedterm.
5
Weareanationthathasseenmuchandfeltmuch;ouroldpoetryhasthelimitlesspleasuresofjoy,love,longingand
sadness. Only the pleasures of pain are lacking; Turkish taste is yet a stranger to that great delight. ... The pleasure of
pain;itcanbesaidthatthisleafinthebookofpoetryissuchthatallelseisemptytalkandamusement!...Eachkindof
feelinggivesrisetoakindofpoetry,butifthereisadelightmorepowerfulthanpoetry,adelightnearlylikereligion,itis
thepleasureofpain.YahyaKemal,EdebiyataDair[RegardingLiterature](Istanbul1989),pp.156-158.
6
InTurgutUyarspoetrythecallowandtheawkwardconjoinwitherror,alienation,incongruityandmadnesstobecome
afecundsourceofexperience:

Youarecallow,dontyouknowtheyllcallyoumadoneday.
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of experiment; experience does not know its own correct result beforehand, it constructs that
within its experiment. The subject-object division will abide as long science does, it is the
condition of scientific advancement. But experience is itself the transcending for a moment of
thatdivision,aseemingtranscendencewithinthedimensionsofamomentwhichcanslideinto
theillusionofinfinity.
None of the terms in the dictionary capture it. Until the late fifties, experience had no place in
Turkishcultureneitherthewordnortheconcept.
It is not that this lack wasnt felt by culture itself. While Yahya Kemal spoke of the new writers
expansive self and their desire to be original (in the 1930s), he also complained that the
imaginativenessoftheoldliteraturewaslacking.
7
AndAbdlhakinasihaditinhisnovelFahim
Bey that the Ottoman approached every subject with a pleasantry-style frivolousness and
superficiality.Asonemightexpect,itwasTanpnarwhoputtheprobleminamoregeneralframe
ofdiscussion;in1936hetookupthefollowingquestion:
Almost all of the problems occupying our newspapers and our lives have come into the
Turkish novel... The Turkish novel is concerned with life as we live it every day.
Nevertheless,itishardlypossiblenottofindthatnoveloftenartificial,nottorailagainst
its lifelessness, or even to establish a relationship between it and reality... Our lives are
straitened,complex.Verywell,butintheendthoselivesdoexist,andwelive,love,hate,
suffer, die. Is that not enough for a novelist? Where a human being suffers, there is
everythingtobesaid...Yetdespitethat,itdoesnothappen;why?
The answer to the question is that Turkish has not yet recognized the thing called tecrbe,
whichbeginswiththeenquiringsearchpropertotheindividual.
8
Inoneofhislastwritings,The
Essential Differences Observed between East and West, an article published in Cumhuriyet in
1960,Tanpnarputforthasimilarthought:

Inthefamouselegyhewrotemourningthesovereignsdeath,apoetwhoadmiredCrazy
Peter [Peter the Great] praised him, saying, You brought to us the thing called personal
tecrbe... The difference between East and West is this, this personally living what one
does,themodalityoftherebytakingupresidence,fullyandcompletely,inreality.
OnecanseethatinthislastarticleTanpnarwasnolongerreferringtoalackoftheindividuals
enquiring search or personal tecrbe in Turkish literature as a contemporary problem but
merelycontrastingEasternandWesternideas.Bythetimewearriveattheautumnof1960
something has changed. Let us return to the documents: We will see that in the new edition of
the Turkish Language Committee Dictionary, the noun yaant has been accepted and a ninth
entry added to the eight formerly devoted to the verb to live: To be as if living a certain
condition,toidentifywith,tosense,tofeelacertaincondition.
Subjectivitys share has become explicit. The internalization (identification with, sensing) of the
lived event is mentioned. Something has changed, and this change has opened the way for the
eightknowndefinitionsoftolivetobegininteractandgivebirthtoaninth.
9

7
See Yahya Kemal, Mektuplar ve Makaleler [Letters and Articles] (Istanbul 1977), p. 33, and Edebiyata Dair [Regarding
Literature],p.306.
8
A.H.Tanpnar,EdebiyatzerineMakaleler[ArticlesonLiterature](Istanbul1969).
9
In the terms of the old dictionary: By that time a significant number of people were no longer staying in villages but
residingincities.Thenumberofunmarried,divorced,andotherpeopleleftaloneinthecrowdhadincreased.Someof
them had work and they lived; for others, living on that income became even more difficult. While some lived on the
IslandsandtheBosphorus,otherswatchedthem,yetthisstateofaffairsdidnotdecreasetheirappetiteforlivingbuton
thecontrary,increasedit.(OrhanVeli:Livingisnoteasy,brother/Neitherisdying/Itsnoeasythingtoleavethisworld.)
More importantly, in spite of all the busts, statues, and monuments that were made [of Ataturk], His memory was
weakeningastimewenton,andadeclineintheproductionofpoetryaboutHimwasobserved.Yes,itisalsotruethat
the individual initiative developing from 1950 on opened the way for a personal interest. On the other hand, the
overthrowofDemokratPartypoweron27May1960didnotputthebrakesonthatindividualinitiative(onthecontrary,
onthecontrary),butdid,bythrustingDemokrathighsocietyintothebackground,strikequiteaheavyblowagainstthe
flabby, hedonistic interpretation of ones allotted term of life [mr]. As for etiquette (grg), faced with Menderess
expropriationofrealestateandtherisingpricesofbuildinglots,itturnedoveritsdwellingtothecontractorinexchange
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ThemodernismoftheSecondNew
smet zel has said that Turkish poetry made its last modern advance in 1954-1959. The
literatureofexperienceliteratureasexperiencewhichinpoetrywasgiventhenameSecond
Newbutmadeitsfirstentranceinprose,wasborninthoseyears:Itwasnotanewmovement,
itwasthenewliteratureitself.
10

OnecouldsaythatIexaggerate:Itcanbeassertedthatproseacquiredexperienceinthe1930s
withSaitFaik,thatthenewarrivedinpoetrywithNazmHikmetorFazlHsn,andmodernism
with the Strange movement. Its all true. Strange created a kind of degree zero with its
destructivework,openingthefieldwhereliteraturecouldmeetupwithrawexperiment.Itwas
FazlHsnDalarcawhobroughttoTurkishthatshiverwhichhasbeentheinfalliblemarkofthe
new since Edgar Allen Poe. True. In prose, one could mention Sabahattin Ali, even Reat Nuri
(Miskinler Tekkesi [Paupers Cloister]], and in poetry Dranas, Asaf Halet, and Necip Fazl as well.
TheSecondNewdifferenceishere:Ittookexperienceasthesoleauthority;itriskedbeingled
somewhereitdidnotknowbeforehand
.11

This posture may explain certain things the Second New poets (and modernist short story
writers) shared. Their language was not transparent. But that does not mean simply that the
referentofpoetryisdistanced,thatwhatitissayingcannotbemadeout(thatwastherebefore).
What was new was that the language gained an almost physical opacity, it was leavened, it
acquired a new consistency. This opacity was new, it was not a consistency come of what
traditionstockpiles(notof grg,notofrhetoricalconceits);thispoetryaroseonthe emptylot
createdbyStrangeandbytheRepublicitself,whichhaderaseditsownpast;ithadnobefore,it
wouldcreateitsownroots,itsownpre-history.Thenewopacityhadtodowithhowthepoetry
opened out to experience. The Second New was led into experience as one is led into sin,
violatingboundaries,withgleeandshame.
12

foraflat,withdrewintodark,ill-keptrooms,andbegantowaitforthe1980s,whenitwouldemergeagainintodaylight
undertheauspicesofthetourismandcultureindustry.Hayatwenton,asitusuallydoes.Ifweaddtothisthefactthat
the city had been liberated from its garrison role but not yet transformed into a megalopolis, and that communications
hadincreasedbuttheworldnotyetcapturedanddrownedbyitsownmirrorimage(TV),wewillbetterunderstandhow
practicableagroundforexperience[yaant]Turkeywasinthe1950sand60s.
10
I have said that 1959 was an important date. We see that it was then, during the years 1958-1960, that modernist
narrativeandSecondNewPoetryemergedinbookform:YusufAtlgan,AylakAdam[TheIdler](1959);OnatKutlar,shak
(1959);TahsinYcel,Dlerinlm[TheDeathofDreams](1958)andMutfakkmaz[NoExitKitchen](1960);Vsat
O. Bener, Yaamasz [Unliving] (1957); Adnan zyalner, Panayr [Street Fair] (1960); Leyla Erbil, Halla [Hallaj] (1961),
Turgut Uyar, Dnyann En Gzel Arabistan [The Most Beautiful Arabia in the World] (1959); lk Tamer, Souk Otlarn
Altnda [Under the Cold Weeds] (1959); Cemal Sreya, vercinka (1958); Ece Ayhan, Knar Hanmn Denizleri [Knar
Hanms Oceans] (1959); Edip Cansever, Umutsuzlar Park [The Park of the Despairing] (1958), Petrol (1959), Nerde
Antigone [Where, Antigone](1961); lhan Berk, Galile Denizi [The Sea of Galilee] (1958) and ivi Yazs [What the Nail
Wrote](1959).Onemayspeakofanexplosion.
11
The phrase acceptance of experience as the sole authority is Georges Batailles. While coming to terms with
Christianity, traditional mysticisms and Hegel in Inner Experience, Bataille put forward a concept of experience which
formed a fracturing point in the continuity of Western thought and art. He who already knows cannot go beyond a
knownhorizon....thisexperiencebornofnon-knowledge...isnotbeyondexpressiononedoesntbetrayitifonespeaks
ofitbutitstealsfromthemindtheanswersitstillhadtothequestionsofknowledge.Experiencerevealsnothingand
cannot found belief nor set out from it. ... The principle of inner experience cannot arise from a dogma (a moral
attitude), or from science (knowledge can neither be its goal nor its origin), nor can it take its principle from enriching
spiritual states (such a thing would be an experimental, aesthetic attitude); inner experience has no goal but itself.
Openingmyselftoinnerexperience,Ihaveplacedinitallvalueandauthority.HenceforthIcanhavenoothervalue,no
otherauthority....Icallexperienceavoyagetotheendofthepossibleofman.InnerExperience(NewYork1988),pp.3-
4,7.
12
TheboundaryviolationandfeelingofopacitywhichitcreatescanbeseeninCemalSreya,EceAyhan,butmostof
all in Turgut Uyars Dnyann En Gzel Arabistan [The Most Beautiful Arabia in the world] and Ttnler Islak [The
TobaccoisWet];thefollowingpassageisfromthesecondbook:
Thiswasadarkthing!..Thiswasadarkthing!..Thiswasadarkthing!..Howgooditwas!..Thatsomething
touchedmysensitivityfordarkformsandwetpheasants.
Theydcastawetrope,aroundmyneck,wet,Idbedisgusted.Howgooditwas!Asolitude-lesswetrope,its
watermademewet.Thisemptinesstimeandagainwoman,timeandagainman.Whereawetcathidingundersoiled,
wetbedswasslowly,gradually,growingfuzz.Thiswasadarkthing.Howgooditwas!Thatawetwomanmademyflesh
happy.Thiswasadarkthing.Lived!
Thiswasadarkthing!..Howgooditwas!..
Objectsblurmysleep.Old,sack,sack,oldandthickthroughandthrough,wet...
...
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Wecancomparepost-1950poetrywithStrangeinthisregard.IntheSecondNew,mostofallin
Turgut Uyar and Cemal Sreya, shame acquires an indicative value, it becomes a motif.
13

Whereas in Strange, in an Orhan Veli or a Celal Slay, there is no shame, there is anger and
ridicule.WhiletheStrangepoetswereintentionallyoutrageous(CemalSreya),theybypassed
shame for irony, which is to say they proceeded to the realm of mind. Anger and irony are
dispositions of mind, they break down the unity of experience, they separate subject from
object. (We do not generally get angry at ourselves, and we generally ridicule others; a certain
distance is preserved.) But shame, in the existential meaning of the term, is an experience; a
stickyfeeling
14
inwhichbodyandsoul,orsubjectandobject,merge,andtherearealmostalways
physicalconsequences.(Wefeelshameatourownbehavior,weareashamedofouremotions,
we blush.) Anger and ridicule are venting behaviors: They allow us to immediately externalize
andimposeuponotherstheimpulsesoremotionswecannotholdwithinourselves.Theydisown
privacy, inner experience. But shame is a fullness, an internal experiment: The blushing subject
feels, all of a sudden, filled by a disgrace which belongs only to him, rising from within himself.
TheopacityofSecondNewpoetryhastodowiththatfullnessthatinternalizedbehavior.
In the old literature the poet felt rage, awe, he even had thoughts; then he had dreams and
fantasiestoo,hewasamazedandfeltsuddenjoy;onthewaytothenewhecametoknowwhat
it was to feel improvised and arbitrary, he found things odd (Andays Strange period). But none
ofthisledhimtobreakawayfrompublicdiction,itdidntmakehimgrowwild,itdidntlandhim
atanydistancefromarelativelytransparentlanguageofcultureandcommunication.Becausehe
didnt own his behavior as an internal experiment, as a subjective experience: Between the
things he lived and himself there were signs and codes belonging to the public (to society,
religion, state, culture); it was those codes which gave meaning to his behavior, not he himself;
and the horizon of meaning of words was drawn by them too. For that reason meaning was
outside, not within; it was not something he created, it was given beforehand; it was not
immanent, it was transcendent: In order to exist, it was in need of the approval of an authority
transcending the subject and prior to him.
15
And that approval was always there, because the
insides of words were always being filled by the appropriate approval authority. And since
everyonelivedinasharedworldofmeaning,thelanguageoftheoldpoetrywastransparent(its
conceits were immediately translatable); it was closed to any indecision born of division, any
vagary or opacity come of a difficulty in assigning meaning to a thing: The meaning given from

Objectsblurmysleep.O.b.j.e.c.t.s!...Myhandsindeepwaterswasadarkthing.Howgooditwas!..What
botheredmewaslike...brokenscalesandgrainsfromwetwarehouses.
Whatwelaydowndidnothavethetasteofdeath.Anyfrills,childlessfrillsmaybe,shameoureverythingin
themorning.
("IslaktTtnlerdeSlnler[PheasantswereWetintheTobacco])
13
CemalSreya'sbook,BenipSonraDourBeni[KissMeThenGiveBirthtoMe],appearstobeentirelydevotedtoa
happyshame.Theselinesarefromthebook:
Becausejustyesterdayyourshamepulledatyoufromallsides
Youwantedasafeharborformypoetry
("BirKentinDardanGrn"[ViewofaCityfromOutside])
Now
itsshamethatsforminggrains
inblondechildrenssheaves

Mymotherdiedwhenshewassmall
kissme,thengivebirthtome.
("BenipSonraDourBeni"[KissMeThenGiveBirthtoMe])
14
AdairybyMuzafferBuyrukuwaspublishedinanoldissueofthejournalPapirsIcannotfindnow.ThereBuyruku
wrotethatBilgeKarasupraisedoneofhisstoriesthus:"Thereissomethingstickyinyourstory,somethingthatstickstoa
person.Thatiswhatmakesiteffective."
That stickiness is an affect not to be found in the old literature, under the rule of bodiless mind and readymade
formasitwas,andonenotvaluedbytheoldaesthetic.Itismeaningfulthatitwasusedasameasureofvaluebyoneof
thefoundersofthemodernistshortstory.
15
AlthoughEdipCanseverobjectedtothecharacterizationoftheSecondNewasadistinctmovement,hespokeforhis
generation in the answers he gave in a 1960 interview for the journal Yeditepe: Or it was we who first recognized our
ownvalue,arrivingataconsciousnessofit.GlDnyorAvucumda[TheRoseisTurninginmyPalm](Istanbul1987),p.
48.
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outside and comprising all withered the aloneness of words, their materiality, their physical,
sensory quality, from the start. Sound, here, could not be anything more than an ornament of
meaning. For the Second New, the clouding of language which came with the separation of the
individual from the whole was experience itself: As the subject slid into naked experience
withoutbeginning,thetiesthatboundittogetherunraveledalso;asitgropedfortheworldand
itsowninterioritybymeansofalanguagewhosemeaningwasnotimmediatelyclear,itblurred
itsspeechandperceivedthemomentofcontactwithnakedexperienceasoneofsynesthesia.It
took on its own subjectivity, its interior fullness, sometimes as a miracle and sometimes as a
curse.
16

The Strangers and those before them spoke a familiar language in a familiar environment. For
them,thegoalofpoetrywasquiteclear:Tocreatesomethingbeautiful;todefendapoliticalor
socialproposition;toestablishintimacywithatranscendentbeing,tobecomeitsmanifestation
orsymbol;tosingtherefrainofuniversal,literarythemessuchaslove,lonelinessordeath...All
were aims given to poetry from outside; all were conventions. One could perhaps say that the
Strangers goal was relatively immanent, in that it came from within poetry itself: to ridicule
the old poetry, to destroy it. But this was a very clear and obvious goal; the boundedness, the
determinednatureofthethingStrangesoughttodestroyledtoabounded,tooobviouspoetry.
The Second New first took up residence in the realm of not-knowing, it took its energy from
there.Itknewthemeaningsofthewordsitused,knewthattheyhadmeanings,ofcourse;butit
did not know where those words and meanings might lead or how far they could be taken.
17
It
sought to find that out in poetry, by means of poetry itself. And that way of going about things
wouldtransformthestructureandfabricofpoetryaswell.
After 1950, alistening voicewasheardinpoetry:Thepoetseemedtobelisteningtothewords
heused.(NotjustinlhanBerklhanBerkwhoturnedwordsoverandoverwiththeinnocence
ofachild,tryingtounderstandthembutinallthepoetsoftheSecondNew.)Anemptiness,a
silence, a kind of electrical fieldhas formed around words, created by that attention, that
listening. Every poet listens to words, that is his profession. The Second New poets listened to
the voice of words as if it were the voice of their own being. Their existence was like a new
continent: They were feeling it out for the first time, researching into it. They did not expect
poetry to acquire a meaning right away, to slip comfortably into a pattern of thought. As they

16
Whenviewedfromthisvantagepoint,somelinesofSecondNewpoetrygainaprogrammaticvalue:
ItsanunsayableswordIbeargirdedatmywaist,melancholy.
(EceAyhan,"Sword"[Kl])
Wewerelikeconcealedplantscompletinglongsummernightsstillnesswiththeswayingofbroadleaves....
ItwasthenIrealizedsweetthingsputinmynature,byGod,hadbeenthereallalong,andwouldgoonbeing
thereforalongtimetocome.
(TurgutUyar,"AkaburgazlYekta'nnMahkemeKararnAldndaSylediiMezmurdur"[ThePsalmAkaburgazlYekta
MadeUpWhenHeReceivedtheCourtsDecision])
Ivetrieditalot,whenthecarnationsstemtoucheswater
Itslikesomeoneisshotinsideme
Andtheresaresurrectioncarvedinjade
Thedoorbellringseverymorning
Iopenit:Imjune
Maybeitsthetendencytolive,livewithoutduration.
(EdipCansaver,"BirYititenSonra"[AfteraLoss])
17
Turgur Uyar: "The minstrel doesnt know how he will write, its afterwards that he sees how he has written. ... And
usuallyhe,likeanyreader,isfacedbyapoemhebelievesin,butcanonlygraspsomesidesof." Sonsuz ve br [The
InfiniteanditsOther](Istanbul1986),p.145.
This is from his poem "ki Dalga Kat Arasnda Yapacan aran Akaburgazl Yektann Syledii Mezmurdur" [The
PsalmAkaburgazlYektaMadeUpNotKnowingWhattoDoBetweenTwoTiersofaWave]:
That scorching bleak trouble, howling fusions of scattered secret impressions you try but cant exhaust that
pushyouplacesyoudontknow...

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felt words out they tried to understand where the voice was coming from, which experience it
came from and what kind of experience it could open up, what corpse it might resurrect. And
they did it in the poetry, not before writing it: Experience was not something that happened
outside of poetry, that was completed there, prettied up and then transferred into poetry.
Poetry,asthesearchingoutofameaningthatdidnotexistbefore,wasexperienceitself.
18
Itwas
alivingthing:Itsought and was sought for, it listened, waited. It was experience: An emptiness
beingfilled,wantingtobefilled.
The autonomizing of the image, which Cemal Sreya put forward while comparing the order of
imagery in Nazm Hikmet and the Second New, is based in this also. The now of experience
acquired an importance independent of past and future, it exploded as a condensed image
gathering past and future into itself: Tearing for an instant the linear logic of narrative, of
storytelling.
19

Butitcantbesaidthatthisbrokedowntheunity,thecontinuity,ofsubjectiveexperience.Inthe
Second New metaphor ceased for the first time to be a conceit with an obvious aim and
bounded function (likening the beloved to a sultan, concrete being to abstract, transcendent
being, etc.) and became a real economy of transformation: Desire, physical or psychic pain,
shame and exuberance, mourning and joy, the senses of sight, hearing and touch, were
ceaselessly transformed one into the other within the frame of one poem or from poem to
poem.(CemalSreyya:TheysayMuhammedtoldustogivegifts/Thinkofhowsexualagiftcan
be / If you want to see the unity of the five senses / Bring your dagger over here and press it
slowlyintome.
20

18
smetzelwroteinhisimportantbookiirOkumaKlavuzunda[GuidetoReadingPoetry]:"theimportanceofpoetryis
thatitconstitutesanexperience...inthissensepoetryisconcretenessitself."Idem,p.54.
19
Again smet zel: "The fruit of reading poetry is gathered only in between the unknown old and the not-yet-known
new.Onlywiththeextraordinaryvividnessofthenow,thefreshnessandexcitementofthetastedmomentoflifeinall
itsconcreteness,isthereadingofpoetryontherighttrack....Therichnessofthenowthatispoetryexistswithonearm
stretched back (to the depths of the lived) and the other forward (for clues to the unknown). ... When imagination
reachesuswefeelboththeheatofamomentwehavelivedandthecoolnessofanencounterwithsomethingdifferent.
The first section of Edip Cansever's poem "Ha Yanp Snd, Ha Yanp Snmedi Bir Ate Bcei" [A Firefly Flashed or
DidntFlash]bringsoutthetenseunitybetweentheideasmomentandway,process:

Ihitthesouththen
Withanancientseafloorengineer
Fromoutofanowinnihility
Intoanowrunningthroughmyveins
Iflowedascourtyardsandbalconiesexplodedfromeruptingtumuli
I.Onmyfacethatancientsignofthefleuer-de-lis,ancient
Myandhisandwhoseafternoon
Ihitthesouth
Thatcoversitselfupwithwordsnottalkedof.

20
Andmaybeweshouldhavethoughtoftheselineshere,alsoCemalSreyas:

Minibus-bruisedbluestreets
Wherewheatisexchangedformoney
Moneyisexchangedforbread
Breadisexchangedfortobacco
Tobaccoisexchangedforpain
Andpainisfinallyexchangedfornothing.
Onthosestreets.
Watchesshowrain.
Today,thislittletuesday
Istanbulseverythingislacking;otherthanitshills,
OnlyGalata
Galata
Isfeedingtothesealittlebylittle
Intheformofaharmonica
Thatinexhaustiblepassionforrusting
Itnourishesinthebasementsofthenight

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ThisiswhatIvewantedtoexplainallthroughthissection:Thethingwhichensuredtheunityof
experience in the Second New, ensured the union of subject and object, which kept the
moments of experience from breaking apart completely and the poetry from collapsing into a
kind of schizo-language, was the continuity of the I. The subject maintained itself throughout
all metamorphoses, filling, emptying, filling. This is better expressed by the final lines of one of
Edip Cansevers poems recording his experiments in loss of consciousness, exuberance and loss
ofself:

Wheneveninggavemebackmyeyes
Thecitygotlost,theseasstillnesstoo,
Whileaphoenixcheateditsashesagain
Whileacreviceinarockgotitselfusedtoemptiness
IsaidIwasthesea,andthedreamerofthesea
Andfirstthinginthemorning,ontopofmydepth
Illfindmyselflikeasmile.
("lSirenler"[DeadSirens])
***
The moment of experience not only separates the Second New from the old poetry but from
what is being written today. It had an influence on the past as well: Poetry was reconsidered;
under the name of opacity, of imagism, it acquired a kind of necessity; it turned into an
experiment one must go through, a test. But the Second New did not remain in the same
moment of fullness; it went on to a more solitary, more thinned-out poetry. Had it seen that
experiencewasimpossible,eventhatithadalwaysbeenanillusion,achimera,fromthestart?I
dont know. It may be said that the place where this poetry carried off itsreal tour de force, its
death-defying somersault, was where it saw the fundamental emptiness of experience and
managednottofallintoit:Theplacewherethetightropewalkerwhosurvivesbelievesinlifeno
longer, where the insignificant difference between dying and staying alive is equated with
poetry,bornaspoetry.
TheSecondNewnotonlyinfluenceditspredecessorsbythetransformationsitwrought,butwas
influenced by them as well. One could say that it first understood really heard its
predecessors while writing its own poetry. But Melih Cevdet Anday was not among those the
Second New adopted in that way. The indifference was mutual. But we are speaking of good
poetry,andarethusintheworldofnecessity,theworldofthelawsofform:Hereeventhemost
virginalofcoincidencesmustactasarepresentativeofnecessity;ifnot,itbecomesunimportant.
IsthereaconnectionlikethatbetweentheSecondNewanditspredecessors?Mighttherebea
relationship between the thing that would thin out experience in the Second New, that would
sift its poetry, and the thing which put a stop to experience in Anday from the start but after
1960madeitpossibleforhimtotryoutadifferentkindofopacity,adifferentkindofnecessity?
Whatisthisthingorthings?

Afterahiatusofexactlysixyears(1956-1962)Andaybeganworkonanewdensityintheempty
spacehehimselfhadopenedupearlier.Butnowweshouldspeaknotofanemptyspacebutof
space-lessness: I, the individual subject, loves place to be, had begun to be erased. With
Strange,reallywiththeSecondNew,thekindofpersonalsubjectwhocouldlayhandsonpoetry
was fading away. But what took its place was not the historical, collective subject of the old
poetry (Yahya Kemal). The seat of the empirical, concrete, personal subject bound by time and
placewasbeingtakenbythemerelylinguistic,abstractsubject,thesubjectasamerepoint:The
subject of Rationalism, the abstract possibility of experience which Descartes arrived at by
negatingallexperientialcontent,the"I"of"Ithink,thereforeIam."TherearetwoAndays:The
Andaybefore1956andtheAndayafter1962,separatedbyaregionoferasure,ofnihilization.I

(teTamBuSaatlerde"[ItsRightAroundthisTime])
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have looked at the Second New from within the first Anday and seen the birth of experience.
NowIwillviewthesecondAndayfromwithintheSecondNew:Ilearnthatlife,akindoflife,can
befoundintheplacewhereexperiencefadesaway,whereexperienceislost.

Variationsonanon-existenttheme

IhavearguedthatAndayspoetrynegatedtheconceptofexperienceproposedhere.Butweare
speakingnotofapoetryyettobeacquaintedwithexperiencebutratherofonethathasalready
givenuponit,orrejecteditfromthestart.Ifexperienceisamomentoffilling,ofafullnesswe
feel with every beat of our pulse, then Andays poetry falls in the moments of silence between
thosebeats.TheemptinesswhichtheSecondNewwasalwaysapproachingonalimitslopeisfor
Anday a point of departure, departure and arrival. Cansevers poem working the phoenix motif
was punctuated by a statement of convergence, restoration and unity: Ill find myself like a
smile. Andays poem Death of the Skiff also works a fire motif: A dreambound firefly falls
intothebilgefromthebad-tempereddarknessofthenight,setstheboatonfireandburnsit
down.Butthereisnorisingfromtheasheshere;thepoemends:

Severedheadanchor,myropes,myoars
Arenowadazedheaponthesand.
Smokinghandsandfeet,smokingwetwood,
Broughtbytheseafromfaraway
Imanalien,meaninglessthing.
Restoration, the rescue and assembling of parts, is impossible here: Distance, difference and
division will always triumph over understanding and wholeness. The tininess of the thing that
starts the fire (a firefly!) tells us that the fire is always already started and finished: Because a
dream(dreamboundfirefly),anihility,canonlysetfiretoanotherdream,anothernihility.
Wecandrawanothercomparison,withCanseveragain(theSecondNewpoetclosesttoAndayin
motifs and images). In Ha Yanp Snd Ha Yanp Sonmedi Bir Ate Bcei [A Firefly Flashed or
DidntFlash],oneoftheimportantpoemsinhisKirliAustos[DirtyAugust],therearethelines:
What is left of those ascensions? What remains? / O brick-red spell, the Souths hot unit / Did
someonedie?Toolate,then/Ormaybetooearly.ThisisthefirstcoupletofAndaysTekeleyen
Gece[StutteringNight],fromhislastbook:

Itsahurry-upworldthis,everythingearly
Andeverythinglate,thesunwillbeeclipsedwhilewesleep.
Ifweputasidethedifferencebetweenthesofter,longingvoiceinCanseverandtheunstuttering,
sparkling but austere voice purified of all excess in Stuttering Night, we can say that both
poems work the same motif, the not being there, not getting there in time motif. Both poems
convey the theme with a dichotomy, the early/late dichotomy. But in Cansever the dominant
term of the dichotomy, the term that has the last word, is early, and that gives his poem a
morehopefuldimension,onemoreopentoexperience:Themanwhoarriveslatehasmissedthe
chance for experience; but he who arrives early may wait, he may hope. In Anday being late
has the last word: In this hurry-up world everything is always already finished, we cannot be in
time for any experience; between our experience (sleep) and the content that would fill that
experience (solar eclipse) there is a distance, an incompatibility, that cannot be got round: We
arenotthere,anditisnothere.
***
What takes form in Andays poetry is an aesthetic of nihility: The aesthetic of distance,
separation, otherness, of not being here, not saying. This was one reason why it did not find a
broad field of influence, I think. In the 1970s and later, things were written that were like
everyoneelsespoetry;noneofitwaslikeAndays.Itissignificantthatbefore1980,whenacritic
suchasMehmetDoantriedtodrawaconnectionbetweenaradicalworldviewandmodernist
poetry,thepoetsheputforwardincludedOktayRifat,EdipCansever,evenBehetNecatigil,but
not Anday (see Mehmet Doan, iirin Yalnzl [The Loneliness of Poetry]). It was a time in
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Turkeywheneverythinglife,art,politicalpractice,eveneconomicdevelopmentwasthought
of according to a model of experience: Condensation of the past in the present, opening to the
future,conquestofthenew,sometimessorrow,alwayshope.Iwouldliketogiveanexample.In
1972-1973TomrisUyarpublishedanimportantseriesofpiecesontheshortstoryinYeniDergi;
she dwelled upon epiphany (as instant illumination, the filling of a single moment by a reality
greaterthanitself),oneofthefundamentalconceptsoftheaestheticofexperience,relatingitto
thetransformationormaturationofcharacter.
21

[We] agree that the story is an art which creates a flash in one stroke, preparing
perceptions to occur years later in the reader, in short, changing the reader. ... The
contemporary story is an art genre which develops a human reality around a moment of
illumination. ... In its first meaning illumination is a flash, a coming face to face with
reality; a sudden perception of a reality, a realization, on the part of the writer, the
reader,thecharacterinthestory....Ineverystory[thereis]anillumination,aninsight,an
awakening.
In the same piece Tomris Uyar related the concept of illumination to the concepts of time and
experience: The contemporary story writer (who has a clock that can run backwards and
forwards)... can make the reader sense passing time in a smooth-rumped mares shaky-legged
foal, or in a wall torn down and the hotel built in its place. Furthermore, an image taken from
whatistested,fromwhatislived,animagegraspedbyhavingbeenseen,canmuchmoreeasily
remaininmindthanacraftedstatement.Thesethoughtsarealsovalidforpost-1950poetry.
Andayisseenaspoetoftheclockthatdoesnotrun,poetofthewindthatblowsnowhere:His
work has developed around the theme of experience-lessness, the theme of not being.
Experience-lessness leaves ideas of subjective development, process, progress and maturation
outside.Itapprehendstimeasrepetition,understandsitastheswingingofapendulum.
Andayhasbeenseenasacoldpoet.Andperhapsthecriticssensedthecold,insensateregionof
his poetry, refusing to be named, to converge with a name. They were loath to take a place
there.Itwasntaplaceanyway:Itwasalacuna.TherewasaninterviewdonewithAndaywhich
should be touched upon here: In this 1982 ada Eletiri interview, informal and interesting in
everyrespect,AdnanBenkputforwardaviewveryclosetothethesisIhavearguedhereandhe
spoke of the immutability or immobility sector in Melih Cevdets poetry. (There is a
terminological disparity: Adnan Benk used the term living for what I have expressed here by
the term experience [yaant or deneyim], and seemed to use yaant to mean experience
[tecrbe]alreadylivedandleftbehind.)
In the world you sketch there is a boundary of immutability we cannot cross, cannot
transcend. An accumulation of experiences, things lived, actions... inertia... True, the
realmoflivingwhichliesbetweentheboundaryofmobilityandthatofimmutabilityhas
as many ups and downs as can be. ... Yet despite that variedness its possibilities are
limited. ... Whatever we do, we cannot get free of that square, those four seasons, that
accumulationofexperiences....Thereistome,ofme,ours,butthatIwhichisthe
focal point of emotional poetry is never there. ... Your point of departure is always
outside. You start out not close up, not from yourself, but from far off. ... Transforming
into lived things the mornings, the rain and etc. things being lived that you draw to
yourselffromoutside,fromnature.Thereisnolifeanymoreintheplacewhereyougo.Or
theplaceyouleadus.
I too will touch on these things, these appearances of experience-lessness, phases of the
subjects erasure, immutability and inevitable repetition, events like the otherizing of voice,
abstractednessandforgetting,thejoythatisnotours,thecancellationoffirstsensationandlast
line of verse. But there is something else: the site of experience is the city-dweller, and the
experience-lessness in Andays poetry emerges first with banishment of the city from poetry.

21
SeeYeniDergi,January1972andFebruary1973.

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That, in Andays work, along with his understanding of time, will be ground for another
discussion.

TranslatedfromTurkishbyVictoriaHolbrook

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1

The South Caucasus, formerly Transcaucasia, is a Russian-Soviet legacy in the sense that, the
region began to take shape as a geographical unit simultaneously with the Russian empires
southern expansionist drive; in the context of continuous and complex relations with Iran and
especially Turkey, as well as with the West, albeit sometimes indirectly. During the entire 19
th

century, Russias relations with Turkey, often on the battlefield, were vital for the former. This
was a time when the Russians sought to redefine their identity using Western concepts, to
presentthemselvesasamodernizingnationintheWesternsense,asacountrythatwasapartof
Europe.Inthiscase,aWesternizingRussiasawthatOrientinTurkey,fromwhichitwantedto
distance itself. Thus, within Russias self-definition, Turkey was presented as Russias, and in
general, the civilized worlds oriental Other.
2
Russia looked at the Empires eastern and
southernpeopleswithaWesternperspective.Here,theCaucasuswasviewedasanintermediate
zone,apassagewaybetweenWestandEast,asacivilizingEastthroughRussianmediation.

Accordingly,thenotionofRussiascivilizingmissionwasestablished;anotionfullyappropriate
fromthepointofviewofjustifyingtheEmpiresexpansionismandcolonialism.Thiswastheway
a large segment of the Russian intelligentsia thought. They believed that Russia was bringing
enlightenmentandcivilizationtotheCaucasus
3
.Itmustbeaddedthattherewerepeopleinthe
Caucasus who viewed the Russian presence in this way as well. This was also the case with the
Armenian intellectual elite, including such pivotal figures of contemporary Eastern Armenian
literature as Khachatur Abovyan and Hovhannes Tumanyan. During the first half of the 19
th

century, many saw the only possibility of liberating eastern Armenians from Persia, defending
against Turkish threats, and coming into contact with the Western process of modernization,
withtheRussianempire.

This means that from the very start, the idea of Eastern Armenias modernization was born and
took shape within the parameters granted by the Russian civilizing mission; first as a Russian-
Armenian and later, Soviet-Armenian project. Of course, the desire to become Westernized,
already existing in the Caucasus, increased the possibility for the so-called Russian orientation
to take hold, especially if the alternatives were Iran and Turkey. At the very least, Russian rule
would be accepted by Armenians as their salvation, salvation via a certain kind of self-
colonization. However, on the other hand, Russia itself was viewed in Europe as half-eastern,
half-Western,asatransitionalexpansebetweentheWestandEast.

Even though the status obtained by nations within the Soviet Union (S.U.) could be regarded as
some sort of partial decolonization, nevertheless, Russian orientalism, modified and reshaped,
continued to function, albeit in more subtle ways, in the S.U. as well. After the collapse of the
Soviet empire, the South Caucasus (Transcaucasia) as an invented region (invented during
the process of Russias civilizing mission and later, during implementation of the Soviet
modernizingproject)graduallylostitsdistinctiveness.However,itseemsthatthefirstnoticeable
shifts began prior to this, in the 60s, and the transformations that occurred in those years are
impartedwithnewmeaningswhenviewedfromtheprismofcurrentrealities.

1
ThisarticlewaswrittenonthebasisofaseriesoflecturesIgaveonthesubjectofRussian-Sovietorientalismduring
seminarssponsoredbytheArtandculturalstudieslaboratory(November,2008).Theselecturesweresubsequently
publishedinaseriesofarticlesentitledThequestionofculturaldecolonization(inArmenian)thatappearedinHetq
(http://old.hetq.am/arm/culture/8665)
2
See, Iver B. Neumann, Uses of the Other: The East in European Identity Formation, Minneapolis: University of
MinnesotaPress,1998.
3
See, Susan Layton, Russian Literature and Empire: Conquest of the Caucasus from Pushkin to Tolstoy, Cambridge:
CambridgUniversityPress,1994.
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The60s:yearsofcontradiction

The terms Thaw and the 60s generation are the most well known expressions defining the
culturalawakeningthattookplaceintheSovietUnioninthelate50sandcontinuinginthe60s.
Despite the sharp ups and downs of Soviet cultural policy over the years, the comparative
freedoms and renewed restrictions and repressions that followed one another, it was also a
unique time for the Soviet national republics in terms of the development of national cultures
and the formation of national consciousness. It was a process paradoxically accompanied by
unprecedented efforts aimed at the Russification of nations and the shaping of a united Soviet
people. Just as in the Russian empire, so too in the SU, the assumption held sway that Russian
culture and the Russian language were superior to the cultures and languages of other nations.
DuringtheStalinistera,thesuperiorityoftheRussianpeopletookformwithinthebigbrother
little brothers context. This ensured the basis for the systematic and continuous Russification
beingcarriedoutintheS.U.

SomeoftheprerequisitesfortheexpectedfusionofSovietnationsandnationalitieswereahigh
level of education, where Russian was the lingua franca for all peoples, equal opportunities for
economic development for all nationalities and regions, geographic and social mobility for the
populace, etc. The other important defining characteristic of the Soviet empire was that there
didnt exist an insurmountable line of demarcation that in Western empires separated the
colonizerfromthecolonized.Alongwiththeimplementedrestrictionsregardingethnicidentity,
in contrast to classical colonial systems, real opportunities for participation and advancement
wereaffordedtotheSovietpeoples.

In the implementation of similar policies, an important role was reserved for the native elites.
The factor must be taken into account that the widespread collectivization carried out by the
Sovietregime,andtheindustrializationandurbanizationparallelwithit,allowedforthesevering
of the Soviet peoples, all rural-based, from their traditions. At the same time, traditional local
elites either broke down or were destroyed. Subsequently, the Soviet system prepared new
native elites of professionals and intellectuals ready for collaboration in return for certain
rewards and advancement possibilities. Being linked with official institutions and having the
administrative-political apparatus at their disposal, they were more inclined to frame their
demands and reach their goals (including national ones) within the Soviet system rather than
aspire to separate themselves from it. Simultaneously, contacts within various professional
circles (writers, scientists, etc) that violated ethnic borders were being supported, seeking to
create supra-ethnic forms of cooperation. These communities both embodied and symbolized
theconceptofaunifiedSovietpeople.
4

AnalystsclaimthatthenationalismmanifestedbycertainSoviettitularnationsinthe60swasnot
a rebirth of pre-Soviet nationalism but rather a new type of nationalism, although unpredicted,
formed during the process of the Soviet modernizing project. The national tradition being
reconstructedunderSovietruleandtheculturalidentitybeingformed,wereunavoidablytaking
shapeasanational-Soviethybrid.

A few issues will be discussed related to the period covered in this article taken from two texts
writteninthe60stheRussianwriterAndreiBitovsLessonsofArmeniaandArmenianwriter
HrantMatevosyansHangoverreadintandem.

Dialogue:twotexts

Matevosyan and Bitov came to the fore during the Khrushchev Thaw years. They became
acquainted during the mid-60s when they participated in the two-year Advanced Course for
Scriptwriters in Moscow. These works were written in the years that followed. Hangover was

4
See,PhilipG.Roeder,SovietFederalismandEthnicMobilizationinDenber,Rachel.TheSovietNationalityReader:The
DisintegrationinContext,Oxford:WestviewPress(1992),pp.147-178.
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completedin1969andisbasedontheauthorsimpressionsofthatcourse.LessonsofArmenia
waswrittenfrom1967-1969andisaresultofBitovsten-dayjournalisticmissiontoArmenia(he
wassenttowriteanessayaboutArmeniaforaRussianjournal).Thebookwasfirstpublishedin
the monthly magazine Druzhba Narodov in 1969 and was later translated into a number of
languages and became one of Bitovs most noted works. Lessons of Armenia is not just a mere
travelogue, as Andrei Belys impressions of Armenia, or a semi-novella, as Mandelstam
describeshisJourneytoArmenia,butratherarealpieceofartisticprose.

Whatfollows,inanutshell,isthesubjectmatterofHangover.Peoplefromall
national republics, basically writers, were to attend the Advanced Course for
ScriptwritersorganizedattheMoscowCinemaHouse.Theworkportraysone
day in the life of the attendees at the course; the conversations of
Mnatsakanyan, the narrator, with various individuals, recollections of his
native Armenia, especially village life, etc. Each of the participants was
expected to write a screenplay to be eventually turned into a film.
Mnatsakanyan writes a screenplay dealing with problems in the Armenian
villages industrialization, crumbling rural communities, etc. Vaksberg, the
course director, proposes that changes be made to the screenplay, but
Mnatsakanyan refuses. Their conversation practically rises to the level of an
argument.Inalllikelihood,theyllexpelhimfromtheclass.

The two texts are the result of the stimuli received by the authors from their experience
attending the Advanced Course for Scriptwriters. Both, albeit in different ways, talk about this
significant period of the Soviet empire. At the same time, both deal with Soviet Armenia. In
Lessons of Armenia the friend, often evoked by the narrator, is none other than Matevosyan.
Bitovlivedinhishouseduringthosedays.InHangover,Bitovsnameismentioned.Matevosyan
and Bitov were members of the intellectual community shaped during that course. In addition,
one can find numerous other commonalities between these two texts, implicit and explicit
connectionsthatcancertainlybecalleddialogue.

Thejourney

Inaconversation,Bitovnotedthatduringhislifehethricehadthe goodfortunetoturnupina
favorable environment, and that one of these was the imperial environment of the Advanced
Course for Scriptwriters. Why imperial? It would appear that the course, with the participation
of those selected from each of the national republics, reflected the federative structure of the
country. On the other hand, the creation of elite communities transcending the inter-ethnic
borders was one of the aims of Soviet rule. Simultaneously, certain imperial pretensions were
ascribed to the course as well to succeed in the cultural and ideological struggle against the
West, in which a decisive role was reserved for the cinema. In passing, all this is covered in
Hangover.

Yes,theenvironmentoftheAdvancedCourseforScriptwriters,whereAndreiBitovcloselydealt
withtheArmenianthemeforthefirsttime,wasimperial,butalsoimperialwerethejourneysof
Russian (Soviet) writers to the Caucasus and the production of related texts starting from the
1820s. By the first half of the 19
th
century, in the writings of Pushkin, Lermontov and others,
certainthemesweretakingshape;stereotypicalformsandmetaphorsthatrepresentedCaucasia
as an expanding peripheral territory of the Russian Empire, thus assisting in the colonization of
theCaucasianpeoplesandtheestablishmentofRussianculturaldomination.

EversinceEdwardSaidsOrientalism,itiswellknownthatculturalrepresentationsplayacentral
role in the colonization process of countries, and particularly, that literary texts are tied to
imperialandcolonizingpracticesinvariousways.Thus,writersalsocontributetothecraftingof
thatgeneralpointofviewthatacceptsanempireassomethingtakenforgranted,whileliterary
texts construct and distribute, and, in essence, legitimize modes of representing the conquered
landsandpeoplefrompositionsofdomination.

AndreiBitovandHrantMatevosyan(photograph
kindlyprovidedbytheHrantMatevosyanFoundation

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Bitovs Lessons of Armenia must be seen as an addition to the late period of the literary
Caucasus,particularlywhenitisincludedinthelistoftextscreatedasaresultofthejourneysto
Armenia by Russian and Soviet writers. The first of these is Pushkins Journey to Arzrum
travelogue (1835), written on the basis of dairy notes during an 1829 journey to the Caucasus.
Studyingtheissueoftherelationshipsbetween19
th
centuryRussianliteratureandtheconquest
oftheCaucasus,SusanLaytonsinglesouttwopoleslittleorientalizersinfullcomplicitywith
imperialismandoldTolstoyholdingadiametricallyoppositeposition(HadjiMurat).Inthemiddle
ground were a young Pushkin (A Captive of the Caucasus), Bestujev-Marlinsky and Lermontov,
who,incertainwaysassisted,andincertainwayswereopposed,toimperialism.
5

ItisunderstandablethataSovietwriterofthe60shadtocloselyalignwiththemiddleposition.If
Soviet ideology up till the 30s was equated with the crude forces of empire building of Pushkin
and the Decembrists, and Pushkins Caucasian poems were regarded as examples of colonial
literature, then, in years to come, the great poets were separated from tsarist authority.
Furthermore, in the guise of progressive Russia, they came out in opposition to official
conservative Russia. Nevertheless, as I will attempt to show, in comparison with the middle
orientalistposition,Bitovsapproachwasmuchmorecomplexandsensitive.

AlsoevidentisthedifferenceofLessonsofArmeniafromsimilartextswrittenbyAndreiBelyand
Osip Mandelstam in the late 20s and early 30s in the Soviet Union. A century had passed since
the travels of Pushkin. True, by 1828, after their victory over the Persian forces and their
conquest of Yerevan, the Russians took a large number of manuscripts back to Petersburg with
them,butthesystematicstudyofculturesofthepeoplesintheRussianempirebeginswiththe
mid 19
th
century. Excavations at the medieval Armenian capital of Ani began at the end of the
century and Valery Briusovs Poetry of Armenia collection was published in 1916. During this
period, conceptions of nation and national culture, of relations between different cultures, had
alsodramaticallychanged.

Briusov, in his preface to Poetry of Armenia, regards Armenia as a mediator between the West
andEast,aplacewherethosetwoculturesarereconciledanddeemsArmenianmedievalpoetry
as an exceptionally rich literature that comprises Armenias valuable contribution to the
treasure trove of humanity. In his opinion, In the pantheon of international poetry, the
creations of Armenian genius must take their rightful place alongside the literary works of the
peoples of Japan, India, ancient Greece, Rome and Europe.
6
Bely and Mandelstam were also
going to the Orient, but at the same time, for them Armenia was a cradle of history (Bely),
which due to its geographical position and its historic and cultural links with the ancient world,
allowedonetogetclosetotheworldcradleofculture(Mandelstam).

Thus, Khrushchevs Thaw and subsequent years can be called the second period of travels to
Armenia, of which Lessons of Armenia is the most famous of texts. It would seem that Bitov
stepsontotheshakysoiloftherichtraditionofwritingsonRussianorientaljourneys,fullyaware
of the dangers of such an act. It seems that Bitovs A Captive of the Caucasus collection,
comprised of Lessons of Armenia and Georgian Album, can be viewed, in a certain sense, as a
self-reflection of literary Caucasus, a reexamination of traditional approaches, or at least
questioning them, something that shouldnt appear surprising for that time period when they
were written. Here, not only are canonized texts referred to (i.e. Pushkins Journey to Arzrum,
MandelstamsArmeniaseriesofpoems)andtraditionalthemes(ACaptiveoftheCaucasus),but
also established approaches and evaluations are reviewed. Furthermore, in the first pages of
Georgian Album he openly discusses the existing imperial roots of the Caucasian theme of
Russian writers (Pushkin, Lermontov, and Tolstoy). On the one hand, there is This traditional

5
SusanLayton,ibid,pp.5-10.
6
(.),,,
. . , , 1916 (:
,1987),p.9.
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Russian capacity to be penetrated by an alien way of life (Pushkin, Lermontov, Tolstoy...),
7
but,
ontheother,itisalsoclearthatthereissurelyanelementofconquestandappropriationthere.

AttemptingtofindasimilarcontextforHangover,wecanrecollectdifferenttypesoftravelsand
dislocations that were occurring in the S.U. from the periphery to Moscow and generally across
theentireempire;forexample,withtheaimtostudyinMoscowortoperformvariousseasonal
work in some far-flung corner of Russia Those participating in the conquest of virgin lands,
studentworkbattalionssenttoRussiaduringthesummerholidays,youngpeopleofftoservein
the Soviet ArmyThey all wound up in multi-national communities where the Russian language
and Soviet culture dominated, where the feeling of all-union belonging was cultivated. Inter-
ethnic contacts, the continuous experience of joint living, and later on, continued friendly
relations, written and oral histories, etc., assisted in the formation of the Soviet people as an
imaginedcommunity.

Like many others, the author of Hangover went to Moscow to study. But his experience gave
birth to a text that was exceptional in its attempt to reverse the gaze of the observer from the
Center to the periphery, to represent the gaze of someone from the periphery towards the
Center.OnthepartoftheparticipantsoftheAdvancedCourseforScriptwriters,theadvanceofa
group transcending ethnic boundaries, that was a part of a much wider community of same
generation writers (artists) was portrayed: They are my friends in their presence for me a
warm climate of safety is being knitted: it is pleasant to feel their existence from Yerevan to
Moldavia,Tbilisi,Leningrad.
8
But,justasMatevosyanhasalreadyclarifiedlateroninpost-Soviet
years, their group paradoxically embodied both the collective Soviet belonging of those coming
from different republics and the quite evident anti-Soviet, anti-imperial solidarity that, in
particular,couldhavebeenexpressedwiththerecognitionofthedifferenceoftheethnicidentity
andcultureofeachparticipant.

Themap

In one of the diary entries of Walter Benjamin, written during the last days of 1926 during his
two-monthstayintheSovietcapitalofMoscow,hereflectsontheprominentrolethatthemap
begantoplayforSovietideology.Seeingapileofmapsbeingsoldinthestreet,andnoticingthat
the map had entered not only the daily life but also the culture of Soviet man, from theatrical
performancestothepropagandafilmOne-sixthoftheworld,heconcludedthatthemap,just
like Lenins portrait, was becoming a new Russian center of visual worship. Truly, the vast
landmass of the Soviet Union, highlighted in red on the world map, along with its assumed
momentumofcontinualexpansion,wasoneofthevisualsymbolsoftheempire.

However,eversincethe60s,when,intheon-targetexpressionofascholar,Sovietnationswere
also allowed to have a history, maps, as influential means of the visualization of history, could
also become powerful tools in the construction of national identity, as well as spurring
nationalism. If we follow the assertion of Benedict Anderson, one can then assume that the
Soviet national republics appearing on the map, with their borders and capitals, could already
have shaped the imagination of the population. As regards to historical maps, then, Through
chronologicallyarrangedsequencesofsuchmaps,asortofpolitical-biographicalnarrativeofthe
realmcameintobeing,sometimeswithvasthistoricaldepth.
9

Forty years later, yet another traveler, Andrei Bitov, this time in Soviet Armenia, also meditates
uponmaps.HedescribestheattractivepowerthatanatlasofhistoricalmapsofArmeniahason
his friend and friends brother, the way the atlas sucks them in and they are submerged in map
reading. Bitov then adds: Here, green and round, Armenia extends to three seas. Here, to two.

7
Andrei Bitov, A Captive of the Caucasus: Journeys in Armenia and Georgia, translated from the Russian by Susan
Brownsberger,London:Harvill,1993,p.155.
8
HrantMatevosyan,Tsarere.Yerevan:SovetakanGrogh,1978,p.128.
9
Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, London: Verso, 1991,
p.175.
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Here,toone.Andherenoteventoone.SoswiftlydoesArmeniadiminishfromthefirstmapto
thelast,alwaysremainingagenerallyroundstate,thatifyourifflequicklythroughtheatlas,itsa
movie: it captures the fall of a huge round stone from the altitude of millennia. The stone
disappears into the depths, diminishing to a point,
10
or, if you flipped through the pages in the
oppositedirection,itexpanded.

Thepartthattalksabouttheatlascangiverisetodifferentinterpretations.Fromthepasttothe
present,duringtheentirecourseofhistoryArmeniacontinuestogetsmaller,reachingtheedge
ofdisappearingaltogether;afactwhichmakesitmoreappealingtolookthroughtheatlasfrom
the opposite direction, until one reaches the map, Armenia: from sea to sea. These were the
years of the reawakening of nationalism. However, one can also ponder that it was only due to
the Russian-Soviet Empire that Armenia was saved from total disappearance. From this point of
view, the past was defined solely as a period of loss; the present, secure and safe, while the
radiant future to come could only be socialist. In any case, it seems that Andersons
observationaboveishelpfulinclarifyingwhatBitovdescribes.

During these years, one could find maps of historic Armenia in the homes and work places of
many. And this wrested opportunity to remember and commemorate the past, first and
foremost,dealtwiththe1915Genocide.PermissiontomarktheGenocide's50
th
anniversaryand
to construct a memorial on the occasion wasnt easily obtained: Their latest war is the war for
their own history.
11
Thus, it is not by accident that the subject of the genocide appears in the
pagesofLessonsofArmeniaandinHangover.ItwasfromBitovsworks,whichhadpreviously
been published in one of the largest circulation literary journals in the S.U., that wide segments
of society, for the first time, read about that event. Not only was it unprecedented that the
genocideissuewasbroughttopubliclight,ortherewasachancetowriteaboutit,butalsothe
fact that the meaning and importance of pre-Soviet national history was recognized. This was
somethingthatunderscoredtheuniquenessofnationaldestiny,itsdifference,asopposedtothe
unityandcommonalityofsocialistnationsbeingcultivated.

Of course, this does not mean that pressures and restrictions had disappeared. In Hangover,
during the conversation between the Armenian participant of the Advanced Course for
Scriptwritersandthecourseleader,thegenocideisdiscussedasapossiblescreenplaytheme.Its
rejection comes in the form of an advice: not to go digging up old graves or not to yield to
localnationalism.Thepermissiontomakeafilmaboutthegenocidewasmuchhardertoobtain
thanthepermissiontowriteaboutit.

In the next section of the article, the issue of representation is discussed and, in that context, it
must be at least noted that the authors mentioned were obliged to deal with ideological
pressures,inparticular,censorship.MatevosyansandBitovswritingwerecrudelycensoredand
sometimes altogether banned. There were two faces to Soviet censorship. There were
restrictions and banned themes, but, at the same time, there were declarations that had to be
stated, to be constantly repeated. On the other hand, the restrictions and prohibitions were
diverse. As I have shown, primarily on the basis of Hangover, the more influential means of
culturalexpressionintheS.U.(cinema),thatcreatedpossiblecontemporaryformsorstylesof
imagination, were mostly being used to mold the Soviet people into an imagined community.
All the while, their availability for the ethnic cultures was clearly restricted. Put another way,
even during the period of nationalist awakening, fairly strict restrictions were operating in the
S.U.regardingtheculturalrepresentationofethnicidentities.
12

10
AndreiBitov,ibid,p.43.
11
bid,p.44.
12
See,HrachBayadyan,SovietArmenianIdentityandCulturalRepresentationinTsypylmaDarieva,WolfgangKachuba
(eds.), Representations on the Margins of Europe: Politics and Identities in the Baltic and South Caucasian States,
Frankfurt/NewYork:CampusVerlag,2007,pp.205-219.
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Difficultiesofrepresentation

In totally characteristic fashion, one of the prominent themes inLessons of Armenia is the issue
of representation, with all its different aspects. The first of these is the optical difficulty; the
visual incapacity of the narrator-subject. In Geography Lesson, he notes, And I pursue that
imageasamethod.WiththenakedeyeIseenothingonehastobebornhere,andlivehere,in
ordertosee.ThroughthebinocularsIseelargeobjects,forexample,awatermelonandnothing
butthewatermelon.Thewatermelonblocksouttheworld.OrIseemyfriendandnothingbut
my friend.... Every time, something blocks out the world. I reverse the binoculars the
watermelon zooms away from me, like a nucleus, and disappears over the horizon. In the
unimaginable depth and haze I see a small round country with one round city, one round lake,
andoneroundmountain,acountryinhabitedbymyfriendalone.
13

The same issue is presented, in another fashion, in a chapter relating to Lake Sevan: Such
authenticity and uniqueness does this country show you, again and again, that by now its
authenticity seems redundant ... It suddenly occurs to me that the birth of a brilliant painter
wouldbeaparadoxinthiscountry.Naturehereissoexactthatitwillsuffernotransformationby
the artistic vision. To remain captive to this absolute exactness of line and color is probably
beyondanartistspower;nocopyispossible.
14
Later,hespecifies:NowIcatchmyself:whenI
said line and color, I was not being accurate. I was following tradition, rather than my own
awareness.IwaspayingtributetoSarian,ratherthantonature.
15

ThisremindsoneofBitovssensitiveattituderegardinglocalreality.Herejectsthetypicalviewof
theSovietcentertowardstheperiphery,thatwouldhaveseenarealitycaughtupinthesurgeof
socialist transformation - new buildings, factories, mass enthusiasm, etc. This view would have
proclaimed the blissful life of a people, once colonized for hundreds of years, and of a country
rebornfromruinsofthepast.Thisisapeoplethatcouldrediscoveritsculturaltraditiononlydue
totheprogressandenlightenmentbroughtbysocialism.Thisrhetoricwasoftenaccompaniedby
stereotypicalelementsoforientalism;oldcultureandexotica,storedvaluesofthepast,etc.

Elleke Boehmer, while discussing ways of describing a colonized foreign country and ways of
maintainingcontrolthroughdescription,andtheproblemstheseengender,suggests:Rhetorical
strategiestomanagecolonialunreadabilitycanbeorganizedintobroadgroups.First,therewas
the practice of symbolic reproduction already discussed, where the intention to characterize a
place expressed itself in defiance of the empirical evidence or conventional laws of association.
As did the Australian explorers, colonizers created a viable space by repeating names and
rhetorical structures from the home country regardless of their accuracy... what could not be
translated was simply not a part of the represented scene. Second, a development of the first,
there was the strategy of displacement, a device whereby the intransigence or discomfort the
colonizer experienced was projected on to the native.... Here the unreadable subject is
transformedintothesignofitsownunreadability....Thenativeorcolonizedlandisevokedasthe
quintessenceofmystery,asinarticulatenessitself.
16

On the surface, the quotes from Lessons of Armenia remind one of the second strategy, but it
seems that Bitov has other motivations and objectives. First, Armenia was explicitly different
from a colonized nation in the Western sense. Second, a continual tradition of representing the
Caucasus, especially Armenia, took form in Russian literature. In addition, there was the
establishedconvictionthatRussianwriterspossessedanunsurpassablecapacitywhenitcameto
representing others. Dostoevsky made the claim that only Russians were truly universal, and
could truly put themselves into the shoes of others, as it were. In his opinion, Russians are the

13
AndreiBitov,ibid,p.45.
14
Ibid,p.53-54.
15
Ibid,p.54.
16
Elleke Boehmer, Colonial&Postcolonial Literature: Migrant Metaphors, 2
nd
edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2005,p.90.
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only people capable of authentically representing others.
17
And Bitov knew about this, as it
appearsfromtheabovequotedpassageonthetraditionalRussiancapacitytobepenetratedby
analienwayoflife.But,atthesametime,whatagitatedhimwasthesensationthathewasa
foreigner, an outlander, an uninvited guest.
18
The notion of the Caucasus as the Russians own
East,aconceptthatcametotheforeinthe19
th
century,noticeablyweakenedinthe60s.For
Bitov,ArmeniawasnottheOrient,asithadbeenforBelyandMandelstam.Nevertheless,inone
ofthefirstpagesofthenovella,Bitovquotesthefollowing,saidbyhisfriend.Please,justdont
writethatArmeniaisasunny,hospitableland.
19
Here,sunnyandhospitablelandisafamiliar
stereotypeofSovietorientalism.

To all appearances, for Bitov, the naked eye was an eye unfamiliar with local cultural
conventions and codes: one has to be born here, and live here, in order to see. However, it
seems that Bitov also rejects the literary tradition of representing the Caucasus (and Armenia)
and, in particular, the entire repository of travelogues, whose mission was to describe the
conquered lands and make them recognizable. Bely and Mandelstam resolve this problem each
inhisownway.InhisjourneynotestoArmenia,Belywrites,IvebeenviewingArmeniafortwo
days now, but I saw it for the first time in the canvases of Sarian.
20
In other words, in order to
seeArmeniaonemustfirstvisitapicturegallery.Aforeigncountrybecomesfamiliarandvisible
only through the intervention of visual codes of Western painting. As for Mandelstam, in the
chapterTheFrenchmenincludedinthebookJourneytoArmenia,hedescribestheexperience
of viewing the works of French artists in the museum that becomes a training for the eye via
paintings. Afterwards, the real world appears to him as a painting. Viktor Shklovsky critiques
Mandelstam for that very formalism, when art becomes a medium to perceive reality. He
observes, When humans perceive natural phenomena through art, they are deprived of the
opportunityoftrulycomprehendingtheobject.
21

In general, the critiques of Mandelstam on this issue complement each other: What interests
Mandelstam is not knowing the country or its people, but rather, the capricious amalgam of
words, Lamark, Goethe and Czanne are mobilized in order mask the absence of the real
Armenia,Thatisajourneyviagrammaticalforms,libraries,wordsandcitations.
22
Theauthor
of the last observation is also Shklovsky. Naturally, the undamaged process of seeing and
describing,theapparentaccessibilityofotherness,isconditionednotonlyuponthepossibilityto
dissolve Armenia in the world cultural context (when Armenia becomes an almost transparent
mediator between the poet (Mandelstam) and his cultural origins), but also with the Russian
politicalandculturaldominationinArmenia.

As it appears from the above cited passage Bitov is also cognizant of the trap of using Sarians
painting and in general fine arts as a medium. He continues to ponder And where had I
acquired, what had generated within me, the image of a certain celestial land, a land of real
ideals? ... Simply, a land where everything was what it was ... Where all the stones, herbs, and
creatures had their own corresponding purposes and essences, where primordial meanings
wouldberestoredtoallconcepts...Thelandwasnearby,andIalonewasnotinit...Underwhat
circumstanceshadIleftthisland?...Ifoundthewordauthenticandsettledonit...Thisisaland
ofconcepts.
23

Bitov discovers the countrys utopian image, cleansed of all historical traces, where, instead of
the cradle of civilization, what arises before us is pure Nature. The unattainable other
discovered in the alleged homogenous body of the Soviet people, is finally recognized as the

17
See,KatyaHokanson,LiteraryImperialism,Narodnost'andPushkin'sInventionoftheCaucasus,RussianReview,Vol.
53,No.3(Jul.,1994),pp.336-352.
18
AndreiBitov,ibid,p.57.
19
Ibid,p.22.
20
,,:,1997,p.35.
21
, , , , 2, : ,
1990,p.431
22
See,ibid,pp.420-421.
23
AndreiBitov,ibid,p.63.
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authentic. The characterization a land of concepts reminds one of Andrei Belys enunciation
regardingMartirosSarian:HepaintstheEastingeneral,hispaintingsareproto-typical,raisedto
thelevelofschematic-pictures.
24
Inotherwords,theOrientisalwaysandeverywherethesame
anditsunchangingessencecanbelocatedviacertainconceptsandschematics.Inthecitedand
otherpassages,fragmentsofanorientalistdiscourseareobviousremindersoftheEastasaplace
ofpilgrimage,oforientalmansplatonicbeing,oftheinabilityoftheOrienttorepresentitself,
oftheOrientsconsistencyandhomogeneity,etc.

Meanwhile,wefindacompletelydifferentArmeniainHangover.Thescreenplaywrittenbythe
novellasprotagonist,theArmenianwriterMnatsakanyan,whichwasrejectedbythedirectorof
thecourse,isaboutthedisintegrationoftheArmenianvillagecommunity,thepopulationinflux
to the cities and the emptying of villages, the alienation of the villager from work and the land,
the fall of morality. Generally, these are the basic literary themes of Matevosyan. According to
him, during the long history of colonialism, the village community was the prime mode for the
survival of the Armenian people and its ethnic resistance, and its dissolution could have severe
consequences. In Hangover, the co-optation of Armenia by the Soviet tourist industry that
accompaniedthedisastrousconsequencesofthenewwaveofindustrializationandurbanization
ofthe60sisdiscussed.Theexpression,Armeniaisanopen-airmuseum,wasquitewidespread
during the Soviet era, and the theme of tourism directly deals with the approach shaped in the
S.U.toequatenationalculturewiththepast,withancientmonumentsandmuseums,whileat
thesametime,toequatetheprocessofthemodernizationofnationswithsocialism.

Ontheotherhand,thereisnodescriptionofMoscowsurbanenvironmentinHangover,except
forthescenevisiblefromthewindowofthedormitoryoverlookingDobroliubovStreet,together
with the colossal Ostankino TV antenna looming in the distance. Instead, the imperial
environment of the Advanced Course for Scriptwriters is described in detail. To look, turn ones
gazetowardstheCenter,inthiscasemeanstoquestion,primarilythroughtheuseofirony,the
forms of (self)representation of the Center and forms permitted or assigned by the Center, the
dominant modes of cultural expression, that, to all appearances, was a prohibited action.
Furthermore, the criticism of the ideological rhetoric was accompanied by the offering of ones
own narrative, the short story being written by Mnatsakanyan in Moscow. The novella begins
withasegmentofthisstoryandtheclaim,repeatedseveraltimesthroughout,thatThestoryis
fallingintoplace
25

The novella is full of citations and re-compositions culled from the most diverse types of texts,
linguisticandvisual.AntonionisfilmandSalingersshortstoryareretoldanddiscussed,theshort
story themes and versions of the screenplay are discussed, and typical examples of the rhetoric
ofthecoldwaroftheperiodarereproducedInthetaxionthewaytotheCinemaHouseto
watch Antonionis The Night, the participants of the course are flipping the pages of the daily
papers. Cited, or more likely retold, are two large excerpts, two examples of Soviet media
discourse, one of which is an ironic reference to the bourgeois press and bourgeois values
(verytypicaloftheSovietpress).Itbegins,Evenwithitsso-calledomnipresence,thefreepress
hasnotbeenable,tillnow,topokeitsnoseontothesailboatofAristotleOnassisandJacqueline
Kennedyandpryanydetailsregardingthemarriageofthecentury.
26
(Inallcases,sinceweare
talkingabouttheMoscowpapers,theyaretranslatedfromRussianintoArmenianandhereIdo
nothavetheluxuryofdiscussingthelanguageissue,acentralthemeinLessonsofArmeniaand
Hangover.)

The Advanced Course for Scriptwriters was envisaged to assist the revival of the Soviet film
industry by, on the one hand, creating domestic commercial films, for example, Soviet
Westerns,and,ontheotherhand,assistingintheinstructionofthegenerationcomingofage
inaspiritofmilitary-patriotism.Thewarhasntended,remindsVaksberg,Whenwasitthat
Russia started to live through the culture of others? We have purchased seventy-five movies

24
,ibid,p.35.
25
See,HrachBayadyan,ibid.
26
HrantMatevosyan,Tsarere.Yerevan:SovetakanGrogh,1978,p.11.
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fromtheAmericansandwehavesoldthemfourteen.Whatisthis?Theyarewinningthegameby
a margin of sixty-one units.
27
Note that the S.U. is being equated with Russia. Especially when
the issue being discussed is the clash between the S.U. and the U.S.A., the other Soviet peoples
are forgotten, and this was also typical of the West, which took Russian ethno-centrism for
granted.

Taking this decisive role which the cinema and photography played for Soviet propaganda into
account, I wish to pay specific attention to the critical commentary on samples of visual
representation carried out through ironic reproduction. In a more general sense, the changes
occurring in visual representation and comprehension were of interest to Matevosyan as
expressionsoftheoverallculturalshifts.
28
Heresoneexample.Thenarratorisintherestaurant
ofCinemaHouse:Inthatoldman,alreadywrinkledwithage,Isuddenlyrecognizedtheyouthin
thewarnewsreels,theboythatwasleadinghiscompanyintobattle,hischestthrustforwardin
defiance,decoratedwithmedals,hisgunheldhighabovehishead,two-thirdsofhisfaceturned
to the photographer and one-third toward the enemy ahead.
29
The essential elements of the
propaganda pictures rhetorical arsenal are reproduced in the one sentence, the pathetic and
infectiousgestureofself-sacrificereachingimprudence,andtheawardgrantedbythefatherland
encouragingandjustifyingit.

Conclusions

A new stage of consolidation of the Soviet people began in the 60s that was
paradoxically accompanied by the ethnicization of the Soviet nationalities.
This state of modernization was marked by the birth of nationalism in
republics, whose bearers were the hybrid (Soviet-national) intellectual upper
classes formed during the Soviet years. One of the descriptive expressions of
thisperiodwasthecreationofall-unioncommunitiesthattransgressedethnic
boundaries. This non-formal supra-ethnic solidarity nurtured in the
intellectual communities could have both been expressed as loyalty towards
the Soviet authorities and/or as resistance towards the empire. Such
resistance could have signified the questioning of the dominant types of
cultural expression and established norms and values, in various forms,
including the recognition of national cultures (and identities) as being
different and independent. In this sense, the imperialness of the Advanced
CourseforScriptwriterscouldalsohavesignifiedtheformationofaconscious
anti-imperialposition.

As I have tried to show, the two works selected for discussion written by Russian and Armenian
writersofthesamegenerationinthesecondhalfofthe60s,bearwitness,indifferentways,to
this important development that was taking place in the S.U. during the years following
KhruschevsThaw.

The critical gaze of the Armenian writer towards the center, which, in the manner of its
performance is an unparallel action, at least in terms of Soviet Armenian literature, also
registeredthedividebetweentheCenterandtheperiphery.Thiswascoupledwiththediscovery
madebyAndreiBitovoftheirreducibleculturaldifferenceandethnicothernessofArmenia.This
isperhapsimplicitlyconditionedbytherecognitionbyBitovoftheability,inthepersonaofhis
friendHrantMatevosyan,ofArmeniasculturalself-representation.

TranslatedfromArmenianbyHrantGadarigian

27
Ibid,pp.38-39.
28
See,,,,65/66,2007,.85-96
(http://xz.gif.ru/numbers/65-66/grach-bayadyan/).
29
HrantMatevosyan,ibid,p.183.
AndreiBitovandHrantMatevosyan(photograph
kindlyprovidedbytheHrantMatevosyanFoundation

1968:GlobalorLocal?
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Wecanspeakofthreemajorhistoricalmomentswhenrevolutionarymovementsbecameglobal
by transcending national borders in unexpected ways: 1848, 1968, and 1989. If one of its
distinguishing aspects that renders 1968 different from the other two important dates is its
inability to stage successful revolutions, the other one is its being a global and worldwide
phenomenonofanincomparabledegreeincontrastto1848whichislimitedtoEurope,and1989
which is limited to East Europe. Such that, there is almost no place in the world which has not
lived a 68
1
except a section of Sub-Saharan Africa, the south of the Arabian Peninsula, and
severalEastEuropeancountries.
2

Itisnotpossibletoassertthatcompletelysatisfyinganswershavebeengivenbyhistorianstothe
question what are the basic dynamics that make 68 so global. How countries with thoroughly
differentpoliticalandeconomicconditionscould,aroundthesameyears,witnessradicalstudent
movementsandanaccompanyingradicalethosisstillacriticaldiscussionandresearchtopic.

Since we are faced with a global phenomenon, the first explanation that comes to mind can be
driven through the detection of global dynamics. Viewed from this perspective, the dynamics
that need to be detected at first hand are as follows: 1) The almost universal explosion in the
number of students in the 1960s. 2) Significant events like the Cuban Revolution, Vietnam, and
the Prague Spring that shaped world politics with their impacts. 3) The proliferation of media
organs such as press, radio, and television. Yet the main question is whether these three
dynamicssufficetoexplainsuchradicalandglobalmovementsornot.Infact,everyexplanation
concerning68,especiallytotheextentthatitdoesnotbuildupanarrativethatputsthestresson
its own national dynamics but tries to make do with the global explanation in question, finds
itselftobedeficient,weak,andfarfrompersuasiveness.Sincesuchisthecase,isitmorerational
tospeakofthecontingentjuxtapositionofmovementsproducedbydifferentlocalitiesandlocal
experiences?

Ofcourseitispossibletoaskthesamequestionnotonlyintermsofthedeterminantdynamics
butalsoattheempiricalanddescriptivelevel.Wasthereasingle68?Ordideverycountryliveits
own 68? What was common to the 68 of the West and the 68 of the Third World? Let us begin
withsearchinganswerstothesequestions.

Howmany68sarethere?

Undoubtedly there are many qualities of 68 that make it both common and particular to every
single country. In Arif Dirliks words, the 68 student movements were using a common
vocabulary but working according to the logic of a different grammar.
3
Then, can we argue that
thereweredifferentdemandsandconcernsunderlyingnumerouscommonslogansandsymbols
like Che and Vietnam? To begin with, we can broach the subject with the most pervasive
conviction, by mentioning the difference between the 68 of the West and that of the Third
World.

Inthisrespect,abriefoverviewofthehistoryofstudentmovementscanbehelpful.Accordingto
EdwardShils,whatrenderedthe60sdistinctivewasnottheemergenceofstudentmovementsin
thoseyears.BothinEuropeandintheThirdWorl,studentmovementshadenteredthestageof

1
Itshouldbenotedthatwhenwesay68wearenottalkingaboutasingleyear.Weshouldemphasizethateventhough
1968isindisputablytheyearwhentheprotestshavebeenthemostintense,the68ofsomecountrieshappenedin
differentyears(forinstance,the1973PolytechnicuprisinginGreece),andthereforeweuse68moreasasymbolic
year.Inthissense,68maybeconsideredalongyearthatcovers1965-73.Forasimilardiscussionsee,KostisKornetis,
EverythingLinks?Temporality,TerritorialityandculturalTransferinthe68ProtestMovements,Historein,n.9,2009,p.
34-45.
2
MichaelKidronandRolandSegalTheStateoftheWorldAtlas(London,1981),citedinCaroleFink,DetlefJunker,and
PhilippGassertIntroduction1968TheWorldTransformed(WashingtonD.C.:CambridgeUniversityPress,1998),p.14-5.
3
ArifDirlikTheThirdWorldin1968,TheWorldTransformed,ibid.pp.295-320.
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history long ago.
4
For example, in the1930s there was a noteworthy left student movement in
England.
5
AsfortheThirdWorld,studentmovementswereverypowerfulsincethebeginningof
the century. Such that, in some countries they reached their peak not in 1968, but well in
advance. Argentine in 1918, Egypt in 1937, and India in the independence war years witnessed
themostmassiveandradicalstudentagencies.
6

Still, there was something that distinguished the 60s. First of all, contrary to the dispersed and
relatively weak movements of the previous years, a movement of unprecedented extensiveness
andsimultaneityemergedintheUSAandWesternEurope.AndintheThirdWorld,eventhough
the student movements in many countries had reached their climax in different years as
mentionedabove,inthe60stherewasasignificantintensification.

According to Shils, what rendered the 60s different was a qualitative change rather than a
quantitativeone.Previousmovementshadmostlyfunctionedwithinatraditionalleftframework,
as extensions of the political lines of the big parties. The political activity of the youth
movements which had internalized the traditional revolutionary political lines were generally
underthecommandorintheshadowofthecommunistparties(ortheleftist-nationalistparties
in the Third World). 68 was strikingly different in this sense. To begin with, the youth was now
absolutely refusing the tutelage of any big or paternal party, and on top of that, they were
also declaredly disavowing the conception of politics represented by these parties. The
Communist Parties evoked as much disgust with their bureaucratic structures as the traditional
bourgeoisie parties. New politics was much more anarchistic, decentralized, and spontaneous.
Theyouthwantedtostarttherevolutionhereandnowintheirdailylives;theyreplacedallforms
bureaucratictransformationimaginationswithspontaneityandtheemancipatoryforceofrevolt.

According to Wallerstein, Hopkins, and Arrighi, in this sense 68 was exactly the death notice of
traditional radical-populist politics. In view of these writers, both the radical parties in the West
and the left-nationalist movements in the Third World had gradually fell far from keeping their
promises; they had not been able to bring about any significant transformation in the countries
they had come to power. Therefore, 68 was a reaction against paternal politics and the
bankruptcy of old school revolutionism.
7
It had become obvious that the revolution was not
goingtotakeplacewiththeappropriationofthepowerapparatus.Hence,therevolutionhadto
beinitiatedinourselves,oureverydaylives,andsomewhereoutsidethepowerofthestate.

This distinction which sets forth the qualitative difference of the 60s is rather illuminating.
However,thisissoonlyinthecaseofWesternEurope.AsfortheThirdWorld,itcontainssome
misleadingelements.Nodoubtasharedgenerationexperienceandtherejectionofthetutelage
ofpaternalpartieswereineffectalsointheThirdWorld;however,thisrejectionneverreached
the level of disowning the conception of politics of these parties. In other words, the radical
studentmovementsoftheThirdWorldwereacontinuationofthetraditionalradicalpoliticsand
social movements. These movements were angry at the reformist or left-nationalist parties for
notdoinganythingafterseizingpower;butthisangerdidnotbringabouttheradicalquestioning
oftheconceptionofpoliticsheldbytheseparties.Onthecontrary,whathadtobedonewasto
repeatwhathadpreviouslytriedtobedoneinamoreradicalandgenuineway.

Andtherewasnothingsurprisinginthis.Fortheradicalleaderswhoactedwithinasocio-political
context in which poverty was still a major problem, industrialization was the most important

4
EdwardShilsDreamsofPlentitude,NightmaresofScarcityinStudentsinRevolt,(eds.)SeymourMartinLipsetand
PhilipG.Altbach(Boston:HoughtonMifflinCompany,1969),1-35.
5
BrianSimonTheStudentMovementinEnglandandWalesduringthe1930s,TheStateandEducationalChange
(collectedessaysby)BrianSimon(London:Lawrance&Wishart,1994),103-126.
6
ForArgentinaseeRichardJ.Walter,StudentPoliticsinArgentina:TheUniversityReformandItsAffects1918-1964,
(BasicBooks,1968).ForEgypt,AhmadAbdalla,TheStudentMovementandNationalPoliticsinEgypt1923-1973(London:
AlSaqiBooks,1985).ForIndia,PhilipG.AltbachStudentPoliticsandHigherEducationinIndia,inStudentsinRevolt,
ibid.235-257.
7
GiovanniArrighi,TerenceHopkins,ImmanuelWallerstein,SistemKartHareketler[AntisystemicMovements],
(Istanbul:Metis,2004),pp.96-100.
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commongoalandpopulistpoliticshadnotcompletelyexhausteditself,thestatewasstillavital
leverage and there was much to achieve by taking control of the state. While in the West 68
marked the beginning of anti-modernist movements, in the Third World modernization was
definitelyanunfinishedprojectandthestatecontinuedtobethemotorofmodernization.

Surely it is extremely suspect to draw this differentiation in a rigid way. Definitely there were
many student groups in the West who maintained their traditional political lines just as outside
the West there were student circles who experienced the cultural revolution dimension of the
68.Wewilltrytotouchonthesepointsbelow.

Therefore, despite all its vulgarity and the unfair generalizations it implies and, even more
crucially, despite the border examples where the two categories intersect (such as Italy where
counter-culturalmovementswereweakcomparedwiththeclassicalrevolutionarymovements)a
differentiation can be made between the 68 of the developed countries and that of the Third
World
8
;albeitwithoutforgettingthecommonfeaturesandqualitiesthatrender68indisputably
globalbeyondthisdifferentiation.

Anti-imperialismwasthemostprominentofthesefeatures.Eventhoughanti-imperialismwasa
much more dominant emphasis in the Third World, one of the elemental agendas of the
developedcountrieswasanti-imperialismandthemostimportantsymbolthatheldthe68ofthe
world together was definitely Vietnam. The slogan that united almost all of the student
movementsthatconstitutedthe68movementwasOne,two,three,four!Wedontwantyour
fucking war! Both the Red Army Faction in Germany and the guerilla groups in Latin America,
andthePeoplesLiberationArmyofTurkeyhadchosentheAmericanmilitarybasesastheirprior
targetsandtheyhadreckonedtheweakeningofAmericanimperialismasapre-conditionofthe
liberationoftheworldspeoples.

Another global characteristic of 68 was that almost everywhere in the world it was lived as a
generation experience involving a dimension of generation conflict. Above, we had mentioned
the break from the paternal parties and political movements. Even in the Third World where
the foundational lines of this paternal politics were not questioned, the youth organizations
quickly became autonomous and declared their independence. One of the most striking
examples of this was Turkeys student movements initial rupture from the gerontocratic
structure of the Turkish Labor Party and, ensuing that, its refusal of the leadership of another
father,MihriBelli.Theideologicalandpoliticalleadersoftheyouthwerefigureswhohadnot
passedtheageoftwentyfive.

Athirdcommonalitywasvoluntarisminhighdosewhichleftitsmarkonthemovementandthe
belief in both the effectiveness and the remedial power of violence.
9
Politicalviolencewasboth
an effective tool of revolution in the hands of a voluntarist avant-garde group and it was
emancipatory and healing in itself. While the instrumental aspect of violence was more in the
fore in the Third World, in the West, the experiencing of violence as a practice of existence and
revolt by closed groups which had detached themselves from the pacifist counter-culture
movementswasmorefrequentlyobserved.However,allthesedifferentperceptionsofviolence
heldbythesemovementsintersectedataFanonistsublimationofviolence.

Causes

We can make the categorizations we have made above at the empirical level at the plane of
causality as well. In other words, we can distinguish between global dynamics and dynamics
specifictotheirowncategoriesthatguidedthemovements.Firstofall,weshouldproceedfrom
acommonfinding.Thepreconditionofyouthmovementsistheexistenceofaninfluentialyouth
orstudentidentityorcultureinthenationalcontextinquestion.MeyerandRubinson,aswellas
others, had detected a significant correlation between the rates of the recognition of the

8
ArifDirlik,ibid.
9
KostisKornetis,ibid,p.39.
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studentship status at the cultural, juridical or official levels and the intensity of student
movementsinallthesamplecountriestheyhadexamined.
10
Therefore,bothintheWestandin
theThirdWorldwecantaketheexistenceofastrongyouth/studentcultureasthepre-condition
ofstudentpolitics.However,itseemsthatthisconditionhasbeenshapedindifferentwaysand
underdifferenthistoricalconditionsinthecasesofthesetwocategories.

Theemergenceofyouthasapervasivecategoryinthedevelopedcountriescoincideswiththe
rise of the consumerist society after World War 2. In these countries youth was originally a
category discovered and put into circulation by the market. The post-war welfare state and the
wealth produced by the golden age of capitalism had made it possible for the households to
subsistontheincomeofasinglemember(thatis,thefather),andasaresulttheurgencytojoin
theworkforceonthepartoftheyouthhadbeenremoved.Aboveall,theyouthperiodofnot
onlythemiddleclassesbutalsotheworkingclasswasprolongedtoatleastage18,beforewhen
they did not work. Moreover, these youngsters had the opportunity to cultivate a consumption
patternsuitabletotheirtasteswiththeallowancetheygotfromtheirfathers.
11
Thusthemarket
discovered a new consumer group, the youth, a category that was highly distinct and
innovative with its tastes and habits. Throughout the 50s, the youth had turned into a
sociological category with the accessories they used (leather jacket), the vehicles they drove
(motorcycle), the music they listened to (rock n roll) and the way they spent their leisure time.
And the youth culture of the 60s was the product of the radicalization of the apolitical yet
rebelliouscultureoftenyearsagobyanintellectual-politicalyouth(thatis,theuniversityyouth).

Asforthedevelopingworld,theyouthidentityhadbeenproducedinacompletelydifferentway.
Inthesecountrieswheretheprocessesoftheconstructionofthenationandthenationalidentity
stillsettheagenda,thestateitselfplayedamajorroleintheproductionoftheuniversityyouth
identity.Theyouthwasthesourcefromwhichtonurturethefuturerulingelites,theguarantee
ofthecountry.Sotheyhadtobeeducatedbutevenduringtheireducationtheyhadtobeplaced
at a privileged position and treated as the future elites, rulers, and bearers of national culture.
Moreover, they were needed not only in the future but also in the present day. In time of a
possible war they were the ones to be recruited first with their dynamism, physical capacities,
and patriotism. Therefore, in these countries, the youth became the privileged subject of a
nationalist-militarist (and at times revolutionary) discourse. The youth was brave, pure and
uncorrupt, idealist and ready to fight in the name of these ideals Just as Mustafa Kemal had
defineditinhisAddresstoYouthandeveninthemuchmorecontroversialBursaOration.
12

In parallel to this, in developing countries the youth usually not only had a strong identity but
alsopowerfulrepresentationmechanismsandsemi-corporatistorganizations.

Surely,thepoliticizationandradicalizationofthispowerfulstudentidentityhadrequiredcertain
conditions. These conditions were mainly the political conflicts which, to a large extent,
concurringly cut through the Third World in the post-war period and were the products of the
Cold War atmosphere. From Latin America to Asia, reformist, industry-oriented political
platformsdependentoneducatedmiddleclasseshadexerteddominanceoverthepoliticallives
ofthesecountriesinthepost-warera.Thesepoliticalmovementsdefinedthemselvesasagainst
rich land oligarchies; they designed partial nationalizations, notably land reform, and radical
actionsforthedevelopmentofanationalindustry.Thenaturalrivalsofthesegroupswhichtried
torestonaworker-peasant-middleclassalliancewerelandownersandpeasantsdependenton
themthroughpatronage,aconsiderablepartofthebourgeoisie,andafterthe60sthemilitary.
13

The radicalization of these conflicts under Cold War conditions led to the politicization of

10
Meyer,JohnW.andRichardRubinsonStructuralDeterminantsofStudentPoliticalActivity:AComparative
Interpretation,SociologyofEducation,45(1)(Winter,1972):23-46.
11
ForagoodsummaryofthisexplanationseeTonyJudt,Postwar:AHistoryofEuropesince1945(NewYork:ThePenguin
Press,2005),p.346-48.
12
LeylaNeyziObjectorSubject?TheParadoxofYouthinTurkey,InternationalJournalofMiddleEastStudies,33,no.
3,(August2001),411-432.
13
EspeciallyinLatinAmerica,untiltheendofthe1950s,thearmieshadsupportedthereformistmiddleclasspartiesand
hadevencarriedthemtopowerinsomecountries,butlateronwhenthesemovementswereradicalizedandhadbegun
tomovefurthertotheleftthearmieshadtakensideswiththeoligarchicpowersandthebourgeoisie.
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students.Attimesthroughtheconsciousmobilizationofthereformistpartiesinquestion,andat
times through a more spontaneous process the university youth entered the political scene as
thenaturalallyofthesemiddleclassparties.Theseyoungintellectualswhousedtheirpowerful
and prestigious positions in society participated in the social conflicts due to their national
responsibilities and took sides with the modernizing powers as required by their education and
missions; however, in time, they quickly became independent of these paternal political
movements.

Wellthen,howcomethesetwodifferentdynamicsintheWestandintheThirdWorldmergedin
the60s?Whydidthesetwosocio-politicaldynamics,whoseintersectionseemedtobeinnoway
a necessity, cause a global explosion in the sixties? We can reply by recalling the three
fundamental dynamics we had mentioned in the beginning: Almost a universal explosion in the
number of student in the 60s; significant events like the Cuban Revolution, Vietnam, and the
Prague Spring that determined international politics with their impacts; the quick dissemination
ofactionformsandsymbolsbymeansofthepress,radio,andtelevision.

It was truly difficult to find a country that did not double its number of university students
throughout the 60s.
14
The welfare state administrations in the developed world, and the efforts
towards import-substitution industrialization policy in the developing world had caused a boost
in the demand for technocrats, engineers, and social workers; which had in return resulted in a
growth in the number of students. While the increase in the number of students even further
augmentedthesocialvisibilityoftheyouthintheWest,inthedevelopingworld,theincreasein
the number of students who had begun to become politicized many years ago automatically
translatedasagrowthinamassthatwasreadytobecomepoliticized.

In the meantime, the national liberation movements which left their mark on the 50s and 60s
were inspiring and encouraging especially the Third World youth about conducting an anti-
imperialist struggle. As for the Cuban Revolution, by demonstrating the effective outcome of a
revolutionary struggle initiated by an avant-garde force first in Latin America, then in the whole
world,itturnedguerillawarintoawidespreadstrategyonaglobalscale.
And,needlesstosay,VietnamwasexpeditiouslyagitatingboththeUSAyouthwhowasunderthe
risk of being conscripted and the Third World youth ripe with anti-imperialist sentiments. The
dispersed student radicalizations at different time intervals converged, intensified, and
sharpened as if coordinated by an invisible hand in the second half of the 60s with the
emergenceofcommonglobalcausesininternationalpolitics.

When the protest repertoires, imaginative inventions, and slogans of different national
movements were spread quickly by the media organs these movements attained a common
vocabulary as well. Even though besides this common repertory there were specific words used
byyouthmovementsineachcountryandsometimesthesamewordssignifieddifferentthings,a
languagebymeansofwhichthewholeworldyouthcouldmoreorlesscommunicatehadquickly
spread.
15

Therefore,itwasunavoidableforthecharactersoftheyouthmovementsoftwoseparateworlds
stemming from diverse socio-political dynamics to be different even though they converged
around common symbols and causes. While the Western youth movements bore a life-style-
oriented and counter-cultural tone, those in the Third World were more political and nation-
centered. For this reason, the 68 of the West moved side by side with a cultural revolution and
generated new social movements which placed new conflicts at the center of politics, whereas
the 68 of the Third World generally left its trace on the political sphere rather than the cultural
one.

14
JohnW.Meyer,FranciscoO.Raminez,RichardRubinson,JohnBoli-Bennett,TheWorldEducationalRevolution,1950-
1970,SociologyofEducation,vol.50,no.4(October1977),242-258.
15
Thereisahighlyadvancedliteratureonthespreadoftheprotestsandprotestformsbysurpassingthenational
borders.AsanexampleseeDoughMcAdamandDieterRuchtCross-nationalDiffusionofMovementIdeas,Annalsof
theAmericanAcademyofthePoliticalandSocialScience,528,1993,p.56-74.
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Culturalrevolution?

InEuropeandtheUSAaculturalrevolutiontookplaceinthe60sand70s.
16
Afasttransitioninto
a more tolerant society in which moral criteria was changing, taboos were being shaken one by
one, sexuality was lived more freely, warmth replaced formality in relations, easiness, sincerity
and freeness replaced a puritan self-control morality, and the authoritarian remnants of the
formersocietywereerasedwasinprocess.Thequestionwhetherthisculturalrevolutioncreated
68 or 68 gave birth to this cultural transformation is debated. Even if according to many writers
thebeginningofthisculturaltransformationcouldbetracedbacktothe1955s,andevenearlier,
and even if it was rightly claimed that 68 had risen on the grounds of this cultural revolution
17
,
undoubtedly, the social dynamic engendered by 68 had further radicalized this cultural
transformationandcarrieditevenfurther.

Actually, this transformation was the natural consequence of the conscious provocations of the
studentsof68.Theradicalstudentgroupsofthetimewereaimingtodisclosetheauthoritarian
faces of the official and respectable institutions and their representatives, and to bring down
their democrat masks, which they used as a Cold War rhetoric, by deliberately trying their
patienceandprovokingthem.AndtoalargeextenttheyhadsucceededincleaningtheEuropean
publiclifefrombumptiousformality,authoritarianism,andreligiousmoralitymainlyremnants
ofaristocracy.

We had said that 68 was rather political outside the West. In these countries cultural struggle
yielded more complicated results. For example, the 68 of Ethiopia had effloresced as a reaction
to the parade of the models in a fashion show that took place in the university, and all
throughout the movement the mini skirt and all kinds of sexual freedom ideas, which were the
symbols of Western imperialism, were condemned.
18
The cultural revolution motifs which were
the symbols of emancipation in the West could be taken in the Third World as the attempts on
thepartofthedegenerateWesternworldtoinvadethelocalculture.

Butnoteverywherewaslikethis.ForinstanceinTurkey,atleastuntil1969,rock,therebelmusic
of the West, the mini skirt, the symbol of casualness and disobedience in the way of dressing,
long hair, and accessories in general had gradually gained wide currency among the left leaning
youth. The situation in Mexico was more or less the same. New trends were being adopted by
the youth; to consume these symbols while at the same time being anti-imperialist and leftist
was not considered to be a contradiction even though a significant section of the youth was
doingsowithcompletelyapoliticalintentions.
19

Principally,markingespeciallytheyearsbetween1965and1968inTurkeywasaculturalrevival
besides the universalization of the symbols in question. The launching of the literary magazine
YeniDergi,theestablishmentofCinematheque,theemergenceoftheAnatolianPopmovement,
andthequicklyincreasingnumberoftranslationswerecreatinganunprecedentedairofcultural
abundance for the young generations. Many witnesses conveyed that in this period the
preconditionofbeingaleftistwasreadingliterature.Inthesummerof1968thisculturalclimate
metwiththerebellionoftheuniversitystudentsandthatwasauniquesummerofliberation.

However,thisatmospherewasshort-lived.Theurgency,currency,andgravityofpoliticalstruggle
put the cultural pursuits and transformations on the back burner. The preoccupation with
reaching out to the people and meeting with the people as the requirement of a radical politics
tended towards rediscovering the authentic, and reuniting with the folk culture instead of
discoveringtheculturallynew.JustlikeinMexico,beforelongrockwasforgottenbecauseoffolk

16
EricHobsbawm,Arlklara[TheAgeofExtremes:TheShortTwentiethCentury],1914-1991,(stanbul:Sarmal
Publications,1996),p.372-399.
17
ArthurMarwickTheSixties:TheCulturalRevolutioninBritain,France,Italy,andtheUnitedStates,c.1958-c.1974(New
York:OxfordUniversityPress,1998).
18
ArifDirlik,ibid.
19
FortheMexicoexampleseeEricZolovRefriedElvis:TheRiseoftheMexicanCounterculture(Berkeley:Universityof
CaliforniaPress,199).
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music. Mini skirts were thrown aside, long-haired students were taken out of demonstrations,
andsymbolsmilitarized.

Hence 68 did not become the turning point of a new cultural and artistic transformation in
Turkey.68wasthesignofneitheranewmodernismnorthebeginningofanavant-gardewave.
Artistic pursuits inclined towards new realisms, or the rediscovery and recovery of the true folk
culture with new tools, or the balancing of avant-garde forms with a more left and populist
content.Neitherweretheresultsofthekindtobemadelightofnordidthenewexperimentsfall
short of the new quests of the Western modernism. However, there was not a turning point, a
radicalruptureinview.

Conclusion,orwhatremainsbehind

AswehavementionedabovetheimprintsoftheWestern68ondailylifeandculturehavebeen
much more permanent and deep. As for the 68 of the Third World, it mainly witnessed the
suppression of the social movements it had encouraged and pioneered by military coups and
authoritarianregimes.Intheselands,thepoliticaltracesofthe68weredelicatelyandmercilessly
erased by the reactionary regimes. It was not only left political movements and culture that
suffered from this. The crushing of the youth had paved the way for the recovery of the
gerontocratic regimes. Indisputably Turkey was one of the places where this could be observed
most clearly. The September 12 coup one by one took away from the youth all its prestige and
areasoffreedom.Theeducationsystemwasre-disciplinedwithanarchaicauthoritarianismand
a new period had begun in which the anarchic memories from the past were reminisced as
nightmares,andtheauthorityoftheteacher,theschoolmaster,andthedisciplinaryboardwho
became sources of fear and terror were unshakably constructed. The youth-politics relationship
was decisively disrupted. Anyway, the new liberal order had already eroded the identity of
students as intellectuals responsible for the future of the country and transformed them into
competitiveinvestorswhowerecompelledtoincreasetheirhumancapitalinordertosurvivein
the work-force market. From now on, the youth was far from being a political category or
subject.

Asforthepoliticalheritageofthe68inTurkey,itishighlycontroversial.BoththeradicalMarxist
politics of the day and nationalist Kemalism, and even some of the liberal intellectuals (even
thoughthemajorityofthemcannotdesistfromfuriouslyattacking68)claimtheirrootstobein
68. It is very hard to argue that any one of them is wrong. The 68 of Turkey was indisputably
Marxist and revolutionary; but at the same time it was defining this revolutionism with a
discourse that was interpenetrated with an anti-imperialist, nationalist Kemalism. And the
majority of todays liberal intellectuals were brought up in the school of 68. Apparently, when
asking the question how many 68s are there, one needs to take into consideration not only the
different 68s lived by different countries but also the different ways how 68 is remembered
today.

TranslatedfromTurkishbyAyeBoren

EverythingYouAlwaysWantedtoKnowAbout(Ukrainian)
Nationalism,ButWereAfraidtoAskLenin
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TheGreatUkrainian

A few years ago a syndicated TV project The Great Ukrainians was aired at one of the national
channels.Theideaoftheprojectwasverysimple:thewholenation,whichwasrepresentedbya
TV-audience, elected its most important historical figures. The project failed in Ukraine; it did
not, as it was predicated by its promoters, generate any serious political discussion. It was a
rather boring version of the political talk-shows, which after the Orange revolution used to be
very dramatic. The only episode that somehow broke the smooth surface was a brief
confrontation between the leader of the parliamentary Communist party, the corrupted Soviet
Left that quickly joined the coalition of the big capital parties, and a leading researcher in the
program, a liberal historian. The former claimed that Lenin should be included among the great
Ukrainians, because he was at the roots of Ukraines independence. The latter repudiated,
explaining that Lenin was internationalist, and therefore his ultimate goal was the world
revolutionandnottheindependenceofUkraine.

This brief appearance of Lenin, which surprised some and annoyed others (and probably, was
unnoticed by others), is interesting in two respects. Firstly, it made perceptible the absence of
Lenin from popular imagination. The collapse of the Soviet Union was followed by a total de-
Leninization,whichlastedtilltoday.OneofthefewexceptionstothistendencyisSlavoyZizeks
13 Essays on Lenin, which he published on the 85
th
anniversary of the October Revolution
1
.
However, reading this essay makes you wonder, as in Zizeks favourite anecdote, Where is
Lenin?.

Theotherreason,whythisbriefTVdialogisinterestingisthatitironicallyreversestheimportant
discussiononLeninsnationalitypoliticsthatemergedduringthe60sinUkraine.Thisdiscussion
wasmosteloquentlysetforthinthetextInternationalismorRussification?(1965)byliterarycritic
Ivan Dzyuba
2
. While Dzyuba presented Lenin as a national liberator, the Soviet officials
repudiated this in a similar way as the liberal historian in the TV program. In addition, they
accusedDzyubaofnationalism.

Generally, communism as ideology is seen as the total opposite of nationalism. One often
accountsthestatementthatthemostvivideffectofthecollapseofcommunismhasbeenthe
rise of nationalism, as if simply the label scientific communism was replaced with scientific
nationalism,asithadbeensuggestedbyonerepresentativeoftheSovietstateapparatusinthe
early 90s. But something important is excluded from this opposition between communism and
nationalism:thatunderimperialismthenationalquestionacquiresaclassdimension.Andthisis
oneofthemainideasthatdefinedLeninspoliticstowardnationalities.Leninnotonlysupported
therightofnationstoself-determinationbutalsogaveitMarxistgrounds.Althoughhisapproach
tothenationalquestionwasnotwithoutcontradictions,Leninsympathisedwiththestrugglesof
theoppressednationsagainstimperialism.InhisdebatewithLuxembourghedefendednational-
liberationmovements,definedthemasprogressiveandsawthepossibility(andthenecessity)to
linkthemwiththeclassstrugglesoftheproletariat,insteadofopposingthetwo.

Purloinedletter

WhilesupportingtheoppressednationsrighttosecessioninhisTheSocialistRevolutionandthe
Right of Nations to Self-Determination (1916), Lenin believed that once granted this right, the
oppressed nation would not exercise it because of the benefits of being part of a bigger
centralized system of a progressive democratic character. Lenins this give-and-take away

1
SlavojZizek.DieRevolutionstehetbevor.DreizehnVersucheuberLenin.FrankfurtAmMain:SuhrkampVelag,2002.
2
IvanDzyuba.InternatsionalismchyRusyfikatsia?.Kiev,2005.
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politicswasimmediatelycriticisedbyUkrainiancommunistLeonYurkevych,whosetextsrecently
becameaccessible.
3

HoweverinhislastyearsLeninrevisedhisnationalitypolitics.Hediditinhisletterwhichisnow
known under the title The Question of Nationalities or Autonomisation. The letter was
dictated by Lenin during the last two days of December 1922. This was the only medium of
communicationhehadaccessto.Leninattributedconsiderableimportancetothesenotes,which
he wanted to elaborate into an article. He was never able to do it. The letter was presented at
theXIICongressoftheCommunistpartyon16April1923,andthendisappeared.Itwasfound
onlyafterStalinsdeathandpublishedin1956.
4

This letter is central to Dzyubas argumentation in Internationalism or Russification?. It is an

extended elaboration of the main ideas in Lenins notes from the historical distance of almost
halfacentury.Inaway,thisisthearticlethatwasneverwrittenbyLenin.

WhydoesthenationalquestionbotherdyingLenin?Firstly,hewasveryupsetwiththesocalled
Georgianaffair,theconflictwiththeCommunistPartyofGeorgiainautumn1922ontheissue
of the creation of a Transcaucasian federation. Instead of regulating this conflict, Central
Committees representatives Ordzhonikidze and Stalin (Russified Georgians, as Lenin points in
brackets) suppressed it. Secondly, Lenin felt that something was going on that he did not have
much influence on. The letter starts with the phrase: I seem to be very guilty against Russian
workers for not actively and abruptly intruding in the notorious question of autonomisation,
whichisofficiallycalled,itseems,thequestionoftheUnionofSovietSocialistRepublics.
5

It seems that Lenins position varies from the first to the second day he wrote the letter. At the
beginning of the letter Lenin condemns the venture of autonomisation for being conceptually
wrong and not being proper in the current situation. At the conclusion of the letter he gives
practical recommendations that begin with the affirmation of the union of socialist republics (if
bythisLeninmeansthesameunion).Aunionisneededforthestruggleoftheworldproletariat
againsttheworldbourgeoisie,explainsLenin,butinthefourthandthelastexhortation,whichis
much longer and twisted, he emphasises the necessity to fight the abuses of the truly Russian
character, going as far as the possibility of restoring the full independence of republics aside
from the military and diplomatic union. The necessity to unify against Western imperialism,
warns Lenin, should not justify imperialistic relations with oppressed nations. He finishes the
letter with a prediction, which explains why the national question had such weight at that
moment:Tomorrowintheworldhistorywillbepreciselythisday,whenthenationsoppressed
by imperialism will fully awaken and the decisive, long, and difficult struggle for their liberation
willstart.
6

Generallytherearetwooppositeunderstandingsofinternationalism.Accordingtoone,itmeans
theabolitionofallnationaldifferences,andreturntoaninnocentstatebeforetheconfusionof
tongues. Lenin called this national nihilism. The other understanding of internationalism,
which was developed by Lenin, saw it as the fullest development of all nations. In order to
achievethisLeninsuggestsamechanismofcompensationthatwouldlaterbeknownaspositive
discrimination:

I have already written in my works about the national question that the abstract
formulation of the question of nationalism is totally false. One should differentiate

3
Lev(Yurkevych)Rybalka.RussianSocialDemocratsandtheNationalQuestion.1917.
http://thecommune.wordpress.com/2009/08/31/two-rare-texts-on-the-national-question/
4
This letter together with some others was published in Communicst, 1956, Issue 9, and was included in the additional
volumes of Complete Works. V.I. Lenin, The Question of Nationalities or Autonomisation, in the Collected Works,
Volume 36, Moscow 1971, pp. 605-11. I am citing from the Ukrainian translation: V.I. Lenin, The Question of
NationalitiesorAutonomisation,intheCollectedWorks,Volume45,Kiev1974,pp.339-45.TheEnglishtranslationwas
publishedathttp://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1922/dec/testamnt/autonomy.htm
5
V.I.Lenin.TheQuestionofNationalitiesorAutonomisation,p.339.(Mytranslation.)
6
Ibid.p.345.
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betweenthenationalismoftheoppressingnationandthenationalismoftheoppressed
nation, the nationalism of the big nation and the nationalism of the small nation.
Concerning the second nationalism, almost always in historical practice we,
representativesofthebignationturntobedeeplyguiltyofnumerousactsofviolence,
moreover we continue committing numerous offences and acts of violence which
remain imperceptible for us That is why internationalism from the side of the
oppressingnationshouldconsistnotonlyinadheringtotheformalequalityofnations
butinsuchaninequalitythatcompensatesattheexpenseoftheoppressingnation,the
big nation, that inequality which actually exists in life. Those who did not understand
this missed the point of the true proletarian attitude toward the national question and
retainedthepetit-bourgeoisiepointofviewandthatiswhytheycannotbutregressall
thetimetothebourgeoispointofview.
7

While Lenin did not have to justify his understanding of internationalism, Dzyuba presents an
ethical argumentation for it, which can be summarized in four positions: firstly, the universal is
accessibleonlythroughtheparticular,inthiscasethroughthenational;secondly,ifcommunism
appropriates all the best produced by humanity, it cannot reject national languages and
traditions; thirdly, the abolition of any nation deprives it of the possibility to contribute to
cultural development and condemns it to cultural dependency. Moreover, the abolition of all
nations hits only small, oppressed nations. Big, or oppressor nations usually reserve for
themselves positions above the national, that of universal humanity. Dzyuba cites Marxs letter
toEngelsfrom20June1866,inwhichhedescribedhowtherepresentativesoftheYoungFrance
believedthatthose,whocomplicatedthesocialquestionswiththeprejudicesoftheoldworld
suchasnationalquestions,werebydefinitionreactionaries.MarxcommentedthatLafargueand
otherswhoabolishedthenationwereproclaimingthisinFrenchandbyabolitionofnationsthey
understood the assimilation of all nations by the French model.
8
This is what Dzyuba calls
assimilationofsmall,oppressednationsbythebig,oppressornation.

As a literary critic Dzyuba pays most but not exclusive attention to the cultural field, which he
reads politically. One of the main examples to the perversion of proletarian internationalism he
diagnosed in the current nationality politics of the Soviet Union was the revision of history in
terms of the rehabilitation of the Russian Empire, the owner of the great length of the stolen
landasEngelscalledit.DzyubaopposesnegativeaccessionsofRussianimperialismbyclassicsof
Marxism-LeninismandRussianliberaldemocrats(Gertsen,Chernyshevsky)totheSovietworship
of the heroic doings of the Russian people. Dzyuba points out the ideological trick that
StalinismplayedontheMarxistunderstandingofhistory:replacingtheTsarasanagentofaction
withRussianpeoplehelpstoascribeprogressivecharactertoallimperialisticsteals,presenting
them as a voluntary unification with the Russian people. The grandiose celebration of the 300
th

anniversary of the unification of the Ukrainian people with their Russian elder brother, the
PerejaslavskaRadaof1654,wasfreshinmemoryatthetimewhenDzyubawaswritinghiswork.
9

Non-historicpeoples?

One of the symptoms of the radical reversal of Lenins nationality politics under Stalin was the
actualisation of the Hegelian notion of non-historic peoples. This notion was not new for
Marxism. In 1848-9 Engels used it for Slavs, who joined the counter-revolution in the Habsburg
Empire. Angrily Engels proclaimed that they should be swiped away by history. In 1949, Roman
Rozdolsky,oneofthecommunistleadersfromWesternUkrainewhohadjustimmigratedtoUSA,
wrote a detailed criticism of Engels position regarding this question. He showed that Engels

7
Ibid.pp.341-2.
8
CitedfromIvanDzyuba.InternationalismorRussification?.Kiev,2005,p.75.
9
AbouttheconstructionofthisunificationseeSerhyYekelchyk.StalinsEmpireofMemory:Russian-UkrainianRelations
intheSovietHistoricalImagination.Toronto:TorontoUP,2004.
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missedthearticulationofnationandclassinthecaseofAustrianSlavs,whowerepeasantsand
whowereneverofferedaliberationbyarevolutionarybourgeoisie.
10

As David Brandenberger observes, by the mid 30s the Stalinist regime ascribed the ability of
state-buildingonlytotheRussianpeople,whilethenon-RussianpeoplesoftheSovietUniononly
hadpasts.
11
Officiallythisdidnotmeantheimmediatephysicalannihilationofthesenon-historic
peoples, on the contrary, before being progressively swiped away by history they were to
experienceablossomingtothefull,sotheywouldnotbeupsetwhentheydisappearedwithouta
trace.

In contrast to Lenins nationality politics that was known as indigenization (korenizatsia,

Ukrainisation) and was directed at the active compensation of national inequality, Stalin
developed the formula national in form, socialistic in content, the perfect embodiment of
which were the so called kolkhoz-musicales. In Traktorysty (1939) by Ivan Pyriev, happy
Ukrainiancollectivefarmersregularlyinterruptedtheirjoyousbuildingofsocialismtodanceand
sing Ukrainian folk numbers. The function of these staged ethnographic differences was to
create a hierarchy of peoples crowned by the first among equal, as Stalin called the Russian
people. The liberal character of this hierarchy consisted in the possibility to nationally
upgrade. In Soviet passports the definition of ethnicity was obligatory, but one could freely
choose it. Surprisingly, many representatives of non-historic peoples eagerly reverted to the
progressive nation by assuming Russian identity, language and loyalty. This new identity was
notanotherethnographicnation,notanessentialistandromanticimageoftheRussianpeople;it
was the Soviet nation, deprived of any national pathology. However, as David Brandenberger
points out, by the late forties and early fifties the routine conflation of Russian and Soviet
meantthatinmanycases,patrioticpro-Soviet sentiments almost had to be expressed in Russo-
centricterms.
12

One of the powerful de-Stalinization currents of the Thaw developed in opposition to this
universalizing project, to search an authentic national identity. This movement was distinctly
conservative, traditionalistic and ethnographic, and at the same time it was youthful, lively and
passionate.Interestingly,itcoverednotonlynon-RussianRepublics,butalsoRussiaitself.

InUkrainethisdriveforanauthenticnationalculturewasexpressedinart,especiallyincinema,
inwhatwascalledKyivSchoolofpoeticcinema.Therecognizedcornerstoneoftheschoolwas
the film The Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1964) by Sergei Parajanov. An Armenian born in
Georgia,Parajanov,afterstudyingfilminMoscowchosetoliveandworkinUkraine,andaftera
number of mediocre films at Kyiv Film Studios he suddenly made one of the biggest aesthetic
breakthroughs that become the second most famous Ukrainian film after The Earth by
Dovzhenko,whomParajanovconsideredtobehisteacher.

The Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors had been shot at the Ukrainian part of the Carpathian
mountainsseizedbyStalinin1939.Thefilmportraysthematerialcultureofasmallethnicgroup
Hutsuls who, as an official reviewer of the film noted, preserved their cultural originality
despite the century-long oppression by Austrian colonists.
13
Together with artist Georgiy
Yakutovych,andactorIvanMykolaichyk,wholovedandknewverywellHutsulsculture,andwith
thehelpoftheunchainedcameraofcameramanYuryIllenko,Parajanovmadethisfilmabouta
non-historicpeoplesofulloflife,thattheSovietrealitypaled.Itwasnotanethnographiczoo,
amummifiednationaldifferenceproducedtosustainimperialistichierarchy,butafull-fledged
wildculture.Thepastwasdangerouslyunfrozen.

10
RomanRosdolsky,EngelsandtheNonhistoricPeoples:theNationalQuestionintheRevolutionof1848,Critique,
Glasgow,1987.SeealsothereviewofthebookinRevolutionaryHistory,Vol.3No.2,Autumn1990.
http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/revhist/backiss/vol3/no2/rosdolsk.html
11
DavidLBrandenberger,NationalBolshevism:StalinistMassCultureandtheFormationofModernNationalIdentity,
19311956.Cambridge,Mass.:HarvardUP,2002,p.93.
12
Ibid.p.238.
13
MikhailBleiman.ArchaistsorInnovators?inIscusstvoKino,no7,1970,p.56.
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It is difficult to overestimate the effect of this bright, lively film, an aesthetic bomb, which
smashedthecanonofSovietnarrativefilms,theHollywood-Mosfilmstyle,asGodardoncecalled
it.InitiallyTheShadowsofForgottenAncestorswasverysuccessfulbothinsidetheSovietUnion
(Moscow liked it) and outside it (the film was awarded at the film festival at Mar-del-Plata in
Argentina, and in France it was successfully running in cinemas under the title Les Chevaux de
Feu).However,verysoonthefilmanditsdirectorprovokedthesuspicionoftheauthorities.

Numerous memoirs about Parajanov, who was the epicentre of unofficial cultural in Kyiv during
the 60s, prove that he not only felt a deep disdain toward Soviet power, but also used every
opportunity to show it. For example, the producer of The Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, who
was also the political supervisor of the crew, remembered that during the preparation of the
settingforthesceneinkorchma(alocalpub),ParajanovwasnotsatisfiedwithFranzJosephIs
portrait that was placed on the wall as a sign of loyalty to imperial power. He said, Lets hang
some corn around him, he was a corn-lover like ours, referring to Khrushchevs somewhat
ridiculousfascinationwithAmericancorn.
14

The film was finished when Khrushchev was dismissed. In the summer of 1965 the first wave of
political arrests rolled over Ukraine. A small group of young Ukrainian intellectuals, Ivan Dzyuba
amongthem,decidedtopubliclyprotestagainstit.TheychosetodoitattheUkrainianpremiere
of The Shadows of forgotten Ancestors. In the explanation note to the higher authorities, the
administrator of the cinema which hosted screening on 4 September 1965 wrote that after the
plannedpresentationofthefilmcrew,ayoungmancameoutonthestage,gaveflowerstoone
of the women from the crew, took the microphone and started proclaiming nationalistic and
anti-Soviet words, which sounded like the following: Comrades! The reaction of 1937 has come.
TherearearrestsofUkrainianintelligentsiaalloverUkraine;writers,poets,artistswerearrested.
GroupsofpeoplewerearrestedinKyivandLviv.ThemothersofUkraineareinsorrowfortheirs
sons.Shametoauthorities!Those,whosupportus,riseuptoexpresstheirprotest.
15
Onlyfew
peoplegotup,otherstartedshoutingatthehooligans,afewleftthehallandthemajoritywere
silent. Parajanov did not know about this in advance, and was joking that Dzyuba spoiled his
premiere.

ItwasafterthisfailedpublicprotestwitnessingtheincreasingpoliticalrepressionsDzyubawrote
hisInternationalismorRussification?.Thisbook-lengthexegesisoncommunistnationalitypolitics
was accomplished in four months. On 8 December 1965 Dzyuba sent it together with an open
letter to the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine. The text become a hit of
Ukrainian unofficial self-publishing samvydav and was smuggled beyond the Iron Curtain. It
wastranslatedintoEnglish,Italian,andFrench.

AlthoughDzyubaandParajanovhadadeepfriendshipandmutualrespect,Parajanov,according
toDzyubaswife,didnotapproveoftheactivityofUkrainiannationalistsashecalledthem.He
was jokingly saying: We already had one Lenin, its enough.
16
Parajanov was not interested in
politics, but he was obsessed with art, which sometimes can become a political question. For
example, Parajanov refused to translate The Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors into Russian. He
wasinlovewithmusic,especiallyopera,anditwascriticaltopreservethesoundoftheauthentic
dialect of Hutsuls. Translation into Russian was obligatory for every film produced at the
republican film studios (if the film was not already in Russian). Parajanovs disobedience could
looklikeapoliticalprotest,butitwasdoneforpurelyaestheticalreasons.

In 1973 Parajanov was arrested in Kyiv and was accused of homosexuality, then a crime, and
sentenced to five years in labour camps. It is commonly accepted now that the real motive for
thisrepressionwaspolitical,justdisplacedintothedirtysexualfieldtohumiliateParajanovand
alienatehisfriends.However,Parajanovlikedtoopenlydeclarehishomosexualitytohisfriends,
while a lot of them were sure that he was just pretending, because he was pretending all the

14
VolodymirLugovsky.UnknownMaestro.Kyiv,1998,pp.97-99.
15
PoeticCinema:ForbiddenSchool,ed.byLarysaBryukhovetska.Kyiv,2001,p.269.
16
MarthaDzuyba.SergiyParajanovinKino-Teatr,4(78),2008,p.18.
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time.AlthoughUkrainewasthefirstcountrytoabolishcriminalizationofhomosexualityafterthe
collapseoftheSovietUnion,Parajanov,whogotofficialrecognitionandbecomeacultfigureof
the nationalist discourse, is not rehabilitated yet. As soon as the process of rehabilitation was
initiated by his widow, his son was arrested and sentenced to three years for drug-dealing. This
revealed the true face of the repressive state apparatus of a democratic and independent
Ukrainethatissupposedlyruledbynewnationalists.

BothDzyubaandParajanovsufferedpoliticalrepressions,firstlyinaconcealedformthroughnot
being allowed to work in the cultural field. Dzyuba was denied a PhD candidate status in the
Institute of Literature and Parajanov was not granted an approval for his next film-script, Kyiv
Frescos.DzyubahelpedParajanovtowritealettertotheauthorities,explaininghowimportantit
isforanartisttobeabletocreate.
17
In1970thecentralfilmjournalIskusstvoKinopublishedan
extensivereviewbyMoscowbasedprofessoroffilm,anauthoritativevoice,MikhailBleiman,in
whichhedenouncedtheSchoolasanideologicalmistake.
18
Dzyubawroteananswer,inwhich
he argued against the persecution of an aesthetic school as if it was an anti-Soviet conspiracy.
19

Dzyubawasabletopublishthisarticleonlyin1989,becausehewashimselfarrestedandaccused
of anti-Soviet propaganda. Unlike Parajanov, Dzyuba was released, but the only job he was able
togetwasasaproofreaderinafactorynewspaper.

It seems that after history itself repudiated the term non-historic peoples it should lose any
appeal today. This is not the case. In his textbook on Marxism, with the ironic subtitle Not
Recommended For Learning, which was published in Moscow in 2006, contemporary Russian
Marxist Boris Kagarlitsky dedicates the last chapter to the national question. Here he uses the
termnon-historicpeoples,believingthatitisveryrelevantinthecurrentsituation.Hesays,The
struggle for the official language looks ridiculous in 21
st
century. Five pages latter he is even
more severe: This striving to become valuable nations in the new epoch, when the other
questions are in the foreground, become reactionary.
20
The examples to such ridiculous and
reactionarynon-historicpeoplesthathegivesinpassimareIrelandandUkraine.

Kagarlitsky explains that now the appearance of new states leads to creation of new borders,
the split of formerly unified workers or, to talk in contemporary language, destruction of the
formed economic relations.
21
He does not, however, explain what precisely changed from the
time, when Marx said to British workers, that an oppressor nation can never become free,
thereforetheliberationoftheIrishpeopleisapriorityfortheBritishworkingclass.Toprovethe
irrelevance of national endeavours for the current situation, Kagarlitsky asserts that the
proletariat is striving to set the unity of action, to overcome borders, national and tribal
barriers.
22
Aside from being as new as the Communist Manifesto this statement totally ignores
that today it is not the proletariat, who sets the unity of action. It is capital in its global
imperialisticstagethatovercomesborders,nationalandtribalbarriers.

TheinterpretationofthenationalquestionbyKagarlytsky,whichisnotuncommonamongpost-
SovietNewLeft,revealsatypicaldoublethinking,asymptomoftheimperialistunconscious.Not
surprisingly Kagarlytsky rejects any possibility to see the Soviet Union as an imperial system.
While the phenomenon of Stalinist Orientalism gains recognition among historians of the Soviet
Union
23
, in Kagarlytskys opinion all the peoples of the Soviet Union were in an equal situation,
theyequallysufferedfromthedefectsoftheSovietsystem.Thisalsoimpliesthattheconcept
ofnon-historicpeoplesisempiricallyproved.

17
AletterbyS.ParadjanovtothesecretaryofCentralCommitteeofCPUF.D.OvcharenkoinParajanov:Flight,Tragedy,
Eternity,edbyR.Korogodsky,S.Shcherbatiok.Kyiv,1994,pp.182-85.
18
MikhailBleiman.ArchaistsorInnovators?inIscusstvoKino,no7,1970,pp.55-76.
19
IvanDzyuba.OpeningorClosingoftheSchool?inPoeticCinema:ForbiddenSchool,ed.byLarysaBryukhovetska.Kyiv,
2001,pp.209-28.
20
BorisKagarlitsky.Marxism,NotRecommendedForLearning.Moscow,2006,pp.391,396.
21
Ibid.p.396.
22
Ibid.
23
DavidLBrandenberger,NationalBolshevism,p.400.
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Therighttopost-colonialdiscourse

AbouttenyearsagoanotherdiscussionrevealedadifferenttakeonRussianimperialism.In2001
RussiancuratorEkaterinaDegotpublishedinArtMarginsashortandprovocativetextunderthe
title How to Qualify for Postcolonial Discourse? complaining that Russia is othered by the
West,butsimultaneouslydeprivedoftherighttotalkinthenameoftheother.
24
Thesametext
wasalsopublishedunderaslightlydifferenttitle,whichformulatesthequestionbetter:Howto
obtaintherighttoPost-Colonialdiscourse?
25
Degotisprobablyrightinwhatsheissayinginthis
article,butsheiswronginwhatsheisnotsaying.Andthiswassaidbyheropponent,Margaret
Dikovitskaya,whoclaimedthatRussiacanqualifyforpostcolonialdiscourseonlyasthesubject,
the colonizer, and not as an object, the colonized. It seemed that Dikovitskaya was not at all
critical of this status, but she was simply trying to say that it was a wrong strategy, or, as she
formulated it Russian humanities will not get anything from joining the club of postcolonial
studies folks.
26
Instead of demanding the right to being the other, she suggested Russia
presentsitselfasanother,oneamongus.

Itisdifficulttodecidewhosepositionismoreimperialistic.Ontheonehand,Degotrepresented
theself-victimisationdiscourse,whichisanoutcomeofthemourningforthelossoftheuniversal
position.Butsufferingtraumaticnationalisation(othering),sheignoresoneimportantdetail,that
thelostuniversalitywasconstructedattheexpenseofitsownnationalisedothers.Ontheother
hand,Dikovitskayapresentedaneoliberalneo-colonialistposition,accordingtowhichRussiahas
arighttojointheculturalG8asanother(asiswellknown,theconflictbetweentheoppressors
isalwayslessinsurmountablethantheconflictbetweentheoppressorandtheoppressed).

SincethecollapseoftheSovietUnionitiscommonamonghistorianstoapproachitasanempire.
AsMarkBessingerironicallynoted,Apolitythatwasonceuniversallyrecognizedasastatecame
tobeuniversallycondemnedasanempire.
27

Based on a comparative study of empires Frederic Cooper concluded that their nationality
politicsaredefinedbythetensionbetweentwooppositetendenciesthatofincorporationand
thatofdifferentiation.Andthearticulationbetweenthetwovaries:

24
EkaterinaDyogot.HowtoQualifyforPostcolonialDiscourse?ArtMargins,01November2001.
http://www.artmargins.com/index.php/2-articles/325-how-to-qualify-for-postcolonial-discourse.
25
EkaterinaDegot.HowtoObtaintheRighttoPost-ColonialDiscourse?ArtMagazine.
http://xz.gif.ru/numbers/moscow-art-magazine/how-to-obtain-the-right/view_print/
26
MargaretDikovitskaya.AResponsetoEkaterinaDyogot'sArticle:DoesRussiaQualifyforPostcolonialDiscourse?Art
Margins,30January2002.
http://www.artmargins.com/index.php/2-articles/324-a-response-to-ekaterina-dyogots-article-does-russia-qualify-for-
postcolonial-discourse
27
MarkBeissinger,NationalistMobilizationandtheCollapseoftheSovietState.N.Y.:CambridgeUP,2002,p.35.Seealso
Nationalism and Empire: The Habsburg Monarchy and the Soviet Union. Ed. By Richard Rudolph and David Good. N.Y.:
St.Martins, 1992. Nationalism and the Breakup of an Empire: Russia and Its Periphery, ed.by Miron Rezun. Westport,
Conn.:Preager,1992.AftertheSovietUnion:FromEmpiretoNations,ed.byTimothyJ.ColtonandRobertLegvold,N.Y.:
Norton,1992.ThePost-SovietNations:PerspectivesontheDemiseoftheUSSR,ed.byAlexandrJ.Motyl.N.Y.:Columbia
UP, 1992. Thinking Theoretically About Soviet Nationalities: History and Comparison in the Study of the USSR, ed. by
AlexandrMotyl,N.Y.:ColumbiaUniversityPress,1992.HlneCarrred'Encausse,TheEndofSovietEmpire:TheTriumph
of Nations, trans. Franklin Philip. N.Y.: Basic Books, 1993. Roland Grigor Suny, Revenge of the Past: Nationalism,
Revolution and the Collapse of the Soviet Union. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford UP, 1993. In a Collapsing Empire:
Underdevelopment, Ethnic Conflicts, and Nationalism in the Soviet Union. Ed by Marco Buttino, Milan: Fellirinelli, 1993.
Robert J. Kaiser, The Geography of Nationalism in Russia and USSR. Prienston, 1994. The End of Empire? The
Transformation of the USSR in Comparative Perspective, ed. by. Karen Dawisha and Bruce Parrot, Armonk, N.Y.: Sharpe,
1997. After Empire: Multiethnic Societies and Nation Building: the Soviet Union and Russian, Ottoman, and Habsburg
Empires. Ed. by. Karen Barkey and Mark von Hagen. Boulder, Colo.: Westview, 1997. Alexandr J. Motyl, Revolutions,
Nations, Empires: Conceptual Limits and Theoretical Possibilities. N.Y.: Columbia UP, 1999. Terry Martin, The Affirmative
ActionEmpire:NationsandNationalisminSovietUnion,19231939.Ithaca,2001.AlexandrJ.Motyl,ImperialEnds:The
Decay, Collapse, and Revival of Empires. N.Y.: Columbia UP, 2001. A State of Nations: Empire and Nation-Making in the
Age of Lenin and Stalin. ed.by Ronald Grigor Suny, and Terry Martin. Oxford University Press, 2001. Serhy Yekelchyk,
StalinsEmpireofMemory:Russian-UkrainianRelationsintheSovietHistoricalImagination.
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Where to find a balance between the poles of incorporation (the empires claim that its
subjectsbelongedwithintheempire)anddifferentiation(theempiresclaimthatdifferent
subjectsshouldbegoverneddifferently)wasamatterofdisputeandshiftingstrategies.
Themostextremeexampleofthependulumswingingtowarddichotomousdifferentiation
rather than a tension of incorporation and differentiation was Nazi Germany, and there
thedivisionbetweenGermanandnon-Germanwasasmuchwithinnationalterritoryasin
zones of conquest. And the Thousand-Year Reich proved short-lived, in the face of the
resources of the British and Soviet imperial systems, and of the empire-in-spite-of-itself,
theUnitedStates.
28

If the Soviet Union could be qualified as an empire, which seems to be a consensus among the
historians, it is rather a strange one. It also manifested a third tendency, which contradicted
both.OriginatinginLeninsinternationalistpolitics,itneverfullydisappeared,evenifitwasjusta
discursive screen that covered the actual national inequality. The Soviet Union was presenting
itself not as an ethnic state or empire, but as a new type of state, based on internationalist
principles. However, its internationalism was not without contradictions. It proclaimed the
creation of the new nation, the Soviet people. Like any nation-building project it was based on
one language (Russian), one administrative centre (Moscow) and ascribed to itself certain
exclusive features (its own superiority toward other peoples). Human recourses for this nation-
buildingwereprovidedbyotherpeoples(assimilationofthesmall,oppressednationbythebig,
oppressornation).

Terry Martin proposed a special concept for this strange case: Affirmative Action Empire.
29

National republics resembled independent states that lost their independence. The right to
secessionwasguaranteedbytheSovietConstitution,butnopeopleswantedtoexerciseit.

As post-colonialist criticism had persuasively showed, imperialism always utilizes certain

unconscious optics, which work for its own invisibility by disseminating the myth of the
universality of the colonizer and positioning itself above the nationality and ideology of
nationalism.Itcannaturaliseitselforevenpresentitselfasaliberation.Theformerwasthecase
withSovietimperialism,whichwasseenasadistanthorizon,autopia,communism.
30

One might wonder whether the national question is still relevant today, as it was in Lenins or
Dzyubas times. Is not the national question hopelessly obsolete (or even reactionary!), as
Kagarlytsky argues, now, almost twenty years after the Soviet Union gave birth to fifteen
independent states that belong to capitalism? Is it not better to qualify any questioning of
nationalitypoliticsinrespecttotheSovietUnionasnationalistanddismissitonthesegrounds?

As Lenin liked to emphasise, turning a blind eye to ones own mistakes is much worse than
makingthem.IftheNewLeftwantstodemiseglobalneo-imperialism,ithastoproposeaviable
alternative to it, which is impossible without a rigorous criticism of the historical experience of
theSovietUnion.

28
FrederickCooper.ColonialisminQuestion:Theory,Knowledge,History.UniversityofCaliforniaPress,2005,p.154.
29
Terry Martin, The Affirmative Action Empire: Nations and Nationalism in Soviet Union, 1923 1939. Ithaca, 2001. See
also Terry Martin. An Affirmative Action Empire: The Soviet Union as the Highest Form of Imperialism in A State of
Nations: Empire and Nation-Making in the Age of Lenin and Stalin. Ed. by Ronald Grigor Suny and Terry Martin. Oxford
UniversityPress,2001,pp.67-90.
30
Isitpossiblethatcapitalismcomesaftercommunism?Communismsignifiesherenotasocialformationbutanameof
therulingparty,whicharenotidentical.WhateverwaslostunderthesignifierCommunismitwasanoverwhelmingfor
theLeft,whichisstillunderthespellofprogressivenostalgia.Thisisanotherparadox.Nostalgia,fixationontheloss,is
always regressive. It is conservative by definition. When projected on the society nostalgia perceives the loss as an
accident. Its optics precludes it from seeing determination that springs from the internal contradictions. It is this
contradictorycharacterofthepastthatnostalgiafailstoacknowledge.Thecrucialquestionisnothowtoaccepttheloss,
buthowtoovercometheveryformulationofthepastintermsofloss.
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framed as Lhe sLruggle of lnLellecLuals and arLlsLs from Lhe lesser naLlons Lo come Lo Lerms wlLh
Lhelr own sense of arLlsLlc or lnLellecLual lnadequacy. 1he arL scene ln 1hlrd World counLrles had
always lagged behlnd, lL seemed, Lrylng Lo caLch up wlLh a LecLonlc force LhaL had swepL Lhe
globe wlLh unbound youLhfulness and energy. 1he pressure was on Lhe 1hlrd World arLlsL Lo
surrender and Lo produce.

lor Lhe lranlan vlsual arLlsL of Lhe decade Lhe maln preoccupaLlon was always
Lwo pronged: Pow Lo be modern ln an age LhaL demanded non-conformlLy,
rebelllousness, and breaklng away from LradlLlon, and how Lo preserve a
dlsLlncL ldenLlLy as Lhe only way Lo lessen Lhe pressure of measurlng up Lo an
ldeal of WesLern arL whose slLe of orlgln was always elsewhere. lL ls Lhe pull
beLween Lhese Lwo forces LhaL consLlLuLes Lhe &#'()#'*( of Lhe 60s for Lhe
1hlrd World arLlsL. AL one end, values of Lhe decade were belng harangued as
revoluLlonary, groundbreaklng, unprecedenLed, and unlversal. 1he youLh
rebelled agalnsL sLaLe domlnaLlon ln all aspecLs of llfe, agalnsL Lhe one-
dlmenslonal organlzaLlonal man, Lhe shackles of conformlLy. 1he vleLnam War
became a preLexL for quesLlonlng Lhe sLaLus quo as well as Lhe power
sLrucLure. AL Lhe oLher end, Lhe 1hlrd World arLlsL was faclng anoLher
challenge, one LhaL hls 30s' predecessors, for whom "orlglnallLy was
submerged ln Lhe efforL Lo absorb new ouLlooks, and Lo learn and masLer new
Lechnlques"
1
dldn'L concern Lhemselves wlLh. lL was a Llme when Lhe quesLlon
of orlglnallLy was posed wlLh lncreaslng passlon and urgency.

lL was Lhe Armenlan lranlan Marcos Crlgorlan [see lmages] who, havlng graduaLed from Lhe
Accademla dl 8elle ArLl ln 8ome, reLurned Lo lran ln 1934 Lo open a gallery and Lo prepare Lhe
ground for modernlsL arLlsLs ln 1ehran Lo explore Lhelr own rooLs.
2
ln hls Calerle LsLheLlque ln
1ehran, alongslde works of modernlsLs, he puL on dlsplay works of LradlLlonal arLlsLs llke
+!,"#,-,!$#,.palnLers.
3
Pe was also one of Lhe organlzers of Lhe 1sL 1ehran 8lennlal ln 1938.

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encouraged hls sLudenLs Lo look for elemenLs of Lhelr own popular culLure. 1hls was ln dlrecL
conLrasL Lo Lhe unlversallsL orlenLaLlon of 30s arLlsLs llke !alll Zlapour [see lmage], who embraced
WesLern mandaLes ln an age when Lhls was seen as an accepLable means Lo progress. Crlgorlan's
works lnsplred many 60s lranlan arLlsLs, noLably Posseln Zenderoudl [see lmages], Lo look for and
make use of naLlve maLerlals and Lhemes. ln one palnLlng Zenderoudl coples, scene-by-scene, Lhe
Lheme of a +!,"#,-,!$#,. palnLlng. Cne musL vlew Lhls newfound lnLeresL ln rellglous lranlan
elemenLs agalnsL Lhe backdrop of an Amerlcan-led coup ln 1933 and Lhe aLLempL by Lhe Shah of
lran Lo pro[ecL hlmself as helr Lo 2300 years of clvlllzaLlon. CovernmenL organlzaLlons only
commlssloned works LhaL emphaslzed Lhe pre-lslamlc grandeur of ersla.

lndeed a group of modernlsL arLlsLs were lncreaslngly appeallng Lo rellglous symbollsm Lo brlng
orlglnallLy Lo Lhelr works.
4
ArL crlLlc karlm Lmaml called Lhem "/!++!-,!$#," [see lmage] arLlsLs,

1
Lhsan ?arshaLer, "ConLemporary erslan alnLlng," ln 0'),1'),(*.23.4#5*'!$.65(, ed. 8lchard LLLlnghausen and Lhsan
?arshaLer (8oulder: WesLvlew ress, 1979), 363.
2
lereshLeh uafLarl, "AnoLher Modernlsm: An lranlan erspecLlve," ln 4'7(%5'$).85!$9.65(:./27'#(;.!$<.=#"21%('2$: eds.
Shlva 8alaghl and Lynn CumperL (new ?ork: l8 1aurls, 2002), 48.
3
"Coffeehouse" palnLers were known for Lhe rellglous Lhemes of Lhelr >!5<#, or drapes LhaL Lold ln plcLorlal form Lhe
sLory of rellglous legends. When hung on one of Lhe walls of a coffeehouse, Lhese drapes would become Lhe backdrop of
a one-man LheaLer where a reclLer of eplc poeLry would Lell Lhe sLory deplcLed on Lhe drape for Lhe cllenLele.
4
ln conversaLlon wlLh performance arLlsL and wrlLer !lnoos 1aghlzadeh, wlnLer 2010, 1ehran. 1aghlzadeh malnLalns LhaL
rellglous codes were used by WesLern-orlenLed lranlan arLlsLs as a pollLlcal Lool Lo oppose culLural oppresslon under Lhe
monarchy.
hoLograph of Marcos Crlgorlan

Marcos Crlgorlan, mud, hay,
found ob[ecLs

1sL 1ehran 8lennlal posLer
(Marcos Crlgorlan was one
of Lhe organlzers).

!"##"$%&'()*+)$,')-.()
/2,5!?.@!,<!"'.
)
.


!""#$%&'%
%
'%

Lo underllne Lhelr shared sense of rellglous feLlshlsm.
3
A arson's School of ArL graduaLe, Monlr
Shahroudl-larmanfarmalan was mesmerlzed by mlrror-works ln mosques and lslamlc
archlLecLure, as well as by prlmlLlve LexLlle paLLerns. Also a sLudenL aL Accademla dl 8elle ArLl ln
lLaly, arvlz 1anavoll [see lmages] came back Lo lran Lo hunL for arLlfacLs - locks, keys, knobs,
grlllwork, prayers, Lallsmanlc messages, Lrlbal rugs and gravesLones - noL only Lo collecL buL Lo
lncorporaLe Lhem lnLo hls sculpLures. Zendroudl, educaLed ln arls, palnLed elaboraLe canvases
fllled wlLh numerologlcal charLs, +!,"#,-,!$#, Lhemes, and lnscrlpLlons on vesLmenLs. laramarz
llaram [see lmage] broughL gold and sllver palnL Lo a canvas Lo deplcL Lhe @2*+%#*. 23. 8*3!,!$.
All lnvarlably made ample use of erslan calllgraphy, whlch opened Lhe door Lo a whole new seL
of meanlngs and lnLerpreLaLlons.

1hls dld noL mean LhaL Lhey belleved ln Lhe rellglous/lranlan conLenL of Lhelr works. 1hey saw ln
Lhese ob[ecLs, deLached from Lhelr unlverse of meanlng, Lhe power Lo break free from Lhe Lrap of
copylng Lhe WesL, and a way Lo come up wlLh an auLhenLlc arL movemenL. ln facL, Lhe quesLlon of
glvlng wlng Lo a "movemenL" was probably Lhe reason why /!++!-,!$#," was used wlLh
lncreaslng frequency by culLural auLhorlLles, because Lhey consldered lL as Lhe beglnnlng of a
genulne arLlsLlc movemenL LhaL could puL lranlan arL on Lhe WesLern arLlsLlc map.
6


CuLslde of modern arLs, Lhlngs were a llLLle dlfferenL. 8llghLed by falled aLLempLs durlng Lhe 40s
and 30s Lo esLabllsh a parLlclpaLory governmenL LhaL would reflecL Lhe wlll of a people hungry for
auLarky ln Lhe colonlal era
7
, Lhe lranlan pollLlcal mllleu moved Lo a dlfferenL plane ln Lhe 60s. 1he
ease ln pollLlcal crackdowns of Lhe 30s (followlng Lhe 1933 Coup LhaL relnsLaLed Lhe Shah) helped
Lhe pollLlclzaLlon of Lhe decade. Many lnLellecLuals and wrlLers, who had overwhelmlngly formed
lefLlsL, secular groups prevlously, couched Lhe words ln rellglous symbollsm because ln LhaL way
Lhey could volce Lhelr demands wlLhouL belng redbalLed. 1hls ls a perlod when Lhe call for "golng
back Lo rooLs" ls ofLen heard ln lnLellecLual clrcles.
8
ln 1962, Lhe same year LhaL modernlsL lranlan
arLlsLs sLage Lhelr flrsL show ln Lhe uS colncldlng wlLh Lhe 3rd 1ehran 8lennlal, !alal al-Ahmad's
A77'<#$(2*'*. was publlshed. Accordlng Lo Al-e Ahmad, Lhe dlsease plagulng 1hlrd World
counLrles, as Lhe LlLle of hls book suggesLs, ls Lhelr lnablllLy Lo hold on Lo an lndependenL ldenLlLy.
lnsLead, he advocaLes a reLurn Lo rooLs presumed losL ln Lhe fever of caLchlng up wlLh Lhe WesL.

uurlng Lhe 60s, Lhe offlclal CenLer for Lhe vlsual ArLs ln lran became heavlly acLlve and Lhls was ln
large parL due Lo Lhe paLronage of larah ahlavl, Lhe Cueen, whose husband dld noL necessarlly
share her enLhuslasm for Lhe arLs.
9
Many of Lhe arLlsLs who had sLudled abroad or had chosen Lo
llve ln exlle ln Lhe 30s, were lnvlLed Lo come back Lo Lhe counLry wlLh prospecLs of a lucraLlve
career. 1he CenLer commlssloned works by many of Lhe young arLlsLs of Lhe decade, lncludlng
Shahroudl-larmanfarmalan, Abol Saeedl [see lmage], Ahmad Lsfandlarl, Mohammad !avadlpour,
Zenderudl and 1anavoll, Massoud Arabshahl, Manuchehr ?ekLall [see lmage], Slrak Melkonlan
[see lmage] and Mohsen vazlrl-Moghaddam [see lmage]. 1helr works appeared ln urban publlc
spaces as well as ln hoLels and ln Lhe houses of Lhe wealLhy, needless Lo say, Lhese works were
vold of any pollLlcal conLenL.

Many of Lhe above-menLloned arLlsLs dldn'L follow Lhe calllng of Lhelr /!++!-,!$#, colleagues Lo
go back Lo Lhelr rooLs and sLayed well wlLhln Lhe esLabllshed WesLern modernlsL LradlLlon. ln
shorL, Lhere ls noL a slngle Lhread LhaL can connecL all Lhe varlous arLlsLlc acLlvlLles LhaL were
Laklng place wlLhln Lhe counLry ln Lhe 60s. lew among Lhem, llke Panlbal Alkas, harbored
revoluLlonary senLlmenLs buL Lhese never caughL on unLll Lhe laLe 70s. 8ecause of Lhe offlclal
supporL, Lhe vlsual arLs Lhrlved. 1ehran ConLemporary ArL Museum [see lmage] under Lhe

3
A waLer founLaln,.*!++!-,!$#, serves Lhe LhlrsLy ln an arld cllmaLe. lL ls surrounded by memenLos and ob[ecLs offered
as glfLs. MosL clLles ln lran no longer have Lhese founLalns.
6
Accordlng Lo Lhe 60s vlsual arLlsL Abel Saeedl ln a personal conversaLlon, Aprll 2010.
7
noLably Lhe ConsLlLuLlonal 8evoluLlon of 1910 whlch ended wlLh Lhe sLrong-arm rule of 8eza Shah ahlavl (r. 1923-41)
and Lhe coup agalnsL rlme MlnlsLer Mohammad Mosadeq (1930-33), whlch broughL back 8eza Shah's son, Mohammad-
8eza, Lo Lhe Lhrone wlLh Lhe help of Lhe uS and Lhe uk.
8
See for example, Lrvand Abrahamlan, 85!$.B#(C##$.DC2.=#"21%('2$* (rlnceLon: rlnceLon unlversLly ress, 1982).
9
ConversaLlon wlLh Abel Saeedl, Aprll 2010.
"khorus" [Cock], !alll
Zlapour, oll pasLel on
cardboard, laLe 1930s,
70x30cm.

Posseln Zenderoudl, on hls
palnLed car, 1963, arls

unLlLled, Posseln
Zenderoudl, vegeLable
colors on paper, 133x98.3
cm.

!"##"$%&'()*+)$,')-.()
/2,5!?.@!,<!"'.
)
.


!""#$%&'%
%
)%

LuLelage of kamran ulba, who was a relaLlve of Lhe Cueen as well as Lhe Museum's archlLecL,
acqulred works of noLable WesLern arLlsLs llke AlberLo ClacomeLLl, umberLo 8occlonl, lrank
SLella, 8ene MagrlLLe, !oan Mlr and Alexander Calder, and ln Lhls way bullL a repuLaLlon for Lhe
lranlan modern arLs esLabllshmenL.
***

1he domlnanL narraLlve regardlng Lhe 60s as a revoluLlonary decade Lends Lo
overlook several developmenLs LhaL preceded and ran parallel Lo Lhe decade's
subverslve poLenLlals.

llrsL, Lhe youLh rebelllon owed a greaL deal of lLs lnLellecLual vlLallLy Lo Lhe
llberaLlon movemenLs lnslde and ouLslde Lhe WesL. 1he 1hlrd World "ro[ecL"
unleashed a Lremendous wave of dlssenL across Lhe globe and agalnsL Lhe
vlolenL legacy of colonlallsm and Cold War brlnkmanshlp. Comlng ln Lhe wake
of Lhe lndlan lndependence movemenL and lnsplred by Lhe Candhlan non-
vlolence phllosophy, Lhe Lhree ma[or leaders of Lhe former colonles [olned
hands ln Lhe !avanese lsland of 8andung ln 1933 Lo denounce Lhe hegemony
of Lhe WesL.
10
1hey ulLlmaLely esLabllshed a force LhaL refused Lo ablde by Lhe
blpolar mandaLes of Lhe Cold War. lL ls Lhls very force LhaL, alded by 1hlrd
World arLlsLs and lnLellecLuals, lnsplred Lhe rebel youLh ln WesLern counLrles
Lo sLage Lhelr own opposlLlon Lo Lhe power sLrucLure. WlLhln Lhe uS, Lhe Clvll
8lghLs MovemenL broke ground for a crlLlcal evaluaLlon of raclsm and lLs
relaLlonshlp Lo Lhe power sLrucLure upon whlch Lhe Lmplre was bullL. lL was
Cakland, raLher Lhan 8erkeley, LhaL ln Lhe 60s became Lhe slLe of Lhe sLruggle
agalnsL lmperlallsm. 8oLh Lhe Clvll 8lghLs and Lhe 1hlrd World MovemenLs
creaLed a greaL wave of quesLlonlng Lhe domlnanL ldeologlcal hold of WesLern
naLlons.

Second, Lhe 60s ls LhoughL of as unlque decade, unmaLched ln Lhe way lL
unfurled lLs colors, Lhe way lL lnclLed Lhe creaLlve energles of WesLern boys
and glrls, Lhe way lL foughL Lhe powers LhaL be. We are Lold LhaL Lhe 60s was
an lrregularlLy, an anomaly, a schlsm ln Lhe hlsLory of WesLern ClvlllzaLlon. lor
Amerlcan conservaLlve pollLlclans and scholars llke Alan 8loom, newL
Clngrlch, and 8oberL 8orke, Lhe 60s was lnfesLed wlLh hedonlsm and bad
falLh. 1hey scolded (and sLlll do) lLs Lendency Lo lgnore Lhe foundaLlons of
WesLern ClvlllzaLlon and Lhey decry an educaLlonal sysLem LhaL falls Lo Leach
sLudenLs classlcs of WesLern llLeraLure and arLs. 1o Lhem, Lhe decade, and lLs
remnanLs was a dlsgrace Lo hlgh-browed values of Lhe whlLe man.

1hls lmpresslon of Lhe 60s as a WesLern wonder ls noL llmlLed Lo conservaLlve
soclal sclenLlsLs. LefLlsL and counLerculLure Lhlnkers, Loo, saw lL as an
unprecedenLed decade ln whlch ldeallsm relgned supreme and Lhe socleLy
moved Lowards challenglng Lhe caplLallsL order. 1hey seldom, lf ever, pay
aLLenLlon Lo Lhe creaLlve power and LheoreLlcal foundaLlon of commerclal
culLure. 1hrough Lhem, we also Lend Lo overlook Lhe global lmpllcaLlons of a
commerclal apparaLus LhaL LhlrsLs afLer channellng deslres. 1he same culLural
revoluLlon LhaL Look place on Lhe sLreeLs ln Lhe WesL ln Lhe 60s - anLl-vleLnam
War proLesL, sexual llberaLlon, sLudenL rebelllon, 8ock 'n' 8oll, Plpple-lsm,
WoodsLock, avanL-garde-lsm, non-conformlLy, and rebelllousness - was
echoed ln Lhe commerclal world: "Amerlcan buslness was undergolng a
revoluLlon ln lLs own rlghL durlng Lhe 1960s," argues 1homas lrank ln (,#.
72$+%#*(. 23. 7221, "a revoluLlon ln markeLlng pracLlce, managemenL Lhlnklng,
and ldeas abouL creaLlvlLy."
11
lrank llsLs several books (D,#. A5)!$'&!('2$!1.

10
vl[ay rashad, D,#.E!5-#5.F!('2$*9.6.4#2>1#G*.0'*(25;.23.(,#.D,'5<.H251< (new ?ork: 1he new ress, 2007), 33-114.
11
1homas lrank, (,#.72$+%#*(.23.7221, (Chlcago: unlverslLy of Chlcago ress, 1997), 20.
"Cafas-e Plch va Cafas-e Plch" [1he noLhlng
Cage and Lhe Cage of noLhlng], arvlz 1anavoll,
bronze, 1976, 38x33x13 cm.

unLlLled, laramarz llaram, oll on canvas, 1972,
119x120 cm.

"Saqqakhaneh" LxhlblLlon
osLer, Cobad Shlva, 1977

!"##"$%&'()*+)$,')-.()
/2,5!?.@!,<!"'.
)
.


!""#$%&'%
%
*%

@!$, D,#. 0%I!$. /'<#. 23. J$(#5>5'*#, K>. (,#. A5)!$'&!('2$) ln whlch buslness
pundlLs lald ouL Lhelr manlfesLo: Lhe LhrusL of new 8uslness values and Lhelr
anLagonlsm Lo Lhe feLld alr of Lhe 30s.

1he 60s ls Lhe slLe of a ma[or exploslon ln vlsual culLure and nowhere ls Lhls
more evldenL Lhan ln Lhe commerclal world. Whlle we Lended Lo locaLe Lhe
soclal movemenL wlLhln lnLellecLual and arLlsLlc acLlvlLles, Luropean and
Amerlcan managers, graphlc deslgners, and markeLlng agenLs were busy
flndlng new ways Lo consLrucL deslres and Lo lnfluence Lhelr audlences on Lhe
sLreeLs and ln homes. AdverLlsemenL shlfLed gear Lo sLage an uprlslng agalnsL
mass socleLy. new ads mocked and made fun of Lhe Square culLure. 1he "Cola
Wars" beLween 1960-63 ls emblemaLlc of Lhls shlfL ln publlc relaLlons. epsl
casL lLself as Lhe sofL drlnk for "Lhose who Lhlnk young. a modern enLhuslasm
for geLLlng more ouL of llfe."
12
1he 60s managers emphaslze creaLlvlLy, non-
conformlLy, rebelllon, lndlvlduallsm, belng hlp, and Lhlnklng young. 1v seLs
comforLably lodged ln suburban homes, ad agencles ln full feaLher, Lhe publlc
ls LreaLed Lo an lncreaslng number of vlsual reglsLers whose power and lmpacL
remalns yeL Lo be analyzed by soclal sclenLlsLs for whom Lhe power and
lnfluence of Lhe commerclal culLure ls seldom a Loplc of lnLeresL.

?eL, lL ls slmply enough Lo look aL our surroundlngs and reallze how successful
Lhe MarkeLlng and AdverLlslng 8evoluLlon of Lhe 60s has been. "ueslgn" has
now become Lhe ulLlmaLe arL form and our vlsual space ls lnundaLed wlLh
slgns and lmages LhaL deLermlne noL only whaL we should buy buL also how
we should be. ln a sense, selecLlve values of Lhe 60s (1hlnk ?oung, unlLed
Colors, uo lL!, Lhe 8evoluLlon Wlll noL 8e 1elevlsed) were kepL allve by Lhe
new managers and ad agencles LhaL bullL Lhelr edlflce ln Lhe "SweeL 60s."

Cf Lhe few lranlan books wrlLLen on Lhe decade LhaL found Lhelr way lnLo Lhe
markeL, one ls by [ournallsL laramarz 8arzegar. D,#./27'212);.23.0'>>'#L'*I ls
a Lravel accounL of Lhe wrlLer Lo Lhe uS. "1he sLrongesL, mosL exclLlng, mosL
colorful encounLers and evenLs, and aL Lhe same Llme Lhe mosL peaceful and
lnLeresLlng soclal, pollLlcal, arLlsLlc and llLerary movemenLs Look place ln Lhls
decade. 8uL Lhere ls a slngle Lhread LhaL runs Lhrough all of Lhese: a fresh,
LoLally new, and soclally acLlve elemenL LhaL human clvlllzaLlon has never seen
ln lLs Lhousand years of evoluLlon ln such magnlLude, dlverslLy and power. And
Lhls elemenL was called Lhe 'youLh movemenL' and lncluded 33 Lo 73 per cenL
of Lhe world and manlfesLed lLself under every clrcumsLance."
13
1he book ls a
slngsong Lo Lhe 60s noL because lL ls vold of sLrong, emoLlonal crlLlclsm of Lhe
decade's anarchlc Lendencles, rooLless rebelllousness, and fasclnaLlon wlLh
Lhe splrlLual power of an lmaglnary LasL buL because of lL. lLs overall Lone ls
supporLlve of Lhe youLh and Lhelr sLruggle Lo unleash Lhe creaLlve powers of
Lhe Soclal. lL reflecLs Lhe vlews of such flgures as Penrl Lefebvre, SLanley
kauffmann, and PerberL Marcuse, Lhe laLLer ln a personal lnLervlew. lL offers
an enLhused analysls of Lhe muslc 0!'5, Lhe avanL-garde producLlon A,M.
N!17%((!M and a proflle of 60s acLlvlsLs llke Angela uavls, !ane londa, and
Mohammad All (Clay). 8uL nowhere do we see ln Lhe book a connecLlon
beLween commerclal culLure and vlsual culLure. 1he same Lendency exlsLs
Loday. 1he 60s for us ls sLlll Lhe sLory of Lhe counLerculLure.

D,#. /27'212);. 23. 0'>>'#L'*I shows how fasclnaLlon wlLh Lhe "youLh culLure"
was ln full swlng ln lran durlng Lhe same perlod. 1he youLh culLure lnsplred

12
lbld, 171.
13
laramarz 8arzegar, O!I#G#L/,#$!*'.0'>>'#L'*I ("Soclology of Plpple-lsm") (1ehran: 8ongah LnLesharaL-e Arman, 1972),
3.
"uerakhLan" [1rees], Abol Saeedl, oll on canvas,
1973, 162x200 cm.

unLlLled, Slrak Melkonlan, oll on canvas, 1976,
100x110 cm.

"uerakhLan SarmasL" [urunken 1rees], Manuchehr
?ekLall, 1982, oll on canvas, 90x100 cm

!"##"$%&'()*+)$,')-.()
/2,5!?.@!,<!"'.
)
.


!""#$%&'%
%
+%

dozens of perlodlcals almlng Lo caLer Lo Lhe demands of a young populaLlon
whose governmenL and noLorlous securlLy apparaLus dld noL LoleraLe Lhe
remoLesL forms of proLesL. Pence, many of Lhe modernlsL arLlsLs of Lhe
decade ln lran found anoLher way of expresslng Lhelr concerns - Lhrough
uslng a rellglous language LhaL ulLlmaLely culmlnaLes ln Lhe 1979 8evoluLlon.
"ln Lhe culLural lexlcon of lran, Lhe 'WesL' dld noL slmply represenL a hlgher
model Lo be emulaLed, buL an lmposlng presence on lLs naLlonal auLonomy,"
malnLalns Shlva 8alaghl, 1helr works suggesLs LhaL modernlLy ln Lhe lranlan
conLexL was a complex fleld of negoLlaLlon and accommodaLlon - and noL a
slmple acL of lmlLaLlon and mlmlcry."
14


lor Lhe lranlan arLlsLs of Loday, Lhe quesLlon of orlglnallLy ls sLlll as sLrong a
preoccupaLlon as lL was for Lhose of Lhe 60s, as ls also Lhe enlgma of
combaLlng Lhe WesLern ldeologlcal and commerclal sLranglehold. 1hree
decades lnLo a revoluLlon LhaL soughL Lo esLabllsh a new ldenLlLy for lranlans,
arLlsLs are now Lrylng Lo dlvesL Lhemselves of Lhe rellglous symbollsm LhaL
characLerlzed Lhe works of Lhelr predecessors. AlmosL all /!++!-,!$#, arLlsLs
of Lhe 60s lefL Lhe counLry afLer Lhe 8evoluLlon.
13
Meanwhlle, Lhe sLaLe ls
happy Lo open Lhe counLry's doors Lo a ralnbow of producLs LhaL consLrucL
deslres Lhrough an aggresslve vlsual language. Cur clLyscape ls sLudded wlLh
lncreaslngly Laller and wlder blllboards LhaL flood our fleld of vlslon wlLh
lmpunlLy. ln Lhe mldsL of Lhls clrcus of messages and vlsual assaulLs, Lhe
daunLlng Lask of arLlsLs ls how Lo come up wlLh a vlsual language LhaL can be
heard above Lhe dln of commerclal culLure and Lhe clamor of orlglnallLy.





14
Shlva 8alaghl, "lranlan vlsual ArLs ln '1he CenLury of Machlnery, Speed, and Lhe ALom': 8eLhlnklng ModernlLy," ln
4'7(%5'$).85!$9.65(:./27'#(;.!$<.=#"21%('2$: eds. Shlva 8alaghl and Lynn CumperL (new ?ork: l8 1aurls, 2002), 23.
13
Charles Posseln Zenderoudl lefL lran for lrance ln 1960 and chose Lo remaln Lhere unLll Loday. Monlr larmanfarma lefL
lran lmmedlaLely afLer Lhe revoluLlon and reLurned only a decade and a half laLer. arvlz 1anavoll mlgraLed Lo Canada ln
1982 and comes back Lo Lhe counLry for speclal evenLs.
"Paras va arvaz 7" [lear and lllghL 7],
Mohsen vazlrl-Moghaddam, acryllc and
wood, 180x180 cm.

1ehran Museum of
ConLemporary ArLs,
lnauguraLed ln
SepLember 1976,
archlLecL kamran
ulba

8ook cover, /27'212);.23.
0'>>'#'*I, larmarz
8arzegar, 1972

N,#17,#5!), magazlne
cover, Aprll 2010 (an appeal
Lo Lhe values of Lhe slxLles)
P#$<#)'L#.8<#!1 [ldeal LlfesLyle]
magazlne cover, Aprll 2010
(generaLlons of hlp)
BlackSunofRenewal
ToniMaraini

Issue#2

1

1

The magazine Souffles made an important contribution to modern Moroccan culture in the 60s.
Theimpactofitsliterary,artistic,andculturalproductionwereofthegreatestimportance.Since
itsinception,itattractedsomeofthebestyoungpoets,artists,andintellectuals.Itwasnotonlya
literary magazine but also included notes and comments on the sociocultural situation, cinema,
theater, and art, as well as critical texts, manifestos, and historical essays. By demasking
neocolonialideology,itstirredupthestagnantliteraryandintellectualsituationinthecountry.

Souffles was a literary and cultural quarterly review published in Rabat, Morocco. Its first issue
waspublishedinFebruary1966,thelastinDecember1971.Inall,thereweretwenty-twoissues.
The cover, designed by painter Mohamed Melehi, was austere yet elegant: under a geometric
square glowed a round circle, a black sun. The composition remained unchanged for the first
fourteen issues. Only the cover and the circles color changed. On the back, the word Souffles
was written in Arabic: anfs (breeze, breath). Up to the double issue 10 11, the magazine
was only in French; it then became bilingual (French and Arabic). After the fifteenth issue, the
layout, cover, and size changed. Those who have written on the history ofSouffles divide it into
two periods: during the first period from 1966 to 1969, its collaborators were poets, writers,
artists, and intellectuals passionately working towards a new Moroccan, and Maghrebi culture.
The second period, from 1969 to 197172 was marked by a radical ideological Marxist-Leninist
turn.
2
Literature was no longer sufficient, declared Abdellatif Labi, the founder and editor of
Souffles. The literary section became less relevant than the political section, dedicated to Third
World struggles for independence from colonial imperialism and to national politics. Because of
its new approach,Souffles was banned in 1972 and Labi was arrested for his political opinions.
While in prison he was awarded several international poetry prizes. After a long solidarity
campaign,heregainedhisfreedomin1980.

When Morocco gained independence in 1956, much needed to be done to free its culture from
the burden of colonial (French and Spanish) ideology. Colonialism had imposed a patronizing,
Eurocentric culture and controlled every aspect of life, outlawing political parties, associations,
gatherings,andgroupactivities.Moroccanauthorsandmediawereoftencensored,andeventhe
useofArabiclanguagewascarefullymonitored.Thecolonialprotectoratehadindustrializedand
modernized the country mainly to control and exploit people, land, and resources for its own
profit. Although fascinated by their exotic aspects, it had ignored the universal values of the
localculture,itshistoricalheritage,thedignityofitsidentity.Bycurbingfreedomofexpression,it
had inhibited the development of a national modernist avant-garde. Moroccan culture was
mainly regarded as picturesque. Modern thought and intellectual life were not supposed to suit
the Moroccans and were considered a dangerous challenge to colonialism itself. But Morocco
and the Maghreb had a very rich history as well as a wealth of artistic, poetic, and intellectual
traditions,andmodernistideashadspreadinmanycirclesanddomainsevenbeforethearrivalof
the colons. The echoes of the Near Easts Nahda (renewal) had stirred the Maghreb since the
beginning of the twentieth century. Although much of the intellectual elites energies had been
absorbed by the struggle for freedom and although peoples desire for progress and
development had been curbed by discriminatory policies, modernist movements were on the
make.Inspiteofcensorshipandcontrol,urbaneliteshadtheirintellectuals,writers,reviews,and
publications.
3
Some authors like Ahmed Sefrioui and Driss Chrabi, and philosopher Mohamed
AzizLahbabihadpublishedinFrench.

Yet, after the independence, a petty provincial and Eurocentric culture was still dominating the
scene. The salons organized for Western artists admitted only Moroccan naive painters as a

1
Thistextwaspublishedinspringerin12,no.4(Fall2006).WewouldliketothankToniMarainiandspringerinforgiving
usthepermissiontopublishitagain.
2
MarcGontard,Lalittraturemarocainedelanguefranaise,andBernardJakobiak,Soufflesde19661969,in
Europe(JuneJuly1979),p.107f.andpp.11723.
3
AbderrahmaneTenkoul,Lesrevuesculturelles,inRegardssurlacultureMarocaine,no.1(1988),pp.813.
Souffles(Rabat),6/1967
cover

SoufflesActionet
RechercheCulturelle
(Rabat),4/1968,
issuerelatingtothenew
associationARC
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touch of indigenous color. Local European poets used to gather in clubs littraires around the
foreignculturalmissions,wheretheywroteversesontheambassadorsgardens.
4
Theyignored
the best of Western production and the daring experiments of modernism, as well as the high
tradition of classical Arabic poetry, not to mention Afro-Berber and popular arts and literature.
They were not interested in the productions of a Moroccan cultural avant-garde. It is important
to keep all this in mind, as the Western world has not always acknowledged what colonialism
really was. It might be interesting, for that matter, to read the courageous writings of the
Moroccan historian Germain Ayache,
5
who in the 50s denounced the abuses of colonialism, the
distress and misery of the Moroccan population, and the control over its cultural roots. To
understandtheimpactofSouffles,onehastogobacktoasituationstillshapedbythedramatic
consequences of all this. On the other hand, after half a century of colonial propaganda and
isolation, the Moroccan bourgeoisie had either lost touch with its roots or found refuge in a
nostalgic, if not dogmatic, vision of the past. A modernist national culture had yet to be loudly
proclaimed, its theoretical basis openly debated, its creative and visionary nature concretely
expressedintermsthatwouldcorrespondtothenewrealitiesofanindependentMorocco.

Owing to a remarkable set of circumstances, this became possible around 1964, when, in
Casablanca and in Rabat, two small groups of young artists and poets joined forces to launch a
movement that stimulated profound changes and is today considered the milestone of a new
era. Formulating their ideas clearly, they produced vibrant, original works of art and literature
and, most importantly, started organizing their own independent events. The same year, 1964,
intellectualshadfoundedtheimportantindependentmagazineinArabic,Aqlm,yetitscontent
was mainly philosophical and theoretical rather then poetical and avant-garde. Up till then,
culture had either been in the hands of foreign missions or of the state bureaucracy and
conservative elites. With the exception of the writer Driss Chrabi, the older intellectuals looked
atthenewgroupswithuneasysurpriseordisdain.Whowerethey?Ahandfulofcreativeyoung
people with daring ideas suddenly broke into the scene and galvanized the attention of the
public.

The so-called Casablanca Group of artists (Mohamed Melehi, Farid Belkahia, Mohamed Chebaa)
engaged in innovative activities and works (paintings, exhibitions, manifestos, debates,
publications).
6
Atthesametime,in1964twoyoungtalentedpoets,MohamedKhar-Eddineand
Mostafa Nissaboury, published the manifesto Posie Toute and the review Eaux Vives (only two
issues) in Casablanca. For Khar-Eddine, breaking with the existent literatures, both in French
and in Arabic, was the main historical duty of the new generation.
7
When they met another
youngpoet,AbdellatifLabi,thebirthofSouffleswasalreadyalmostaforegoneconclusion.And
when the Casablanca Group joined them, the movement came into being.
8
They shared goals,
hopes,andvisions.Theyconsideredthemselvesagenerationcommittedtobuildingafree,just,
inventive national culture. They were truly avant-garde. We work with all our awareness for a
future world ... and this review intends to be a tool for the new literary and poetic generation,
declaredLabiinthefirstissueofSouffles.

WhentheystoodupandsaidEnough!toprovincialsalonsandclubslittraires,theyexpressed
deepexpectationsofchange.Theirartisticandpoeticalrevoltspreadlikeahotwindinsummer.

4
Gontard,Lalittraturemarocaine,p.107.
5
GermainAyache,LescritsdavantlIndpendance(Casablanca,1990).
6
Iwasmyselfamemberofthisgroup,andhavebeenwritingabouttheirexperiencessince1964;see,forexample:Toni
Maraini,critssurlart,19641989(Rabat,1990).
7
LahsenMouzouni,Leromanmarocaindelanguefranaise(Paris,1987),p.71.
8
Inordertoanswerthequestion,Whoareweaftertheimpactofcolonialism?theyhadtolookbackattherootsthat
hadbeenmostdepreciatedbothbycolonialismandbythenationalbourgeoisie,thatis,oraltraditions,Afro-Berberand
popular Arabic poetry, arts, and culture. The first to focus on this heritage in Morocco were the abstract artists of the
CasablancaGroup,whoclaimedthatpopulartraditionalartsweremodernantelitteraminspiritandaesthetics.Colonial
ethnographyhadconsideredthemminorarts,butfortheCasablancaGroup,asforPaulKleeandWalterGropius,arural
carpetwasapainting,andtheartisananartist.ThepoetsofSoufflescouldnotbutagree.Inthemeantimetheywereall
determined to fully participate in the twentieth century, experimenting with new languages and ideas and sharing
universalvalueswithallthepoetsandartistsoftheworld.
Souffles(Rabat),1/1966,
coverdesignMohamed
Melehi
Souffles(Rabat),1/1966,
backcoverwiththeArabic
inscription"anfs"[breeze,
breath]
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Those artists and intellectuals who had up to then worked in solitude were encouraged to join.
Thus,when,in1966,AbdellatifLabiconcretelystartedtheprojectofSoufflesinRabat,hecould
count on the support of some talented and committed poets, painters, and intellectuals. The
project was heralded and carried on by means of fervid and visionary discussions in cafs and
studios. The Casablanca Group designed the cover and illustrations. Getting on one of the old
buses that once crossed the country, the painter Melehi took the magazine to Tangier, where it
wasprintedatalowerpricethaninRabat.SuchwasthebirthofSouffles.

Thefirstissuewasthin,butitrespondedtoanimperativedemand(Labi).Soonitreached100
pages. Khar-Eddine had by then migrated to France and his name does not figure in the comit
daction,buthispresencewasassuredbyhispoems.Hauntedandsolitary,Khar-Eddine(whose
mothertonguewasBerber)hadfuelednewMoroccanpoetry(andliterature)withtheconcepts
ofthelinguisticguerrillas.
9
Tofinishwiththegardenversesandtheclassicalelegies,someone
had to dare to break the rules of literary French. He did so and opened the way to language
experimentation. Widely debated by Maghrebi writers in French, through Souffles the topic
reached the young generation of Moroccan writers both in French and in Arabic. At the core of
the debate was the question, in which language would the new independent Moroccan writers
write?
10
The answer given by Labi in the first issue of Souffles is still valuable today: The
language of a poet, he wrote, is above all his own language, the one that he creates. By
encouraging translations and collaborations, Souffles had the great merit not to divide literary
production into Francophone and Arabophone, as creation and culture in both languages were
considered(andare)acomplementaryhistoricalrealityrootedinacommonground.

SouffleswouldnothavecomeintoexistencewithoutLabissteadfastwork.Hispoeticalgiftand
passion were matched by his rigorous intellect. He was aware of his mission. Souffles opened
with a severe jaccuse ... regarding the cultural situation in Morocco and focused on the
question of national identity and culture, but did not forget to write that Our writer friends,
Maghrebi,Africans,Europeans,andofothernationalitiesarefraternallyinvitedtoparticipatein
our modest enterprise. He was farsighted. And he soon received letters from Europe and the
Maghreb. The Tunisian writer Albert Memmi wrote I was waiting for this publication, I was
hoping it would exist; Driss Chrabi affirmed your magazine is fantastic!; and the Algerian
writerMouloudMammeriwelcomedtheyoungreview.Suchencouragementfromthreegreat
writers of the older generation was important. As the mouthpiece of a new generation, the
review took a stand in the defense of those Maghrebi writers like Chrabi or Kateb Yacine
(Algeria) whose work had expressed the revolt against both local feudalism and foreign
occupation. What the authors who were published by Souffles meant to young readers was of
great importance. Paralyzed by the language problem (literary French? classical Arabic? Berber
oraltradition?),theyhadlongrepressedtheiranguishes,rages,emotions,andhopes.Noweach
ofthemcouldcreatetheirlanguage,usevernacularterms,experiment,scream.Nissabouryhas
called it posie chacaliste: the screaming of the jackal. Soon, however, la posie chacaliste
wouldbeajuvenilejokeandeachpoetLabiwasthefirstwouldreachpoeticalmaturity.

Inthethirdissuewefindmentionofacomitdaction.ItincludedAhmedBouanani,Nissaboury,
Abdallah Stouky, the Algerian poet Malek Alloula and the French poets Bernard Jakobiak and
Andr Laude. Bouanani, a fine intellectual and a wonderful storyteller, was the author of
beautifulpoemslatercollectedintheanthologyLesPersiennes.Hisarticleson
popular poetry were remarkable at a time when that subject had been studied only by ethno
logists.Thenamesinthecommitteeweretochangesomewhatovertheyears.Oneofthefirstto
give support to Labi, Nissaboury, the amazing author of the book La mille et deuxime nuit,
remained a member until 1969. So did the painters of the Casablanca Group. In the course of
time, among the various collaborators we find distinguished authors like Mostafa Lacheraf
(Algeria); Azeddine Madani and Mohamed Aziza (Tunisia); Abdallah Laroui and Abdelkhbir

9
ThetermgurillalinguistiquewasintroducedbyMohamedKhar-EddineinhisautobiographicalnovelMoilaigre
(1970).
10
AftergainingindependencefromFrenchcolonialismArabicwasdeclaredtheofficiallanguagein1956.
MohamedMelehi,Abdellatif
Labi,MostafaNissaboury,
Rabat,1966,FotoNoury

PortraitAbdellatifLabi,
onthebackcoverofthe
anthologyLaposie
palestiniennedecombat,
ditionsAtlantes
(Casablanca),1970
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Khatibi (Morocco). Except for a long poem by Etel Adnan (Lebanon) and few other critical
contributions (by Jeanne-Paule Fabre and myself ), women were barely present in Souffles.
However, when women poets and writers came on the scene with their own books, magazines,
andactions,theylookedbackatSoufflesasanexperiencethathadpreparedthegroundfornew
ideas.

Every issue of Souffles opened with a note by Labi. The urgent matters were innumerable.
Significantly, religion was not an issue: fundamentalism had not yet troubled the old and wise
Maghrebi Islam, which was open to changes and secularity. In 1967, besides poetry readings,
Labi and his poet friends, with the support of Melehi, created the Collection Atlantes, which
published booklets by Jakobiak, Labi, Nissaboury, Alloula, and Labis book Loeil et la nuit. In
1968 Souffles participated in the birth of the national cultural association arc (Action et
Recherche Culturelle), created as Labi wrote by some artists, university researchers,
scientificandtechnicalprofessionals,students....Itwasanimportantandambitiousprojectthat
also involved political parties. Souffles took part with enthusiasm in the first cultural activities
that were boldly extended to the rest of the Maghreb. The collaboration of Abraham Serfaty, a
notable Moroccan intellectual, became more relevant than the one with Tahar Ben Jelloun.
Convicted with Labi in 1972 and later imprisoned, Serfaty was set free in 1991. With the
fifteenth issue, dedicated to Palestine (Pour laRvolutionPalestinienne),Souffleschangedits
layout,cover,andformat.LabisreviewhadbecometheorganoftherevolutionaryMoroccan
movement.
11
This was a radical change. A decision, recalls Jakobiak, of idealistic generosity,
one that pushes you [however] to all kinds of ruptures and divides the world into two halves:
the good and the bad. ... Once the euphoria faded there were those who converted to dialectic
materialism and those who did not. Painters and poets of the first period of Souffles did not
followthenewcourse(orwerenotacceptedinthenewcomitdaction).Inaclimateofpainful
debates, the creative group split from the political group. It was the normal outcome for a
cultural movement. The same had happened to other groups in the history of modern avant-
gardism.Thosewhobelieveinfreeindependentcreationresistthediktatandjargonofpolitical
parties. On the other hand, ideology needs intellectuals and poets to renew its views on the
world. Souffles had generously offered its contribution. It then issued consistent documents on
themainrevolutionarystrugglesofthetime(Angola,SouthAfrica,Mozambique,etc.)aswellas
on the political situation in Morocco. In a troubled time of betrayed independence (Labi)
Soufflesnewcoursewasimportantforthenationspoliticalawareness.Yetwhenartandpoetry
hadspokenaloud,theyhadalsosetinmotionachangethatwasrevolutionaryandgoodforthe
nations awareness. If the Souffles of the first period and its collaboration with the Casablanca
Grouphadneverbeen,MoroccoandtheMaghrebwouldhavefeltitsabsence.Thatiswhy,when
the younger Moroccan generation writes today about Souffles, it looks back with admiration at
itsartistsandpoets,whohadthecouragetocreateandinvent,aswellasatitsintellectuals,who
hadthecouragetodefyinjustice.
12

11
Gontard,Lalittraturemarocaine,p.107.
12
Vgl.Revue:SoufflesCoups[Editoryal],in:TelQuel,Nr.148,2004,p.23.
AbdellatifLabi,Loeiletla
nuit,ditionAtlantes
(Casablanca),1969,cover
designMohamedMelehi
MostafaNissaboury,Plus
hautemmoire,ed.by
CollectionAtlantes(Rabat),
April1968,Coverdesign
MohamedMelehi
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1

Inthe60sofatwentiethcenturymovingtowarditsclose,themajorityofcolonialpeoplesgained
theirindependenceandtheircountriesbecamesovereign.The50sand60swereunquestionably
a turning point in the history of international relations. But can one say that the attainment of
independence by states was accompanied by an emancipation of colonial peoples and the
restorationoflibertyforindividuals?

In time, it became apparent that the colonial era carried within itself many processes, some of
them often contradictory, yet all of them converging towards the discovery or rediscovery of
onesselfwithouttheOther.

TheOther,theStranger,theWhiteManhadmadehisappearanceintheuniverseofthecolored
men. Throughout the centuries, he had shaken the sky and the earth, destroyed, ravaged,
remodeled,subjugated,pacifiedandcivilized.Hebecamethealmightymasteroftheworld.

Thedeclarationsofindependencedidnotmakeacleansweepofthisviolentandoppressivepast
inasingleday.Apotentresidue,sometimeselusive,sometimeshighlyvisible,remainedbehind.
And this is what I would like to talk about, while attempting to understand what the diverse
forms of (artistic and more generally aesthetic) expression and representation of that finally
regainedlibertycontained,intermsoftraumatisms,ambiguityandmisunderstandings.

ATRAUMATICHERITAGE

Todispossess,todismember

To be able to live on a land that was not his, the colonist tried to make the autochthons
2

disappear, to rid the land of the uncomfortable presence of those who prevented him from full
actualization as an almighty overlord. If actual physical elimination is not possible, then the
colonizer will remove the native symbolically, by turning him into another species.
3
Then it
became possible for the colonist to lay claim, without the slightest of qualms, by physical
violence,orbytheviolenceofthelaw,tothelandoftheindigenouspeoples,todispossessthem
fromtheirancestralrights.

In the distinct body of legal texts created specifically for the overseas empire, colonial peoples
were considered as subjects of France. That meant the absence of all rights and liberties
guaranteed by the French constitution to man and citizen. The colonized individual possessed
onlydismissiblepowers;hewassubjectedtopermanentrestrictionsintermsofeverythingthat
concerned his existence. This included even his identity, which was denied him, since he was
deprived of the right to claim his nationality; he was systematically assigned the status of
indigenous person [indigne], a term associated with epithets or attributes such as Muslim. His
landandhisnamebecametheattributesofanOther.

1
TranslatedfromtheFrenchbyBarYldrm,witheditorialassistancebyProfessorEmeritusDavidL.Schalk.
2
Professor Djerbal employs the French noun autotochtone here and elsewhere. It is rarely used in everyday English,
mostlyonlyinthetechnicallanguageofanthropology.Iwillitalicizeit.Isuggestnativemightworkinthiscontext,and
believe it captures his meaning. In everyday American usage, native standing alone has a negative connotation, as in
going native, whereas coupled with American it curiously has developed a positive connotation, referring to the
originalinhabitantsoftheNorthAmericancontinent.(Editorsnote.)
3
Frantz Fanon, Les damns de la Terre (In English, The Wretched of the Earth. New translation, Grove Atlantic Press,
2004).
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Frompropernountocommonnoun.Asyntacticdisplacement

According to psychologists and psychoanalysts who have worked on colonial trauma

4
and its
consequences, colonial violence and the diverse forms of its heritage are defined by the
disappropriation,thedeprivationofonesown(language,historyandculture).
5

The assignment of the autochthon to the status of an indigenous person will bring with it a
designation which sticks to the skin. There will also appear a series of syntactic variations as
regards the predicate of the colonized: the native [natif], the aborigine [aborigine], the natural
[naturel] etc. Whatever designation is chosen, it is used in the figurative sense. What then
followsisaprocessofhollowingoutofonesself.

In line with Fanons thinking, colonization, a phenomenon of domination and submission,

consists of manufacturing subjects denied familiarity with themselves, in a way witness to their
ownfailure,whichtakesthemoutofthemselves,inbothliteralandmetaphoricalsenses.
6

InLanVdelarvolutionalgrienne
7
Fanonwouldwrite,Frenchcolonialismhasinstalleditself
intheverycenteroftheAlgerianindividualandhasundertakenasustainedworkofsweeping,
ofexpulsionofonesself,ofamutilationcarriedoutrationally.
8

Docilebody,captivelanguage

Thisdismemberedbody,inhabitedbytheOther,whichmovesinaspaceandtimewhichdonot
belongtoitanymore,butwhichneverthelesshasitsownbeliefs,reveresitsowngods,mustbe
addressedandincitedtospeakinadifferent,amorecivilizedlanguage.

According to Hamid Mokaddem who works on contemporary New Caledonia and cites Norbert
Elias
9
andMichelFoucault
10
,

Through civilization, in the sense of the civilizing process of symbolic violence, many
autochthonous clans of the North had been displaced and relocated in Catholic
missionary establishments. [] Religion civilized and polished the bodies, the habitus,
and abolished pagan social practices, which were considered to be savage. We will see
that the education carried out by the missionaries served the purpose of
manufacturingdocilebodies.
11

This notion of polished bodies and docile bodies seemed interesting to me as regards the
anthropological critique of the colonial. If language and speech should ever be granted to the
colonized, the Catholic missionary school is to be in charge of that. The language the colonized
people acquire in the strictly disciplined environment of the confessional school will be simple,
passive,loyaltosuperiors,unquestioningofauthority.

4
See the work of Alice Cherki, especially Frantz Fanon, Portrait, Editions du Seuil, 2000; and the series of writings by
KarimaLazalipublishedintheditionsrsseries.
5
Karima Lazali, Lmergence du sujet face lHistoire. Quelques rflexions sur la situation de lAlgrie partir de la
pensedeFanon,inLaclibataireN20,summer2010"Lesmmoires";andinChVuoi?N34,October2010.
6
Id.
7
Published in English translation as Year Five of the Algerian Revolution, re-published under the title Sociology of a
Revolution,andonceagainpublished,andstillavailablefromGrove/AtlanticPressinpaperback,underthetitleADying
Colonialism.(Editorsnote.)
8
F.Fanon,LanVdelarvolutionalgrienne,p.57.
9
N.Elias,Lacivilisationdesmurs,Paris,AgoraPocket,1969-2002;Elias,NorbertandJohnL.Scotson,
Logiquesdelexclusion,Paris,Agora,Pocket,1997.
10
M.Foucault,Surveilleretpunir.Naissancedelaprison,Paris1975,NRF,Gallimard.
11
H.Mokaddem,AnthropologiedelaNouvelleCaldoniecontemporaine,PhDthesissubmittedtoEHESS,Janvier2010,p.
158.
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[...] One could say that all types of schooling entail socialization outside of the family
circle. Nevertheless, the rupture from the tribal environment, maternal language,
cultural structures of behavior is bound to be traumatizing. Such schooling is not
perceived as a regime of education, but rather as a civilizing process, in the sense of
symboliccolonialviolence.

[...] Raphal Mapoutalks about the sentiment of dereliction, he felt, or endured,

beginningwithhisentryintoconfessionalschools.

[...] Did the political will of the civilizers lie in the direction of breaking or of modifying
the parental relations of the indigenous school children? In the long term anyhow, this
process of civilization partially succeeded in having an effect on the structures of
behavior.

[...] All testimonies and biographical accounts mention nothing but emotions and the
rigorous alignment and control of bodies, their veritable dressage
12
. Manual labor in
fields for social survival, complete isolation, as well as rules for living, which trans-form
socialbeingsintorecluses.
13

And to conclude, H. Mokaddem arrives at the heart of the matter of the representation of the
self.Hestates:

[...] Despite everything, the experience of rupture is very much an experience of the
absence of the reflection of the Kanak image, in the sense of the Freudo-Lacanian term
imago,whichformsandstructurestherecognitionoftheself.Theeducationsystemdoes
not reflect in the mirror an image with which the Kanak can identify themselves, and
consequentlybecomemotivatedtoattainsuccessinschool.
14

Once independence is achieved, the colonized is confronted with a double question: Who am I
outsideoftheOtherthatinhabitsme?HowcanIgetridoftheOther,whichcontinuestoinhabit
me? How can I fill myself up on my own? How can I create my own metaphor and establish my
ownvalues?

THEHIGHSTAKESOFNATIONALINDEPENDENCE

Thetestofanxiety.Theriskofmimicryandrepetition

Inthecontextofthenewlyindependentnations,locatedprimarilybutbynomeanstotallyonthe
African continent, in the context of a new global situation which others will call the
postcolonial, how can the supposedly liberated citizen of a supposedly liberated nation break
out of this cleavage between two worlds, that of the colonized and that of the colonizer? How
can the technically liberated and newly colonized individual break out of the position of the
positionofsubmissiontowhichhehadbeenassigned,forsuchalongperiodoftime,duringthe
entire age of colonization? Fanon argues that it would be an illusion to think that liberation
wouldbesufficientforfreeingoneselffromthesubserviencecreatedbycolonialdomination.In
fact, it would be utopian to believe that political liberation would be enough in itself for a true
changeofstatus,fromthatofasilencedsubjecttothatofafreecitizen,engagedinanopen
processofcommunalliving.Asregardsthisquestion,Fanonsthoughtisfundamentalandmore
thaneverup-to-date.Hebasicallysays,Colonizedpeoples,whohavebeenskinned,mustgetrid

12
M.Mokaddemusesthisword,whichhasthesamemeaninginEnglish-mostcommonlythebreakingandtrainingof
horses,sometimesotheranimals.Ihaveneverseenitappliedtothebreakingofthespiritofahumanbeing,butitfits
perfectlyhere.(Editorsnote.)
13
Id.,pp.158,163,161,163.
14
Id.,p.162.
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ofthementalattitudewhichhascharacterizedthemuntilnow.
15

Butthisprocessisnotpatentlyobvious,asKarimaLazaliobserveswithherusualacuity:

The liberation of a people, just like that of an individual, could constitute an extra-
ordinarychance;howeveritcouldalsopushthemintodespair.[]Itinvolvesakindof
trialthroughthefireofanxiety,becausetheprimaryidentitywhichhadbeenassigned
for so long by the Other falls apart, and through this founding action creates a great
deal of anxiety, even a gaping hole in the sentiment of self, that is, identity. Once
this anxiety is liberated it can lead to a new and creative future, but it also contains
withinitselftheriskofareturntothestatusquo,throughtheextensionofasituationof
domination, which claims to be familiar and thus reassuring. In this case the dominant
Other takes its place in the interior of the self and weaves the social bond by
reorganizingthesamepursuitofsubservience.
16

Becomingagainthesubjectofonesownhumanity

Theso-calledmodernizationprocessesofcolonialsocietiescollidedhead-onwithcommunitarian
economies and social orders. They entailed an accelerated disintegration of the enlarged
communities,whichforamoment,hadbeenblendedinwiththeideaofthenation.

Theprocessesofindividuationwhichimmediatelyfollowedindependencewerenotaccompanied
by the formation of a political society in which the community of citizens would replace the
community of religious adherence or the community of kinship. The absolutely essential
negotiationbetweentheconstituentelementsofthenewcivilandpoliticalsocietiesneededtime
to take hold, to bear fruit. These embryos of nations in formation, these small republics, in the
sense that Germaine Tillion gave to the tribes of the Aurs
17
, also needed to recognize
themselves in their differences and their diversity, in order to negotiate a new togetherness
withinthelargerrepublicinformation.

As Karima Lazali formulates the question, liberation (individual and/or collective) is a

fundamental precondition to construct for oneself another place and thus another organization
of intra- and inter-psychic relations; but it absolutely does not constitute a guarantee for the
inventionofanidentity.
18

Much is at stake in colonies achieving independence, and especially in those that had
experienced a significant European presence, in terms of human settlement. The massive
departure of the Other, the Stranger, leaves behind a vacuum that needs to be rapidly filled.
Maybeeventoorapidlytobeeffective.

Just as in Vietnam, the war of liberation in Algeria created a moment appropriate for a radical
remedy, or if not, a temporary substitution for this process of defection-renunciation-desertion
ofthesubject,whohadfeltthepainofthebranding-ironofdefeatandconquestandoccupation.
This Being, suffering from the destitution of his identity, stigmatized because of his skin
pigmentation, emptied out of his very self, disfigured, mutilated and downgraded in his own
eyes, revolts and takes up weapons to liberate itself from the (physical) presence of the Other.
Consequently, he transforms himself into a resister, into a member of the people in arms.
He retrieves his own name and enters into dialogue and negotiation with the Other. His new
image races across the screen in televised news programs, and makes the front pages of
newspapers and magazines. He is not invisible, transparent, hollow, any more, and he gains
consistency, weight, a new reality. He climbs the ladders of self-respect very rapidly. Then this

15
F.Fanon,Lesdamnsdelaterre,p.136.
16
K.Lazali,op.cit.
17
G.Tillion,Iltaitunefoislethnographie,Ed.duSeuil,Paris2000.
18
K.Lazali,op.cit.
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new individual can, like the Vietnamese negotiators in Geneva in 1954, or the Algerian
negotiators in Evian in 1962, go back down the steps of that ladder with his head held high,
whetherheiswearingacolonialhelmet,rubbersandals,oranelegantsuitwithatie;hecansit
across the table from the representatives of the former colonial power, as the latter abandon
theirsovereignty.
19

Very rapidly, however, the historical context of the new period and the will to power of the
mastersoftheworldwillabortthesepotentiallyliberatingprocesses,andthrustthemajorityof
ex-colonialcountriesintoasortofpermanentsearchforlibertyandequality.

Themirroreffectorthedifficultre-presentationoftheself

As we have mentioned above, the transition to the status of free people and free man is not as
simple as one might think. This is true not only in the political domain, but also in the realm of
artsandculture.

TheconditionofAlgeriainthe60s(Sweet60s)isaspainfulasitisfilledwithcontradictions.The
country inherited a traumatized national memory, while also inheriting structures of education
and aesthetic production, whose forms and conceptions had been conceived by the Other.
Franois Pouillons remarks on the painting and the painters of the first generation following
independenceareveryrelevantinthiscontext:

Algeria[]hadtoputupwithacurrentcomingfromthenorth,yetatthesametime,it
maneuvered against this current, opposed it formally, while asserting a self-referential
existence. This existence was not devoid of vigor, but the force initially created was
gradually depleted, while hiding the reality of the ongoing process. [during the colonial
period]Algeria,whichdidnothaveaproperpictorialtradition,whichhadrefusedwith
aparticulardeterminationthismodeofartisticexpression,wassuddenlyendowedwith
it: easel painting, an artistic expertise invented in the West, became [after
independence] a legitimate activity painters gained recognition as a social group, and
paintingasanautonomousactivity.
20

So,itwasnecessarytopassthroughaninitialreactionofsymbolicrefusal,whichhoweverdidnot
impactwhatwastrulyessential.FranoisPouillonobservesaboutthisprocessthat,beyondthe
self-proclaimed voluntarism of Algerian artists we have the transformation of a situation of
dependence which appears, in certain periods, to be barely tolerable, by making it into an
originalmanifestationofonesgenius,eventheexpressionofonesautonomy.
21

In Algeria, during the entire colonial epoch, education at fine arts schools was conceived by the
French for the French. Established in 1843, the Ecole des Beaux-Arts dAlger [Algiers School of
FineArts]startedoutasasimpledrawingschool,andthenbecameamunicipalschoolin1848.It
gainedthestatusofEcoleNationaledesBeaux-ArtsdAlger[AlgiersNationalFineArtsSchool]in
1881.ThelessonstherewerefreeofchargeandopenexclusivelytoEuropeans.

The Acadmie Druet of Algiers, a private academy, just like the Julian academy of Paris, was
founded by the painter Antoine Druet in 1904. Georges Rochegrosse would become one of its
most important professors. This academy collaborated closely with the Ecole des Beaux-Arts
[SchoolofFineArts]inParis.

The Socit des Peintres Orientalistes Franais [Society of French Orientalist Painters] was
foundedin1893,andhelditsSalon,startingfromthatyearonwards,inthePalaisdel'Industrieor

19
FortheAlgeriancase,seeRedhaMalek,LAlgrievian,LeSeuil,Paris,1995.
20
FranoisPouillon,Lesmiroirsenabyme:Centcinquanteansdepeinturealgrienne,NAQDN17,Spring-summer2003,
p.9-25
21
F.Pouillon,op.cit.
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Grand Palais in Paris, coordinated with an exposition of Muslim art organized by the director of
Muse des Beaux-Arts [Museum of Fine Arts] in Algiers. Its founders include names such as
Maurice Bompard, Eugne Girardet, Etienne Dinet and Paul Leroy. Jean-Lon Grme and
Benjamin Constant were named Honorary Presidents. The Socit des Peintres Orientalistes
Franaisreacheditsclimaxinthe1910s,withnearly1,000worksondisplayin1913foritsannual
exhibition,thoughnotasingleonepaintedbyanautochthon.

The Socit Coloniale des Artistes Franais [Colonial Society of French Artists] was founded in
1908.ItrapidlyemergedasarivaltotheSocitdesPeintresOrientalistesFranais.In1946,its
name was changed to Socit des Beaux-Arts de la France d'Outre-Mer [Fine Arts Society of
Overseas French Departments], because the adjective colonial was beginning to acquire a
pejorative connotation in the period immediately following World War II. In 1960, with the
beginning of decolonization processes, it changed its name yet again to the Socit des Beaux-
Artsd'Outre-Mer[OverseasFineArtsSociety].

With the attainment of Independence, the burden of this double heritage had to be borne
throughout the early decades: first, that of the Subject seen, and portrayed by the Other, and
second, that of the art of representation, from which the Subject had been almost totally
excluded.

Duringthe60sandrightupuntilthe80s,saysNadiraLaggoune,

thehistoryofAlgerianplasticartswasbeingconstructed.Allthroughoutthisperiod,
one saw the establishment of a painting style, particular languages, whose dominant
expression was, starting in 1967, the Aouchem movement. This would give birth to
multipleformsbasedonthesign(calligraphies,Berbersigns,tattoos,etc.),ontheletter,
andonaparticularsensationofpurecolor.
22

Isitbychanceorisitanironyofhistorythatthefirstattemptsofselfrepresentationinacountry
finallyliberatedfromforeigndominationarecarriedoutbyaschoolwhichnamesitselfAouchem
(Tattoos)?

As we have noted above, the colonized, the colonial subject, who was branded, as if with a hot
iron, with the fate reserved for the defeated, this Being, suffering from the destitution of his
identity,sufferingfromthestigmatizationofhisskincolor,fromtheveryemptyingoutofhisself,
ofhisessence,disfigured,mutilatedanddevaluedinhisowneyes,thisBeingrevoltsandtakesup
weaponstoliberatehimselffromthepresence(physical)oftheOther.

InfactoneofthefirstfigurationsoftheselfduringtheSweet60s,theperiodofpeaceregained
and sovereignty restored, was covering over, literally dressing up this body with signs, rather
than filling it up from the inside, giving it solidity and reality. Artists even went so far as to
questionpreceptsofarttransmittedbycolonialschools,againwithastreakofvoluntarism.And,
paradoxically,asN.Laggounesays,

Atthesametime,theinvestigationscarriedoutbytheprecursorsofthisnewpainting
(Khadda,Mesli,Martinez,andothers...)werefullypartoftheinternationalmovementof
thedeconstructionofart.Thedisappearanceofthesubject,ofthepattern,andofthe
feeling were very much the characteristics of modern art, which inspired them. A
whole generation of artists thus formed themselves into the avant-garde of Algerian
painting.
23

22
Nadira Laggoune-Aklouche, Le mutisme des peintres ou lindulgence du silence, NAQD N17, Spring-summer 2003, p.
27-38
23
Id.
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What a strange paradox that Algerian artists, in order to fill up the Subject which had been
hollowedout,andtoassertitsexistencetotheworld,chosetotranscribeitintosignsandfinally
intotheabstract.

Through our entry point of the examination of artistic trends, we gain access into the great
upheavals surrounding the construction of independent states and nations. The postcolonial is
fullofthisemptinessneedingtobefilledup,ofthismeaningcallingouttobegiven.Plasticarts
andperformingartsgothroughacrisisofmeaning.Anditisneithertheprofusionofforms,nor
their abstraction that will fill the discursive vacuum and relieve the anxieties created by the
suddenlossoftheOther.

August2010
DahoDjerbalisthedirectorofthejournalNAQD

TranslatedfromFrenchbyBarYldrm

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Thesocialandpoliticalmovementsofthe60sledpeopletobelievethattheycouldchallengethe
existing social roles, offer alternatives to mainstream ideologies and institutions, and transform
notonlytheplacestheylivebuttheentireworld.WasitbycoincidencethattheTetOffensive,the
PragueSpring,theMayEventsinFrance,thestudentprotestsinWestGermany,theassassination
ofMartinLutherKingandthetakeoverofColumbiaUniversityalloccurredinthesameyear?
1
And
whatwasTurkey'spositioninthis"contagious"globaluprising?

Based on interviews, Nadire Mater's book "Sokak Gzeldir: 68'de Ne Oldu?" [Street is Beautiful:
What Happened in 68?] (Metis, 2009) attempts to give a realistic account of the year 1968 in
Turkey,anddealsnotonlywithTurkey's68,butalsowiththatoftheworld.Wehaveinterviewed
NadireMater,bothawitnessandaresearcheroftheperiod,andaskedherabout"theyearthat
markedthe60s,"Turkeyin1968,thepoliticalfaultlinethathaveemergedsince68,thenostalgic
"aesthetization"of68andthe"utopiasthatslowlyfadeaway-andyetremainalive."

68 has been widely discussed and written about. However, the curiosity it provokes is never
satisfied. The question you also posed in your book, "what happened in 1968," is a never-
ending source of curiosity. Why does this topic attract so much attention? Why is 68
continuouslyrememberedandreminiscedinourtimes?Whydoesitholdanexceptionalplace
inourmemories?

Well, that is because it really is exceptional. Such a global uprising was never seen before in
history and it continues to be the only one of its kind. In our world where neo-liberal/globalist
policies prevail, where invasions and wars occur in the name of "democracy," the 68 rebellion
becomes more and more important in terms of resisting, forming opposition movements,
questioning life and transforming the world... The questions "why" and "how" also become our
keys in learning and understanding what has and has not happened in 1968. 68 rebels, who are
now around their sixties, are in politics (though they hold very few seats in the parliament), the
media, the feminist movement, the environmental movement and the struggle for rights. They
areamongthekeyactorsofthenewsocialoppositionmovements.Weshouldalsonotethatnot
allthepeoplewhowereyoungorwereuniversitystudentsintheyear1968were68rebels,and
not all of the rebels retained their "rebellious" spirit. However, let us add that even if they are
now engaged in very different fields and have quite different lifestyles, they, in some way or
another, bear the traces of 68. There is no single answer to the question "what happened in
1968?"anditkeepsbeingasked,arousingmoreandmorecuriosity.Since68cannotbesummed
upinoneevent,everybodyhastheirownexperienceofit.Ibelievethatthereareasmany68sas
there are 68 rebels. Both in Turkey and in the world... So, the special place it occupies in our
memories is what keeps the 68 rebellion alive, while its power makes the rebellion retain that
specialplace.

Despite its unique place in our memories, why is there a lack of academic research on the
subject?Asajournalist,whatdoyouthinkaboutthat?

A lack? In fact, there are quite a number of 68ers in the academic world. I personally know
numerousscholarsfromvariousdisciplineswhoreflecttheir"rebellious"spiritbothintheirlives
and in their studies. I also know that often they are not given seats in administrative boards or
decision-making organisms... As far as I know, academic studies on 68 have recently started to
growinnumber.Thetimeisbecomingripeforthe"event"tobeaddressedacademically.Works
on 68 are mostly in the form of memoirs. In addition to the books written by the 68 rebels
themselves, we can also mention the books penned by journalists, most of whom were among
theyoungrebelsof68.Theworksofjournalistsdifferfromtheacademiconesinthatjournalists
recount their experiences, whereas academic studies place the "event" in its historical context,
explore it through a theoretical framework and connect it to our current lives in that sense. I

1
GeorgeKatsiaficas,TheImaginationoftheNewLeft:AGlobalAnalysisof1968(Cambridge;Massachusetts:SouthEnd
Press,1987),p.4.
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knowofsomemaster'sanddoctoraldissertationson68.Infact,aspeopleoutsidetheacademic
world, it is hard for us to keep up-to-date with all the research going on. For that reason, we
would very much like to have broader access to academic works and see the studies reaching
beyond "the academic walls." More comprehensive, analytical and comparative doctoral
dissertations need to be written on 68. In fact, the available materials, which are mostly in the
formofmemoirsandnarratives,willbehelpfulresourcesforacademicresearch.Somequestions
have to be addressed to clarify the social, cultural and economic aspects: Who were those
people?Howdidallthathappen?Whatwerethedifferentmotivesthatmobilizedpeople?What
were the results? Since there are ongoing questions and discussions regarding 68, academic
studies will continuously develop. For instance, Eric Hobsbawm regards it as a "cultural
revolution"especiallyforFrance.ForImmanuelWallerstein,"1968"standsoutasoneofthetwo
world revolutions, the other being the revolution of 1848. The idea behind his remark is that,
though unsuccessful, both revolutions did manage to transform society. That holds true for
Turkey as well. The rebellion was not futile. The struggle did bring about some results. There
weremanychangesinuniversitiesandsomeofthedemandsoftherebelswerefulfilled.

Well, if we consider the example of Turkey, could it be said that the impetus behind the
ongoingquestionsanddiscussionsisintegratingTurkey's60sintothe68oftheWest,orrather,
comparing that period in Turkey with the 68 in the West? Or, perhaps an effort to secure a
distinctionbetweenTurkeyandtheWestintermsof68...(Forinstance,inyourbook,Erturul
Krksays:"68cannotberegardedasanafter-effectofaEuropeanmovement.")

In the context of 68, "Western Influence" primarily means the influence of France, which was
truly far-reaching. In Street is Beautiful, the 68er interviewees also repeatedly point out to this
fact. It is evident that France has influenced not only Turkey but the whole world on different
levels;however,assigningFranceasthesolecauseofthe68uprisinginTurkeyandinotherparts
of the world would deprive us of a clearer view of the big picture. I believe that it is important
thatwefirsttakealookattheworldsceneintheyear1968.1968markstheendofthefirsthalf
of the Cold War, which, as a period, lasted for forty or forty-five years. There was an intense
rivalry between the two super-powers the United States of America (USA) and the Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) to dominate the world... It was a rivalry between capitalism
and "socialism." Espionage, ideological propaganda, the armament process, the NATO and
Warsawmilitarypactsandmilitarybases...Althoughtheopposingpowersdidnotengageinclose
combats,theywereinaproxywarthroughthirdparties.Andthemainissuewasfightingagainst
communism. So, "socialism" sought to maintain itself. In such an atmosphere, with its
geographical position right next to the Soviet Union, Turkey was an important ally for the US. It
hasbeenclaimedthatthethen-USintelligenceservicegatheredonefourthoftheinformationon
theUSSRthroughitsbasesinTurkey.Itwasalsoatimewhendictatorshipsandmilitaryregimes
became commonplace around the world, including Europe. Especially in Africa, many colonies
had gained their independence, but there were still wars going on. And some countries were
going through civil wars. Especially with the momentum gained after the Second World War,
capitalism now had a strong position. The advent of communication was an important factor
enabling people to have broader access to what was going on in the world. Looking back from
now it may seem quite naive and strange; however, the news, though still not one click away,
traveled around the world more quickly in the 60s thanks to television and radio, which was
already a popular means of communication. Being informed about what other people are going
throughishighlyimportant.Whatisgoingon,where?Youngpeopleinevitablyaskthisquestion
and start looking for some answers. That was how the "contagious" character of the rebellion
wasnourished;theworldyouthinfluencedeachother.The"Worldin1968"sectionoftheStreet
is Beautiful takes a look at the year 1968 in various countries and continents, covering a wide
rangeoftopics,fromfashiontowars,assassinationstocinema.Justliketoday,themediaofthe
timeoftenreflectedthe"Western,"or,toputitmorecorrectly,theAmericanperspective.Inthat
sense, the Soviet side was somewhat walled off from the rest of the world. Nevertheless, some
news broke out, as was the case when Soviet tanks entered Czechoslovakia. As for the global
scene, the independence/liberation war called the "American War" by the Vietnamese people
and the "Vietnam War" by the Western-oriented world was going on. This war was the
embodiment of imperialism and highly influenced young people in Turkey. In the US, the Black
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Power and civil rights movements had become quite effective. The feminist movement was
abouttotakeoff.So,thepoliticalpotwasboiling.However,weshouldalsoaddthattheterm68
doesnotsignifyasimplecalendaryearrunningfromJanuary1sttoDecember31st.Itsurehada
backgroundandanaftermath.Nowadayswetalkmoreabouttheyear1968;that,however,was
apartofaprocess.Itisoftensaidthat1968wasayearthatmarkedthe60s.Peopleinfluenced
each other. Also in the Soviet Block, young people started to take some steps under such a
repressiveadministrationandwithintheprotectivesystemcreatedbytheColdWar.Therewere
similaritiesamongcountriesintermsofthereactionsformed,butatthesametime,eachcountry
had specific problems. So, somehow there were overlapping and interaction between these
issues. In fact, there was a significant activity in the Turkish social and political scene, starting
from1965.InFrance,theysaythat68actuallystartedinMay,attheendofApril.Well,italways
makes me happy to point out to the fact that in Turkey the first protests of 68 were held in
January by middle-high and high school students, who kind of gave a message to their elders.
Given the atmosphere prior to 1968 and the growing momentum of the rebellion in Turkey, we
cannotsimplesay"ItallhappenedinFranceandhadreverberationsinTurkey."Throughoutthe
world, invasions, boycotts, anti-war protests, the search for a better world, and the struggles
against imperialism on the road to the revolution, all influenced each other, proliferated and
snowballed into a strong global movement. If we get back to the question, all the aspects we
havementionedaresignificantfactorsthatmakeusremember68,andinTurkeywedon'treally
needanexteriormotivation.So,howcouldweeverforgetit?

The next question is one you have also posed in Street is Beautiful and I am sure you have
come across it many times by now:What were the common and distinctive aspects of 68 in
TurkeyandintheWest?

Thereisasomewhatinterestingexample.WhenyoungpeopleinFrancefirstrevolted,theirfirst
demand was that university dorms were made unisex. In fact, back then, at the Gazi Education
InstitutioninAnkarawhichwasundertheauspicesoftheMinistryofEducationfemaleandmale
dormitorieswereinthesamebuilding.ThiswasalsotruefortheFacultyofPoliticalSciences.In
StreetisBeautiful,IkAlumurrecountsthatthoughtherewereseparatestairsthegirlsandboys
used the same elevator and they "could pass freely" from one dormitory to the other in the
FacultyofPoliticalSciences,andadds:"Atthefaculty,wewerealreadyaheadofFrance."So,as
Alumur says, the students did not need to make such a demand as they already had that right.
The most important commonality between Turkey and the West was anti-imperialism. Anti-
imperialismandtheVietnamWar...Sure,thosetwoissueswereinterrelatedandtheyreinforced
eachother.Forexample,the"VietnamWar"wasalsoasignificantfactorshapingtherebellionin
England, which was considered to host a "Quiet 68" in terms of the struggle concerning the
problems at universities. During those years, many activities and protests about Vietnam took
placeinEngland.However,intermsofsimilarities/differences,letusalsosaythat,comparedto
the struggle of the European youth, in the US, the main tenet of the struggle regarding the
Vietnam issue was to protest the war and conscription since young people in the US could be
senttoVietnamandlosetheirlives.Andthatactuallyhappened;theywentthereandlosttheir
lives. Well, even for those who managed to survive, life was not the same... However, for the
youth in England that was not the case; there, it was more about protesting against the US and
supporting the Vietnam People's Army and the Vietnamese people. And the situation was quite
similar in Turkey. The "Vietnam" issue was certainly mentioned in every march, protest or
gathering,asasolidmanifestationofthestruggleagainstimperialismandtheUShegemony.As
for the similarities between the countries, despite the different stages of the development of
capitalism in these countries, during that period in all of them there were efforts to train
universitystudentsforjobsintheindustryandtoadapttheacademicprogramsinordertomeet
the needs of the industry. And in that framework, (as I have also observed in my hometown)
young people who, until then could not even dream about going to college realized that higher
education was now a real, solid possibility, and they, at once, found themselves in classrooms.
Though differing in frequency and scope, this was what happened in many parts of the world,
includingTurkey.Youngpeoplefromtownsfloodedthebigcitiestoexperienceastrikingchange
of environment. For instance, having grown up in rural areas and traditional costumes, young
Japanese people, all of a sudden, found themselves in jeans, enjoying the opportunities of the
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consumersociety,andtheysoonstartedtoblamethemselvesforeasilybeingswallowedbythe
capitalistwayofliving.Thisfeelingofguiltisconsideredtohavecontributedtotheanti-capitalist
reactions.Stuckinbetweentheirfamiliesinthetownsorvillagesandthedeceivingsplendorand
comfortofcapitalism,thetensionfeltbyyoungpeoplefromvariouspartsoftheworldincluding
Turkeyseemstobeoneoftheunderlyingfactorsthat,in varyinglevels,provokedtherebellion.
Longing for a world without exploitation... In Turkey, the anti-imperialist aspect of 68 was quite
highlighted as there were 30,000 US citizens working at the military bases, and the Turkish-
American relationship was regulated by 55 special agreements which were not open to the
public. It was said that there were 21 US bases/facilities in Turkey including ncirlik. We should
also remember the atmosphere created by the 6th Fleet which visited the harbors. There was a
feeling of siege. I should add that in 1969 the number of US citizens in Turkey decreased to
become around 7,000. Of course, the struggle against US imperialism and presence in the
countrywaseffectiveinbringingaboutthisresult.Intheend,the6thFleetcouldnolongerenter
theharborsinTurkey.

In the context of anti-imperialism and anti-Americanism, what do you think about the
"accusation"ofTurkey's68forbeingnationalist?

Lookingatthosewhocallthemselvesnationaliststoday,wecanseewhathappensifyouareonly
against the US. So, there is a really thin line between being an anti-imperialist and being a
nationalist. This thin line has affected Turkey's 68 by the zigzags it formed. In Turkey, before
1968,wehadgonethroughtheMilitaryCoupofMay27in1960.Backthen,I/wedidnotseethe
Coup of May 27 as we do today. In the Coup of May 27, a "bad" government had been
overthrown by the army to bring "freedom" to Turkey. We were being introduced to socialism.
Marxist classics were being translated to Turkish. Books were being written and published. As
kidsfromruralareaswithathirstforknowledge,wewerereadingallthetime...Andtherewere
discussions,meetings,oppositions,protests...Insuchanatmosphere,ittookusyearstoseehow
horrible it was that two ministers and the prime minister were executed by the orders of the
emergencycourtduringtheCoupof1960.Inthosedays,weallwere,tosomeextentoranother,
under the influence of Kemalism. This, however, does not mean that we were necessarily
nationalistsinthecurrentsenseoftheword.Indiscussionswhichhavebecomemoreandmore
intense in the recent years 68ers and 68 have been labeled as nationalist from a unilateral
perspective that leaves out the differences. I think that people seem to rush to conclusions
without sufficiently examining 68, its past and consequences, which can be misleading. On the
other hand, the "nationalist" tone is quite explicit in the texts from that period. We thought we
were"internationalist"since"beingnationalist"wasacharacteristicoftheright-wing.Wefeltwe
wereso"internationalist"thatin1968therewereno"Kurds,"butratherpeoplefromthe"east."
We understood only very late what it really meant that the two co-presidents of the Invasion
Committee of Students at stanbul University were Kurd and Laz. It took us years to understand
thatthosewhosemother-tongueswereKurdishorLazlanguageweremoreactiveinbringingup
demandsofinvasionsincetheywerenotsuccessfulintheoralexamsatthelawfaculties.Asfor
the difference between Turkey and Europe... For example, when Soviet tanks entered
Czechoslovakia,althoughsomepeopleplacedblackwreathsbeforetheSovietUnionConsulatein
Istanbul to protest the invasion, in general we, the 68ers in Turkey, could not stand up against
the tanks. We now know what internationalism truly means; you have to be against invasions
wherevertheymightbe.ThatiswhytheUSinvasionofIraqisaconcernforus.Somegroupsdid
discuss the invasion of Czechoslovakia, but it did not become a predominant theme. Let us also
remember that the Soviet tanks had divided the Turkish Labor Party as well. Young people in
Europe,however,didresist.Wewereratheratraditional"left;"andinFrance,forinstance,they
were discussing different things. There they had Marcuse, the anarchists, Trotskyists... Soviet-
style traditional communist parties were being protested, and a new "left" was emerging. We
were not really informed that inside the Soviet Block, for example in Poland and East Germany,
there were protests against the tanks. Or, perhaps we could not see through the events. We
thought that the opposition in the Soviet Block was rather an uprising against socialism. The
68ers in Turkey neither had enough information, nor were sufficiently equipped to see the big
pictureindetail.
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Whydon'tweleavetheWestononesideandcomparethe60sinTurkeywiththeneighboring
countries?IsittheWest'ssuperiorityinallareasincludingknowledgeproductionthatrenders
the 68 in the Middle East, the Balkans, the South Caucasus or North Africa invisible? Didn't
theseregionslivethrougha68?Or,beingontheperipheryoftheworld,didtheseregionsstay
ontheperipheryof68too?Or,istheconceptof68itselfaninventionofthecenter?Arethere
anysourcesyoucouldreferustoonthissubject,thatistosay,onthe"excluded68ers"?

At the time in almost all parts of the world, from Asia to Africa, Japan, India, Ethiopia and Latin
America, the youth had complaints about their schools, the political regimes of their countries,
capitalism,imperialism,andthestateoftheworld.Therebellionsdidnotstartallofasuddenon
1January1968.Thisbecomesclearasweexaminetheeventsonebyone,forinstanceifwelook
attherebellionsof1967.

Mark Kurlansky, the author of 1968: The Year That Rocked the World, visited the stanbul Book
Fairin2008.Turkey's68wasnotmentionedinthatbook.Whenhewasaskedthereasonduring
aworkshoptheauthorsaidthathecouldnotfindanysources.Ofcoursethat'snottrue.Asimple
research, let's say, through the archive of The New York Times would yield news articles about
Turkey.Itisallaboutthemindset.Ashistoryisbeingreconstructed,peopleseemtotakenoteof
whattheyprefertosee,andmindsworkina"West"orientedway.Weneedtoshaketheminds
awake. We constantly learn all that is going on in Germany, France and in the US; but the
countries on the periphery get global attention only through coups d'tat, natural disasters or
earthquakes. The centers stand out, rendering the other parts invisible. For example, in Turkey
thecenterisstanbul(theBebek-Taksimroute!);itisinthenewsallthetime.Buttheotherparts
ofthecountrymakethemselvesintothenewsinsofarassomething"unusual"happens.Inthe
aftermath of the Erzincan earthquake, we heard of some villages, which, till then, passed
unnoticed. So, it takes a natural disaster for us to learn something about these villages. That
appliestothewomen'srights/genderissueaswell.Itisamale-dominantapproachthatexcludes
thelocalandgazesatthecenterfromthecenter...Thoughitishard,somewayoranother,this
gazehastobedismantled.Thatiswhatwelearnfromthefeministmovement.Themediahasa
significantrole.Weknowthatthereismoretolife/worldthanwhatisshowninthemedia;there
arethingsthemediadoesn'tshoworrendersinvisible.Tounderstandwhatthecountriesoutside
the "West" has gone through, we need access to original studies conducted in these countries.
Everybodycontinuestowritetheirown68.

WhatabouttheMiddleEast?

In the Middle East the Palestine-Israel conflict was heating up after Israel took over the Gaza
Strip, Western Bank and Jerusalem in the Six-Day War (Arab-Israeli War) in 1967. Revolutionary
youngpeoplefromTurkeywenttoPalestine,foughttogetherwithPalestinianguerillas,andwere
trained on guns. In Egypt, university students invaded the schools when they realized that the
real intention behind the education reform of the government was to prevent social activism.
Theinvasionwasquelledbymilitaryaircrafts,andtherewerestudentskilledandinjured.

IntheMiddleEastyoungpeoplefromPalestine,LebanonandSyriafollowedwhatwasgoingon
intheworldandexpressedtheiroppositionandprotest.Theywereinfluencedbythediscussions
going on around other parts of the world, especially in terms of their daily lives and the
relationshipbetweengenders.

We hear the word "generation" whenever one mentions the 60s or 68. Each narrative of 68
sayssomethingaboutthe68generation.Generationalconflictseemstobeattheheartofthis
generation.Theyformedareactionagainsttheoldergeneration.Ontheotherhand,theyalso
accusetheyoungergenerationofbeingselfish/individualistic/apolitical.So,whoarethe68ers?
Andwhyisagreatersignificanceattachedtotheiryouth?

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Insteadofcallingthema"generation"Iprefertousetheterm"68rebels."InTurkey,someofthe
peoplethathadparticipatedinthestudentprotestsbeforetheMilitaryCoupofMay27tookpart
inthe68uprising.Aswehavealreadymentioned,thecollegestudentswerenownotonlyfrom
thecenter,butalsofromruralareas.Wehadgraduallydifferentiatedourselvesfromourparents.
Of course there would be conflicts; however, rather than the conflicts, we should perhaps talk
about the deep feeling of trust in the 68 youth. I still cannot figure out how that bond of trust
was developed. I was 17 when my family sent me to Ankara. Almost all my friends in the
dormitory were from small cities and towns, and nobody from their hometowns had done this
before.Forexamplethedormitorydoorswerelockedeverynightat9PM.Weprotestedagainst
thatprocedure,askingforthedoorstobeopenuntilmidnightatleastonFridaysandSaturdays.
The dormitory management sent letters to our families, which said: "Your daughters are asking
forpermissiontogotobarsandnight-clubsonFridayandSaturdaynights.Whatwouldyousay
tothat?"Myfatherreplied,saying:"Mydaughtercanjudgewhatisbestforher,"andinhisletter
to me he wrote about this, so that I would know. So, in general the families had trust in their
children. Then came the times when people were imprisoned and got married in prisons... Of
course,thefamiliesweregreatlydisappointedandtheygotangry;however,theysupportedtheir
childrenatalltimes.

The term 68er is generally used to refer to those people who are now around their sixties and
wereuniversitystudentssometimebeforeoraftertheyear1968.Ofcoursewecannotreduceit
tobeingacollegestudentatthetime.Thisismoretheapproachofthosewhoseektohighlight
the "nostalgic" aspect. I prefer to see it in terms of resisting/rebelling against life. It is the
"revolutionary"spiritthatmatters.

While the student youth rebelled in most parts of the world, worker/unemployed and peasant
youth were also in revolt. And in Turkey, even in 1968 there were strikes and worker-peasant
demonstrations.TheJune15-16WorkersRiotdidnotoccuroutoftheblue;theagencyof68was
the driving force behind the 1970 events. And in the later years, the youth movement evolved
into a struggle involving workers and peasants. And workers and peasants were also present
among the members of the Dev-Gen (Revolutionary Youth Federation), People's Liberation
ArmyofTurkey(THKO),andPeople'sLiberationParty-FrontofTurkey(THKP-C).

If we go back to the question, I believe that even the term "68 generation" creates hegemony.
And it affects the youth today. This approach represses the younger generations. And this is
exactlywhatleadstothe"aesthetization"of68.ButIthinkweshouldregard68intermsofthe
possibilities it presents us. There is no point in idealizing 68 and labeling today's youth as
apolitical. Who do we refer to when we say "youth" anyway? If it is the rebellion that matters,
thebiggestofrebellionshasbeengoingoninTurkeysince1984.Wesaythat40,000peoplehave
died in a war that has been going on for the last 25 years. And almost all the people who lost
theirliveswereyoung.Wecannotjudgehowpolitical/apoliticaltheyweresincetheywerethere
in the combat zones doing their obligatory military service whether voluntarily or not. Kurdish
young people, however, do not go up to the mountains to have picnics; they are rebels. In
prisons, there are over 10,000 people who have been sentenced for political reasons. They are,
or they were, also young, and they are aging in the prisons. Despite the changes and
amendmentsmade,lifeinuniversitiesisstilltrappedbetweentheConstitutionof12September
1980Coup,probablyoneoftheworld'smost"successful"coups,theHigherCouncilofEducation
(YK), a major consequence of the coup, and the discipline regulations. Freedom of political
organizationisvital.Still,universitiesmaketheirvoicesheard.Thestudentswhomarchedonthe
streetstoprotesttheanniversaryofthefoundingofYKoneveryNovember6,orwhosaidthat
"thereshouldbeKurdishelectives"atuniversitiesfoundthemselvesbeforedisciplinecouncilsor
in prisons. It is not easy. Let us not forget the struggle of the workers, the latest one being the
Tekel Resistance. There they had many young people too. I think nobody would say that the
youthof68wasofgreaterworth;Ibelievetheyshouldnot.Let'snotmakeacomparisononthis
basis.

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Andwhatwouldyousayaboutwomen'sroleasmembersofthe68generation?

Backthen,around18%oftheuniversitypopulationwerewomen.Today,therearemorewomen
than men at the universities and the number is increasing. Women also took part in the
movement.However,itwaskindofa"ghostlypresence"whendecision-makingwasconcerned.I
cannotevensaythatwehadhitthe"glassceiling"(backthenwedidnotknowsuchterms)since
there was not such an awareness. We discussed and criticized everything, but we could not
criticize our own organizations. Women such as irin Yazcolu (Cemgil) were among the
foundingmembersoftheFederationofIdeaClubs.TP(WorkersPartyofTurkey)wassomewhat
aheadinthatsense.BehiceBoranwaselectedasthepartyleaderandthereweresomewomen
intheboroughcouncils.InDev-Gen,womenwerepresentonlyinthelocalunits.Ourboyfriends
andloversdidnotwantustoparticipateintheproteststhattheyfoundtoodangerous;however,
theywouldputgunsinourbags.Andatthebeginning,thepolicedidnottakewomenseriously
either. We were more like back-up power. Back then, we did not know how to discuss these
issues. Women did not talk much during the meetings. For example, Mahir ayan would be
speakingduringaforum.HowwouldyoustandupandsaysomethingtoMahir?Butthingswere
quite different in some schools. For example, at the Social Services Academy, where I was
enrolled, there were 200 students, half of them being women. All of us participated in the
discussionsintheforums.Womenwhowerelaterputontrialandsentencedtoprisonwerenot
fewinnumber...So,womenalsohadtheirshare.

We now see that we actually had a "secondary" role in the revolutionary movement. However,
wewerequiteaheadofotherwomenthatdidnottakepartinthemovement,orofthewomen
in society in general. We were much freer. During vacations I would go back to my hometown,
and, for instance, it wasn't an issue for me to go out on my own after it was dark. Because we
were university students. But if it were a friend of mine who wasn't a university student there
wouldberumorsabouther.

In the world, the second wave feminist movementemerged in 1968. There were many protests
includingthebra-burnings.68gaverisetoaworldwidefeministmovement.

We followed Lenin's words "no revolution is possible without the participation of women." So,
we took the road to revolution. As women, we did whatever we could do. Women's liberation
also depended on the revolution. Back then, we were not aware of the feminist movement.
When,afterthe1980coup,peoplestartedtotalkaboutthe"independentwomen'smovement,"
somemenandevensomewomenmadekindofsarcasticremarksbysaying:"independentfrom
whatorwho?"

The feminist movement was belated in Turkey because of the military coups of 1971 and 1980.
Andwhen,after1980,thefeministmovementtookoff,theleaderswereagainthewomenfrom
the68generation.

FromwhatyouhavejustsaidandfromtheinterviewsinStreetisBeautifulweunderstandthat
everyone who has gone through that period has a 68 of their own. For instance, etin Uygur
calls68"aschoolterm'wherepeoplewereengagedinpolitics24hoursaday."EsraKosays,
"those were the years of resistance and hope; when we could opt for the beautiful." Hatice
Yaar says that they enjoyed "a mind-shaking atmosphere of freedom, where they could
questioneverything."Andyoucall68"apromiseoffreedom."Couldyousaymoreaboutthat?

School of politics, hope, resistance... This is all true. Transforming the world, revolution... We
believed that we would become freer. The more we discussed, questioned, problematized,
opposed and went out to the streets, the freer we would become. We all had a dream that we
would, sooner or later, "bring on the revolution." Some people thought we were almost there.
Forsome,wewereontheway.Andsomeofusbelievedthatthetimewouldcertainlycome,but
wedidnotknowwhen.Ialsohadthesekindofthoughtswanderinginmymind.Thenotionsof
"abetterworld"and"transformingtheworld"canonlybeexplainedwithliberation.Thatiswhat
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Ithinktodaytoo.Thestreetiswhereyoucanseekfreedom;itisfreedomperse...Forinstance,
last night (March 8) women were out on the streets in Beyolu until 3 AM. They were there for
freedom,initsmostgeneralandspecificsense;andbecauseoftheircontinuousliberation.

TheconclusionIhavedrawnfromallthatIhavereadandheardisthatinthe60stherewasa
general critical attitude flourishing in the conditions of the day, which, in turn, helped
questioning the very conditions that gave rise to it. Through a criticism of the system, we can
findthemeanstocreateutopias.By"utopia"Imeanrealistic,down-to-earthalternativesfora
different life, not vague dreams. Perhaps we can also consider your definition "promise of
freedom" in this context. It reminds me of a question posed by Frederic Jameson
(Archaeologies of the Future: The desire called utopia and other science fictions, Verso, 2005):
"Why do utopias flourish in one period and dry up in another?" What is behind the critical
attitudeofthe60s?Especiallycomparedtoourtimes...

Well,isn'tutopiaafictivejourneybeyondtherealmofthereal,engagingprimarilywiththe"non-
existent"?Itisabitproblematicforalternativeimaginationsofexistencetobe"down-to-earth."
Therefore, the famous slogan "Be realistic demand the impossible" is the best expression of 68.
Anditisalsoaboutthe"promiseoffreedom."Whenyougotouniversity,yousetonajourneyto
"explore" life and the world. As you witness/observe/experience oppression, injustice and
inequality you start questioning and looking for some answers. An "exploration," a "search,"
necessarilyinvolves"acriticalattitude;"andinevitably,oppositionandrebellioniswhatfollows.
A great energy came out as the number of people questioning life increased. And about what
Jamesonsays,letusnotforgetthearmy,whichoftenintervenedintheTurkishpoliticalscene:on
March 12, September 12, February 28, April 27... All to destroy utopias... Well, that is right;
utopiasdodryup,butonlytoblossomagain.Otherwise,therewouldbenopointinliving.

Perhaps 68 itself should be criticized. For instance, some people argue that the concept of 68
was manufactured in the 80s, commodified, popularized and incorporated into the culture
industry. And some claim that neoliberal capitalism has turned the counter-culture of the 60s
intoa"commercializednostalgia"...Whatisyouropinion?

Of course. We have been critical and we should be. That is what the people are trying to do in
StreetisBeautiful.Still,thecriticismshouldtakeintoaccounttheatmosphereoftheperiod.Back
in 1968, we of course did not know that year would become so "special" and turn into a
"symbol." They try to make 68 a part of the culture industry. It makes sense why the ruling
powerstrytheirbesttodeprive68ofitspropermeaning;theyhavetheirreasons.Andinreturn,
we strive to recount what happened. So, it is unfair, to some extent, to say that the whole
concept "was manufactured in the 80s." 1968 is a solid truth that does not need to be
"manufactured."

Howabouttheuseofthesymbolsorimagesof68withinthesystem?

We often see this happening in the advertising sector; enthusiasm, the street, rebellion... I
remember a stocking commercial from years ago, I think that was the first time we were filled
withanger.Inthecommercialtherearewomen,becausetheyarethetargetaudience,andthey
marchonthestreetsasiftheywereinademonstration.Lookingatthewomenwholookdown
onthemfromthewindowsofthehousesonthestreetstheywalkbytheycryoutthe"slogans":
"Throw your old stockings away, buy new ones." Some of these commercials were made by
68ers. For instance in the Mavi Jeans commercials they say, "This is a revolution." The aim is to
exhaustthemeaningoftherebellion,toeraseeverytraceofit.

And, is it really different for politics? A couple of years ago, the then-Minister of Power Hilmi
Gler from the Justice and Development Party had said: "As the 68 generation, we are used to
continuous revolution'. We are leading an on-going revolution" as he was talking about their
achievements. So, it is that simple; with a couple of words he becomes a 68er, and the term
"revolution" is deprived of its meaning. He does not think for a moment that it was during the
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ruleofhispartythattherewereattackstothegravesofthemurderedrevolutionariesandcourt
caseswerefiledagainstmemorialdays.TheytrytoturnDenizGezmiintoa"kind""nationalist"
boy, denying the fact that he had said, "Long live Marxism-Leninism! Long live the fraternity of
the Turkish and Kurdish peoples! Long live the workers and peasants!" right before he was
executed. As for Mahir ayan, they try to position him on the opposite edge. Well, let that be!
"History" is no longer conceived as that boring lesson taught in schools. Our curiosity is not
limited to 68. The question "what actually happened from the Ottoman period to our times?"
introduces us to a new "history." It is a long journey from curiosity to refusing denial, from
strugglestofacingthetruthandto"apologizing."Therebellionliveson!

TranslatedfromTurkishbyGlinEkinci

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1

Regardless of the fact that the developmental processes of contemporary world history are
subject to the particular conditions and situations in particular regions forming a barely
reducible picture of contradictory movements that we cannot always qualify with complete
clarity,accordingtothelawswefindtobeessentialfortheeventsincontemporaryhistory,and
whichwouldformourdeterminedpositioninthecontextofthefightforapossiblebetterworld
using ideas nevertheless, in the basic events in the contemporary world, in the main direction
of its contemporary change, it is possible to discern two general processes that, although they
manifest themselves differently and perhaps start from opposite starting points, nevertheless
complementeachother,andinthefinalanalysis,atleastinsomerespects,areidentical.

These two processes are: the process of industrialization, i.e. urbanization, and the process of
socialization. Having in mind all the historical determinants of the initial manifestations of the
two parallel developments that are dominant in the world today, and, regardless of all the
nuancesandvariations,theonly,thatisunique,directionsofpossibledevelopmentshavingin
mind,therefore,theradicaldifferencesintheiroutcomesthatessentiallydeterminetheideology
of capitalism and the ideology of socialism in their globality as clearly different let us try for a
momenttoseethegeneralandcommonfeaturesofarealandpossible,uniquedevelopmentof
a world in which these ideologies do not exclude each other, or where their words are not
crucial,orwheretheyareeventhesame.Letustrytodeterminetheobjectivelyvalidbasisofthe
whole experience of the world, which stays as the only foundation on which its future can be
built,theonlybasisonwhichthisfuturecanbereliablecanbecomereliable.

This experience finds its most objective, that is, its most neutral expression speaking in the
sense of its maximum usability, applicability and efficiency in science, where it takes its most
abstract and reduced forms, but at the same time, the only ones that are instrumentally
translatable into a concrete practice. We would like to give the word science a more
comprehensive meaning, so we do not take it only in the sense of natural sciences and
humanities, but in the sense of the integrative nexus of all knowledge, including philosophical
knowledge;contemporaryscience,ofcourse,isnotequaltothisyet.

Namely, all human experiences cannot be comprehended by science, because of their constant
growthandoverlapping,andbecausetheexperienceofscienceforahumanbeingisstillmorean
experience about the human experience than human experience per se: that is, it is still not
subjectivized, and human beings necessarily act subjectively; therefore their experience of
science and its uses is characterized by the unvanquished dichotomy human-inhuman, which
leadstotheconstantbifurcationofthepotentialpowersofmanandtheactualizedpowersofhis
whole experience, including the scientific. In other words, this means that an enormous part of
knowledge that was acquired in fact does not exist as a living agent of human doing, and an
enormous energy of the human is being exempted from the domination of knowledge, never
reaching it, not recognizing it, or recognizing it only in a reified form. But precisely because it is
being more and more reified, as the modern age is oriented towards the reification of human
experience and knowledge itself, this experience has the strongest instrument of its expansion
andthemostprobableperspectiveofitscompleteactualization.

Weareinthemidstofthisprocess:torrentsofhumanityconvergetothisexperienceasahope
of their humanization, as the instrument of their civilizing, and they destroy the centuries long
petrified division of people to the knowledgeable and not knowledgeable, to haves and have-
nots. The process of socialization opens itself precisely in the sense of the socialization of all
existing values; therefore it is primarily and before everything else characterized by the widest

1
ThistextwaspublishedinthecollectionofessaystitledFromSingletoGeneral(Mladost,Zagreb,1967/DAF,Zagreb,
2005).WewouldliketothankMatkoMetroviforgivingusthepermissiontopublishitagain.

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opening of the enlightenment of all human individuals, for the most rapid acquisition of
knowledgeandthecreationofthemeansforamorecivilizedlife.

But, what knowledge is, where it is situated, how it is divided, how humanity as a whole can
activelyparticipateinittodaythisisthequestionthat,figurativelyspeaking,incarnatesinitself
allthecrucialandvitalproblemsoftheverydestinyofthehumanworld,whichhasnootherway
but to acquire a correct picture of the concept of its collective being, of the modalities of
equaling its own existential condition with the purposefulness of this picture in the nearest
possible future and in the greatest possible measure; in other words of the modalities of finally
reaching the possibilities of knowledge in which and by which the human world will not be
determined but determining. This is the way that will have to lead it to the field of absolute
freedom, that is, free self-governing within the freely recognized borders of the objectively
known,andthewaythatisgoingtomakeitobjectivelyknowing.

However,itisknownthatscienceitselfhasexpressedadoubt,anditconfirmsitdailyadoubt
thatithasthepowertoleadtheworld.Moreover,ithasloudlyandclearlyrenouncedthisrole,
andunderitsownwingitfindsenoughreasonsforgivingupandretreating.Scienceitselfwasthe
first to reject the notion of the objective and made it nonexistent. But we will not err if we
rememberthecauseofthis,andseeinitonlythegreatestconfirmationofthefactthatdistanced
the modern world from itself the fact of distancing and alienating the human being from
humanity, which affects the contemporary science precisely by totally nullifying the
purposefulness of its doing. Science had to meet these kind of borders sooner or later, if it did
not previously abolish the borders within man, the borders that were not only biological and
mental, but primarily determined by the obstacles of the insufficiently developed ethical
measure of his sociality; this sociality is the only thing capable to transform the position of man
visavismanandvisavistheworld,andfinallyvisavistheuniverse.Ifscienceturnsitsgazein
this sense and towards this goal, from which it is completely turned off today, then it will meet
countless vital but solvable problems, before which it hangs back, not by its own choice but
becauseofthetendenciesandimperativesoftheincompletelyenlightenedhumanstriving.This
feedback loop and the close interweaving of the human and the scientific levels of existence is
the essential dialectics in which one should observe the actual dilemmas of the destiny of the
world,whichforthefirsttimefromitsoriginmanifestsitselfintermsofthetotalityofeverything
that exists in it; within this destiny, the actual and the future history of humanity must not be
seeninanotherwaybutastheintegralhistoryofthewholehumanworld,whichistheonlything
thatcanleadtoitsrealhumanization.

Allthisissupportedbynumerousfactswhoserealmeaningonlynowstartstomanifestitselfand
tobeseenandbeforeall,thefinalenteringofallnationsintohistory,aswellastheabolishing
ofthephysical,thatis,thespatialandtemporalbordersontheglobeandbeyond,includingthe
possibility of leaving it and, finally, the very impossibility of the isolated existence of any ethnic
and social group on it. But, more than everything else, the ever more evident and necessary
parallelism and complementarity of the two processes that we mentioned: the ever faster
industrialization and the ever more necessary socialization necessary for the true and all-
encompassing urbanization of all parts of the globe. These processes are not even imaginable
withoutscience,andscienceisnotimaginablewithoutthem;sciencebecomestheirinstrument,
an instrument that is more necessary as the need grows to complete them, and as the
contradictionsofthemodernworldbecomemoretotal,universal,andgeneral;sciencebecomes
theonlywaytoovercomethem.Today,scienceisneedednotonlyintheproduction,butalsoin
the exchange and distribution of goods; its criteria are being recognized in ever greater extent,
and it is equally needed in those parts of the world where the abundance of production is
contradicted by the lack of sociality, and in other parts, where the possibility of abundant
socialityislimitedonlybythelackofproduction.

Modern scientific socialism has already been acquiring this knowledge of the need to
scientifically found all social movements and transformations, which has always been its
powerful weapon. Even now, this allows the possibility to see the development of social forms
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and social-productive relations in a more synthetic way, to interpret them in terms that
determinetheverydevelopmentofthemoderncivilizationasthepurposeofhistory,andgivesa
blueprint for its further way as the way of all-encompassing urbanization. This view would give
science in general as well as all aspects of its instrumentalization, as the means of human
cognition and agency, and as the basis for constructing the world a much greater role, its real
rolethatawaitsit;and,thedifferencesbetweentheexistingsocialandeconomicsystemswould
reveal themselves as being only relative. On the level of pure science, and especially of
technology, these distinctions are almost completely erased, and they determinedly manifest
themselves only on the plane of ideology, although even there they are not exclusive or
complete;additionally,thedifferencesexistontheplaneofthecriteriaforsocialpurposefulness,
the usability and distribution options for material and spiritual goods, and they are especially
pronounced,andoftenartificiallyenhanced,ontheplaneofpureideologicalfight.

However,thedifferencesbetweenthesystems,theirpoliticalinterestsandtactics,cannoterase
the fact that the sides in contradiction always must, in the direction and interest of its own
development and strengthening, use the same means: science, and scientific application of its
results. If the main source of their power is in expanding and perfecting production, and not in
passive exploitation, then this factor of the scientificality of production and of the economic
systemisofdecisiveimportance,andthereforecannotandmustnotbeignored.

But, the field of material production, of course, is not independent; it is only a part, perhaps a
minorpart,ofthetotalityofthevitalandexistentialactivitythatbecamesodiverseandmultiple
in itself that it is difficult to define and determine where the very notions of productive and
unproductivebeginandend.Insightsandexperiencesofpurelytheoreticalnaturecanverysoon
find their application in some productive or other work practice, while the way from the
invention to its application can be indirect to the extent that the former does not have to, or
cannot,evenbeawareofthelatter.Thereisnoneedtoevenmentionhowcomplicatedarethe
ways, channels and systems through which social practice as a whole is being applied,
implementedandrun,andhowcomplexanddysfunctionalisthecirculatorynetworkhere;and,
from the standpoint of ideally conceived social purposefulness, it is totally inappropriate and
superfluous.Inthisnetworktherearetoomanydeadchannels,blockedstraits,side-rooms,and
countlessapparentlynecessaryobstaclesandwrongturns;so,itsveryfunctioningispossibleonly
with dire consequences for the health and normality of the social organism as a whole. The
reason for this lies in the uneven, unbalanced and disordered structure of all the constitutive
elements and particles of the social being itself, in its internal fissures and disharmony. The
principleofthegreatestpossibleorganizationtotheextentthatitwasdiscoveredbyscienceas
thelawoftheessentialexistenceofthingsandastheprincipleoforderintheworld,andwhichis
recognized by science itself as the governing principle of its own activities and its own
organization is not implemented, nor is it possible to implement it in society itself as the vital
schemeofitsownstructure.Theessentialtaskofthefuture,itsgoal,itswayanditsonlypossible
solution is its complete scientification. This concept, conceived and realized in its real sense,
wouldexcludeallthenegativelabelsandpejorativesensesgiventoitbytodaysworld,whichis
burdenedbyscientificmechanism,formaltechnicismandpragmatism,andwouldabolishallthe
dryness and alienation that would, based on the superficial notions, the half-baked experiences
and the unreasonable haste of science itself in its contemporary stage of insufficient
socialization, be expected for the future. On the contrary, the final purpose of science, and
therefore,ofscientification,cannotbeanti-humanoranti-humanistic,ifwetakeintoaccountbut
onlyonefact:thateveryscientificinsightisalso,directlyorindirectly,aninsightaboutman.The
whole problem is how to make this insight efficient, namely, how to abolish the distance
between the real, that is, every human being, and its abstract, unrealized knowledge of itself as
humanasanepitomeofnotjustanybiologicalspecies,butthespeciesthatisgoingtotakethe
wholerealityoftheworldinitshands.And,thosehands,witheverythingthattheywillbeableto
docorrectly,willbescience,andthiswillbepossibletoachieveonlythroughscience.

But, the process of totally encompassing society with science is still very far away. In the last
century,significantstepshavebeentakenonlyinthescientificationofthemeansforproduction,
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intechnology,buteventhereitwasdoneinsufficiently,regardingthepotentialandperspective
possibilities.Onthecontrary,theprocessofthescientificationofthesocial,thinking,governing,
and intentional sectors and activities of life, has not even begun. The scientification of science
itself has begun only recently, and only in its most distant and vanguard parts that, precisely
because of the undeveloped scientification of fundamental activities belonging to human
purposefulness itself, remain directed, stimulated and are used for unscientific, that is, non-
humanpurposes.

Thiswayofthinkingmaynotbeacceptableatfirstsight.Itisintentionallyschematic,butnotas
muchasitseems.Itdeliberatelypassesoverallcomplexdifficultiesinreducingthedynamicand
self-contradictoryandelusivehumanmattertoanyreliableandsecurenormandnormalization,
but it also wants to emphasize that todays science is not about schemes, that science itself is
dynamic, elastic, and able to face all phenomena, as multiple or multilayered as they may be,
because today, science itself is such a phenomenon. This does not exclude a possibility of a
scienceofsciencesonahigherlevel,butthiswillbeachievedonlywhenthenumberandsumof
phenomena not encompassed by science is diminished. And there is a vast ocean of them, and
theyconstantlymultiply,notonlyinscience,butalsobeyondit,andtheadvancesofsciencelead
tonewphenomena,inachainreaction.Thenhowisitpossibletoeventhinkthatsciencecould
besufficientlypowerfultosolvethedestinyofhumanity?Howisitpossibletotrustscience?But,
nowadayseventhisisamatterofscience.

However, we have unjustifiably elevated science to a pedestal that it still does not possess in
contemporarysociety,andwillnotpossessuntilcontemporarysocietyelevatesitselftothelevel
that science has already taken. Even the fervor of the Enlightenment in the eighteenth century
wouldnotsufficetoemphasizetheimportanceoftheelementarypopularizationofscience,not
its abstract, theoretical aspects, nor in some concentrated digests for instant-education, but
before everything else, its materialized aspect of vital and productive means, and realized
experiences of them. Clearly, its popularization and vulgarization should not stop here.
Moreover, if we take into account what we discussed before the underdevelopment of the
scientification of extra-scientific sectors of thought, and of the activation of those regions of
society (these are more or less all of them) in which their activity manifests itself as a
determinant of complex motives of human behavior and actions it is necessary to emphasize
the way of the popularizing scientific knowledge whereby pure human spirituality will manifest
andreflectitselfthroughit.

Wewillbrieflymentionthefieldofart,andimmediatelyemphasizetheneedofitsscientification
also; because this is the field in which the complex of multiple delusions, collected and
accumulated from all zones and levels of unscientified human and social existence and spiritual
history, are still protected in their cocoon. To analyze it sharply and without compromise, one
wouldneedalucidactionofscience,but,becauseofhigherinterests,sciencestilldoesnotreach
it and leaves it to dabble in the slow backwaters of the developmental stream. Similarly, many
othersectorsofsocialexistenceandthoughtareneglected,underthepretextofotherthingsof
primary importance but before all, because of other, non-humanized interests that comprise
the huge ballast in total circulation within the vital and social medium and in its general
movement. And, in this situation, causes are the same as consequences, and vice versa:
insufficient scientification in a particular sector is caused by general insufficient scientification,
andviceversa.

But, this is not the exhaustive list of the causes of the unequal stages of development and
structural incompatibility and inhomogeneous development of different social and existential
sectors, levels and orientations. On the contrary, certain social interests different in different
systems, but identical by nature favor or disfavor the scientification of certain fields, and the
descientification of other fields, and not in line with general interests that a normal process of
development of civilization would require, but on the contrary, it is as if they oppose these
requirements,ordonotrecognizethem.Mostoften,therealrootsofthisstaydeeplyburiedin
excesses or even in the blindness of certain ideologies, which are like this for a reason, and the
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reason is the need to amplify their antagonism, which excludes any scientification, because it
wouldleadtotheunwanteddetentealthoughinthenon-ideologicalfieldsitforcesthesame
scientification, also with the purpose of strengthening the antagonism. In this way, the rift
betweenthepossibleandrealagreementonthehistoricalandpotentialevolutionofcivilization
artificially widens on the plane of its actualization worldwide, but this strategy is a
consequence of countless, small internal shifts and dislocations that are, in concrete social
practice,anexpressionofoppositionofscientificandnon-scientificthoughts.

Here,weshouldraisethequestionhowsciencedependsonideology,andquestionallthefactors
and forces that determine ideology. But, with regard to our subject, maybe the following
problemismoreimportant:Couldscience(andinwhatway)attainsuchapositioninsociety,and
suchsocialpower,sothatitcanleadsocietyandcontrolitsfunctioning?However,thisquestion
iscompletelyunrealistic,anditwillstaythiswayuntilhumansocietyinitsevolutioncreatesthis
possibility,thatis,untilitcreatestheconditionsinwhichsocialpracticewillnecessarilyturninto
scientific practice. These conditions are, in the final analysis, a matter of general material and
social development in which the process of creating, developing and forcing ideologies is the
expressionoftheaspirationsofcertainsocialpowers,which,inthemechanismofsocialrelations
can be progressive or reactionary, both absolutely and relatively. To strengthen its power, each
willusescienceandinterpretandapplyitsresultsfortheirowninterests.Thesefactscouldlead
us to lose all confidence in science, as well as our faith in the possibility of any criteria for the
socialcorrectnessofitsorientation,butonemustnotforgetthat,wherescienceisdevelopedin
sufficientmeasure,itcan,followingitsownlogic,begintoerectbarriersagainstthefurthernon-
social use of its abilities. On the other hand, under the influence of science and the same social
laws and social principles that science reveals, social forces themselves are subject to changes
and incremental transformations; therefore, when science attains a higher stage of complete
development, it could really take on the role of the main regulator of society. But then, as a
precondition for this, one could not talk of science as an instrument: science itself, in its final
stage of evolution, in the fullness of its competence, would become the only and final subject,
becausethewholehumannessofhumanitywouldmanifestitselfinit,andnotoutsideofit.This
wouldbethestageofabsolutescientificationofman,andofabsolutehumanizationofscience.

This is the conclusion of a foreseeable line of development of scientific civilization that seems
most probable, even if it is completely hypothetical, and we have only outlined it here, without
going into any of the arguments that it undoubtedly inheres. It imposes the necessity on us to
understand,supportandemphasizeinoureverydaypracticethisparallelismoftheprocessesof
scientificationandhumanizationofmanandsociety,themutualdependenceoftheseprocesses.
It is understandable that, while doing this, we do not forget the concrete duality of these two
processesinthecontemporaryworld,aswellastheimmenseinappropriatenessofthehistorical
conditionsforthisparallelismtobereallyestablishedandharmonicallydeveloped.Furthermore,
weemphasizealltheuglinessoftodaysworldasthemonstrousconsequenceofthisseparation
of man from humanness both where developed but incomplete scientification is not included
enough,anddirectedtothepurposeofhumanization,aswellaswherethestateofnonexistent
scientification supports the state of the most painful humiliation of man. This is where we face
the living and hard soil of historical necessities that we so often do not want to see, and the
officialconscienceoftheworlddoesnotwanttofacethem.Thequestionofliberatingallhuman
beingsfrommaterial,moralandspiritualslaveryisthequestionthatthiscenturywouldhaveto
clearlyarticulateatleastsothatthemeansofsciencecouldmakeitsolvable.

1963

TranslatedfromCroatianbyGoranVujasinovi

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MatkoMetroviwasbornin1933intheislandofKorula.HegraduatedfromtheFacultyofArts
andSciencesinZagreb,withamajorinHistoryofArt.Asacriticandwriter,in1956hestartedto
workintheeditorialboardforartsandcultureinRadioZagreb.Hecontributedtomanyjournals
andnewspapers.HetranslatedtextsfromItalianandFrench.HewasamemberoftheGorgona
group.HeparticipatedinformingtheinternationalartmovementNovetendencije,whichhad
itsfirstexhibitionin1961inZagreb.HetaughttheoryofdesignattheUniversityofArchitecture
in Zagreb, he was the director of the Institute for Culture of Croatia (1987 1992) and before
that the advisor of the general director of Radio Television Zagreb. Now he is a long-time
scientificresearcherattheInstituteofEconomicsinZagreb.