Mastery and Lost Illusions by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783110399189
Goodreads: 22793363
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Published: 2014-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

V Cultural life

In addition to widespread poverty and the party’s cultural policy, large-scale migration to the cities and the ideological confrontation with members of the pre-war elite led to a deterioration in the cultural life of Yugoslav urban centres. In the first post-war decade, the rapid transformation of society led, paradoxically, to the decline of cultural and entertainment amenities, which had been inadequate even before the war. Due to the influx of rural migrants with very little disposable income and different aesthetic sensibilities to the pre-war urban population, two cultural worlds developed and coexisted – the world of theatres, concert halls and art galleries, and the world of “inns, café songs and folklore”.464 Firmly rooted in ideology, the cultural opportunities that the city offered were neither rich nor diverse. The new socialist culture shunned rural cultural traditions and light entertainment designed to appeal to the masses. The party insisted on ‘high’ but ideologically appropriate and politically educational culture. Thus, dilettante cultural groups were sharply criticized for turning to the “national repertoire” and promoting folklore, which was perceived “as a form that masked all kinds of superstitions.”465 A preference for light entertainment and the strict separation of culture and politics was considered to be “petty-bourgeois”; that kind of culture allegedly encouraged frequent parties, which escalated into “drinking sprees, fights and immorality of various kinds.”466

At a time when the urban population spent about three and a half times less money on cultural activities than it did on tobacco and alcohol, bringing high culture to barely literate masses was no easy task.467 While most city dwellers wanted to escape the bleak socialist reality by indulging in “merry nights”, music and comedy acts, party officials offered lectures, politically engaged plays and films as the only alternative. Organized collective visits to theatres and cinemas did not have the desired effect. The authorities complained that “the honour seats” reserved for strike workers “were always unoccupied”.468 Although a survey conducted in Belgrade showed that poverty and poor housing conditions in distant and isolated suburbs fuelled workers’ indifference to anything but salaries and tariff rules,469 party leaders failed to realize that one of the main preconditions for cultural education was the improvement of living and working conditions. Noble, yet politically motivated attempts to bring ‘high culture’ to the undereducated masses failed because the intended “audience [was] not used to the stage reality, and was thus unable to create a distance between themselves and the stage, but took part in the performances by fidgeting [and emitting] muffled shouts and sometimes inappropriate laughter.”470 Despite dogmatic lectures and attempts to popularize classical music, marches and revolutionary songs, party officials were powerless to mould the tastes and cultural needs of the masses.471 The party’s cultural policy failed abysmally. Instead of trying to raise the standard of popular drama and entertainment, the authorities only offered high cultural forms, which the majority of city dwellers could neither understand nor accept. Therefore, a paradoxical situation arose – the music scene was so polarized that the oratorio and the primitive tavern song were the only available forms of musical expression.

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