# Art and Education explained — The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism

> Chapter companion for The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism by Bertrand Russell.

## What happens

Russell examines the Bolshevik approach to art and education, noting initial freedom for artists but arguing that the revolutionary atmosphere inevitably subordinates art to propaganda. He contrasts the preservation of old bourgeois art with the rise of a new, popular, and religiously-toned Communist art, and warns that industrialization poses a greater threat to artistic impulse than Communist doctrine itself.

## Themes in this chapter

### Art and Industrialization

Russell argues that the real threat to art in Russia is not Communist doctrine but the coming industrialization, which will crush crafts and instinctive creativity, turning artists into practical workers.

### Bolshevism as a Religion

The religious nature of Communism makes propaganda art inevitable; old artistic traditions are fading like medieval Church art being replaced by Communist iconography.

## Character check-ins

### Lenin

Mentioned as already figuring in woodcuts as a Moses-like deliverer of the people.

### Trotsky

Mentioned alongside Lenin as appearing in propaganda woodcuts as an Aaron-like figure.

## Key lines

> It is plain from the religious nature of Communism in Russia, that such controlling of the impulse to artistic creation is inevitable, and that propaganda art alone can flourish in such an atmosphere.

Because Communism in Russia functions like a religion, it must inevitably control artistic expression, allowing only propaganda art to thrive.

_Russell connects the religious character of Bolshevism to the suppression of artistic freedom._

> What the Bolsheviks would not therefore willingly do to art, the Juggernaut which they are bent on setting in motion may accomplish for them.

The industrialization that the Bolsheviks are determined to pursue will destroy art even more thoroughly than their own policies would.

_Russell warns that industrialization, not Communist ideology, poses the greater long-term danger to art._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_practice_and_theory_of_bolshevism_se/chapters/iv-art-and-education
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_practice_and_theory_of_bolshevism_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_practice_and_theory_of_bolshevism_se/chapters