Question by yn1000: Why were poets persecuted in the Gulag?
I heard this at least and I’m not sure if its true… Just poets that wrote “anti-government” poems?
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Answer by loryntoo
Its not that they were poets, its because they were writing anti-government poems. If they had written about motherhood or nature, they would not have been noticed.
The pen is mightier than the sword so those who use it have to weigh carefully what they write or suffer the consequences.
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James B says
Zhdanov, Stalin's cultural minister, pioneered what is called the Zhdanov Doctrine. It accepted only Socialist Realism in all forms of artistic expression, including poetry. Zhdanov argued that bourgeoisie societies created bourgeouisie art, and that they way for a socialist society to create art it must be socialist art. Ergo, nothing else was allowed. Many artists in Russia didn't follow the new policy. These people were often arrested, often killed, often worse (if you're wondering what's worse, try having your husband arrested and executed, your son arrested and kept in jail for years, and the threat of your own arrest hung over you every day and night as you watch others silently disappear – that is Anna Akhmatova, who Zhdanov called "half harlot, half nun" before banning all her works from publication).