Samizdat and Nonconformist Art in Soviet Russia

            Who/What: Artists, writers, and citizens in the Soviet Union participated in an underground and illegal cultural movement, during a time when Soviet Russia was working to eliminate unsanctioned culture in the country. Soviet samizdat and nonconformist art were produced and served as a way to maintain culture in the face of oppression.

            Where: This movement occurred in Soviet Russia throughout the country, primarily localized to cities where it was harder to be caught with illegal art and easier to distribute it to citizens.

When: Samizdat and nonconformist art were produced during the period following WWII from the 1950’s to about the 1990’s. Specifically, it is interesting to look at the art and literature of the period around the 1980’s when the Soviet Union began to fall and the movement had spread.

Why: Soviet Russia had enacted a communist state which became more totalitarian that true communist after WWII ended, enabling the government to begin enacting laws to suppress dissent and nonconformity. In this climate, many citizens felt their culture, their creativity, and even their identities taken away from them. In response, artists, writers, and other citizens began to produce literature and art, starting a movement designed to defy the law and reclaim, and maintain their culture.

This movement, although not a traditional movement involving protests in the streets, speeches, and vandalism for the most part, is still a protest that arose and began to define the identity of those resisting the Soviet regime. Citizens who fought against the oppression through creativity and cultural expression began to define their identity through their art and their resistance, creating an identity from the movement. I think that therein lies the connection of this movement to the identities of the artists, writers, and citizens in the movement.