Lights, Camera, Political Action!: All-Union Creative Conference of Workers in Soviet Cinema, 1935

APPROXIMATE COMMITTEE SIZE: 25 delegates

During the 1917 Russian Revolution, there was little opportunity for the government to control art and speech. For a brief period, many different styles flourished, putting the new nation on the avant-garde of the artistic sphere. However, much of that ended as the public and cultural spheres of Soviet Russia were consolidated under the grip of the Communist Party, led in 1935 by Joseph Stalin. He was an extraordinarily repressive dictator whose totalitarian ideology sought to control all aspects of life and media in the USSR. There was a push to ensure that everything was under party control and to have a singular, unifying ideology for art. This control extends to film, which Stalin sees as a key element in his desire to build a new socialist culture to complement his vision for the Soviet Union. In particular, Stalin wishes for it to have more ties to the government and its policy, adopting the style and philosophy of Socialist Realism, which emphasizes a formulaic plot and clear-cut vision for a Soviet future within art and media. Under pressure from the totalitarian regime, the nation’s filmmakers now gather to discuss these pressing issues and chart a new course for the film industry, at the All-Union Creative Conference of Workers in Soviet Cinema. In this committee, delegates will represent key members of the Soviet film industry as they fight for their art’s place in the new socialist utopia, seeking to preserve artistic freedom and protect their craft from the omnipresent influence of Stalin’s security state.

ISSUES TO CONSIDER

The Popularity of Film and The Impact of Art in the Soviet Union

Government Centralization, Unions, and Technological Production

Handling Political Dissent By Fellow Artists

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• To understand the role of art and media within a country and culture, and the resulting responsibility of artists.

• To recognize the impact of unions and workers within a governmental and nongovernmental situation.

• How working under a totalitarian regime looks and the impacts that form of governance has on all spheres of life. 

About the Chair

Alex Rieger is a member of Georgetown’s College of Arts and Sciences Class of 2027, planning on majoring in Government and Russian while minoring in Religion, Ethics, and World Affairs. He is from Pahrump, Nevada, a small town outside of Las Vegas, but often just says he’s from Vegas. He loved being able to staff NAIMUN and NCSC as a first-year and also had the joy of being able to compete with the GUMUN traveling team. He also enjoys learning (and often complaining) about the vast differences of life on the East and West Coasts, riding bikes around the DMV, playing board games, and streaming the same episodes of his favorite sitcoms on repeat (The Office, Community, etc.). NAIMUN is one of the most fun events of the year, and Alex cannot wait to see how the Soviet film industry will operate and (hopefully) thrive!

About the Crisis manager

Tyler Francisco is a member of the class of 2027 in Georgetown’s College of Arts and Sciences studying Political Economy and Spanish. She grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida but hails from New York. Throughout high school, Tyler enjoyed competing in and staffing Model UN conferences, and continued to staff NCSC, Georgetown’s collegiate conference, as a first year. Some of her interests include music, movies, going to the gym, and trying different Ben and Jerry’s flavors (favorites include Chocolate Therapy, the Tonight Dough, and Chocolate Fudge Brownie). She is looking forward to staffing NAIMUN, the most fun and amazing event that Georgetown has to offer, and hopes to see how Soviet film will progress through the creativity and intelligence of the delegates!