High Stalinism: Zhdanov and the cultural purge

In 1946, Stalin announced the launch of a cultural purge, which would be coordinated by Zhdanov. This period became known as Zhdanovschina

• Culture was used to promote ideology and individualism was to be suppressed
• Socialist realism was reasserted in art, literature and cinema
• Novels, plays and films were required to extol Soviet achievements or criticise capitalism
• Artists who failed to comply were forced to make public confessions of their 'errors…