Anatoly Lunacharsky
Anatoly Vasilyevich Lunacharsky (Russian Анатолий Васильевич Луначарский, scientific transliteration Anatoly Lunacharsky Vasil'evič; * 11.jul / November 23 1875greg in Poltava, Russian Empire, now Ukraine, .. † December 28, 1933 in Menton, France) was post-revolutionary Russia people's Commissar of Education ( Narkompros ). Appointed in 1917 by Lenin in this function he held the office until 1929. He is considered one of the most important Marxist cultural politicians.
Life
Lunacharsky, the son of a senior official in Poltava, attended high school in Kiev and arrived there for the first time with revolutionary ideas in contact. Because " political unreliability " refused to him as a result, the inclusion in the Moscow University. Therefore, he emigrated to the completion of high school in Switzerland, where he from 1892 to 1894 at the University of Zurich philosophy and natural sciences studied. During this time, Lunacharsky is familiar with the philosophical system of the Machists Richard Avenarius, a professor at the University of Zurich. The influence of this bourgeois philosophers and friendship to the macho Social Alexander Bogdanov had an impact on the views of Lunacharsky long time.
After two years of emigration Lunacharsky returned to Russia. He took a propagandist, agitator and organizer of the underground revolutionary work again. His later work was interrupted by arrest, imprisonment and exile often.
Since 1904, again in exile, he worked in Geneva, the editors of magazines Forward ( Вперед ) and proletarians ( Пролетарий ). In 1905 he returned to St. Petersburg back, was again arrested and fled to Stockholm. In 1908 he attracted attention with a character that was trying to establish a connection between religion and Marxism. In 1910/11, he organized a school in Italy after the Montessori principle, later he worked in Paris as a journalist again.
Lunacharsky was a member of the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Russia since 1897. He was across the arts, literature, theater and music, very open-minded. Through his stays in exile from 1906 to 1917, where he had heard during the First World War to the inner circle of Lenin, he possessed a profound knowledge of Western European art scene and represented in matters of art a more liberal attitude. Lenin, however, was very conservative in matters of art. Lunacharsky made sure that even with the " New Economic Policy ", which in 1921 was in Russia, the avant-garde were still open certain degree of freedom. He was a very skilful tactician, who took into account that contradicted his statements. Lunacharsky understood ultimately as a political revolutionary, in which the needs of the masses of workers and peasants took precedence. The decline of the avant-garde art, which ended in the doctrine of Socialist Realism, he could not prevent. After the death of Lunacharsky his urn at the Kremlin wall in Moscow was buried.
Work
Art policy
The change in the arts policy of Russia can be traced well on three of Lunacharsky's publications. They are quoted in the following:
Philosophical position
Lunacharsky's philosophical position was primarily influenced by Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Lenin and Avenarius.
In his school days Lunacharsky became familiar with the ideas of Marx, of which he was convinced until his death. Lunacharsky was a convinced Marxist, and he participated in during his high school years in student circles that were under Marxist influence.
During his studies in Switzerland Lunacharsky was under strong influence of Richard Avenarius, a professor at the University of Zurich. Avenarius tried ( positivism ) with a critical empiricism to give independent of dogmatic metaphysics reality teaching.
As Lunacharsky had a susceptibility to all form strong emotional and artistically, he was fascinated by Nietzsche, as well as many other philosophers of his time. It was late, the Marxist critique has dealt with the teachings of Nietzsche, including Lunacharsky.
The first meeting between Lenin and Lunacharsky was when he asked Lunacharsky to work together with him and other Marxists for newspaper Vperyod. Lenin saw in Lunacharsky a valuable member of the party and wanted to rid him of Avenarius ' " heresies ". Lenin saw in the philosophy of Avenarius a subjectivist idealism and fought its strong effect on Russian philosophy. The heavy criticism of Lenin in his work Materialism and Empiriocriticism was the Russian Machian but especially Lunacharsky. Lenin and Lunacharsky were also later often to each other in fierce criticism. However, this was never seriously jeopardize their cooperation.
Aesthetics
Lunacharsky's theory of aesthetics is influenced by Richard Avenarius, Herbert Spencer, but also by Arthur Schopenhauer and Charles Darwin. He has developed it into a positive aesthetic foundations ( 1904).
The question "What is life? " Is the starting point of his aesthetic considerations. Biomechanical and psychological considerations provide for Lunacharsky is necessary for the " positive aesthetics " necessary foundation because the aesthetics is the science of classification, partly by the creative activity which springs from the rating.
The art, but also the science, religion and philosophy, hence, develop within a particular society. This development is thus connected to the structure of society and its economic base. Art should only give joy and freedom. However, this is only possible if the " original needs " are at least temporarily satisfied.
Trivia
The Moscow State Institute of Theatre Arts was from 1934 to 1991 in honor of Lunacharsky's name Государственный институт театрального искусства имени А.В.Луначарского.
Lunacharsky was also active as a writer, he wrote, among other things the plays "Faust and the City " and " Liberated Don Quixote " (1925 ), which was listed in 1945 at the Vienna People's Theatre (directed by Günther Haenel, with Max Paulsen in the title role). The Soviet puppet animation film " Don Osvobozhdennyh Kihot " by Vadim Kurtschewski (1987 ) is based on this work.