Folklore and Politics in the Soviet Union

• Published in: Slavic review Vol. 32; no. 1; pp. 45 - 58
• Main Author: Oinas, Felix J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, USA Cambridge University Press 01-03-1973; American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies
• Subjects: Byliny; Fairy tales; Folklore; Folkloristics; Folksongs; Folktales; Heroes; Narrators; Singers; Writers
• ISSN: 0037-6779; 2325-7784
• DOI: 10.2307/2494072

The golden era of the study of folklore in the Soviet Union was the first decade after the Revolution, when the party and government, occupied with more urgent tasks, let the literary scholars and folklorists do their work relatively undisturbed. In 1925 the so-called “magna charta libertatis” for Soviet writers was issued by the Central Committee of the party, which permitted “free competition of various groups and currents.” As a result, the 1920s turned out to be rich and fruitful in literary scholarship, including folkloristics. In the study of folklore, different trends could freely coexist and thrive side by side. The most important of them were the historical school, Formalism, and the so-called Finnish school. The historical school continued the traditions of its leader Vsevolod Miller, whose first concern had been to find reflections of concrete historical reality in Russian byliny (epic songs). Thus the tendencies of the historical school are found in the commentaries to some bylina collections in 1918 and 1919, and also appeared strongly in the works of the brothers Boris and Iurii Sokolov, both of them disciples of Miller.