DOI issue:
Nr. 1
DOI article:András, Edit: Public monuments in changing societies
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.31178#0046
universalist concept of progress served as his model
and guideline. What happened was that the Bolshevik
leaders appropriated the idea of self-promotion,
replacing the French Revolution with the so-called
Great Russian Revolution, and shilting the universal-
ist claim for leading the World into a brighter future,
now on the path of communism, a bit farther East.
Or, we can put it otherwise, referring to Susan Buck
Morse: in realization of this utopia they adapted a
nationalst art form for socialist ends with the aim of
placing the October Revolution within the context
of world history, and securing its position with the
help of art. "lUAmpr A /W*
EtP/W pp oE&tsEw o/ ppÉw-rEEf p o/
(FpF cmp/Zyg) /FřA tw/?ppEAp/hrppr/y EřtjA f
pp However, both the
nationalist monument-building-fever and the Bolshe-
vik-led monumental propaganda aimed to fabricate a
smooth line of tradition and history by narrowing the
various interprétations of the past and the future into
a single-channel conception. That is why nationalisme
looked (and still looks) for invading the public space
excludmg ail those having different visions and self-
perceptions, as well as Bolsheviks were eager to gain
hegemony not only of the political but also of the
cultural discourse. Therefore the decree embodying
the Plan for Monumental Propaganda consisted of
two parts, the démolition of Tsarist monuments and
their replacement with A?
h? /A y/AF 7777F jwA/ pEzE/p pEVo-wp/Ft,
FArp/prq ppF pf/'A On the whole, both the
nationalists and communists were (and are) about
to appropriate the public space and gain control of
those visions different from their own.
As for the socialist intervention of the public
sphere after Lenin's death, his figure cast in bronze
or carved in stone became pervasive, and were put
into service of the religion-setting machmery. With
the reign of Stalin, the propaganda became monu-
mental, indeed, as statues grew colossal in scale. The
" BUCK MORSE, S.: 7777FGEETYpE.* TE0/
Æu LEpE 2'% T77E 7777F 11EE. Cambridge (Muss.) - London
2002, p. 42.
LODDER 1993 (see in note 3), p. 20.
MICHALSKd 1998 (see in note 7).
7. BATpřE T?77nEpFí7E.
1W cenmry French statue mania rule, which opposed
erecting statues for living people, was simply set
asideA Monstrous hgures of Stalin permeated the
Soviet Union and, after World War II, expanded into
the Soviet bloc countries.
Toppling monuments has been almost an obliga-
tory concomitant phenomenon of every political
change in the course of history. The 1956 upheaval
in Hungary started also with the collective disman-
tling of Stalin's statue in Budapest A As well as the
downfall of statues was the very hrst sign of the
upcoming changes in 1989A The former totalitär-
en space was reclaimed and was being transformed
again mto public spaces of open negotiation. Or at
least this was the great illusion of the hrst years of
transition as the population was mesmerized by the
euphoria of the political changeover.
As soon as the satellite countries became free
from the colonizing foreign power, Soviet-type so-
cialism, the new démocratie countries were keen to
"clean up" the ideologically polluted public sphere.
A process of "de-Sovietization" got started by
demolishing statues, removing icons of the former
socialist culture and renaming streets, squares, etc. In
" See jAMES, B. A.: EMgA/p PcEr^^Et^.' IEEE 77777*7*77/7^
U TE77p7rA /FFF lEwEEw. College Station (TX) 2005, pp.
39-60.
^ VERDERY, K.: TE PAPE/TFzw y ITABcFFr RE777777/7777F
PoEwFAE ČEwgř. New York 1999, p. 5.
40
and guideline. What happened was that the Bolshevik
leaders appropriated the idea of self-promotion,
replacing the French Revolution with the so-called
Great Russian Revolution, and shilting the universal-
ist claim for leading the World into a brighter future,
now on the path of communism, a bit farther East.
Or, we can put it otherwise, referring to Susan Buck
Morse: in realization of this utopia they adapted a
nationalst art form for socialist ends with the aim of
placing the October Revolution within the context
of world history, and securing its position with the
help of art. "lUAmpr A /W*
EtP/W pp oE&tsEw o/ ppÉw-rEEf p o/
(FpF cmp/Zyg) /FřA tw/?ppEAp/hrppr/y EřtjA f
pp However, both the
nationalist monument-building-fever and the Bolshe-
vik-led monumental propaganda aimed to fabricate a
smooth line of tradition and history by narrowing the
various interprétations of the past and the future into
a single-channel conception. That is why nationalisme
looked (and still looks) for invading the public space
excludmg ail those having different visions and self-
perceptions, as well as Bolsheviks were eager to gain
hegemony not only of the political but also of the
cultural discourse. Therefore the decree embodying
the Plan for Monumental Propaganda consisted of
two parts, the démolition of Tsarist monuments and
their replacement with A?
h? /A y/AF 7777F jwA/ pEzE/p pEVo-wp/Ft,
FArp/prq ppF pf/'A On the whole, both the
nationalists and communists were (and are) about
to appropriate the public space and gain control of
those visions different from their own.
As for the socialist intervention of the public
sphere after Lenin's death, his figure cast in bronze
or carved in stone became pervasive, and were put
into service of the religion-setting machmery. With
the reign of Stalin, the propaganda became monu-
mental, indeed, as statues grew colossal in scale. The
" BUCK MORSE, S.: 7777FGEETYpE.* TE0/
Æu LEpE 2'% T77E 7777F 11EE. Cambridge (Muss.) - London
2002, p. 42.
LODDER 1993 (see in note 3), p. 20.
MICHALSKd 1998 (see in note 7).
7. BATpřE T?77nEpFí7E.
1W cenmry French statue mania rule, which opposed
erecting statues for living people, was simply set
asideA Monstrous hgures of Stalin permeated the
Soviet Union and, after World War II, expanded into
the Soviet bloc countries.
Toppling monuments has been almost an obliga-
tory concomitant phenomenon of every political
change in the course of history. The 1956 upheaval
in Hungary started also with the collective disman-
tling of Stalin's statue in Budapest A As well as the
downfall of statues was the very hrst sign of the
upcoming changes in 1989A The former totalitär-
en space was reclaimed and was being transformed
again mto public spaces of open negotiation. Or at
least this was the great illusion of the hrst years of
transition as the population was mesmerized by the
euphoria of the political changeover.
As soon as the satellite countries became free
from the colonizing foreign power, Soviet-type so-
cialism, the new démocratie countries were keen to
"clean up" the ideologically polluted public sphere.
A process of "de-Sovietization" got started by
demolishing statues, removing icons of the former
socialist culture and renaming streets, squares, etc. In
" See jAMES, B. A.: EMgA/p PcEr^^Et^.' IEEE 77777*7*77/7^
U TE77p7rA /FFF lEwEEw. College Station (TX) 2005, pp.
39-60.
^ VERDERY, K.: TE PAPE/TFzw y ITABcFFr RE777777/7777F
PoEwFAE ČEwgř. New York 1999, p. 5.
40