M. Vasil'ev (cover design).

[REGIONAL AVANT-GARDE – PROLETARIAN ART AND POETRY] Vzmakhi: 2-i sbornik proletkul'ta [Swings: second collection of Proletkult].

Saratov: Saratovskii Proletkul't (Saratov. Profes.-Tekhnich. Shkola Gubpoligrafotdela), 1920. Octavo (26 × 17.4 cm). Original pictorial wrappers; 96 pp. Frontis portrait of F. I. Kalinin on better stock and seven leaves of plates. Good or better; wear to wrappers and spine; with soil to edges and restoration to upper and lower corners; some chipping to spine. Item #54158

Very rare anthology, one of only two published, by the Proletkult (Proletarian Culture) movement in Saratov, near the Volga River. It was intended to give a representative overview of the literary and visual works of local proletarian writers and artists, who were inspired by the larger movement in the Soviet Union and even abroad, and were active in various local workshops and studios. Founded in 1917 at a congress of worker creative workshops, Proletkult “began as a loose coalition of clubs, factory committees, worker’s theaters, and educational societies devoted to the cultural needs of the working class.” With support from the minister of education Anatoly Lunacharsky and theoretical guidance by Aleksandr Bogdanov, who believed that only art made by the proletariat can reflect most accurately the reality of the proletariat, “by 1918 it had expanded into a national movement with a much more ambitious purpose: to define a unique proletarian culture that would inform and inspire the new society” (Lynn Mally. Culture of the Future: The Proletkult Movement in Revolutionary Russia, 1990; pp. xviii).

This volume opens with a tribute to F. I. Kalinin (1882–1920), a Russian revolutionary and literary critic who had served as chairman of Proletkult prior to his untimely death. It contains poetry and prose by young proletarian writers, some of which signed, other texts under pseudonyms. While many of them praise the virtues of hard work, industrialization, and the revolutionary struggle, others are more lyrical in tone. Among the authors are K. Prokof'ev, Aleksandr Zirikh, Nina Smirnova, D. Maslennikov, I. Toom, A. Belov, Ivan Kuznetsov, P. Teplova, A. Vinokurov, S. Zas'ko, A. Strokova, A. Miadzelets, and A. Masterkov. With seven leaves of plates featuring reproductions of works signed Balakirev, Rall', Brusnikin (three works), Leimik, and Pimenov. The wrapper design is credited to one M. Vasil'ev, a student of the "IZO" art workshop in Saratov. A section of "Proletsmekh" includes satirical texts. A final section on the chronology of the Proletkult movement contains historical notes as well as proceedings from the second Saratov Gubernia conference of Proletkult groups, with detailed reports on arts and literary activities in the region, as well as the preparations for the present publication (noted to have been printed in only 700 copies).

Not in Getty.

As of January 2024, KVK, OCLC show a single holding of the first volume at Stanford.

Price: €1,200.00

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