Audience and spectators of Soviet holidays in 1920s – 1930s

Abstract

This article attempts to consider the audience as a specific community of spectators, listeners, and visitors of various performances at the stage of its formation in the early Soviet period. Numerous means were used to form the ability to perceive and understand the language of arts, aesthetic ideas and social attitudes; among which public holidays were the most effective. The festive culture of the first decades of Soviet government was focused on the active citizens’ mass participation in the events. The public was not supposed to remain indifferent to the holidays held by the state, primarily revolutionary ones. The roles of the spectator and the actor/participant of theatrical festive performances united in the space of festive culture. The task of Soviet citizens’ ideological upbringing meant their involvement in mass action. Active participation was supposed to foster a sense of collectivism, to form social identity and spiritual values. The state and public organizations’ study of the festive audience composition and spectator interest contributed to the development of methodological recommendations for holding festive events. The article discusses the techniques and methods of studying the audience in the festive practice of social construction of a “new” person in the 1920s–1930s.