Context

De-Stalinization and the Khrushchev era

Following Joseph Stalin’s death on March 5^th, 1953, leader of the communist party, Nikita Khruschev, rose to power. He was responsible for the De-Stalinization of the Soviet Union consisting of a series of political reforms and positive changes including a slight weakening of the totalitarian regime. This period in time is referred to as a “cultural thaw” as cultural censorship was weakened. Nonetheless, the “thaw” did not last long. Massive anti-communist movements rose in surrounding countries. Afraid, the USSR started active resistance to the De-Stalinization movement. In 1961, Khruschev decided to start a second wave of De-Stanilization. Nevertheless, any dissent, such as gatherings to exchange poetry and new socio-political ideas, was violently punished. Overall, despite De-Stanilization, the Soviet Union’s centralized regime remained unchanged (Museum "Territory of Terror").

Mayakovsky Square

Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893-1930) was a great Russian and Soviet poet, playwright, artist, and actor. During his life, his relationship with the State was always tumultuous. He found himself confronting the cultural censorship of the Soviet state. However, on July 29, 1958, a monument was raised in his honour in a square with the same name in Moscow. At the official inauguration, people gathered around it to share poetry in honour of the late poet. These poetry gatherings were soon stopped by authorities.

Nonetheless, they were later revived in the mid-1960s by Vladimir Bukovskij. In a article, author Donald Louwen argues that poetry became “a cultural phenomenon and socio-political force” in Russia in the late 50s and early 60s. He mentions how important the Mayakovsky monument was for this phenomenon to happen. It became the “only place in the country where freedom of speech genuinely existed”. The square became a place to gather to exchange social and political ideas: participants would use poems as the means to engage in political and social debate. It is during those gatherings that СИРЕНА was created. Poetic works from different participants were shared in the samizdat. However, these gatherings were seen as a direct confrontation to the authority at the time. People were punished, beaten, threatened, and arrested for taking part in these gatherings. Hence, samizdat literature coming out of these meetings was extremely dangerous to produce and share. The Mayakovsky Square was then closed to all public gatherings, but it became the starting point for the entire dissident movement that came later in Soviet Union’s history.

Works found in the samizdat СИРЕНА come from participants of poetic gatherings at the Mayakovsky Square during the Khruschev Era. The purpose of this samizdat was to record and share across cities poetic works, new socio-political ideas and illustrations that were exchanged at the gatherings. The gatherings and the samizdat were forms of dissident movements as they were dealing with subjects that were frowned upon by the State. They were seen as a direct confrontation of the State. Censorship СИРЕНА and the gatherings surrounding it were enforced by authorities by taking action such as beating and arresting members.