Proletkult (Proletarian Culture) Studios

Proletarskaia Kultura (Proletarian Culture) was known by its portmanteau name, Proletkult. Created in 1917 by Alexandr Bogdanov, director of the Socialist Academy of Social Sciences (SAON); Proletkult was to provide the foundations of a new, worker-based art form, "liberated from bourgeois, pre-Soviet culture." Proletkult's manifesto was simple: 1) proletarian culture equals communism, 2) Proletkult is the responsibility of the Russian Communist Party, 3) proletariat class equals the Russian Communist Party that equals Soviet power. Mass-production and machine art were also staples of the Proletkult ideal. While Bogdanov's brother-in-law was Anatolii Lunacharskii (head of the Ministry of Education), his connection did not afford Proletkult lasting influence. Following a consolidation of all independent artists' clubs and organizations in 1932, Proletkult was dismantled by the government. Bogdanov died in 1928 after performing a blood transfusion experiment on himself.