On 2010-08-04, at 7:13 AM, Marv Gandall wrote:
> On 2010-08-03, at 10:44 PM, Michael Smith wrote:
>
>> For that matter, one wonders
>> what Lenin would have said to a young man who wanted to
>> take up the violin in oh, say, 1920. (I feel sure that
>> somebody on the list will know by heart a Lenin quote on
>> this very topic from that very year, and I look forward to
>> reading it.)
>
> ====================================
> Indeed, Lenin had proposed adding a violin and a pen to the hammer and sickle to symbolize the unity of artists and intellectuals with the workers and peasants of the new Soviet republic, but his suggestion was rejected by the Politburo on aesthetic grounds. He also told the Second Congress of Soviet Musical Workers in April, 1920, that "the violin, in the hands of the joyful Soviet artist, is a stirring call to battle for the new order rather than a mournful sigh for the old." ( V.I. Lenin, "Strings, Brass, and Percussion as Necessary Instruments of Class Struggle", Krasnaya Prospekti, vol. 2, Progress Books, 1953)
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