Engineers of the human soul

Engineers of the human soul

Engineers of the human soul ( _ru. Инженеры человеческих душ) (Chinese:人类灵魂的工程师 ) - a concept of culture promoted by Joseph Stalin.

The phrase was originally coined by Yury Olesha and then used by Joseph Stalin, firstly during his meeting with the Soviet writers in preparation for the first Congress of the Union of Soviet Writers::The production of souls is more important than the production of tanks.... And therefore I raise my glass to you, writers, the engineers of the human soul. (Joseph Stalin, "Speech at home of Maxim Gorky", 26 October 1932)

Stalin undoubtedly saw it as something to be proud of. It was taken up by Andrei Zhdanov and developed into the idea of 'Socialist realism'

The phrase is nowadays mostly used in a negative sense, rejecting this and many other sorts of control. It gets applied also to the cultural controls of Nazis, and also to some US culture.

Deng Xiaoping spoke approvingly of 'engineers of the human soul' in the post-Mao era, while also condemning the 'Gang of Four'.

This term is used extensively in the People's Republic of China to refer to the teaching profession.

ee also

Josef Škvorecký

External links

* [http://www.junkfoodforthought.com/quotations/L.htm Quotation source]
* [http://82.112.100.113/v21/n23/woll01_.html As applied to Soviet cinema]
* [http://english.people.com.cn/dengxp/vol2/text/b1350.html Deng's 1979 speech]
* [http://www.api-network.com/cgi-bin/page?archives/jas55_ellis Later use] by Zhdanov


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • The Pleasure Principle (Gary Numan album) — The Pleasure Principle Studio album by Gary Numan Released September 1979 …   Wikipedia

  • The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill — Studio album by Lauryn Hill Released …   Wikipedia

  • The Beatles' influence on music recording — The Beatles influenced the way music was recorded in several ways. In an interview Lewisohn ‘Complete Beatles Recording Sessions’. p13.] Paul McCartney spoke about the band s attitude to the recording process: We would say, Try it . Just try it… …   Wikipedia

  • Creative unions in the Soviet Union — Creative unions (Russian: творческие союзы) in the Soviet Union were voluntary societies that united people according to their creative (artistic) professions, similar to Soviet trade unions. The earliest of them were established in 1932 after… …   Wikipedia

  • Descartes: metaphysics and the philosophy of mind — John Cottingham THE CARTESIAN PROJECT Descartes is rightly regarded as one of the inaugurators of the modern age, and there is no doubt that his thought profoundly altered the course of Western philosophy. In no area has this influence been more… …   History of philosophy

  • The College Dropout — Studio album by Kanye West Released February 10, 2004 …   Wikipedia

  • The Founding Myths of Israel — The Founding Myths of Israel: Nationalism, Socialism, and the Making of the Jewish State is a book by Zeev Sternhell. It was published in Hebrew in 1995, in French in 1996 and in English in 1998. The stated purpose of the book is an analysis of… …   Wikipedia

  • The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer — Genre Sketch comedy Slapstick Surreal humour Created by Vic Reeves Bob Mortimer Starring Vic Reeves Bob Mortimer Charlie Chuck Patrick Allen …   Wikipedia

  • The Open Door — For the Death Cab for Cutie EP, see The Open Door EP. The Open Door Studio album by Evanescence Relea …   Wikipedia

  • The Wire — infobox television bgcolour = #feee8e show name = The Wire caption = The Wire promotional art format = Crime Drama camera = Single camera picture format = 480i SDTV audio format = Dolby Digital 5.1 runtime = approx. 55 min. creator = David Simon… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”