The initial years of the Bolshevik regime, characterized by terror, civil conflict, and widespread bloodshed across all segments of society, had a devastating impact on Russia’s intellectuals and artists. Petrograd, the former capital of Russia prior to the Revolution, endured particularly significant casualties. By 1923, over 50% of the membership of the Russian Academy of Sciences had either deceased, fled, or been expelled by the dictatorship.

Boris Pasternak in the initial years of the Bolshevik regime

Between 1921 and 1923, Lenin’s administration, concerned about the intelligentsia’s ability to incite anti-Bolshevik feelings, forcibly removed a significant number of intellectuals, university professors, philosophers, economists, writers, and journalists from Soviet Russia. Some individuals migrated in order to resume their regular lives and pursue further education. Among them was Josephine, the sister of Pasternak, who relocated to Berlin. In September 1921, Pasternak’s father, mother, and younger sister Lidia all departed for Germany. In 1923, Pasternak resided in Berlin with them temporarily, but then went back to Moscow.

He would never lay eyes on them again. The Bolshevik regime persisted in carrying out a series of arrests targeting academics who opposed their rule, even though they claimed to be implementing a more liberal approach under the New Economic Policy (NEP). Initially, it appeared feasible to exist beyond the realm of politics and retain a certain degree of cultural independence from the governing system. In addition, numerous young artists were drawn to the artistic initiatives that the Bolsheviks had launched and endorsed.

These efforts aimed to foster a novel proletariat culture and establish a connection between the “bourgeois” cultural heritage of former Russia and the general population. The state-endorsed “enlightenment” strategy garnered significant societal backing from laborers who had experienced the benefits of education and were enthusiastic about expressing themselves through innovative artistic mediums within the context of the revolution’s cultural framework.

The individuals affiliated with these organizations, typically members of political parties, received support and favor from academics who were part of the established and influential Bolshevik Old Guard, like Nikolai Bukharin, Anatoly Lunacharsky, and Georgy Chicherin. Pasternak and several young intellectuals and artists, who had received their education at colleges before the revolution and were raised in a “bourgeois” environment, continued to be strongly influenced by the captivating allure of the revolutionary mystique. They were certain that they were observing the emergence of a novel realm. Emigrating to the “old world” was seen as a means of seeking safety, but it was also perceived as a cultural demise.

Despite his grief about being separated from his family, Boris Pasternak believed that genuine forms of cultural expression could only be created in the “new” Russia. The aspiration for a new Russia, expressed via various ideological frameworks such as Eurasianism and Fabian socialism, motivated several Russian émigré intellectuals to repatriate to Soviet Russia and participate in the Great Experiment. Prince Dmitry Sviatopolk-Mirsky, an exceptional researcher of Russian literature who was born in the same year as Pasternak, exemplified this situation remarkably.

Mirsky actively participated in the White Army’s resistance against the Bolsheviks and subsequently emigrated from Russia in 1920 following their defeat. After conducting extensive academic research and delivering lectures in Britain, France, and the United States, he made the decision to return to the Soviet Union as a committed communist in 1932. In his writing, he stated that in order for an intellectual who has emigrated to survive, they must either renounce their nationality or come to terms with the revolution in some manner.

Instead of the anticipated formation of a new Russia, the Soviet Union evolved as a totalitarian multiethnic empire. With the establishment of his authority in the early 1930s, Stalin put a stop to the official acceptance of cultural autonomy and pluralism. The Stalinist administration supported radical professional educational groups and reorganized the intellectual and scientific elites. Writers and journalists were employed to construct a mythology that concealed the presence of widespread terror, starvation, and a system of forced labor.

In due course, Stalin endeavored to acquire complete dominion over the content and trajectory of cultural and intellectual creation. The dictatorship classified individuals engaged in education and scientific pursuits as Soviet intelligentsia. One of Stalin’s favored endeavors was to mobilize the intellectual and cultural assets to exalt his government, make preparations for war, and demand sacrifices from the population. This endeavor was as significant as his secret police and the army.