Okay, class, today we’re gonna analyze a painting. This particular painting is entitled “Переезд на Новую Квартиру,” or Moving into a New Apartment. It’s a work of socialist realism by Aleksandr Laktionov. Stare at this image for 30 seconds.

Let’s talk about the important details. For starters, this is most likely a communal apartment. Soviet communal apartments would house a few families, who generally had a fair amount of privacy (except they all shared a bathroom. Often, each family would have their own toilet seat to put on the toilet).

Also note that this family has no father. Any Soviet viewer would have picked up on the fact that the father died in the Great Patriotic War fighting the Nazis. Instead, see the picture of Stalin, father of the nation, who is serving as the family’s new surrogate father. The son holding the picture of Stalin is a Young Pioneer, like 15 million other Soviet children at the time. The Young Pioneer organization served a role similar to that of the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts in the U.S., with a similar ideological agenda.

Moving on from the family itself to its surroundings: if the family is moving into a new apartment, why is it already furnished? Again, any Soviet viewer would have picked up on the fact that the previous owners were purged. Their apartment was reassigned to a presumably more-loyal family. Art is fun.

See you all at practice,

Lev Bernstein

Secretary, Quiz Bowl at the Artek Vladimir Lenin All-Union Pioneer Camp, 1925-1991