Yulia Karpova (Central European University, Budapest)
Fashion, Jazz and Rock-N-Roll behind the Iron Curtain: to the question of the first Soviet youth “subculture”
The epoch of the 1950’s in the USSR is marked not only by the first stage of Cold War, the decline of Stalinism and the beginning of the “thaw”. It is also characterized by the birth of Soviet youth culture. It was a sort of rebellion against the regime’s vision of youth -- the paradigm “youth-as-constructors-of-communism.” [1] Revealing their biological and psychological peculiarities, young people demanded recognition of their social status outside of the official discourse of “Good Soviet Man”. Thus, the eternal conflict of “fathers and sons” coincided with the totalitarian social policy, which leveled all the ages under the aegis of a single ideology. The result was the emergence of youth trend, known as “stilyagi” (“style-hunters”, or “hipsters’).
Stilyagi appeared on the scene around 1949, and remained their till the beginning of the 1960s. Originally it was a considerably small but influential, predominantly male youth group, concentrated in a few big cities in the Western part of Soviet Union. These youngsters admired American music, dances, and dress style. Channels of this “infection” were “trophy” films, seized during the war, music records and journals, brought by those few of the elite who could travel abroad, and, importantly, jazz broadcasts on shortwave radio. Passion for all American (and, to less extent, West European) made them ideological enemies of party officials and Komsomol activists and, on the other hand, cult figures of Soviet cultural history.
It is attractive to explain stilyagi as Soviet youth subculture, analogous to American beatniks and British Teddy-boys. Certainly, stilyagi, unlike Western youth subcultures, were not homogeneous working-class group. Their core consisted of so-called “gilded youth”, scions of party nomenklatura, whose influence was gradually diffused into the lower societal strata. However, stilyagi possessed all the elements of subcultural “style”, defined by sociologist Michael Brake: image, demeanor and argot. [2] Despite stilyagi did not develop authentic music style, as it is typical for youth subcultures, they had music idols, American jazzmen. Moreover, many amateur jazz bands appeared in the universities, and some of their members even succeeded in making a brilliant music career, like, for instance, Moscow jazzman Alexei Kozlov. In the second half of the 1950s, with the advent of rock-n-roll, some stilyagi became fans of this new music as well.
Moreover, music strongly influenced stilyagi’s sartorial look. According to the memoirs, interviews and cartoons, these “dandies” constructed their look after the images of jazz musicians and, later, rock-n-roll stars. Not surprisingly, the regime’s attitude to the “bourgeois music” was directly reflected in the official disdain of “vulgar fashions”. But, interestingly, stilyagi’s interests were shared by a larger scope of Soviet youth, which was not condemned. This paradox can be explained by the existing contextual model of understanding artifacts, which gave importance not to an object itself, but to its interpretation. [3] For example, during the fifties jazz was not completely banned: its “commercial” elements were censured, while its “folk” elements were praised. Similarly, Western fashion was not rejected as such, just the opposite, “clever” adoption of its highest advantages was officially encouraged. As a result, the stilyagi can be evaluated as a “top of the iceberg”, reflecting general youth tendency in its extreme manifestations. Therefore, their appearance was very symptomatic for their time, when cultural isolation aroused many young people’s natural interest to Western popular culture.
Stilyagi appeared on the scene around 1949, and remained their till the beginning of the 1960s. Originally it was a considerably small but influential, predominantly male youth group, concentrated in a few big cities in the Western part of Soviet Union. These youngsters admired American music, dances, and dress style. Channels of this “infection” were “trophy” films, seized during the war, music records and journals, brought by those few of the elite who could travel abroad, and, importantly, jazz broadcasts on shortwave radio. Passion for all American (and, to less extent, West European) made them ideological enemies of party officials and Komsomol activists and, on the other hand, cult figures of Soviet cultural history.
It is attractive to explain stilyagi as Soviet youth subculture, analogous to American beatniks and British Teddy-boys. Certainly, stilyagi, unlike Western youth subcultures, were not homogeneous working-class group. Their core consisted of so-called “gilded youth”, scions of party nomenklatura, whose influence was gradually diffused into the lower societal strata. However, stilyagi possessed all the elements of subcultural “style”, defined by sociologist Michael Brake: image, demeanor and argot. [2] Despite stilyagi did not develop authentic music style, as it is typical for youth subcultures, they had music idols, American jazzmen. Moreover, many amateur jazz bands appeared in the universities, and some of their members even succeeded in making a brilliant music career, like, for instance, Moscow jazzman Alexei Kozlov. In the second half of the 1950s, with the advent of rock-n-roll, some stilyagi became fans of this new music as well.
Moreover, music strongly influenced stilyagi’s sartorial look. According to the memoirs, interviews and cartoons, these “dandies” constructed their look after the images of jazz musicians and, later, rock-n-roll stars. Not surprisingly, the regime’s attitude to the “bourgeois music” was directly reflected in the official disdain of “vulgar fashions”. But, interestingly, stilyagi’s interests were shared by a larger scope of Soviet youth, which was not condemned. This paradox can be explained by the existing contextual model of understanding artifacts, which gave importance not to an object itself, but to its interpretation. [3] For example, during the fifties jazz was not completely banned: its “commercial” elements were censured, while its “folk” elements were praised. Similarly, Western fashion was not rejected as such, just the opposite, “clever” adoption of its highest advantages was officially encouraged. As a result, the stilyagi can be evaluated as a “top of the iceberg”, reflecting general youth tendency in its extreme manifestations. Therefore, their appearance was very symptomatic for their time, when cultural isolation aroused many young people’s natural interest to Western popular culture.
1. Hilary Pilkington. Russia’s Youth and its Culture: A nation’s constructors and constructed (London-New York: Routedge, 1994), p. 69.
2. Michael Brake. Comparative Youth Culture: The sociology of youth culture and youth subcultures in America, Britain and Canada. (London - New York: Routedge&Kegan Paul, 1985), p.11.
3. Victor Buchli. An archeology of socialism. Oxford: Berg, 2000.
