Korolev, S. A. Poetry of Power: Versification as a Socio-Cultural Code

Abstract: The article is devoted to the unique phenomenon of the ‘poetry of power’ in Russia/USSR, or, in other words, causes, forms and consequences of the government officers’ commitment to poetry and versification. The author of the article touches upon Stalin’s poems, Trotsky’s love for poetry, the role of versification in the intellectual segment of the party elite and among consultants and speech writers of the first persons of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and Soviet Government. The author also discusses creative works of a number of major public officials during the Soviet time from Eugene Primakov and Eugene Saburov to Anatoly Lukianov. The author pays special attention at the ‘Lukianov’s Case’ underlying that Lukianov was a rather successful and professional poet. The article also considers the evolution of versification as a socio-cultural code from Pushkin and Decembrists to late USSR and present times of so-called glamour and glamorization of culture. In conclusion the author makes a statement that the government of modern Russia is able to do without poetry and so it does.

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