Soviets and labor organizations, artists, actors, stage directors and finally, specialists on the history of art.
Such are the manifold and difficult problems of the Soviet art sections. Their duty is to make art a "joy for all," not only in making the great masses of the urban population interested in things artistic, but particularly in strengthening and promoting the artistic aspirations of the revolutionary proletariat; giving, to the large masses of the urban population, as far as possible, a thorough artistic education, and lastly, finishing and crowning this work by training the toilers for active artistic creation. To prepare the ground for a new art created by a new people—such, briefly, is the aim which the art sections, attached to the Soviets of workmen deputies, should pursue.
DOCUMENT No. 20
Art Educational Section of the Moscow Soviet of Workmen's
Deputies
The activity of the Art-Educational Section has been two-fold: administrative and art—educational, strictly speaking.
Owing to the limited number of persons comprising the directing body (the delegates' group) much time has been consumed by administrative work, weighing heavily chiefly upon the shoulders of a small number of active members of the delegates' group. This work consisted in managing the State Theatres and a dramatic school; participating in the management of people's houses and of the theatre of the Soviet of Workers' Deputies; artistic supervision of Moscow's theatrical life; solving a number.of problems connected with requisition and housing of premises occupied by theatres and by members of the theatrical and musical profession and issuing of permits for removal of valuables contained in the safes.
All this sort of work has consumed much time. The Section has had to pass on whether certain theatres were subject to requisition, or whether they were to be preserved as of artistic value. This required a re-examination of stage productions and of the theatrical repertoire. Since several organizations claimed those premises the Section had also to acquaint itself with the nature of the activities of those organizations in order to preserve whatever might, at a given moment, prove to be most valuable45
