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A bloody affair

The long search ended in a city council morgue where his lifeless body lay. The atmosphere of the morgue was rented with yells and shrieks from the kinfolk members. How could death rob us a young energetic and ambitious man who had a vision? This was totally unbelievable, that Claude was no more. Two years were not over since he wedded his gorgeous wife in a very colorful ceremony that was graced by the duchess of Cambridge. The fond memories of quality time had barely elapsed when he met his untimely demise. A myriad of questions with no answers ran through everyone’s mind. It was evident that Claude had been shot dead by some assailants. This was clearly evident as a bullet had been lodged into his chest, torn through his tender fresh leaving a hovel that was so scaring. His beloved wife of a year had not arrived at the scene. This was truly traumatizing, little did we know that behind the scenes were sum unearthed bitter truths that would leave everyone in awe.

Claude Kelvin was the most hard working young man I had known in my tender years. He was a jack of all trades and contrary to the wise Sayers he was also a master of many. Claude had spent all his life in the countryside with his parents who were large scale farmers. As a child, Claude was very bright in the school. In his fourth to seventh grade, he was always on the top in his class which made many teachers get fond of him. Claude was an exemplary student when it came to sciences. He always won prizes in the science congress that was held annually in his school. Claude was enrolled into St Johns high school where he worked to his level best and got as in all his papers. This landed him into the prestigious Harvard University where he enrolled for a degree in law.

During his stay at the Harvard, Claude met this lady Mary Brown with whom he fell in love. Mary was in the school of medicine and was a very beautiful and charming young lady. It all started as a friendship when Claude’s buddy, Johnson introduced him to Miss Brown. Within weeks, their friendship blossomed into love and they became one of the inseparable couples. Every party introduced the other to their families who gave them blessings. There were some rumors that ran about Mary but Claude gave a deaf ear. Some of her course mates speculated that she was a free mason but Claude had no space for such crap. His eyes were fixed on getting a happy ending with this beautiful lady he had known now for some years. Claude graduated a year before his lover and landed a job in the United States of America. This was quite a good start for this ambitious young man whose greatest wish as a student lawyer had always being fighting for the rights of the weak in the society.

During his stay in the United States, Mary was his constant visitor. One Monday morning, Claude rose up in the wee hours and readied himself to work. Mary had visited him the previous weekend and was to spend a week with him. During that morning, Mary had pleaded with him not to attend work but spend some time with her in the mansion Claude had recently bought. Claude however, managed to convince Mary that he could not afford to miss work. On his drive to work, Claude swerved off the road and hit a tanker that was parked on the roadside. The intensity of the bang sent the tanker blowing and the flames burnt Claude’s vehicle severely and it was rendered completely written off. Claude escaped death by a whisker as some passers-by rushed him to hospital where he was admitted with severe burns on his limbs and deep cuts on his head.

It took Claude a year to recuperate from his injuries and luckily he never succumbed to his injuries. He was bedridden all this time and Mary was by his side always carrying out chores for him and feeding him. Claude was convinced beyond any reasonable doubt that this was the woman he always saw in his dreams. This was everything that a man would look for in a woman, a clear indicator of true love. She always nursed his petrifying wounds day in day out. She even resigned from her work to take care of him. What a caring and loving lady she was. She moved the hearts of many especially in Claude’s family and the bond was never as strengthened before. After a year of nursing, Claude’s life took a new turn as he was totally healed and was back to his normal life. He resumed his duties in full swing in the organization that had employed him.

Two years later Claude had a change of mind. She had found another girlfriend at her workplace and had fallen in love with her. Contrary to our expectations, she proposed to this lady who was foreign even to his family. A year later, he proposed to the girl and wedding arrangements began. A few months later, Claude walked down the aisle with the lady in an extremely colorful wedding. To Mary Brown, this was the height of betrayal. She could not believe that her dreams to become a life partner to Claude had been shattered. Life took a new twist; they no longer saw each other eye to eye. Mary was traumatized; this agony was too much for her to bear. How could Claude be so inhuman? How could he repay her goodness with betrayal? This is some of the questions that remained unanswered even to his closest friends.

Claude was a committed Christian and was an active member of his church. On the fateful day, he had gone to deliver some foodstuffs to some mission men who had taken the good news to a foreign land. Claude left in a jovial mood, humming a tune he liked. He kissed his beloved wife goodbye and in his ever humorous tone teased her that they would meet in heaven if his time was over on earth. Little did she know that it was the last time he was seeing him alive. Claude did not have kids of his own but her wife was heavy with pregnancy. Sooner or later Claude would be a father to a beautiful daughter.

Claude speeded towards the 4th street and he waved to his wife who waved back. This was the last time they saw each other. Claude was never at one time late to get to his home. He always got home even before the verge of darkness. On this day he never appeared even after it was past nine o’clock in the evening neither did he call to notify his wife of anything. His wife back at home became impatient back at home. Her efforts to reach him through his cellphone proved futile. She immediately raised alarm to his immediate family members and his close acquaintances. Calls were immediately made to the place he had gone but the missioners said they had not set eye on him. This raised a lot of suspicion on his whereabouts.

The following morning, a thorough search for Claude was stepped up by his close kinsmen as well as his friends. They made immediate reports to the police department who staged a vigorous search for this young man. The search was a wild goose chase as they could not trace using wave technology, his cellphone. Her grief stricken wife was so shocked and she remained dumbfounded all this time. Her friend tried to reassure her that everything was well but all she was doing was weeping bitterly and probably whispering a silent prayer to God to take care of his husband wherever he was.

The search took a new turn after Claude’s vehicle’s wreckage was found stuck on a bridge. Numerous bullet holes were noticeable from a far. This sent shivers down the spines of his friends and family. The next place they searched for him was the municipal morgue. His lifeless body lay here and his clothes were soaked in blood. This was such a mysterious and untimely demise. The investigations to unearth the cause are still underway. Who was behind Claude’s murder and for what reason? This question remains unanswered and will probably be.

A Brief Analysis of the Exploitation of Students’ Subjective Consciousness in English Teaching

Introduction

One of the most controversial problems in applied linguistics is the link between conscious and unconscious processes in language learning. In the study of language learning, consciousness is a crucial factor to take into consideration. The importance of awareness in language acquisition cannot be overstated, and it should be carefully researched if significant strides are to be made in the understanding of how language learning occurs. Svalberg (2007) argues that learners must have a working knowledge of the target language system in order to develop and apply suitable forms. People make mistakes because they don’t know or remember the rules of the language they are trying to communicate in. This widely held belief is unfounded, as no current theory sees conscious grammar study as a pre-requisite or sufficient one for language learning. Others such as García (2008) are convinced that language acquisition is mostly unconscious. The aim of this essay is to provide an analysis of the exploitation of students’ subjective consciousness in English teaching. Specifically, it looks at literature on students’ subjective consciousness and how this is applicable in English teaching and learning.

Conscious and Unconscious Processes in Language Learning

Language awareness, in this case consciousness, refers to an understanding of the features of texts and language, as well as the contexts in which language is used. The importance of language in teaching and learning cannot be overstated. The goal of language conscious teaching is to help teachers have a better knowledge of how language is utilized in the classroom, or to help them strengthen their language awareness abilities (Andrews, 2006). Language awareness refers to being aware of how language behaves in different circumstances, such as text and voice. Language awareness assists students in understanding how language is typically utilized in various subject areas as decided by the instructor. Key vocabulary that acts as a doorway to knowledge acquisition is a type of content-area-specific language (Otwinowska, 2017). Language conscious education provides and prepares students with the tools they need to think about how language is used in everyday settings.

Significance of Language Awareness in English Teaching

Language awareness is a complete process through which learners develop a gradual understanding of language forms and functions as they assimilate specific language knowledge. It is, according to Lo (2019), an abstract and difficult mental activity. Language is critical for expressing emotions and communicating ideas between persons. The first step in teaching students how to use language effectively in English writing is to raise their level of language awareness. Teachers should support students in gaining a fresh perspective on language acquisition and incorporating it into their everyday English instruction.

Conclusion

At present, there is no consensus from the academic circles regarding language awareness as a pre-requisite for language learning. However, its importance in English teaching cannot be disputed. Language awareness is an understanding of the features of texts and language, as well as the contexts in which language is used.

Reference List

Andrews, S., 2006. The evolution of teachers’ language awareness. Language Awareness, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 1-19.

García, O., 2008. Multilingual language awareness and teacher education. Encyclopedia of language and education, no. 6, pp. 385-400.

Lo, Y.Y., 2019. Development of the beliefs and language awareness of content subject teachers in CLIL: does professional development help?. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, vol. 22, no. 7, pp. 818-832.

Otwinowska, A., 2017. English teachers’ language awareness: away with the monolingual bias?. Language Awareness, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 304-324.

Svalberg, A.M., 2007. Language awareness and language learning. Language Teaching, vol. 40, no. 4, pp. 287-308.

Effects of GDP

Is GDP a good measure of the health of a developing country’s economy? What else should be considered and why?

Introduction

GDP as a measure of the performance of the economy is based on a number of assumptions that may prevent the correct representation of the state of development in third world economies. One of the reasons why GDP is not a complete method of measuring performance is the complex nature of national economies. Due to the many economic units making up the national economy, it is difficult to account for every aspect of business transactions that every unit participates in. The broad scope of economic coverage that performance measurement at the national economy level means that, the correct tool to give the best results must involve all individual units.

However, GDP includes only a few economic factors that affect the national economy in a limited way. The limitation that GDP has implies that there are several economic measurement factors left out of the focus highlighted by this tool. In addition, there are weaknesses in the methods used to measure every factor used in GDP computation (Carbaugh 2010, p229). These weaknesses would therefore logically render all reliance on the GDP value as meaningless as the weaknesses go. In the following discussion, points are raised and explained, to illustrate that GDP gives the wrong image about economic performance in third world economies. To understand the GDP method of economic performance in a country, one of the methods used in computation is explained followed by the main points that illustrate the incorrect perspective taken from a GDP view of third world.

GDP and its Determination

It is perhaps important to separately define the meaning of every word represented by the abbreviation in order to obtain understanding from word usage to support economic usage. Firstly, GDP stands for Gross Domestic Product. Gross means the grand total quantity of the economic measure being described. The word domestic can be understood to refer to internal context of the economic aspect described. It also refers to area within the home boundaries, and the use implies that the national boundaries must not be exceeded in the economic description. Product is abbreviated in GDP to represent output or production (Frieden and Lake 2000, p384). In establishing the context of the usage of the three words, GDP represents the measure of total value of produced goods and services within the boundaries of the country in consideration within a specific duration of time. The duration of time applied in GDP calculations is usually one year across the world.

In economic definition, GDP is the calculation of collected information on the value of goods and services that the country consumes and sells outside the country. Private consumption is used in the determination of domestic production. The value of money that the government spends is considered as part of public consumption and is included in the computation. The amount of money that is invested in businesses within the year inside the country is also used in the calculation of GDP. Amount of products and services that leave the country in form of exports is balanced against external products and services entering the country in form of imports. Exports add on to the value of GDP while imports reduce the value of GDP (Marien 1991, p24).

Why GDP is not an Accurate State of Economy in Third World Economies

The computation of GDP is based on several assumptions and generalizations that may not enable the correct representation of the economic status of third world economies. There are three ways of computing GDP of a country, which include expenditure (illustrated above), production and income. The main theme of the computations however is production that enables the estimation of how an economy performs within a year. Based on the below discussed points, it is clear that GDP may not be the perfect method for the computation of economic performance of third world economy.

i) Reported Figures

From the above explanation on the determination of GDP, the only information that is included in the calculations is the officially available information on all factors such as consumption and investment. The official figures only record the reported data on economic production in form of goods and services (Black, Hartzenberg and Standish 2000, p353). As briefly mentioned in the introduction, it is difficult to collect all such information from across the country for use in the computation without leaving out certain information. As an illustration, the level of economic performance that national calculations come across involves huge sums of money for big spenders and investors and small units as well. However, due to practical reasons of collection of such data, it may not be possible to consider certain values in the computations due to their small nature that is negligible or insignificant to the huge values at the national level. For instance, a commercial farmer owning several thousands of hectares of plantations in different parts of the country is not at the same level with a producer of vegetables worth a few meals in the week. In such a setting, the huge difference in the quantity produced, spent or invested may not allow the collection of all details across the country.

Within the third world context, it is impossible for the government or authorities to collect certain production information due to the difficulty in accessing all areas in the country. In such an economy where a majority of the population is poor with high levels of inequality in resources distribution, production at the lowest level is much negligible. This makes it difficult for the collection of all information of economic activities going on at all levels of production. Since the availability of such data affects the calculation of the GDP, the reliance on the figures reported about third world economies performance is therefore wrong (Tucker 2010, p515).

ii) Definition and Quantification of Production

One of the challenges in reporting GDP variables is the definition of production in an economy. On one hand, there is not dispute in the definition major economic production activities and outcomes such as manufacturing and banking. Considering the huge gap in level of economic activities going on in a country, there are millions of economic activities that can be singled out. There are economic activities that are recognized as production whereas others are not recognized. As an illustration, there are certain activities that are not considered as economic activities such as looking after one’s baby, a service that attracts payment when someone else is hired to do that work. Taking a maternal leave does not constitute to transfer of productive capacity from workplace to domestic affairs because GDP does not have mechanisms to quantify that (Forrest and Mok 2009, p54).

Several activities that the poor people engage in to earn a living in the third world setting cannot be defined by GDP calculations since there is no evidence of money exchanging hands. In view of the definition of economy as the GDP calculations imply, there must be some level of similarity across the world in order for production to be recognized. However, there is a huge difference between a third world economy and a first world economy, from the definition of the activities that the populations engage (Ersson and Lane 2002, p57). It is not possible to quantify the economic value of certain production activities where there are no means of quantification. The failure of GDP to include non-market activities on the list of economically quantifiable production makes GDP a poor tool to measure every input across levels of production as important economic factors.

iii) Illegal Businesses

Business activities considered in the calculations of GDP must be in accordance with the legally recognized business activities. The collection of economic production is usually carried out through a particular government’s definition of production within its boundaries (Gans, Mankiw and Stonecash 2011, p555). Illegal businesses constitute a large fraction of business activities, which the government cannot recognize, and such businesses are closed down and owners prosecuted. This reason places legal definition of production on the way of GDP computation since certain types of business production are locked out of the computation on illegality.

In the definition of illegality, certain businesses are illegal on various debatable areas, which could hand certain economies an advantage over others. As an illustration, there are certain countries allowing the production of crops that are illegal in others, making it difficult to account for such production across global economies (Joseph, Kesselman and Kriegler 2009, p68). Additionally, certain products and services are fully allowed in certain countries and not allowed in others. In third world countries such as African countries, sex work for instance is prohibited whereas it is a legal multibillion-dollar industry in some western countries. Lack of a harmonized legal regime in the definition of production across the world may affect GDP calculation in the third world economies.

iii) Exclusion of Wellbeing

The heavy reliance on production in definition of economic performance is deceptive in certain aspects, since it may not capture the need behind production or spending. In terms of welfare in business, production is supposed to increase conditions of life to levels that respect human dignity by covering human needs. This can be interpreted as level of utility of production if human needs are satisfied in production (Jackson 2012, p42). In terms of determination of how economic performance represents the level of utility of production in the economy, GDP fails. To illustrate this, the overreliance on production figures without determination of the contribution made to improvement of livelihood and satisfaction human needs is a failure of GDP figures. After a disaster for instance, a country will be forced by, the difficulty to concentrate efforts in rebuilding the destruction caused (Anielski 2007, p28). Construction and other rebuilding activities that continue in such a scenario are expected to push up government spending and other consumption factors, which is recorded as overall increase in production.

The heavy reliance on the level of production as a means to determine economic performance in such a case appears to be incorrect since the destruction is the cause of the production. Failure to make provisions for contributions to the status of wellbeing and utility at the end of the production implies that such rebuilding activities will be recorded as economic improvement in GDP estimates (Chan, Ngok and Phillips 2008, p15). The most accurate economic performance in the third world countries faced with difficult humanitarian crises would quantify the net wellbeing generated after the rebuilding efforts. The application of gross estimation is not reflective of possible expenditure and reductions that make it necessary to consider net value of production.

iv) Globalization

Globalization has made it a necessity to perform business at the international level, which implies that the boundary limitation that the domestic scope defining GDP is not welcome. Increased cross-border business transactions are increasingly making it possible for businesses to open overseas subsidiaries and earn foreign income for the home economy. This form of investment must account for foreign earnings that are sent back to the economy sometimes making huge contributions to third world economies (Lomborg 2001, p68). Without recognition of such cross-border earnings in economic performance, it is not possible for the accurate representation of third world economies at the globalization level. Whereas exports and imports are factored in the GDP model of measuring economic performance, production occurring outside the boundaries of the country in consideration is not included in the GDP valuation of economic performance. This would be inaccurate for third world countries experiencing brain drain and labor movement across the borders and their earnings

v) Distribution of Resources

The best reflection of economic performance must capture the contribution made by every individual in the economy. GDP figures may be high to indicate possibility of a healthy economy but huge production activity being funded by a few individuals represents a different worse case. Failure of GDP to show the level of resources distribution across the population affects the interpretation of huge GDP figures. GDP per capita may attempt to theoretically distribute production outcomes across the population but does not represent the actual distribution of production capacity (Gupta 2007, p65). Third world countries are notoriously known for huge differences in distribution of resources, with a famous saying of a few owning millions of dollars at the mercy of millions of a poor majority. Production projects funded by a few wealthy people would be similar to several medium projects funded by several medium class investors under GDP, which is not reflective of the level of equality in distribution of resources.

References

Anderton, (2000) Economics (3rd Edn.) London, UK: Pearson Education Publishers.

Anielski, M. (2007) The Economics of Happiness: Building Genuine Wealth. Gabriola Island, Canada: New Society Publishers.

Black, P., Hartzenberg, T., & Standish, B. (2000) Economics: Principles and Practice. Cape Town, South Africa: Pearson South Africa.

Carbaugh, R. (2010) Contemporary Economics: An Applications Approach. Armonk, NY: M. E Sharpe Inc.

Chan, C., Ngok, K., & Phillips, D. (2008) Social Policy in China: Development and Well-being. Bristol, UK: The Policy Press.

Ersson, S. & Lane, J. (2002) Government and the Economy: A Global Perspective. Continuum International Publishing Group.

Forrest, R., & Mok, K. (2009) Changing Governance and Public in East Asia. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.

Frieden, J. A., & Lake, D. A. (2000) International Political Economy: Perspective on Global Power and Wealth. London, UK: Routledge.

Gans, J., King, S., Mankiw, G., & Stonecash, R. (2011) Principles of Economics. Melbourne, Australia: Cengage Learning.

Gupta, K. R. (20007) Studies in Indian Economy (Vol 3). New Delhi, India: Atlantic Publishers & Distributors.

Jackson, R. (2012) Occupy World Street: A Global Roadmap for Radical Economic and Political Reform. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing.

Joseph, W., Kesselman, M., & Kriegler, J. (2009) Introduction to Politics of the Developing World. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Lomborg, B. (2001) The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World. Cambridge , UK: Cambridge University Press.

Marien, M. (1991) Future Survey Annual 1991, vol. 10. Bethesda, MD: Transaction Publishers.

Shaw, B. (2010) GDP: A Business Perspective: Wealth, Environment and Well-being. HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saarbr%C3%BCcken” o “Saarbrücken” Saarbrucken, Germany: VDM Verlag.

Singh, A., & Tabatabai, H. (1993) Economic Crisis and Third World Agriculture. Cambridge , UK: Cambridge University Press.

Tucker, I. (2010) Survey of Economics. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.

Wenzel, T. (2009) Beyond GDP- Measuring the Wealth of Nations. Norderstedt, Germany: GRIN Verlag.

Coursework

(Author’s name)

(Institutional Affiliation)

Coursework 1

The article, Is Good Sportsmanship a Thing of the Past, argues that today’s sports lack a degree of sportsmanship, with most sportsmen divulging bad behavior (Ender, 2007). I agree with the points brought across in the article, because I believe that a higher percentage of sportsmen take on sports, not because they love these sports, but because they are looking for a source of income. For that reason, they end up engaging in bad sporting activities hence loosing the essence of sportsmanship. Just as the article explains, the overall level of sportsmanship in today’s sports world is lacking owing to the fact that most players and athletes are not taught the importance of sportsmanship during the first years of training. Most players and athletes have forgotten the importance of engaging in sports as a fun activity, and instead, play sports to win or to gain returns. To combat poor sportsmanship, parents and coaches need to teach their athletes the importance of good sportsmanship at a young age. I do not think that religion plays any role in sports for athletes. Good sportsmanship arises from individual understanding of morals.

Coursework 2

The word renaissance refers to the period characterizing the end of the middle ages from around the 14th century, through to the 16th century (Bailey, 2005). It is a period when the society underwent both a cultural and artistic transformation, hence the rise of modernity. Humanism, on the other hand, refers to a renaissance cultural movement that focused its ideas and beliefs on the human beings (Bailey, 2005). Artists such as Donatello are remembered for their trademark sculptures and painting that supported humanism during the renaissance period. An example of the usage of this is in the two sculptures, Saint Mark (1411-1413) and Kouros (556 BCE). These two pieces of art present the most famous statue sculptures that were developed through the renaissance period. The biggest similarity and correlation between the two is that they are both sculptures of human beings, thus embrace the foundations of humanism. These two pieces of art came from different countries, and for that reason, had different functions. The Saint Mark originated from Florence in Italy and served religious functions whereas Kouros came from Greece and was a representation of the Greek culture.

Coursework 3

Transition into adulthood is a significant part of the human life, as it signifies the climax of human growth and development. Throughout history, there have existed various initiation rites that have been used to welcome people from childhood to adulthood, which vary across the different cultures. In essence, such transitions have different social and religious connotations, as young adults are granted more religious responsibility as well as considered to be sexually mature (Jekielek & Brown, 2005). Societal changes have led to a change in the nature of initiation rites associated with transition into adulthood. Modernity, for example has forced a number of communities to drop their cultural transitional practices such as circumcision for their young adults. As a result, young adults today are not better off than before because they tend to lose their religious and cultural values at a time when these values matter the most. Most young adults do not understand the importance of their transition into adulthood and for that reason are not aware of their responsibilities as young adults. They enter their adulthood without a recognition of the seriousness of this phase in their life time and in most cases end up failing in their performance in adulthood (Jekielek & Brown, 2005).

References

Bailey, D. (2005). Prehistoric Figurines: Representation and Corporeality in the Neolithic.

United Kingdom: Routledge Publishers.

Ender (2007). Is Good Sportsmanship a Thing of The Past? Sportstales. Retrieved from:

http://sportales.com/sports/is-good-sportsmanship-a-thing-of-the-past/

Jekielek, S. & Brown B. (2005). The Transition to Adulthood: Characteristics of Young Adults

Ages 18 to 24 in America. Retrieved from: http://www.prb.org/pdf05/TransitionToAdulthood.pdf

A Brief Examination Of The Relationship Between The Russian Avant-Garde And The October Revolution

The Russian Avant Garde began in Russia in about 1915 It was the year that Malevich revealed his Suprematist compositions that reduced painting to total abstraction. and rid the pictures of any reference whatsoever to the visual world. He is credited with being the first artist to do this; that is, forsake the visual world for a world of pure feeling and sensation. This was the first movement originated by Russians and the birth of several other Avant Garde movements. Probably the most popular piece at his 1915 exhibition was “BLACK SQUARE” (real name “suprematist composition”. It’s basically a black square on a slightly larger white square that forms a border around it. It was hung in the exhibition in the way an icon would be hung in a peasant’s home; ie top corner of the room. Malevich saw Suprematism as representing a yearning for space, an impulse to break free from the globe of the earth. It a spirit, a spirituality that went beyond anything before it.

Among Malevich’s students and contemporaries were such names as El Lissitzsky, Alexsandr Rodchenko and Vladimir Tatlin who were, of course, to lead the Constructivist movement which started in the same year as Malevich’s exhibition. Tatlin had returned from studying art in Paris in 1913 where he had seen a series of relief constructions by Picasso. Tatlin became very interested in form and message rather than representation and so he himself made a series of constructions. They were in the same vein as Picasso, but they were framed within a space and jutted out of the picture plane into the space of the observer. They created a lot of interest and he coined the term Constructivism. Tatlin and Malevich, who had been friends up until this point started to be competitors over art ideology and this continued for a long time after the Bolshevik Revolution in October, 1917.

There had been a smaller Capitalist revolution in February that year but the October Revolution completely usurped it. After the October Revolution both Tatlin and Malevich opened up art schools. Malevich’s Suprematist school was similar in style but not ideology to the De Stijl movement in Holland, while the Constructivist school of Tatlin’s had links to the German Bauhaus. The October revolution had been a primarily proletariat revolution and proletarians have proven to be somewhat negative in their attitude to new, radical confronting art styles and this was no exception. Both schools realised they had to prove their worth, so to speak. The new communist government saw artists as elite. A few things transpired to change the soviet government’s ideas about these artists.

Rodchenko was proud of the fact that the leftist artists had been the first to come to work with the Bolshevik comrades. There was a Constructivist manifesto released in 1922,( when Constructivism had reached its Zenith and had started ever so slowly to decline,) stating that the movement as a whole was “trying to build the intellectual material production of Communist culture”. The general mood among the Avant Garde was one of completely embracing the Bolshevik ideal. Perhaps this is why they were given so much freedom. From all accounts, the leftist artists felt very supported by the government. According to a letter written at the time by a friend of several of the artists, all of the young artists, no matter how innovative or experimental were taken seriously. They spoke about being able to realise their dreams, and they were grateful that neither politics nor power intruded into their work. They felt it was the first time most of them had been given the opportunity to do everything they wanted in their own field. A boyish dream, perhaps, but it must have been extremely liberating. They ran with their new ideas for a while and then got down to the work of helping the revolution through art.

The Suprematist and Constructivist schools tried different approaches. Malevich’s Suprematists were trying to create a whole new vision, a new world, breaking all tradition and rejecting the old culture. Tatlin’s school, however, rejected easel painting. They said it was bourgeois and should be discounted completely. They adopted a very mathematical, utilitarian approach to art. They studied engineering and architecture. They started designing artistic, functional but also utilitarian equipment for the new society. Their approach worked. More and more they were noticed to be making art for the masses. To a new government who were wrestling with such questions as how to shape the new Soviet society and what people needed to be taught (so as to become proper soviet citizens), these artists looked like they had the ability and intelligence to fulfil the government dreams. They were looking for the official proletarian art and, although suprematism had some ideas they could use, Constructivism was looking better and better. Trotsky, Bukharin, Lunacharsky and others were against government control of the arts; so they must have been delighted to have the artists themselves so willing to help with the propaganda campaign, seen as so necessary for the education of the masses.

Trotsky felt art should be left alone but the government needed to turn the working classes into a conscious collective, both politically and technologically.

The fact that most of the population was unable to read a political pamphlet created some problems. Posters with pictorial messages became essential to the mass communication system. By the 1920s, Constructivism became the dominant art primarily because they were able to fuse poster art with fine art and make it accessible to the masses. The Suprematists did print a few abstract posters like El Lissitsky’s 1919 poster. .BEAT THE WHITES WITH THE RED WEDGE but they had nowhere near the propaganda power of Tatlin’s boys.

Suprematists did also insist on imbuing their work with a deep spirituality that flew in the face of new soviet atheistic ideals. This was another reason for its unpopularity.

The government saw Constructivism as a tool and all other art as Art. Lenin said he did not know whether all these art forms were the highest manifestation of artistic genius or not; simply because he was unable to understand them. He also said that he received no joy or pleasure from them either. Further, that although complete freedom was the right of every artist this did not mean free reign was to be the order of the day either. Stalin was later to take this to mean extreme and total control of the arts which led to the bloody purges of those who had not died.

This is not to say that the Constructivists weren’t astract, they were, but also very functional. They succeeded in eliminating personal taste completely from the objects they produced. They employed a rational approach to industrial designs.

By 1920 Tatlin had caught the eye of the government with his new industrial designs. He had, for instance, designed a new stove that used minimal fuel and radiated maximum heat. He also designed new functional clothing for the masses. In 1919 the Department for Artistic Work of the People’s Commissariat for Enlightenment commissioned Tatlin to produce a monument for the Third International. This was the work Tatlin is probably best known for, even though it was never built. It was more massive than the Eiffel Tower and was far too expensive to build anyway. A double concentric spiral form thrust into the sky at a 70degree angle to symbolise the new society reaching for the utopian goal. It was to be one third of a mile high and house a gigantic sphere, cube and prism. There were quite a few constructivist buildings erected but virtually no Suprematist designs ever saw the light of day.

By 1921 Constructivism had reached its Zenith and had slowly started a decline that would last another nine years or so until the Stalinist purge of artists began. Their popularity didn’t diminish very much but the punchiness of their art which was vital at the start of the revolution was no longer needed as much. The fist world war was over, the revolutionary government were now the official state line and the emphasis changed from War propaganda and monuments to posters promoting the new economic policy and the bourgeoning soviet cinema industry. Constructivist art turned its attention to the people as humans, not as units for the revolution. They started making functional art for the civil sector. George and Vladimir Sternberg were Constructivists who became widely recognised during this period. They designed economic policy posters similar to Rodchenko and Lissitzky but their real fame came through film poster designs. The Russian film industry was becoming very experimental and radical through such people as Eisenstein and Vertov and the Sternerg brothers naturally followed suite. They were also responsible for a world changing tecnique in graphic art and photography; The extreme close-up.

The slow decline of the Avant Garde art movement kept going until the early thirties. Artists were still creating remarkable Constructivist and Suprematist art, among other styles, But the heady days of revolution and innovation were behind them. The treasury was empty, there was no more money for gigantic monumental public art and architecture and glorious examples of people’s art. A lot of art was still produced but it had reverted somewhat. Considering what had just happened in art in Russia in the preceeding 15 years or so, this newly emerging art was almost safe by comparison. Oil on canvas came back. People were framing paintings again. In a lot of ways art, or the political edge of art, had lost its sharpness.

Stalin was in power. A peasant from the backwoods who’s idea of art was kittens in a basket crossed with a big titted wench frolicking on the new people’s farm. In 1932 Stalin got hold of the Union of Artists and put a man called Isaak Brodsky in charge. Brodsky had been trained in academic painting of the pre-revolutionary schools and was revolted by any art from Impressionism onwards. This spelt disaster for the Avant Garde artists. Stalin started making very scary public statements about art and artists. He said abstract art could no longer be tolerated. Art should be figurative as well as have a propaganda message. He said the demand of Soviet culture is that all coarseness and wildness should be eradicated from every corner of Soviet life. The Avant Garde was just an old Capitalist art in it’s death throes tearing itself apart, and it must be liquidated. IT WAS. In 1932 Georgii Sternberg was killed in a motorcycle accident. In 1935, before he could be pu!

rged, Malevich, the man who was responsible for giving the Avant Garde movement life, died in Moskow.

The Avant garde no longer had a base. A few caved in and became correct thinkers. A few escaped to other countries in Europe. Some stayed in Europe and some ended up in America. They have developed and grown. Along with Gabo and Rothko and Kandinsky and numerous others, they are still having a profound influence on art. There were many parallels between the Russian Avant Garde and the two revolutions in 1915. The big difference between them in 2001, is that the art survives and grows stronger; while the other is seen for what it is, a pathetic pseudo despotism run, for a lot of years by a sociopathic mortophile.

Bibliography:

Russian Constructivism. Christina Lodder.1983. Yale University Press.

Art Spoke. Robert Atkins.1993. Abbeville Press.

Art and Revolution. John Berger. 1969. Pantheon Books

The Struggle for Utopia. Victor Margolin. 1997. University of Chicago Press.