Revue (2008)

A small boy is asked to recite a poem. In a dramatic voice, he recites a poem with a metaphoric message pointing towards the rottenness of capitalism. More questions are fired at the boy. What profession would he like to have? Would he like to study? Then: do you like to work? The boy stares in front of himself with a blank face and says nothing.

This is one amazing scene in Revue (2008), a compilation of Soviet propaganda movies. Most of the movies celebrate labor & technology. There are images of factories and machines, agriculture and railways. Interwoven with these themes are different forms of art; dancing, singing, poetry. The intimate connection between labor & art in this compilation of archive footage made me think of one point that some philosophers have made and been criticized for making: the development of community can be seen as a form of artistic work. Labor takes on a double meaning. Labor is not only the crafting of products but it is also the process of developing community. When watching Revue, the double meaning of work is very obvious: the images of hard labor (preferably manufacturing steel) and sophisticated technological innovations are supposed to be seen as the development of society, of a new Man. Community is thus understood as a form of (self-)production. This idea may have something to do with the idea that work is not only a concrete activity but also work as civilizing and domesticizing the world.