WHAT IS SOCIALIST REALISM? Either capitalism needs to be destroyed or our species will be destroyed. I am a supporter of communism as one of the strategies to dismantle capitalism. However, there are aspects of historical communism that I believe are worth studying and questioning. Repression of the arts is not an essential element of communism. Before the doctrine of "Socialist Realism" was imposed, Russia had a proud history of not only using the arts as a form of social critique, but also of producing many of the most renowned avant-garde artists in the world. After the 1917 revolution, the...