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The article reveals the tragic fate of the Russian artistic intelligentsia in the early years of Soviet power on the example of the massacre of the anthroposophical movement in Russia: the closure of the “Russian Anthroposophical Society” (1923), “The Case of 27 Anthroposophists” (1931), which concerned the writer Andrei Bely and his relatives who were the members of Lomonosov group. Anthroposophy had a large number of supporters who dreamed of a spiritual revolution and who did not accept the repressive methods of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Andrei Bely, according to the materials of the case, was recognized as the ideologue of the anti-Soviet anthroposophical group, which set as the ultimate goal of his activity the change of the existing system and the restoration of capitalism in the USSR. During the “thaw” period, anthroposophy is being revived thanks to individual enthusiasts, and a year before the collapse of the USSR in December 1990, the International Public Organization Anthroposophical Society in Russia (AOP) was registered in Moscow. The spiritual science of R. Steiner emerged from forced oblivion. Anthroposophy is associated with the flourishing of the Russian culture of the Silver Age. Its influence on the art and literature of this era has not yet been fully realized, and the catacomb Soviet period and revival in the 60s are just beginning to be studied.

Keywords:  Rudolf Steiner, Russian Anthroposophical Society, power and intelligentsia, Andrei Bely, case of anthroposophists

DOI: 10.22250/2072-8662.2020.2.23-28

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About the author 

Elena V. Shakhmatova – DSc (Philosophy), Associate Professor, Head of Scientific Department, Russian Institute of Theatre Arts – GITIS;
6 Maly Kislovsky Lane, Moscow, Russia, 1250009;
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