ABSTRACT
In June, 1917, Anatoly Vasilevich Lunacharsky published "The Cultural Tasks of the Working Class" in Novaia Zhizn'. In it Lunacharsky drew an extended analogy between the culture of the proletariat and the spirit of the Christian church. The Proletkult quickly spread into a nationwide organization, and its structure paralleled the institutions of the Commissariat of Enlightenment. The principal difference between the Proletkult and the Commissariat of Enlightenment was that the latter was an official state institution with a responsibility to educate all the citizens of the Soviet Union. The Proletarian Culture movement was the ultimate goal toward which A. Bogdanov's entire intellectual life had been directed. As he had made clear as early as 1911, he considered Proletarian Culture to be no mere aspect or sidelight of the proletarian revolution. In his own way Lunacharsky was able to adapt the Proletkult into the system of Soviet government as just one aspect of the struggle to build socialism.
