Socialist Realism, The Officially Approved Style of Realistic Art Developed in the Soviet Union GMAT Reading Comprehension

Reading Passage Question

Socialist realism, the officially approved style of realistic art developed in the Soviet Union during the 1930's, had a relatively simple political objective. As the primary instrument of state propaganda, it sought to promote the goals of socialism and communism through positive images of rapidly changing villages, grandiose public projects, and well-groomed wholesome youth. Form and content were strictly regulated by a vast army of cultural bureaucrats, whose only job was to ensure conformity to state doctrine. Accordingly, impressionism and abstraction were quickly abolished, replaced by ostensibly truthful representation of reality in its "revolutionary" development.

Ultimately, censorship was fated to collaborate in its own undoing. The state correctly perceived the interpretive potential of art to be inherently dangerous, but the effort to contain artistic ambiguity only amplified the disconnect between reality and fiction. As the Soviet Union's centrally planned economy led to increasingly inefficient resource distribution, the utopian vision of a "revolutionary" would become easy to mock. The art of socialist realism of most ordinary Russians, if only because irony and laughter (unlike bread and butter) were always abundant, and required no food stamps to procure.

‘Socialist realism, the officially approved style of realistic art developed in the Soviet Union’ is a GMAT reading comprehension passage with answers. Candidates need a strong knowledge of English GMAT reading comprehension.

This GMAT Reading Comprehension consists of 7 comprehension questions.

The GMAT Reading Comprehension questions are designed for the purpose of testing candidates’ abilities in understanding, analyzing, and applying information or concepts. Candidates can actively prepare with the help of GMAT Reading Comprehension Practice Questions.

Questions and Solutions

1. Which of the following most accurately states the main point of the passage?

(A) Socialist realism had, as its chief objective, the furtherance of socialist and communist ideology.
(B) Because of the censorship, socialist realism never fulfilled its artistic potential.
(C) The art of socialist realism was a welcome distraction from the bleak reality of ordinary Russians.
(D) Conformity to state doctrine led to an ostensibly truthful representation of reality in its revolutionary development.
(E) The proliferation of uniformly positive images of a fictional world impeded, rather than promoted, the political objectives of socialist realism.

2. The primary purpose of the passage as a whole is to

(A) reject an artistic style as a utopian vision.
(B) analyze the disconnect between reality and fiction in the Soviet Union.
(C) explain why an artistic style failed to conform a state doctrine
(D) examine the extent to which a style of art achieved its political objectives.
(E) describe an instrument of state propaganda.

Suggested GMAT Reading Comprehension Questions

• A Fundamental Principle of Pharmacology is that all Drugs GMAT Reading Comprehension
• Scepticism is as Much the Result of Knowledge, as Knowledge is of Scepticism GMAT Reading Comprehension
• On the surface, the Conquest of the Aztec Empire by Herman Cortes GMAT Reading Comprehension
• A One-Child Policy was Implemented in China in 1979 GMAT Reading Comprehension
• But Man is Not Destined to Vanish GMAT Reading Comprehension
• Coral Reefs Are One of the Most Fragile GMAT Reading Comprehension
• Although Numbers of Animals in a Given Region May Fluctuate GMAT Reading Comprehension
• Antonia Castañeda has Utilized Scholarship from Women's Studies and Mexican-American History to Examine Nineteenth-Century Literary Portrayals GMAT Reading Comprehension
• By 1950, The Results of Attempts to Relate Brain Processes GMAT Reading Comprehension
• In February 1848 the People of Paris Rose in Revolt GMAT Reading Comprehension
• Over the Last 150 Years, Large Stretches of Salmon Habitat GMAT Reading Comprehension
• The Brain Contributes to the Adaptive Success of Animals GMAT Reading Comprehension
• The Geology of the Grand Canyon Area Exposes GMAT Reading Comprehension
• The Pioneers of the Teaching of Science Imagined that its Introduction into Education GMAT Reading Comprehension
• The Single-Celled Parasite known as Toxoplasma Gondii Infects GMAT Reading Comprehension
• During the Victorian Period, Women Writers were Measured Against A Social GMAT Reading Comprehension
• In Current Historiography, the Picture of a Consistent, Unequivocal Decline in Women’s Status GMAT Reading Comprehension
• Resin is a Plant Secretion that Hardens when Exposed to Air GMAT Reading Comprehension
• Some Historians Contend that Conditions in the United States During the Second World War GMAT Reading Comprehension
• It Was Once Assumed that All Living Things Could be Divided GMAT Reading Comprehension