From the 1930s to the late 1980s, socialist realism functioned as the dominant and normative artistic-theoretical discourse and the principal guiding principle of literary and artistic creation in the Soviet Union. Socialist realist art was grounded in a communist system of values and was oriented toward the representation of revolutionary historical development, as well as toward the artistic interpretation of the processes of socialist revolution and socialist construction. Its historical mission consisted in artistic representation, activation, and transmission of socially significant actions, emotions, and events.

At the same time, socialist realism was not limited to a literal reproduction of social reality. It incorporated elements of revolutionary romanticism, while its visual forms and artistic language drew upon certain features of classicism and realism. The iconographic system and functions of socialist realist works were typified and ideologically calibrated.

A historical and theoretical analysis of the origins and evolution of Soviet socialist realism is of considerable importance for understanding the patterns of artistic development in the modern era, as well as for achieving a more objective assessment of its place within the system  of artistic practices ofthe twentieth century.