Animation: A World History

12

Soviet Union I¹

Russia

Thaw

The period considered in this chapter encompasses almost the entire late Soviet era. Therefore, its characterization, in terms of sociopolitical development and cultural implications, is necessarily complex, split into several subperiods and different planes.

Politically, the beginning of 1960s was marked by the continuation of Nikita Khrushchev’s Thaw. It was inconsistent, but it let society open up to the world and its own troubled past. When Khrushchev was ousted by an inside-party coup and replaced by a ‘collective leadership’ headed by Leonid Brezhnev in October 1964, it was not immediately clear what reaction would follow. Thus, the mood of the Thaw lasted a few more years and its effects were tangible even ...