Art, Politics and Society: Social Realism in Italian and Turkish Cinemas 9781463225667

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Art, Politics and Society

Analecta Isisiana: Ottoman and Turkish Studies

A co-publication with The Isis Press, Istanbul, the series consists of collections of thematic essays focused on specific themes of Ottoman and Turkish studies are brought together in Analecta Isisiana. These scholarly volumes address important issues throughout Turkish history, offering in a single volume the accumulated insights of a single author over a career of research on the subject.

Art, Politics and Society

Social Realism in Italian and Turkish Cinemas

Asli Daldal

The Isis Press, Istanbul

gOt^íaS pre** 2010

Gorgias Press LLC, 954 River Road, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA www.gorgiaspress.com Copyright © 2010 by The Isis Press, Istanbul Originally published in 2003 All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise without the prior written permission of The Isis Press, Istanbul. 2010

o

ISBN 978-1-61719-112-1

Printed in the United States of America

Born in 1970, in Ankara, Ash Daldal received her BA from Bogazi§i (Bosphorus) University, Department of Political Sciences in 1994. During her undergraduate years, she took an active part in international youth organizations and spent two summers in Tunis and Rotterdam. She also joined the photography and cinema clubs at Bogaziiji where she started to develop a serious interest in visual arts. While working as a teaching assistant at the University, she organized film screenings and discussion sessions for the Municipality of Istanbul at the Atatiirk library. She received her combined MA and Ph. Degrees from Bogazi§i University, Department of Political Science in 2002. Prior to the completion of her dissertation, she was awarded a research fellowship from the Turkish Academy of Social Sciences (TUBA) and spent a year at Duke University (Durham, NC), Department of Literature, as a visiting scholar. Subsequently, she worked as a French instructor at Bogazi§i, while also writing film columns for daily newspapers. Since graduation, she has focused on film criticism, history, and sociology of cinema and published articles in academic journals. She has also taught at various universities in Istanbul including Ko§, Galatasaray and Istanbul Technical University.

To Sabriye Alogan and Fuat Evren

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book is based on a revised dissertation, completed at Bogazi§i University, Department of Political Science in 2002. I would, hence, like to thank my advisors Ilkay Sunar and the late Cem Taylan for their guidance in setting up the general framework of this study. Likewise, I am indebted to the Turkish Academy of Social Sciences (TUBA) for their financial assistance that made it possible for me to spend the academic year of 1998-99 at Duke University, Department of Literature. I would especially like to express my sincere gratitude to Fredric Jameson, the Chair of the Literature Department at Duke, who invited me as a visiting scholar and gave generously of his time. More than a dry dissertation, this study has principally been a work of genuine interest for me, done with enthousiasm. Apart from the academic assistance I received from various institutions, I would especially like to acknowledge the following for their contributions and support: Giovanni Scognamillo, Vedat Tiirkali, Sinan Kuneralp, Naci Gii§han, Ctineyd Okay, Ahmet Siiner, and the writers of GorUntU. Last but not least, I should also thank the young "philosophers" I've met in and around orta kantin at Bogazi^i University... This work is dedicated to my husband Fuat whose support has been beyond words and to the memory of my grandmother Sabriye Alogan who did not live to see it published. Stills are courtesy of Giovanni Scognamillo, the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts' Film Stills Archives and the Italian Cultural Center of Istanbul.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

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CHAPTER I: SOCIETY AND ART

15

1.

THE PRE-EMINENCE OF "BEAUTY" AND "FORM"

Kantian Aesthetics Formalists and the "Significant Form" AFAS: Political and Psycho-Social Explanations 2.

SOCIAL THEORIES OF ART

Mimesis: The Imitation of Reality Marxist Aesthetics Towards a Synthesis: Bourdieu and Kavolis 3.

REALISM

Positivist Theory and Realism Realist Theory and Realism Conventionalist Theory and Realism 4.

REALISM AND FILM

Formal Features of Realism: Bazin and Kracauer 5.

A SUMMARY OF THEORETICAL STANDPOINTS

17

17 18 20 23

23 25 40 43

46 48 51 54

57 61

CHAPTER II: NEO-REALISM AND THE POST-WAR ITALIAN SOCIETY

67

1.

NEO-REALÎSM: A STYLE OF EQUILIBRIUM

67

2.

THE BIRTH OF NEO-REALISM: CULTURAL PRECURSORS AND INDUSTRIAL ASPECTS

The School of Naples Blasetti, Camerini and The Calligraphers Foreign Inspirations The Industrial Basis The Legacy of Fascism Cinema and Ossessione 3.

ELITE COALESCENCE AND SOCIAL PROGRESSIVISM IN POST-FASCIST ITALIAN POLITICS

The Resistance: 1943-45 Reconstruction Years: National Solidarity and The CatholicCommunist Alliance, 1945-47 Culture and Politics: PCI's Interpretation of Gramsci

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73 74 75 77 79 83

87

87 91 99

10 4.

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MAJOR NEO-REALIST FILMS AND DIRECTORS

103

The War and Resistance: Rossellini and Vergano Agricultural Problems: Visconti and De Santis Urban Problems: De Sica's City Dwellers 5.

105 Ill 116

THE END OF NEO-REALISM: DEMISE OF SOCIO-POLITICAL SOLIDARITY

CHAPTER III: TURKISH SOCIAL POLITICS OF REFORMATION

REALISM

AND

125

THE 139

1.

SOCIAL REALISM: A SEARCH FOR IDENTITY

140

2.

TOWARDS A NEW CONCEPT OF TURKISH CINEMA

146

3.

1 9 6 0 COUP D ' E T A T AND THE PROGRESSIVE NEW MIDDLE CLASS

The Coup New Middle Class in Turkey The Constitution of 1961 4.

MAJOR SOCIAL REALIST FILMS AND DIRECTORS

Metin Erksan: Between Metaphysics, Modernity and Socialism Halit Refig: Cultural Modernism and Yon Ertem Goreg and Duygu Sagiroglu 5.

RESURGENCE OF D P SPIRIT: INTELLECTUAL FRUSTRATION AND T H E NATIONAL CINEMA MOVEMENT

1965 Elections: End of Bourgeois Progressivism The National Cinema Movement

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154 158 172 176

177 184 189

194

194 197

CONCLUSION

211

APPENDIX SHORT BIOGRAPHIES OF MAJOR TURKISH SOCIAL REALIST FILMMAKERS

216

BIBLIOGRAPHY

223

216

INTRODUCTION

The interaction between "art" and "society" has always been a fruitful source of inquiry for scholars and critics. It is a complex and multidimensional subject requiring an interdisciplinary approach in the context of cultural studies, literary theory, sociology and political science. The relationships between "art" and "society" can be multiple and the word "society" can encompass an infinite number of cultural, political and economic elements... It is possible to talk about the direct influence of socio-political powers on art such as "censure" or "manipulation for propaganda purposes" as well as the more subtle sociological and political determinants on art coming from this general rubrique of "society". This work will be primarily concerned with those "subtle sociological and political determinants" which create the favorable conditions for "Social Realism" (and not socialist realism) as a "film wave" to emerge in particular societies. As for the present study, postwar Italian society in the context of "neo-realism" in cinema (1945-52) and Turkey's "social realist" movement (1960-65) in the aftermath of the Coup will be considered as major examples. It is crucial to underline that I will not necessarily analyse art works (or films in particular) with a "political theme" but art works born in a particular political and social context that exhibit certain similarities. In other words, the aim here will be to deal with film movements as cultural components of the "superstructure" and analyse the socio-political changes within the "deeper layers" of social structures that are likely to shape the scope and ideology of the film waves. To reveal the relationship between certain art styles (film styles) and particular historical contexts will be the main focus of this work. The argument constituting the basic frame of analysis in this study will be based on Georg Lukacs' dictum that "classical realism" (which is almost identical, in Lukacs' definition, with "critical realism" or "social realism") as a style, occurs in social contexts where class contradictions reach a balance and the ruling stratum (i.e. the bourgeoisie) assumes a "progressive role" vis-a-vis the lower segments of society. For various related reasons, that will be analysed in detail, especially, in the first Chapter of this book, this "progressive" social context prepares the necessary conditions for a realist style to emerge, creating a mutual bond of sympathy between the artist and the society, and a wish, on the part of the ruling elites, to discover the pressing problems of the society in order to solve them. Nevertheless, it is definitely not the purpose of this study to reproduce the old dichotomy of "base vs superstructure". Although "Marxist aesthetics" will be an important source of reference in dealing with this particular field of

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study known as the "sociology of art", I acknowledge from the onset that art is polysémie and has a relative autonomy vis-à-vis the forces of production. In order, then, to avoid the crude "materialistic" and often "reductionist" tendencies in the treatment of "sociology of art", especially, within certain Marxist schools of thought, Pierre Bourdieu's concepts of "habitus" and the "internal logic of the artistic field" as well as Vytautas Kavolis' Weberian analysis of "revitalization" and "reconstruction" periods will be added to the "classical Marxist aesthetics" with a view both to criticize and enrich the latter. The present study is divided into three main chapters; each divided in itself into various sections and subsections. The first two sections of the First Chapter (Society and Art) deal with general theories on the "sociology of art". The first section focuses on Kant and neo-formalist theories that completely deny the existence of a linkage between social infrastructure and the artistic production. The aim of introducing Kant is to present "the opposite side" of vulgar sociologism in order to reach a more comprehensive theory, a "dialogue" between Marx and Kant. Kant is also useful in understanding the aesthetics of the "art for art's sake" movement, together with Abell and Freud whose insights shed light on the social and psychological motives behind the artists' obstinent refusal of any social commitment. The second section presents the social theories of art from Aristotle's "mimesis" to classical Marxist literature. Then, a throughout analysis of "Marxist aesthetics" is presented with a special emphasis on the work of Georg Lukacs. Having presented the conception of realism in the "Aristotelian-Marxist tradition of mimesis", I focus on the weaknesses of Marxist aesthetics and criticize the latter's exclusive devotion to literature and overall essentialism concerning the relations of causality, and the subordinate position of the artist. The second section is completed with an attempt to come up with a novel theory synthesizing Kant and Marx with the inclusion of Pierre Bourdieu's notion of "the field of cultural production" whereby he emphasizes that an aesthetic "genre" has a peculiar aesthetic history. The third section of the First Chapter introduces various conceptions of "realism" in art to specify my particular understanding of realism when I talk about "the social realist" movement in cinema. The last section particularly deals with "film", and attempts to connect the previously discussed theoretical frameworks to the study of cinema (Huaco's four criteria). The First Chapter terminates with the summary of major theoretical standpoints. The Second Chapter (Neo-Realism and The Post-War Italian Society) commences with a section on the aesthetics of neo-realism giving details as to the major representatives and characteristics of the movement. This section also focuses on the different approaches to neo-realism by Catholic as well as Marxist inspired writers and critics, whose seemingly opposite perspectives ultimately converge around the notion of "revolutionary humanism". The second section deals with the "independent" dimensions of neo-realism; its

INTRODUCTION

13

relatively autonomous aesthetic development based on historical traditions. In other words, the major cornerstones in the history of Italian cinema that made the birth of such an artistic movement possible (i.e. The School of Naples, The Calligraphers, The Industrial Basis...) are briefly analysed to emphasize Bourdieu's conception of "the internal logic of the field of cultural production." The third section attempts to shed light on the particular nature of elite coalescence in the period that followed the fall of Fascism. Following the Lukacsian idea of "balance of class contradictions within a progressive bourgeois rule", I consider how the Catholic-Communist Alliance that fought against the Germans provided a permissive political climate of national solidarity for the neo-realist aesthetics. The Italian Communist Party's privileged position within the Italian society and its cultural policies based on Gramsci (that were openly tolerated by members of the liberal-religious coalition until the end of the "reconstruction years" and the US financial intervention) are also part of the analytical scheme of the third section of the Second Chapter. The fourth section is based on the analysis of major neorealist films and directors. Divided into three subsections on "war and resistance", "agricultural problems" and "urban stories", this part treats in detail the neo-realist masterpieces of Rossellini, Vergano, Visconti, De Santis and De Sica. The Second Chapter is completed by a section centering on the socio-political reasons that accounted for the demise of neo-realist aesthetics following the Christian Democrat ascendancy and the US' ideological penetration in Italy around the late 1940s. The Last Chapter (The Turkish Social Realism and The Politics of Reformation) focuses on the Turkish version of "neo-realism" known as the "social realist" movement that emerged following the "progressive" 1960 coup d'etat. As the first section indicates, although a failed and later completely abandoned experience, social realism in film within the progressive middleclass rule of 1960-65 reflected a search for national identity. It mirrored the current social order in a critical and revolutionary perspective, and tried to create an original and mature film language. The second section deals with the "internal logic of the Turkish film industry" that made up the historical background of the social realist movement, in relative independence from the socio-political context. The courageous attempts of the "second generation" filmmakers such as Akad, Batibeki, Un, Seden to establish a mature film language whereby the Turkish cinema learned "how to speak" are also considered in detail in this section. The socio-political context in the aftermath of the Coup, and the particular nature of the Turkish progressive urban bourgeoisie (the new middle class) constitute the center of analysis for the third section. Different socio-political approaches that relate the Coup to a "progress" within the capitalist mode of production (from the pre-capitalist populism of the Democrat Party era to the industrial policies of the manufacturing bourgeoisie), or to a genuine attempt on the part of the intelligentsia and the military, together with the "national bourgeoisie", to

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create a Turkish type of "socialism", are discussed in the third section. Like the Chapter on Italian Neo-realism, the fourth section of the Third Chapter focuses on major directors and films of the social realist movement born within the previously analysed progressive socio-political context. Thus the "core" examples of the movement from Erksan, Refig, Gore9 and Sagiroglu are examined in connection with the filmmakers' social and political positionings (i.e. Refig as the son of a wealthy bourgeois family under the heavy impact of Yon movement...). The last section analyses how the Justice Party's coming to power in 1965 put an end to the urban new middle class coalition which, in turn, signalled the end of the social realist movement. The ensuing theoretical debates on "popular" and "national" cinemas aimed at justifying the sudden alienation of the directors from the aesthetics and politics of social realism, in constant fear of unemployment and political persecution, are also briefly discussed in the last section of the Third Chapter. As a conclusion I try to compare and contrast the Italian and the Turkish cases within the socio-political and cultural theoretical schemes I developed earlier to discuss the validity of our initial hypothesis, and formulate a novel perspective on how to integrate the analysis of film and society to the broader field of "cultural studies".

SOCIETY AND ART

The major theoretical perspectives examining the sources and motivations for artistic creation can roughly be divided into two general categories: Firstly, there are the so-called "formalist theories of art" giving utmost importance to the formal features of the work of art and equating artistic creativity with almost the metaphysical, abstract, unreachable spheres of religion. Secondly, there are the "utilitarian" or "materialistic" theories of art, seeing art as either part of the superstructure formed by the material base of the society, or endowing it with some sort of noble mission or duty. It is equally important however to emphasize that aesthetics are not limited to the sphere of the artist. As Morris Weitz says: We can also recognize that many of the terms that refer to prevalent aesthetic views, like voluntarism, intellectualism, formalism, or hedonism are treacherous and are to be employed with extreme care, since some of these terms refer to theories concerning the art object whereas others apply to theories of the creation of art or the appreciation of art. '

Suzanne Langer also talks about our intellectual confusion concerning aesthetic theory when she observes that : The general disorder of our intellectual stock in trade in the realm of aesthetics is further aggravated by the fact that there are two opposite perspectives from which every work of art may be viewed: that of its author and that of its spectators.^

Langer names the artist side from which the work of art can be viewed, as the "expression", and the public side as the "impression". This work primarily deals with the expressive side of aesthetics, that is, with theories focusing on the artistic creativity and the work of art. The audience response or the effect of the work of art upon the public is of secondary importance here, as it does not directly effect the birth of an art wave (though it can have more say on the disappearance of the wave). The subsequent philosophical schools of art that will be in question, will all be based on the expressive side of the artistic activity.

1

Morris Weitz, Philosophy of the Arts (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1950) p. 2. ^ Suzanne Langer, Feeling and Form (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1953) p. 13.

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There are two general philosophical stances in aesthetics: The imitation of reality stemming from the Aristotelian school of mimesis and the dominance of the beautiful related to the Kantian notion of sublime. They also form the basis of the famous form vs content dichotomy. Art historian Stefan Morawski defines them as follows: ... The aesthetic doctrine is based on these two principles: a) There exists a definite hierarchy of values, and within the fixed ordering of the world the artist is obliged to find the means (which will be sensuous and imaginative) to express in his own way the verity which is established; in this manner he confirms and honours his own place in this order — that of Beauty. b) Genuine art is ultimately based on mimesis. That premise accepted, the kinds of representation may diverge; for every artist will ultimately convey an attitude towards the psycho-social phenomena, in rendering these accessible to the art recipient; thus in sum, each artist in his own way will condense and intensify our way of being in the world. 1

There is of course a third "modernist" perspective that rejects both aesthetic notions replacing the "real" with the "abstract", and the "beautiful" with the "ugly". Dadaism, Surrealism, Cubism or Naturalism are all linked to this protest against such aesthetic principles as the imitation of reality and the dominance of the beautiful. There are sociological theories formulated upon these aesthetic notions (the beautiful, the real, the abstract) to understand the rise and demise of various artistic trends (i.e. the socio-political explanations for the rise of German Expressionism or Italian Neo-realism). Thus "the dominance of the beautiful" is analyzed within the theory of art for art's sake especially in the 19 th century France, "the imitation of reality" is theorized under various Marxist schools and some European Catholic-humanist schools of criticism, and the protests against them are accounted under the general category of modernism2. In the remainder of this chapter I will firstly try to analyse the basic aesthetic notions (the beautiful and the real) and then the socio-political theories elaborated to explain their emergence as distinct artistic waves.

1 Stefan Morawski, "What is a Work of Art?" in Lee Baxandall (ed.) Radical Perspectives in the Arts (Penguin Books, 1972) p. 332. 2 Given the historical scope of this work, the so-called "postmodern" theories of art are not necessarily of concern to us.

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1. THE PRE-EMINENCE OF "BEAUTY" AND "FORM" KANTIAN AESTHETICS

The father of all theories championing the formal features of art works and thus rejecting any effort to approach art to political and social structures is Immanuel Kant. For Kant, it is necessary to believe in the transcendence of certain categories among which aesthetics is of primary importance. The source of art is the instinct of beauty in each man, his feelings, intuitions, and the sublime. Kant says that, "reason itself must be the instrument with which to demonstrate the limits beyond which reason must not attempt to go." 1 The aesthetic feeling is not governed by logic but by the feeling of the "beautiful". Beauty is "unity in variety". "It is an order and a harmonious arrangements of parts in things which exhibit a pleasing multiplicity." 2 For Kant beauty is objective. What is subjective is the taste and it varies from individual to individual. This position of the "objectivity of the beautiful" is later taken up by the formalists and is used to show that there is an objectivity of feeling pertaining to the realm of "pure arts". In that way "pure art" can no longer be refuted on the grounds that the feeling of beauty is subjective. The other important category for Kant is the "sublime" which signifies the "dignity", "soberness" of persons and things. Kant says that, "the sublime and the beautiful differ essentially in that sublime arouses awe and admiration, whereas the beautiful arouses joy." 3 The feeling of the sublime is this extreme emotional feeling of nobleness and ecstasy that one has when confronted with a genuine object of art. The feelings of the "sublime" and the "beautiful" are both key concepts in the appreciation of an art work. An other equally important notion in Kantian aesthetics is "disinterestedness". According to Kant, the artist should be completely free of all considerations of material gain or social message in his artistic activity. Aesthetic pleasure is also disinterested. As the complete opposite of the utilitarian conceptions of art, Kantian aesthetics show that "we should confront an object or an experience for itself and feel that it is justified in itself. " 4 We should be able to take a distance from the object of art and contemplate it. We should not get lost in it or think about its meaning. Aesthetic pleasure is just an "objective feeling", created by the transcendence of the "sublime" and the "beautiful" and not a calculated and purposeful social action:

1 Immanuel Kant, Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and the Sublime, translated by John T. Goldthwait (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1960) p. 4. 2 Ibid. p. 2. 3 Ibid. p. 18. 4 J. Dudley Andrew, The Major Film Theories (London: Oxford University Press, 1976) p. 22.

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...Kant says that the mind is "disinterested", that is, not intent on turning things to use, while the object is isolated, held out against all other objects in the world. We don't look at it to see how it can aid us, nor to find out its place in the larger scheme of things. During the aesthetic experience, that object becomes for us the whole context, an end in itself, a terminal value}

FORMALISTS AND THE "SIGNIFICANT FORM" Kant's theory inspired all other aesthetic schools more or less concerned with the autonomy of art. Those who favoured "art for art's sake" had Kant in the background of their assumptions, like famous art historian Lionello Venturi: Artistic expression is not of concepts, since the formulation of concepts is the work of logic, but of sentiments — practical feeling, desire and will. Outside artistic activity beauty does not exist, because nothing exists outside spiritual activity. What is called beauty, when it is not an object of the senses, is only the perfection of art.2 Like Kant, Venturi also adopts the view that the artist is a man of genius; he is unique in this world and his talent is a divine gift. Almost akin to God, the artist is a little deity of its own, endowed with a unique power of creation: "There exist the individuality of the artist and the universal idea of art: between the individual and the universal there are no intermediate verities." 3 The formalist school of art, developed during the last hundred years, holds, in a very Kantian spirit that an art work can only be understood by its formal elements. Mostly theorized by the British critics, Clive Bell and Roger Fry, this neo-Kantian school rejects all attempts to approach art to the material world. Bell maintains that art takes us to a Platonic realm of non ordinary experiences: Art transports us from the world of man's activity to a world of aesthetic exaltation. For a moment we are shut off from human interests; our anticipations and memories are arrested; we are lifted above the stream of human life.^ The Kantian idea of "transcendence" is apparent here. There is no mention of mimesis or representation. Art is above all wordly considerations, and the true artist would certainly not bother to reflect anything belonging to 1

Ibid. p. 23. Lionello Venturi, History of Art Criticism (New-York: E. P. Dutton Company, Inc., 1936) p. 301. 3 Ibid. p. 302. 4 Morris Weitz, Philosophy of the Arts, p. 5. 2

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this inferior world of ordinary existence. Bell and Fry are totally against representative art (that is art aiming at representing, describing something) and Bell goes on to say that, "representation is never beneficial. It is either harmless or downright harmful. It is harmful when it diverts our attention from the lines and colors to the association of the representational element... If a representative form has value, it is as form, not as representation." 1 Like the famous Russian writer Tolstoy, Bell and Fry also regard art as the starting point for an expression of an emotional experience. This aesthetic emotion is stirred up by the essential, distinguishing feature of art: The "Significant Form." According to Suzanne Langer, in the same neo-Kantian aesthetic tradition, "art is the creation of forms symbolic of human feeling." 2 But these "Significant Forms" are not random, haphazard shapes of images and colours. These are specific forms that create the "objective feeling", the feeling of the beautiful and the sublime. Langer is apparently against the theory of imitation and speculates that this theory belongs to the "naive" stage of art history. Langer is surprised to see that "after art theory had passed the naive stage, and every serious thinker realized that imitation was neither the aim nor the measure of artistic creation, the traffic of figural content still kept its central place among philosophical problems of art." 3 The "Significant Form" is not a symbol of some sort. It is felt rather than recognized: In each lines and colours combined in a particular way, certain forms and relations of f o r m s stir our aesthetic emotions. T h e s e relations and combinations, these aesthetically moving forms, I call "Significant Form"; and it is the only quality common to all works of visual art.

Langer specifies the "Significant Form" to the domain of visual arts. I will return later to the question of the relevance of Kantian aesthetics to the realm of literature. Suffice here to say that obviously the theory of "pure art", the "contemplative attitude" and the total rejection of representation concern mostly the so-called "fine arts." But this does not mean that men of letters have never favoured "art for art's sake", that is the total detachment of the artist from the society. As will be examined below, the theory of "art for art's sake" found many advocates in the 19 th century France, among whom there were poets and writers as well as painters. They withdrew themselves and their arts from the chaos of society in a period of political turmoil, and this withdrawal was explained in different ways by sociologists and psychologists from various schools of thought.

1

7 3 4

Ibid. p. 4. Suzanne Langer, Feeling and Form, p. 40. Ibid. p. 46. Ibid. p. 33.

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AFAS: POLITICAL AND PSYCHO-SOCIAL EXPLANATIONS

Theoretically, the position of "art for art's sake" ( a f a s ) is closer to Kantian aesthetics and as a general category it is defined as follows: ... The structure in l'art pour l'art is pure form that is, it remains disinterested and disengaged vis-à-vis real things and the problems of life, and as a result of its indifference to every form of practice cannot be brought into a positive relationship with it.'

While the advocates of afas defended the total autonomy of art, many scholars analyzed the reasons for their obstinate refusal of all social commitment, and speculated that this indifference was in fact related to a much deeper personal alienation related to existing political and social tensions. Freud, in one of his articles, saw art, as in neurosis, a failure to fit in with reality. According to Freud, the artist leads an existence which is just as alienated from reality as that of the neurotic in his separate world of sickness. Freud spoke in both cases of a loss of reality, with the difference that the neurotic does not deny reality but merely forgets it; the artist on the other hand denies it and replaces it with a world of fiction. Thus he is closer to psychosis than neurosis. Freud, however, states that in contrast to the neurotic and the psychotic, the artist can always start "back to nature". 2 Walter Abell, in his psycho-social materialist synthesis tries to account for the birth of various artistic waves from a materialist as well as psychologist viewpoint. He talks about the "manifest imagery" of a society which is directly translated into the realm of culture. This manifest imagery reflects the personal dispositions of the artist as well as the "outgrowths of psycho-social historical forces" in a particular historical epoch. In that sense, Abell comes up with various historico-psychological explanations for the emergence of abstract art and its antithesis, the main subject of this study, realism. Says Abell: An abstract style, like negative mythical imagery, is a manifestation of negative tensions and of untoward historical circumstances; it suggests also that a trend toward realism reflects increasingly positive psychological adjustments resulting from increasingly favorable historical circumstances.-'

' Arnold Hauser, The Sociology of Art (The University of Chicago Press, 1982) p. 416. 2

Sigmund Freud, 'The Future of an Illusion", Civilization, Society and Religion (Harmondsworth, 1985). ^ Walter Abell, The Collective Dream in Art (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1957) p. 234.

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Abell bases his deductions on Freud and mostly on Jung. When afas becomes the dominant mode of artistic production, in Jung terms, "society returns to the mother". Abell observes that in times of social stress, examples of social art were produced. As psychology tells us that subjects have a mental tendency to withdraw from painful associations, the psychic motive behind the abstract art is also the same tendency of withdrawal from the painful collective experience. 1 The reality is denied, because it is too painful and unacceptable for the artist to face it directly. Afas has been one of the dominant modes of artistic production in post 1848 France. In fact, the term l'art pour l'art was first created and elaborated during this period. In this extremely politicized and polarized society, how was an aesthetic trend which denied all kinds of social commitment possible? In post 1840 France, after the coup d'état, with the increasing importance of money in the society, and the gradual loss of the independence of the press, a third group of people, other than the representatives of the bourgeois and the realist art, emerged. Gathering around La Revue de Paris, artists like Baudelaire, the Goncourts, Gautier were the representatives of "the modern writer or artist, a full-time professional, dedicated to one's work in a total and exclusive manner, indifferent to the exigencies of politics and to the injunctions of morality, and not recognizing any jurisdiction other than the norms specific to one's art." 2 . According to Pierre Bourdieu, the painful political experience of this generation who saw the failure of 1848 and the long desolation of the Second Empire, played a major role in this alienated view of the political and social world. With the rise of a regressive bourgeoisie, the French society lost its humanitarian and socialist outlook. Corruption made itself felt at all levels of society especially in journalism. Letters from Flaubert and Baudelaire exemplify this situation: Everything was false", says Flaubert in a letter to Maxime Du Camp dated 28 September 1871: a false army, false politics, false literature, false credit and even false courtesans...And this falseness was applied especially in the manner of judging. They asked art to be moral, philosophy to be clear, vice to be decent, and science to be within the range of the people". And says Baudelaire: "The 2 December has physically apoliticized me. There are no more great ideas, the Empire idealized tastes and hated to see things as they are.-'

It is clear that the afas artist constituted himself by the opposition to a bourgeois world which had never so strongly imposed its values on the society. Thus instead of becoming a part of a decadent society and its culture, the artist (as in Jung's words) preferred to "return to the mother", seeking the beauty and the authentic values he needs for his art, in himself, within the confines of his art.

1 2 3

Ibid. Pierre Bourdieu, The Rules of Art (Stanford Univ. Press, 1995) p. 76. Ibid. p. 59.

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An important Marxist art historian, G. V. Plekhanov, interprets the situation of afas after 1848 in a somewhat more cynical manner. Plekhanov does not necessarily see the situation of the supporters of afas as an "ethical rupture". According to Plekhanov, these people are not only the inevitable victims of a bourgeois decay but also the very bearers of this individualism caused and propagated by the bourgeois order itself. Although Plekhanov admits that the tendency towards afas arises and develops when there is an insoluble contradiction between the artist and his social milieu, he nevertheless points to the fact that these artists were no revolutionaries: ...While revolting against the morality of the society in which they lived, the romanticists and the parnassians were not basically hostile to the social relations which gave rise to this morality. On the contrary, while they despised the "bourgeois", they valued the bourgeois order at first instinctively, later consciously. The stronger the movement for liberation in modern Europe, the stronger the attachment to that bourgeois order on the part of the French supporters of art for art's sake. And the more conscious this attachment became, the more difficult did they find it to remain indifferent to the ideological content of their works.'

Plekhanov thus maintains that, although at first, these artists were alienated from their society because of the corrupt bourgeois order, they also reproduced in their turn this bourgeois social system by insisting on individualism and remaining totally indifferent to wars of liberation. This individualism brought by afas later showed itself in movements like impressionism or cubism, which were considered by Plekhanov, as the art of a decadent era par excellence (following the Marxist dictum that the art of a decadent epoch must be decadent). Thus, Plekhanov defines these arts as the theoretical basis of an egoistic rule of conduct where "each man loves himself like God." 2 Plekhanov's extreme materialism is of course objectable. In his critique of Plekhanov, John Berger points to the fact that reality is much more complex than any single view of appearances. In defense of Impressionism, Berger says that it brought with it the concept of "vision" and thus the dialectic between the object and the subject. No work of art can do justice to the entirety of reality. Berger stresses that reality is based on conventions which are bound by the interests of a particular social group or class that created it. 3 As I will later show, this "monolithic conception of the real" is the general weakness of the orthodox Marxist thinking. Nevertheless Plekhanov's insights are very forceful and the following quote from Art and Society tells us, in a very clear manner, the impossibility of a totally autonomous art: 1

George V. Plekhanov, Art and Society (New-York: Oriole Editions, 1974) p. 36 Ibid. p. 29. 3 John Berger, "Problems of Socialist Art" in Lee Baxandall (ed.) Radical Perspectives in the Arts (Penguin Books, 1972). 2

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Pure art has never existed. The esthetic ideals of a given period, in a given society are rooted partly in biological conditions and racial peculiarities, and partly in historical conditions which underlie the rise and existence of this society or class, and for this reason esthetic ideals are very rich in specific content, which is never absolutely unconditional. He who devotes himself to pure art does not therefore become independent of the biological, historical and social conditions that determine his esthetic tastes, he simply shuts his eyes more or less consciously to those conditions.'

2. SOCIAL THEORIES OF ART MIMESIS-. THE IMITATION OF REALITY

At the core of all theories of art taking the socio-political determinants as their "raison d'etre", lies the concept of mimesis, the diametrical opposite of afas. The tradition of mimesis approaches art to science as they are both concerned with the imitation or reproduction of reality. As Hauser puts, " it is a law that — however stylized, fantastic or absurd the structure may be as a whole — the elements from which a work of art is put together derive from the world of experience and not from a supersensual, supernatural world of ideas."2 The concept of mimesis was first used by Aristotle in his Poetics. By mimesis, Aristotle meant the "imitation" as well as the "representation" of reality. This imitation of reality was to be present in all the arts in different forms, but the highest point of imitation was reached in "tragedy". The new narrative structure in tragedy, in contrast to Homeric epic, was very crucial for Aristotle as it could create a catharsis in the audience. A perfect tragedy could imitate actions that arouse pity and fear in the audience and this arousal would purify the soul of the audience through catharsis. Catharsis, which is still debated today, was not only pleasurable but also necessary for Aristotle who was more concerned with the educative role of art. It was therapeutic, in the sense that, it could drive away the anti-social and destructive impulses of the audience through identification with the main characters of the play. The understanding of the "real" was interesting in Aristotle. Art should reflect reality, but this reality did not have to be the existing reality; art could teach us a possible and better reality. Says Aristotle, "The duty of the artist is not to tell what is really happening, but on the contrary to tell us the thing that is likely to happen, the possible in terms of the laws of probability." 3 In fact, for Aristotle, poetry was more philosophical than history. While the latter could only tell the factual and the singular, the former could tell the * G.V. Plekhanov, Art and Society, p. 29. Arnold Hauser, The Sociology of Art, p. 6. 3 Aristoteles, Poetika (Ankara: Remzi Kitabevi, 1995) p. 30. 2

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general. This conception of the real as the probable, rather than the actual, was taken up many times by western artists and critics, more or less affiliated with humanism and socialism. The concept of the "totality of life" (totality of reality) in which art reflected both the potential and the existing conditions of life in "meaningful imagination", and thus, did not limit itself to the sordid details of everyday existence, was the key concept of traditional humanist Marxist school. Gyorgy Lukacs made the totality of the "actual" and the "potential" the cornerstone of his aesthetics. This recurrent notion of "totality" is related to Aristotelian conception of man as zoon politikon which is also the ontological basis of traditional Marxism: Man is zoon politikon, a social animal. The Aristotelian dictum is applicable to all great realistic literature. Achilles and Werther, Oedipus and Tom Jones, Antigone and Anna Karenina: their individual existence — their Sein an sich, in the Hegelian terminology; their 'ontological being' as a more fashionable terminology has it — can not be distinguished from their social and historical environment. Their human significance, their specific individuality cannot be separated from the context in which they were created. *

The totality of the "real" is thus related to the dialectics between man's solitary life and the political and social life he is a part of ; this is the totality of the "inner" and "outer" worlds. The concepts of mimesis and representation have also a normative aspect that totally lacks in afas. They are concerned with "embetterment", the positive alteration of life. As Van Gogh said, without the feeling that the world is an " unfinished sketch", there would be no arts at all. In the mimetic approach, art is by no means the product of a purely contemplative attitude. Art has a social use. The so-called utilitarian conception of art is based on this perspective of art as having a social use value. As Hauser observes: ... Paleolithic man depicted animals in order to hunt, capture or kill them. In the same way children's drawings do not present a disinterested view of reality; they too pursue a sort of magic purpose, express love and hatred, and serve as a way of gaining power over the person depicted...No matter what the reason art remains realistic and activist, and it is only in exceptional cases that it expresses a disinterested or neutral attitude toward questions of practice. 2

The imitation of reality and all that come with it, is posited by Aristotle as a natural instinct. Some humanist Marxist writers also followed Aristotle and made the mimetic aspect of art an essential category in man's species being. The interaction between man and the material world that 1 Georg Lukacs, "The Ideology of Modernism" in Terry Eagleton (ed.) Marxist Theory (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Inc., 1996) p. 143. 2 Arnold Hauser, The Sociology of Art, p. 11.

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surrounds him was maintained through art and that was the major link between man and the nature. The famous British designer William Morris replaced the Marxian "homo faber" with "creating man". For Morris, the nonalienated labor was only possible in artistic creation and that was the means for the self-realization and happiness of man. Aesthetic creativity was the basis which turned labor into man's affirmation of species being. Says Morris: In the times when art was abundant and healthy, all men were more or less artists; that is to say, the instinct for beauty which is inborn in every complete man had such force that the whole body of craftsmen habitually and without conscious effort made beautiful things, and the audience for the authors of the intellectual art was nothing short of the whole people. 1

For Morris, art was man's expression of joy in his labor. Art meant variety, self-respect, hope of creation; three elements that we need to have a healthy life. Labor through which man realizes himself was complete with aesthetic pleasure; or in other words, what was pleasurable in labor was this aesthetic, creative aspect. What made the carpenter feel fulfilled when he saw the chair he produced was the realization of this inborn artistic instinct. A quick refreshing of memory on the premises of Kantian aesthetics and how they assigned a somewhat divine power to artistic creativity would easily show the incredible gap between these two conceptions of art. This notion of artistic creativity, brought forth by Morris, considered all craftsmanships as works of art, and in that sense it could drive any advocate of afas insane. It was, of course, an Utopian perspective and although many Marxists, working on theories of alienation (mostly Herbert Marcuse and other members of the Frankfurt School) considered art as the only possible salvation of man, the traditional Marxist aesthetic school followed the classical Aristotelian path and combined the theory of mimesis with the Marxian analysis of modern society.

MARXIST AESTHETICS

•

General Marxist Theories of Art

It is well known that neither Marx nor Engels have ever developed a full theory of art. Nevertheless Marxist art historians and critics formulated a very well established art theory based on basic Marxian premises. This ensemble of theories known as the Marxist aesthetics constitute the most intensive effort to relate art to its social roots. Fundamentally, they say that 1

William Morris, "Art, Labor and Socialism" in Maynard Solomon (ed.) Marxism and Art (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1979) p. 87.

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art is part of the superstructure which, in the last instance, depends upon the material infrastructure of a society at a given historical period. It also expresses the general interests of the ruling class in the form of ideology. Art, like religion or culture, is determined by the mode of production. In this cycle, the persona of the artist matters only in terms of his class affiliations: ... The most important implication of the doctrine is that artistic creations and stylistic movements are not determined by subjective impulses, supertemporal values, or preconceived ideas and cannot be explained as the result of processes inherent in a sphere or form and which are accomplished by quasi-logical processes. *

As noted earlier, the aesthetic doctrine at the basis of Marxist conception of art is "mimesis". In that sense, Marxist aesthetics retheorize a rather well established and classical principle to formulate a new revolutionary notion of art. In other words, at the roots of Marxist sociology of art lies a very old formula. It is not very common to approach Marx to Aristotle -except may be for the ontological premise of zoon politikon. Aristotle is considered as the father of democratic and liberal theory while Plato is generally seen as the founder of an initial conception of communism. 2 It is interesting in that sense to find affinities between Marx and Aristotle around the concept of mimesis. This is probably due to the "bourgeois" and "humanist" aspects Marxism inherited from Hegel, and in fact many advocates of Marxist aesthetics are proud of this old heritage: ... Whether it was called mimesis, imitation, or sometimes representation, the theory of aesthetic reflection has been held important by a long line of theorists since Aristotle, and the best artists according to its principles. On this point, as on many others, Marxist philosophy and aesthetics has a strong link with the best traditions of the past. It may be astonishing for some people to find that Marxist art theory is so deeply rooted in classical traditions, that its central question make no claim to radical innovation... The new culture to be created by the liberated working classes in socialist countries will be, and can only be, based on the thousand years of cultural accomplishments of mankind. 3

Mimesis is adapted to Marxist sociology as the "reflection of reality." This reflection of reality, which is the conditio sine qua non of art, can take various forms depending on the existing economic relations. The basic formula of the classic Marxist theory on the formation of man's perception of the world by the material determinants of the society is revealed in this oftquoted passage:

1 Arnold Hauser, The Sociology of Art, p. 186. See for example Karl Popper, The Enemies of Open Society. 3 Bela Kiralyfalvi, The Aesthetics of Gyorgy Lukacs (Princeton University Press, 1975) p. 155.

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In the social production of their life, men enter into definite relations that are indispensable, and independent of their will, relations of production which correspond to a definite stage of development of their material productive forces.The sum total of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real foundation, on which rises a legal and political superstructure and to which correspond definite forms of social consciousness. The mode of production of material life conditions the social, political and intellectual life process in general. It is not the consciousness of men that determine their being, but on the contrary, their social being that determines their consciousness. 1

The "intellectual life process" in general is determined by the economic infrastructure. Then, according to the traditional Marxist view, art is part of the superstructure of a society. An artistic tradition is born to a definite economic system and it is these relations of production that make a particular art wave possible. Some Marxists, though, went so far as to declare art as a mere epiphenomenon of the economic system. Artistic creativity was reduced to an almost mathematical formula. Engels himself was the first to warn the younger generation against the danger of vulgar materialism. Already in 1890, in a letter to Joseph Bloch, he was complaining about the tendency of reductionism: According to the materialist conception of history, the determining element in history is ultimately the production and reproduction in real life. More than this neither Marx, nor I have ever asserted. If therefore somebody twists this into the statement that the economic element is the only determining one, he transforms it into a meaningless, abstract and absurd phrase....

The economic superstructure, thus, is the determining factor only at this "never coming" last instance. Many Marxists stressed the importance of the relative autonomy of art and many more totally rejected the materialistic conception of art. A contemporary Marxist writer, Stefan Morawski, fully opposes to this dichotomy of base and superstructure in aesthetics. He maintains that nowhere in Marx and Engels' writings there is a clear statement about this relationship within the artistic field. Morawski goes so far as to reject the idea of mimesis as one of the constitutive features of Marxist art. He says that this was not a possible deduction from the general methodological guidelines of Marxism. 3 Apart from the post-Marxist comments of Morawski, many orthodox Marxist theoreticians, including Lenin and Trotsky, understood the autonomous place art should have within the Marxist theory and Marxist politics. Says Lenin: 1 2

a

Marx/Engels, On Literature and Art (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1976) p. 41. Ibid. p. 57.

Stefan Morawski "What is a Work of Art?" in Lee Baxandall (ed.) Radical Perspectives the Arts (Penguin Books, 1972).

in

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Every artist, and everybody who wishes to, can claim the right to create freely according to his ideal, whether it turns out good or not. And so you have the ferment, the experiment, the chaos. But of course we are Communists. We must not put our hands in our pockets and let the chaos ferment as it pleases. We must consciously try to guide this development, to form and determine its results...We are good revolutionaries, but we feel obliged to point out that we stand at the "height of contemporary culture". I have the courage to show myself a barbarian. I cannot value the works of expressionism, futurism, cubism and other isms as the highest expressions of artistic genius. I don't understand them.1 Lenin's declaration that, he is a "barbarian" and can not understand contemporary art, is a good evidence that to be aware of the multiple interdependencies within the economic base and cultural superstructure is not enough to appreciate and understand art. Trotsky also rejects the idea that economy alone can explain the dynamics of a work of art: It is unquestionably true that the need for art is not created by economic conditions. But neither is the need for food is created by economics. On the contrary the need for warmth and food creates economics. It is very true that one cannot always go by the principles of Marxism in deciding whether to reject or to accept a work of art. A work of art should in the first place, be judged by its own law, that is by the law of art.2 The power of Marxism is to show us how and why a specific tendency in art occurred in a given society at a precise historical moment. Why does a certain poet or writer feel the way he feels at that very historical moment? Marxism searches for the social roots of "pure art" as well as the "utilitarian (tendencious) art". But what aspect of society, then, exactly determines the type of artistic production? Or to put it in another terminology, what is the nature of the relationship between form and content? Translated into the language of aesthetics, to say that "society determines art" means that content determines form. The truly social element in art is the "content". If we put the question of base and superstructure in to the language of aesthetics there will be no danger of economic reductionism. For Marxists, "form" with all its richness and complexity is the reflection of the "content" which is always the representation of something humanly conceivable-therefore "social". This goes to Hegel who argued that every definite content determines a form suitable to it. Defectiveness of form arises from defectiveness of content. 3 Jameson also maintains that "form itself is but the working out of content in the realm of superstructure." 4 But these

1

Louis Lozowick, Voices of October (New-York: The Vanguard Press, 1930) p. 55. Leon Trotsky, 'The Formalist School of Poetry and Marxism" in Terry Eagleton (ed.) Marxist Literary Theory, p. 56. 3 Terry Eagleton, Marxism and Literary Criticism (University of California Press, 1976) p. 22. 4 Ibid. p. 23. 2

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conceptions of reflection or dependence are only valid theoretically. In practice form and content are inseparable. Practically, there is a unity of form and content. They complement each other and if there is a relationship this can only be dialectical. Hegel was the first to recognize this: "Content", he wrote "is nothing but the transformation of form into content, and form is nothing but the transformation of content into form."'Those remaining faithful to Hegel (Marx himself) see the dialectical process inherent in form-content relationship. Nevertheless, as we can theoretically talk of the varying relations between form and content, it is inevitable that some Marxist critics take more radical positions. As in the debate of base and superstructure, some argued that form was completely dependent on content. Not surprisingly, the more reductionist one is in the debate of base and superstructure, the more insistent he is on the hegemony of content over form. To better understand various positions taken by Marxist critics vis-à-vis economic reductionism, we can imagine an axis of Marxist aesthetics and briefly analyse various thinkers at various positions on this axis: At the far left extreme of this axis we can place Stalin and his cultural spokesman Zhdanov. Zhdanovism, the official cultural policy of the Soviet Union in the thirties, denied any independence to the cultural sphere. Art was to be managed by the Party for the Party. The theoretical counterpart of this political attitude was "socialist realism" which reduced all artistic production to mere reflection of ideology... Next, we can talk about Plekhanov who also based his ideas on some kind of economic determinism. Unlike Zhdanov, Plekhanov was not a simple minded politician and his insights were the best examples of a truly materialistic analysis. Plekhanov tried to come up with materialistic explanations for the rise of "art for art's sake" and "utilitarian art" (his conception of "art for art's sake" has already been mentioned). As far as "utilitarian art", that is "the tendency to regard the function of art as a judgement on the phenomena of life and a readiness to participate in social struggles" 2 , is concerned, Plekhanov saw it as a reflection of a mutual sympathy between various segments of society and the artist. In contrast to other Marxist scholars, Plekhanov rightly observed that utilitarian views of art can be accepted by both conservatives and revolutionaries as far as they both show an active interest in a given social order and are willing to use art for ideological purposes.3 As we approach to the center of the axis, we find various European philosophers. Lucien Goldmann, a Romanian thinker working in Paris, is famous for his "genetic structuralism" within Marxist aesthetics. The object of study of genetic structuralism was the "world-view or pattern of feeling that 1

9A Ibid. p. 23. 3

G.V. Plekhanov, Art and Society, p. 23. Ibid.

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unites a particular social group." 1 Goldmann generally applied this method to the sociology of novel. However, he was quite reductionist in his approach to the 19 th century novel and its heroes. Goldmann tried to find homologies between the structure of the classical novel and the structure of exchange in the liberal economy. He maintained that various forms of novel (classicalrealist, realist, naturalist etc.) corresponded to various stages of capitalist development (i.e. primitive accumulation of capital, competitive capitalism, monopoly capitalism...) Christopher Caudwell represents a materialistic yet colorful understanding of Marxist aesthetics. Caudwell mainly worked on poetry-a rather unusual choice of subject for a thinker of Marxist aesthetics. He situated his work against idealism and mechanical materialism, arguing for a historical-materialistic conception of poetry from early human societies to the present. For Caudwell, the truth of poetry was its dynamic role in society "as the content of collective emotion in social images." 2 Caudwell also worked on form-content issues and held that initially content (social being) is formless. The author gives expression to the authentic emotional content. Caudwell, thus, initiated a somewhat vague notion of "agency" to the realm of Marxist aesthetics. At the center of the axis, we find Gyôrgy Lukacs with his rich Hegelian humanist heritage that will be analysed in detail below. Towards the right side of the axis, we see thinkers like Ernst Ficher, Max Raphael and Franz Mehring who believed art to be both mimetic and formal. Franz Mehring for instance, held that it was a big mistake to underestimate Kant in Marxist aesthetics. Mehring observed that, "the first prerequisite of a scientific aesthetics was to establish that art was a peculiar and aboriginal capacity of mankind as indeed Kant did show." 3 At the far right end of the imaginary axis, at the gate of modernism, we find Walter Benjamin and Bertold Brecht. Although remaining revolutionary in their political thinking, they both rejected the concept of mimesis in art. They saw this tradition as the reflection of a bourgeois humanism and opted for more agitation in art. I will return to the debate between Lukacs and Brecht later. This brief and simplified review of Marxist aesthetics shows that there is no uniformity within the Marxist circles as to the aesthetic nature and purpose of art. I, nevertheless, believe that Gyôrgy Lukacs is the best representative of the orthodox Marxist aesthetic theory with his rich humanist heritage and his ubiquitous political and academic career. His work is worth analysing in detail.

' Lucien Goldman, "Sociology of the Novel" in Terry Eagleton (ed.) Marxist Literary Theory, p. 204. 2 Ibid. p. 91. 3 Franz Mehring, "Lessing and the Drama", in Maynard Solomon (ed.) Marxism and Art, p. 106.

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• Georg Lukacs and Marxist Aesthetics Born in 1885 into an affluent Jewish family in Budapest, Gyorgy (Georg) Lukacs made the best synthesis of Hegelianism and Marxism in the realm of aesthetic criticism. His "anthropomorphic" approach enriched the materialist Marxist perspective with the "humanist" heritage he mostly got from his pre-Marxist background. Lukacs joined the Communist Party in 1918 at the age of 33 after a prolonged deception with the famous Max Weber circle in Heidelberg. In fact in his early career, Lukacs was influenced more from the idealist philosophy than Marxism. His muse was not only Hegel but also Plato and Kierkegaard. The influence of Kierkegaard and Plato was apparent in his early works. His Soul and Form was dedicated to the memory of his fiancée Irma Seidler who killed herself after Lukacs broke the engagement. Says Lukacs: "This was my Kierkegaard phase. And it was not without Regine Olsen (the subject of Kierkegaard's unhappy love affair): Irma Seidler. The Soul and Form is dedicated to her memory. She was its inspiration, but without realizing it." 1 This close affinity with idealist philosophy, however, did not prevent Lukacs from rejecting the subjectivism of modern art. Already in 1909 he was praising the virtues of "harmony and order" in art. In an article entitled "The Parting of the Ways", he refuted Impressionist painting as "the art of the mood" and took sides with the Secessionists. Long before he became a committed Marxist, he was criticizing the subjectivism and relativism of Impressionism. For Lukacs, the Secessionist movement (the art of The Eight) symbolized the rebirth of the old art; that is "order" and "harmony": Its colours and lines are merely expressions of the essence, order and harmony of things, their emphasis and their equilibrium. Everything expresses the harmony of force and substance, and can only attain expression in the equilibrium of materials and forms. Every line and every patch of colour is beautiful and of value only in so far as it expresses this: The equilibrium of force and substance that comprise things, in their simplest, clearest, most concentrated and essential vvay.-

The recurrent usage of certain notions such as "order", "harmony" and "essence" shows that the key concepts of Lukacsian aesthetics are derived from one major source: Hegel. In the same article written in 1909, Lukacs also shows his early admiration for Marx and his materialism. Lukacs observes that, like natural sciences, Marxism produces statements that are about permanent things. Things that are completely unaffected by the way people see them (against the Impressionist argument) 3 . As will be noted below, materialism and the romantic idealism apparent in all his subsequent work, reflect a beautiful synthesis between Hegel and Marx. 1 Georg Lukacs "Essays in Autobiography" in Arpad Kadarkay (ed.) The Lukacs (Blackwell Publ., 1995) p. 4. Ibid. p. 171. 3 Ibid.

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For Lukacs, the purpose of art is "to show things as they really are". In that sense, art should reflect the reality; mimesis is the basis of all genuine artistic production. But the confusing point about Lukacs is that he uses this definition both as a description and an evaluation. Art should reflect the reality and art is the reflection of reality. For Lukacs, realism (generally analysed as a style among many others) is synonymous with art. Realism is the artistic basis of every authentic creation. To call a genuine work of art "realistic" is simply to bring out certain characteristics that belong to all such works. 1 Lukacs is at the same time the philosopher and the critic. The reason for this duality is that, for Lukacs, the normative aspect of things comes before their form. In other words, the purpose of art and its being are inseparable. Lukacs believes that there is an ethical content present in every work of art stemming from the assumption that there is an "inherent meaningfulness" in every human action. And this ethical content can only be made explicit through a certain kind of realism: ... Lukacs sees the goal of every great art the rendering of such a picture of reality in which the contradictions of phenomenon and essence, subject and object, the particular event and the law, the direct experience and the concept, internal and external, form and content are dissolved in such a way as to form a spontaneous, inseparable unity in the receiver during the experience of the art work.^

The ontological basis of Marxism, reflecting basically Marx' own inspiration of Hegel, is that man's ontological being is unseparable from its social and historical environment. Realism, for Lukacs, is also the realization of an organic unity between the individual and the society. It is the realization of the humanist ideal "the whole man". Based also on the Aristotelian dictum of zoon politikon, Lukacs' concept of "the whole man" reflects the nonalienated relationship between man and his surrounding as well as the harmony between form and content. Aesthetic realism, in which this ideal is achieved, is not a phenomenon peculiar to the 19th century literature. In certain historical periods where the unbridgeable social contradictions reached a balance, there emerged a classical realist art. There emerged, then, an aesthetic harmony which led to the creation of "eternally human". Not only Balzac, Tolstoy or Goethe but also Homer, Dante, Molière or Shakespeare were the great artists of realism.3 Realism (that is art per se) is based on the representation of man microcosmic of this world. In other words, it is based on the creation of typical characters that can represent both the actual and the potential. This 1

G.H.R. Parkinson, "Lukacs on the Central Category of Aesthetics" in G.H.R. Parkinson (ed.) Lukacs: The man, his work and his ideas (New-York: Random House, 1970). ^ Bela Kiralyfalvi, The Aesthetics of Gyorgy Lukacs (Princeton University Press, 1975) p. 58. a Stanley Mitchell, "Lukacs' Concept of the Beautiful in G.H.R. Parkinson (ed.) Lukacs: The man, his work and his ideas.

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Hegelian notion of potentiality is essential, as it rejects both the crude naturalism that only shows the existing conditions and the abstract art that leads to pure phantasy, but finds a middle way between what life can offer in all its variety and the actual social conditions. This is the representation of the "totality of life" (like the "totality of man"). Says Lukacs: Realism is the recognition of the fact that a work of literature can rest neither on a lifeless average nor on an individual principle which dissolves its own self into nothingness. The central category and criterion of realist literature is the type, a peculiar synthesis which organically binds together the general and the particular both in characters and situations. What makes a type a type is not its average quality, not its mere individual being; what makes it a type is that in it all the humanly and socially essential determinants are present on their highest level of development, in the ultimate unfolding of possibilities latent in them. 1

The typical characters of great realist novels gain almost an independent life of their own. These types are neither the statistical average nor the supernatural. Mankind is shown in the form of individuals and individual destinies. The greatness of the realist writer lies in his ability to grasp the essentials of his age and reflect them unto a typical character of that age. As in the novels of Balzac, the typical characters are caricatures of gigantic social forces that operate in the capitalist world. 2 "Everything is political", says Lukacs quoting Gottfried Keller: ... Every action, thought and emotion of human beings is inseparably bound up with the life and struggles of the community, i.e., with politics; whether the human themselves are conscious of this, unconscious of it or even trying to escape from it, objectively their actions, thoughts and emotions spring from and run into politics.

As he became politically more active, Lukacs' Marxism also matured and he developed the theory of Marxist aesthetics on the model of Marx and Engels. Nevertheless, in the period he spent in the Stalinist Soviet Russia where he wrote Studies in European Realism, one can detect a tendency of reductionism he was later to abandon in The Meaning of Contemporary Realism. Therefore one must know the particular situation in which Lukacs' works are written to assess them properly. It is, nevertheless, possible to talk about a "general theory of novel" in Lukacs' oeuvre. As noted earlier, Lukacs talks about historical periods where class contradictions reach a balance and, thus, the creation of classical realism is made possible. He sees three such * Georg Lukacs, Studies in European Realism (New-York: Grosset and Dunlap Publ. 1964) 2 3

Ibid. Ibid. p. 9.

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historical periods: The Greek polis, the Italian city-state of Renaissance and the period in Europe after the French Revolution up to 1830. He pays most attention in his work to the last of these. Walter Scott, Goethe, Dickens and Tolstoy are among the great realist writers Lukacs works on. But he focuses mostly on France. After the Revolution of 1789, Romanticism appears as the dominant mode of literary production in France. These romantic writers oppose capitalism as much as their realist followers do, but they differ in their methods. Romantics deny the decadent capitalist values and favor, in a spirit of nostalgia, a return to the glorious days of monarchical feudalism. The realist writers such as Balzac and Stendhal, on the other hand, criticize capitalism without totally rejecting the reign of reason and matter. According to Lukacs, in the period of 1789-1848, when the European bourgeoisie fights heroically against political absolutism and aristocracy, a very rich tradition of realism develops parallel to the European cultural heritage of humanism. Both Balzac and Stendhal are the representatives of this humanist realism. But while Stendhal is a true child of the Enlightenment, Balzac does not totally reject romanticism but "attempts to overcome it, to fights against it, preserves it and raises it to a higher level." 1 Balzac is able to grasp the "essential" and create "typical" characters showing the degeneration of human values in a newly rising bourgeois society, without losing his humanist perspective. Balzac is a monarchist but can still very objectively depict the decadence of the old nobility in the capitalist society. This "quest for the truth" and "honesty" is much praised by Lukacs as well as Marx and Engels. In fact Balzac's "literary eclecticism" (his admiration of Voltaire, George Sand as well as Victor Hugo and Chateaubriand) and "his attempt to reconcile an English model monarchism with a mystic Catholicism and feudal Socialism" 2 create the basis for his success in reflecting the "totality" of life in his novels. This great period of classical realism in France, represented by Balzac and Stendhal, comes to an end after 1848. The classical Marxist explanation offered by Plekhanov is almost duplicated by Lukacs. In his Art and Social Life, Plekhanov claims that the art of a class degenerates when that class ceases to be a progressive power. When the bourgeoisie was confronting the ancient régime, it was representing an ideology beneficial for all the segments (except for the clergy and aristocracy) of the society. In that era the bourgeoisie was the progressive element. After the revolutions of 1848, the ideology of the European bourgeoisie entered into a reactionary period. With the unification of Italy and Germany, the defeat of the workers' uprisings in 1848, and the collapse of Chartism in England, the European bourgeoisie consolidated its power. Thus, it ceased to be a progressive power and turned increasingly hostile to the working class. As Lukacs observes: 1 2

Ibid. p. 69. Ibid. p. 77.

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... The ideology of the bourgeoisie evolved increasingly towards the protection of capitalism against the claims of the workers as the economic conditions of the imperialist age matured at an accelerating pace, exercising a rapidly growing influence on the ideological evolution of the bourgeoisie. 1

For Lukacs, this situation ended the necessary conditions for the existence of classical realism (a balance of class contradictions and the progressive nature of the ruling class, the bourgeoisie, which create a mutual bond of sympathy between various segments of the society and the artist). The general scope of all artistic expressions was limited and narrowed by the development of a reactionary capitalist society. Realism degenerated into naturalism or "even worse" to modernism, or nihilism and the classical French realism moved to Russia and Scandinavia not yet polluted by capitalism. An other explanation for the rise and demise of classical realism was also offered by Lukacs in an earlier book entitled The Historical Novel. Here, Lukacs offers a more in-depth analysis focusing on the rise and demise of what he calls the "historical novel", which is almost synonymous with "realist novel." Very much like the "typical characters" of the realist novel, the historical novel derives its individual characters from the historical peculiarity of its age. Prior to 1848, there occurs in Europe an "awakening of historicity". It is understood that history has a direct effect upon people. Against the legitimist romanticism that searches the salvation from the wildness of capitalism in the escape to the Middle Ages, the new look at history sees it as a constant progress. Influenced from the philosophy of Hegel, the new writers no longer see history as the crash of reason or unreason, but as an inevitable progress coming out of the inner conflicts of social forces in history itself. However, by the defeat of 1848, this idea of progress is rejected by the bourgeoisie fearful of the idea of progress. The class struggle presents itself as a threatening prospect for the future. Thus, the materialist approach to history is replaced by mystification. Philosophers like Nietzche who says that "history is a chaos" and Croce who maintains that "history is a subjective experience" replace Hegel and Condorcet. This is also the end of historical novel and the beginning of an era of nihilism and ahistoricism. 2 In his last book, The Meaning of Contemporary Realism, Lukacs opposes both to modernism that follows the Heideggerian vision of man as "throwness into being", and to socialist realism which substitutes critical realism with a romantic vision of a classless society. For Lukacs, it is neither desirable nor necessary to deny the classical Aristotelian tradition of narration. Modernism, in its denial of "order and harmony", is simply operating within the confines of capitalism and its alienating culture. Against the modernists 1

Ibid. p. 135. Georg Lukacs, The Historical Novel (University of Nebraska Press, 1962).

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and the socialist realists, he favours "critical realism"(classical bourgeois realism) that best fulfils the "ethical mission" of art, especially in times of crisis. 1 With his strong commitment both to Marxism and the bourgeois humanist tradition that complements his vision of the world, Lukacs is the best representative of classical Marxist aesthetics. His theory is still widely discussed in intellectual milieux and it is the most comprehensive attempt so far to relate art to its social background.

• The Critique of Marxist Aesthetics Although very comprehensive and convincing in its arguments, the Marxist aesthetic tradition has some contradictions in certain aspects. As all theories so far formulated, it has some inherent weaknesses that do not invalidate the theory, yet limits its claims of "grand-narrative". First of all, Marxist aesthetics is almost exclusively devoted to literature. The literary field is generally referred to as "the artistic field", and this is misleading. Different artistic styles have their own internal logic and the premises of Marxist aesthetics apply mainly to literature. The formal significance of a painting without which the painting is almost worthless, is not an essential quality (not even a quality) in a novel. Literature is a more "factual" art than the visual arts as it involves language, which is after all, a social construct. As Langer puts it: Literature is one of the great arts, and is more widely taught and studied than any other, yet its artistic character is more often avowed than really discerned and respected. The reason why literature is a standard academic pursuit lies in the very fact that one can treat it as something else than art. Since its normal material is language and language is the medium of discourse, it is always possible to look at a literary work as an assertion of facts and opinions, that is as a piece of discursive symbolism functioning in the usual communicative way.

It is easier therefore to create a sociological theory of novel than visual arts. In his praise of the "silent film", a Marxist himself, Bela Balazs also states that "visual anthropomorphism" is different from that created by words and concepts. Balazs even goes on to say that the culture of concepts was a product of certain social and economic causes (capitalism) and the new cinematic medium will make the "inner man" visible again. Says Balazs:

1

Georg Lukacs, The Meaning of Contemporary Realism (London: Merlin, 1963). ^ Suzanne Langer, Feeling and Form, p. 208.

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... The gestures of visual man are not intended to convey concepts which can be expressed in words, but such inner experiences, such non rational emotions which would still remain unexpressed when everything that can be told has been told. Such emotions lie in the deepest levels of the soul, and cannot be approached by words that are mere reflections of concepts. 1

It is clear therefore that the theory of Marxist aesthetics do not and can not totally explain the relationship of all arts to the social and political structure. It is not a matter of neglect that Marxist aesthetics focus only on literature. By their very nature, certain aesthetic fields like "visual arts" and "fine arts" have more autonomy from the social discourse than literature, and Kant is likely to have equal say with Marx, as far as these art works are concerned. For some "hybrid" mediums of art such as "cinema" and "theater" which include mimesis and symbolism as well as common association, the theory of Marxist aesthetics should be expanded and adapted according to the inner logic of the medium. Brecht, for example opposed very strongly to the methodology imposed by Lukacs. Although remaining a realist in his epistemology, Brecht held that classical Aristotelian methods were not adequate for a revolutionary theater. In his "epic theater", Brecht preferred alienation and provocation to "identification" and "catharsis". In their famous debate with Lukacs, Brecht rightly put that there were many roads that led to the revolutionary goal and the conventionalist method put forth by classical Marxist aesthetics was, in fact, not the only method for all mediums of art. Another problematic aspect of Marxism, in the realm of aesthetic criticism, is its fervent insistence on "relations of causality". Especially in the question of "base and superstructure", many Marxists are inclined to see "art" as part of the superstructure determined by the economic infrastructure of a society. Thus artistic trends are seen as the direct "epiphenomena" of the mode of production which leave no room for the relative autonomy of art. Although there is no doubt that spiritual and ideal structures are related to the material base, there should, nevertheless, be a difference of quality between the two. As Ernst Bloch says, "There can be nothing in the superstructure which is not in the economic infrastructure-except the superstructure itself." 2 In other words, the infrastructure can manifest all the features that are attributed to the superstructure except that very quality which differentiates the latter from the former: "This quality does not arise from economic conditions which are alien to the superstructure even if it could not arise without them." 3 As Hauser rightly puts, the connection one has to establish between socio-historical and aesthetic phenomena is not a connection of causality (as in the assumptions that mercantilism caused classicism or capitalism caused naturalism) but a 1 2 3

Bela Balazs, "The Visible Man" in Maynard Solomon (ed.) Marxism and Art, p. 284. Arnold Hauser, The Sociology of Art, p. 189. Ibid. p. 189.

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relation of reciprocity: "Ideal forms change while the economic form changes and this too, changes to some extent according to the change in spiritual structures." 1 This is the logic of dialectics that has to be applied in the realm of aesthetics. It is quite obvious that art and socio-economic structures are not the same in essence and art is something else than the repetition of ordinary reality. Even the concept of "mediation" or "mediatory structures" still refers to a relation of causality and Hauser observes that, in some instances, we have to admit that there are "leaps". Those "leaps" show that there can be a change of quality in the superstructural realm which can not be understood by looking at the economic infrastructure. The dilemmatic situation of the Greek art is a good example. The Homeric epic still gives us pleasure. Marx tried to explain this by saying that the Ancient Greek civilization was the historical childhood of humanity and as "an adult cannot become a child again, the naivety of the child gives him pleasure." 2 We do not know if Marx also predicted Freud, but the above argument is obviously not a very strong one in terms of a materialistic explanation of aesthetic pleasure. Franz Mehring, who worked on the subject, could only reach a conclusion by repeating some of Kant's arguments. Included within the circle of Marxist art historians Mehring, himself, admitted that: ... Not even on the same level of culture are there as many as two individuals whose aesthetic feelings coincide with the regularity of two clocks. As a social being, each individual is a product of factors of environment which cross one another and blend interminably, and which determine his perceptions in incalculably diverse ways. Precisely for this reason each individual has his own personal taste.-5

Thus, the concept of "relative autonomy of art" should be given more weight in the Marxist aesthetic and cultural studies. Marxism also have some inconsistencies in its attempt to account for the rise and demise of realism in the 19 th century Europe. As assessed earlier, in The Historical Novel, Lukacs talks about an awakening of historicity in the early 19 th century: History is no longer seen as the crash of reason or unreason but as a constant progress. This teleological conception of history as a constant progress gives rise to "historical novel". However, this conception of history is abandoned after the workers' uprisings in 1848. The established bourgeoisie, now fearful of the notion of progress and future, prefer chaos and subjectivism. Nietzche replaces Hegel and the historical novel (later referred to as the "classical realist novel" by Lukacs) disappears. An obvious logical inconsistency in this argument is the replacement of the notion of progress by subjectivism, due to the bourgeoisie's apprehension of the future. If history has objective laws akin to

1

Ibid. p. 191. Marx/Engels, On Literature and Art, p. 84. ^ Franz Mehring, "A Note On Taste" in Maynard Solomon (ed.) Marxism and Art, p. 103.

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the laws of science, or in other words, if history is a science and its course can thus be predicted, what use would there be in denying its existence? If the European bourgeoisie, once open to the idea of progress, had discovered that progress was inevitable, that history meant progress, wouldn't they try to change its course rather than escape into mysticism? As rational as they were, in an era of positivism and science, how could they bear to ignore an "objective" fact? Lukacs is so concerned with finding relations of causalities between the socio-political structure and the aesthetic production that he ignores certain inconsistencies that his theory may imply. A final problem in the Marxist aesthetic tradition is the neglect of the "agents" of artistic production. The "persona" of those who actually create the art works are highly ignored. The particular place the artist occupies within the forces of production is reduced to the dichotomy of "bourgeois vs proletariat". If an artist is of a bourgeois background s/he is expected to behave according to the specific interests of that class. According to the Marxist aesthetic school, the artist is likely to opt for "art for art sake" when the dominant bourgeois class is reactionary against the rising social forces. The exception of Balzac and many other realist writers who came from upper classes and had reactionary political views is explained by the fact that "these writers were honest observers!" The class positions of the artists are very important but it is certainly not that easy to determine these positions. It is not very clear where one should exactly place the artist as an intellectual vis-àvis the forces of production. In fact some writers hold that the artist has a "free floating intelligence" and s/he is beyond classes." 1 An interesting suggestion is made by Pierre Bourdieu under the name of "generic structuralism". Bourdieu sees the "habitus" or "life path" of individuals as an important variable. People may start at different positions and for various reasons finish in different places. Habitus is a subjective variable determined objectively. Individuals can shift classes or change positions within classes. Bourdieu maintains that there are various positions within a social class. The "dominant" class (bourgeoisie) has dominant and dominated positions within itself. According to Bourdieu, the artist occupies a dominated position among the dominants: The artists are the owners of a dominated form of power at the interior of the sphere of power. This structurally contradictory position is absolutely crucial f o r understanding the positions taken by writers and artists, notably in struggles in the social world... The writer or — the intellectual-is enjoined to a double status, which is a bit suspect: as possessor of a dominated weak power, he is obliged to situate himself somewhere between the two roles represented, in medieval tradition by the orator, symbolic counterweight of the bellator, charged with preaching and praying, saying the true and the good, with consecrating or condemning by 1

Arnold Hauser, Sociology of Art, p. 548.

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speech, and by the fool, a character freed from convention and conformities to whom is accorded transgression without consequences, inspired by the pure pleasure of breaking the rule or shocking. *

For Bourdieu, the artistic fields attract particularly individuals who possess all the properties of the dominant class except one: Money. These "penniless bourgeois" are the parents pauvres of great bourgeois dynasties, aristocrats already ruined or in decline, members of uncherished minorities like Jews or foreigners. This structural ambiguity of their position in the field of power leads them to establish ambivalent relationship with both the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. And this is the reason why they can fluctuate easily between classes and in the political arena. 2 Besides the artist, the particular internal logic of the artistic field is also important. Each industry has its own rules of development and production, which may not be synchronized to the overall economic context of the society. In fact, the term "field" means, for Bourdieu, a particular social universe endowed with particular institutions, each with its own laws. These fields are structurally homologous but relatively autonomous. On the other hand, the artist, as a "creator of value", is also a producer and the means of this production is very crucial. A realist book published under a monopoly printing system can not be revolutionary whatever criticism it brings to the social system. Therefore in 1861, when Baudelaire preferred to publish Les Fleurs du Mal with a very small and unknown publisher named "Poulet-Malassis", he was certainly more revolutionary than the realist Flaubert who preferred Madame Bovary to be published by the big publishing company "Lévy". 3 Marxist aesthetics certainly underestimate the industrial aspects of the artistic production. As Walter Benjamin says: An author who teaches writers nothing, teaches no one. Political tendency is the necessary, never the sufficient condition of the organizing function of a work of art. What matters, is the exemplary character of production which is able to induce other producers to produce. .. . 4

TOWARDS A SYNTHESIS: BOURDIEU AND KAVOLIS

For Lukacs, the classical Aristotelian perspective that "man's ontological being is inseparable from its social and historical environment" is no doubt the ontological basis of all meaningful works of art. Although in today's "high-tech" world of "simulacra", humanism is said to be a "passé" preoccupation, we also see, in many ways, the reintroduction of the concept of 1 2 3 4

Pierre Bourdieu, The Field of Cultural Production (Columbia University Press, 1993) p. 165. Ibid. Pierre Bourdieu, The Rules of Art (Stanford University Press, 1995). Walter Benjamin, Reflections (London: Helen and Kurt Wolf Books, 1978) p. 233.

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"anthropomorphism" into the realm of aesthetics (How else can one explain the enormous success and popularity the Iranian cinema won within the intellectual circles?). For those works of art based on "mimesis", the reflection of life should not be a dry reproduction of outside reality but a rich synthesis of the "actual" and the "potential". Anthropomorphic art has to be the reproduction of the cosmic order and harmony that life in its totality possess. An "anthropomorphic" perspective of art can not see man and its social environment as distinct theoretical elements. Art is related to society. That is why Marxist cultural studies that focus on "the intersection of society, art and politics in particular historical conjunctures" are crucial in revealing the relationship between different art styles and particular historical contexts. Nevertheless, as emphasized above, art does not necessarily produce knowledge; it is polysémie and therefore it also has a relative autonomy vis-àvis the forces of productions. Therefore I suggest the following theoretical adjustments inspired mostly from the work of Pierre Bourdieu to the classical Marxist perspective. In the light of these theoretical adjustments that take the artist and the particular field of production into consideration, I hope to better account for the rise and demise of realism in various historical contexts without falling into the reductionist dichotomy of "base vs superstructure". My further points in this work will be based upon the following three premises: 1. The backgrounds of the prominent artists'. A much neglected issue in the Marxist tradition is that the artist has a "habitus", a background, that leads him to create what he has created. This "habitus" pushes the artist towards more open and more innovative possibilities or towards more secure and established positions. Habitus is the sum of socio-psychological determinants plus "chance" that make Balzac, Stendhal or Flaubert prominent figures of avant-garde literature rather than the spokesmen of commercial art. The artist's habitus is also shaped by the "space of possibilities" within a social class. The availability of cultural resources and the degree of relative economic deprivation that Bourdieu sees as the necessary condition for the artist to take up a "social" position rather than a "commercial" one are also important determining factors in the intellectual make up of an artist. 2. Internal structure of the artistic field: As mentioned earlier, each artistic field has its own laws of functioning. An artistic "genre" has a peculiar aesthetic history exclusive to it, and the industry that popularizes these art works have its own logic of production. Bourdieu says that "this autonomous social universe functions like a prism which refracts every external determination: demographic, economic or political events are always translated according to the specific logic of the field." 1 Each artistic "prism" has a 1

Pierre Bourdieu, Field of Cultural Production, p. 164.

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"refraction coefficient" (its degree of autonomy) and one should know this "refraction coefficient" to understand what happens between poets, partisans of art for art's sake, or in a broader sense, the changes in the genres and styles when one passes from one political régime to another (i.e. from a conservative monarchy to a progressive republic). 1 In short, we should understand the "peculiar laws of operation" of the field of cultural production that creates the favourable conditions for a new artistic trend to emerge. 3. The interactions between the artistic field and the general field of power: This is the relationship between the power mechanisms that operate in a society at a particular historical context and the artistic field. The Marxist dictum of "forces of production" is changed into "mechanisms of power" that include the political power and its ideological weapons as well as the economic infrastructure. "Power is everywhere", and at a particular historical moment, some sources of power other than the economic infrastructure can shape the psychological dispositions of people. The importance of economy is not denied, but it is analysed as part of a general framework of power at a given historical period. Economic relations and the protection of vested interests can be the primary source of change in a society; but it may as well be secondary in some specific historical circumstances, especially in times of serious political and social crisis, such as "warfare" (the case in Italy) and "state consolidation"(the case in Turkey). According to Vytautas Kavolis who follows the Weberian tradition, "a particular art style is a subconsciously projected image of a political order." 2 For Kavolis, artistic efflorescence increases after political crisis. As art also serves for the "reintegration" of society, it is likely to flourish after periods of serious crisis which do not end in total collapse of the system: "When a more exact historical analysis is possible, it suggests that artistic creativity is maximized not during but immediately after the periods of most intensive political action, during the integrative phase of two types of socio-political process, warfare and state consolidation."3 Thus according to Kavolis, after warfare and periods of state consolidation, we are likely to have new artistic trends that serve to reintegrate the society. The "balance of class contradiction" much emphasized by Lukacs can be reached in such historical phases of revitalization and reconstruction. This suggestion fits the cases of both Italy and Turkey where emerged an integrative art style such as realism, right after similar political crisis, following an elite coalescence around a pressing problem. In Kavolis' perspective, art style, here, serves as an autonomous field of power within the general field of power, which shapes and revitalize the system after a serious breakdown. 1

Ibid. Vytautas Kavolis, Artistic Expression: A Sociological Analysis (Cornell University Press, 1968) p. 40. 3 Vytautas Kavolis, History on Art's Side (Cornell University Press, 1972) p. 41.

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I will thus replace the Marxist notion of "forces of production" with "general power mechanisms" (including other social, political and cultural variants as well as the economic infrastructure). The main argument in this work will be that, "classical realism" as an art style occurs in socio-historical contexts in which class contradictions reach a balance and the ruling stratum (i.e. the bourgeoisie) assumes a progressive role vis-à-vis the various segments of society. This creates a "healthy" social order and a mutual bond of sympathy between the artist and the society. The artist do not feel the need to "return to the mother's womb" (in Jung's terminology) but observes life in its "totality" which prepares the necessary conditions for a realistic style to emerge. Nevertheless, the conditions for the emergence of this "balance of class contradictions" is not reducible to the operations of economic "forces of productions", and many other political, social and psychological factors (i.e. warfare, state consolidation, nation building...) can play crucial roles in determining the terms and duration of this social equilibrium.

3. REALISM When placing art within its societal context, one frequently has to deal with the "aesthetics of realism" comprising those realist works which are about society and social relations. As indicated earlier, "realism" is tightly connected to the existing political, economic and social mechanisms within a given historical period. As many social theories of art demonstrate, a tendency towards realism occurs in periods of bourgeois assertiveness, related either to the progressive nature of the bourgeoisie in specific socio-historical contexts, or to the recovery, revitalization movements after a serious social shock. But first, it is necessary to clarify the meaning of "realism" and the kind of realism that fits to this proposed theoretical stance. Many art works pretend to be "realistic", though they have contradictory methods and positions. Homer as well as Goethe and Stendhal are said to be realist artists. A famous French film maker Jean Renoir is a "realist" although he has a "poetic" film language, like Sergei Eisenstein who uses his films for agitation and propaganda purposes. In this "wide range" of realist artists, Raymond Williams talks about "family resemblences" that unites these seemingly irreconcilable people. He identifies the baseline rules for realism in the following terms: a) b) c)

1

Secularism: Cause-effect relationships should be presented in human and natural terms without reference to supernatural forces. Contemporaneity: Action should be set in the present or recent past, not in the historical or mythical past. Social Inclusiveness: The action should be extended to include middle and lower classes. *

Raymond Williams, "A Lecture On Realism" Screen, Vol. 18, No. 1, 1977, p. 30.

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For Williams, these features unite all great realist artists regardless of their methods and world views. A similar categorization is also made by George Huaco who maintains that the confused notion of "realism" can be broken into at least four distinct meanings: a) b) c) d)

Realism as the non abstract; the material is presented in greater detail. Realism as the non distorted; the material is presented as substantially the same as that which exists in the ordinary world of human experience. Realism as depiction of "low life" or the activities of the "common man". Realism as the non idealized.'

Unlike Williams, Huaco does not consider "contemporaneity" as an essential feature of a realist work. In fact, as noted earlier, even Homer is sometimes referred to as a realist poet. This confusion arises from a common usage of realism as a general category which fails to differentiate a realism of attitude from a realism of method. To eliminate this confusion, two kinds of realism can be specified: 1. As implying a close correspondence between the depiction and the depicted, 2. As implying that surface description is surpassed and we confront the essence of things (the "real" beneath the surface). 2

This twofold distinction is the basis of the difference between method and attitude. As an "attitude", a realist believes in the essence of things; that there is an inherent meaningfulness in life to be discovered and showed. In Patterns of Realism, where he focuses on Italian neo-realism, Roy Armes defines the realistic attitude as follows: "In its broadest sense, realism is an attitude of mind, a desire to adhere strictly to the truth, a recognition that man is a social animal and a conviction that he is inseparable from his position in society." 3 As can be clearly seen, this "essentialist" attitude is related to the Aristotelian concept of man as "zoon politikon" and thus can date back to Homer. Ernst Fischer who first made the distinction, tells us that in all great realist writers, from Fielding to Tolstoy, there is a critical attitude to society, but the approach (method) may be contemptuous, satirical, reformist or nihilist. 4 As a "method", realism is a recent phenomenon peculiar to the 19 th century and is linked to the developments in science. Although the concept of mimesis is as old as the history of humanity, the modern artist, as a strict observer, and the art, as an exact mirror of society, are linked to the 19 th century positivism and empiricism. This methodological realism is directly related to the socio-political developments in the 19 th century and is shaped by the major political and scientific events of the period. 1 2 3 4

George A. Huaco, The Sociology of Film Art (New-York: Basic Books, 1965) p. 13. Linda Nochlin, Realism (Penguin Books, 1971) p. 14. Roy Armes, Patterns of Realism (New-York: Barnes and Company, 1971) p. 17. Ernst Fischer, The Necessity of Art (Penguin Books, 1964) p. 107.

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There is of course a third category which combines both "attitude" and "method", and this is what the Marxists call "critical realism" (or "classical realism" as is generally known). This is the "perfection" of art, where both the critical outlook of the artist and the modern scientific methods are combined. This is "true realism" and it is synonymous with "genuine art" (as Lukacs maintains).1 Terry Lowell develops an interesting "theory of knowledge" similar and complementary to the categorization above . For her, realism is both a theory of knowledge and an ontology (an account of what exists is real in the world). She defines three major types of theory of knowledge: "Positivism", "Realism" and "Conventionalism". According to Lowell, Positivist theory is the approach that reduces reality to sense experiences. It posits that what one can know is what one can see. In that sense, epistemology is reduced to ontology; that what we can know is limited by the corporal existence of the object of knowledge. Obviously, positivism, as a theory of knowledge, corresponds to the "methodological" aspect of realism defined above. Realist theory as an epistemology is a middle way between conventionalism and positivism. In realist epistemology, knowledge is socially constructed and language is theory based, yet the real world cannot be reduced to language or to theory; it is independent of both, yet knowable. Power of science lies in its ontological depth. Lowell strongly holds that, theoretically Marxism is a kind of realism as it pretends that there exists an objective and independent social world that can be known. Lukacs' concept of "critical realism" also fits very well in there. Conventionalist theory, on the other hand, rejects the possibility of a neutral language of observation. It maintains that the way in which we perceive the world, the sensations and experiences depend upon theoretical presuppositions and Kuhnian paradigms. It does not necessarily deny the existence of a material world, but it rejects the idea that it can entail an independent reality. People who uses different paradigms live literally in different worlds.2 Different realist movements have drawn on one or another epistemology. Some forms of realism are based on "positivist theory"(19 th century realism in painting and literature). Some other on "realist theory" as Lukacs' "critical realism" (a combination of both the realist method and attitude). Conventionalism on the other hand may entail an attitudinal realism as Fisher defines, with a "modernist" methodology (i.e. Brecht's unconventional methods of alienation or Eisenstein's agitations), as long as it holds a critical (political) perspective. In cases where conventionalism becomes mere epistemological relativism, it turns totally abstract and 1

We have already seen that for Lukacs, realism and genuine art were theoretically unseparable. As art reflected the "totality" of life it became "genuine" and "realistic" at the same time.

2

Terry Lowell, Pictures of Reality: Aesthetics, Institute, 1983).

Politics, Pleasure,

(London: British Film

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contingent. I now want to take a closer look at these different forms of realism based on different epistemologies and clarify the meaning of "realism" that fits to the above proposed theoretical stance.

POSITIVIST THEORY A N D REALISM

Although realism as an attitude dates back to Homer, Realism as a historical movement and an artistic medium of expression attained its most consistent formulation in the 19th century France, parallel to the developments in science and capitalism. It was the dominant movement from about 1840 until 1870-80, preceded by Romanticism, and followed by Impressionism and Symbolism. Realism, reaching its peak in this period, was often called "Naturalism", a term mostly associated with the oeuvre of Emile Zola. Many contemporary writers use the terms Realism and Naturalism interchangeably (i.e Williams, Nochlin, Hauser..). When Realism as a method came closer to sheer observation and reproduction of everyday life, it turned into Naturalism. The basic aim of this "Naturalistic" realism was "to give a truthful, objective and impartial representation of the real world, based on meticulous observation of contemporary life." 1 It is crucial here to stress the importance of observation of everyday facts as this realism despised and gave no room to feelings and illusions. Parallel to the positivism of post 1850 era, it was believed that "novel" or "painting" should reproduce what could only be empirically observed. A new kind of historicism also emerged, in line with the materialist philosophy of Comte and Taine. They held that a materialist examination of historical facts, free from all conventional morality and metaphysics, should be the basis of a true understanding of past and present. Wrote Taine: "Vice and virtue are products like vitriol and sugar. Let us then seek the simple phenomena for moral qualities as we seek them for physical qualities." 2 The realist painters and writers of the era believed that the only valid subject for the present day artist could be the contemporary world. The representation of ordinary people with their black coats, shabby shoes, or peasant sabots was far important for them than the kings and knights of the past. This "democratic attitude" in art synchronized to the new political and social demands in France (the extension of suffrage), opened up a way for a whole new range of subject matters. For the new painters such as Courbet and Champfleury, the noble and the beautiful were less interesting than the common and the ordinary. No subject matter was to be rejected because it was not in conformity with the aesthetic standards of the old order. The boundary line between the beautiful and the ugly was to be erased. "The portrait of the

1 2

Linda Nochlin, Realism, p. 13. Ibid. p. 23.

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worker in his smock was certainly worth as much as the portrait of a prince in his golden robes." 1 Says Nochlin: The realists placed a positive value on the depiction of the low, the humble, and the commonplace, the socially dispossessed. They turned for inspiration to the worker, the peasant, the laundress, the prostitute, to the middle class or working class cafés, to the prosaic realm of the cotton broker, or the modiste, to their own or friends' homes and gardens, viewing them frankly and candidly in all their misery, familiarity or banality. 2

But, of course, an artist could not become a realist because it painted or depicted a peasant shoe. The deepest task of the artist should be to tell the "truth". The whole of truth and nothing but the truth. This demand was based on the artists' aspiration to create an artistic verisimilitude and exactitude akin to the scientific realm. Science was the cradle of all creative activity. In his appraisal of Manet, Zola says that, "since science required a solid foundation and returned to the exact observation of the facts, everything was called into question and all fields of knowledge, all human undertakings should look for constant and definite principles in reality." 3 Zola held that nature and the human society had the same laws of operation and to observe the natural facts and apply them to the social realm should be the basic commitment of the artist. 4 As the nobility in France lost its privileged position and the "mob rule", as Flaubert says, replaced the old aristocracy, the common man became the center of this new system of values. But the realist painters of the era preferred to reflect the lowest strata of the society and not the bourgeoisie. This attitude was related to their political perspective mainly associated with Proudhon, bête noire of both Marxists and liberals. Following the disillusionment of 1848, these artists had an ambivalent relationship with the established bourgeois order. Although very critical in their political attitudes towards this new society, they were nevertheless its very expression. Courbet for example, heavily influenced from the anarchism of Proudhon, did nothing political, except approaching painting to photographic verisimilitude. Zola who became famous for his debate over the young officer Dreyfus, had no overt social criticism in his novels. They were rather faithful and impartial observers. But as Nochlin says, these artists became political figures not because of what they said but because of what they did not say. In the eyes of the right-thinking Frenchmen, this "vile multitude of working men" that they had defeated in the streets of Paris, was reappearing in the paintings and novels of prominent French artists. Instead of the Greek divinities and the Gentlemen of the middle ages, they could only see peasants and stone breakers reminding 1 2 3 4

Ibid. p. 33. Ibid. p. 34. Ibid. p. 41. George Lukacs, Studies in European Realism.

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them the everlasting threat to the power of the middle class. "The artist, who, without concern for wealth, without desire for recompense, will fight with all his individuality against official bourgeois conventions by means of a personal contribution" 1 , was the major challenge to the social system. In the age of Positivism, the only political contribution of the artist to the cause of the proletariat was by means of his personality and thus could merely be "individual". Obviously the realism of the positivist France after 1850 was quite different from that advocated by Lukacs. The naturalists had no basis for a coherent social criticism. Although they loathed social corruption, they had no prospects for change and thus reduced their protest to sheer observation. They lacked what Lukacs calls "room for potentiality". They were only concerned with the "actual" political and social facts and they saw them as everlasting. This "empirical agnosticism" made them passive reporters of social facts, and in time this passivity gave way to more subjectivist tendencies such as Impressionism. For Lukacs, the main reason for this inertia and remoteness was the consolidation of the bourgeois values in society. This "bourgeois order" had completely modified the life styles of the artists. The artist was no longer able to fight for great human values, as he was powerless in the face of the giant social forces. His position was reduced to a passive observer of history. This led him to find other ways to dominate the real, and only science could rebuild his lost confidence in his capacity to integrate into society. 2 Lukacs, here, reaches some relations of causality in a little hasty way, but he is certainly right in emphasizing that to reduce the artistic creativity to scientific methodology is the sign of an alienation. Contrary to all previous hypothesis which generally maintained that "Realism was related to a positive relationship between social agents and the artists", this "positivist" realism reflects a lack of healthy communication within social structures. Positivist realism reduces Realism as a genre to a simple method of observation, as it lacks a more philosophical and in depth understanding of reality. A solely empirical understanding of the real can obviously not be the starting point for our general theoretical account of Realism.

REALIST THEORY A N D REALISM

Modern epistemological realism retains the positivist insistence that the real world can not be reduced to theory or language. Like positivism, it requires the correspondence of theory to reality. The production of knowledge is based on the empirical observation of the real world. Yet the realist theory

1 Linda Nochlin, Realism, p. 50. 2 George Lukacs, Studies in European Realism.

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emphasizes the link between the "surface" and the "depth" of the real world. As Lowell observes: Unlike empiricism, the reality to which theories correspond is not, for the realist identical to the empirical world: the world as it exists at the level of sense data, generated through observation and experiment. The propositions of theory relate to the "deep" ontological furniture of the universe, rather than to the surface at which experienced is located. Experience, properly interpreted, gives us access to that "deep" ontological layer because it is causally connected to it. '

The concept of "Realism in art" which constitutes, here, the main point of analysis, belongs to that category of "epistemological realism". As theoretical realism unites empirical experiences with theoretical conceptions, artistic realism reflects "the whole of reality", the sum of all relationships between subject and object, not only events but also subjective experiences, dreams, emotions, fantasies. Ernst Fisher holds that if we are to regard the recognition of an objectively given reality as the basis of art, we should not reduce this reality to a purely exterior world independent of our consciousness. "What exits independently from our consciousness is matter", says Fischer. "But reality includes all the immense variety of interactions in which man, with his capacity for experience and comprehension, can be involved."2 Lowell maintains that Marxism, as a theory, is a form of realism. It has already been underlined that Lukacs' concept of "critical realism" that synthesizes a realism of "attitude" with a realism of "method" was the basis of the present analysis of "Realism in art". Marxism can be a form of epistemological realism. But one does not need to be a Marxist to favour a realistic attitude in aesthetics. In fact, the understanding of realism both as an attitude and a method goes back to Hegel which saw art as the "bridging of an abyss between the appearance and illusion of this bad and perishable world on the one hand, and the true content of events on the other, to reclothe these events with a higher reality, born of the mind." 3 I thus disagree with Terry Lowell who sees Marxism as the "privileged repository of authentic realism". A Marxist can be an aesthetic realist, as is generally the case, but all those who favour realism in art based on a conception of "totality of life" do not have to be Marxist. In fact, John Orr observes that "realism is a radical and secular dimension of Catholicism which acknowledges the persistence of faith and all its contradictions." 4 Ironically, realism, due to humanism and anthropomorphism that it essentially embodies, is a very favoured artistic style by humanist Catholics as well as revolutionary Marxists. In his treatment of realist cinema, Amedee Ayfre, a retired Catholic priest and a well 1 Terry Lowell, Pictures of Reality, Aesthetics, Politics, Pleasure, p. 19. ^ Ernst Fischer, The Necessity of Art, p. 105. 3 Linda Nochlin, Realism, p. 14. 4 John Orr, Cinema and Modernity (Polity Press, 1993) p. 51.

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known French art critic, favours a particular type of realism that he calls "réalisme phénoménologique". It is the adequation of the "spirit" to the material reality of this world. In this phenomenological realism, the major task of the artist should be to establish a meaningful dialogue between the audience and the art work. In his article entitled "Cinéma et notre Solitude", he argues that a film can establish a dialogue with the individual spectator if it can make us share the gestures and feelings of the protagonists. We can thus be in company of our brothers and sisters; but in order this company to become productive and enriching, the film should have a philosophical depth as well as a social and historical background. A y f r e calls this phenomenological realism "the integration of the body and the soul". 1 According to John Orr, the French critic André Bazin also follows this humanist European Catholic culture. In his praise of Italian neo-realism, Bazin states that "the natural attitudes of filming are piety, compassion and the celebration of the human in everyday life. Filming is a basic affirmation of human existence, not merely a reflection of reality, but also an act of love." 2 It is the "secular" dimension of Catholicism, its humanist essence emphasized by Bazin that is at the basis of this realism. The social critique brought forth by realism can also be present in this humanist tradition-given, of course, that this criticism be from a more conservative viewpoint. Ironically, both Marxism and Catholicism share a common conception of justice, and love of the "humble", which push them towards the protection of the poor and the praise of authentic human values. The famous Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini who declared himself both as a Catholic and a Marxist (and made The Gospel According to St Matthew and Theorem respectively) was a good example of this strange synthesis. Critical realism, then, can also be present in an other theoretical perspective than Marxism. In the classic humanist tradition, Eric Auerbach (who is not tied to the Marxist circles) treats the critical realism in Balzac and Stendhal under the name of "tragic realism". In his Mimesis, Auerbach analyses the western humanist tradition of realism from Homer to Mann. Tragic realism is a peculiar phenomenon of France in the mid 19 th century and its most famous representative is Balzac. According to Auerbach, tragic realism is a conservative resistance of the writer to his age. Its roots are in the tragic drama that reached its peak in the Renaissance, in the tragic heroes of Shakespeare who showed the importance of man as an individual being. Tragic realism, as its name implies, embodies a "tragedy" and it is an exceptional literary occurrence in modern bourgeois society, together with an unprecedented moral seriousness. Realism depicts society and social relationships in specific settings. But tragic realism goes one step further by portraying "the irreparable loss of the human qualities either actual or possible in the lives of its 1 2

Amedée Ayfre, Le Cinéma et Sa Vérité (Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1969). John Orr, Cinema and Modernity, p. 48.

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characters." 1 It is a form of resistance to corruption and the tragedy of individuals in their weakness vis-à-vis the moral decay of the bourgeois society. Either Catholic or Marxist in essence, we can say that at the basis of realism, critical of society and holistic in its treatment of reality (both the actual and the potential realities of life), lies a very profound humanism indebted to the philosophical and cultural heritage of the West from the epic age of Homer to the Renaissance and to the dialectics of Hegel. In addition to this humanist tradition, Marxism brings a scientific outlook and a materialist analysis that enrich the classical heritage. Lukacs' critical realism discussed earlier is the best account of a combination of Marxist sociology of art with the traditional humanist conception.

CONVENTIONALIST THEORY AND REALISM

Conventionalism challenges the very possibility of a realist goal. For conventionalists, "there is no knowable reality outside of signifying practices and conventions in terms of which that reality is constructed." 2 In that sense, art is no mirror to reality, but a construct produced through a particular type of language. Art is a part of the dominant discourse. According to Adorno, "if the novel wishes to remain true to its realist foundation and say how things really are, it has to repudiate a realism which, by producing a façade, only helps to foster a trade in deception."3 Conventionalism, however, can be related to realism and embody a realistic epistemology depending on the artist's political and philosophical inclinations. Although very critical of the naïve conceptions of classical realism, Marxist conventionalists do have a sense of realism, as long as art serves the purpose of a "higher reality" transcending the façade of everyday appearances. Conventionalism is one of the philosophical reflections of modernism. Modernism, as defined by Raymond Williams, has two basic implications in art: ... In remaining anti-bourgeois, its representative either choose the formerly aristocratic valuation of art as a sacred realm above money and commerce, or the revolutionary doctrines promulgated since 1848, of art as the liberating vanguard of popular consciousness. Mayakovski, Picasso, Silone, Brecht are only some examples of those who moved into direct support of Communism. 4

1 2 3 4

John Orr, Tragic Realism and Modern Society (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1981) p. 12. Terry Lowell, Pictures of Reality, p. 79. Adorno quoted in John Orr, Tragic Realism and Modern Society, p. 19. Raymond Williams, The Politics of Modernism (London: Verso, 1989) p. 34.

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Modernism gave way to either an aesthetic asceticism, total withdrawal of the artist from outside reality, or to the "artiste engagé", a politically oriented avant-garde intellectual, both an artist and a political activist at the same time. Marxist conventionalists like Mayakovski, Eisenstein, Picasso, Brecht, Artaud were the representatives of an avant-garde group who saw art as the basic tool for revolution. For Williams, "the avant-garde, aggressive from the beginning, saw itself as the breakthrough to the future: Its members were not the bearers of a progress already repetitiously defined, but the militants of a creativity which would revive and liberate humanity." 1 Conventionalist realists belong to that group of "avant-garde" artists who accorded a political mission to art. Conventionalist realism differs from classical realism, discussed in the previous section, in that the former is against "representational" realism, and maintains that what we empirically see is only a deceptive façade of the existing ideological discourse. Reality is in the minds of the "social engineers" and thus has to be constructed by them. The only reality is the constructed reality, that is the "art work" itself. If the keywords of classical realism are "nature", "harmony", "discovery" and "reflection", their modernist counterparts are "technology", "gap", "construction" and "transformation". What makes those modernists be categorized under the rubric of "realism" is their social and political commitment which determines their attitude towards the general function of art, and their strong emphasis upon materialism. The modernist (or "conventionalist" in Lowell's terminology) realists have a highly political and anti-humanist perspective of art. This orthodox political commitment mainly differentiates them from their "abstract modernist" counterparts. In the 1960s, following the structuralism of Althusser, many artists and art critics associated with the PCF adopted this radical position. Especially in France, a new generation of filmmakers and critics like Godard, Narboni, Comolli, Baudry focused on the ideological effects of film and film making. They refuted all remnants of humanism in art and put more emphasis upon the political effect of films rather then their content. In that sense, the formalistic attributes of film (its "technique") determined or overrode its content. Modernist Marxists reversed the age old classic Marxist premise that "content determines form". As emphasized above, realism in art within the epistemological realism (that is "realism" as a theory of knowledge) bases its ontological principles upon the Aristotelian concept of "zoon politikon". Man as a living organism is a social being and he is inseparable from the social and physical world that surrounds him. Conventionalist realism, on the other hand, draws its ontological premises upon the modernist insistence of man as a "thrownness into being". Modernists, as they often proudly say, operate "within the gap"2 1 2

Ibid. p. 51. Jean Narboni (ed,),Godard on Godard (London: Seeker and Warburg, 1972).

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between man and his social and physical surrounding. They do not try to bridge this gap as is the case for "Hegelian" Marxists (like Lukacs) or Catholic humanists (like Ayfre or Auerbach) but they "redempt" this gap, seeing it as a necessary and inevitable condition for a truly artistic creation. Many radical Marxist artists and critics are within this modernist-realist tradition as opposed to their "Hegelian comrades". They hold that classical methods of aesthetic production, such as "catharsis", "plot", "identification", are all petit bourgeois considerations, and a truly revolutionary art should do away with all the methodological traditions of a "passé" bourgeois humanism. Orthodox Marxist circles heavily criticized and refuted some of the premises of the conventionalist Marxists. Some of these criticisms came from extremely conservative and narrow-minded political circles as was the case in the Stalinist Soviet Russia. In the early 1930s, Zhdanov prohibited the experimental films of Eisenstein, Pudovkin and Dziga Yertov on the grounds that they were modernist and anti-proletarian. Georg Lukacs also criticized Brecht's epic theater and his total refusal of Aristotelian catharsis. Ironically, both modernist and classical Marxists despised each other's methods as "bourgeois", and they both based their judgement upon the same Marxist slogans. Although the orthodox Marxist attack against the modern and experimental methods of the conventionalists sometimes reflected an unsound political conservatism, their analysis of modernism as "the dominant aesthetic mode of production in the age of capitalism" was justified. Modernism, with its artistic "élitism", "individualism" and "anti-humanism", was a cultural byproduct of capitalist developments. The avant-garde theater or film has always been the cultural privilege of a highly educated bourgeois class even if it defended the "proletarian cause". As Lowell says, "behind the mysterious language and images of avant-garde lied a cultural and educational apparatus to which the working class had little access." 1 Modernist Marxists have also rejected any theoretical and political preoccupation with "man" as the central analytical unit (humanism), and with their extreme emphasis on "materialism", they unconsciously reflected late-capitalism's relationship with culture. Long before Althusser declared the death of the subject, Brecht was praising "capitalism" for its "revolutionary anti-humanism": What cinema really needs is external action, not introspective psychology. And in this sense, capitalism, by instigating, organising and automatising certain needs on the mass scale, acts in a way that is straightforwardly revolutionary. By concentrating on "external" action alone and reducing everything to processes, no longer recognizing the hero as the mediator, or man as the measure of all things, it demolishes the introspective psychology of the bourgeois novel and so lays waste whole stretches of ideology.^

1 Terry Lowell, Pictures of Reality, p. 86. ^ Christopher Williams(ed.), Realism and the Cinema (London: Routledge, 1980) p. 169.

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Alienation, a much debated problem among Marxists from Marx, himself, to Marcuse is the result of the separation of man's "species being" from the material world that surrounds him. The modernist artist essentially reflects the alienation of man's social being from the technical ensemble that he is psychologically enforced to become a part of. The famous "gap" the modernist is proud to work on, is this ontological "gap" caused by the capitalist mode of production: The metamorphosis of man into matter (or maybe in a Kafkaesk allegory, to an insect). In that sense, a conventionalist realism that totally rejects humanism and put exclusive emphasis on ideology and its material basis can not be the starting point for the present account of realism in art. Realism in art is related to "epistemological realism". I tried to clarify that "realism in art" that constitutes the basis of this work is critical realism (which has strong affinities with classical realism) that falls within "epistemological realism". Epistemological realism takes both the empirical world and the historical analysis into consideration in formulating its own theoretical premises. Likewise, Lukacs' aesthetic realism is based on a critical account of both the actual (that is empirical, on the surface) occurrences as well as the potential (philosophical ) conceptions. It is "humanist" as well as "political". As noted earlier, from a socio-political perspective, critical realism in art occurs in social contexts where man, politics and society become harmonious. In social systems that favour "human progress", where man truly makes history and the unprivileged strata have a chance to upward mobility, a realist style within the "epistemological realism" is likely to emerge.

4. REALISM AND FILM Cinema is the art of the "exterior and the visible". In that sense, cinema has a potential for realism more than any other medium of art. As Armes observes: ... Though film projection is a process of illusion, relying on a defect of the eye (the inability to differentiate images which follow one another at a rate of six-teen or twenty-four frames a second), the camera itself does not cheat. The images it gives are those which record the successive stages of a movement as they occurred in real life. 1

Cinema is based on still photography. The subject-matter of cinema is the photographable world; the reality which lies naturally in front of the photographer. Film is the physical redemption of reality. This does not, of course, exclude the formalistic tendency that accompanied realism from the invention of the moving image. Lumière was always followed by Meliès, and 1

Roy Armes, Film and Reality (Penguin Books, 1974) p. 18.

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the natural projection of everyday reality often co-existed with the abstract phantasies of the artist. For some theorists like Hugo Munsterberg and Rudolf Arnheim, cinema was not an "art" as long as it did not show its medium; or in other words, as long as it did not transform the dull reality of the world into something else. On the other hand, in his Theory of Film, Siegfried Kracauer despised the overpraised notion of art and declared the death of the monopoly of the traditional arts by the advent of this glorious "nonart": The film. As Andrew states, Kracauer saw in cinema the first "art" in which the battle between form and content was won in favour of the latter. Film was the art of the content. 1 It is often pointed out that cinematic realism is closer to naturalism than classical realism. It is more concerned with empirical data as it is based on the recording of the objective observation of outside reality. Many writers found affinities between Zola and Zavattini as Armes does: Aiming at an objective, scientifically detached view of the social conflict, naturalism propounds the doctrine of the omnipotence of milieu in shaping-and indeed often in crushing the individual. The theoretical basis of realism as elaborated by Cesare Zavattini is very close to the ideas of Zola in that an overriding sympathy for the poor is manifested but no solutions are offered to the problems raised.^

Armes' point, here, is not very convincing as it ignores the different epistemological bases that filmic "realism" and positivist "naturalism" have. As argued in the previous section, Zola's naturalism is based on the 19 th century theories of science and materialism mostly based on Taine and Comte. Cinematic realism, intrinsic to the Italian context theorized by Zavattini, is more humanistic and embody a deep respect for man and his social surrounding. It is not a "surface", empirical look at man and his environment but an attempt to a deeper understanding. As Pasolini observes: In neo-realist films day-to-day reality is seen from a crepuscular, intimistic, credulous and above all "natural" point of view. Not "naturalistic" in the classical sense-cruel and violent as in Verga, or total as in Zola; in neo-realism things are described with a certain detachment, with human warmth mixed with irony ... I call it "creatural realism" (realismo creaturale).3

In fact, the "critical realism" in cinema (different from literature) is a peculiar mixture of a naturalistic tendency (documentary tradition) with classical realism (the Aristotelian tradition of story-telling). Film has a dual structure: It is both closed and open. It is "closed" in the sense that, like every 1

Dudley Andrew, Major Film Theories (Oxford University Press, 1976). Roy Armes, Patterns of Realism (London: The Tantivity Press, 1971) p. 18. ^ Pier Paolo Pasolini, Pasolini on Pasolini: Interviews with Oswald Stack (Indiana University Press, 1969) p. 109. 2

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other narrative, the film narrative organizes itself to have a start and an end. The filmic system is also "open", as the spectator is supposed to be aware of the system, and as with documentaries, there is a referent outside the film itself. 1 Thus, filmic realism, that we are concerned with, is a peculiar combination of mimetic story telling and naturalistic reporting within the epistemological realism of Lukacs. It was said at the outset that cinema has a potential for realism more than any other medium of art. It is possible to justify this statement from a "semiotical" perspective: Scholars widely believe that "formalist tendencies" in art (other than cinema) manifest themselves with a "metaphoric" usage of their raw material (words, shapes or colors). How symbolic and anti-realist can a "film" language really be? Can one talk about a metaphoric juxtaposition of images? Prominent philosophers have generally agreed that they can only talk metaphorically about a metaphoric film language. Christian Metz, for instance, holds that the filmic metaphor does not merit the name at all as it lacks a basic property of a metaphor: In a metaphor, the resemblance between the two terms — i.e. the common element or term of comparison at the center of the metaphor-is not made explicit; we speak of "a pencil of light", not of light "as thin as" a pencil. In what are claimed to be filmic metaphors on the other hand , the two terms are co-present on the image strip so that their resemblance is inevitably made explicit. 2

Gilles Deleuze also questions the possibility of a filmic metaphor. Quoting Roman Jacobson, Deleuze maintains that cinema is typically métonymie, because it essentially works by juxtaposition and continuity. In contrast to the "metaphor", in a "metonymy" a part of a whole signifies the whole. André Bazin's most praised concept of the "depth of field" uses the métonymie capacity of the film language. Through the careful choices of elements in the "mise en scène", the non contradictory and superficial nature (façade) of reality (that Adorno mostly complained of) is overcome. Says Deleuze of metonymy: ... There is still a third moment, not from image to concept, or from concept to image, but the identity of concept and image. The concept is in itself in the image, and the image is for itself in the concept. This is no longer organic and pathetic but dramatic, pragmatic, praxis, or actionthought. This action-thought indicates the relation between man and the world, between man and nature, the sensory motor unity, but by raising it to a supreme power: monism. 3 1

Christopher Williams(ed.), Realism and the Cinema (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1980). 2 Christian Metz, "Current Problems of Film Theory" in Bill Nichols (ed.) Movies and Methods (University of California Press, 1976) p. 568. 3 Gilles Deleuze, Cinema 2: The Time-Image (University of Minnesota Press, 1996) p. 161.

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Pasolini also emphasized in many interviews and essays that cinema expresses reality not through symbols, but through reality itself. The language of cinema is "métonymie" and not "metaphoric" as reality does not need metaphors to express itself. Metaphors are figures of the mind, metonymy are figures of the world. For Pasolini, cinema has an international (he calls it "transnational") language through which a worker or a bourgeois, a Ghanaian or an American, can communicate to each other, as film uses a common system of signs. Says Pasolini: By studying the cinema as a system of signs, I came to the conclusion that it is a non-conventional and non-symbolic language unlike the written or spoken language. If I have to express you, I express you through yourself; If I want to express that tree, I express it through itself. The cinema is a language which expresses reality with reality. So the question is: what is the difference between the cinema and reality? Practically none. I realized that the cinema is a system of signs whose semiology corresponds to a possible semiology of the system of signs of reality itself. ^

FORMAL FEATURES OF REALISM: BAZIN AND KRACAUER

Realism in cinema, as realism in other mediums of art, is first of all defined in terms of "formal" aesthetic criteria. Before focusing on its sociopolitical content, we have to analyse it as a "style", keeping in mind that problems connected with film styles reveal more openly than in any other mediums of art their social roots and significance. A style is generally defined as the sum of all recurrent features of texture and structure in a work of art. As suggested earlier, in cinema, the classical realist style is above all a métonymie language. In realist film theory, this métonymie language is theorized by two prominent critics: André Bazin and Siegfried Kracauer. André Bazin started his career as a critic in the early 50s in the French periodical Cahiers du Cinéma. He was the first critic who was genuinely interested in cinema and cinematic language, not as a continuation of traditional theories of art, but as a peculiar aesthetic medium with its own rules. Bazin's exclusive emphasis on realism in cinema coincided with the heyday of the Italian neo-realism. For Bazin, "cinema reached its fullness in being the art of the real." 2 The cinematic realism, he was concerned with, was a "realism of space". According to Bazin, "cinema's core realism was not the realism of subject matter or realism of expression, but that realism of space without which moving pictures do not constitute cinema" 3 As in all other realist film theories, Bazin based cinematic reality on still photography. Through cinema, we created a world looking just like the world, an asymptote ' P.P. Pasolini, Pasolini on Pasolini, p. 29. Dudley Andrew, The Major Film Theories, p. 137. 3 Ibid. p. 138.

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of reality. This reality is, however, inferior and dependent upon its original. In that sense, the artistic criterion for Bazin, is the representational qualities of images. Single shots are already art (without editing) as long as they represent, metonymycally, the outside reality: In Bazin, film art is complete, is fully achieved in the shot itself. If the shot stands in proper relation to the real, then it is already art. Indeed, there are for Bazin no higher or more inclusive units or categories of film form and film art. The shot depends on no larger unit nor on combination with other shots for its status as art. Bazin does not go beyond the shot, for his theory it is the beginning and the end of film art. 1

In the film art, the image is dependent upon and inferior than the nature that it represents. As noted, for Bazin, realism in cinema is a "realism of space". Deleuze comments on it: As Bazin said, the cinematographic image contrasts with the theatrical image in that it goes from the outside to the inside, from the setting to the character, from nature to man. Even if it begins from human action, it does so as if from an outside, and even it starts from a human face, it does so as if from a nature or a landscape.^

Bazin accords exclusive importance to this realism of space and says that films which attempted to substitute the world of experiences with a plastic, artificial world, as in the German Expressionist Movement (ie. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari), generally failed. For Bazin, cinema is "dramaturgy of nature" and "there can be no cinema without the setting up of an open space in place of the universe rather than as part of it. The screen cannot give us the illusion of this feeling of space without calling on certain natural guarantees."3 According to Bazin, there are two types of directors: Those who believe in the "image" and those who believe in the "reality". The image, here, represents the formalist-modernist tendency to transform and manipulate the represented object. The formalist tendency was common in the film production between 1920 and 1940, a period of strong political and social unrest in the entire West. In the film world, the Soviet Expressive Realism represented by Eisenstein, Vertov and Pudovkin, and German Expressionism of Carl Mayer and Fritz Lang, were the best examples of an "imagistic" or "metaphoric" film language. Bazin tells us that "formalism" in cinema can be reduced to essentially two categories: Those that relate to the plastics of the image (manipulation of the visual material through lighting, and special effects as in

1 Brian Henderson, "Two Types of Film Theory", in Bill Nichols (ed.) Movies and Methods (University of California Press, 1976) p. 397. Gilles Deleuze, Cinema 2, p. 162. 3 André Bazin, What is Cinema (University of California Press, 1974) p. 110.

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the German Expressionist films), and those that relate to montage (creation of a sense or meaning through the juxtaposition of different shots, favoured by the Soviet Expressive Realists).1 Bazin does not deny that montage has added a lot to the development of film language, but he completely rejects the modernist contention that the ambiguity of reality can only be shown in the film via montage. The realist film is not bound by the "façade" of reality as long as it makes full usage of a simple shooting technique: The depth of field. Firstly used by Von Stroheim in Greed, the depth of field has many aesthetic consequences, but the most important function of it is an ethical one: Depth of focus implies consequently both a more active mental attitude on the part of the spectator and a more positive contribution on his part to the action in progress. While montage only calls for him to follow his guide, to let his attention follow along smoothly with that of the director who will choose what he should see, here he is called upon to exercise at least a minimum of personal choice. It is from his attention and his will that the meaning of the image in part derives. 2

Thus the spectator is not manipulated through various juxtapositions of images to reach the meaning that the director wishes him to reach, but he is given a certain freedom to choose from the image, the elements that naturally appeal to him. The spectator is given a certain respect and is not taken for a subject as in a Pavlovian experience. That is why the neo-realist directors, like Rossellini or de Sica so naturally takes us within the movie, without giving the impression that we are being hypnotized. The second major theorist of realism is Siegfried Kracauer. A leading reporter of the Frankfurter Zeitung, Kracauer developed an interest in cinema and published his voluminous Theory of Film, (the "bible of realism" according to Roy Armes) in 1960. Kracauer had a deep respect for cinema as the physical redemption of reality, and saw in it the first triumph of "content" over "form". Kracauer strongly held that the realm of the traditional arts was not adequate to understand cinema and a truly "cinematic approach" should be developed for this new and peculiar art. In fact, Kracauer, in some sense, despised the established arts and praised films "which incorporated aspects of physical reality with a view to making us experience them". 3 Like Bazin, Kracauer also believed that the subject matter of cinema was the photographable world that gives itself naturally. But Kracauer was a humanist and his realism was more of a "human realism" than that of Bazin. He praised a realism of intention and not a realism of crude facts. Documentaries and newsreels were meaningful, only, as long as they incorporated a "human depth". But this depth should never overwhelm and 1 2

Ibid. Ibid. p. 36. Siegfried Kracauer, Theory of Film (Oxford University Press, 1960) p. 39.

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transform the physical reality: "Cinema should be an expression not of world's, but of man's meaning; it exists not to transcend its material but to serve it." 1 The "truly cinematic" was the happy marriage of film of fact and the story film. Thus, the empirical observable reality should be complemented by the potential, deeper reality: Confined by definition, to the rendering of our environment, documentary misses those aspects of potentially visible reality which only personal involvement is apt to summon. Their appearance is inseparable from human drama, as conveyed by an intrigue ... It is Rotha who requests documentary to "embrace individuals" and to broaden its human references. Similarly Bernard Miles submits that the aims of documentary can best be served from the screen point of view by a marriage of documentary as we know it with a more human story value.

It should be underlined that this perspective of the "totality of the real", which includes the actual, observable as well as the potential reality, is within the same epistemological realism with Lukacs' "critical realism". In fact, Kracauer goes on to compare novel and film, and concludes that like novel, film also tends to render life in its fullness. But unlike film, novel is a close universe and it often lets the story to overwhelm the open-ended reality. For Kracauer, there are no genuinely cinematic literary forms. Novel can not be adequately adapted to cinema. In an almost Platonic spirit, Kracauer strictly separates the "ideal cinematic" form, from its "degenerated" forms. For the truly cinematic to be realized, the film must be based on a "lifelike" story. Kracauer calls it "found story". It includes incidents typical of the world around us, stories not created but discovered in the real life. Found story eliminates the necessity of a pre-written and detailed script and gives the director the chance to capture the "essentially human" spontaneously. The masters of neo-realism, Rossellini and Fellini, developed their scenes with only a rudimentary story serving as a guide. They let the improvised, immediate occurrences "permeate" the film: The true film artist may be imagined as a man who sets out to tell a story but, in shooting it, is so overwhelmed by his innate desire to cover all of physical reality — and also by a feeling that he must cover it in order to tell the story, any story in cinematic terms — that he ventures ever deeper into the jungle of material phenomena in which he risks becoming irretrievably lost if he does not, by virtue of great efforts, get back to the highways he has left.-'

1

Dudley Andrew, The Major Film Theories, p. 114. ^ Siegfried Kracauer, Theory of Film, p. 212. 3 Ibid. p. 255.

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Could cinema serve a higher purpose than simply recording the physical world around us? More than a simple aesthetic medium, Kracauer, almost in a theological spirit, saw in cinema the potentials for the creation of the "family of man". Kracauer was not a Marxist but believed (maybe in a Catholic spirit) that the situation of modern man was abstraction, alienation and loneliness. Science, instead of helping us to love each other and live in harmony with nature, searched for laws to control us. Through the advent of a scientific visual art, the cinema, Kracauer believed that things in their concreteness could reappear in front of us and that we could become aware of our place within nature: "Films tend to explore this texture of everyday life, whose composition varies according to places, people and time. So they help us not only to appreciate our given material environment but to extend it in all directions. They virtually make the world our home." 1 In the same spirit with Auerbach and Ayfre, Kracauer maintained that through the "rendering visible of mankind", people would discover in various places in the world that, below the surface conflicts, they were all similar. "It is still a long way to a common life of mankind on earth, but the goal begins to be visible..." 2 To conclude, a quotation from French director Eric Rohmer published in Cahiers du Cinéma is chosen, to show how the realist filmmakers were in harmony with Kracauer and Bazin: I think the aim of the cinema is to keep tightening its hold on reality, and one could easily envisage a history of cinema which would show that the cinema has never stopped discovering nature and moving towards the natural. It hasn't got there yet completely, there are loads of things it can't show yet, but it will eventually manage to do it. Very simple things, like two people passing each other in the street...I am not scared of being too close to life. I am trying to eliminate what still draws me away from it.

5. A SUMMARY OF THEORETICAL STANDPOINTS A film wave is a sub-conscious image of a political order. The socalled "national cinemas" (a film wave showing all the particular traits of a national ideology) emerge in times of crisis and show the political and philosophical dispositions of social agents. As Godard states: There have been only a handful of national cinemas: Italian, German, American and Russian. This is because when countries were inventing and using motion pictures, they needed an image of themselves. The Russian cinema arrived at a time they needed an image of themselves. And in the case of Germany, they had lost a war and were completely corrupted and needed a new idea of Germany. At the time the new Italian cinema emerged, 1 2

Ibid. p. 304. 310. Christopher Williams(ed.), Realism and the Cinema, p. 253.

aJ Ibid. p.

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Italy was completely lost-it was the only country which fought with the Germans, then against the Germans. They strongly needed to see a new reality and this was provided by neo-realism.'

For a film wave to develop fully in particular social circumstances, at least three conditions seem necessary to exist: 1. There has to be a technical and professional base: This includes a cadre of directors, cameramen, actors and other technicians as well as the industrial plant required for film production. 2. A mode of organization of the film industry either in harmony or permissive of the general ideology of the film wave. 3. A political climate either in harmony or tolerant of the ideology and style of the film wave. As can be seen, the most important determinant for a film wave to emerge is the general political climate which, ultimately, sets the range of possibilities for the technical cadres. This takes us back to Gottfried Keller who said: Everything is political, every action, thought and emotion of human beings is inseparably bound up with the life and struggles of the community, i.e., with politics; whether the human themselves are conscious of this, unconscious of it or even try to escape from it, objectively their actions, thoughts and emotions spring from and run into politics.^

The formation of the technical base, the harmony of the industry with the ideology of the wave and the permissive political climate are all in conformity with the general theoretical premises developed earlier. Based on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, it was already noted that the "habitus" of the prominent artists (the professional base), the internal logic of the field of production (the industry), and the interactions between the artistic field and the general field of power (the political climate in general) were the sociological determinants of an artistic wave. It was also underlined that Marxist notion of "forces of production" were limited to account for all the structural determinants in the formation of a film wave and, hence, the concept of "power mechanisms" was proposed instead. This work specifically deals with critical (classical) realism in film and its socio-political background, as far as Italy and Turkey are concerned. The rise of classical realism necessitates a particular socio-political context. Besides the internal logic of the film world and the artistic traditions of both Italy and Turkey (that are considered relatively autonomous from politics), the specific socio-political context that determines the philosophical climate, is 1 Duncan J. Petrie (ed.), Screening Europe: Image and Identity in Contemporary Cinema (London: BFI Publications, 1992) p. 98. 2 Keller quoted in George Lukacs, Studies in European Realism, p. 7.

European

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the basic concern of this work. The main argument, here, is that, "classical realism", as an art style, occurs in socio-historical contexts in which class contradictions reach a balance and the ruling stratum (i.e. the bourgeoisie) assumes a progressive role vis-à-vis the various segments of society. This creates a "healthy" social order and a mutual bond of sympathy between the artist and the society. The artist do not feel the need to "return to the mother's womb" (in Jung's terminology) but observes life in its "totality" which prepares the necessary conditions for a realistic style to emerge. Nevertheless, the conditions for the emergence of this "balance of class contradictions" is not reducible to the operations of economic "forces of productions", and many other political, social and psychological factors can put into function other "power mechanisms" that determine the terms and duration of this social equilibrium. The concept of "balance of class contradictions" belongs to Lukacs who uses the concept in a broad historical perspective. He says that genuine art (classical realism) occurred only in the ancient Greek civilization, the Renaissance, and the post-Revolutionary French society. But, obviously, this concept should have actual validity to account for the birth of modern realist film waves. To further illuminate the concept of "balance of class contradictions " and its relevance in the contemporary world for the birth of classical realism, I would like to reemphasize some major points. Lukacs' dictum of "balance of class contradictions" is likely to occur in times of serious political and social crisis that do not lead to the total devastation of the system, but necessitate a strong reconstruction and revitalization effort on the part of the ruling stratum. This revitalization effort requires the active participation of all segments of society in a positive, progressive and democratic spirit. It's an "anti-Gramscian" period in a society's history where the "hegemonic" power of capitalism is minimized and the ideology of the ruling classes need not to be based on illusion and deception. It is a "gap" in the ideological continuity of capitalism, due to specific social and political circumstances the society is undergoing. As Kavolis states: Ideological and social reconstruction can occur whenever a "steady state" of the social system is disturbed by increased individual stress" which is eventually perceived as widespread "cultural distortion". Revitalization movements arise as responses to a collective perception that the way of life of one's society has become "distorted" and is no longer emotionally acceptable. ^

1 Vytautas Kavolis, History on Art's Side, p. 15.

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In the world of contemporary politics, the necessary conditions for "a balance of class contradictions" seem to be possible in two political contexts: 1. A democratic and libertarian fight against a powerful and regressive "common enemy" (i.e. wars of independence, civil wars against autocratic and oppressive rulers, popular rebellion against exploiting powers etc.) 2. Revitalization and reconstruction efforts after a major social and political crisis from a progressive and leftward oriented bourgeoisie (i.e.. reconstruction after warfare, nation building, stabilization after a popular coup d'état or revolution...) In both cases, the ruling stratum is responsive and responsible towards other segments of society and a general atmosphere of harmony and solidarity among classes prevail. This harmony is not the ideological counterpart of a totalitarian or bonapartist régime (although it can be initiated by a military elite) but it is the "voluntary" consensus of otherwise conflicting powers to solve a pressing problem. It is "the convergence of popular and elite consciousness" around a common goal. Needless to say, this populism necessitate a rather democratic, libertarian and leftward oriented elite structure. In these brief periods where the "deceptive" bourgeois ideology is surpassed, popular reality can become manifest and confrontable. As the progressive ruling elite aim at the embetterment of the existing reality, they are ready to face it in order to change and rehabilitate it. Thus "Realism" becomes the dominant philosophical mode of popular thinking. As art reflects political order, in a "healthy" political environment, "a critical and classical realist style" (an anthropomorphic realism aiming at representing the unity and totality of man with a critical perspective towards society) is likely to occur. As noted above, understanding the "reality" becomes important and desirable for the ruling elite and the artist simply follows this general philosophical inclination. Marxist scholars often emphasized the linkage between the popular fight of the French bourgeoisie against the ancien régime and the prevailing critical realism in literature (Balzac, Stendhal) as well as in painting (Courbet and Champfleury). This extremely politicized period in French history was certainly full of "hope" and "optimism" for the future and the progressive French bourgeoisie, up to 1848, represented the interests of all segments of society in their fight against the nobility. The two conditions posited above are present here: The fight against the regressive common enemy (the aristocracy), and the prolonged reconstruction and stabilization effort after a major social and political crisis (the popular revolution of 1789). As a necessary corollary to this theoretical stance, anti-realism or abstract styles are assessed as related to chaotic, fragmented and alienating social orders. They reflect the artist's quest for inner peace in escapist tendencies. As a member of the society, the artist reflects the psycho-social dispositions of his social surrounding. In periods of social dissolution and chaos, parallel to the extreme polarization of social segments, the artist is

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likely to opt for abstraction and denial of reality. Lukacs underlines that the abstract and distorted portrait of the modern man is directly related to the psychopathology developed prior and during the W.W.I: ... What at first was no more than dim anticipation of approaching catastrophe developed after 1914, into an all-pervading obsession. At each period psychopathology was given a new emphasis, a different significance and artistic function. Kerr's description suggests that in naturalism the interest in psychopathology sprang from an aesthetic need; it was an attempt to escape from the dreariness of life under capitalism. Musil shows that some years later the opposition acquired a moral slant. The obsession with morbidity had ceased to have a merely decorative function, bringing colour into the greyness of reality, and become a moral protest against capitalism. *

As Walter Abell argues, in periods which generate "classical realism", "hope" and "optimism" prevail in society. Cooperation and solidarity (and not the war of all against all) become the basis of social relationships. These are moments in history where both the Socialist and the Catholic Utopia of "brotherhood of man" (Kracauer, Bazin, Pasolini) is "approximated". Obviously, these periods are very brief in history. As soon as the common enemy is defeated or the revitalization period is over, the ruling class reestablishes its hegemonic power, hence turns oppressive and hostile to other dynamic forces in society. The advocates of further change are repressed or forced to alter their (now) "radical" philosophy. Either through political coercion or social isolation, the artist is also forced to abandon the critical realist style which stands for the "old" order. In France, for example, after the defeat of the workers' movement in 1848, the bourgeoisie, fearful of the rising power of the working class, gave up its former progressive rhetoric and turned hostile towards other forces in the society. As Lukacs and Plekhanov argued, classical realism turned into a "lifeless" naturalism and later to more abstract styles. In the following chapters, I will try to analyse how "neo-realism" in Italy and "social realism" in Turkey were related to the "power mechanisms" (political, economic, social, artistic..) that created the necessary "balance of class contradictions" at a particular historical moment. In the next chapter, I will argue that the Italian Resistance movement against the Fascist forces created the necessary atmosphere of solidarity among various segments of society, and the revitalization efforts of a devastated country by a progressive elite coalition, completed the necessary political climate for critical realism. As emphasized throughout this work, I do not want to reduce the birth of an artistic wave entirely to political conditions (that is why Kant was introduced in so great detail at the outset). I will therefore analyse the peculiar aesthetic traits of neo-realism as "relatively" autonomous from politics (as having an internal logic of its own) without neglecting the internal operations of the film industry and the "habitus" of major directors. 1

Georg Lukacs, 'The Ideology of Modernism" in Eagleton (ed.) Marxist Literary p. 150.

Theory,

2 NEO-REALISM AND THE POST-WAR ITALIAN SOCIETY

1. NEO-REALISM: A STYLE OF EQUILIBRIUM Neo-realism is believed to have started around the mid forties with Roberto Rossellini's Rome, Open City (Roma, citta aperta, 1945) and come to an end in the early fifties with Vittorio de Sica's Umberto D (1951). Its most outspoken representatives were Luchino Visconti, Giuseppe De Santis together with Rossellini and De Sica but it also included the works of other popular directors like Alberto Lattuada, Luigi Zampa, Pietro Germi and Aldo Vergano. Many different filmmakers were directly or indirectly inspired from the politics and aesthetics of neo-realism. The early works of Fellini, Pasolini and Antonioni clearly reflect the dominant artistic influence of the new movement. Although it is widely thought that the famous Italian film critic Umberto Barbara was the first to use the term in 19431, the genesis of the concept "neo-realism" goes back to a critic called Arnaldo Bocelli, who first used it to outline the literary production of the year 1930.2 Not surprisingly, neo-realism was also a prominent literary trend in the mid 1940s and famous writers like Alberto Moravia, Carlo Levi, Elio Vittorini and Cesare Pavese were the major spokesmen of this new mode of writing. Carlo Levi's Christ Stopped at Eboli which initiated a new literary sensitivity towards the problems of the Southern Italy (II Mezzogiorno) appeared in the same year as Rossellini's Rome, Open City. These "angry young men", together with their counterparts in the film industry, engaged in formal experiences to create a new literary language that would fit their social concerns of "understanding the reality". According to Sergio Pacifici: It should be pointed out that one of the most important and fruitful trends of postwar Italian fiction has been the pseudo-documentary one. Such fiction has concentrated on the themes of war, the humiliations endured under Fascism, the social and political problems faced by a nation on the verge of, and after defeat .... In these books real experience plays a larger role than fantasy. There is no attempt to hide the historical reality of the experiences they narrate, although sometimes reality itself is enriched by imagined events as the whole is woven into a coherent, well-developed plot. 3 ' Carlo Lizzani, Le Cinéma Italien (Paris: Les Editeurs Français Réunis, 1955). Ben Lawton, "Italian Neorealism: A Mirror Construction of Reality", Film Criticism (Winter, 1979) Vol. Ill, No. 2, p. 9. 3 Sergio Pacifici, A Guide To Contemporary Italian Literature (Meridian Books, 1962) p. 116. 2

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The post-war Italian literary intelligentsia seemed to have the same concerns as the famous directors of the period. The ultimate winners of this productive competition, though, would definitely be the film makers whose innovative works are today considered as keystones in the history of the seventh art. In fact, as Mary McCarthy pointed out, for foreign cultural milieux, "the Italian novel was a branch of the Italian film." 1 "Neo-realism", as an avant-garde style, was largely confined to the realm of film, but its "spirit" was shared by many aesthetic trends of the era, parallel to the sociological factors of the immediate post-war period that underlined the formation of such an innovative style. Neo-realism was a "state of mind" that any progressive intellectual was supposed to adopt. The basis of this new mentality was a kind of "futurism", a wish to break with the Fascist aesthetic credos of the past. According to the four point program outlined in Barbara's well-known 1943 essay in Cinema, neo-realist films were to: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Get rid of the naive and mannered clichés which have formed the larger part of Italian films, Abandon those fantastic and grotesque fabrications which exclude human problems and the human point of view, Dispense with historical set-pieces and fictional adaptations, Exclude the rhetoric which pretends that all Italians are inflamed by the same noble sentiments. 2

Neo-realist directors often rejected the traditional conventions of the film industry. The use of nonprofessional actors mostly coming from similar walks of life as the protagonists of the films, on-location shooting rather than studio settings, the mise en scène technique highly praised by André Bazin, were the major formal characteristics of this new wave. According to Bazin, the mise en scène of neo-realist films was a peculiar application of the principles of Orson Welles and Jean Renoir with their "penchant for deep focus photography in sharp contrast to the ideologically inspired montage of Eisenstein." 3 This method was the major defense of the neo-realists who were accused, by the modernists and the Althusserian Marxists, of neglecting the deeper conflicts that underline the "real" (nothing but an illusion, and a reflection of the dominant ideological discourse for them). For the neo-realist directors, the "depth of field" gave the audience the chance to choose among the complex elements within a framed image and therefore to go beyond the surface look at the order of things. Bazin emphasized that this movement, in

1

Roy Armes, Patterns of Realism (London: Barnes Company, 1971) p. 26. Ben Lawton, "Italian Neorealism: A Mirror Construction of Reality", p. 8. 3 Peter Bondanella, Italian Cinema : From Neorealism to the Present (New-York: Frederick Ungar Book, 1998) p. 32. 2

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principle, respected the ontological wholeness of reality by opposing the manipulation of reality in the cutting room. 1 The choice of nonprofessional actors was more than a simple concern for originality. It reflected a political as well as artistic position that denied the star system and, thus, the "personality cult" and "heroism" upon which the Fascist ideology was based. Says Cesare Zavattini, one of the most prominent theorists of neo-realism: I am against exceptional persons, heroes. I have always felt an instinctive hate towards them... Heroes create inferiority complexes throughout an audience. The time has come to tell each member of the audience that he is the true protagonist of life. The result would be a constant emphasis on the responsibility and dignity of every human being. This is exactly the ambition of neo-realism: to strengthen everyone; and to give everyone the proper awareness of a human being.^

In fact, neo-realism managed to undermine the star system to such an extent that professional actors paraded many times in Rome for State regulations to protect their rights! In an ironical article, Venturi states that "the population was inclined to consider the film industry as a variant of the Winter Relief Fund and applied for jobs in the producing companies without even bringing a self-photograph but instead listed their troubles.. ." 3 The new movement also insisted that the filmic story be based on daily existence. Similar to Kracauer's notion of "found story", Zavattini proposed the concept of "cinema of encounter" meaning that the plot created on the spot would be preferable to a preconstructed plot. Very much in the same humanist spirit with Kracauer, Zavattini emphasized that the most important mission of the cinema was to create a dialogue through social awareness and contact. Zavattini proudly declared that (as a script writer) he could make a spectacle out of an ordinary situation: For example: let us take two people who are looking for apartment. In the past, the filmmaker would have made it the starting point, using it as a simple and external pretext to base something else on. Today, one can use that simple situation of hunting for an apartment as the entire subject of the film. It must be understood, of course, that this is true only if the situation is always emphasized with all echoes and reverberations which are present in it. 4

1

o

André Bazin, What is Cinema? Vol. II (University of California Press, 1971).

Cesare Zavattini, "A Thesis on Neo-Realism", in Overbey (ed.) Springtime in Italy: A Reader on Neo-Realism (Connecticut: Archon Books, 1978) p. 76. 3 Lauro Venturi, "Prevailing Trends In Italy's Film Industry", Films in Review (April, 1950) Vol. I, p. 7. 4 Cesare Zavattini, "A Thesis on Neo-Realism", p. 71.

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Neo-realism was a rich and complex cultural phenomenon of the postwar reconstruction period. Not surprisingly, it was adopted by many contradictory intellectual circles, each defining it according to its own political and ideological purposes. Thus Marxists emphasized the social and political commitments of neo-realist films. For them, neo-realism depended above all on "content". The famous Marxist critic, George Sadoul, has written that, "from 1945 on, Italian neo-realism emerged as an essential phenomenon of world cinema; it was no one's offspring; it was created by a people and by a nation in the forward march of history and the clash of social struggles..." 1 Bordé and Bouissy, the writers of the most comprehensive Marxist analysis of neo-realism, pointed out that it spread the limited vision of "verismo" 2 to all social layers. It was the first massive experience of a "social cinema". It contributed to the formation of a popular bloc and gave the chance to those, formerly deprived of any means of expression, a chance to raise their voice. 3 Catholics, on the other hand, emphasized the "spiritual", "human" aspects of neo-realism. The famous ex-Catholic priest, Ayfre, said that the basis of neorealism was a dialogue between man and the reality. This reality was never expressed with distance and coldness but always embodied a fraternal curiosity. This dialogue was not possible under constraint. Thus, neo-realism was truly a style of "democracy" and was unthinkable in totalitarian systems. 4 It is also known that early Fellini and post 1947 Rossellini opted for religious realism in their works. The common point of all these different approaches is a "revolutionary humanism" shared by both Marxists and Catholics. Thus we have, on the one hand, a Catholic-humanist Bazin who says, in a quasi-religious tone, that the protagonist of the Bicycle Thief, Ricci, shows us that "the evil which undeniably does exist in the world is elsewhere than the heart of man, that it is somewhere in the order of things" 5 ; and on the other, a Communist Visconti who declares: "I wanted above all to tell stories of living men, of living men among things, not of things per se...What I am interested in is an "anthropomorphic cinema". 6 Neo-realism always refused the modernist dictum that man is alone in the universe. Its ontological basis follows the classical Aristotelian concept of "zoon politikon" and even the most pessimistic examples of neo-realism leaves room for change and a "better future". It is a 1

George Huaco, The Sociology of Film Art, p. 157. "Verismo" is a literary wave of the 19th century, particularly known by the work of Giovanni Verga. It included a critical look at the question of dialects, the problems of the Southern Italy left unsolved by the "Risorgimento". It was, nevertheless, a derivative of positivism and soon lost its political outlook "degenerating" into naturalism. 3 Raymond Bordé and André Bouissy, Le Néo-Réalisme Italien: Une Experience de Cinéma Social (Lausanne: Cinémathèque Suisse, 1960). 4 Amedée Ayfre (Untitled), Etudes Cinématographiques (Summer, 1964) No. 32-35 (Special issue on Italian Neo-Realism). 5 André Bazin, What is Cinema, p. 73. 6 Luchino Visconti, "Anthropomorphic Cinema" in Overbey (ed.), Springtime in Italy, p. 84. 2

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philosophical "bridge" between Marxism and Catholicism probably best exemplified in the controversial personality of Pasolini. It unites both world views in the "love of mankind" and a strong desire for its emancipation from social corruption. As an "anthropomorphic" art style, highly dependant upon the sociopolitical determinants of society, neo-realism is expected to fall within the realist epistemology elaborated in the previous chapter. It was pointed out that "artistic realism" within the realist epistemology (best exemplified by Lukacs' "critical realism") reflected "the whole of reality", the sum of all relationships between subject and object, not only events but also subjective experiences, dreams, emotions, fantasies... 1 As far as neo-realism is concerned, critics and directors slightly disagree as to its exact position on this "positivism-realism" axis. Neo-realism is a type of "critical realism" but under the high artistic influence of "naturalism". For the Christian Democrat Rossellini, the basis of neo-realism is the depiction of everyday life through a technique of faithful reportage, in line with the typical contemporary interest of the modern man in statistical and scientific results 2 . This positivistic approach is erroneously generalized by some critics to the whole of the movement, and Zola's naturalism is shown as the literary counterpart of neo-realism. 3 In fact neorealism is a "hybrid style", embodying elements from both perspectives. Thus, Rossellini is closer to Zola, whereas Visconti is, no doubt, a follower of Stendhal. The difference of neo-realism from naturalism is that the former is always interested in capturing "the essential" behind the surface appearance of things. But unlike "orthodox" realist works, this "essential" is never treated in terms of causal relationships. The neo-realist directors are often satisfied with showing the "consequences" of deep social conflicts, and the "socioeconomic analyses" of these conflicts are generally absent from their works. Apart from the idea of collective strength and solidarity, they do not offer any solutions to the problems (i.e. poverty, the black market, unemployment, prostitution, exploitation of peasants...) they depict. Zavattini says that, "it is enough for the artist to make the need urgently felt" 4 . As Lawton points out: ... From the critical realists and the naturalists, the neo-realists inherited the depiction of everyday life and the perception that the interests of the different social classes do not necessarily coincide. But while naturalism's sympathy for the worker offered no solution, often neorealism emulated socialist realism. However, while numerous neo-realist works reveal a more or less faith in Marxist dialectical conflict, in the inevitability of historical evolution, and in the irresistible power of collective effort, they do not generally share the doctrinary optimism of socialist realism and its faith in the consequent inescapable solution. 5 1 2 3 4 5

See Chapter I. Roberto Rossellini (Untitled), Etudes Cinématographiques, p. 77. Eric Rhode (Untitled), Etudes Cinématographiques, p. 104. Cesare Zavattini, "A Thesis on Neo-Realism" in Overbey (ed.) Springtime in Italy, p. 74. Ben Lawton, "Italian Neorealism: A Mirror Construction of Reality", Film Criticism, p. 9.

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Neo-realism is obviously a style based on the equilibrium of many contradictory elements. As noted above, "revolutionary humanism" is the crucial concept around which all different political, social and aesthetic ideas coalesce. This "revolutionary" aspect of neo-realism puts it directly into political struggle. Although it never goes into an in-depth analysis of social classes or brings forth doctrinary solutions, the new artistic language it creates "grasps not only momentous historical connections but simultaneously the minutes lived by men within the historical perspective." 1 As Pacifici points out, "neo-realism focuses on a variety of real Italians, with their aspirations and hopes by moving against a truly Italian background." 2 The reflection of the simple men onto the screen, with a warm curiosity towards their daily routines, humble lives and petty problems, is a political act per se, and it also signals a "reconciliation" between the Italian intelligentsia and the masses, long dreamed by Gramsci. Neo-realism was the child of a particular social context: The postFascist reconstruction period where all social layers and political ideologies came together to revitalize a devastated Italy. As Bazin astutely pointed out, "it could happen that tomorrow the priest in Roma Citta Aperta and the Communist former member of the Resistance might not get on so well...At the moment the Italian cinema is more sociological than political." 3 In Lukacs' terminology, there occurred at that historical moment, "a balance of class contradictions" together with a prevailing atmosphere of hope and optimism, that created the necessary socio-political conditions for neo-realism to be born. As Chiarini states: Neo-realism is the expression of the ideological orientation and the state of mind of our people in recent years, the expression of a singularly happy moment when people believed that they would be able to create, without further struggles and suffering, a peaceful and better world.... 4

In the previous chapter, I posited three conditions for a film wave to develop fully in particular social circumstances. The most important of these conditions, namely the convergence of socio-political factors, is clearly present in the Italian context. I will look in detail at this particular sociopolitical context in the third section. Basing the argument on Bourdieu as well as on Huaco, I have also emphasized that each particular field of cultural production has its own internal logic. In other words, neo-realism has surely a space of autonomous aesthetic development, a historical dimension based on peculiar cultural traditions. To this artistic evolution I now want to briefly turn. 1 2 3 4

Giuseppe Ferrera, "Neo-realism: Yesterday", in Overbey (ed.) Springtime in Italy, p. 202. Sergio Pacifici, A Guide To Contemporary Italian Literature, p. 227. André Bazin, What is Cinema, p. 21. Luigi Chiarini, "A Discourse On Neo-Realisra", in Overbey (ed.) Springtime in Italy, p. 139.

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2. THE BIRTH OF NEO-REALISM: CULTURAL PRECURSORS AND INDUSTRIAL ASPECTS THE SCHOOL OF NAPLES

Between approximately 1910 and 1925, two prominent trends were discernible in the "infant" Italian film industry: Historical costume films associated with the name of the popular novelist Gabriele D'Annunzio (i.e. Cabiria, 1914), and films based on regional problems and "dialectical verism". The latter trend was abundant in Naples and it was thus named as the "Neapolitan cinema". This meridional cinema, considered as the first source of neo-realism, was sensitive towards the problems of the South, left unsolved by the "Risorgimento". As clearly described in the novels of Verga and later theorized by Gramsci, the unification of Italy was basically an alliance between the "agraris" (feudal lords) of the South and the industrialists of the North. The intellectual precursors of neo-realism held that the "Risorgimento" was made possible at the expense of the South, left deliberately feudal and backward. The early realist filmmakers were clearly endowed with this social awareness, although lacking the necessary technical and political base to turn this consciousness into a coherent artistic expression. But they had a structural leaning towards realism, and the major common point to the Neapolitan school was a "definite naturalistic note which corresponded both to the orientation of the literary texts (they adapted) and to an exact realist definition of the characters and atmosphere."1 The most important Neapolitan films, today considered as the first sources of neo-realism, are Nino Martoglio's Sperduti nel buio (Lost in the Darkness, 1914) and Gustavo Serena's Assunta Spina (1915). Sperduti nel buio is based on the drama written by the veristic Neapolitan playwright Roberto Bracco. Mira Liehm tells us that "it is the story of Nunzio and Paolina, a blind boy and a girl who live in squalid Neapolitan quarters and whose relationship is interrupted by adverse fate." 2 Barbara compares it to the works of Griffith: The film is outstanding for its merging of visual values with an ethical approach. The choice of costumes and all the details testify to a great and deep human sympathy. We see poor cotton-checked clothes, heavy but icy blankets, striped trousers of the young Neapolitan loafers.... and in contrast to that, veils and pillows of Maria Carmi wrapped in her long flowing hair. The presentation of two contrasting environments led the director to use parallel editing in the Griffith manner. 3

1 2 3

Franco Venturini, "Origins of Neo-Realism" in Overbey (ed.) Springtime in Italy, p. 170. Mira Liehm, Passion and Defiance (University of California Press, 1984) p. 13 Ibid. p. 13.

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Assunta Spina, on the other hand, was the adaptation of a popular Neapolitan drama of passion, seduction and revenge by Salvatore Di Giacomo. It was also known as the Italian version of Thérèse Raquin. The character of Assunta combined traditional feminine submissiveness with an increased sensuality and a need for freedom. Its most impressive scenes were shot on the streets, amid the traffic, with bright light and it created a very strong visual impact, again comparable to the works of Griffith. 1 It is generally accepted by the film critics that the last important example of the Neapolitan School was Assunta Spina. Contrary to this common view, Mira Leihm argues that in the mid twenties, a female Neapolitan director named Elvira Notari made very impressive films, but her work is underestimated by male historians. Her film, A Santa Notte (A Holy Night, 1921) was conceived as the continuation of Assunta Spina but her heroine surpassed Assunta in emancipation. Together with her husband and son, Notari created "a personality type, a product of the Neapolitan streets" in De Sica's spirit. E Piccerella (1922) is famous for the scene of the "table of the poor" where she captured the hunger of the city reflected in the faces of the poor, probably inspiring the imagery of Blasetti for La Tavola dei Poveri (The Table of the Poor, 1932).2

BLASETTI, CAMERINI A N D THE CALLIGR A PHERS

During the Fascist reign, the film industry, like most of the other artistic domains, was in a constant regression. The school of Naples was over and the productive talents of young filmmakers were largely suppressed by the cultural policies of Mussolini. In the thirties, the only exceptions to this decline were the works of Alessandro Blasetti and Mario Camerini. Their films were not comparable in aesthetic originality to their contemporaries' such as Dreyer, Bresson or Griffith, but they were "substantially oriented towards realistic atmosphere which they drew from the observation of an intermediate social group, between the petit bourgeoisie and the working class..." 3 Blasetti was closer to the ideological "baggage" of Fascism and even his most realistic works embodied a leaning towards myths and fantasies. His greatest contribution to the neo-realist credo was his famous film 1860 (1933) telling the story of a Sicilian shepherd, shot with non-professional actors. Blasetti also created an early intellectual stimulus among the young critics, by his film magazine called Le Monde á l'Ecran where he gathered Aldo Vergano, Umberto Barbara, and Mario Serandrei 4 1 2 3 4

Ibid. p. 14. Ibid. pp. 15-16. Venturini, "Origins of Neo-Realism", p. 176. Carlo Lizzani, Le Cinéma Italien, p. 73.

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Mario Camerini was more important than Blasetti as a precursor of neo-realism. Especially his deep humanism, combined with irony, was the major source of inspiration for the next generation. His favourite actor, Vittorio De Sica, and his co-writer, Zavattini, certainly owe much of their later style of "piety with irony" to Camerini. Camerini's world consisted of "lightly satiric humour shot through with pathos and is open here and there to dramatic inflections." 1 His most valuable works Gli Uomini che mascalzoni (Les Hommes, quels muflesl, 1932) and Daro un millione (I'd give a million, 1934) both casting De Sica, also gave inspiration to the later films of Blasetti such as Quattro passi fra le nuvole (A Stroll in the Clouds, 1942) closer to the spirit of neo-realism both aesthetically and chronologically. A number of directors turned, between 1940 and 43, to adaptations of 19 th century naturalistic fiction. The most prominent of these were Renato Castellani, Mario Soldati, Luigi Chiarini (also head of the Centra Sperimentale di Cinematografia and editor of Bianco e Nero) and Alberto Lattuada. These directors were called by film historians as the "calligraphers", underlining their interest in formalistic experiences. 2 In fact, they were looking for an original style, in an era of cultural sterility, and they tried to get their inspiration from a "literary decorative" tendency. Their most important contribution to the advent of neo-realism was their successful presentation of a truly Italian landscape. Says Pietrangeli: In search for a style, our filmmakers again began to film outside the studios, slowly rediscovered the Italian landscape, and became reacquainted with the reality of their time and the problems of their country, which they have only understood and expressed in these later years. Even in those intellectual directors who were attacked towards aestheticism by nature, a desire arose to paint a lively, non-conventional Italy^

Together with Camerini's "piety with satire" and the presentation of an authentic Italian landscape by the "calligraphers", the aesthetics of neo-realism were already in the making. The "social content", though, would not mature until the emergence of the necessary socio-political conditions.

FOREIGN INSPIRATIONS

Three major foreign sources are responsible for the development of a new artistic conception in Italy: Soviet expressive realism, American literary naturalism and French realism. The encounter with the Soviet school was largely made possible through a Fascist university organization called * Venturini, "Origins of Neo-Realism", p. 176. Peter Bondanella, Italian Cinema : From Neorealism to the Present, p. 21. 3 Venturini, p. 173.

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"Gioventù Universitaria Fascista" known as "cinegufs". Ironically, Mussolini's ministers of culture were completely unaware that the Fascist clubs they had so eagerly established in the universities, had become "real Marxist cells". The Potemkine or the Mother were valuable examples for the young and enthusiastic "cineguf" members. Many important theoretical works of Soviet expressive realism, especially the writings of Poudovkin and Eisenstein, were translated into Italian and thus new concepts of film criticism, such as "montage", "parallel editing" or "plastics of image", entered the Italian aesthetic jargon. American naturalistic fiction played a major role in the intellectual make-up of the Italian directors. For the generation of 1930s, America was the land of individual freedom and democracy. In an era of cultural stagnancy, where most Italian writers and filmmakers were encouraged to glorify the Italian nation or to produce escapist works, the cynicism and cruel observations of the American novelists gave great intellectual stimulus to the young directors: ... Several prominent Italian intellectuals readily confessed that their encounter with American literature had been one of their most significant and rewarding experiences. Strange as it may seem, the violence and deep pessimism of Faulkner, Cain, Caldwell, and Steinbeck, whose works were widely read in Italy in the thirties, had actually given them the measure of hope and courage they needed to continue living and writing. 1

Luchino Visconti's famous Ossessione (1942) accepted as a "preneorealist" film was based on a novel by James Cain, The Postman Always Rings Twice. It was the first Italian film, in the Fascist era, clearly confessing that the Italian men and women were no noble creatures. They were endowed with the same "sinful" and "human" instincts as the rest of the world. This was a major insult to the Fascist credo and Visconti had hard times with the Fascist committee of censure.2 Eric Rhode often asserts that the Italian neo-realism has always been closer to Zola than Stendhal. It is true that the French realist school, mostly represented by early Renoir, Feyder and Carnè, had a great impact upon the Italian critics. This cinema was openly naturalistic and La Chienne of Renoir was the most representative film of this avant-garde French movement. It was also the "cult" film for many Italian intellectuals. Rhode says that the fate of neo-realism would have been quite different, if the Italian directors had seen Le Crime de M. Lange before La Chienne? For a long time the French cinema remained as the point of reference for the judgement of all Italian productions. Venturini points out that the French cinema was given much more credit then 1

George Huaco, The Sociology ofFilm Art, p. 201. Carlo Lizzani, Le Cinéma Italien. ^ E. Rhode in Etudes Cinématographiques, p. 104.

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it actually deserved and this over-valuation was basically the consequence of the deep inferiority complex Italians felt vis-à-vis the national French cinema. But it certainly gave much stimulus to the young directors as Venturini states: French realism exerted a great influence on the atmosphere in which our cinema, still at this time, in the process of being established, was created. It determined an authentic spirit of emulation. The films were particularly striking in their presentation of the homogeneous French experience, which appeared as a well defined, original tendency in neatly characterised ethnic form. This French example of national style acted as a catalyst on the Italian search for "the style to be formed". It also influenced, the development of our ethnic realism, which had from time to time grafted on a new node from the old regional stein. '

THE INDUSTRIAL BASIS

As observed earlier, one of the major conditions for the development of a film wave is the existence of a well equipped technical and professional base. The mode of organization of the film industry is very important as it brings together, skilled directors, cameramen, actors and other technicians, while supplying the industrial plants required for film production. The Fascist regime established all the infrastructural elements necessary for the birth of neo-realism. They were, of course, completely unaware that they were preparing the industrial basis for a left-wing film wave. From 1919 onwards, the Italian market was fully dominated by Hollywood productions. Unlike the Instituto L.U.C.E., established by the Fascist government to make propaganda documentaries and newsreels, the Italian commercial film industry received very little State support until the mid 30s. 2 Around the early 30s the situation became scandalous: In 1934, while 258 foreign (mostly Hollywood) films were shown in Italy, only 30 Italian films were made at home. "La Cines", the only legal production company, collapsed the same year, and it became clear to Mussolini regime that urgent measures had to be taken to save the domestic film industry. Thus, the government finally put some restrictions on foreign imports and created a modest fund to encourage certain productions. 3 But the most important contribution of the Fascist government to the post-war neo-realist cinema was to provide a well trained and professional cadre of directors, writers and technicians through the foundation of "Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia" in 1935 and the inauguration of the gigantic film studios

1 Venturini, "Origins of Neo-Realism", p. 175. Edward Tannenbaum, The Fascisi Expérience (Basic Books, 1982). 3 Alberto Farassino, Tatti Sanguineti, Lux Film: Esthétique et Système d'un Studio (Editions du Festival International du Film de Locarno, 1984).

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"Cinecittà" in 1937 that became "Hollywood-on-the-Tiber". 1 This "Experimental Center of Cinematography" was a professional film school still in existence today, and many famous figures of Italian film industry (i.e. Rossellini, Antonioni, Zampa, Germi, de Santis...) were educated there. Luigi Chiarini was the first head of the "Centro" and he also established Bianco e Nero, a respected journal of film aesthetics and criticism. Cinecittà, on the other hand, was the national pride of the Fascist government. Mussolini selected, for the inauguration of Cinecittà, the date of 21 s t of April, the anniversary of the founding of the ancient Rome. His photograph behind a movie camera with Lenin's famous motto "The Cinema is the most powerful weapon" reflects the regime's implied intentions of using the filmic medium for mass mobilization. But in sharp contrast to the Soviet Russia or Nazi Germany, Mussolini's régime never took the film industry very seriously in terms of its propaganda purposes, and preferred to establish "a successful commercial cinema for mass entertainment based on Hollywood model, complete with the star system, a collection of important auteurdirectors, and a genre-oriented subject mater." 2 In 1938, a very important law of import restriction, known as the "Monopoly Law", was enacted. It gave the Italian industry the right to control the distribution of foreign films. This angered the four major American distribution companies operating in Italy (Paramount, MGM, Warner Brothers, Twentieth Century Fox) and they pulled out. They expected that their disappearance from the market would cause a great decline in the revenues of the rental market and the law would be revoked. But their blackmail did not work and the gap they left in the market was filled with domestic productions. Obviously, that entailed an increase in the numbers of films produced in Italy and this created an opportunity for new personnel to enter the film industry. At the same time, the new market opportunities for the Italian films encouraged some filmmakers to take political risks as we see in the case of Ossessione,3 An important form of State subsidy was to give credits to certain films through the film section of Banca del Lavoro. The "Alfieri Law" guaranteed a sum equivalent to 12 per cent of gross box office of each feature film with an additional premium for those exceeding a certain figure. 4 This policy clearly favoured the so called "commercial" cinema, underestimating the artistic quality of the films produced, as it based its criteria upon the box office results. Thus, a large part of the film production was devoted to sentimental comedies known as the "White Telephones". Nevertheless, many films received subsidies and loans from the newly created State Agency, ENIC, among which the works of the predecessors of neo-realism, such as Blasetti and Camerini, are also seen.

1 Peter Bondanella, The Films of Roberto Rossellini, (Cambridge University Press, 1993). Ibid. p. 7. 3 David Forgacs, Italian Culture in the Industrial Era (Manchester University Press, 1990). 4 Ibid. p. 91. 2

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As for the creation of a mode of industrial organization capable of providing the technical and professional base for neo-realism, the Fascist government unconsciously established all the infrastructural elements. Huge studios with modern equipments were established, educative and experimental institutions were created... Although during the war, Cinecittà studios were used for entirely different purposes, the professional cadres trained in those studios certainly made great use of their technical experiences in the post-war years. New private distribution and production companies were formed such as La Lux and Scalera. Following the defeat of the Mussolini régime, the Italian film industry turned into a "close approximation of the ideal market of classical economists: a multitude of small producers engaged in fierce competition." 1 This situation was certainly favourable for the neo-realist filmmakers as the market lacked any monopoly power intolerant of the ideology of the new movement. Especially La Lux would become one of the major production companies of the post-war era, financing left-wing films of De Santis and Visconti. In fact, La Lux would be known as "the studio without the studios" completely integrated in to the flexible structure and spirit of neo-realism.2 The Fascist régime did certainly not envisaged a left-wing film wave to emerge from this industrial base. Indeed for many historians, the Fascist years were marked by the tyranny of censure, cultural regression and an obscurantism in all aspects. The cultural intelligentsia of Italy reacted against the ideological hegemony of Fascism in different ways and those reactions helped to create the intellectual background of neo-realism.

THE LEGACY OF FASCISM

The interaction of Fascism and culture is a complex phenomenon and although it is widely (and rightly) held that Fascism created an enormous void in the aesthetic and intellectual domains, it is also true that Mussolini régime mostly opted for a policy of "repressive tolerance". Left-wing historians generally focus on the regressive aspects of Fascism and the intellectual opposition to this obscurantism. According to André Bouissy and Raymond Bordé, the two prominent left-wing Swiss critics, "the great victim of Fascism was realism in all its forms" 3 Carlo Lizzani also states that, during the Fascist era, the Italian language has been emptied so much that the words have lost their true meanings. 4 As a matter of fact, it is not surprising to find an anti-realistic attitude in the Fascist circles who praised "a false nationhood

1 2 3 4

George Huaco, The Sociology o/Film Art, p. 161. Alberto Farassino, Tatti Sanguineti, Lux Film: Esthétique et Système d'un Studio Italien, p. 51. Raymond Bordé and André Bouissy, Le Néo-Réalisme Italien, p. 10. Carlo Lizzani, Le Cinéma Italien, p. 128.

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based on a false history."1 Benedetto Croce was the leading philosopher of the era and his idealism was world-wide known. Following the Kantian school of "disinterestedness", Croce held that poetry is "neither feeling, nor image, nor even the sum of the two, but the contemplation of feeling..." 2 He maintained that not only poetry but indeed all art were autonomous from history and social forces. 3 This anti-realistic attitude was reflected into two dominant literary trends of the era known as "Stracitta" (superurban, cosmopolitan, antiprovincial attitude related to the northern industrial bourgeoisie) and "Strapaese" (super-native landism associated with the southern peasant culture), both good allies of Fascism. By the late thirties, the censorship began exercising considerable control upon cinema. It was difficult to deal with "suicide, moral or political aberrations, social or religious themes, sabotage or discontentment.. Italy had to be shown as morally and physically sane, clean, happy." 4 The Fascist regime also established certain monetary mechanisms to keep the film industry under tight control. As Pacifici summarizes: ... Credit, of course, was obtainable at a "price", and only those studios that agreed to submit their scripts in advance and to accept suggestions and instructions regarding the cast and the content of the film were given financial support. Eventually the State discovered other ways to regulate the industry: it agreed to set up a scale of rebates to be given to those films officially approved, a scale based not upon the artistic merits of the film but on the success it obtained at the box office. 5

The films produced in the Fascist years were often mediocre works, and most of them were known as "white telephone" films. Generally speaking, those sentimental and romantic shallow "white telephone" comedies were more supported by the regime than "black" propaganda films. In fact, Mussolini hardly grasped the propaganda potential of the filmic medium (compared to other dictators of his era) and preferred to use it to keep the masses uninformed. That was the rationale behind the monetary mechanism he established to promote the most commercially successful films. Paradoxically, it is also known that, in some instances, Mussolini did try to promote the film industry, not only in terms of loans and credits, but also in terms of its intellectual advance. Prior to the opening of "Centro Sperimentale Di Cinematografía", he sent Alessandro Sardi, president of L.U.C.E. to Soviet Russia where he met famous filmmakers of the era. He returned with detailed information about the high artistic and political achievements of Soviet film industry and published and enthusiastic article in 1 2 3 4 5

Ibid. p. 60. Edward Tannenbaum, The Fascist Experience, p. 251. Ibid. p. 251. Sergio Pacifici, A Guide to Contemporary Italian Literature, p. 233. Ibid. p. 232.

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II Popolo d'ltalia-1 But the most astonishing of all, was Mussolini's invitation of Jean Renoir, the great French filmmaker openly associated with the French "Popular Front", to teach at the "Centro". Luchino Visconti tells us that among the films shown at the "Centro" was La Grande Illusion of Renoir: "Instead of angering the Duce, it moved him to ask its creator to teach at the Experimental Film Center, to help increase the center's prestige." 2 Jean Renoir did actually come to Italy and met Visconti to collaborate on Tosca. It is also well known that Mussolini encouraged his son Vittorio, a film fanatic, to publish a film magazine called Cinema, which would soon turn into the very seeds of Marxist cultural opposition. The most common-sense explanation of Mussolini's contradictory attitudes, is his wish to show Italy's supremacy to the world, not only in terms of military or economic aspects, but also in cultural domains. This was, of course, bound to remain superficial as the régime also established other control mechanisms to keep the industry apart from the intellectual production. Those intellectual "extravaganza" would never reach the masses and they would mean nothing to the mostly ignorant Italian people. They were, thus, "harmless" in Mussolini's perception. Like many dictators of the era, Mussolini suffered from a serious "inferiority complex" that pushed him to assume contradictory attitudes: We're no longer living in the time when Italy was a servant! Now we give the orders!... They despise our race, which is superior to theirs. We were the ones who taught them about money and banking. Now they want to reduce us to the non-Power toward which they have always been condescending: a peaceful nation engaged in tourism P

Pacifici also points to the pragmatic considerations of Mussolini: Mussolini, a leader of limited vision, did not grasp immediately the possibilities afforded by the cinema to his régime. When he finally took an interest in the fate of the industry, it was not because he was sensitive to any art expression but rather because he decided to demonstrate to a skeptical world the numerical superiority of Italian film makers.^

Apart from the polemical film magazines like Cinema, Bianco e Nero (the official publication of the "Centro") and Si Gira, there were other periodicals published by the Fascist authorities and still under the heavy influence of the left-wing intelligentsia. The most astonishing magazines of such types was Primato, a publication of the ministry of education. According ' Mira Leihm, Passion and Defiance, p. 5. Laurence Schifano, Luchino Visconti: The Flames of Passion (London: Collins, 1990) p. 160. ^ Tannenbaum, The Fascist Experience, p. 218. ^ Sergio Pacifici, A Guide to Contemporary Italian Literature, p. 232. 2

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to Vitti, "Primato represented one of the most unusual attempts made by the Fascist régime to enlist as collaborators the best intellectuals of the time. Primato was known for printing poetry of such writers as Cesare Pavese, Giuseppe Ungaretti and Eugenio Montale." 1 Around 1938, a dissident group within the party known as "left Fascists" emerged. In some cases those "radical Fascists" turned anti-Fascists and joined the underground parties or formed networks among themselves. They also began working in the publishing industry. The most important of these clandestine groups (apart from underground political parties) was Giustizia e Liberia, an anti-Fascist organization mostly run by "left-Catholics". They were very active together with the Communist Party, and MUP (Movement of the United Proletariat of Milan) in the publication of various radical art magazines like Solaria and Corrente.2 The Fascist régime often adopted a policy of "repressive tolerance" towards these opposing cultural productions. As they were, for various reasons, unable to completely repress the opposition, this policy enabled the régime to "recontain" these radical movements. According to Forgacs: Fascism patronised a number of "critical" activities, including the magazine Primato, which from 1936 had begun to take on an increasingly anti-conformist character. Both these operations have been interpreted as attempts to recontain within Fascism the various dissident and countercultural tendencies emerging in the late thirties by organizing them from above.-'

In point of fact, Fascism did not really have a very coherent political or cultural ideology. It was not as totalitarian as the German national socialism. As Duggan says, the focal point of the régime was "the cult of Duce" and it accommodated a wide spectrum of views ranging from Nationalists and Catholics to Syndicalists and Republicans." 4 Gramsci is quite cynical as he states: Italian Fascism is the insurrection of the lowest stratum of the Italian bourgeoisie, the stratum of layabouts, of the ignorant, of the adventurers to whom the war has given the illusion of being good for something and truly counting for something, those who had been carried forward by the state of political and moral decadence. 5

' Antonio Vitti, Giuseppe De Santis and Postwar Italian Cinema (University of Toronto Press, 1996) p. 8. ^ David Forgacs, Italian Culture In the Industrial Era, pp. 86-88. 3 Ibid. p. 88. 4 Christopher Duggan, "Italy in the Cold War Years and the Legacy of Fascism", in Duggan and Wagstaff (eds.) Italy in the Cold War : Politics, Culture and Society 1948-58 (Oxford: Berg Publishing Limited, 1995) p. 2. 5 Mira Leihm, Passion and Defiance, p. 2.

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In most of his writings, Gramsci stated the lack of communication between the Italian intellectual and the ordinary man. As pointed out above, behind the policy of repressive tolerance Mussolini showed towards the dissident intelligentsia, lied a firm belief in the isolated position of this group from the masses. Although in the last years of the régime, when Mussolini began to lose power, there emerged a bureaucratic dispersal of offices and an ensuing control crisis which enormously benefited the anti-Fascist groups, the Government did, in many cases, turn a blind eye to many radical artistic publications. Pavese correctly summarizes the intentions of the régime in his Diaries: Fundamentally, humanistic intelligence-the fine arts and letters-did not suffer under Fascism; they managed to follow their own bent, cynically accepting the game as it was. Where Fascism exercised vigilance was in preventing intercourse between the intelligentsia and the people, keeping the people uninformed."*

Whatever the reasons behind it, the Fascist relative tolerance (compared to Germany or Stalinist Russia) enabled certain film magazines to disseminate radical ideas about the framework of a national-popular film wave. Among these magazines, the most influential was Vittorio Mussolini's Cinema.

CINEMA AND OSSESSIONE In understanding the genesis of neo-realism, it is crucial to take a closer look at the dynamics of film criticism in the early forties. In terms of culture, it was this activity of criticism that posed the problems involved in seeking an original cinematic style — a "national style" 2 as it was then called. The "national style to be formed" was the key issue of hot polemics during these years. Everyone was yearning for a miraculous aesthetic phenomenon, almost similar to the old Palestinians waiting for the arrival of the Messiah. As Venturini observes: The behaviour of Italian critics in those years was similar to that of an obstetrician called in to look after a difficult pregnancy, always ready, forceps in hand, to exchange the ordinary and organic phenomenon for hints of an exceptional delivery. Critical research have been dominated by a common motive: the inoculation of the native tradition from Giotto and Dante down through Verga and Caravaggio under the illusion that it would be possible to discover a quintessential Italian genius for use in our cinema. ^

1

3

Ibid. p. 2. Franco Venturini, "Origins of Neo-Realism" in Overbey (ed.) Springtime in Italy, p. 171. Ibid. p. 172.

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The most influential magazine of that period was Cinema. Born on July 1936, it was first conceived as a "best-selling" film magazine. When Mussolini's film fanatic son Vittorio became the director of the magazine, Cinema turned into a serious intellectual publication, offering wide coverage of technical and artistic aspects of film-making. With the change in the editorial board, Giuseppe De Santis became responsible for the film-review column and started to gather an intellectual left-wing group around him. By 1940, Cinema (also known as the Cinema Circle) included Michelangelo Antonioni, Puccini brothers, Carlo Lizzani, Pietro Ingrao, Antonio Pietrangeli, Mario Alicata, Luchino Visconti and De Santis himself. Especially the intellectual collaboration of Mario Alicata and De Santis has been crucial in the creation of a realist perspective. Alicata was a devoted Communist, and after the war, he became the man responsible for the Communist Party's cultural policy towards the South. Their leaning towards realism was not by chance; the early writings of De Santis and Alicata reflected the PCI's future cultural policy. 1 Realism, in those days, was synonymous with anti-Fascism, as Fascist cultural policy (especially in the domain of film) was largely based on escapist entertainment. Thus, ideas on anthropomorphic art, historicity and faithful reflection of outside reality began to be heard in intellectual milieux as antiFascist movement gained momentum. In Cinema, Alicata and De Santis were the major spokesmen of this new mode of "opening to reality" reflecting their strong commitment in humanism and "ciné-verité". In the famous February 1942 issue of Cinema they say: Faith in the truth and in the poetry of truth, faith in man and in the poetry of man, is what we want from Italian cinema. It is a simple request and a modest program. We feel more and more committed to this simple modesty since each time we look at the story of our cinema, we see its development trapped among the rhetorical and archeological D'Annunzianism of 'Cabina' and the flight to the non-existent middle class paradises of Via Nazionale's nightclubs.... Almost all the characters in our films are lacking a history. They are animated by clichés, by the most conventional and melodramatic leftovers of sentiments and passions, living out their shallow existence in places equally mute and stale, without colour. Those who have, as we do, a penchant for wandering the streets of their own city to glean the inexhaustible poetry of those things which exist naturally, and also have imposed upon themselves the simple but meaningful principle that each person whom one meets is a character, are often shocked by the incapacity of our scriptwriters to adapt themselves to the human reality of the environment from which they choose to spin their tales. 2

1

Antonio Vitti, Giuseppe De Santis and Postwar Italian Cinema.

2

Ibid. p. 9.

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The belief that "each man one meets, is a character", is the underlying humanist principle of all neo-realist films and the reason for their obstinent refusal of stars and heroes. The "return to human simplicity" is indeed the "return to the streets" in both senses: A naturalistic reflection of everyday reality, and a more active involvement of intellectuals in radical politics. The new generation of filmmakers were not only enthusiastic directors and critics, they also wanted to reflect a certain left-wing world view in their works. This required a certain kind of "futurism", a wish to reject and negate the dying Fascist culture. Visconti's famous article published in Cinema on June 1941 is entitled "Corpses": While visiting certain film companies, we often trip over corpses which stubbornly believe to be alive. It happened to me, and it will happen to others, that when we meet them face to face, we do not recognize immediately that they are dead: they circulate among us, dressed like you and me...The day will come of which we dream. Then the young forces in our film will be allowed to state clearly and loudly: "The corpses to the cemetery!" And on that day you will see us rushing in search of those imprudent enough to stay behind. With all due respect we will help them get their other leg into the grave as well. ' It is important to stress that, the early ideas on a "national-popular" film wave, based on realistic premises, came from a committed "group" of intellectuals knowing and supporting each other. The writers of Cinema was known as the Cinema Circle and it was this quality of "intellectual convergence around a common ideal" that gave them the faith and strength needed for the very first steps. In every country where flourishes an avant-garde artistic wave, we find the same productive polemics of intellectual groups. The fertility of a cultural milieu should be measured by the existence of organized groups rather than the individual efforts of "exceptional persons". The culminating point of the Cinema Circle's group battle was Luchino Visconti's Ossessione (Obsession, 1942). It was, of course, limited by the possibilities of the day; the Fascist régime was still alive and the socio-political context was not favourable for a socially committed film to be made. But it perfectly showed "a clear and defined itinerary" on the part of the Cinema group. As Lino Micciché states: Ossessione marks Visconti's cinematographic discourse but is at the same time the high point of a group battle and the end of a general itinerary which started in confusion at the end of the 1930s, and became more defined between the end of Spanish Civil War and the outbreak of the Second World War, when an entire generation was forced to evaluate the recent past to deal with the present and to propose a different future for themselves and for the society in which they lived.^ ' Mira Leihm, Passion and Defiance, p. 52. ^ Antonio Vitti, Giuseppe De Santis and Postwar Italian Cinema, p. 19.

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The film was a true work of Cinema collaboration. The script was written by Mario Alicata and Gianni Puccini. De Santis was the first unit assistant and Visconti directed the film. Ossessione was the adaptation of James Cain's famous novel The Postman Always Rings Twice. It was already pointed out that the American naturalist novel had a great impact upon the early Italian realist filmmakers. Visconti's choice of the book clearly reflected the Cinema group's aspirations: It was brutal, without consolation or hope, thus, totally against the credos of the Fascist mentality. As Scaramouche observes, in an article in Cinema, the film explored the darkness in the human heart, thus moving away from the cliché theme of goodness: No men, not even Italian men are plaster saints. Nor are women flowers of virtue. Yet go and find in our films if you can, a man who is a bastard or a woman who is a bit of a whore...We are not asking that murder be glorified, still less would we excuse it. But films must move away a bit from the mandatory theme of goodness; the camera must probe wounds like a scalpel, must explore the anguish of damnation, the screams of despair....1

Ossessione is considered as a precursor of neo-realism. As a "genre", the film was closer to Zola's naturalism than the realism of Stendhal, and it also embodied a certain commercial mentality to please the Fascist censure committee and to assure a certain box office success. Nevertheless, it included many little details of real life which gave the film the realist reputation it acquired in the film circles. "It showed the daily life in small Italian villages, tiny hotels full of prostitutes, the exploitation of child labour..." 2 De Santis says that, as the first unit assistant, he tried to add as many details as possible in the background of the scenes. He wanted to show the war cripples but Visconti, apprehensive of the reaction of the Fascist authorities, had to warn him in many cases.3 By the end of 1943, just before the first Committee of National Liberation was formed and Rome was declared by Kesselring "open city", the intellectual cadres of neo-realism were ready to launch a massive aesthetic movement. In the oft-quoted words of Alberto Lattuada, the new generation had reached the level of maturity to face the burning realities of its society and share it with the rest of the world: ... Are we in rags? Let us show everyone our rags. Are we defeated? Let us meditate upon our disasters. How much do we owe the Mafia? How much to hypocritical bigotry? Or to conformity, to irresponsibility, to bad upbringing? Let us pay all our debts with a fierce love of honesty, and the world will participate, moved, in this big game with truth. This confession will illuminate our mad secret virtues, our belief in life, our superior Christian fraternal instincts. 4 ' Laurence Schifano, Luchino Visconti: The Flames of Passion, p. 171. Bordé and Bouissy, Le Néo-Réalisme Italien, p. 21. 3 Antonio Vitti, Giuseppe De Santis and Postwar Italian Cinema, p. 20. 4 Sergio Pacifici, A Guide To Contemporary Italian Literature, p. 240. 2

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With the fall of Fascism and the rise of the famous Resistance movement, the Italian society reached an unprecedented level of social cohesion and bourgeois progressivity that would last until the late 1940s. Following Lukacs' perspective, the post-war "balance of class contradiction" created the necessary socio-political conditions for a classical realist wave to fully flourish. As the artistic and technical background of the wave was already present, the third condition in Huaco's argument; the favourable political climate, enabled the "essence" (the social content) of neo-realism to develop. Filmmakers from either Christian Democrat (i.e De Sica , Rossellini..) or Communist (i.e Visconti, De Santis...)camps put aside their ideological differences and for this brief "happy" moment in history, reflected the sociopolitical consensus to the realm of film. They reached a "common ground" that transcended all party affiliations and ideological polarisations: A Revolutionary Humanism.

3. ELITE COALESCENCE AND SOCIAL PROGRESSIVISM IN POSTFASCIST ITALIAN POLITICS THE RESISTANCE: 1943-45

Italy entered the World War II in 1940, on the side of Germany, believing that the latter would win the war, and emerged from it as a cobelligerent of the Allies. Mussolini's wish to show that Italy was a militaristic nation proved to be disastrous. The failures in Greece, Russia, Croatia and especially in North Africa brought the end of the régime. In fact, as Tannenbaum states, the Rome-Berlin axis has never been popular in Italy: The Rome-Berlin Axis was never popular, and the overwhelming majority of Italians dreaded going to the war on the side of Germany even after her spectacular defeat of Poland. The most outspoken critics of Mussolini's aggressive foreign policy were the industrial workers in the northern cities, despite the regime's pleas for forbearance. But anti-German feeling was not restricted to any one class or region and was not uncommon even among stanch Fascists.1

By the end of 1942, leading industrialists like Pirelli and Agnelli started to approach the Allies, foreseeing Italy's eventual defeat. In March 1943, strikes broke out in Fiat in Turin, and spread to other northern cities paralysing the entire northern industry. On the 10 th of July, the Americans landed on Sicily and on the 25 t h , the King dismissed Mussolini and appointed Marshall Badoglio as the Prime Minister. The armistice in September brought no real peace to the country and Italy became divided into two war zones: The 1

Edward Tannenbaum, The Fascist Experience, p. 305.

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"liberated" South was occupied by the British and American troops advancing northwards, and the North (starting from the north of Rome) was invaded by Germans and the remnants of the Fascist régime. Mussolini, imprisoned by the King, was rescued by the Germans and established a puppet Fascist Republic in the North of Italy known as the Republic of Salo. Between the crisis of Fascism and the eventual formation of a stable government, there was a power vacuum not entirely filled by any of the existing forces. In Gramscian terms, there was a situation where "the old was dying but the new could not be born". The famous Italian Resistance Movement flourished in these chaotic circumstances. Both the Marxists and the Catholics reached a common ground during the Resistance and in its immediate aftermath. The aim of all democratic struggles was to reconstruct a society on the basis of progressive humanitarian principles long ignored by the dictatorship. At first, unity and organization was blocked by the refusal of the political parties to join the "Badoglio government" whom they clearly associated with Fascism. In January 1944, "Le Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale", The Committee of National Liberation (CLN) was formed with the participation of six Parties, each representing different ideologies: Liberal, Democratic Labor, Christian Democratic, Action, Socialist and Communist Parties joined to form the CLN. 1 The harmony and solidarity between different segments of society necessary in a period of national reconstruction was thus established. The real nucleus of Resistance was represented by the Action Party formed secretly in 1942 by Ferrucio Parri, with the participation of former radical liberals and independent socialists of the Giustizia e Liberia group, most of them fought in the Spanish Civil War. The popular armed Resistance started in the South of Italy, in Naples (known as "the four days of Naples"). As the leading figures of the major political Parties returned from exile around 1943, the Resistance became more organized. Thus, Nenni of the Socialists, Parri of the Action Party (later the head of CLNAI and the ultimate hero of Resistance) and De Gasperi of the Christian Democrats assumed top military and political positions within the CLN. Although, the first event of Resistance occurred in Naples, the South later became much more conservative while the North turned more and more radical. The existence of the American and especially the British armies in the South reduced the potential of a left rebelliousness in the South. The British wanted to restore the King and they were suspicious of this newly formed guerrilla group. The leadership of the Southern CLN passed into the hands of traditional liberals like Benedetto Croce. The representatives of the six Parties in the northern branch of the CLN known as the CLNAI (Comitato Delia Liberazione Nazionale per l'Alta Italia) were unanimously "anti-monarchical". 1

Norman Kogan, A Political History of Postwar Italy (New-York: Frederick Praeger Publishers, 1966).

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As Bordé and Bouissy states, one of the major aims of the armed Resistance in the North was to create a democratic republic and then initiate major reforms such as the land reform. 1 Lizzani goes further, when he claims that the Resistance movement was one of the major steps of the "bourgeois revolutions" in the historical sense. With the participation of the masses, within a climate of broad alliance between the people and the intellectuals, the Italian Nation passed from a typical (perhaps the "inevitable") historical stage in the formation of its democratic state. 2 It can even be claimed that this revolution was the "preliminary step" for a broader socialist revolution in the spirit of Lenin (telescoping of social stages) that was not very far from occurring in the spring of 1945 with "The Wind of North" 3 . The anti-Fascist feeling and unanimity among different Parties within the CLN were further reinforced by the existence of German army troops (RSI) in the North. Rome was invaded and declared "open city" by Kesselring. Most people had first joined the Resistance out of patriotism or to escape the army but by the spring of 1944, even the center Parties were more radical in the North than in the South. This was particularly so for the Christian Democrats, traditional legal representatives of the Church, and the Liberals, carrying the high bourgeois and nationalist fervor of the first Risorgimento, without mentioning the Socialists and the Communists. As Tannenbaum observes: Even the most wealthy conservatives were aloof from rather than hostile to it, partly out of opportunism but also out of a sincere recognition of their past errors and of the changed human relations of the times in which valor counted more than money; this outlook did not last but it was nonetheless real. The middle and lower-middle classes, particularly in the North, openly supported the armed Resistance, giving it the bulk of its leadership and a good part of its fighting forces. The overwhelming majority of the workers backed it as a matter of course and had no special interests to defend or guilt feelings to assuage. Probably the most novel impact of the Resistance was the way it reached large numbers of peasants, particularly in Tuscany, Romagna, and Piedmont bringing them into the mainstream of national life for the first time in history. 4

In 1943, the Communists had everywhere refused to take part in the Badoglio Government. They were interpreting the Resistance in strictly "class" terms. But in April 1944, Palmiro Togliatti, the leader of the 1

Bordé and Bouissy, Le Néo-Réalisme Italien. Carlo Lizzani, he Cinema Italien. 3 In the spring of 1945, in most of the northern cities, there was de facto Communist reign. The factories were run by workers and in most places "management councils" (comitati di gestione) were established. Unlike Togliatti who supported moderation, the Socialist leader Nenni was far more radical and called the transformations in the North as "the wind from the North". This wind, though, could not blow very long, as the Allied Military Government took the administration after the liberation, in May 1945. 4 Tannenbaum, p. 323. 2

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Communist Party, returned from his 20 years of exile. With his return, the Communist Party's (PCI) general policy of "distance" from "bourgeois" solutions changed drastically. Togliatti had the "blessing" of Stalin who preferred "that western Communist Parties pursue moderate policies based on alliance and institutional penetration" 1 rather than class war. This changed attitude created disquiet among the PCI elite but Togliatti had a very powerful support from Stalin. On the other hand, the negative example of the Spanish Civil War, which ended in the dictatorship of Franco, put more restraint on PCI's role of "revolutionary vanguard party". Togliatti openly stated that their main task was "to avoid the re-establishment of Clerico-Fascism, the keeping alive of the liberal and democratic hopes fostered by the Resistance." 2 Togliatti also used the Gramscian notion of "war of position" to legitimize his tactical approach. Communists' willingness to cooperate with bourgeois Parties in the anti-Fascist struggle, and the Christian Democrat and Liberal support of a progressive partisan warfare showed that the Resistance spirit had approached the elites of both camps in the overall war of defeating Fascism and creating a Democratic Republic. From the beginning, the Resistance took several forms. Acts of sabotage and guerrilla warfare were common methods of partisan war. But partisan soldiers had also many collaborators among the civilian population: "School teachers, minor civil servants, and even policemen-who relayed messages and sent out warnings of reprisals." 3 In March 1944, the partisans showed that they had the support of the workers: In that month, for the first time, workers went on a general strike in the Nazi occupied territories of Milan, Turin, Genoa and Padua risking deportation to German labor camps. The underground press also disseminated the revolutionary and reformist ideas of the CLN. As observed by Tannenbaum: The editors of the more important underground papers, like many leaders of the Committees of National Liberation, belonged to Italy's intellectual elite and included such diverse men as the Communist Party chief Palmiro Togliatti, the liberal historian Franco Venturi, and the leader of the revived Christian Democratic Party Alcide De Gasperi. 4

Like the partisan forces and political parties, the press had its share of heroes and victims from the Left and the Right, killed for propagating the common partisan ideals of anti-Fascism and democracy: Eugenio Curiel, a Marxist Jew, was shot down in the street by the Fascist secret police in 1945. He was working in the PCI's papers L'Unita and La Nostra Lotta. Following 1 Stephen Gundle 'The Legacy of the Prison Notebooks" in Duggan and Wagstaff (eds.) Italy in the Cold War, p. 132. 2 Christopher Duggan, "Legacy of Fascism", in Duggan and Wagstaff (eds.) Italy in the Cold War, p. 17. 3 Edward Tannenbaum, The Fascist Experience, p. 320. 4 Ibid. p. 321.

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the general tendency of PCI with Togliatti, he was spreading, in the media, the message that the Liberation War was a second Risorgimento and not necessarily a class war... Another interesting example of press victims was Teresio Olivelli, an ex-Fascist, who had graduated from Catholic University in Milan. After escaping from a German concentration camp in 1944, he founded an underground newspaper named II Bibelle. Olivetti used his paper to educate his readers and explain the evils of Capitalism. His Utopia, though, was not Communism but a kind of Catholic Corporatism based on Christian brotherhood. He tragically died in a German concentration camp in 1945.1 Those two examples reaffirm the previous argument that both Marxists and Catholics reached a common ground during the Resistance and in its immediate aftermath. The aim of all democratic struggles was to reconstruct a society on the basis of progressive humanitarian principles long ignored by the dictatorship.

RECONSTRUCTION YEARS: NATIONAL SOLIDARITY A N D THE CATHOLIC-COMMUNIST ALLIANCE, 1945-47

• Christian Democrats, Communists and the "Progressive" Policies of The Government In December 1945, after the fall of the short lived Parri Government of Action Party, Alcide De Gasperi, the head of the Christian Democrats, became the Prime Minister of a new six party cabinet, reflecting the unity of the CLN Government. The major task of the new cabinet was to settle the problem of the monarchy. In June 1946, the monarchy was abolished and the republic was declared following a general referendum. A new democratic constitution had to be drafted reflecting the new egalitarian and "progressive" ethos of the Republic. The elections of the Constituent Assembly showed a new power equilibrium between the center right and the far left: The Christian Democrats received 35% of the votes, the Socialists 21% and the Communists 19 %. The Government of National Consensus that would (de facto) last until mid 1947 took the form of a Tripartite Coalition of the Socialists, Communists (that would later join forces as the "Blocco del Popolo") and the Christian Democrats. This Catholic-Communist Alliance surely created the necessary political climate for a left wing film wave, like neo-realism, to be born. It did not only create a reformist tolerance towards the leftist discourse but also produced its own domain of socio-political reforms. Under the leadership of De Gasperi, Christian Democratic Party was the leading force of the coalition. It had emerged, after the fall of Fascism, as the successor of the old Popular Party (Partido Popolare) that was founded in 1919 1

Ibid. p. 323.

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by the priest Sturzo. The Party had been very short lived as the Pope, displeased with the Party leadership, supported the Fascist government. Many leaders of the Party were forced to go into exile, including De Gasperi who spent years in Vatican as a librarian. Some found refuge in the Catholic Church and established religious organizations such as the Catholic Action Society. But, as its name suggests, the Popular Party aimed at incorporating many different groups, using the Catholic Church as the mediating point. Especially the southern peasantry, who had long been left out of the political arena, showed considerable interest to the Party. 1 In many ways, the Christian Democratic Party followed the example of the Popular Party. Against the consumerist ideology of USA and the threat of Communism from the USSR, De Gasperi clearly used the Church as a mediating actor. "Mediation" was also De Gasperi's personal definition of politics. But to assure the linkage with the Church, De Gasperi had, first, to establish certain mechanisms that would benefit the clerical hierarchy. As Percy Allum suggests: To secure the support of the Church, the Vatican and the Italian ecclesiastical hierarchy, the new party had to be in a position to protect the Church from attack by anti-clericals. This could only be done if the party was in a position to influence, or better to control state power, which dictated that the new Catholic party was conceived from the outset as a government party. Hence De Gasperi launched the party as a parliamentary party of government and all his efforts from 1942 to 1945 were directed at securing Church sponsorship.^

The Resistance Movement, "improved" the image of the Church, as the Pope assumed a "partisan" oriented attitude during the German occupation of Rome. Many priests were shot by the Germans; the most famous of them being Don Morosino, the major inspiration for Rome, Open City of Rossellini. The increased prestige of the Church was also an advantage for De Gasperi, as it facilitated the acceptance of the Party, even among the Communist supporters. In fact, in those years, the Communist Party never openly denounced the Church and it always tried to accommodate the Christian beliefs with its social concerns, partly out of pragmatism, partly due to the "progressive" moves the Church made during the Resistance. In the fifties the Christian Democratic Party became a "catch-all" party, using different "clientelistic" methods to increase its votes. The putting aside of ideological issues and the establishment of illegal Party linkages in different social formations (i.e. the southern Mafia) degenerated the Party and brought issues of corruption into the political agenda. But in the mid and late forties, especially during the "beautiful" days of the Catholic-Communist 1

Ibid. ^ Percy Allum, "The Changing Face of Christian Democracy" in Duggan and Wagstaff (eds.) Italy in the Cold War, p. 121.

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Alliance, "there was room within the Party for a social-reformist current based round Giuseppe Dossetti."1 Dossetti was an ex-priest and represented the "leftwing" tendency within the Party. Dossetti's basically humanist position was closer to the social concerns of the Socio-Communists and was a good example of the ideological convergence of Catholic and Communist doctrines during the belle epoque of the National Unity Governments. Dossetti wrote in 1945: Christian Democracy does not want to, and cannot be a conservative movement. It wishes to be a movement permeated by the conviction that in choosing between the ideology and experience of liberal capitalism on the one hand, and the experience, if not the ideology, of the mass anticapitalist movement on the other, it is the first, not the second, which is the more radically anti-Christian.^

De Gasperi was also to the left of the former leader of the Popular Party Don Sturzo, and in many instances, especially in the early fifties, he did try to assume a secular position in the famous "Rome or Moscow" dilemma, largely created by the Vatican. 3 But when it came to the interests of the business class, he was much less critical of capitalism then Dossetti or Amintore Fanfani, and after the purge of the Socio-Communists from the government in 1947, he gave all necessary concessions to the US authorities in the Marshall Plan negotiations. But during the National Consensus Government, De Gasperi, like his Communist counterpart Togliatti, assumed a positive and flexible attitude towards ideological disputes and reflected Dossetti's concerns for a more humanitarian system: I feel the right to speak ... as an anti-Fascist democrat and as a representative of the new republic, which, combining in itself the humanitarian aspirations of Giuseppe Mazzini, the universalist ideas of Christianity, and the internationalist hopes of the workers, is already looking ... to that cooperation among the peoples that is our task to establish. 4

The Communists, on the other hand, gave important concession to their Catholic partners and changed their overall attitudes towards "bourgeois formations". Founded in 1921 as an extreme left-wing Party, PCI soon went underground as the Fascists assumed power. It was already underlined that, after he returned from exile in 1943, Togliatti made drastic changes in the Party's political strategy. Partly due to wartime European conjuncture which ' David Forgacs, Italian Culture In the Industrial Era, p. 105. ^ P. Adams Sitney, Vital Crises in Italian Cinema, (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1995) p. 99. Serge Hughes, The Fall and Rise of Modern Italy. 4 Alcide De Gasperi quoted in Christopher Duggan, "Legacy of Fascism" in Duggan and Wagstaff (eds.) Italy in the Cold War, p. 111.

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divided Europe into western (US) and eastern (Soviet) spheres of influence, partly out of the ideological "détente" period of the Resistance Movement, Togliatti assumed a peaceful and "malleable" policy towards its Catholic coalition partner. Togliatti's "rapprochement" with the right (which also provoked strong reactions within the Party) involved a threefold change of strategy. As Gundle points out, first, Togliatti stressed that the PCI should be a "national party" and promote "national" concerns. Second, he insisted that the PCI had to join the government and defend the interests of the working people in the parliamentary system. Third, he argued that the Communist Party should break with the "vanguard" model of organization. 1 Behind Togliatti's refusal of insurrectionary politics lied the pessimistic example of Spain. The fight against Fascism and the establishment of a democratic system were the primary goals of the Party, as the necessary preconditions for a socialist transformation were missing. Togliatti tried to create a mass political party and opened the Party's membership to all Italians whether Marxist or Catholic. In so doing, he believed to "promote national unity while also being involved with all concrete social and economic issues as and when they arose."2 The Constitution produced by this "hybrid" Constituent Assembly contained a mixture of Marxist, Catholic and Liberal doctrines. The SocioCommunist group, which constituted almost half of the Assembly, took moderate steps and did not push for a socialized economy. Pietro Nenni, of the Socialist Party, argued only for "social control of economic activity, to be exercised in a democratic, decentralized and efficient manner." 3 Communists saw the Constitution as only representing a "transition period". Some concessions the Communists gave to Catholics, though, were not easy to understand and were mostly unsupported by the Socialists. The inclusion of the "Lateran Pacts" into the Constitution was one of these crucial decisions on the part of the Communists. These Pacts gave the Roman Catholic Church a privileged position in the life of the country, the State and, especially, in public education. Communist votes were crucial for the acceptance of these Pacts and Togliatti concluded that, as the majority of Italians were Catholics, it would be politically wrong, for the Party, to alienate them. 4 On the other hand, many articles of the Constitution did contain social reformist aspects, reflecting the "progressive bourgeois" moves of the Center Parties. The Constitution opened with this general premise: It is the duty of the Republic to do away with economic and social obstacles which limit the liberty and equality of citizens, prevent them from fully developing their human capacities and effectively participate in the organisation of political, economic and social life of the country. 5

1 2 3 4 5

Stephen Gundle, 'The Legacy of the Prison Notebooks", in Duggan and Wagstaff, p. 133. Ibid. p. 133. Norman Kogan, A Political History of Post-War Italy, p. 40. Ibid. Christiane de Lavarène, L'Italie Contemporaine, (Université de Paris, 1955) p. 95.

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Counterbalancing of the capitalist structure by the introduction of the rights of labor to form unions and to strike was one of the most important concerns of the Constitution. Christian Democratic Left, represented by Dossetti and a professor of economics, Amintore Fanfani pushed for inclusion of articles for an increased say in management of factories and profit sharing. Articles 36, 40 and 42 of the Constitution "guaranteed" a just distribution of wealth among the workers proportional to the quality and quantity of value they produced, strengthened by a rather vague article on the right of lawful strike.1 For some historians, the economic system during the CatholicCommunist collaboration was hardly a capitalist economy. In 1947, Italian State owned 60% of the metallurgical industry, 90% of the shipyards, 70% of telephone networks, and 100% of passenger shipping.2 The existence of huge conglomerates of state owned enterprises rehabilitated by the new government created a form of state socialism acceptable both to the "reformist" Communists and the "progressive" Christian Democrats. The most important of these public enterprises were the IRI and the Fund For the South. The IRI (Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industríale) was originally born in 1933. The aim was to rehabilitate the bankrupt enterprises and sell them back to private business. But the IRI soon turned into an "unwanted child" that the Fascist government was unable to get rid of. In 1937, the IRI acquired the status of permanent public agency. 3 During De Gasperi government, the IRI became the key institution of the State-controlled capitalism. It almost monopolized the production of steel and cement, controlled a large part of automotive and telephone industries and included Alitalia (the nationalized airline) as well as all radio and eventually television networks. But the most important contribution of the IRI to the Italian economy was to create job opportunities for the average Italian. The IRI was the biggest employer of industrial labor, and in an era of heavy unemployment, it was crucial to keep as many people as possible in their jobs. As Shonfield argues, the eventual conflict between a policy of job creation and the increase of productivity was resolved in the favour of the former, with a serious effort of retraining workers.4 Another important institution of welfare state was the Fund For the South (Cassa per il Mezzogiorno). It was a developed version of "Coldiretti", established in 1944, to help poorer peasants. 5 The discrepancy between the North and the South of Italy has been the major problem of the country since the days of the first Risorgimento, and the redistribution of land in the big southern "latifundis" has always been on the agenda. It was, of course, 1 2 3 4 5

Ibid. Serge Hughes, The Fall and Rise of Modern Italy, p. 233. Andrew Shonfield, Modem Capitalism (Oxford University Press, 1965). Ibid. pp. 186-87. Norman Kogan, A Political History of Post-War Italy, p. 60.

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difficult for the government to alienate the big landowners of the feudal South. That was the major reason for the failures of the previous reform attempts during the Fascist era. The poor peasants were mostly unable to cultivate the lands, as they lacked the necessary infrastructural equipments, and soon had to return the newly acquired lands to their previous owners. The Fund for the South was devised to assist financially the "land reform". The money gathered in the Fund would be used to build dams, aqueducts, roads, irrigation and other elements of agricultural infrastructure. Although after 1950, the Government was accused of selecting the sites of projects by political considerations, the Fund was clearly an attempt to raise the living standards of the "lowest lows" of the country and a child of the "progressive" Catholic-Communist collaboration. • Industrial Relations and Civil Society Catholic-Communist Alliance did not only show its reformist, leftward oriented consensual character in the economic and political decisions of the State machinery. This collaboration was more than a simple political coalition and resulted from a very broad, mass-based social cohesion. This cohesion also reflected itself in the, so-called, "civil society", and various "interest groups" of different ideological backgrounds did produce common goals and policies. Industrial relations were reformulated according to the new constitution and both the labor and employer organisations adapted themselves to the necessities of this new era. Confindustria, the employers' organisation, founded in 1910, was very weak, and in disgrace for its collaboration with the Fascist régime. Confronted with a strong Communist Party, whose prestige was at its maximum due to its role in the Resistance movement, Confindustria adopted a very mild policy towards the demands of the labour. At least until the break of the Catholic-Communist Alliance and the growing tensions of the Cold-War, Confindustria supported State Capitalism of the Christian Democrats and the newly implemented labour law. 1 Meanwhile, the democratic labour movement of Italy was represented by the CGIL (Italian General Confederation of Labour) founded in 1944, under the auspices of the PCI. According to Bull, the CGIL had three distinguishing characteristics: First, it was formulated on a unitary basis. Leading Italian labour leaders (such as Communist Di Vittorio, Socialist Buozzi and Christian Democrat Grandi) came together to form a single trade union that would embrace all the workers. According to its constitution, "the CGIL was a democratic institution which remained independent from all political parties, although it was prepared to associate itself with democratic parties in order to

1

Martin J. Bull, "From Pluralism to Pluralism" in Andrew Cox and Noel O'Sullivan (eds.) The Corporate State (London: Elgar Publishing Company, 1988).

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safeguard popular liberties and to defend specific interests of the workers." 1 But obviously, the PCI was the most powerful influence within the CGIL. Second, the new trade union took position on all political questions which were related to the labour movement in general. These included "individual liberties, social legislation, the economic reconstruction of the country and democratic development..." 2 The third characteristic of the CGIL was its highly centralized decision making process. This centralization was also reflected to the negotiations between the CGIL and the Confindustria, as the "inter-confederal" agreements were done on nation "all-industry". 3 In other words, a system of "collective bargaining" existed between the representatives of the labour and the business which comprised the entirety of the workers. The post-war legislation of "national solidarity" government aimed at creating a broad framework of cooperation between the labour and the management: ... This legal framework sets limits on the absolute power management but at the same time it allows for a large element voluntarism in labour-management relations and allows for the two sides develop substantive and procedural norms, relatively independent specific legal constraints. 4

of of to of

In 1945, during the heyday of vento del nord, the Communist partisans were about to take the control of the Northern Italy. The "management councils" (consigli di gestione) were formed in this period by the partisans to provide joint consultation on all management issues in large industrial plants. Soon, the employers found out that these councils might quickly go much further, and instead, proposed to set up "internal commissions". Although revised many times after 1948, and never really put into practice after the break of the national solidarity government, these internal commissions were set up to deal with: ... agreements on working hours, and redundancy, social legislation including health and safety, the application of trade union agreements and the settling of disputes that arise over their interpretation, and the organisation, supervision and improvement of welfare services.... 5

The "progressive elite convergence" in the government and labour organizations was clearly reflected to other non-governmental institutions of civil society. These institutions, also described as "interest groups", showed a high degree of cooperation and solidarity, in the aftermath of the second World War. Among these interest groups, the most notables were the veteran organizations, women's associations and student clubs. 1

Ibid. p. 77. Ibid. p. 77. Industrial Democracy in Europe (IDE) Research Group, European Industrial Relations (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981) p. 207. 4 Ibid. p. 208. c J Eric Jacobs, European Trade Unionism (New-York: Holmes and Meier, 1973) p. 57. 2

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The National Association of Partisans of Italy (ANPI) founded in 1944 was believed to be dominated by the Communist Party. But its constitution made strong emphasis upon cooperation with other groups, especially with other veteran organizations such as the Italian Federation of Volunteers of Liberty (FTVL) dominated by the Christian Democrats. 1 One of the most massive women's interest groups of Italy, the Italian Union of Women (UDI) founded in 1944, clearly states in its constitution that it is "the association of all women who on the basis of the Republican Constitution intend to work together for female emancipation." 2 Although, a Communist based organization, the UDI's basic statute goes on to say that "all women, of whatever social class or ideological or religious belief, are eligible for membership" and that "it is the major democratic, autonomous women's organization that considers it possible to unite in common action with all women outside of any ideological consideration." 3 The same tendencies of cooperation and convergence were also found within the organizations of Italian university students. Although there existed within each university, a body of elected students representing different ideological orientations, at the national level, the National University Representative Union (UNURI) tried to remain as neutral as possible. At least until the break of the Catholic-Communist coalition, UNURI, unlike many ideologically sectarian associations, tried to "cut across political party lines, uniting in a common cause, student organizations of whatever ideological persuasion." 4 In May 1947, De Gasperi Government resigned and the CatholicCommunist Alliance broke down. The elections in 1948 showed that although the power of the Socio-Communists did not decrease, their former Christian government partner was no longer inclined to collaborate with them. As will be assessed later, the growing influence of the United States and the Marshall Plan negotiations were mostly responsible for the break of this "national consensus". The assassination attempt of the Communist leader Togliatti in 1948, and the ensuing general strikes in the Northern plants, aggravated the situation and the "elite convergence" turned to an "elite polarization". But the effects of this "rupture" did not make itself felt in the film industry until the implementation of a new legislature in 1950 known as the "Andreotti Law". The "cultural policies" adopted by the PCI since 1944 (tolerated by the members of the liberal-religious coalition as part of the "progressive bourgeois spirit" until the end of the "reconstruction years") remained powerful enough until the early 50s, to protect and perpetuate the production of neo-realist artworks, especially in the realm of film. 1 Joseph La Palombara, Interest Groups in Italian Politics (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1964). 2 Ibid. p. 138. 3 Ibid. p. 139. 4 Ibid. p. 141.

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CULTURE AND POLITICS: PCI'S INTERPRETATION OF GRAMSCI

Until the early fifties, the cultural policy of PCI, which reflected a mixture of Gramsci and Zhdanov, remained influential in shaping the ideological basis of most cultural production in Italy. As part of the reformist and reconciliatory policies the Christian Democrats adopted vis-a-vis the Communists in the mid 1940s, PCI's radical aesthetic perspectives were tolerated by the center right forces. In a sense, PCI was "given" the aesthetic and cultural domains as its main areas of dominance, in return for its compromises on religious issues (i.e. The Lateran Pact). The PCI, on the other hand, was interested in creating a "texture of hegemony" through cultural penetration and could, thus, justify its political compromises. Togliatti's PCI was the main "protector" and "supporter" of the neo-realist filmmakers, regardless of their ultimate political affiliations. The interest the leftists showed in culture was beneficial for both Catholics and Communists, at least until the end of the Alliance. Togliatti's PCI was based on a serious schism between theory and practice. The "theoretical orthodoxy" of the Party which made it a faithful follower of Stalin and Zhdanov was accompanied by a "practical pragmatism" that pushed the Communists to accept "Lateran Pacts" and many other political compromises. This "dual" strategy was mainly based on the ideas and experiences of Palmiro Togliatti. He had first stressed the importance of parliamentary politics and gradual strategy towards socialism during the Spanish war, where he had abandoned his revolutionary stance and instead adopted the notions of "national-popular" and "anti-Fascism". This deep schism in the Party's "praxis" was partly balanced by the wide use of Gramscian concepts. The impact of Gramsci upon the PCI was, undoubtedly very important. He was the founder and the first head of the Party, and Togliatti was a true admirer of him as he played the major role in the publication of The Prison Notebooks. Nevertheless, some historians argue that the introduction of Gramsci into the political strategy of Togliatti involved a strong desire to mask the latter's pragmatic reformism and PCI's continuing dependence upon the Soviet Union. 1 According to Stephen Gundle, this opportunistic and erroneous interpretation of Gramsci: ... was compounded by the way in which Gramsci's contribution was subordinated a second time in the early 1950s to the anti-American, antiwestern themes typical of Zhdanovism. Instead of providing inspiration and intellectual stimulus to many artists, writers, filmmakers and minor intellectuals who regarded the PCI as a reference point, his work was reduced to a set of four or five slogans or formulae which were widely used but poorly understood. 2 1 Stephen Gundle, 'The Legacy of the Prison Notebooks" in Duggan (ed.) Italy in the Cold War. 2

Ibid. p. 145.

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As a matter of fact, Togliatti made heavy use of Gramscian concept of "war of position" and separated it completely from the insurrectionary "war of manoeuvre" to justify his gradual approach. He based his arguments on Gramsci's statements in his Notebooks that, sometimes a "passive revolution" is the only form of political struggle, when a relatively stable equilibrium between the fundamental classes prevail. Gramsci maintains that, in the West, where there is a "proper relation between the State and civil society" unlike the East (Russia), the war of position is more appropriate. The civil society must be conquered before the frontal assault on the State. Says Gramsci: The supremacy of a social group manifests itself in two ways, as "domination" and as "intellectual and moral leadership." A social group dominates antagonistic groups which it tends to liquidate, or to subjugate perhaps even by armed force; it leads kindred and allied groups. A social group can, and indeed must, already exercise "leadership" before winning governmental power...It subsequently becomes dominant when it exercises power, but even if it holds it firmly in its grasp, it must continue to lead as well. 1

The necessity to exercise civic leadership before winning governmental power is in congruity with the PCI's general strategy of creating a texture of hegemony through cultural penetration. Togliatti's compromises to the Church can also be seen in this perspective and be interpreted as an attempt to reduce the anti-Communist feelings of the masses. Togliatti's emphasis on "war of position" is partly understandable in the Italian context, where the Catholic Church has a tremendous power upon society. But it is also true that, nowhere in his writings, Gramsci totally gives up the idea of an ultimate revolutionary conquest of the State, unlike Togliatti, who sees the insurrectionary phase of socialism as a passé phenomenon. Gramsci defends the strategic "war of position" in contexts where the frontal attack on State is impossible. As noted earlier, vento del nord of May 1945 was a "de facto" Communist reign of the partisans in the north of Italy and very little was needed to spread this movement to the rest of the country. Italy was in a "crisis of hegemony" in Gramscian sense, par excellence, and it is hard to conceive in the world history, of a more suitable socio-political conjuncture for the takeover of the State power. It seems as though the reformist policies of Togliatti reflected the strategic calculations of Stalin, rather than the philosophical inquiries of Gramsci. Meanwhile, PCI's cultural policies adopted during the CatholicCommunist Alliance did properly show Gramsci's emphasis on culture. The notion of "national-popular" was at the heart of the Gramscian account of 1

Antonio Gramsci, Selections From the Prison Notebooks (New-York: International Publihers, 1971) pp. 57-8.

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culture which is perhaps best described as a sort of "historic bloc between national and popular aspirations in the formation of which the intellectuals play an essential mediating role." 1 The PCI correctly transformed this notion to a cultural concept, integrating the "progressive" elements of popular culture and the national aspirations of the bourgeoisie, with the internationalist hopes of the intelligentsia. In this period, the artistic output had little specific Marxist influence, but was rather marked by a "generic populism". Marxism was not necessarily dictated by the Party, and the masterpieces of neo-realism were born out of this flexible approach towards culture. Says Giuseppe Ferrara: Neo-realism was the first attempt of our culture to attain a nationalpopular expression in the sense meant by Gramsci. It has rejected the detachment of the traditional intellectuals who neither know nor feel the needs, the aspirations, the diffuse feelings of the people, which form something detached, in the air, a cast and not an articulation with organic functions of the people itself. Instead it has often represented profoundly democratic demands with sympathy for, and a sense of participation with the masses.^

In the post-war years, Togliatti embraced the neo-realist works of "rightwing" filmmakers, as part of his policy of creating a texture of cultural hegemony. As Visconti recalls: Conversions and declarations of sympathy were epidemic in the film industry. People of every background including some, like Blasetti, Rossellini and De Sica, who had not even been anti-Fascists rallied to the left. In 1947, filmmakers under attack by the Christian Democrats were fiercely defended by the Communist Party. When the Vatican newspaper L' Osservatore Romana assailed De Sica's The Bicycle Thief, Communists flew to the director's defence and accused the Church of trying to rekindle the fires of the Inquisition. Togliatti himself defended Fabiola, made by the ex-Fascist Blasetti in an article entitled 'Fabiola where all roads lead to Communi sm'....^

In practice, "all roads may lead to Communism" for Togliatti, but in theory, the Party was very strict in its internal coherence as to the scope and definition of its cultural ideology. The PCI may be said to have three main objectives in its post-war cultural policy. First, in accordance with Gramscian theory of hegemony, it aimed at penetrating into the sphere of popular culture through popular publications and libraries. Second, it sought to mobilize the support of intellectuals. This meant building a Party presence in existing cultural organizations, by acquiring new members and sympathisers. The

1

Ibid. p. 421. Giuseppe Ferrara, "Neo-Realism, Yesterday" in Overbey (ed.) Springtime in Italy, p. 202. ^ Laurence Schifano, Luchino Visconti: The Flames of Passion, p. 222.

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PCI's fervent defense of neo-realist filmmakers and the financial support it extends to the production of many neo-realist films can be seen in this light. Lastly, the Party tried to disseminate a particular set of cultural values which glorified solidarity, collective action and humanism. The aesthetic manifestation of these values resided in "realism" and thus an aesthetic of realism became the Party's major battle ground. Realism, for the Party, became a "hub" around which a whole value system turned. As Forgacs observes: ... Realism, at the level of artistic practice and aesthetic evaluation, was associated with engagement or commitment as against detachment, with the involvement of intellectuals in the working class movement opposed to ivory-tower intellectualism, with philosophical materialism as against idealism, with the concrete versus abstract, with clarity of expression and the need for divulgation as against stylistic precocity and difficulty.*

Theoretically speaking, this "realism" was the opposite of "decadent" or formalist western art, and in that sense, reflected the doctrines of Zhdanov. Interparty discipline was very strict in terms of the theoretical debates of Zhdanovism, and criticism was barely tolerated, as seen in the case of Elio Vittorini. Vittorini, editor of II Politécnico, who was publishing "among other things a reactionary scribbler like Ernest Hemingway!" 2 was literally ousted from the Party, when he tried to defend his position in a two-part essay concerning "Politics and Culture". It is well known, however, that the major inspiration for the neo-realist "awakening" came from such "scribblers" including not only Hemingway but also Faulkner, Cain and Caldwell. Obviously, in the heyday of Stalin and Zhdanov, to dare to create "theoretical" polemics about a new cultural conception above politics, was certainly seen as an act of "transgression" by the Party leadership. As noted above, Togliatti himself went to the defense of "ex-Fascist" directors like Blasetti for his film Fabiola. Even the support, Luchino Visconti, the stylish, homosexual son of a Piedmontese aristocrat, received from the Party was not very easy to understand given the rigid approach the Party took vis-à-vis Vittorini, and Giuseppe De Santis, a devoted member of the PCI, who was "blamed of formalism" in his films. The simplest, but probably the clearest explanation of this ambiguity, came from Togliatti himself: "A mother does not beat her neighbour's children!"3 As opposed to its theoretical rigidity, the PCI generally showed a flexible and reconciled cultural approach towards Catholics during the Catholic-Communist Alliance. This "practical" openness of the Party was

^ David Forgacs, Italian Culture in the Industrial Era, p. 159. Mario Alleata quoted in David Overbey (ed.) Springtime in Italy, p. 41. 3 Togliatti quoted in Laurence Schifano, Luchino Visconti, p. 229.

2

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also extended to the realm of film, and neo-realist directors, as long as their films reflected at least a generic populism, was highly supported by the Party. In the political sphere, though, Togliatti's concessions went far beyond necessity (even when Gramsci is introduced), and narrowed the range of sociopolitical and judiciary reforms necessary to democratize the country.

4. MAJOR NEO-REALIST FILMS AND DIRECTORS Between 1945 and 1953, a total of 822 feature films were made in Italy. Of these films, in the widest sense, 259 were associated with neorealism. 1 Although it is less than a third of the total film production, this is still a huge number, given that the remainder were unimportant commercial genre films such as comedies, historical dramas or love stories. In this period, all of Italy's respectable filmmakers were, in some sense, involved in the politics and aesthetics of the new wave, reflecting the artistic counterpart of "bourgeois progressivism", "reformism" and the ensuing "optimism" in the political sphere. Even the popular directors like Renato Castellani, Alessandro Blasetti, Alberto Lattuada and Luigi Zampa gave important examples of neorealist films. But similar to all other aesthetic movements in the history of art, the new movement had its enfants prodiges, those who gained international reputation through the works they created. These were Luchino Visconti, Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica and Giuseppe De Santis. They were the most representative figures of the new movement and the creators of the most important neo-realist films. Rome, Open City, directed by Rossellini in 1945 is generally considered as the starting point of the movement. There are different views as to the end of neo-realism, but Umberto D of De Sica, made in 1951, seems to be the culminating point of the wave. Apart from the changed socio-political conjuncture which made it impossible for the post-war consensual politics to exist in 1951, Umberto D also metaphorically symbolizes the end of the neorealist "utopia", by the story of the old and abandoned Umberto Domenico. It would, of course, be wrong to think that the new aesthetic credo abruptly ended in 1951. Many films, made until the late 1960s, reflected clear influences of neo-realism. Especially, the early films of Fellini (The White Sheik, I Vitelloni...), Antonioni (Story of a Love Affair), and Pasolini (Accatone, Mamma Roma, Hawks and Sparrows...) created discussions about the end of neo-realism. In fact, neo-realism became a powerful aesthetic tradition in Italy and its legacy never totally disappeared from the artistic subconsciousness of the new generation. Combining itself with the rising bourgeois culture and high modernism, neo-realism evolved, in the 60s, into a symbiosis between the "humble" and the "personal". But the "genuine" ' David Forgacs, Italian Culture in the Industrial Era, p. 117.

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movement, itself, certainly ended in the early fifties, with the dissolution of the post-war elite coalescence, and the revolutionary fervor. Neo-realist films made between 1945 and 1951 can be thematically categorized into three. One group of films was based on the stories of war and the Resistance. Including the famous trilogy of Rossellini {Rome, Open City, Paisa, Germany Year Zero), Vergano's The Sun Rises Again, Luigi Zampa's Difficult Years, To Live in Peace and Alberto Lattuada's Without Pity, these films generally reflected the tragedies of war and the unity of the Communist and Catholic partisans. The directors, themselves, belonged to different political camps and the cinematographic convergence of their themes and perspectives reflected a political act of unity. Another group of cinematographers focused on the agricultural problems. The problem of the South (Il Mezzogiorno), still unsolved by the new Government, the absence of land reform and the exploitation of the peasants, were the main subjects of the films. These directors often reflected the perspective of the PCI, as in those days, one of the major issues of the left in Italy, was the "Southern Question". Visconti (The Earth Trembles), De Santis (The Tragic Hunt, Bitter Rice, No Peace Amidst the Olives) together with Lattuada (The Mill on the River), and Pietro Germi (In the Name of Law) made the most important films on the agricultural problems of Italy. The third group of films reflected the urban problems. Unemployment, prostitution and child abuse were the pressing problems of the big cities, treated mostly in the films of Vittorio De Sica (Shoeshine, The Bicycle Thieves, Miracle in Milan and Umberto D). These films highly disturbed the Italian bourgeoisie, and De Sica was often accused of "rendering bad service to his country." As Huaco observes, the neo-realist directors were a well educated group of middle class origin. They predominantly came from "engagé" and creative types of professions (i.e. writer, journalist, actor, architect...). Their political orientation was polarized into Catholic or Communist, with a clear dominance of the latter.1 But even those who were associated with liberal Christianism, such as Rossellini or De Sica, were closer to the "left" side of the Christian Democrats. The humanist Dossetti's Catholic-left journal Cronache Socialia was closer to their ideas of patriotic unification and Christian social justice than De Gasperi's pragmatic politics. In that sense, it can be rightly assumed that the most notable film directors of the era were centered around the idea of "revolutionary humanism" in congruity with the spirit of national unity and solidarity that symbolized the period of progressive Catholic-Communist Alliance.

1

George Huaco, The Sociology of Film Art, p. 206.

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THE WAR AND RESISTANCE: ROSSELLINI AND VERGANO

Among many directors who focused on the themes of war and resistance, two deserve particular attention: Roberto Rossellini and Aldo Vergano. The former known as a Catholic and the latter, a Communist, they both made films that glorified the Catholic-Communist Alliance of the CLN partisans. Especially Roberto Rossellini's "war trilogy" is composed of films accepted as the masterpieces of the Italian neo-realist movement. Rossellini is often accused of political pragmatism as his early cinematographic career is full of abrupt political changeovers. Son of a wealthy Roman theater owner, he started his career at an early age at dubbing studios. Then, he met the famous Fascist documentary director Francesco de Robertis and worked on a political documentary named Luciano Serra, pilota in 1938, which "amounted to a glorification of the Abyssinian war." 1 Rossellini's collaboration with Fascist, de Robertis and Mussolini's son Vittorio, continued with his so-called "Fascist trilogy". Among them, La nave bianca and Un pilota ritorna were quasi documentary films and reflected the direct involvement of the Italian navy and air forces. Rossellini's political pragmatism is understandable to a certain point, as in the early 40s, all press, radio and film activities were almost entirely controlled by the Fascists, and his involvement in the industry was limited to war documentaries and newsreels. But the last film of Rossellini's "Fascist trilogy", L'uomo dalla croce (The Man with a Cross, 1943), was a Fascist propaganda film par excellence, and was only a year before he made the "partisan" Rome, Open City. L 'uomo dalla croce tells the story of a military chaplain who dies in captivity in the "barbaric" Bolshevik land. It actually glorifies the "Axis" invasion of Russia and the patriotic Christian self sacrifice of the Italian troops. The closing intertitle of the film reads as follows: This film is dedicated to the memory of the military chaplains who fell in the crusade against those without God, in defense of their country and in order to bring the light of truth and justice even to the land of the barbaric enemy

It is almost ironical that Rossellini uses the word "crusade" to describe the military intentions of the Axis. It is hard to understand what went in the director's mind, but the film can not even be released in Italy as the Allies invades Sicily in 1943. As Bondanella suggests, the film probably shows "Rossellini's own naive, confused and often self-interested political values."3 It also attests to the close ties between a political ideology and the culture it produces.

2 3

Francis Koval, "Interview with Rossellini", Sight and Sound (February, 1951)Vol. 19, p. 393. Peter Bondanella, The Films of Roberto Rossellini, p. 33. Ibid.

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It would certainly be hard for anyone, in this period, to imagine that, only two years later, Rossellini would be identified with an anti-Fascist cinema. Yet, it would also be unfair to doubt the sincerity of Rossellini's "conversion". The decisive point seems to be Rossellini's break with "Scalera" film, and de Robertis who decides to go to Mussolini's newly founded Republic of Salo. Rossellini prefers to remain in the South and joins the anti-Fascist forces. He even becomes the "Christian Democrats' representative in the film workers' committee of CLN." 1 Roma, citta aperta {Rome, Open City) the major source of Rossellini's subsequent fame, was released in 1945. It has a relatively simple plot, based on the real life execution of a famous partisan priest, called Don Morosino, at a period when Rome was declared "open city" by Kesselring. The film is basically a tribute to the Catholic-Communist Alliance of the Resistance and, in that sense, it is a drastic shift from the previous perspective of L'uomo dalla croce. The film tells the story of the Communist engineer Manfredi and the Catholic priest Don Pietro who helps the Communist partisans in their fight against the Nazis. The partisan leader Manfredi hides in the house of a fellow-traveler named Francesco. The police searches the house and while Manfredi is out, they catch Francesco, and in a very spectacular scene, shoot his pregnant fiancée Pina (Anna Magnani) who carelessly runs after the German truck. After the betrayal of her own girl friend, seduced by the gifts and drugs of the Gestapo, Manfredi is captured together with the brave Don Pietro. Manfredi is killed, again in an unprecedentedly realistic scene of torture, and Don Pietro is executed by a firing squad while young Roman boys watch him. Although seemingly a melodramatic story about the defeat of the "good", Roma, citta aperta is full of optimism and hope for the future. The massacred heroes of the movie are secular martyrs and their blood will bring a brighter future to the younger generation. The execution of Don Pietro is a clear allegory of the crucifixion of Christ. In his last words, he calmly murmurs: "It is not hard to die well, it is hard to live well!" For many critics, the final shot of the film, in which the young boys walk through Rome with an amazing view of St Peter's at the background, symbolizes the new generation who will have a chance to build a new life upon the sacrifices of the older generation. The marriage of Communism (Francesco) and Catholicism (Pina), although cut off by violence, points to national unity and renewal. Says Francesco to Pina: "We shouldn't be afraid now or in the future. Because we are right!. Maybe the way is hard, it may take a long time, but we will see a better world. And our kids will see it...." The film's realism mostly depends on descriptive elements. Due to his Fascist documentary heritage, Rossellini had a real penchant for authentic and spontaneous details and he often refused to use a premeditated script. The ' P. Adams Sitney, Vital Crises in Italian Cinema, p. 56.

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unfavourable condition of the Cinecittà studios was a blessing for Rossellini who was pushed to shoot the film on location. Apart from the crude reflection of the torture and killing scenes, we also have, in Roma, citta aperta, "the wealth of casual details revealing the material misery of Rome: the crowded apartments, the family squabbles, the scarcity of bread and water, the overflowing trolley cars and the physical destruction of much of the city."1 On the other hand, as far as the story is concerned, the film, rather, follows the conventions of the traditional narrative. Roma, citta aperta is based on common sense clichés and rigid depictions of its protagonists. Thus, we have the "good" partisans and the "evil" Germans. The "Germanization of the evil" goes so far as to ascribe some sort of "ontological curse" upon the Gestapo agents. The evil German figures are represented as sexually deviant. Almost ironically, Rossellini replaces his former repulsively ugly "barbaric Bolsheviks" with deviant "evil Germans", this time assigning a positive image to the Communist partisans. The crusade of the Christians in L'uomo dalla croce to the land of the Communists, turns into a story of collaboration and heroism. Roma, citta aperta is basically a propaganda film and it reflects the political platform of the Action Party in its emphasis upon the optimistic vision of a center-left consensus. The film reviewers of both Communist and Catholic press were enthusiastic about Roma, citta aperta. The Communist daily L'Unita, Socialist Avanti and Christian Democrat II Popolo, all praised the film. 2 Later, this has often been the case for the prominent films of the wave, and all sides of the political spectrum hailed the neo-realist masterpieces. Rossellini's second film of his "war trilogy" Paisa (1946) also received favourable comments from the critics. Although Rossellini clearly showed in Paisa, his Christian Democrat commitments, and identified with DC, in its common cause with American interests, critics were as enthusiastic about Paisa as they had been for Roma, citta aperta. André Bazin held that Paisa was the real masterpiece of the movement, as it conformed to the Italian tradition of short story (novella) and it was completely based on improvisation of the actors and the spontaneity of the events.3 Paisa is composed of six episodes and it mainly tells the stories of the American soldiers, in their interactions with the Italian people. It has a strong documentary aspect and the map of Italy, that appears at the end of each episode, gives the impression that we are, in fact, watching a wartime newsreel. The actors are, almost all, nonprofessionals and needless to say, Rossellini did hardly have any written script, prior to the shooting of the film. Says Bondanella: 1 Ben Lawton, "Italian Neorealismi A Mirror Construction of Reality", Film Criticism (Winter, 1972) Vol. Ill, p. 12. 2 Ibid. 3 André Bazin, Qagda§ Sinemanin Sorunlari, trans. Nijat Ozòn, (Ankara: Bilgi Yayinevi, 1995).

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Few viewers of Paisa have failed to be impressed by the incredibly moving performances of a number of nonprofessional actors in the film. Rossellini himself has assisted in the creation of a mythology about his nonprofessional actors by describing how he would put his cameraman in the middle of a town square where he planned to shoot and would wait for the curious to gather, from whom he selected faces that interested him.1 In terms of its narrative, Paisa can be considered more realistic than Roma, citta aperta as it tries to reflect the stories of "real" people with their vices and virtues. Contrary to the "choral" quality of his previous film, Rossellini's Paisa deals with lonely and, sometimes, alienated people. The problems of communication and empathy between the representatives of two different cultures are the main focus of the film. In that sense, Paisa can be considered as an intermediary film between the modernist Germania, anno zero and "choral" Roma, citta aperta. On the other hand, Paisa's episodes are not all equally exciting, and in many cases, there is a clear patronizing attitude of the American forces. For example, in the first episode of the film, in which the American troops try to communicate with the peasants of Gela (a small Sicilian town), an Italian speaking American soldier says to his commander, referring to the astonished peasants: "These people take time!" The idea of "civilized Americans in the land of parochial Italians" is present throughout the film and sometimes used as an element of parody. Although Rossellini gives an objective portrait of the class origins of the American soldiers (i.e negroes, factory workers, milkmen..), he brings no real social analysis, or criticize the prolonged existence of the Anglo-American troops in Italy. Paisa gives the impression of trying to make the US presence in Italy natural. The very title of the film Paisa, which amounts to mean "one from us" 2 , already suggests that Americans will not leave the country, before the interests of the Italians become one and the same with those of the Americans. In March 1947, Rossellini set out for Berlin to work on the third film of his war trilogy, Germania, anno zero (Germany, Year Zero) with the backing of a French production company. Although barely mentioned in the filmography of the director, Germania, anno zero is probably the most exciting film of its entire cinematographic career. Together with Umberto D of De Sica, Germania, anno zero is a very bold attempt of combining "the individual" with the documentary. Hence, the ultimate point of neo-realism is reached where one can get rid of the "childish objectivity" of the director and take a closer look at the inner feelings of the protagonists. In that sense, Germania, anno zero is a modernist film in a neo-realist spirit and thus combines the recurrent modern themes of pessimism, loneliness, alienation and suicide, with a photographic realism of the crudest type.

1 2

Peter Bondanella, The Films of Roberto Rossellini, p. 67. Hemgehri, in Turkish.

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Similar to Rome, citta aperta, Germania, anno zero is shot on location and is full of descriptive details. In an allegorical sense, the pictures of Berlin, now in ruins, reflect the shattered lives of many Germans, lost and disillusioned in the aftermath of a political régime that gave them an erroneous sense of grandeur. The plot of the film centers upon the story of a little boy, called Edmund, who tries to survive amidst poverty and humiliation. His father is bed ridden, his elder brother, an ex-member of Storm Trooper, is now hiding from the Allies and his sister is an unsuccessful streetwalker. One day, Edmund meets his ex-schoolteacher, a Nazi sympathizer, who seems to show some weird interest in Edmund. Lost and confused, Edmund takes too seriously the demonical suggestions of his teacher, that the weak must be killed and the strong should survive. Having heard the complaints of his crippled father that he was only a burden to his family and he'd rather die, Edmund decides to poison him. After the crime, he runs to his teacher who strongly refuses to assume any responsibility, saying that he was only speaking theoretically. Unable to carry the weight of his horrible crime, the young boy walks in the ruined streets of Berlin and jumps to his death from a ruined building. Although many critics hold that Germania, anno zero signals the end of "choral" neo-realism for Rossellini, the narrative realism of the film outdoes Rossellini's previous films in many respects. Germania, anno zero shows a mature cinematographic language, as the director treats his protagonists as real human beings. Although the ex-nazi teacher is again shown with some repulsive sexual traits, he is not as mean as the Gestapo members of Roma, citta aperta. In other words, the film is not divided into cliché personalities, and good vs evil dichotomies, as L'uomo dalla croce or Roma, citta aperta. For the first time in his cinematographic career, Rossellini has basically a humanist approach and not propagandist concerns. Says the director, himself, in Cahiers du Cinéma: The Germans were human beings like the rest; what could have brought them to this disaster? The false morality which is the very essence of Nazism, the abandonment of humility in favour of the cult of heroism, the exaltation of forces rather than of weakness, pride against simplicity?*

Bordé and Bouissy hold that Rossellini was mainly "escapist" in making Germania, anno zero, and he tried to avoid the treatment of sociopolitical problems in Italy, at a time when the neo-realist filmmakers were focusing on urban and agricultural problems.2 In fact, Rossellini completely gave up the idea of progressive neo-realist ethics after Germania, anno zero and focused on religious or sentimental dramas. The year was 1947, and the National Consensus Government was over. Parallel to the split of the * Rossellini quoted in Roy Armes, Patterns of Realism, p. 82. Raymond Bordé and André Bouissy, Le Néo-Réalisme Italien.

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Catholic-Communist Alliance and the end of elite coalescence, Rossellini was again the first to conform to the necessities of the political situation. But these considerations can, still, not overshadow the grandeur of Germania, anno zero with its documentary and narrative perfection. Among many other directors who worked on the period of Resistance and made important neo-realist films, Aldo Vergano's II sole sorge ancora (The Sun Rises Again, 1946) deserves some special scrutiny. Vergano has never been as famous as Rossellini, and it would not be wrong to suggest that he represented the antithesis of Rossellini in many respects. He grew up in Sardinia and had a number of different jobs, including selling postcards. He was a political activist from his youth, and early in 1925, he was famous for being associated to the abortive assassination attempt of Mussolini. In the Second World War, Vergano became a member of the Action Party and fought as a partisan in the ranks of the "Guistizia e Liberta" group. Unlike Rossellini, he tried to keep distant from the Fascist movie industry and although he collaborated with Blasetti in various commercial productions, his involvement included little ideological propaganda. Vergano's "unique child" II sole sorge ancora was sponsored by ANPI (The Italian Partisan Association), a Communist led organization, and the film was created through the collaboration of many prominent Marxists, such as Carlo Lizzani and Giuseppe de Santis. The common point of Vergano's Communist film with Rossellini's Christian Democrat "war trilogy", was their united tribute to the Catholic-Communist Alliance of the Resistance movement. Vergano, like Rossellini, was a member of the filmmakers' union within the CLN and II sole sorge ancora, like Roma, citta aperta, may be seen as a direct result of this common membership. Vergano's film evolves around the political education of a young soldier named Cesare. In his native Lombard village, he faces a choice between two women symbolizing the fate of a whole generation. Laura, a poor refugee looking after the children of her dead sister is an allegorical expression of liberty. Donna Matilde, on the other hand, is a rich and sensual woman symbolizing Fascism. At some point in 1943, all ex-soldiers are ordered to rejoin their units to fight for the Fascist cause. The village priest (akin to the progressive priest in Roma, citta aperta) reacts to this order and mobilizes all anti-Fascist forces to fight against Fascism. Seduced by Donna Matilde, Cesare hesitates, but finally joins the Resistance. At the end, both the priest and Cesare are executed by the Nazis, but the town is liberated by the Communist partisans. The plot's association to Roma, citta aperta is obvious. In both films, the Catholic priests are the major collaborators of the Communist partisans. In the end, all positive protagonists are killed by the evil Germans and in both films the female characters, in some sense, determine the fate of the heroes. But Vergano's Marxist perspective goes far deeper than Rossellini. Says Vergano in 1947, "There is nobody in Italy or abroad who doubts the value of

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our partisans, but there are few on the contrary who know the reasons why these adventurers fought on one side rather than the other". 1 According to Borde and Bouissy, one has to be a real Marxist to dare to show that the capitalists had collaborated with the Germans and that the Resistance was the hope of the proletariat". 2 Nevertheless, II sole sorge ancora done from a Communist perspective, symbolizes with the Christian Democrat Roma, citta aperta, a convergence of political perspectives, and belief in the possibility of a brighter future. As Armes states: ... Though totally different in its tone and stylistic pattern, The Sun Rises Again shares with Rome, Open City a closeness to the events it is narrating, a bitterness towards the Germans and a desire to find forceful and empathic images to reflect the turbulent past and the uncertain but hopeful future.^

AGRICULTURAL PROBLEMS: VISCONTI AND DE SANTIS

Agricultural problems of Italy were mainly known as the "question of the South". Although peasants were also exploited in the North of Italy, the situation in the South was much more deplorable due to some historical circumstances. The northern peasantry had a more developed class consciousness and even the Church was relatively progressive in the northern regions of the country. The main issue of political debate between 1947 and 1949 was the promised land reform. In many neo-realist films of the era, the necessity of a proper land reform was emphasized and real life events, such as land occupations or agricultural strikes, were treated. The main supporter of a throughout land reform was the Communist Party. Needless to say, the most important examples of such critical neo-realist films came from directors associated with the PCI. As it was politically difficult to reflect the problems of the urban workers in the factories, the PCI led filmmakers, focused on the stories of peasant protagonists. Although coming from entirely different backgrounds with totally dissimilar cinematic languages, Luchino Visconti and Giuseppe de Santis, both members of the PCI, focused on the agonies of the peasantry and the question of the South. Visconti, the "Red Count", is a very contradictory figure in the history of Italian neo-realism. He was an aristocrat, son of a wealthy Southern count, and had the luxury and prosperity of a Renaissance prince. Yet, at a very early age, he became interested in theatre and made himself a name as the director of Sheakespeare's As You Like It. In the late thirties, he went to France and met Jean Renoir through a common friend: Coco Chanel. Although surrounded by 1 2

Vergano quoted in Armes, Patterns of Realism, p. 95. Bordé and Bouissy, p. 30. Armes, p. 96.

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aristocrats and weird companies, Visconti was a devoted Marxist and an admirer of Gramsci. A traitor to his own class, he spent most of his wealth on films revealing the decadence and the decline of the Italian gentry. In the forties, he took part in the famous Cinema Circle and made Ossessione with the collaboration of the Cinema team. Antonioni recalls his first meeting with Visconti in 1942: I saw him for the first time in Via Veneto in 1942. He was sitting at a café table with Mario Alicata. Luchino struck me at once as an imposing figure. He commanded respect, and his authoritarian ways were impressive. The first thing that struck me about him was the way he looked at passersby, as if he owned them all. Puccini, De Santis and I were middle class and we felt the class difference with Visconti. He behaved like someone whose family had ruled Milan for two centuries. ^

To everyone's surprise, this aristocratic member of the Communist Party got the financial support of the PCI to work on an adaptation of Verga's novel I Malavoglia. Visconti set out for Aci Trezza, a small Sicilian town, in 1947, to shoot his unique neo-realist epic La terra trema (The Earth Trembles). Verga was an old obsession for Visconti and he had long dreamed of working on this project. Early in 1941, he had gone to Sicily to discover "that harsh land of silence, of daily humiliation, of immemorial suffering." 2 Mesmerized by the authentic beauty of the island, he wrote to one of his friends in 1941: One morning when the sirocco was blowing, and I was wandering idly through the streets of Catania and across the Caltagirone plain, I fell in love with Verga.. .My image of the primitive and gigantic world of the Aci Trezza fishermen and the shepherds of Marineo had always been violent, epic... Verga's Sicily had truly seemed Ulysses' isle, an isle of adventures and burning passions, a fixed, proud bulwark against the slashing Ionian Sea....3

Visconti started the film in November 1947, and stayed six months in Aci Trezza, long enough to make a family of fishermen for himself. The cast was entirely made up of the actual fishermen of the region and they mostly played without a script. Visconti often discussed the scenes with the players and they together decided how to dramatize it. To increase the authenticity, Visconti let the fishermen use their own native Sicilian dialect, generally incomprehensible to the Italian audience. In that way, he hoped to break, in the Gramscian sense, the hegemony of the vernacular Italian, by emphasizing a totally local and "minor" dialect.

' Antonioni quoted in Laurence Schifano, Luchino Visconti, p. 173. Ibid. p. 168. 3 Ibid.

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La terra trema was part of a three-part fictional epic conceived by Visconti upon the demand of the PCI. This huge project would concentrate on the difficulties of the collective action vis-à-vis the pressing problems of the South. Thus, the initial project would treat the class war of the sulphur miners, the collective action of the landless peasantry and the "entrepreneurial" approach of the exploited fishermen, under the general theme of "Proletariat of Sicily, Unite!" 1 The broad project had to be abandoned, and ironically, Visconti only kept the fishermen episode, the most "negative" approach to the class war (i.e. the individual action). Besides his love of Verga, Visconti must also have liked the idea of a family tragedy, conforming to his own passion for "classical realism". La terra trema tells the story of a poor fishermen family, the Valastros, whose disintegration begins the day the most idealist of them, Antonio (Ntoni), decides to rebel against the exploiting wholesalers. As his enthusiastic brother Cola naively observes, "Ntoni did his military service in the City, so he learned about injustice!" Although the elders of the family oppose Ntoni's initiatives and insist that "in Aci Trezza, each tomorrow is alike", the young man takes a great risk and gets a loan from the bank to buy his own boat "Providence". The optimism and solidarity in the family turn into mourning and disintegration, as Ntoni and his brothers lose the boat in a storm, and hardly escape death. Now in debt to the bank, they lose everything including their dignity and honour. In the end, Ntoni accepts to work again for the wholesalers to save his family from hunger and draws the moral of the film: "We have to learn to love each other... Only then we can move on..." Showing the difficulty of overcoming the organized capital, Visconti condemns the individualistic motives of the Valastros, and stresses the importance of class solidarity and collective action. Ntoni is not necessarily a proletarian activist. He is closer in spirit to the newly rising bourgeois class who cherishes challenge and innovation. In the movie, the bank, the very essence of the modern financial capital, is treated as "friendly", or at least, "neutral" vis-à-vis the exploiting wholesalers. Although Ntoni's selfish motives are strongly punished by a whole course of tragic events, Visconti's rhetoric seems to condemn the feudal remnants of the Southern exploiters and not the modern and "enlightened" institutions of capitalism. Viscontis's radical message is also shattered by the strong melodramatic tone of the film. After Ntoni loses the boat, an uninterrupted series of tragic events happen to the family: Cola leaves home, the younger sister becomes the guard's mistress, the grandfather dies, the house is gone and Ntoni turns alcoholic... The metaphysical emphasis in the film is also strong. Ntoni's boat is named "Providence" and the boat's dark destiny alludes to the heavenly anger towards Ntoni's rebellious act. All these seem a little too much for a humble Sicilian fisherman family, given the simplicity of their 1

Bordé and Bouissy, Le Néo-Réalisme Italien, p. 41.

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real lives. The aristocratic inclinations of Visconti was certainly stronger than his naturalism and he couldn't help turning the story of the Valastros into a Sicilian version of a Chekhov play. In contrast to the "Red Count", Giuseppe De Santis, another important and "troublesome" leftist filmmaker, was born to a peasant family. As Schifano puts it: Giuseppe De Santis had grown up in the orange groves and marshes bordering the Mediterranean between Rome and Naples. He had eaten the prickly pears growing wild in the ditches, had pastured buffaloes with the daughters of farmers and workmen, had learned in a smithy how to shoe horses. His friends were barbers, butchers, blacksmiths, masons and cobblers... A kind of innate mistrust had always kept him away from rich kids.... 1

Like Visconti, De Santis was a devoted member of the PCI but he was "more from the family" than Visconti, and most often faced harsher criticisms from the Party than Visconti did. Although he defended formalistic experiences in neo-realist cinema against Zhdanovism, he was not a child of the "high art", as Visconti, and in many cases, he combined popular genres like comedy, musical and western to enrich his films. In fact, De Santis was of limited talent as a filmmaker compared to "grandioso" Visconti and his reputation mainly came from his work as a film critic. Nevertheless, his films are important insofar as they treated the problems of the Italian peasantry from a realistic and radical perspective. De Santis has three important films in his cinematographic career, that focus on the problems of the agricultural regions of Italy. The first of them is Caccia tragica (Tragic Hunt, 1947) based on the real life event of a peasant co-operative robbed by a masked gangster team. The second is called Riso amaro (Bitter Rice, 1948) and is considered as the most successful film of the director. Like Caccia tragica, Non c'e pace tra gli ulivi (No Peace Amongst The Olives) made in 1950, centers upon the problems of the peasant veterans and banditism. Apart from Riso amaro, all films of De Santis depict the triumph of the "good" over the "evil", through the solidarity and collective actions of the peasants. In that sense, De Santis is rather different from Visconti or De Sica who prefer to analyse the consequences of the "lack of solidarity". Maybe due to his own personal experiences of solidarity and unity of action, as a child of the naive countryside, De Santis seems quite optimistic in formulating his protagonists. In many ways, Riso amaro is an exception in De Santis' humble cinematic career. It introduced the famous actress Silvana Mangano, and won a great commercial success. It was also a surprisingly entertaining film and made use of many elements of the American generic traditions, such as 1

Laurence Schifano, Luchino Visconti, p. 168.

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melodrama, western, eroticism, even the musical. This looked like a paradox for a devoted member of the PCI, but De Santis defended his heterodox approach on political grounds. As a true admirer of Gramsci's notion of "national-popular", De Santis wanted to reach everyone and not only the viewers of art films. Says Marcus: ... Literature must root itself in popular culture, wrote Gramsci, so that a film aspiring to the Gramscian ideal will speak to the working classes as well as to the members of the intellectual elite. By appropriating the modes of melodrama, De Santis is thus appealing to a popular audience whose curiosity would hardly be piqued by an invitation to documentary realism. 1

Apart from Gramsci's heritage, the boogie-woogie dances of Silvana Mangano were certainly encouraged by the producing company, La Lux. Thus, a dilemma of how to reconcile a political documentary about the exploitation of female rice workers, with a spectacular commercial entertainment, was resolved by De Santis' intelligent formula: This film tells two stories: One, of the hard work, and the other, of the flow of emotions generated by thousands of women who pick and plant, pick and plant for forty days. It also tells about their long long nights.... 2

Riso amaro, like many commercially successful "art films", has a double reading: A private love story centered around a beautiful girl, and the collective exploitation of female rice workers (mondines). It also criticizes the Americanization of the mass culture (while it uses its popular cinematic traditions), and the false dreams of "Charming Princes" that the photo-romance culture brought to Italy. The film starts in Turin train station, by Silvana reading a photo-romance magazine, called Grand Hotel, full of handsome gangsters and female killers. In the meantime, a petty thief (Walter) tries to escape from the police and uses his girlfriend as a shield. They all take the train to the rural Po Valley and meet Silvana who goes to the rice fields as a seasonal worker. She does not have a work contract but, nevertheless, satisfied to work on a lesser wage. The petty thief seduces the poor girl with a false diamond necklace and extravagant gangster stories. In the end, he asks her to steal the rice she harvested with other fellow female workers. Silvana betrays her proletarian friends but soon understands the hypocrisy of the thief and kills herself, after shooting him. Although Silvana, like Visconti's Ntoni, is severely punished for her anti-social and individualistic inclinations, Riso amaro did not receive from the Party as much approbation as Visconti's La terra trema. PCI's harsh critic, Aristarco accused De Santis of overshadowing the political message of 1 Millicent Marcus, Italian Film in the Light of Neorealism (Princeton University Press, 1986) d.84. De Santis quoted in Antonio Vitti, Giuseppe De Santis and Postwar Italian Cinema, p. 43.

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the film: "The workers cannot be educated by the bare legs of Silvana!.."1 But as Marcus observes, the main problem of the film is the secondary position of the slavelike living conditions of the female workers. It rather constitutes a "décor", a background for the particular story of the film. Silvana, Walter and Francesca stand apart from the background crowd and in that sense Riso amaro betrays the principle of "chorality" of neo-realist films. 2 Riso amaro is, nevertheless, an important neo-realist film as it draws attention to the exploitation of female workers in the rice fields, and introduces a pure documentarist approach to the background struggles of the mondines.

URBAN PROBLEMS: DE SICA'S CITY DWELLERS

Vittorio De Sica, together with his faithful scriptwriter Cesare Zavattini, produced the most successful and typical examples of neo-realism. As he was his own producer, De Sica gave little compromise to the necessities of the market. Thus, he boldly reflected onto the screen, the miserable living conditions in the suburbs of Rome, the shattered dreams of the slum dwellers, the frustrations of the unemployed masses. Focusing on the agonies of the lumpen proletariat, he created the poetry of those rejected from the decent bourgeois life. De Sica showed the dirty image of the fancy Italian metropolitan life, where 25 percent of the work force were without a decent job, obliged to live in barracks and sent their sisters or children to the merciless streets. But De Sica has always aptly combined tragedy with irony, and never turned his films into sheer melodramas. He was known, for almost fifteen years, as a comic actor and his unique style of "piety with irony" was mostly indebted to the light comedies of Mario Camerini. Considered as a popular and talented actor, De Sica had hard times to prove himself as an intellectual film director. As Koval observes: For fifteen years, he was the idol of all the teen-age "signorinas", the attractive, witty, elegant leading man of innumerable Italian screen comedies, some of them amusing and polished, others less so. The public liked the slick man-about-town figure, but hardly anybody suspected in him, beyond his indubitable acting talent, the spark of inspiration that distinguishes the creative artist.-'

Yet De Sica admits that, even as the handsome Casanova, "he played comic parts with his ideas of tragedy deeply hidden." 4 Starting with the promising I bambini ci guardano (The Children Are Watching Us, 1942), De 1 2 3 4

Guido Aristarco quoted in Vitti, p. 36. Millicent Marcus, Italian Film in the Light ofNeo-Realism. Francis Koval, "Interview with De Sica", Sight and Sound (April, 1950) Vol. 19, No. 2, p. 61. Ibid. p. 62.

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Sica gradually disclosed his "Chaplinesque" humanism and the four neo-realist films he produced with Zavattini, between 1946 and 51, gave him the title of enfantprodige of the neo-realist movement. De Sica's political affiliations are not easy to describe. He is believed to share the same Christian Democratic faith with Rossellini, but this alleged political linkage is nowhere apparent in De Sica's work. De Sica's close friend Zavattini acknowledges the importance of social justice in the teaching of Christ, but condemns the clerical influence on politics.1 In many of his films, De Sica yearns for human solidarity. This solidarity does not necessarily reside in religion or politics, but is certainly conditioned by a notion of Christian brotherhood. Yet De Sica is often pessimistic about the possibility of such a brotherhood, and in many cases, sees the Church as indifferent and hostile towards this prospect. In fact, De Sica mocks and despises all institutions including the Church and the political parties. An affirmative anarchist, De Sica believes in the poetry of life. Says André Bazin: To explain De Sica, we must go back to the source of his art, namely to his tenderness, his love...De Sica has an inexhaustible affection for his characters. None of his characters, even the bad ones are antipathetic...This tenderness does not easily lend itself to any moral, religious, or political generalization. The ambiguities of Miracolo a Milano and Ladri di biciclette have been used by the Christian Democrats and by the Communists. So much the better: a true parable should have something for 2 everyone

De Sica also differs from Rossellini in his insistence on neo-realist aesthetics, even after the "Communist led" neo-realist movement became anathema to the Christian Democrat Government, around 1950. His Umberto D, the peak and the uttermost limit of neo-realism, was made in 1951. De Sica was also very productive in his neo-realist career and all of the four films he produced between 1946 and 51, namely, Sciuscià (Shoeshine, 1946), Ladri di biciclette (The Bicycle Thief, 1948), Miracolo a Milano (Miracle in Milan, 1950), and Umberto D (1951) "delighted" the international critics. Sciuscià tells the story of two young shoeshine boys Pasquale and Giuseppe, whose pure and deep friendship is shattered by the hostile adult world. The elder one, Pasquale is an orphan and lives in abject poverty. Giuseppe has a family, but his family bonds are pretty loose, and does him more harm than good. Their only passion is horses, and by a childhood foolishness, they decide to purchase a horse. In order to raise the money, they engage in petty theft and get captured while they try to rob an old lady. The prison life does not only corrupt their friendship, but make them face the intolerant, cruel face of the adult world. They follow a juvenile gang and

1 2

P. Adams Sitney, Vital Crises in Italian Cinema. Andre Bazin, What is Cinema, Vol. II, p. 72-3.

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escape from prison. A meaningless quarrel about the horse makes Pasquale push his younger friend to his death. Frozen by the weight of his unwanted crime, Pasquale stares at the runaway horse disappearing in the dark. Although often underestimated by critics and film historians, De Sica's first neo-realist work, Sciuscià, already shows the signs of a mature cinematographic language and a sharp sense of observation, combined with humour. De Sica aptly describes the miserable living conditions of children, and their engagement in petty theft is explained without any recourse to rhetorics. As Sorlin observes: ... Abject poverty is portrayed in Shoeshine, where families evacuated from the countryside because of the war live in huge barracks, four or five people in a room, with no money or clothes, and are obliged to beg or steal. Family ties are very loose, young men and even children living independently. This permanent promiscuity gives rise to hatred, to wickedness and, paradoxically, also to a sort of mutual self-help, a feeling of solidarity. 1

The image of the filthy world Pasquale and Giuseppe live in, is contradicted by the introduction of the allegorical expression of the horse. The image of the horse performs a multitude of balancing functions and symbolizes hope and purity that, nevertheless, exist in this imperfect world. Yet it is very elusive, and the price one has to pay for it is too high. The horse also symbolizes the naivety and nobility of the boys' friendship and imply that "they should not be there." On the other hand, as Sitney observes, the horse can also be seen as a vestige of the old order, as its name, "Bersagliere", reminds the outdated fantasies of Garibaldian heroics.2 In Sciuscià, De Sica elegantly mocks many established social institutions and shows their hypocrisy. Giuseppe has a family, but they do more harm than good to him, as he is, in fact, the victim of his elder brother who pushed him to rob the old lady. The same family also breaks the only meaningful social bond Giuseppe has in this world. They oblige Giuseppe to put all the blame on Pasquale and they manage to drive a wedge between the boys. The justice system also seems to be worthless. Although the PCI leader Togliatti is Minister of Justice in 1946, the Fascist codes are still in vigour. Pasquale can not afford to hire a private defender and the public attorney the Court appoints is nearly senile. But the hypocrisy of the Justice system is best exemplified in the speech of Giuseppe's attorney. While he deliberately puts all the blame on Pasquale, as he has no parents to back him, he ostensibly condemns the society that pushes them to steal:

1

Pierre Sorlin, European Cinemas, European Societies 1939-1990 (London: Routledge, 1991) p. 120. 2 P. Adams Sitney, Vital Crises in Italian Cinema, p. 82.

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Return these innocents to their homes, their families, their schools, and their jobs. This is not rhetoric, gentlemen. Because if you find them guilty, then we, all of us, are also guilty; for in pursuing our passions we have abandoned our children to themselves. They are more and more alone ^

In return, orphan Pasquale gets two years of sentence and Giuseppe gets one. Sciuscià is very bold in reversing the codes of the traditional narrative. Although it does not fall into the trap of melodrama, it has a pessimistic ending and compared to the children of Rossellini in Roma, citta aperta, De Sica's realism is almost cynical. The image of defenseless, innocent children lost in the cruel adult world is an unprecedented challenge to the pink world of the traditional Italian film. De Sica's subsequent film Ladri di biciclette (1948) is much softer in tone than Sciuscià and it better combines De Sica's Chaplinesque symbiosis of tragedy with light comedy. This is the major factor in the international success of the film. Everyone, even the ordinary Hollywood viewer, can find something in the movie. Ladri di biciclette is one of these masterpieces in the film history that have many possible readings. On the surface level, Ladri di biciclette is a dramatic film combined with light humour. It tells the story of a humble Antonio Ricci, unemployed for a longtime, who needs a bicycle to work as a poster sticker, in the streets of Rome. He hardly finds the bicycle needed, but someone, as lost and poor as himself, steals the bicycle. The rest is an odyssey of Ricci and his little son Bruno in the streets of Rome in a vain search for the precious bicycle. The film is, first of all, a social commentary. It depicts one of the biggest problems in the urban regions of Italy. As Huaco states, in 1948, total unemployment is above 22 per cent of the work force. If one adds to this complete unemployment, the so-called partial unemployment, the number rises to 25 percent. 2 Especially in Rome, almost half of the work force is unemployed, due to the overpopulated shanty towns of the city. Ricci is also from one of these shanty towns, Val Melaine, constructed by the Fascists. He is luckier, though, compared to the protagonists of the Sciuscià, as he has a minimum income and a small but loving family. Many critics maintain that Ricci is a typical "looser", unable to change the circumstances around him. 3 Certain elements in the film support this argument. Ricci needs the initiatives and energies of others to succeed in life. At the beginning, when he stands far enough from the assembly line, complaining about how unlucky he is in life, he does not even hear his name called for several times. Another fellow lets him know that he was assigned a job. Ricci also gives the impression of being an outsider in Rome, staring around him in bewilderment. Compared to 1 2 3

Quoted in Sitney, p. 83. George Huaco, Sociology of Film Art, p. 180. See Sitney and Sorlin .

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his wife and little son, his "know-how" seems much limited. Yet Ricci believes in the effectiveness of institutions in a civilized country and seeks help either at the Police or at the PCI headquarters. Ricci represents the ordinary Italian male, with limited personal gifts, who believes in State and the politicians. Another important dimension of the film is introduced at this level, namely, the conflict between the private and the public. De Sica again shrewdly mocks the common belief that Italy is progressing in the way of other developed countries. A person's stolen bicycle interests no one if he does not have someone to back him. The institutionalized solidarity that certain establishments are supposed to provide is completely lacking in Ricci's case. In the Police headquarters, the officer despises Ricci's problem. When a journalist asks the officer if there is any interesting news, he replies in total indifference: "Nothing, just a bicycle!" Within the film, the PCI also appears as an inefficient organization. While searching for his friend, Ricci gets scolded for disturbing a political speech about unemployment. The Church, either, does not remain immune to De Sica's mistrust. Later, in the pursuit of a suspected old man, Ricci attends to a Catholic service for the poor, organized by a typically phoney and rich lady. As Sitney aptly puts, "it is a sustained satire on the efforts of the bourgeois laymen and the clergy to clean, feed, and evangelize the poor."1 Ricci's "private" problem requires the help of his personal surrounding but he also seems isolated from neighbours, friends or extended family. Ricci is almost alone in the hostile city and his isolation alludes to the first modernist signs in the Italian cinema. Although not as alienated and fragmented as Antonioni's protagonists (still surrounded by a loving family and a miserable crowd), Ricci's confused being in the big city is closer to the Heideggerian notion of "throwness into being". It is already pointed out that, De Sica's first concern is to reflect the vain search for human solidarity. As De Sica, himself, states: All my films are about the search for human solidarity. In Bicycle Thief this solidarity occurs but, how long does it last? Twenty four hours. One experiences moments, only moments of solidarity... One needs something that lasts longer... I want to call my films from Shoeshine on, "Egoism 1, 2, 3... Umberto D is "Egoism 4".2

Although according to this list, De Sica's third film Miracolo a Milano (1950) should be called "Egoism 3", it is, in fact, the only film one can think of finding a throughout sense of friendship and optimism. Yet this positive outlook on life is illusionary, because Miracolo a Milano is a neorealist "fable", and supposes that happiness and solidarity (a world where good 1 2

P. Adams Sitney, Vital Crises in Italian Cinema, p. 95. De Sica quoted in Sitney, p. 79.

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morning really means "good morning") can only be possible in another "fantastical" existence. Some critics denied the film's neo-realist ethics, and accused De Sica and Zavattini of escapism, for their recourse to magic and fairy tales. Zavattini defended their position, saying that the film has another layer of meaning, beneath the entertaining surface: "The fundamental emotion of Miracolo a Milano is not one of escape (the flight at the end), but the burlesque development of the theme of man against solitude..." 1 Even though it is true that, Miracolo a Milano's entertaining naivety sometimes overshadows its social allegory, it is, nevertheless, wrong to question its neorealist commitments. The film is a neo-realistic metaphor, a fable, turned into a socio-political criticism. Miracolo a Milano evolves around the story of an orphan boy called Toto. Found in the garden by an old and lonely lady, Lolotta, Toto is raised with love and tenderness until the death of his mother. Yet Toto never forgets the "lessons" he learned from his dear Lolotta, and after he leaves the orphanage at the age of twenty (where the film really starts), he finds himself as the leader of a shanty settlement, where the poor marginals of Milan live. One day, their happy co-existence is shattered by the founding of oil in the area. The rich landowner, Mobbi, decides to sell the land and send the police to evict the poor. The childish innocence and saint-like goodness of Toto remain insufficient against the gunfire and a miracle occurs to save them from the greedy Mobbi. Toto's dead mother, Lolotta, gives her son a magic dove able to realize every wishes he has. After defeating Mobbi, Toto is, this time, surrounded by his greedy friends who, amazed by the power of Toto, push him to do all they ask. Yet the dove is taken away by two angels, and the poor remains again defenseless against the attacks of Mobbi. In the end, Toto recaptures the dove and they all together fly on broomsticks to a place where they can live happily ever after. Like Chaplin's famous Gold Rush, Miracolo a Milano is full of comic gags. The characters playing the members of the shanty town are described in an extraordinary richness, and the combination of irony and tragedy underlining their miserable existence is the major achievement of De Sica-Zavattini collaboration. The characters' innocence and simplicity are described in such an elegant manner that, as Pasolini says in Ucellacci e Ucellini (The Hawks and Sparrows, 1966), the feeling that this "pure human" gives is almost "religious". In fact, De Sica's film can also be seen as an ironical religious allegory, for it embodies certain elements that satirize the religious clichés. The "miracle" that occurs in Milan can already be interpreted in many ways. Toto, found completely naked in a cabbage patch, endowed with a saint-like goodness, is a miracle himself and certainly an ironical allusion to Jesus Christ. Lolotta, stealing a magic dove for her beloved child in frivolous laughters, is another element of elegant mockery, for it clearly 1

Zavattini quoted in Roy Armes, Patterns of Realism, p. 166.

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derides the divine authority and the classical interpretations of the "hereafter". On the other hand, the image of angels stopping at the red lights, who constantly try to capture the dove, can be interpreted as the naturalized submission of the religious institutions to the established order. Yet De Sica's cynical approach to religion does not necessarily mean that he has a clear-cut "class consciousness". At the end of the film, the members of the shanty town forcefully take the broomsticks of the actual cleaning workers, and prefer to fly away, instead of asking their collaboration. This was, probably, related to De Sica's unawareness of class politics, and gave certain weight to the arguments of "escapism". On the other hand, "greed" and "egoism" that are generally described by the left, as the vices of the dominant class, are represented in Miracolo a Milano as common weaknesses of the human soul. The beggar who asks "a billion and a billion and a billion... plus one!" from Toto, is not necessarily nobler than the wealthy landowner. The depiction of man "as prone to the same vices as the oppressor and the oppressed" 1 is the major source of De Sica's humanism and the reason for the rumours about his religious inclinations. De Sica's last neo-realist film is Umberto D shot in 1951. 2 It is totally different, in tone and perspective, from Miracolo a Milano, and is rightly seen by many critics, as the best example and the "uttermost limit" of neorealism. In Umberto D, dedicated to the memory of De Sica's own father, we see a totally mature filmmaker in full mastery of the narrative and factual details. De Sica exactly knows what kind of feeling he wants to create in the audience and he is enormously successful in catching a fragile balance between "empathy" and "alienation". In fact, for De Sica, Umberto D is his own favourite, made without any concessions to the producers, and thus, an absolutely authentic work... The main protagonist of the film, Signor Umberto D, is an old and lonely man (played by a professor of the University of Florence) who was once a proud state officer but now obliged to live in degrading poverty. Zavattini states that, on the reading of the original script he thought, "...of that category of people who find themselves, at a certain moment, excluded from a world which they nevertheless helped to build." 3 Umberto D is unable to pay the rent for his humble room in the city center, and his landlady is extremely unfriendly to him. Yet he is too proud to admit that he "fell" class, and refuses to go to the asylum or to find a flat in the Roman suburbs. His closest friend is his dog, and his only meaningful social bond is the servant girl Maria, abandoned and pregnant, who more or less will share the same fate with him. In contrast to his previous young lumpenproletarian characters, De Sica, now, prefers to reflect the agonies of an old 1

Franco Fortini quoted in Sitney, p. 96. De Sica, in collaboration with Zavattini, produced II Tetto (The Roof) in 1956, a rather mediocre work, also considered as a neo-realist film. But the movement, per se, is over by 1951 and De Sica's personal attempts can not revitalize it. 3 Zavattini quoted in Armes, Patterns of Realism, p. 156. 2

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middle bourgeois who hardly creates the same feeling of empathy in the audience, as did Ricci, Bruno or Toto. As De Sica himself accurately observes: Umberto D is an old man with all the faults of his old age. It would have been easy to make him a conventional and pathetic sentimental old man so as to make him closer to the spectator and more agreeable. But he is an old bourgeois. We know nothing of his past life: perhaps he is a widower or a bachelor. His past does not concern us. What counts is Umberto such as he is today, more than seventy years old, facing the approach of death alone... In his behaviour he is good only to those who are good to him and extremely disagreeable only with those who are not friendly with him. 1

Umberto D starts by an unsuccessful protest march of the old-age pensioners in favour of increased allowances. But one immediately discovers Umberto D's self-centered motives. As soon as a poor old gentleman in the protest march introduces himself to Umberto D, he tries to sell him a used watch. Although Umberto D's efforts to raise the money to pay the rent is moving, his deriding approach to other fellow old gentlemen reduces the identification of the audience with the misery of the old man. In fact, a sense of alienation from the protagonist, or at least, an objective look at his personality, is what De Sica wants to produce. In contrast to his previous films, we hardly find, in Umberto D, the purity and naivety of De Sica's other characters. Yet Umberto D is not totally devoid of human warmth and his solid ex-Fascist codes of honour makes him assume a decent role of "grandpa" towards Maria. He scolds the young girl for her pregnancy, and like Toto's Lolotta in Miracolo a Milano, he tries to educate her in grammar and mathematics. But there is not really a healthy communication between the two, and most of the time, they talk about their own problems, without really listening to each other. The disappearance of "chorality", the stress upon the waning of affect and the lack of communication, signal the end of neo-realist aesthetics and the transition to a more individualistic outlook on life. Umberto D is generally accepted as the last film of the neo-realist movement. In contrast to the enthusiastic young boys of the Roma, citta aperta, Umberto D tells the story of an old and lost man on the edge of suicide. The dreams of solidarity that the neo-realist filmmakers had in common during the war, in spite of their different ideological inclinations, are over. The shattered relationship of Umberto D with his landlady reflects this loss of wartime solidarity. As Marcus observes: The landlady, De Sica's paragon of the newly rising middle class, has conveniently forgotten the truth of the war years, when she used to call Umberto "grandpa" and he would give her his rations of food. "After the war", Umberto tells the man in the hospital bed to the left of his, "she went

^ De Sica quoted in Armes.

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crazy," mercilessly rebuilding her depleted empire at the expense of her former companion in the privations of war. ^ Implicit in the film's attack on the newly rising bourgeoisie, is De Sica's recognition that, just as Umberto has no more right to his room in the city center, neither De Sica's films will have any more run in the movie theater next door, "whose owner the landlady will marry in Umberto D" 2 The changing taste of the new generation, parallel to the socio-political developments and the deepening of capitalism in Italy, will soon make neorealism an obsolete film wave. In the mid fifties, Antonioni is among the firsts to clearly express his boredom with the orthodox neo-realist perspective: The neorealism of the post-war period, when reality itself was so searing and immediate, attracted attention to the relationship existing between the character and surrounding reality... Now, however, when for better or for worse reality has been normalized once again, it seems to me more interesting to examine what remains in the characters from their past experiences. That is why it no longer seems interesting to me to make a film about a man who has his bicycle stolen...Now that we have eliminated the problem of the bicycle (I am speaking metaphorically) it is important to see what is in the mind and in the heart of this man.3 Nevertheless, Umberto D can not kill himself at the end of the film and, thus, neo-realism is not yet dead in 1951. As Antonioni himself admits, neo-realism as an intellectual current, is never really finished; it is evolving. 4 But the "revolutionary humanism", that underlined all major neo-realist films, is no longer possible in a socio-political context where the American influence and the Catholic pressure brought back the ex-Fascist codes of censure. An open letter sent to De Sica by Andreotti, State Under-Secretary in charge of film censorship, reveals the negative reaction of the Government to Umberto D: We ask the man of culture, to feel his social responsibility, which should not be limited to description of the abuses and miseries of a system and generation... If it is true that evil can be fought by harshly spotlighting its most miserable aspects, it is also true that De Sica has rendered bad service to his own country if people throughout the world start thinking that Italy in the middle of the 20th century is the same as in Umberto D!5

* Millicent Marcus, Italian Film in the Light of Neorealism, p. 101. Ibid. 3 Pierre Leprohon, Michelangelo Antonioni, trans. Scott Sullivan (New-York: Simon and Schuster, 1963) pp. 89-90. 4 Ibid. 5 Andreotti quoted in Huaco, The Sociology of Film Art, p. 191. 2

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After the total financial failure of Umberto D, the most faithful follower of neo-realism, De Sica, had to abandon the orthodox neo-realist perspective, and condemned himself to mediocre commercial films, that brought no real artistic satisfaction to him, in the rest of his directing career.

5. THE END OF NEO-REALISM: DEMISE OF SOCIO-POLITICAL SOLIDARITY In Italy, the period between 1943-48 was marked by an unprecedented atmosphere of social solidarity and national unity. Regardless of ideology, all political forces came together to create a "social equilibrium", to reintegrate the society and reconstruct a country devastated by the war. As suggested in the first chapter, a particular art style is a subconsciously projected image of a political order. The analysis of Italian case perfectly illustrated that neorealism was largely the reflection of elite coalescence and bourgeois progressivism, that underlined the post-Fascist Italian politics, until the late 40s. But this "happy moment", where the class contradictions reached a balance, did not last very long, and as soon as the "vital crisis" of warfare ended in Italy, the political climate turned increasingly conservative and, thus, hostile towards neo-realism. As De Sica suggested in all his films, the prospects for social solidarity again failed, like Umberto D, left alone in the chaotic city center after all these years of hard work and sacrifice. An artistic movement surely has its own internal logic, a "sublime" dimension in the Kantian sense, that sets it apart from the world of ordinary existence. As Antonioni implicitly suggests, the ending of the neo-realist movement is also related to the natural artistic evolution of the filmmakers. But within the scope of this work, I consider the artist as a member of the zoon politikon, and thus in constant interaction with society. Among various reasons that surely accounted for the end of neo-realism, three socio-political factors seem to be determining: a) The changed parameters of the political climate, b) Censorship and the rising pressure of industry, c) The expansion of mass capitalist culture. The first elections under the new Constitution was scheduled for April 1948. De Gasperi had already gotten rid of his Communist partner in May 1947, but one single event mounted the tension against a possible Communist reign: Coup d'état in Prague. The Communist takeover of Czechoslovakia alarmed all Conservative forces in Italy and they represented the forthcoming elections as a battle between "Rome and Moscow", thus between "Christ vs. Anti-Christ"...

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The role of the US was crucial in crushing the rising power of the left. After 1947, the US State Department did all its best to prevent the Communists from taking part in the Government again. On March 1948, the US State Department announced that, "all economic aid would be cut off if the Communist-Socialist slate won the elections." 1 The deterioration of the international situation due to the first signs of the Cold War, with the coup d'etat in Czechoslovakia, made it necessary for Italy to take sides. The Italian Foreign Minister Carlo Sforza hoped to create a concept of a "third force" between East and West, but the American Congress openly declared that, "the United States could not be expected to finance Italian economic recovery and receive in return nothing more than neutralism."2 At the parliamentary elections of April 1948, the Christian Democrats received less than half of the popular votes but managed to win an absolute majority of the seats in the Parliament. With the pressures of the Vatican and the US State Department, De Gasperi resolutely refused to recreate the previous Catholic-Communist Coalition. Instead, he formed a pro-American "center coalition" with Liberal, Republican and Social Democratic Parties that would serve as the basis of future governments for seven years. The break of the consensual politics between Catholic and Communist elites, caused a parallel split in the united labour federation, the CGIL. The Communist-led CGIL divided into two. The new organization was given the name of the "Italian Confederation of Workers' Union", the CISL, a Catholic led labor federation, working along the interests of the Christian Democratic Party. 3 The CGIL was still the largest federation, but it was clearly "besieged" by the American Government. The US State Department was against a powerful leftwing labour force in Italy, member of NATO since 1949 and the major beneficiary of the Marshall Aid. As Kogan explains, American labour advisers supported the schisms in the CGIL through sinister methods: In the early fifties, Mrs. Luce, the American ambassador in Rome, promoted a new policy to undermine the CGIL still further. The United States Department of Defense used to award "off-shore" contracts to European manufacturers for the production of military equipment that the United States Government was furnishing to its allies. Mrs. Luce succeeded in having the Defense Department proclaim that no further contracts would be awarded to Italian firms in which the CGIL candidates won over 50 per cent of the votes in the election to the internal commissions. 4

The Americans seem successful in their divisive policies. In the Fiat Company, the largest private business in Italy, the votes received by the CGIL candidates dropped to 38% after Mrs Luce's initiative. 1 2 3 4

Norman Kogan, A Political History of Post-war Italy, p. 51. Ibid. p. 54. Christiane de Lavarcnc, I,'Italie Contemporaine, p. 152. Kogan, p. 90.

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The closest ally of the US in its anti-Communist fight was the Catholic Church. After Italy determined its pro-American position within the polarized world system, the Church completely shifted the tolerant outlook it had during the broad government coalition of 1945-7. In 1949, the Pope declared an anathema against all those who supported Marxist-inspired political parties. The spirit of the "Popular Front" was so lost that the struggle against Communism was represented as a fight between Christian good and evil. Marginalization of "non-Catholics" went so far as to "denial access to the sacraments unless they publicly renounced Communism." 1 All these adverse political developments and the sudden change of former "elite consensus" into an "elite polarization" turned the neo-realist movement into an "unwanted child". The movement's explicit association with Marxist inspired politics caused disquiet among the rising conservative forces. As the PCI's political and cultural influence was still very strong until the early fifties, the only way to curb the neo-realist momentum was to reintroduce the earlier Fascist laws of censure. In December 1949, the "Andreotti Law", placed the entire film industry under Giulio Andreotti's control. As the State Under-secretary, he was given the task of administering the film industry, through a system of economic grants and quotas. For all practical purposes, financial credit to film producers was a monopoly of the government-owned "Banca Nazionale del Lavaro". Thus, to obtain credit, the film producer had to submit the film's script to State officials. It was usual for the bank to demand certain new arrangements, such as the change of particular actors or film directors, before discussing any financial help. 2 Andreotti was also given the right of banning the export of Italian films if they gave an erroneous image of the country. This was a major blow to the neo-realist directors who mostly made money outside of Italy. The dimensions of the political hostility towards neo-realism was so great that such declarations of hatred became commonplace: Film is merchandise. If the government has the right to control the export of vegetables and fruits to make sure that they are not rotten, it also has the right and duty to prevent the circulation of films infected by the spirit of neo-realism.

The "Andreotti Law" was the "methodological assassination of neorealism" 4 . As in the case of De Sica, it also introduced a certain mechanism of "auto-censure" on the part of the director, to avoid being declared as a persona non grata. 1 Jeff Pratt, "Catholic Culture" in Forgacs and Lumley (eds.) Italian Cultural Studies (Oxford University Press, 1996) p. 135. 2 George Huaco, Sociology of Film Art, pp. 186-93. ^ The Honorable Lucifredi quoted in Huaco, p. 195. 4 Borde and Bouissy, Le Neo-Realism Italien, p. 73.

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The State censorship was complemented by that of the "Centro Cattolico Cinematografico"(CCC), a Catholic body, directly related to Catholic Action. The members of the CCC evaluated films according to their commitments to Catholic morality and Christian Democrat interests. The CCC verdict on a film could determine whether it could be shown in Catholic cinemas around the country, which constituted, in 1953, over 7000 small and independent theaters. 1 Those were generally terza vizione parish cinemas and were important, as they mostly reached the working class audience. The gap between the neo-realist films and the ordinary film-goers could partly be explained by this CCC censure. After being shown in big cities in prima vizione, these films could not reach cheap parish cinemas, where cinema met the working class. The neo-realist films rarely made great financial success in Italy. As the pressure of the Christian Democrats grew, the distributors and exhibitors turned increasingly hostile towards neo-realist filmmakers. As De Santis observes, the producers insisted that these films could not make money, and that the audience was no longer interested in seeing the misfortunes of a "few". In point of fact, these producers were only "wealthy speculators, the elite, Christian Democrats; in other words, the members of a few powerful, conservative families and their minions." 2 Following the enactment of the "Andreotti Law", the Italian film producers established a voluntary selfregulating body known as the "Italian Film Producers' Association". Before the intervention of the Banca Nazionale, or the CCC, this body would eliminate the "Communist infiltration" through its own regulatory measures. Thus, producer censorship of film ideology was added to the already effective censure mechanisms. 3 American Psychological Warfare Branch was again active in the Italian context, this time directly within the film industry. In 1949, American films accounted for three-quarters of all new films shown in Italy. 4 As Ellis Arnall, President of the "Society of American Independent Motion Picture Producers" reported in 1949: It is readily agreed that US government has a responsibility to see to it that American-produced motion pictures be utilised to the fullest in carrying the message of Americanism and Democracy to the rest of the world... Our president requested that the Secretary of State, Mr. Acheson, takes such steps as feasible to the end that foreign countries would not discriminate against US produced pictures and would maintain no unreasonable quotas against them.-'

1

David Forgacs, Italian Culture in the Industrial Era. Giuseppe De Santis, "In Defense of the Italian Cinema" in Overbey (ed.) Springtime in Italy, p. 217. J George Huaco, The Sociology of Film Art. 4 Forgacs, Italian Culture in the Industrial Era, p. 119. 5 Ibid. 2

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The American intervention in all spheres of Italian life, did not only bring political restrictions upon "progressive" politics and culture, but also created drastic social changes, by modifying whole patterns of consumption in Italy. By the mid fifties, apart from the political obstacles they had to face, the neo-realist directors were "besieged" by a new generation fascinated by American photo-romance culture, the mass media, TV, and all other "evils" of capitalist modernization. As Kogan speculates: Interest in ideas and in political action had drastically declined. Compared to the heated and tense atmosphere of the immediate postwar years, this decline...marked a privatization of personal and family life, signifying an exclusive concern with immediate, materialistic goals. The phenomenon was apparent in the universities, historic home of the militant and committed youth of Italy. In the mid-1950s, the youth, in their preoccupation with private careers, seemed to have forgotten all about the struggle for a better world.' The growth in post-war economy shifted Italy from a predominantly peasant to a neo-capitalist society. Within a decade, Italy became one of the world's main industrial countries. With the decline of rural population and rapid urbanization, an "innocent" world that the neo-realist directors had made their own, started to disappear. The loss of the "pure gaze" also affected the new cultural intelligentsia. Although late in 1955, a common declaration known as the "manifest of the Italian cinema", signed by prominent filmmakers, defended the neo-realist aesthetics and condemned severely the State censorship 2 , there was a growing tendency within the avant-garde literary milieux to reevaluate the historiography of neo-realism. The distinct break between Fascism and the Republic was no longer accepted, and thus the contention of neo-realism as an entirely new and discrete phase of post-Fascist culture was questioned. The writers and critics of Gruppo 63 started to evaluate neo-realism as a "vital crisis", "a hiatus, in the political representation of capital, a reorganization of bourgeois hegemony between the collapse of Fascism and the construction of the new Republic." 3 Related to the consolidation of mass capitalism and the proliferation of the "individual", the Utopian "tales" of neo-realists were now described as "a cacophony of voices with a common need to speak out". 4 Especially Italo Calvino's work constituted a major attempt to rewrite the legend of Resistance, and thus, the entire narrative of neo-realism. In an anti-political gesture, which was typical of the modernist avant-garde, Calvino reclaimed the Resistance for story tellers. The neo-realist artist was reduced to a kind of "storyteller" which ' Norman Kogan, A Political History of Post-War Italy, p. 88. "Manifeste du Cinema Italien", Positif, 1955 No.14-15, pp. 169-172. 3 David Forgacs, Italian Culture in the Industrial Era, p. 167. 4 Calvino quoted in Ann Hallamore Caesar, "Post-War Italian Narrative: An Alternative Account" in Forgacs and Lumley (eds.) Italian Cultural Studies, p. 254. 2

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"takes what he tells from experience -his own or that reported by others; and he, in turn, makes it the experience of those listening to the tale...." 1 The cynicism of Calvino signalled the end of "revolutionary humanism", inherent in the neo-realist movement, as he could comfortably ignore the latter's "anti-capitalist" essence which reflected itself in the alternative mode of film production. Like the advise of Walter Benjamin to the writers, the relationship between the neo-realist artists and the public had been built on sincerity and modesty. Neo-realism praised the "humble", the "poor", the "weak", the "ugly"... and their solidarity with their "fellow travelers". This alternative approach to the lives of ordinary men was clearly "outside of dominant ideology", in the Althusserian sense, not necessarily by its political message, but by its "being". By the late 1960s, neo-realism was already a pleasant souvenir of the past, of a period of time when people really believed they could create a better future. It was probably best summarized by Ettore Scola's wonderful tribute to De Sica, Ceravamo Tanto Amati (We All Loved Each Other So Much, 1974).

1

Ibid.

1. Roma, citta aperta (Rossellini, 1945)

2. Roma, citta aperta (Rossellini, 1945)

4. La terra trema (Visconti, 1947)

6. Germania, anno zero (Rossellini, 1947)

7. Germania, anno zero (Rossellini, 1947)

8. Ladri di biciclette (De Sica, 1948)

10. Riso amaro (De Santis, 1948)

13. Miracolo a Milano (De Sica, 1950)

14. Miracolo a Milano (De Sica, 1950)

15. Umberto D (De Sica, 1951)

> 16. Umberto D (De Sica, 1951)

3 TURKISH SOCIAL REALISM AND THE POLITICS OF REFORMATION

In the first chapter, focusing on the theoretical basis of realism in art and its socio-political context, we posited four basic conditions for a particular film wave to emerge in a particular society: a) there has to be a cadre of directors and cameramen, b) the industrial and the technical base (studios and other equipments), c) a harmonious or permissive organization of industry, d) a political climate in sympathy with the ideology of the style.1 According to Huaco: The sociological analysis of a wave of film art which is also stylistically a homogeneous cluster extends beyond style, and the common subjects, themes and motifs can be compared to those present in the larger cultural context, and the cluster as a whole eventually linked to specific social structures and configurations in the larger social system. 2

As we will see in detail, the Turkish social realism in film of the period between 1960-65, that is, in the immediate aftermath of the "progressive" coup d'état of May 27 th , is similar to the Italian neo-realism, as it clearly conformed to these four conditions suggested by Huaco. As in the Italian case, "man (the artist), politics and society became harmonious" in Turkey, in the brief period of reformist spirit following the coup. Nevertheless, as far as the social realist movement is concerned, Turkey differs from Italy in basically two aspects: a) the sociological parameters within the "permissive political climate", b) the scope and depth of the filmic realism. The nature of the elite consensus that created the Lukacsian ideal of "balance of class contradictions" in Italy was different in the Turkish case. While the Italian movement of reconstruction and bourgeois progressivism cut across many social cleavages (regional, class-based, religious), Turkish reformism, that followed the military coup, was "city" based, and mirrored the progressive ideology of a western oriented urban middle class. In Kavolis' 1 2

George A. Huaco, The Sociology of Film Art (New-York: Basic Books, 1965). Ibid. p. 2.

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terminology, while the Italian neo-realism fell within a political context of "a libertarian fight against a powerful common enemy (i.e. Fascism)" and thus, required the active participation of the masses, Turkish social realism reflected the "revitalization and reconstruction efforts of a progressive and leftward oriented bourgeoisie", the Jacobin "new middle class", in Halpern's terminology, that was largely composed of "men inspired by non-traditional knowledge."1 Without reducing the birth of the artistic movement solely to the socio-political context and forgetting the autonomous dynamics of the aesthetic field, it can be argued that the Turkish social realism was much less based on solid social and artistic grounds than its Italian counterpart, as the former lacked the Italian social cohesiveness of the anti-Fascist war, and its rich literary traditions. Yet the Turkish social realism in film is important, as it almost "naively" reflected all the political and artistic aspirations of a new intelligentsia, trying to harmonize its traditional Ottoman heritage with the universalist penchant of neo-Kemalism. As will be debated throughout this Chapter, the Turkish social realism in film shows a "genuine" search on the part of a new generation of film directors, eager to develop a "national film language" and to find their personal styles. It also mirrors the dominant ideology of progressive urban strata, in a peripheral country, trying to secure a place malgré lui within the modern world.

1. SOCIAL REALISM: A SEARCH FOR IDENTITY Similar to the Italian neo-realist movement, whose political content could only become manifest as the anti-Fascist Catholic-Communist Alliance was made, Turkish social realism in film was directly linked to the overthrow of the rural-liberal Menderes régime by the military coup of May 1960, and the advent of the progressive Constitution of 19612. As Halit Refig, one of the leading figures of the movement, puts it: ... The Constitution of 1961, the newly founded political parties, and the elections created a suitable socio-political atmosphere for us to analyse from a different perspective the pressing problems of our country. The political activism that followed the May 27™ coup d'état quickly spread to the realm of film. It created the necessary conditions for the birth of a film wave that is sometimes called "social realism", focusing on the structural problems of our country and analysing human interactions within different social layers.... 3 1 Manfred Haipern, The Politics of Social (Princeton University Press, 1963) p. 52. 2 A detailed analysis of the military coup is Chapter are dedicated to the philosophy and terms. 3 Halit Refig, Ulusal Sinema Kavgasi (The

Yayinlan, 1971) p. 24 (my trans.).

Change in the Middle

East and North

Africa

made in Section 3. The first two Sections of this history of "social realism" in mostly "artistic" National Cinema Struggle) (Istanbul: Hareket

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Refig's use of the word "sometimes", to refer to social realism, is not haphazard. Although used by all directors and critics of the era, there is no common agreement as to the scope and exact definition of the social realism in film. Many directors involved in the movement, denied the existence of their own child after 1965, due to harsh political campaigns against social realist films. Likewise, personal and ideological problems that emerged around 1964 between the filmmakers and the leftist critics, pushed the latter to ignore or underestimate the best films ever made in the Turkish film history. For example, Nijat Ôzon, a famous film critic, despised the social realist movement (after the filmmakers had engaged in a meaningless blood feud with the film critics) saying that it was not an "école" in the French sense, as it lacked a theoretical basis and consciousness1. Giovanni Scognamillo, another well known and respected writer, held, in a rather biased tone, that "the term social realist was only an arbitrary definition" 2 . These obstinent attitudes, later fervently pursued by the members of "Sinematek" 3 , to deny a respectable status to social realism, were mainly due to the extreme elite polarization typical of the Turkish political history, this time, within the cultural intelligentsia, following the loss of the reformist spirit of the Coup. Thus, personal frustrations and ideological extremism of the late 1960s drove a wedge between the critics and the filmmakers, pushing both sides to make unsound and unfair judgements about each other. Although lacking the artistic perfection and maturity of the Italian neorealist films, Turkish social realism was a courageous and genuine attempt, on the part of a new generation of directors, to find a national film language as well as catching up with the aesthetic agenda of the west. The years that followed the 1960 Coup were marked by an unprecedented flourishing and politicization of film magazines, festivals, and clubs. Si-Sa, Yeni Sinema, Sine-Film, Sinema 65 were only some of the newly published intellectual film magazines. Various film clubs and associations such as "Club Film 7", "Ankara Film Society", "Film Club of the Institute of French Studies in Istanbul", and, finally, "Sinematek" were all created in this period. Likewise, Turkish films made their first respectable debuts in international film festivals like Berlin, Edinburgh, Locarno, Karlovy-Vary, Moscow, and won 1

Nijat Ózon, Karagozden Sinemaya (From Karagôz T o Cinema) (Ankara: Kitle Yaymlari, 1995) Vol. l , p . 216. o Interview with Giovanni Scognamillo, May, 2001. 3 The Turkish "Sinematek" (inspired from the French "Cinémathèque") was founded by a film critic, named Onat Kutlar, in 1965. Kutlar had lived in France and upon his return to Turkey, he wanted to create a similar film circle that would help to promote a European film culture in Turkey. Onat and his friends (Tunean Okan, Tanju Akerson, Jak §alom...) were very critical of the existing film industry in Turkey, known as "Yegilçam" (named after a street in Istanbul meaning "Pinetree") as it was very commercially oriented. For the "sinematek" circle, all the directors working within the debased Ye§ilçam system were alike, even if they occasionally tried to make "social realist" films. After 1965, the lack of mutual understanding between the filmmakers and the Sinematek circle escaladed, and gave way to very vulgar disputes between the two "camps". Kutlar died in 1994 but this "Cold War" has not yet completely ended.

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considerable international success. Most important of all, an "engagé" type of director emerged in the aesthetic scene, with some progressive ideological perspectives, and close connections between the political elite and the film industry were created, as in the case of "Sine-I§" (Labour Union for the Film Workers). As Abisel maintains, the films made after 1960, were based on the contradictions brought forth by modernization and the agonies of fast social change 1 . Although a failed and later completely abandoned experience, social realism in film, within the progressive middle-class rule of 1960-65, reflected a search for national identity within this traditionalism-modernism axis. They looked for a "self-image" in the sense used by Godard 2 , an image that could both describe the current Turkish society and Turkish cinema. Thus the social realist movement had a double mission-. To reflect the current social order in a critical and revolutionary perspective, and to create an original and mature film language. These two intentions were not mutually exclusive and, in many cases, they complemented each other. As Ugakan goes on to say: ... These (socio-political) concerns changed the whole pattern of dramatic construction: the plot as well as the mise en scene assumed a more sober, scientific outlook; artistic expressions got rid of false mannerisms; stories were based on everyday problems of the common men; the protagonists assumed a social responsibility and none of them were treated in isolation from their socio-political milieux.^

As Ugakan aptly puts, the social realist movement was the "microcosmic reflection" of the macrocosmic ideological climate in Turkey: Social realism (in film) is the overall political and aesthetic effort of contributing to the social war against underdevelopment. One should thus focus on social problems, the problems of exploited and ignored working masses, analyse the adverse effects of industrialization, urbanization... One should get rid of daydreaming and find urgent solutions to these problems.... 4

Thus similar to the Italian case, the realist movement in Turkey occurred at a time, when the country needed an image of itself. It was a period of progressive bourgeois rule that was ready to face the pressing problems of the country in order to solve them. The Turkish social realism was almost an "epiphenomenon" of the existing dominant ideology. Akin to the search of 1

Nilgiin Abisel, "Nasil Ya§iyor, Nasil Dilgluyoruz?" (How Do We Live, How Do We Dream?) in Abisel, Onaran, Köker (eds) Türk Sinemasinda Demokrasi Kavraminin Geli§mesi (Ankara: Kultur Bakanligi Yay., 1994) p. 86. 2 See Chapter 1. ^ Mesut U?akan, Türk Sinemasinda Ideoloji (Ideology in Turkish Cinema) (Istanbul: Dii§iince Yayinlan, 1977) p. 26 (my trans.). 4 Ibid. p. 26 (my trans.).

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leftist circles for a developmental!st ideology, that would best suit to the needs of Turkish society (i.e. Yon movement 1 ), the filmmakers were in search of a film language that would best symbolize the infant Turkish cinema. In analysing the sources of "socialist realism" in literature, Ahmet Oktay emphasizes the linkage between the dominant ideological discourse and literary productions in Turkey. Oktay holds that, as in the Soviet Russia, socialist realism in Turkey is generated from nationalism as well as populism. The principles of Kemalism and the overwhelming presence of the "War of Independence" prevent the ensuing left from differentiation in the cultural sphere. Thus, the official ideological discourse and its premises (i.e. populism, laicism, etatism...) also constitute the essence of the leftist cultural discourse in Turkey... The underdevelopment of a solid working class reinforces the idea of populism, sometimes in the form of koyculiik (glorification of peasantry). As Atatiirk mainly focused on the question of nation building, Turkish cultural left has also preferred the national question over the class conflict, in its symbiosis with the official discourse. 2 In that respect, similar to the views of Plekhanov, the Turkish intellectuals clearly favoured an "utilitarian" concept of art, over the idealized western forms of "high art", and emphasized the importance of "positive types", and educative themes in the novel. The Turkish social realism in film was not immune to the strong influence of this "utilitarian" concept of art, mainly within the ideological "bagage" of Kemalism. The "progressivist" and "populist" tendencies of the post 1960 elite (also known as the neo-Kemalists), were clearly present in the movement, with an increased dose of universalism and class politics. Says Vedat Tiirkali, a former member of the banned Communist Party and the major scriptwriter of the social realist movement: We had a major aim in those days. We tried to defend something in Kizgin Delikanli, Otobtis Yolculari, Karanhkta Uyananlar, §ehirdeki Yabanci and in other films ... We wanted to contribute to the process of democratization in Turkey. We wanted to give a clear democratic message to the masses. The new rights brought by the coup was not well understood... For example the right to strike and to form labour unions...Most of these rights were not obtained in the wake of harsh class politics but were rather imported from abroad. Thus the filmmakers had an important public duty: to make the masses understand and accept these rights. ^

1

See Section 3. Ahmet Oktay, Toplumcu Gergekgiligin Kaynaklari (The Origins of Socialist Realism) (Istanbul: Akyiiz Kitabevi, 2000) p. 26 (my trans.). 3 Vedat Tiirkali, Bu Gemi Nereye (Where Does This Ship Sail) (Istanbul: Cem Yayinevi, 1985) p. 201 (my trans.).

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The films "endowed" with a social mission, that Tiirkali is talking about, mostly fall within the period of 1960-65. The social realist movement in film starts, de facto, with Metin Erksan's Gecelerin Otesi (Beyond The Nights, 1960). Similar to the Italian case, the movement is divided into "core" (major examples of the movement) and "peripheral" films (showing many traits of the movement). Like the Italian neo-realism, whose avant-garde spirit had "infiltrated" into commercial or quasi-commercial genre films (i.e. Lattuada, Blasetti...), Turkish social realism did not limit itself to a handful of social films but spread its essence to other genre films, sometimes within the Ye§ilfam (Pinetree) 1 mentality. Among the "core of the movement" we can enumerate eleven major feature films: Erksan's Gecelerin Otesi (Beyond The Nights, 1960), Yilanlarm Ocii (The Revenge of The Serpents, 1962), Susuz Yaz (Dry Summer, 1963), Suglular Aramizda (The Culprits Are Among Us, 1964); Halit Refig's §ehirdeki Yabanci (The Stranger in The City, 1963), Gurbet Kuglari (The Birds of Exile, 1964), Haremde Dort Kadin (Four Women in The Harem, 1965); Ertem Gore§'s Otobtis Yolculari (The Bus Passengers, 1961), Karanlikta Uyananlar (Awakening in The Darkness, 1965); and Duygu Sagiroglu's Bitmeyen Yol (The Never Ending Road, 1965) 2 . Other films at the "periphery" of the movement range from "romantic realist" films that tried to come up with a deeper personal analysis (Memduh t i n ' s Kink Qanaklar, Refig's Yasak A§k, Sevi§tigimiz Gunler, the Tokatli Brothers' Denize inen Sokak and Son Ku§lar, Ba§aran's Murtaza...), and urban realism that includes an Italian type of humanism (Atif Yilmaz's Suglu, Erksan's Aci Hayat, Liitfii Akad's Ug Tekerlekli Bisiklet...) to village realism glorifying the innocence and bravery of Anatolian men and criticizing the remnants of feudalism (Refig's §afak Bekgileri, Yilmaz's Murad'in Tttrkiisu, Ke§anli Ali Destam...) and socialist inspired films with an "unmediated" political message (Gore§'s Kizgin Delikanli, Yilmaz's Yarin Bizimdir, Haldun Dormen's Boz.uk Dtizen...). Unlike Italian neo-realism, Turkish social realism seems to be the eclectic mixture of many modernist themes and formulas unable to find meaningful channels of expression prior to 1960. Thus, we generally have the combination of Marxist inspired social realism and metaphysical, even, theological elements in films. While Ertem Gore? and Vedat Tiirkali opt for socialist realism, with a strong emphasis on "chorality" and "positive types", Halit Refig describes, in a tragic mode, the irreparable loss of human qualities in a decadent society, and reflects faithfully Yon's social and political messages. Metin Erksan, on the other hand, oscillates between class-conscious

1 Ye§il9am (Pinetree) is the name given to Turkish film industry. Like its counterpart in India, it is famous (and also harshly criticized) for its cheap melodramas and primitive filmmaking practices. Ye§il(;am and its role in the birth of social realism is discussed in Section 2. 2 For a detailed analysis of the social realist films, see Section 4.

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urban realism and village based "chaos" and "alienation". In his rural epics, like Yilanlarin Òcti and Susuz Yaz, Erksan openly works within the modernist notions of disharmony and constant war, but unlike his European counterparts, does not redeem this turbulence of existence. The following quotation from Kurtulu§ Kayali on Halit Refig, seems to account for the entire movement: "In the wake of 1960, Refig searched for a socio-political basis to the newly rising movement of cultural avant-gardism (modernism), trying to harmonize it with his own personal experiences." 1 Besides this eclecticism and "search" of identity, the Turkish social realism has several common features shared by all its prominent films and directors, increasing its internal coherence as a film movement: 1. All the directors within the "core" of the movement are "engagé" types of people, with strong political and social commitments. They see themselves as "missionaries of progress", even if they do not totally operate outside of Ye§ilgam. In a Gramscian spirit, like De Santis, they try to create a "national-popular cinema" that can appeal to the masses as well as to the intellectual audience. Bounded by the financial constraints of Ye§il§am, which makes the producer directly dependent on local distributor and the theater owner, they do not have much other chances. As Tiirkali says: ... We certainly had a "populist tendency" that many intellectuals scorned. The only way out, was to use Yegilyam's standards to some extent, with an idealist mentality, that could both entertain and educate the masses. Otobiis

Yolculari

and Dolandiricilar

§ahi

are such attempts to synthesize

classic Ye§il9am patterns with a new mentality of enlarging the philosophical horizons of our people.^

2. All the films that fall within the social realist movement treat the problems of the "common men". They try to tell the "truth" about them in a materialistic spirit. 3. Corollary to this, they have a clear an ti-bourgeois and anti-capitalist stance, be it in the form of direct social criticism, or through the depiction of capitalist social disintegration and decadence. 4. Aesthetic innovations in films: depth of field, the use of multiple camera angels, sober dialogues, on location shootings.... 5. The existence of a socio-political event at the background of all films. No subjects or protagonists are treated in isolation from their sociopolitical environment. Although under the high influence of modernism, we can safely place the Turkish realist movement within the epistemological realist tradition elaborated in the first Chapter, as it clearly conforms to the Aristotelian 1

Kurtuiug Kayali, "Halit Refig Sinemasindaki Siireklilik ve Degi§im" (Continuity and Change in the Films of Halit Refig), Beyaz Perde (Mart 1990), p. 1 (my trans.). ^ Vedat Tiirkali, Bu Gemi Nereye, p. 25 (my trans.).

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dictum of man as "zoon politikon". The Turkish social realism mainly favours the idea that, man, as a living organism, is a social being and he is inseparable from the social and physical world that surround him. That is the reason why the movement was so sensitive to the changes in the overall political structure of the country. But similar to the Italian neo-realism, the Turkish realist movement in cinema also had an autonomous field of cultural production: It was closely tied to the developments in the Turkish cinema circles in the 1950s. To these "relatively independent" developments I now want to turn.

2. TOWARDS A NEW CONCEPT OF TURKISH CINEMA It is often emphasized by scholars and critics that Kemalist cadres have never given enough importance to the power of the filmic medium in Turkey. Unlike their German or Russian counterparts, Kemalist circles underestimated the propaganda power of cinema. This lack of interest mostly undermined the development of a solid film industry in Turkey, and for many years, film making in Turkey has been "officially" monopolized by Muhsin Ertugrul 1 who saw filmmaking as the duplication of popular theater plays. Worst of all, Muhsin Ertugrul left no meaningful aesthetic heritage to the new generation of filmmakers, and although Baha Gelenbevi, Faruk Keng and Orhan Ariburnu made important contributions in the 1940s, it was not possible to talk about an authentic film language, distinct from theater. The war years exacerbated the situation and second rate Hollywood films and many Egyptian melodramas "made for the illiterate moviegoers to keep them in a constant state of unconsciousness" 2 filled the Turkish movie theaters. These adverse conditions and lack of official subsidies which literally "wasted" 30 years of filmmaking in Turkey, came abruptly to a halt in 1948. The reduction in the municipal tariffs, known as Belediye Eglence Resmi (BER) for Turkish films, changed the whole picture in the country and paved the way for the genesis of a new film industry. The forthcoming decade (1950-60) was of extreme importance for the rise of Turkish social realism in the 60s. Between 1948 and 1959, a solid background for a national Turkish cinema was created. A new concept of cinema, distinct from theater and cheap melodramas, made itself felt for the first time in the Turkish film history. Among many developments that took

* Born in 1892, Ertugrul had an enormous influence on the development of the Turkish theater. He did not limit his activities, though, to the domain of theater and also made several feature films generally inspired from previously staged plays. 2 Oguz Makal, Sinemada Yedinci Adam (The Seventh Man in Cinema) (Izmir: Mar§ Matbaasi, 1987) p. 14 (my trans.).

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place in this decade three factors seem to be crucially important for the birth of a social realist film movement: a) The rise of a new film industry known as Ye^ilgam or Pinetree Street (the figurative name of Istanbul's film production center) with an overwhelming increase in film production and the number of movie theaters. b) A new generation of filmmakers with a "sense" of film, and new trends like film noir and village films ( K ö y f i l m i ) . c) The birth of film criticism and related serious film magazines and associations. The birth of Yegilfam is not a phenomenon immune to criticism. As Akerson aptly puts, "although in the western world the genesis of the filmic medium is closely related to the industrial revolution...in our country, film industry is born out of a western ideology of consumerism,.."1 Yejilgam is surprisingly linked to this new mentality of "consumer society" brought forth by the Menderes led Democrat Party (DP) government. The reduction in the municipal tariffs up to 70 %, the electrification of rural areas and the sudden increase in the number of movie theaters turned the movie "business" into a "gold mine". Thus a "mob" rule started to prevail in Yegilgam around the mid 50s. Petty merchants from Kayseri or Adana rushed to Istanbul in order to engage in film productions: "There was no art for art's sake in Ye§il§am, nor any thought of social art: There was no art in Yegilijam!" 2 From five to ten productions per year in the war years, we reached numbers above 150. In this chaotic situation, melodramas, the easiest to be digested by the illiterate audience, took the lead. Says Özön: In the eve of 1957, there is no hardships of life in the Turkish cinema; no housing problems, no shanty towns, no black market, no problems that a newly-wed couple can encounter. In the Turkish cinema of 1957-whatever their social milieux is — people meet as in a Miikerrem Kamil novel, court, deceive or are deceived as in an Esat Mahmut novel, suffer like Avare, and die of tuberculosis similar to a Kerime Nadir novel.3

Like the overall economic system of DP liberalism, Ye§il?am was based on a "pre-capitalistic" mode of production. Thus, within Yegilgam there was no capital accumulation, and the producer who supposed to have the capital, was dependent upon the local distributor and the theater owner. Through a system of advance payments (bono), the distributor and the theater owner (the intermediary structures) turned out to determine much of the process of filmmaking. It clearly caused an extreme dependence upon the public demand as their likings and preferences were directly reflected upon the 1 Tanju Akerson, 'Türk Sinemasmda Elegtiri" (Criticism in Turkish Cinema) Yeni Sinema, (Ekim-Kasim 1966) No: 3, p. 35 (my trans.). z Mesut U§akan, Türk Sinemasinda Ideoloji, p. 20 (my trans.). 3 Nijat Özön, Karagözden Sinemaya Vol. 2, p. 211 (my trans.) (The novels of Mükerrem Kamil and Esat Mahmut are famous for their heavy melodramatic narratives).

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producer through these intermediary structures. This "patron-client" relationship was reinforced by the old-fashioned guild (lonca) mentality within the film industry, where the filmmaker was seen as an artisan (zanaatkar) and all human interactions followed a pattern of "master-apprentice".1 Although based on terribly regressive premises, Ye§ilçam system still left a room for a social film wave. The lack of capital within the industry made the producers less interested in ideological matters. As Erksan indicates, "there was no capital accumulation that could oppose the filmmaker to the producer. The producers were not the men of the big capitalists. You could very easily communicate with them..." 2 Thus, the public demand was the primary determining factor in the choice of the film's plot, which was, in turn, closely related to the overall socio-political context of the country. As Ôzôn points out, the economic hardships, the lack of democracy and the religious-regressive trends, prevented the Turkish cinema from catching up with its European and Asian counterparts in the 1950s.3 The effective system of state censure that copied Mussollini's censure regulations was, of course, another major impediment for the development of a progressive film movement. In spite of all the drawbacks of Yegilçam, the sheer fact that the filmmaking was now an "industry", with a larger number of "output", inevitably paved the way for a handful of new filmmakers, eager to operate outside this commercial mentality. Among them, the most important figure is Liitfi Akad. Born in 1916, he studied at Galatasaray (a prominent French language secondary school in Istanbul) where he certainly learned about the famous French "réalisme poétique" mostly represented by Marcel Carné and Jean Renoir. Hopefully, Akad renounced a career on accounting and started to work in Lale film. Akad is an important figure as he was the first Turkish filmmaker with a "style" in the modern sense. Although under the heavy influence of French poetic realism and American "film-noir", Akad created a film language of his own. He was the first Turkish "cinéaste" who deserved the name. Says Gevgilili on Akad: ... Akad is the filmmaker of the "natural". Not totally epic, naturalist, or realist... All these forms of expressions integrates into a national, unconventional and free film language. Akad is able to simultaneously combine the warmth of a street photographer with the possibilities of a modern technological art form. 4 1

Onat Kutlar, "Tarihsel Gcli§me Hiikmunu Veriyor" (History is the Best Judge) Ve Sinema (Aralik, 1985) No. 1. 2 Metin Erksan, "Turkiye'de Entelijansiya Yok" (There is No Intelligentsia in Turkey) Ve Sinema, p. 24 (my trans.). 3 Nijat Ozon, Karagdzden Sinemaya Vol. 1. 4 Ali Gevgilili, "Akad'in Catastrophe'u" (Akad's Catastrophe) Yeni Sinema (Nisan-Mayis 1967) No. 6, p. 7 (ray trans.).

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The "poesis" in Akad's films (as well as in the films of all other "cinéastes") lies in this human depth created by the "magic" of the filmic medium. The camera angles, the lighting, the mise en scène, all come together, to create an art form that speaks without words. This was the biggest novelty in the Turkish cinema starting with the Akad-Seden cooperation of Kanun Namma (In The Name of Law, 1952). Scognamillo comments on it: The increased momentum of the camera, the introduction of a new concept of editing are the major differences of the new Turkish cinema from its static past. With constantly changing angles and increased functionality, the camera gained creativity. The camera is no longer there to watch the action; it is within the action. It becomes the one and the same thing with the protagonists and their surrounding...The surrounding is no longer a static scene; it is in harmony with the action. This brings a new, unprecedented sense of reality. ^

The introduction of the real life settings into the very heart of the film plot is Akad's major achievement in Kanun Nomina. The film is based on a real life event of theft around Galata, and as §ener emphasizes, Istanbul is organically linked to the story. 2 In his escape from the police from Beyazit to Galata (historical districts of Istanbul), Ayhan I§ik jumps into trucks, hides in trams and ships. Kanun Namma is an unprecedented experience in Turkish cinema, and although it carries the weaknesses of an immature film tradition (i.e. heavy reliance on film-noir, melodramatic elements, good vs. bad dichotomies), it shows a genuine search for a modern film language. In accordance with the logic of Ye§ilçam and the leanings of Osman Seden, Kanun Namina's delicate balance of violence and poesis turned into a meaningless fashion of gang films. Akad, himself, gave unpromising examples of commercial gang films, together with Seden, whose unique contribution to Turkish film history seems to be his "on location shootings", mainly in Istanbul. 3 While Seden continued these commercial gangster films (i.e. Kanlanyla Ôdediler, Sònen Yildiz, Ìntikam Alevi...), Akad focused on a totally new conception of cinema known as koyculuk (glorification of rural life). His Beyaz Mendil (The White Handkerchief, 1955) was the best example of a film wave that had already started to degenerate after the first courageous attempts of Metin Erksan. Koyculuk or the movement of kôy filmi (village films) can be considered as the first "failed" attempt to create a national film movement. It was under the heavy patronage of literature, where the movement had already 1 Giovanni Scognamillo, Türk Sinema Tarihi (Turkish Film History) (Istanbul: Kabalci Yayinevi, 1998) p. 144 (my trans.). Erman §ener, Ye$ilgam ve Türk Sinemasi (Pinetree and Turkish Cinema) (Istanbul: Kamera Yayinlan, 1970). Ali Gevgilili, "Bir Rejisörün Analizi" (The Analysis of a Filmmaker) Yeni Sinema (Aralik 1960).

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established itself in cultural milieux. First made famous by Mahmut Makal's novel Bizim Koy (Our Village, 1950), the movement was directly related to the legacy of village institutes and the DP's "rhetoric" of kdyculuk.1 Makal, himself, a graduate of village institutes, tried to objectively depict the miserable living conditions in the villages, without exaggeration or idealization. But as Moran maintains, his work lacked an in-depth human analysis and limited itself to a naturalistic description of village life 2 . Later followed by writers like Yagar Kemal, Orhan Kemal, Kemal Tahir, Talip Apaydin and Necati Cumah, this literary movement had a clear echo in the Turkish film circles. The first director who was tempted by this new literary school was Metin Erksan. With the script of Bedri Rahmi Eyiiboglu, he ventured to screen the painful life of the blind poet and song writer, Asik Veysel. He went to the poet's native village, Sivralan, and spent almost a year before completing the film. Karanlik Diinya: A§ik Veysel'in Hayatt (Dark World: The Life ofA§ik Veysel) is rejected by the censure committee in 1952, on the grounds that the wheat it depicted in the fields of Anatolia, was too short, and thus, suggested unproductivity. Erksan had to change the whole structure of the film and could only screen it in 1953. 3 Fikret Otyam's Toprak (The Land) shot in the same year, shared the same fate. Obviously, the film industry was under much tighter scrutiny than literature. These restrictive attitudes of the censure committee showed the hypocrisy of the Menderes government that, on the one hand, tolerated a crude realism in literature (in the same spirit with Mussolini who believed that in an illiterate country like Italy, novels were relatively harmless), while banning much softer versions in cinema. This attitude gave way to the above mentioned "degenerated" versions of kdyculuk in cinema, which amounted to village melodramas such as Kahpe'nin Kizi, Yedi Koyiin Zeynep'i etc. Akad's Beyaz Mendil shot in 1955 symbolized the director's return to his former "respectable" status and constituted the first successful village film made in the Turkish film history. Prior to the shooting of the film, Fikret Hakan went to Kandira (a small village on the Black Sea coast near Istanbul where the film was to be shot) and lived with local people. The villagers themselves played in the film as extras. The background music was very carefully chosen from local songs and Akad mainly focused on camera movements than lengthy dialogues. As a reporter indicated "good intentioned, realist hands, tried to lay a solid foundation for the future of the Turkish cinema." 4

* For a detailed discussion of "Koy Romani" see Res Romanci Tartmyor (Five Novelists in Debate) (Istanbul: Diigiin Yayinevi, 1960). 2 Berna Moran, Turk Romanina Eleistirel Bir Baki§ (A Critical Look at Turkish Novel) (Istanbul: Ileti§im Yay., 1997) Vol. 2. 3 Giovanni Scognamillo, "Metin Erksan: Sivralan'dan Berlin'e" (Erksan: From Sivralan To

Berlin) Sinema 65 (§ubat 1965) No. 2. 4

Akis Dergisi quoted in §ener,

Yefilcam ve Turk Sinemasi, p. 61 (my trans.).

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Other important figures, who made their first debut in the 50s, were Atif Yilmaz (Batibeki) and Memduh tin. Atif Yilmaz started his artistic career as a painter. After a number of commercial films, he demonstrated his talent in a peculiar type of "light village realism", where he combined comedy with folkloric motives and local legends. As kd'yculuk in cinema was heavily censured, that was the only way to avoid the commercial pressures of Ye§il§am, without totally leaving the dominant cultural discourse of the literary circles. Thus, Yilmaz made important films that paved the way for the subsequent generation of filmmakers who had a more suitable socio-political context to work within. His major films were Gelinin Muradi (The Wish of The Bride, 1957), Alageyik (The Fallow Deer, 1959) and Karacaoglan'in Karasevdasi (The Desperate Love of Karacaoglan, 1959). Memduh Un had worked with Muharrem Gtirses in various melodramas and did not really seem to have an aesthetic conception of cinema. In complete harmony with the necessities of Ye§il§am, his films reflected "the extravagant stories of deceived young girls, marginalized women, orphan kids, crimes committed out of love or jealousy and constantly suffering lower class people." 1 But interestingly, these absurd stories of lumpen people created a kind of "love for the humble" in tin, and combined with the efforts of Yilmaz Gtiney, Metin Erksan and Ertem Goref as scriptwriters, this led to the making of tin's most important film: Ug Arkada§ {Three Fellows, 1959). Described as "populism full of hope" by Scognamillo 2 , it was enthousiastically embraced in the cinema circles as a "realist" film. Ug Arkada§ told the story of a blind girl who happened to be found by three golden hearted men. Although terribly poor, these three friends raised the money necessary for the medical operation of the young girl... who, in the end, became a rich singer! Akerson is right to emphasize that the critics in the late 1950s, were too hungry for realistic films and that Ug Arkada§ was not realistic in the classical sense. 3 Nevertheless, the solidarity and "the love for the humble" underlined throughout the film, the sincerity of the characters, and tin's successful directing gave a new hope to the film critics who were eager to find any clues of a national-realist Turkish cinema. Prior to 1952, film criticism was practically non-existent in Turkey. Entertaining gossips about famous film stars and Hollywood movies filled the pages of tabloids, parallel to the dominant public view of cinema as pure entertainment. In 1952, the year Akad made Kanun Namina and Erksan finished A§ik Veysel'in Hayatt, the progressive writers and young filmmakers founded "Turk Film Dostlari Dernegi" (The Turkish Society of Film Lovers). It had the basic aim of establishing a cooperation between the infant film industry and the mass media. The following years witnessed a growing interest 1

Giovanni Scognamillo, "Memduh Un'un Ktl9uk Dunyasi" (The Small World of Memduh tin) Sinema 65 (Mayis 1965) p. 16 (my trans.). 2 Ibid, (my trans.). 3 Tanju Akerson, 'Turk Sinemasinda Ele§tiri" Yeni Sinema (Ekim-Kasim 1966) No. 3.

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of intellectuals in Turkish cinema and the appearance of serious film reviews in political papers and periodicals (i.e. Diinya, Vatan, Devir, Demokrat Izmir...).1 The most important development was the publication of intellectual film journals such as Sinema, Sinema-Tiyatro, Sinema 59 and SiSa. The publication of Sinema in 1956 was the turning point of productive film criticism in Turkey. Nijat Ozon and Halit Refig were both under the heavy influence of Italian neo-realism and the American film-noir, and the choice of the name "Sinema" for the new journal, like the famous Cinema in Italy, was certainly not a coincidence. In the first issue of Sinema, Ozon and Refig states their major purpose as follows: ... In our country film is solely seen as an entertainment. However the entertaining aspect of cinema is only one of its multiple functions. Film is, first of all, an art. An art that comprises all other means of artistic expressions. Film is a propaganda medium. And finally, film best shows the cultural and artistic level of a country.... It is the duty of those who love film as art, to accurately present it to the masses. Sinema is published to fulfil this mission. 2

Those "missionaries" were followed by Sinema-Tiyatro and Sinema 59, both published in 1959. Especially the writers of Sinema 59 were avid followers of avant-garde film movements and some of the articles appeared in the first issue included: "Turk Sinemasi Ustiine" ("On Turkish Cinema" by Cetin Ozkirim), "Italyan Sinemasinin Aradigi Htirriyet" ("The Freedom Searched in Italian Cinema" by Ugo Casiraghi), "Maddeden Golgeye" ("From Matter to Shadow" by Karel Reisz), "Usta Rejisor Griffith ile £ali§tim" ("j Worked with Griffith" by Howard Gaye).... As in the case of Italy, Turkish critics' enthousiasm about a "national film movement" preceded the original cinematic movement itself. Said the Italian film critic Venturini: The behaviour of Italian critics in those years was similar to that of an obstetrician called in to look after a difficult pregnancy, always ready, forceps in hand, to exchange the ordinary and organic phenomenon for hints of an exceptional delivery. 3

The attitude of our intellectual film reviewers was not totally different than that of their Italian counterparts. Ozon states, in 1959, that the past ten years constituted the most important period of Turkish cinema and if the industry is based on more solid grounds, and more suitable conditions can be 1

Giovanni Scognamillo, "Turk Sinemasinda Ele§tirme 1952-67" (Criticism in Turkish Cinema, 1952-67)Fen; Sinema (Temmuz, 1967). No. 8. 2 "fikarken" Sinema (Mart, 1956) No.l (my trans.). 3 Franco Venturini, "Origins of Neo-Realism" in Overbey (ed.) Springtime in Italy, p. 171.

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created for the filmmakers, there is absolutely no reason for the long awaited national cinema not to be born in the following decade. 1 As Akerson maintains, contrary to many senior Turkish film directors who were bred in western "consumer" ideology, critics were raised in western "humanist" culture and this pushed them to engage in perpetual polemics with the filmmakers about the lack of realism and authenticity in their works. Between 1952 and 1959 "realism" and "national cinema" were the major key words in all film reviews and articles. Many young writers and critics collaborated with the new generation of directors and the slightest effort in the way of improving the film language was welcomed by all of them. 2 One of these efforts were the regular meetings done at Halit Refig's house known as "Kaliteye Prim Toplantilan" ("Meetings for Improving Quality"). Refig tells us that critics like Semih Tugrul, Tuncan Okan and himself (Refig started as a film reviewer) together with Metin Erksan, Atif Yilmaz, Memduh tin and members of Galatasaray Film Club were gathering fortnightly to discuss a chosen film. 3 These efforts created an intellectual film circle similar to that of the Italian Cinema circle, and critics and filmmakers collaborated on many important films of the period, such as Karacaoglan'in Kara Sevdasi (The Desperate Love of Karacaoglan: Atif Yilmaz, Ya§ar Kemal, Yilmaz Giiney, Halit Refig), Diisman Yollari Kesti (The Enemy Held The Roads: Tank Dursun K., Osman Seden), Yalmzlar Rihtimi (The Quay of Lonesome People: Atilla Ilhan, Liitfi Akad).... As of 1960, the publication of Si-Sa showed that the level of consciousness for a social film wave, had already been reached in intellectual milieux. Many articles focusing on "cinema and society" or "social functions of cinema", were present in the first issue. Aziz Nesin, for example, in a Gramscian spirit, held that a particular type of "populism" was necessary for Turkish cinema to reach and educate the masses. 4 Yilmaz Giiney, on the other hand, firmly believed that, in the very near future films would be made to objectively reflect the "truth" of our people. 5 Prior to the "progressive" coup of 1960, that largely changed the social parameters within the country and created a suitable socio-political context for a social film wave, many important developments within the film industry had already taken place. Between 1948 and 1960, a new film industry (Ye§il9am) was born and although reflecting the petty merchant mentality of DP liberalism, Ye§il9am had caused an overwhelming increase in film production and the number of movie theaters. The internal structuring of 1

Nijat Özön, Karagözden Sinemaya, Vol. 1. Tanju Akerson, 'Türk Sinemasinda Elegtiri" Yeni Sinema (Ekim-Kasim 1966) No. 3. 3 Halit Refig, Ulusal Sinema Kavgasi, p. 19. 4 Aziz Nesin, "Sinemanin Toplum Üzerinde Yapmasi Gereken Etki Nedir?" (What Should Be the Impact of Cinema upon Society?) Si-Sa (§ubat, 1960) No. 1. 5 Yilmaz Giiney, "Sinemamizin Diigiindiirdiikleri" (Reflections Through Our Cinema) Si-Sa (§ubat, 1960) No. 1.

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Yegilgam was "profit" oriented and did not really care about the ideology of the films. After 1960, when social realist films became "fashionable", a textile merchant, Nusret Ikbal, produced many of the most successful social realist films in "BE-YA FlLM", without any pressure from other companies. A new generation of filmmakers with a "sense" of film like Akad, Erksan, Yilmaz, tin were, now, on the scene eager to develop a mature film language distinct from theater. Especially the film critics and the cultural intelligentsia of the country, were on the side of the new filmmakers and engaged with them in productive polemics (at least until the early 1960s) that further motivated the young directors. As Akad says, between 1952 and 1959 Turkish cinema learned how to speak. The question of "what to say" came only after 1960, when the Turkish cinema finally found itself in a freer and more productive social context, in which social justice and economic development took precedence over "liberal growth"; that is a social context where "content" overrode "form".

3. 1960 COUP D'ETAT AND THE PROGRESSIVE NEW MIDDLE CLASS THE COUP

The "immediate" causes of the military intervention that took place in Turkey on the 27 th of May, 1960, have already been the subject of many academic inquiries. At first glance, the military seems to have reacted against the increased authoritarianism of Democrat Party (DP) reign (i.e. the formation of a so-called "national front", investigatory commissions, actions against the press and the universities...), its ambivalent attitude towards secularism, and its ultra-conservative economic policy 1 that pushed Turkey to declare a "moratorium" in 1958. The university professors called out to draft the new constitution, justified the coup on the grounds that DP had acted "unconstitutionally". Although all these observations are accurate, from a deeper sociological perspective, the coup does not constitute a simple "evitable" historical fact, that might have been avoided, had the DP Government acted constitutionally. Among many reasons that counted for the emergence of "praetorian politics" in the early 1960s, two mutually related causes seem determining: a) The Military's wish to pursue the Jacobin-Kemalist tradition against liberal-conservative outlook; a continuation of an intra-elite conflict that dates back to pre-republican period,

1

Ergun Ozbudun, The Role of the Military in Recent Turkish Politics (Harvard University, Center for International Affairs, 1966).

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b) A genuine act of modernization in line with the international socioeconomic context; the catching up of Turkey with the West through the leadership of a progressive urban coalition. Both perspectives, in fact, coalesce around the concept of "modernization". The neo-Kemalist elites wanted to continue Atatiirk's reforms that had retrogressed during the DP rule, with a special emphasis on economic productivity and social welfare. They were followed by a coalition of urban intellectuals and representatives of the manufacturing bourgeoisie whose interests had historically converged in "industrial capitalist model" 1 As Sunar observes, as part of the modernization project, linked to the interests of the urban coalition, a new system of "mobilization" politics was introduced to integrate the economically deprived masses to the new model of accumulation: ... In contrast to the market society model of growth, the politics of mobilization presented two alternative theses for national development: One was the collectivist approach of the Turkish Worker's Party and other Marxist groups, whereby class-conscious political actors disseminate a radical political culture among the lower classes...the other was the populist approach of the Social Democrats, whereby the government directs lower-class associations and links them with the state in an attempt to encourage collaboration for national development.^

Although there is little disagreement as to the "progressive" nature of the 1960 military coup 3 , due to the different ideological positionings within the above mentioned "politics of mobilization", there exists two different approaches concerning the scope of this "progressivism". The first of them evaluates the coup as part of the global capitalist development, and clearly connects it to the necessities of the world capitalist system. £aglar Keyder is the best representative of this perspective and in his State and Class in Turkey, he maintains that DP period was a special phase of capitalist development in Turkey whereby "an ideal simple market situation with many petty producers" was created. DP rule was the result of the convergence of US prescriptions, bourgeois criticism of bureaucracy and the petty producers' aspirations. Likewise, the shift of economic paradigm in 1960 was heavily supported by the international capital that had shifted its export from consumer goods to manufactured goods. The 1960 coup was "progressive" insofar as it pushed Turkey along the axis of a more developed capitalist society, organized in modern industrial capitalist model. Keyder says that the 1960's transformation brought to the surface the division between: 1

C'aglar Keyder, State and Class in Turkey: A Study in Capitalist Development (LondonrVerso, 1987). 9A . Ukay Sunar, State and Society in the Politics of Turkey's Development (Ankara University Faculty of Political Science Publications, 1974) p. 142. 3 For a critical account of the Coup, see Taha Parla, Turkiye'de Anayasalar (The Constitutions in Turkey) (Istanbul: Iletigim Yayinlari, 1993).

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... a petty bourgeois market ideology of seventeenth century vintage, and a bourgeois ideology more appropriate to the period of industrial development in the post-war world... Akin to transitions in the stateeconomy relationship in other national contexts-the prototypical case is the inception of the New Deal in US-the 1960 coup also led to the institution of a new administrative mechanism.*

Thus Keyder sees the 1960's reformist spirit as the extension of the Social Democratic movement throughout the world, and as the passage of Turkey to a more advanced level of capitalistic mode of accumulation. Sunar also shares this basic premise with Keyder: The military attempted to replace the electoral alignment of popular clientelist groups forged in 1950 with an urban, productivist coalition forged among opponents and dissidents of patronage. The social bases of this new alliance would be composed of managerial bureaucrats, big business and organized labor. Planning instead of patronage, social democracy instead of populism, an urban, suave universalism instead of rural parochialism would constitute the platform of this new governing coalition. Its economic strategy would be a planned, import-substituting industrialization married to Keynesian demand management, and structural (industrial) and income policies.^

In Keyder's perspective, the 1960's transformation reflects a special case of "bourgeois progressivism", that supported a developmentalist regime in line with the demands of the bureaucratic class and the intelligentsia. This was, therefore, an advancement of capitalism in Turkey. Ironically, contrary to the suggestions of Sunar and Keyder, the advocates of the "second" approach see the coup as a collective action against global capitalism. Especially the intelligentsia and some members of the military that took part in this "progressive urban coalition", clearly made anticapitalist and anti-imperialist statements, as far as the ultimate purpose of the coup was concerned. Especially the writers of Yon (an influential socialist weekly magazine of the 60s) and many thinkers, from Idris Kü§ükómer to Dogan Avcioglu, praised the coup for its anti-imperialistic progressivism. For Avcioglu, Turkey's major problems could be solved through a progressive coalition of the "middle strata" ("ara tabakalar") with the leadership of the military ("zinde gii£ler"). The model Avcioglu advocated was a peculiar kind of "neo-étatism" that would take as its basic goal, to increase the national productivity and to cut the surplus value that was taken away by the international capital. The coup had paved the way for such an economic model as it enabled, for the first time in Turkish history, the access to power of a * faglar Keyder, State and Class in Turkey: A Study in Capitalist Development, p. 143. ^ ilkay Sunar, "The Politics of State Interventionism in 'Populist' Egypt and Turkey" in A. Oncii, C;. Keyder, S. E. Ibrahim (eds) Developmentalism and Beyond: Society and Politics in Egypt and Turkey (The American University in Cairo Press, 1994) p. 101.

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progressive elite, whose economic interests did not conflict with the interests of the masses. 1 For the writers of Yon, the coup was not a continuation of the classic capitalist model, but a genuine attempt to forge "a non-capitalist independent development strategy" that would fit the peculiar needs of the Turkish society. Contrary to the contentions of Keyder and Sunar, Soysal holds that the concept of "welfare state" in the, Constitution of 1961, should not be confused with the notion of welfare state in the western democracies. Soysal maintains that the western system of welfare state is possible within a capitalist mode of production, but in an underdeveloped country like Turkey, the "welfare state" necessitates a non-capitalistic mode of fast national development, and thus, the concept is not totally different, in meaning, from a "socialist state". 2 Although Soysal's and Avcioglu's approaches reflect a quasi "normative" perspective, in which their own ideological biases and social projects prevail over a scientific analysis, Avcioglu is certainly right in emphasizing that in the Middle East and Asia, the middle strata (distinct from the national bourgeoisie), play a major role in the social and economic development of countries. Avcioglu holds that this is a new category neglected in the classic Marxist literature, and it is now understood that crude Marxist approaches can not accurately reflect the objective conditions in the third world countries.3 £aglar Keyder's "world-system" perspective, that sees the demands of the global capital and its internal extensions as major determining factors in the overall socio-economic change in Turkey, should be enriched with the introduction of this new "relatively independent" category. The "progressive industrial bourgeoisie" that is, "by theory", the major motor force in the adoption of Keynesian policies in the 1960s, was only a relatively unimportant member of a larger "progressive" and "nationalist" coalition, made up of technocrats, students, army officials and other "salaried" professionals that were not tied to the global capitalist system by any profit motive. As far as the 1960 coup is concerned, both outlooks seem to be present in the minds of those who took part in the urban coalition. Thus, while intellectuals and students (the collectivists) represented the "local" "anticapitalist" front of the coup with a genuine wish to develop a national economic strategy for their country, the manufacturing bourgeoisie clearly wanted to see a system in congruity with its long term interests. The army oscillated between the two, and while both radicals and moderates within the army severely mistrusted the private sector, their ultimate adoption of a liberal democratic system with only drafting a social democratic constitution, clearly served the interests of the bourgeoisie.

* Hikmet Özdemir, Yön Hareketi: Kalkinmada Bir Strateji Arayiçi (The Yön Movement: A Search of Strategy in Economic Development) (Ankara: Bilgi Yayinevi, 1986). 2 Miimtaz Soysal, 100 Soruda Anayasamn Anlami (The Meaning of the Constitution in 100 Questions) (Istanbul: Gerçek Yayinevi, 1969). 3 Dogan Avcioglu, "tlerici Askeri Rejimler ve Marksist Teori" (Progressive Military Regimes, and the Marxist Theory), Yön (Temmuz, 1966).

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NEW MIDDLE CLASS IN TURKEY

Manfred Halpern is the first western thinker to use the concept of the "new middle class" as distinct from the conventional understanding of "middle class". 1 Halpern holds that: ... In areas like Middle East, where a modern economy is still to be created, and where control over the state and the forces of social change is more potent than ownership of property, property relations alone cannot serve to define class relations.^

Thus the conventional understanding of the middle class (i.e. the bourgeoisie) used to account for the middle strata of the West, no longer explains the rise of a particular group of progressive men in the third world, that has a rather "disinterested" relationship to private property. These are the "salaried" middle class. They may be "managers, administrators, teachers, engineers, journalists, scientists, lawyers, or army officers." 3 As Halpern goes on to state, these men are inspired by non-traditional knowledge. Unlike the traditional elite of landowners or the trading bourgeoisie, this is the first class in the Middle East that is wholly the product of the modern age. They do not necessarily constitute a homogeneous socio-economic class, but they are, rather, a secularized action group oriented towards governmental power. For Halpern, intelligentsia is the predominant force of this class as its knowledge inescapably exposes the weakness or irrelevance of tradition.4 Huntington uses a similar analysis in describing the sources of "praetorian politics" in the Middle East. Unlike Halpern, Huntington holds that the army (and not necessarily the intelligentsia) plays the key role in transforming the society from oligarchical to radical praetorianism. What we call "the middle class", in the classical sense, "makes its debut on the political scene not in the frock of the merchant but in the epaulettes of the colonel." 5 Following the same theoretical outlook of Halpern, Huntington says that before they get into action, "the middle-class officers, often closely allied to such civilian groups as school teachers, civil servants and technocrats become more and more disgusted with the corruption, incompetence and the passivity of the ruling oligarchy."6 1 We have already mentioned that Dogan Avcioglu also suggests that "in the Middle East and Asia the middle strata (ara tabakalar) distinct from the national bourgeoisie, play a major role in the social and economic development of countries.". 2 Manfred Halpern, The Politics of Social Change in the Middle East and North Africa (Princeton University Press, 1963) p. 62. 3 Ibid. p. 52. 4 Ibid. pp. 56-59. 5 Samuel Huntington, Political Order in Changing Societies (Yale University Press, 1967) p. 20. 6 Ibid. p. 201.

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The "new middle class" is not totally independent of the capitalist mode of accumulation. Within the heterogeneous clusters of the new middle class, many favour (as in the Kemalist revolution) to use their power not to defend order and property (as they are disgusted with the current order) but to create them. As Berger notes, in a more cautious formula: ... It is often said that the present military régime seeks to represent the middle class. If it does, it is not the present middle class it seeks to represent-a middle class of the older kind of clerical government bureaucracy, the liberal professions and small trade. Rather, it seems to look toward a middle class with technological, managerial and entrepreneurial functions, a class that is now only taking shape. The military régime, it might be more accurate to say, has really been seeking to create a class to represent. *

In Turkey, like in many other Middle Eastern nations, the progressivemodernizing moves came from a similar strata distant to property relations. Thus the "new middle class", whose composition may range from fervent revolutionaries to those seeking to create a "middle class" to represent, took the form of a "progressive urban coalition" in Turkey. Within this coalition, the Army and the Intelligentsia (including the bureaucrats) as representatives of this "new middle class", together with the Manufacturing Bourgeoisie (as partly conforming to the premises of the traditional "developmentalist middle class thesis") took the most important positions; each defending its own ideological perspective in various conflicts and coalitions with other groups. • The Military In this century, as Halpern observes, the military ceased to reflect the ambitions of individuals. Instead, it has begun to represent larger forces and issues; it has become the instrument of the "new middle class". The involvement of the military into national politics started with the efforts of their traditional masters to borrow the "cutting edge" of Western Civilization to defend themselves better. 2 Ironically, with the Western technology borrowed to protect the monarchy from a potential Western threat, also came ideas of "freedom" and "positivism" that were ultimately directed against the ideology of the monarchy itself. The first change came within the Ottoman Army. In the late eighteenth century, the sultans started to invite European army instructors. With the deposition of Abdtilhamit in 1908, it was clear that we had moved into a new era "when the sultans no longer had to deal with secret palace intrigues... but were faced with the openly expressed will of

1 Morroe Berger, Bureaucracy (emphasis is mine).

and Society

in Modern

Egypt

(Princeton, 1957) p. 185

Manfred Halpern, The Politics of Social Change in the Middle East and North Africa, p. 253.

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political parties backed by responsible military forces." 1 The Kemalist Republic founded in 1923, was the vivid example of a military victory under the heavy influence of Western positivism, directed against the ancient Ottoman reign. Being the most modernized and institutionalized group in a developing society, the army's participation into politics seem unavoidable, not only in times of "nation-building", but also for "social engineering". Especially in contexts where mediatory political institutions are weak or totally absent-a generalized case in a developing society that lacks complexity — the military is likely to intervene regularly as an instrument of the new middle class. Samuel Huntington describes three phases of "praetorian politics" which determine the degree of "progressivism" of a military intervention: In a praetorian "oligarchy", politics is a struggle among personal or family cliques and the officers play a highly modernizing and progressive role. In a "radical" praetorian society, the struggle among institutional and occupational groups prevail and the military is generally followed by the intelligentsia in its effort to "check and balance" the social system. In "mass" praetorianism social classes and social movements dominate the scene and the army is now the conservative guard of the middle class, trying to limit the excessive participation of the lower classes.2 As far as the 1960's transformation in Turkey is concerned, Huntington oscillates between a radical and mass praetorian analysis. He first holds that it had the characteristics of a conservative "veto" coup, as the army intervened "to curb the power of a new business class supported by the peasants." 3 But in the following pages, he points to the peculiar positions of the DP government, and the military, on the traditionalism-modernism axis, and concludes that in Turkey, not the masses (in DP's case, the commercial bourgeoisie), but the elites favour social progress and modernisation: In Middle Eastern and Asian societies, the masses may well be more conservative than the middle-class nationalist elites... In these circumstances, military intervention to bar the rise of new groups to political power may have a net progressive effect on governmental policies. The promotion of socio-economic reform, in short, conflicts with the expansion of political participation. The ouster of the Menderes government in Turkey in 1960, for instance was an effort to curtail the participation in politics of leaders supported by the more traditional and conservative rural masses. In such societies, politics is upside down rather than right up, with the defenders of the traditional order on the bottom rather than on the top. 4

1 2 3 4

Ibid. p. 254. Samuel Huntington, Political Order in Changing Societies . Ibid. p. 221. Ibid. p. 224 (emphasis is mine).

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In the early stages of political modernization, the military officers play a highly progressive and modernizing role (i.e. the oligarchical and radical praetorianism). They promote ideas of "efficiency", "honesty" and "national loyalty". As Huntington indicates in line with Halpern, the army officers act in total independence from any bourgeois calculations and identify themselves with the interests of the oppressed classes to whom they are socially linked. This was also the case for the Turkish officers, most of whom had lowermiddle class family backgrounds, but had the chance to have a modern education and various contacts with the Western world. Says Haydar Tunijkanat, a member of the National Union Committee (NUC) 1 : Look at the personality features and education of those who were elected to NUC. I, for instance, have been to England where I had my formal education. I also worked in Canada as a military attaché. Numan Esin was a high honours student in War Academy like all of our other friends...We started to show an interest in politics after 1946: Where are we going? What kind of democracy is best for our nation? We were all sons of lower-middle class families. We were not rich. We all studied with the help of the State. We were self-made men! 2

It was also known that many members of the army had modest incomes and lived in shanty towns or basement flats. 3 It was, therefore, not surprising that the military had acted in the name of the economically deprived strata, and not to promote the immediate interests of the traditional middle class. Òzbudun holds that the "military leftism" of the Turkish army was directly linked to the class backgrounds of the officers. 4 In fact, the "nature" of this "leftism"(or progressivism) was not very easy to determine, at first glance, as the army, like the rest of the society, was in a constant state of "search" for a national developmental strategy. But as Numan Esin indicates, the "leftism" of the Turkish army was not necessarily related to Marxism, but was a movement of enlightened Kemalism: The Kemalist doctrine was imposed to the young officers in the War Academy. We were raised in this ideological climate. But we also knew about the major philosophical schools of our era. Although Marxism was banned in the period between 1951-60, for those curious to learn about it, it was not a secret. We were among these curious people. But there is no Marxist within the NUC. The most leftist person among us can only be named "idealist". We are no Marxists. We remained Kemalist with a wish to enrich it according to the necessities of our era....^

1 The National Union Committee (NUC)was established in the aftermath of the 1960 coup d'état by the upper ranked officials who were the masterminds of the coup. 2 "Milli Birlik Ûyeleri ile Toplanti" (Meeting with the Members of the NUC) in Suna Kili (ed.) 27 Mayis 1960 Devrimi, Kurucu Meclis ve 1961 Anayasasi (Istanbul: Boyut Yay., 1998) p. 135 (my trans.). i Dogan Avcioglu, Turkiye'nin Diizeni (The Order of Turkey) Vol. 2 (Istanbul: Cem Yayinevi, 1973). 4 Ergun Ôzbudun, The Role of the Military in Recent Turkish Politics, p. 26. 5 "Milli Birlik Ûyeleri ile Toplanti" in Suna Kili (ed.) 2 7 May is I960 Devrimi, Kurucu Meclis ve 1961 Anayasasi, p. 138 (my trans.).

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The concepts of "social justice" and "economic development" were the keystones of this enlightened Kemalism. The army, in concert with the representatives of the intelligentsia and the bureaucracy, favoured an economic policy based on socially egalitarian and democratic premises. As in Huntington's analysis, the army was literally disgusted with the old economic order, that is the liberal opportunism and waste of the DP era. Says Orhan Erkanli, one of the masterminds of the coup: ... The Democrats dragged the country into disaster in the economic and social fields... In ten years we became one of the poorest nations in the world... The NUC regards as illegal, incomes which are not the return of physical and mental labour and which do not accord with the sense of social justice... We hate the refrain 'there are 15 millionaires in every quarter and 1500 hungry people in every village'. I compare the national wealth to water in joint receptacles. A definite balance must be established between capital and labor. 1

In line with Erkanli's emphasis on the "balance between capital and labor", the NUC members inaugurated a number of important economic and social reforms, basically focusing on tax and land reforms. As Ozbudun states, the army was in concert, as far as the nature of the economic reforms was concerned: "19 out of 29 NUC members regarded social justice and land reform as one of the most important problems of our country." 2 The "road" to take in implementing these social reforms, however, was a big source of instability within the NUC. It was already stated that the common mistrust within the military towards competitive politics and the private sector, had made the army oscillate between giving the power back to the civilian politicians and prolonging its own hold on government. The socalled "radicals", including the 14 officers later purged from the NUC, were known as being "collectivist" minded, and were heavily opposed to return immediately to the barracks. They believed in the necessity of implementing thoroughly the projected social reforms before returning to the civilian order. The conflict between the "moderates" and the "radicals" was the extension of the old dispute as to the effectiveness of a multi-party democratic system in an underdeveloped country like Turkey. According to Orhan Erkanli: ... in Turkey, the democratic system can not be founded upon freedom, as there are certain obstacles for the people to properly participate in the process of decision making. These are the pressure and interest groups linked to the liberal political parties. It is an imperative to pass through a process of social reformation (NUC government) to create the institutions whereby a sound democracy can exist in our country. 3 1

Erkanli quoted in Ozbudun, The Role of the Military in Recent Turkish Politics, p. 20 (His English translation). 2 Ibid. p. 21. 3 Erkanli quoted in Mehmet Ali Aybar, TIP Tarihi, (The History of Turkish Labour Party)Vol.l (Istanbul: BDS, 1988) p. 80 (my trans.).

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The "radicals" within the army were closer, in ideology, to the intelligentsia in their "collectivist" emphasis of "anti-capitalism" and a genuinely Turkish model of development. Especially the Yôn writers' emphasis on "zinde giiçler" (a figurative name for the Turkish army meaning "fresh forces") and "national democratic revolution" had clearly echoed in the ranks of the army corps. The "moderates", on the other hand, were composed of "pashas" like Giirsel and other middle ranked officers who believed in the necessity to get the political system back on its proper foundations. Although most of them cared about finding the quickest means for the economic and social recovery of the country, they nevertheless supported competitive politics.1 These officers were believed to be closer to Republican People's Party (RPP), whose leader, Înônù, had clearly expressed his wish to return, at once, to civilian politics, inônu had strongly protested against the radical's proposition to extend the military rule up to four years, fearing that the military would never leave the power once it got used to it.2 Finally "the revolution ate its own children" and the moderate, social democratic minded wing of the military won over the radicals who were ultimately purged from the NUC. Although the victory of the moderate, social democratic wing of the army secured the basic dynamics of the democratic system in Turkey, the "cleaning" within the military, diminished the officers' power to effectively "check and balance" the civilian politics. With the demise of the abortive coups in 1962 and 63, the political ascendancy of the forces representing the heritage of DP liberalism gained momentum as it was clear by then, that the military was no longer in a position to reintervene in civilian politics. As Dodd observes, the social and economic reforms that were vital for the reorganisation of the social system were not effectively followed up after the dismissal of the 'fourteen': Although the NUC began to tackle some of the major political and economic problems, it really did not bite very deep. What it did attempt, it did not allow itself the time to carry out effectively, particularly its economic and social policies. It began very quickly to demilitarize its régime. The Junta acted more like orthodox politicians... than like nonpolitical problem solving soldiers.^

The role played by the Turkish military in the 1960's transformation conforms well with both Halpern's and Huntington's theories. As part of the "new middle class", from humble family backgrounds and with a wish to gain governmental power without any profit motive, the army was surely 1

C.H. Dodd, Politics and Government in Turkey (Manchester Univ. Press, 1969) pp. 29, 30. "Milli Birlik Üyeleri ile Toplanti" in Suna Kili (ed.) 27 Mayis 1960 Devrimi, Kurucu Meclis ve 1961 Anayasasi. C.H. Dodd, Politics and Government in Turkey, p. 37.

2

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progressive and reformist. On the other hand, different groups and cliques within the army conflicted with each other over the social basis and scope of this progressivism. The moderate military officers preferred to be the "vanguards" of the traditional middle class order and played the role of enlightened arbiters in a "radical praetorian" society. The radical officers, in their turn, wanted to increase lower class mobilization and transform the basic dynamics of the old system. The moderate "vanguard" officers ultimately crashed the power of their revolutionary counterparts, frustrating an important portion of the Turkish intelligentsia who believed in an imminent socialist transformation in Turkey with the leadership of the army.

• Yon Movement (The Intellectuals) In coalition with the army and sympathetic to the newly rising politics of social mobilization, the Turkish intellectuals were the major master minds of the 1960's social transformation. The intellectuals, like most of the military officers, favoured a genuine, independent social model for Turkey. The university students and professors were unprecedentedly active in this social struggle against regressive and liberal forces. As the universities had played an important part in overthrowing Menderes and formulating the new constitution, they saw themselves as the moving force of society. As Zurcher observes, this intellectual mobilization "tallied perfectly with the Kemalist conception of a revolution from above carried out by an enlightened elite." 1 According to a survey conducted in Ankara University, the weekly Yon (meaning "direction") was the favourite magazine of university students and professors, with a percentage of 40 among all other similar journals. 2 The Middle East Technical University Rector, Kemal Kurda§, was among the writers of Yon with his bitter criticisms of capitalism and his emphasis on a Turkish model of socialism. Reflecting the aspirations of the new generation of students, Yon was combining the Kemalist conception of "revolution from above" with a novel emphasis on the vanguard position of intellectuals. Yon started to appear in 1961 with Dogan Avcioglu as its chief editor. It was not a narrow-based publication devoted to a particular academic circle, but a comprehensive forum for the newly rising left intelligentsia in Turkey. At its initial stage, Yon was received with great enthousiasm and its circulation rose to 30000 3 , a considerably high number for an intellectual weekly journal. Yon was a forum for Marxist oriented intellectuals but it did not necessarily limit its pages to orthodox Marxists, and included a widespectrum of left wing writers from social democrats to hard-core Kemalists.

1 2 3

Eric J. Zürcher, Turkey: A Modern History (London: LB. Tauris and Co., 1998) p. 268. Jacob M. Landau, Radical Politics in Turkey (Leiden: EJ.Brill, 1974) p. 50. Ibid, p. 51.

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Yon was a progressive social movement in search of a Turkish model of economic development, and managed to create a "productive coalition" of leftwing intellectuals, to openly and freely discuss the possible means to create this Turkish type of socialism. The "open statement" in YorCs first issue is signed by a wide range of intellectuals conforming to Halpern's category of the "new middle class" (the film critic and director Halit Refig was also among its signatories). Thus, engineers, lawyers, bureaucrats, teachers, students, writers, military officers of all ages, with the common wish to see a more prosperous Turkey, shared the progressive premises of the Yon writers. According to Landau, the signatories of the statement represented, politically and intellectually, an elite group, with non-identical economic or social views, but they shared a "sympathetic attitude towards socialism" 1 . Among the prominents, were socialists like Sadun Aren, (,'etin Altan, Fethi Naci, scholars like Arif Payaslioglu, Bahri Savci, Tiirkkaya Ataov, Miimtaz Soysal, the major representatives of Kdyciiliik movement in literature such as Mahmut Makal, Fakir Baykurt, Kemal Tahir, Necati Cumali... Members of the RPP like Turan Giine§ and Co§kun Kirca, who were known to be closer to the military circles, also signed the statement, with the anti-Communist, bourgeois reformists such as Abdi Ipek^i, Mehmet Ali Ki§lah, Omer Sami Co§ar. The radical military officers like Sami Kiiguk, Suphi Karaman, Vehbi Ersii, who were the major supporters of a Turkish model of development strategy, were also among the initial signatories. 2 The Yon movement was, clearly, not an "isolated phenomenon" limited to the efforts of a handful of marginal intellectuals. It represented a strong and generalized consensus between the educated members of the "new middle class", shared by the ruling elite (i.e. a letter of support came from Biilent Ecevit, then serving as Minister of Labor for RPP) to devise an economic model based on social justice and development. The statement in Yon commences with a paragraph that summarizes the basic concerns of the writers: We believe that, to reach the level of civilization intended by the reforms of Atatiirk, to improve our education system, to preserve the Turkish democracy, to realize social justice, and to base the democratic system on solid grounds, we need to succeed in fast economic development which amounts to an increase in the level of national production. 3

The statement goes on to emphasize that democracy is based on the welfare of all men. A political system that is unable to find solutions to hunger, unemployment, homelessness is bound to collapse. The writers asks all the progressive forces of Turkey, writers, politicians, labour unionists, 1 2 3

Ibid. p. 53. Igor P. Lipovsky, The Socialist Movement in Turkey (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1992) p. 86. "Yön Bildirisi" (Open Statement) Yön (20 Aralik, 1961) No. 1 (my trans.).

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managers, businessmen, to agree upon a strategy of development that can realize this fast increase in national production. The Yon circle maintains that, a system based on liberalism can not work for an underdeveloped country like Turkey, as the private sector is profit seeking and underestimates the national good. The solution offered by the Yon writers is a new type of statism, "neoetatism", that will necessitate a throughout planning of the economic life. 1 In spite of its strong commitment to planning and the state control of economy, in its early stages, prior to the split between the followers of the Turkish Labour Party (TLP) and the Society of Socialist Culture (SSC) 2 , Yon had an eclectic understanding of "socialism" that permitted a freer flow and exchange of ideas. The term "communism" was carefully avoided in the journal, and many articles emphasized the "non-revolutionary" nature of Turkish socialism. Among the reformist bourgeois writers, Abdi Ipek9i, praised the virtues of Fabian movement in England and described how "longterm patience of the working class invalidated the anti-bourgeois revolution of Marx..." 3 The general attitude of Yon was described as "evolutionary" by many writers, and the orthodox Marxist dictum of the dictatorship of the proletariat was rejected by the Yon circle. In Yildiz Sertel's interpretation of socialism in Yon, there were three basic ideas: a) Socialism should be introduced gradually by parliamentary means, b) Production should not be directed towards profit-making, but rather towards social advantages, c) Social reforms should be instituted and broad democratic rights granted to people, in order to prevent the aggravation of conflicts between social classes. 4

After the formation of the Turkish Labour Party (TLP), Soysal and Avcioglu's influence within Yon increased, as the Society of Socialist Culture's (SSC) creation created a split within the socialist movement, and Yon started to lose its eclectic and reflexive nature. "Socialism" was gradually replaced by "national-democratic", and Yon's reformist spirit moved to "revolutionary politics". Against the TLP's contention that the leftist forces, composed of working class representatives and the TLP, should lead the national-democratic front (and not the intelligentsia), Yon and the SSC held that Turkey was facing "national-democratic" tasks against the imperialist

1 Ibid. 2 The SSC was formed in 1962 by the main signatories of the "open statement" including Avcioglu himself and aimed at preparing the grounds for the establishment of a socialist party in line with Yon's major premises. TLP leaders opposed the establishment of the SSC maintaining that it would cause a split among the socialists. 3 Abdi Ipekçi, "Fabianizm, Islahatçi Sosyalizm" (Fabianism, Reformist Socialism)^»« (31 Ocak, 1962) No: 7 (my trans.). 4 Sertel quoted in Landau, Radical Politics in Modern Turkey, p. 58.

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West, and "class socialism" (in terms of politics of class struggle) was not in Turkey's current agenda. Says Avcioglu: ... We believe that in the near future Turkey will move on to the socialist path of development. But the building of socialism requires a lengthy period of time. Therefore instead of waving socialist slogans, it is necessary to work out formulas of a united front capable of attracting all forces capable of casting aside the obstacle on the way to socialism. ^

In opposition to TLP's adoption of "parliamentary politics", Mtimtaz Soysal held that as the parliament was dominated by bourgeois parties, which blocked legislations on social reforms, the only way out was to use "nonparliamentary forces and methods". By "non-parliamentary forces", he meant "the left leaning section of the military and civilian intelligentsia, the trade unions and the youth organizations."2 The "non-parliamentary methods" were certainly inspired from the military's takeover of civilian politics. After the formation of the TLP, Yön became exclusively concerned with the radicalisation of the military forces (zinde gtigler) and this overemphasis on the army's revolutionary potential led to the temporary closing down of the journal in 1963, by the authorities of Martial Law, following the abortive coup of Aydemir.3 As Özdemir observes, it is appropriate to compare the "nationaldemocratic" programme of Yön (as far as Avcioglu, Soysal and other SSC members are concerned) that defines the "national front" as the sum of all antiimperialistic and anti-feudal forces (including the national bourgeoisie) of Turkey, to other "national-leftist" movements in the Middle East and Africa. 4 In these societies, in line with Yön's major premises, nationalism and socialism were used interchangeably, to denote a national-progressive war against the imperialist western powers. In that sense, they were also representative of Halpern's concept of the progressive "new middle class" that was also at the basis of Yön movement. Although, after the participation of Mihri Belli in 1964, Yön moved farther to the right, and supported Tiirke§' Republican Peasant Nation Party, together with the RPP's new politics of "left of center", Yön's contribution to the progressive urban coalition in the early 1960s is indisputable. Yön represented the intellectual participation to the urban middle class coalition. At the initial stage, Yön was largely a forum for a wide circle of intellectuals, coming together to discuss the appropriate means for a Turkish model of socialism. After the formation of the TLP, Yön focused mainly on Avcioglu's concept of national-democratic front, and the vanguard role of the army, which was in perfect harmony with the particular nature of the urban coalition that had supported the coup. 1

Avcioglu quoted in Igor P. Lipovsky, The Socialist Movement in Turkey, p. 96. Soysal quoted in Lipovsky, p. 93. 3 Hikmet Özdemir, Kalkinmada Bir Strateji Arayqi: Yön Hareketi (Ankara: Bilgi Yaymevi, 1986). 4 Ibid. 2

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• The Manufacturing Bourgeoisie The progressive and leftward oriented role played by the military officers and the intelligentsia was complemented by the support of the Turkish manufacturing bourgeoisie, whose interests had historically coincided with those of the masses and the new middle class. Unlike the two other partners of the urban coalition, the industrial bourgeoisie aimed at reorganizing the semifeudal capitalist structure, in line with the advanced capitalist models of industrial development. Although in concert with the moderate wing of the army, the manufacturing bourgeois were the enfant terribles of the urban coalition and did not favour a genuine Turkish model of development strategy. Their concern was limited to the "development of capitalism" in Turkey, with a new model of accumulation that necessitated novel regulations on labour management. The so-called "developmentalist middle class" thesis holds that, against the regressive rural forces, bourgeoisie always promotes the urban industrial development. This was not truly the case in Turkey, as in the 1950s, the industrial bourgeoisie was weak and partly connected to feudal landlords.1 But, as it will be seen in the case of import licence distribution, there was also a power struggle for the share of scarce economic and political resources between the petty merchants of rural background and the city based manufacturers, that pushed the latter to support a model based on planned economy. As Keyder observes, the formation of "Hiirriyet Partisi" (Freedom Party) in the late 50s, was directly related to this struggle between the industrialists and the DP based petty merchants: ... The industrial fraction of the Istanbul bourgeoisie had already expressed its impatience and discontent with the increasingly populist bent of Menderes' economic policy. It had been instrumental in the formation of a third political party which presented an alternative to the petty bourgeois market ideology of the Democrat Party. Having the support of the liberal intellectuals and the progressive bourgeoisie, the platform of the urban coalition represented by the new party was far more influential than is suggested by its short life, which ended when the splinter group in the parliament joined forces with the RPP. 2

It was not surprising, then, to find the manufacturing bourgeoisie as one of the primary partners of the urban progressive coalition that backed the coup. Indeed, it was clear after the first general elections in 1961 that the basic principles of the liberal democratic system would not be challenged and the manufacturing bourgeoisie's rise to political power would face no social obstacle. Obviously, in partial accordance with the "developmentalist middle 1 £ukurova, for instance, was the boom town for many landlords who made the jump from cotton to yarn and textiles. 2 Caglar Keyder, State and Class in Turkey: A Study in Capitalist Development, p. 142.

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class thesis", the bourgeoisie had already secured the support of the populace through the implementation of reform measures As Keyder indicates, the Import-Substituting Industrialization (ISI) in Turkey, did not only targeted, as clients the industrialists, but also the organised labour, whose social and economic rights were "offered" by the emerging middle class forces. 1 The lack of support for the industrial capital during the "liberal" Menderes reign was mainly due to DP's dependency on the Union of Chambers. Established in 1947 by "independently minded merchants and businessmen", the Union of Chambers' importance had grown significantly during the DP rule. As indicated by a journalist, "until 1958, there was no difference between the government and the union. They were one and the same thing." 2 According to Ôncu, there existed a clear clash of interests between the dominating import-export merchants and the industrialists: ... Not only did the commercial interests advocate a liberalization of the import régime, but also they favoured a predominant place for agriculture as against industry in the strategy of economic development...The "laissez-faire" economic policies of the DP government made importing such a lucrative business that no one was willing to invest in industry.^

The clash of interests between the commercial importers and the infant industrial bourgeoisie was exacerbated by the violent competition in the distribution of import licences. The overvalued exchange rate of the DP government together with domestic prise increases had made importing extremely profitable. Thus between 1955-58, the great profits in imports encouraged violent competition in the distribution of licences. 4 In the post 1960 period, as a good evidence of the dominant position the manufacturing bourgeoisie occupied in the urban progressive coalition, the Chambers of Industry was given a major role in the administration of the import quotas. Says Ôncù: The idea was that while foreign currency allocations for investment quotas and lists of commodities subject to import restrictions would be decided upon by the relevant ministries in line with the objectives of the development plan, the actual task of distributing the limited amount of foreign currency available among individual importers and industrialists would be left to the chambers...This, in fact, did happen and the Chamber of Industry became very powerful in the 1960-1970 period. 5 1

1

Ibid.

Quoted in Ay§e Oncii, "Chambers of Industry in Turkey: An inquiry into State-Industry Relations as a Distributive Domain" in Ergun Özbudun and Aydin Ulusan (eds.) The Political Economy of Income Distribution in Turkey (New-York: Holmes and Meier, 1980) p. 465. 3 Ibid. p. 465. 4 Ibid. 5 Ibid. p. 467.

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The new policy of Import-Substituting Industrialization was successful in creating an increase in the private industrial investment after 1960. Thus, while the total capital of firms established in 1961 was 337 million liras, this number rose to 613 million in 1965. According to the statistics of the Chamber of Industry in Istanbul, the number of industrial enterprises rose from 603 in 1961, to 2518 in 1967. Within this industrial production, textile industry had the leading position. Textile was followed by assembling, plastics and chemical industries. As Avcioglu speculates, the production of chemical and plastics industries were mostly based on the importation of raw material and did not need intensive local investments. Yet they were extremely profitable and facilitated the partnership of foreign firms. 1 According to Avcioglu, Ko? Holding was the typical example of a "would-be" industrialist business group. Although they drastically increased their manufacturing activities after 1960 , they were still largely focused on commercial imports and partnerships with foreign firms. As indicated by the famous weekly Fortune, Ko$ was the representative of at least 100 European and American firms. 2 The ISI, then, was not thoroughly successful in creating a genuine Turkish industrial sector. While there was some increase in industrial investments, they were concentrated in import-bound areas like chemical and plastics industries and were dependent upon foreign licences 3 . Yet the ascendancy of the manufacturing bourgeoisie's authority in the political decision making process was obvious, as both the first and the second "five years development plans" indicated the policy choices favoured by the newly rising industrial bourgeoisie 4 . As a necessary corollary to the "developmentalist middle class thesis", the bourgeoisie is expected to play a progressive role in the implementation of social reforms. As indicated earlier, an important "client", targeted by the ISI policies, was the industrial labour. Apart from the necessities of the new economic model, which required a strong domestic market, the partners of the manufacturing bourgeoisie in the urban coalition strongly favoured a newer emphasis on social justice. The new Labor Laws drafted in 1963 gave the trade unions a considerably increased scope of action. By the new law, social benefits, as well as the right of collective bargaining and of strike were guaranteed (as emphasized in the films of Gore§-Tiirkali).

1

Dogan Avcioglu, Turkiye'nin Dtizeni Vol. 2. Ibid. 3 Gôreç-Turkali collaboration "Awakening in The Darkness" describes how profit seeking businessmen made profit out of "assembling" and tried to prevent the "national bourgeoisie" to develop Turkey's genuine manufacturing industry. 4 Izzettin Ônder, "1961 Anayasasi'mn Ekonomik Modeli" (The Economic Model of the Constitution of 1961)in Suna Kili (ed.) 27 Mayis 1960 Devrimi, Kurucu Meclis ve 1961 Anayasasi. 2

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Although these rights are said to be "given" from above to the working class without any prior class struggle, it also true that the huge meetings held in Saraghane and Eregli in 1961, with the participation of 250 thousand workers, were certainly influential in showing the strength and consciousness of the Turkish working class. Besides these meetings, the formation of the Turkish Labour Party with the participation of 12 union leaders was also a sign that the labour movement in Turkey was ready to take part in radical p o l i t i c s . 1 Prior to the formation of DlSK (The Confederation of Revolutionary Labour Unions) in 1967, which aimed at developing revolutionary policies for Turkey's socialist transformation, Tiirk-i§ was the only labour union, whose rhetoric was limited to the improvement of working conditions. But in many occasions, the reformist Turk-I§ was also drawn into national politics. As Landau observes, the progressive social democratic wing within Turk-t§ was sensitive to the implementation of social reforms: ... In the 1965 general elections to the National Assembly, a black list of anti-worker politicians was drawn up, which consisted of certain JP, RPP, NP and NTP candidates. More significantly, when the bruited reform in landholding came to nothing but a slogan, at its Fifth National Convention (1964) Ttirk-1§ vehemently demanded from all parties, a comprehensive solution of land-holding problems.^

As the partner of the "new middle class" urban coalition that realized the 1960's social transformation, the Turkish manufacturing bourgeoisie was partly developmentalist and partly regressive. Until the mid 60s, the bourgeoisie was progressive and reformist by supporting the imposition of a new economic model based on planned economy and industrialization. The new Labour Law and the opening up of the political system to the representatives of the lower strata complemented the industrialists' novel organization of the social system. Yet the self-centered motives of the manufacturing bourgeoisie prevented it from developing a truly "national" and "democratic" consciousness advocated by the Yon writers. The degeneration of the ISI after 1965 into a new "patron-client" system ended the hopes for further development of welfare policies. As Sunar points out: The Turkish bourgeoisie, then, came to power by enlisting the support of the masses and enforced reforms whose manifest purpose was to improve the social and economic status of the masses. The latent effect of these reforms however appears to have been the promotion of the prosperity and power of the bourgeoisie.^

1

Mehmet Ali Aybar, TIP Tarihi. ^ Jacob M. Landau, Radical Politics in Turkey, p. 92. ^ Ilkay Sunar, State and Society in the Politics of Turkey's Development, p. 103.

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THE CONSTITUTION OF 1961 The power struggle that existed in the immediate aftermath of the coup between various segments of the progressive new middle class was directly reflected to the drafting of the new Constitution. Thus, various groups conflicted with each other in the Constituent Assembly and although the final Constitution was clearly social democratic in outlook, it nevertheless carried the "militarist-collectivist" tone in its various articles. This "delicate balance" between the liberal democratic and authoritarian collectivist tensions created the possibility of various "readings" of the new Constitution. Thus, while Sanca saw it as a Constitution "in the way of socialist transformation" 1 , Sunar and Sayari emphasized its democratic character with a new system of "checks and balances" 2 . Ônder, on the other hand, heavily criticized it as the extension of capitalist western models. 3 Miimtaz Soysal is certainly right to emphasize that the Constitution of 1961 is based on a "dialectic": While aiming at the betterment of the classic democratic system based on popular suffrage, it also wanted to continue the social reforms that have been imposed by a bureaucratic elite for more than a century. 4 This tension became first apparent in the commissions appointed by the NUC to draft the new Constitution; between the Onar Commission (under the name of its chairman Sami Onar of the University of Istanbul) and the Ankara group. According to Dodd, the political conviction underlying the Onar Commission's constitutional proposals was a deep mistrust about the working of democracy in Turkey. They held that the working of democracy in Turkey created "oligarchical" political parties that monopolized all political resources within the country. The Ankara group, on the other hand, was characterised by its firm stance for "pure democracy". According to the representatives of the Faculties of Political Science and Law of Ankara University, sovereignty rested in the elected bodies of the nation and political parties were the necessary agents of the democratic process. 5 It is noteworthy that this conflict as to the nature of the democratic system in Turkey, occurred between Ankara, the heart of the new Republic proud of overthrowing the monarchy, and Istanbul, the metropolis that, historically, has always been associated with the rule of powerful figures. Istanbul University had, of course, also hosted a number of prominent German professors in the 30s whose tendencies towards "corporatist" systems were well-known.

1 Murat Sanca, Anayasayi Nigin Savunmaliyiz (Why Should We Defend the Constitution?) (Istanbul: izlem Yaymlan, 1969). 2 Ilkay Sunar, Sabri Sayari "Democracy in Turkey: Problems and Prospects" in O'Donnell, Schmitter and Whitehead (eds.) Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Southern Europe (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985). 3 Izzettin Onder, "1961 Anayasasi'mn Ekonomik Modeli" in Suna Kili (ed.) 27 May is 1960 Devrimi, Kurucu Meclis ve 1961 Anayasasi. 4 Miimtaz Soysal, 100 Soruda Anayasanin Anlami, (Istanbul: Ger?ek Yayinevi, 1969). 5 C.H. Dodd, Politics and Government in Turkey .

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For Siddik Sami Onar, NUC's attempt to exclude various political groups from the making of the Constitution was meaningful as it was, by then, clear that, "it was impossible for political parties whose unique aim was to come to power and to exploit the State resources, to draft a just and impartial Constitution. 1 " In the original draft prepared by the Onar Commission, later refused by the Constituent Assembly, the representation in the second Assembly was based on professional affiliations. Reminiscent of Durkheimian concept of "organic society", later adopted by Ziya Gokalp, this concept of corporatist representation was clearly an exaggerated form of early Kemalist principles. Although largely modified in the Constituent Assembly, the impact of the first draft, prepared by the Istanbul University Professors, is nevertheless present in the Constitution. The elitist approach to the selection of the members of the Senate, and the general mistrust towards elected bodies are among them. As it was impossible to restrict the scope of the popular vote, the makers of the Constitution preferred to develop certain mechanisms to check and balance the elected bodies. The new roles assumed by the Constitutional Court and the Presidency were directed towards the limitation of the absolute power of the Grand National Assembly. 2 As Sunar and Sayan indicates, the negative experience of the DP reign was one of the reasons for the introduction of these new mechanisms of political control: The 1961 Constitution had behind it a decade of democratic experience and learning. It reflected the new balance of power and an institutional compromise supportive of such a balance. In the face of popular support mobilized by the counter elite-the leadership of the Democratic Party-the bureaucratic intelligentsia and the authors of the Constitution were on the defensive against centralization of power and concentration of function. As a consequence, power was dispersed, institutions carefully differentiated, and bureaucratic checks and controls were established against the powers of the parties.-'

The idea of a genuine model of Turkish socialism, in close cooperation with the military forces (authoritarian-collectivist tendency) mostly advocated by the radical wing of the military and major representatives of the intelligentsia (i.e. Yon), is discernible in various parts of the Constitution. The introductory part of the Constitution underlines four points that largely fall within the scope of the aforementioned perspective: a) Justification of the coup: The first paragraph states that, by the coup, the Turkish nation "resisted" against a lawless government, b) A special emphasis to Turkish nationalism: the spirit of National Unity (a eulogy for the NUC), 1

Onar quoted in Soysal, 100 Soruda Anayasanm Anlami, p. 60 (my trans.). Ibid. Ilkay Sunar, Sabri Sayari "Democracy in Turkey: Problems and Prospects" in O'Donnell, Schmitter and Whitehead (eds.) Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Southern Europe, p. 174.

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c) Loyalty to Atatiirk's principles (affirmation of Kemalism), d) Stress on the social nature of the state that has, primarily, the aim of realization of "social justice" and "economic development". In addition to these points, reminiscent of the perspective of the Yon writers, the introduction also reminds us that all these principles are protected by the "watchful guards"1 (zinde giigler) of the country. Certain provisions of the Constitution are considered as "paving the way for a socialist transformation in Turkey" 2 The tenth article of the first section indicates that "the State is under the obligation to eliminate all the economic and social obstacles limiting the basic individual rights of its citizens and incongruent with the principles of social justice and democratic state" 3 . According to Sarica, this article demonstrates that social justice is dependent on economic and social context, and thus, acknowledges the dynamic relationship between the economic base and social justice. Thus, says Sarica, "our Constitution leaves room for socialist reforms." 4 Another provision considered as "totally opposed to liberal economy" by Sarica, is the article 41 of the second section. The provision reads as follows: Economic and social life is organized according to the principles of justice, full employment and a descent level of life for everyone... To realize the economic and cultural developments by democratic means, to make development plans in order to give priority to investments for public benefits, are the primary duties of the State. 5

The emphasis on the importance of "full employment" and "economic planning" is rightly interpreted by Sarica as the choice of a "non-capitalist model of development" for Turkey, advocated by the collectivist minded sections of the urban coalition. In spite of the existence of such provisions, there is general agreement among scholars that the 1961 Constitution was social democratic in its general ideological perspective. In line with the demands of the manufacturing bourgeoisie and the moderate wing of the military, the Constitution was founded on a firm tradition of "democratic welfare state". According to Dodd, among various sources that inspired the Constitution, the two most important were the experience of contemporary western states (i.e. the West German Republic) and Turkey's present social needs (reconciliation of democracy with strong government).6 The article two of the first section clearly demonstrates

1

In the Constitution, the term used in Turkish is "uyamk bekçiler". Murat Sarica, Anayasayi Niçin Savunmahyiz (my trans.). 3 M. Emin Deger, Anayasa (The Constitution) (Ankara: Türkiye Yazilari Yayinlari, 1979) p. 31 (my trans.). 4 Sarica, p. 53 (my trans.). 5 Deger, p. 65 (my trans). 6 C.H. Dodd, Politics and Government in Turkey. 2

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the "enlightened" nature of the Constitution: "The Turkish Republic is based on law, welfare, democracy, secularism and human rights"1. The second part of the Constitution introduces a section on "social and economic rights and obligations of citizens" where the economic model of the new régime is clearly presented. According to Ônder, this model is nothing more than a continuation of western liberalism with the addition of two important regulations: The formation of the State Planning Organisation (Art. 129), and the general legislation on labour rights (trade unions, right to strike etc.)2 Although Ônder oversimplifies or ignores certain welfare features of the Constitution, it is certainly correct that no provision that runs contrary to the logic of the liberal capitalism is preserved in the Constitution. The article ten, that Sarica presents as revealing the inherent contradiction between social justice and the socio-cultural context is, "balanced" by an other provision which states that "the state's duties in realizing the social and economic objectives stated in the Constitution, are limited by the level of economic development and the financial resources available" 3 (Art. 53). This amounts to say that the economic logic of the market mechanism will determine the range of social and economic measures adopted by the incumbent government. The constitutional provision on land reform is one of the rare articles that were included in the Constitution, by the pressures of the military, against the will of the civilian political forces. Article 38 states that: The state and other corporate bodies, where public interest deems it necessary, are authorized, subject to the principles and procedures as set forth in the pertinent law, to expropriate ownership, or to impose an administrative servitude... The form of payment of the true equivalent values of land expropriated for the purpose of enabling farmers to own land... shall be provided by law. 4

As Ôzbudun indicates, although present in the Constitution, this article has never been truly brought to life. No serious steps have been taken towards its implementation after 1961, and the debate on land reform has also been one of the reasons for the fall of the third înoniï government.5 Although generally developmentalist in its socio-economic perspective, the Constitution, then, did not totally reflect the ambitions of neither the radical wing of the military, nor the intelligentsia. It mostly mirrored the progressive demands of the manufacturing bourgeoisie and the labour, in accordance with the necessary socio-economic adjustments brought by the new model of accumulation. But the delicate balance created within the "new 1

M. Emin Deger, Anayasa, p. 25 (my trans.). Izzettin Onder, "1961 Anayasasi'mn Ekonomik Modeli" in Suna Kili (ed.) 27 Mayis Devrimi, Kurucu Meclis ve 1961 Anayasasi. 3 Emin Deger, Anayasa, p. 69 (my trans.). 4 Ergun Ozbudun, The Role of the Military in Recent Turkish Politics, p. 24. 5 Ibid. p. 25. 2

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middle class" of Turkey, during the early days of the military rule, is nevertheless visible in the Constitution. Obviously, the oscillation between the idea of a genuine model of Turkish socialism, highly inspired from a novel version of Kemalism (as Yon indicated), and preferences of the manufacturing bourgeoisie for an "enlightened" welfare state was resolved in the favour of the latter. In any case, there can be no doubt that the Constitution, born during the military rule, was the most democratic and progressive Constitution the Republic ever had. This was certainly also due to the fact that the members of the new middle class that constituted its background shared the same basic concerns of social and economic advancement of Turkey, be it in the form of a genuine socialist model, or an "enlightened" capitalist ideology favouring industrial development over commercial growth. As already pointed out, the social realist filmmakers took active part in the process of "social engineering" that followed the "progressive coup" of 1960. They were the representative par excellence of the Halpern's "new middle class", coming mostly from urban, well educated families with humble financial resources. The developments within the film industry that had started in the early 50s took a new shape with the change of socio-political climate after 1960. The new aesthetic experiences brought forth by a new generation of filmmakers were complemented by a "social content" largely inspired from the Constitution of 1961. As natural members of the progressive "urban coalition" of the post 1960 era, the filmmakers (representing the "intelligentsia" within the film circles) tried to contribute to the process of democratization and reform in Turkey, through shooting films with a clear social message.

4. MAJOR SOCIAL REALIST FILMS AND DIRECTORS Among many directors who were more or less engaged in the aesthetics and politics of social realism between 1960 and 1965, four deserve particular attention: Metin Erksan, Halit Refig, Ertem Goreg and Duygu Sagiroglu. Refig and Erksan were the major representatives of the movement as far as the "search" for a national-popular film language was concerned. They were obviously the voluntary missionaries for the difficult task of providing a socio-political basis to the new movement of cultural modernisation in Turkish cinema. Although both Erksan and Refig were highly politicized and took active part in many political debates in the early 60s, their films were not particularly propagandist, and the search for artistic refinement has always been present in them. Gore? was not really interested in theoretical issues and was less of an intellectual, compared to other major filmmakers of the era. But his two realist films Otobiis Yolculari (The Bus Passengers) and Karanlikta Uyananlar (Awakening in The Darkness) created with the collaboration of his

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Marxist scriptwriter Vedat Tiirkali, are considered as the best examples of social realism in Turkish cinema, emphasizing the materialist perspective and positive heroes that "the class war necessitates". Sagiroglu, on the other hand, was in a perpetual quest for social sanctification and his chef d'oeuvre, Bitmeyen Yol (The Never Ending Road), revealed his commitment to religious purification as well as his profound repugnance of capitalist ideology. All the directors mentioned above, together with Akad, tin, Batibeki and others directly or indirectly involved in the social realist movement, were members of the so-called "urban petty bourgeois" intellectual circles and were directly linked, in ideology, to the progressive urban "new middle class" supportive of the military coup. It is not surprising, then, to see that of most of the social realist films were "urban movies" and told the stories of those, most sensitive to the social transformation brought forth by the coup. Certain films also focused on the agonies of families shattered by the rural exodus to big cities (mostly to Istanbul). Relatively fewer number of filmmakers were concerned with "village realism" and those who gave such examples either depended on novel adaptations or on folklore and popular sagas. As far as Erksan, Refig, Gore9 and Sagiroglu are concerned, progressive urban middle class ideology was present throughout their work, regardless of the social status of their protagonists. But the ideological differences, that existed within the urban middle class coalition, were also present among the directors, and the specific aesthetic and philosophical stances adopted by each filmmaker illustrated the political and cultural nuances in their individual positionings within the "new middle class".

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Metin Erksan is one of the most contradictory figures in the history of Turkish cinema. Known as a leftist intellectual, he was nevertheless under the influence of many diverse aesthetic and philosophical notions from neoformalism to oriental mysticism. Together with Akad, Erksan was the only university graduate among the prominent filmmakers of the era, and his formal education in history of art at Istanbul University certainly accounted for his bold plastic innovations in his cinematography. Erksan also had the chance of having an elder brother, (,'etin Karamanbey already in film business, who certainly had a positive impact upon the director 1 . Prior to get directly involved in filmmaking, Erksan concentrated on scriptwriting and novel adaptations. In an era, where the governing logic behind Ye§ilgam (Pinetree) 1

Nijat Ozon, Turk Sinemasi Kronolojisi: 1895-1966 (The Chronology of Turkish Cinema: 18951966) (Ankara: Bilgi Yaymevi, 1968).

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was easy money and mass entertainment, Erksan embraced a Marxist oriented philosophy and tried to get a firm grasp of popular Turkish literature from Omer Seyfeddin, Re§at Nuri, Halide Edip to Peyami Safa and Sadri Ertem. 1 In the early 60s, Erksan was also interested in politics. He played a major role in the foundation of the Union of Turkish Film Workers and the Association of Turkish Filmmakers. Although in an interview he gave in 1985, Erksan strongly criticized the Turkish Labour Party's then policy of controlling the Union of Turkish Film Workers as part of its general strategy of cultural penetration 2 , it is well known that Erksan was TLP's candidate of Istanbul in the General Elections of 1965. As mentioned above, Erksan's cinematography is a strange and eclectic mixture of modernist themes (i.e. individual loneliness reminiscent of Heideggerian notion of "throwness into being"), metaphysics (the fight of good vs evil), and a personalized notion of Marxism. Among other important directors of social realist movement, Erksan is closest to western concerns of universalism and anthropomorphism. Although pushing his humanism to extremes as to "normalize" the pathological loneliness and asocial nature of some of his later protagonists, Erksan never abandoned the conception that "man should be the focus of art": All arts tell the story of man. There is no art without man and only man can create art. Thus "art is for man". The scientific thinking rejects the notions of "art for art's sake" and "social art"... Art does not reveal a social problem. It tells the story of man within this social problem. Art tells the tragedy of man. 3

In spite of his emphasis on "tragic realism" (an established form of classical realism that Auerbach treats in depth in his Mimesis), Erksan's filmography does not always reveal that notion of classical realism whose ontology is based on a somewhat positive look on human nature. Especially from Susuz Yaz (Dry Summer) and Suglular Aramizda (The Culprits Are Among Us )onwards, Erksan's protagonists are getting more and more "demonical" and even the "good" ones lack "natural purity". Erksan, whose life philosophy was based on a particular understanding of Marxism (at least until mid 60s) in which man is a "social animal", was conscious of the incongruity between an exaggerated emphasis on the "individual" and the socio-political philosophy he embraced. Unfortunately, his efforts to find a balance between "pathological human loneliness" and the determining power of the "social milieux" in shaping people's destiny, did not always work very 1 Kurtulu§ Kayah, "Bir Muhalif Entellektiiel Sinemaci: Metin Erksan" (An Opposing Intellectual Filmmaker: Metin Erksan) Beyaz Perde (Mayis 1990). 2 Metin Erksan, "Tiirkiye'de Entelijansia Yok" ... Ve Sinema (1985). ^ Metin Erksan, "Sevmek Zamani Neyi Anlatir veya Sinema Uzerine Dii§unme" (What Does Time For Love Talk About or Some Reflections on Cinema) Goruntu (Kasim 1966) No. 2, pp. 13-15 (my trans.).

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well and especially in his later films, the former modernist emphasis overrode the socio-political content of his films. Accused of being "egocentric" and "individualist" Erksan tried to defend his own position: I once said in a TV show that I make films for myself. I have been so harshly criticized for saying that. Of course, I make films for myself. I repeat that. But where and why do I live? I am not a Robinson who lives in an isolated island. I am in constant interaction with the world that surrounds me. I am part of this social surrounding. I don't like to advertise my work. I never said: I write for people or for the revolution. These are shameful marketing strategies...If you are a true artist, the audience will understand why and for whom you are creating. I have never done such marketing manoeuvres.... 1

The best way, then, to understand the delicate balance between individualism (the ontological loneliness of man) and humanism (human tragedy linked to adverse social conditions) in Erksan's cinema is to add the notion of "dialectics", whereby the human loneliness can be seen as linked to social structures which, in turn, are shaped by the actions of men. Gecelerin

Ótesi (Beyond The Nights), made in 1960, is considered as

the first example of the "social realist" movement. Erksan is, obviously, at the peak of his political and social commitment and is successful in linking the stories of six urban lower-middle class young men to the adverse social effects of the Democrat Party liberalism. Says Erksan: In those days (1959), DP's following slogan was very popular: "to create a millionaire in every district." I said to myself that in creating a millionaire in every district, they will certainly create other things as well. So I found a number of young boys and did the film. 2

Gecelerin Ótesi was an overt social criticism directed against the ideology of fast upward social mobility propagated by the DP opportunism. It tells the story of a group of young men with "high hopes and low means": Two musicians who dream of going to the United States to get rich and famous, an unemployed theater player wishing to create his own company to perform "real art", a penniless painter in love with a sensuous woman...They all want to live well without spending their whole lives in meaningless jobs, and ultimately decides to rob an oil station. In the end, one of them is killed and they understand that "ends do not always justify the means". Erksan's emphasis on the "evilness" of money instinct is directly linked to the liberal policies of the DP era. But Erksan also criticizes the selfish and individualistic motives of the young men, unable to think in terms of meaningful political action. As one of the protagonists says, "they did not 1 2

Metin Erksan, 'Türkiye'de Entelijansia Yok" ...Ve Sinema, p. 26 (my trans.). Ibid. p. 25 (my trans.).

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know what else they could do to change their destinies". Although the notion of "chorality" is clearly present in the film, as no individual protagonist is treated in isolation from the rest, Erksan's recurrent theme of "loneliness" is nevertheless at the center of the film, as the "anti-social" behaviour of the "chorus" is the consequence of their alienation from a corrupt social order. After, Mahalle Arkadaglari (The Neighbourhood Fellows), a somewhat commercialized and softened repetition of Gecelerin Otesi made in 1961, Erksan focused on a modernized version of "village realism" with the adaptation of a very contested novel by Fakir Baykurt, Yilanlarin Ocii (The Revenge of the Serpents). Already prohibited as a theater play, Yilanlarin Ocii had hard times with the state censure committee, still working actively in spite of the libertarian Constitution of 1961. It tells the story of a courageous old woman, named Irazca, who resists by all means to Haceli, who unjustly builds a house in front of Irazca's home. Having the support of the local governor (muhtar), Haceli tries to apply the "law of nature": The strong oppresses the weak. The village life is not just a "life in nature" but also an allegorical representation of the philosophical notion of the "state of nature" where the relationship between men is characterised by constant war and destructive competition. This "anomic" representation of village life is a good opportunity for Erksan to explore the depths of human nature which reveal his pessimistic premises. Although Erksan holds that he wanted to emphasize the courage and perseverance of the old woman, as a role model to demonstrate that "if we want our problems to be solved we have to use all our rights accorded by the Law" 1 , the "positiveness" of the "would-be positive type" Irazca is questionable. In other words, Irazca does not seem to be depicted as a heroic figure for audience identification. In an interview on Yilanlarin Ocii, Erksan indicates that "being is shaped by the constant war between good and evil" and that "he is on the side of the good". 2 This metaphysical approach to the conflict between Irazca and Haceli automatically puts the former into the position of the "good" and thus the "positive type" that the realist novel is so keen on creating. Nevertheless, Irazca is far from being a conventionally "good" and innocent person. Although Haceli is unjust and disrespectful towards his neighbour in building the house, Irazca's methods of resistance and her general life philosophy of "eye for an eye" are not easy to digest. In the end, it turns out that there is not so much "qualitative" difference between the "good" and the "bad", as Irazca is as egoistic as Haceli, as her advise to Haceli indicates: "Go and find another place! There are 20 other houses in this village and you have just chosen mine!"

1 Erksan quoted in Giovanni Scognamillo, "Metin Erksan: Sivralan'dan Berlin'e II " Sinema 65 (§ubat 1965) No:2 p. 12 (my trans.). 2 Agah Özgü?, "Metin Erksan'la Bir Konugma" (A Talk with Metin Erksan) Sine-Film (Ocak, 1962) p. 12 (my trans.).

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Although overshadowed by the strong metaphysical emphasis, Yilanlarin Ocii still demonstrates Erksan's socio-political commitments and progressive materialist perspective. Apart from the notion of the fight between good and evil in the "state of nature", the real basis of the conflict between Irazca and Haceli stems from the concept of "private property". According to Mesut IJgakan. a reformist Islamic intellectual, Yilanlarin Ocii incites villagers to rebel against the traditional established rulers of the villages (i.e. muhtar, aga) and runs contrary to the belief system of Turkish people by basing their everyday conflicts on materialistic grounds.1 In Yilanlarin Ocii, a striking political message is given through the opposition of the "muhtar" to the "kaymakam". The negative attitude Erksan adopts vis-a-vis the "elected" representatives of the villagers (muhtar) reminiscent of the DP based policies of populism, is contrasted to the positive image of the "appointed government bodies" (kaymakam) and the military officers. This is an obvious reference to the common mistrust, within the urban middle class, towards "popular elections", and an act of paying homage to the makers of the coup, who are believed to bring law and social justice to the country. It is, therefore, not very surprising to learn that Cemal Gursel, the head of state and the leader of the moderate wing of the army, was the major defender of Yilanlarin Ocii against the provisions of the censure committee. In an act of solidarity with the intellectual representatives of the progressive urban middle class coalition, Gursel showed his commitment to "bourgeois progressivism". Affirming the importance of "realism" in the making of a "national image", Gursel congratulated Erksan for his objectivity and courage: I liked that film a lot. You have very well revealed the hidden realities of our country. In fact the reality is much bitter than that. You have obviously softened it a little. In our society, a certain group of people has always refused to discuss the problems of the villages. They want the truth to remain blurred. However, if we do not have the courage to confront the naked truth, we will never be able to solve these problems.... 2

After Act Hay at (Bitter Life, 1963), an urban realist drama based on the combination of the Zavattinian (Italian neo-realist) theme of "looking for an apartment" 3 and a Ye§il§am style love story, Erksan made his Golden Bear awarded, legendary Susuz Yaz (Dry Summer). Although, like Yilanlarin Ocii, Susuz Yaz did not extensively revealed the regressive social structuring at the basis of its human tragedy4, it was, nevertheless, among the first, truly 1

Mesut U§akan, Turk Sinemasinda ideoloji. Gursel quoted in Ozon, Karagdzden Sinemaya Vol. 2 p. 261 (my trans.). 3 See Zavattini's "A Thesis on Neo-Realism", in Overbey (ed.) Springtime in Italy:Reader on Neo-Realism. 4 See Nezih Co§, "Susuz Yaz: Hangi Toplumsal Ger§ek?ilik?" (Dry Summer: Which Social Realism?) Yedinci Sanat (Haziran-Agustos, 1975) No. 24, pp. 29-49. 2

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sophisticated Turkish films both in terms of directing and mise en scene. It also demonstrated that Erksan had reached the level of cinematographic maturity comparable to many prominent western filmmakers. In many respects, Susuz Yaz is the continuation of Erksan's search for a balance between his own subjective philosophy and historical materialism. Like Yilanlann Ocii, Susuz Yaz is based on the violent survival struggle between villagers in the "state of nature", exacerbated by the evilness of private property and man's existential loneliness. Susuz Yaz tells the story of Osman who, all of a sudden, decides to withhold the running water that springs from his own land. Although his angry neighbours warn him in many ways, Osman does not let the water run in spite of his brother, Hasan, and his young wife, Bahar's, pleas. In an armed fight, Osman kills a fellow neighbour but asks Hasan to take the blame on the grounds that he was younger and much stronger. Osman, left alone in the house with Bahar, courts her and goes even further to burn Hasan's letters from prison. In the end, Hasan learns his brother's disloyalty, goes back to the village and takes his revenge in a spectacular scene of violence. The emphasis on the loneliness of man already present in Yilanlann Ocii takes greater dimensions with the metaphysical evilness of Osman. More than representing the typical self centered Democrat Party mentality, Osman is depicted as a pathological personality in a state of absolute loneliness. No value that makes man feel safe and harmonious within a social grouping (i.e. friendship, brotherhood, decency, honesty, love) has any meaning for Osman. His only friend, also a symbolic representation of his dry soul, is a scarecrow. His evilness is almost naive, as unlike the modern, urban "wicked man", that Erksan describes in Suglular Aramizda, Osman does not care to create a positive social image for himself, and everyone in the village, including his own brother, is aware of his bad nature. Although offering interesting material for philosophical inquiries, Osman's pathological individualism creates problems, as far as Erksan's materialist emphasis is concerned. Lacking a meaningful psychological or social basis, Osman's evil deeds remain highly abstract. The socio-political perspective underlined in the film is based on the analysis of two related concepts. On the one hand, the contradictory notion of "property of water" is presented as the basic dilemma facing both the villagers, who are supposed to have the "natural" right of using the running water (the blood of the soil), and Osman's family, who have the "legal" right to claim exclusive property on the water that springs from their land. On the other hand, the concept of "legality" in a bourgeois society is strongly questioned, as the bourgeois regulations of the DP era protect the rights of individuals against the rights of the community, which, in the end, constitute the real source of the conflict. Together with the immature desire of possession, the bourgeois laws are equally responsible for driving a wedge among the fellow villagers.

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With Suglular Aramizda (The Culprits Are Among Us) made in 1964, Erksan returns to the city and engages in social criticism targeting the "moral decadence" of a bourgeois family. In spite of his powerful story based on a real life event, Erksan is still busy with his "abstract" wicked protagonists getting more and more "demonical". With an unbending desire to acquire greater property and power, the evil character (Miimtaz) does not hesitate to lie, steal and even kill. And when it is time for his own death, he challenges the divine authority saying that "no one but himself can put an end to his life." Like the "would-be" positive type Irazca of Yilanlarin Ocii, even the positive types in Suglular Aramizda that challenge and finally defeat Miimtaz are not purely innocent and good characters. Although depicted as a Robin Hood, Halil is, after all, a thief, and Miimtaz's pretty young wife, Demet, admits to have married Miimtaz for money. Conscious of his own inconsistencies in Yilanlarin Ocii and Susuz Yaz, already harshly criticized, Erksan tries, this time, to find a more meaningful social context for his fragmented lonely caricatures: In those days, there were highly respected families. A new class of extremely wealthy families was born. One of them were the Giilbekyans. I read in the paper that Giilbekyan once offered a very expensive necklace to his daughter-in law. One day the necklace is stolen, but the thieves can not sell it as they understand that the necklace is false. The wealthy Giilbekyan gave a false necklace to his daughter-in-law! I liked that story a lot. It was really scandalous. The film is based on this event. There is an obvious social criticism. 1

Suglular Aramizda's decadent bourgeois picture has a twofold function: First, it serves to create a more meaningful social basis for Erksan's penchant for super-human wicked characters. Although the concept of "decadence" can not totally account for all the evil deeds of Miimtaz, it nevertheless gives a more suitable social and psychological background to reflect the dark side of the human soul. Second, through the depiction of Halis Bey as a "collaborationist" (komprador) bourgeois (and not as part of the "national bourgeoisie" advocated by Yon), whose wealth largely depends on the misuse of funds for the underdeveloped countries, Erksan makes reference to his own engagement in politics, especially to TLP's "universal", orthodox Marxist understanding of class conflict. Although Marxist in attitude, Erksan's cinematography in Suglular Aramizda does not reflect the simplicity and objectivity of conventional realist cinema, and formal concerns clearly override the content. Thus the black lover of Miimtaz's mistress, whose body colour only serves to create contrasting pictures of black vs white, the skull game between Miimtaz and his secretary, the extravagant party scene with guests in diving suits, diminish 1

Metin Erksan, 'Tilrkiye'de Entelijansia Yok" ... Ve Sinema, p. 33 (my trans.).

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the scope of Erksan's social emphasis. In Suglular Aramizda, it is almost impossible to find any "local" signs and all the formal details of the film (the background music, locations, costumes) support the feeling of cultural "estrangement". This incongruity between the anti-bourgeois social message and the exaggerated formal experiences untenable within a social realist perspective was obviously the major problem of the film, signalling the end of Erksan's social realist period. Ironically, after 1965, Erksan was among the leading defenders of Halit Refig's debated concept of "national cinema", an antiwestern movement praising traditionalism and the commercial Ye§il§am cinema. Having renounced Marxism, but unable to limit his artistic talent to traditional Ye§il§am melodramas, Erksan made Sevmek Zamam (Time for Love) in 1966, this time more successfully combining a particular textual emphasis (Marxism replaced by oriental mysticism) with western symbolism.

HALlT REFIG: CULTURAL MODERNISM AND YON

Erksan's difficulty in finding a balance between his subjective philosophy and socio-political commitment, manifested itself in Halit Refig's cinema, as a contradictory effort to reconcile incongruous concepts and movements. Thus, it was possible to see him spontaneously defending discordant ideas, or to easily refute a previously adopted perspective. Refig's "love and hate" relationship with the "West" and his particular understanding of "socialism" together with his relative pragmatism, were largely responsible for his frequent theoretical inconsistencies. Refig's problematic relation with the "West" can be seen in his contradictory approaches to western oriented intellectuals and western cultural values. On the one hand, he strongly criticizes Turkish intellectuals alienated from their own society, as can be seen from the tragic ending he planned for the engineer (Aydin) in §ehirdeki Yab&nci (The Stranger in The City, 1963) who came from England with universal ideas of freedom and equality. Refig says that in §ehirdeki Yabanci, he wanted to show "how an intellectual unable to balance his own personal concerns with the necessities of the larger cultural milieu was bound to be isolated from his society" and that "he would have been much happier if he had been able to make a pessimistic ending for the film in which the workers would lynched the young engineer!" 1 On the other hand, Refig has admitted on several occasions that he was a true admirer of Visconti and Antonioni 2 . As Kurtulug Kayali states, in the wake of 1960, Refig searched for a socio-political basis to the newly rising movement of cultural avant-gardism (modernism), trying to harmonize it with his own 1 2

Halit Refig, Ulusal Sinema Kavgasi, p. 26 (my trans.). Halit Refig, "Turk Sinemasi Nedir?" Sinema 65 (§ubat 1965).

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personal experiences.1 "Social realism" and the depiction of the new image of "woman", which were both elements of the western cultural schemes of modernism, were largely adopted by Refig. Vedat Tiirkali, who worked as a scriptwriter for §ehirdeki Yabanci, speculates that the tragedy of the engineer was, in fact, reflective of Refig's own social estrangement and frustration: "In those days, no one knew anything about "alienation". In fact, I believe that Halit was on the side of the engineer. He was like his alter ego. I often heard Halit saying that he did not believe in the masses. The masses were dumb as donkeys."2 Refig was the son of a wealthy industrialist and had a fairly comfortable childhood. His father was originally from Salonica and thus a true admirer of Atatiirk. Hence, for the Refig family, "patriotism has always been the highest value."3 Halit Refig's first encounter with Marxism was thanks to the counter-propagandas of the American soldiers he met during the Korean war. Says Refig: I started to develop an interest in Marx and in various leftist movements in Korea. Whenever there was a disagreement between me and the American soldiers they would blame me for listening to Radio Moscow. I had never heard of Radio Moscow before. As a reaction to American soldiers, I started to get curious about Marx and communism. My first knowledge of Marx came from books I found in the American regiments. I learned a great deal from these books. But the fact that I was the son of a bourgeois family and my knowledge that my family was not better off than their housekeepers prevented me from believing in Marxist class war. 4

As the son of a bourgeois family, pretending that there was hardly any social difference between his family and the housekeeper, Halit Refig's leftism excluded the orthodox Marxist ideas of class conflict and the dictatorship of the proletariat. Adding to it his deep notion of patriotism, it was not surprising to find him writing in Republican People's Party (RPP) oriented Kirn and Akis. After 1960, Refig took active part in Yon movement and he was among the first signatories of row's open statement. Unlike Erksan's universal concerns of materialism and dialectics, Refig advocated a "local" understanding of leftism, combined with nationalism and distrust of the masses, as can be seen from his unfulfilled project for §ehirdeki Yabanci. However, his adoption of Yon's anti-imperialist ideas of national-democratic social progress did not prevent Refig from showing an interest in "western" modernist concerns of feminine submissiveness as well as a social and lyrical understanding of realism reminiscent of Visconti. 1

Kurtulug Kayali, "Halit Refig Sinemasindaki Sureklilik ve Degigim", Beyaz Perde (Mart 1990), p. 1.

o

Vedat Tiirkali, Bu Gemi Nereye, p. 28 (my trans.). Halit Refig, Gergegin Degigkenligi: Kemal Tahir (The Relativity of Truth: Kemal Tahir) (Istanbul: Ufuk Kitaplari, 2000) p. 33 (my trans.). 3

4

Ibid. p. 26 (my trans.).

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After his first successful directing experiences of Yasak A§k (Forbidden Love, 1961) and Sevi§tigimiz Gtinler (The Days We Made Love, 1962) where he combined commercial Yegilgam cinema with a new sense of romantic realism and female emancipation 1 , Refig made in 1963 §afak Bekgileri (The Guards of Dawn) praising the air force of the Turkish army as a progressive force against the regressive rural landlords. In the same year, he also made §ehirdeki Yabanci, a tragic love story, within a debated political context. Like §afak Bekgileri, §ehirdeki Yabanci is based upon the conflict between the progressive middle class and the regressive local forces-an oft-cited subject in the pages of Yon. It tells the story of an idealist engineer, Aydin (it means "intellectual" in Turkish), who returns to his native town, Zonguldak, after having completed his graduate studies in England, where he learned "to live in peace and solidarity." Surrounded by greedy contractors and hypocritical politicians, Aydin struggles, in vain, to protect the rights of the miners. Although he is supposedly the "progressive" element within the film, who tries to improve the living conditions of the exploited coal miners, Aydin is also depicted as an "alien" in his own town. Apart from his social isolation due to his political fight, this alienation is also connected to his western lifestyle. In contradiction with the traditionalism of his surrounding, Aydin listens to classical music and smokes western cigars. The stranger in the town is complemented with the stranger in the family, Aydin's childhood love, Goniil, bound to live with her unloving husband, step son and jealous mother-in-law. Her only consolation is a dog (like the protagonist of De Sica's Umberto D) that her husband cruelly kills after having learned his wife's secret love affair with Aydin. In the end, contrary to Refig's initial plan — that hopefully had been changed by Tiirkali's intervention-the coal miners save Goniil and Aydin from being killed by Goniil's husband. Although on the surface, the message of the film is the necessity of patience in the revolutionary struggle when dealing with ignorant and misinformed masses, Refig's ambiguous treatment of Aydin blurs the radical emphasis of the film. It is not very clear if Refig wants the audience to identify with Aydin or to avoid following his path. In other words, Refig is hesitant in assigning a "positive" role to his main protagonist. As mentioned before, Refig's own personal estrangement and frustration in his own surrounding certainly accounted for his emphasis on anti-intellectualism and xenophobia.

1 For a detailed analysis of Yasak A$k and Sevi§tigimiz Giinler, see Giovanni Scognamillo, Turk Sinemasinda 6 Yonetmen (Six Filmmakers in Turkish Cinema) Istanbul: Turk Film Ar§ivi yaymi, 1973) pp. 125-129.

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In spite of its internal contradictions, §ehirdeki Yabanci has, nevertheless, been invited to Moscow film festival where it received positive reactions from the audience. Refig's successful directing, unprecedented use of "depth of field" as well as his bold attempt to reflect the social conflict between middle class progressivism and liberal regressive forces created enthousiasm among the Turkish leftwing critics.1 Gurbet Kuçlari (The Birds of Exile) made in 1964, reflects Refig's most characteristic aesthetic, social and political impressions. Refig's modern stylistic innovations on "depth of field" and "triangular spatial arrangements", already started in §ehirdeki Yabanci, matured in Gurbet Ku§lari. In contrast to the "universality" of his film language, Gurbet Ku§lan also reflected Refig's refusal of class analysis on social problems and his somewhat superficial application of Yon's emphasis on nationalism and work ethic. Making very obvious reference to Visconti's famous epic Rocco and His Brothers, Gurbet Ku§lari tells the story of an Anatolian family coming from Mara§ to Istanbul with very high expectations. Contrary to the modest rural family of Visconti, in search of a better life in Milan, the family in Gurbet Kuçlari is almost depicted as "invaders" who come to "conquer" Istanbul ("Istanbul'a §ah Olacagiz!"). After the bewilderment of the first few days, the family members easily find their ways in minor jobs and quickly fall pray to the stereotyped wickedness of the big city. Thus, instead of helping his family, Murat spends his money on women, Fato§ gets intimate with her evil neighbour Mualla, Kemal, the only university student in the family, prefers to lie about himself to his upper class fiancée. Selim, who runs after the frivolous Greek wife of his neighbour, causes the closing down of their unique bread winning activity, the small car repair shop. Refig's logic is simple: Instead of analysing the class relationships lying at the heart of the social inequalities within the cruel megalopolis, he prefers to search for private reasons for the economic and social failure of his rural family. His social message is clear: They lost because they were lazy and could not resist their primitive desires and appetites. The failure of the family is contrasted to the economic and social rise of a beggar (haybeci) they meet in the train. Although completely lonely and penniless, the beggar knows how to behave in a big city. He repeatedly says that there is no bread for those unable to open their eyes and use their brain. Contrary to the family's dreams of an easy economic recovery, the beggar knows that "to reach to the top of the ladder, one should start from the bottom." This overvaluation of "hard work" and "patience" is reminiscent of Yon's premise to make the work "the most cherished value in our society."

1 See Nezih Cog, ' T u r k Sinemasmda tgci" (The Worker in Turkish Cinema) Yedinci (Mart, 1974) No: 13.

Sanat

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Rural exodus is also subjectively criticized by Refig. Blind to the rural realities of Turkey, that oblige people to leave their homes and lands, Refig holds in a "quasi-elitist" way that it is better for the family to go back to Mara§, where they belong, and try to prosper their own native town. Says Refig: The greatest strength of our society is the labour force that has not yet been properly managed. In Gurbet Kuglari, I try to tell the story of a family who tries to abuse the graces of a city that they consider "golden", without adding anything to its economy. 1

His criticism of migration is complemented by the younger brother's (Kemal) refusal of going to the United States, saying that there are many social and national duties that await them in Turkey. Rejecting the Marxist notion of internationalism, Refig maintains that it is better for people to try to improve the living conditions in their own local community. Although mistakenly reducing a social phenomenon (rural exodus) to mere "opportunism", the idea of a "national" understanding of leftism in line with Yon's emphasis on national-democratic progress, is still discernible in Refig's stress on hard work and localism. Refig's last "social realist" film reflecting his "Jacobin" interpretation of Yon's praise of the "revolution from above" is Haremde Dort Kadin (Four Women in The Harem) made in 1965. Again under the obvious influence of Visconti's classical realist historical films (i.e. The Leopard), Haremde Dort Kadin is considered as the first successful Turkish "historical realist" film 2 . With the close collaboration of Kemal Tahir as the scriptwriter, the film criticizes the decadent private life of a late Ottoman Pasha, through the competition between four women from the Pasha's "Harem". Showing the supporters of the "Jeune Turc" movement as "positive types", and attributing all kinds of perversion to the decadent Pasha and his concubines, Haremde Dort Kadin is an unprecedentedly bold and materialistic look at the last period of the Ottoman dynasty. It is also Refig's most successful film, both in terms of cinematographic maturity, and indepth historical analysis. Equally significant as its cinematographic merits, is Harem'de Dort Kadin's peculiar place within the transition from "social realism" to "national cinema". After his "conversion" to "national cinema" movement, following the tragic elections of 1965 (in which the progressive urban coalition of RPP was superseded by the conservative right-wing Justice Party), Halit Refig tried to present Haremde Dort Kadin as an example of "national cinema", ignoring its clearly materialist and anti-Ottoman political perspective. Although contradicted by its scriptwriter Kemal Tahir, who openly declared the film as a 1 Halit Refig, "Gurbet Kuglari ile Ilgili Bir Açiklama" (A Note on The Birds of Exile) Sinema 65 (§ubat 1965) p. 16 (my trans.). ^ Nijat Ôzôn, Karagôzden Sinemaya, Vol. 2.

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"national disaster" speculating that, in those days, he was under the influence of erroneous western ideas, 1 Refig still holds that Harem'de Dort Kadin is the starting point for a completely pro-Ottoman and anti-modernist film movement. As his theory on "national cinema" lacks concrete films, except for a number of commercial Ye§il?am productions, Refig's insistence on presenting Harem'de Dort Kadin as an example of "national cinema" is understandable and congruous with his general theoretical eclecticism and pragmatism.

ERTEM GOREC AND DUYGU SAGIROGLU

Although in modesty and silence, Gore§ and Sagiroglu gave the most important examples of the Turkish social realist movement. Gore£'s Otobtis Yolculari (The Bus Passengers) and especially Karanlikta Uyananlar {Awakening in The Darkness) are considered as the primary examples of a "realism" with apparent "socialist" tendencies, analysing, for the first time in the Turkish film history, the agonies of the working class. Sagiroglu's Bitmeyen Yol {The Never Ending Road), on the other hand, is an impressive and lyrical combination of all the dominant themes found in the short lived history of the social realist movement. It is the last and the best example of a national-realist film concept, and is still considered to be among the top ten films ever made in Turkey. A secondary school graduate, Ertem Gore£ found himself in the movie industry at a very early age. Starting with editing, he worked on camera assistance and made Kanli Sevda {Bloody Love) in 1960. According to Vedat Tiirkali, his close collaborator and scriptwriter for Otobus Yolculari {The Bus Passengers) and Karanlikta Uyananlar {Awakening in The Darkness), Goreg was not a Marxist, not even an intellectual. He was only a "scout". 2 This was the major problem in Tiirkali-G6re9 collaboration. According to Tiirkali, Gorec's anti-intellectualism combined with the general mistrust in the film industry towards western ideas and concepts made it difficult for him to underline the importance of "positive intellectuals" in the class struggle. On the other hand, Tiirkali also acknowledges that Gore9 was a devoted labour unionist, and had played a major role in the foundation of "Sine-1§" (Labour Union of Film Workers) 3 . Otobus Yolculari, made in 1961, tells the love affair between a bus driver (Kemal) and a wealthy university student (Nevin) who finds it "embarrassing" to use his father's private car to go to the University. Although found "unrealistic" within a Marxist perspective by some leftwing 1 2 3

Kemal Tahir "Sorugturma" Ulusal Sinema (1968) No: 2, p. 9. Vedat Tiirkali, Bu Gemi Nereye, p. 35 (my trans.). Ibid.

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critics 1 , the love affair between members of different classes, and Nevin's courageous refusal to take sides with her corrupted father, can be considered as a reflection of the dominant tendency of attributing a "positive" role to the members of the "progressive" bourgeoisie. In a "national-democratic" revolution, honest members of the bourgeoisie can very well ally with the masses. The social background of the love story is based on a real life event: The scandal of Giivenevler co-operative. Tells Tiirkali: In the atmosphere of freedom brought forth by the Coup, the film also gained a socio-political content. The owners of a corrupted co-operative named Giivenevler were put in jail and the story was on every paper. We decided to tell the story of these swindlers who wanted to exploit the dreams of the lower-middle classes to have their own apartments. We also had a couple of friends who were deceived by these rogues. So we found their files and analysed them very carefully. The story of the bus driver and the wealthy girl also fitted our plot. The rest was based on classic Ye§il§am formulas.^

Unlike Erksan and Refig's alienated and pessimistic characters, Otobtis Yolculan is full of hope and optimism. The "coldness" and "remoteness" of the big hostile city that Refig mirrors in Gurbet Kuglari is replaced by the cordiality and solidarity of people meeting in the same bus. Under the "leadership" of Kemal, the crowd rebels against the corrupted capitalists (the owners of the co-operative) and "stand up" for their rights. The exaltation of the individual qualities of the hero (Kemal) is complemented by the solidarity and unified action of the bus passengers. The fight scene, at the end of the film, emphasizes the socialist idea of a mass upheaval against the regressive forces, and reflects De Sica's frequent usage of "coralite" to underline the objectivity and realism of his approach. Although there are individual characters whose love story seems to overshadow the social background, none of them is treated in isolation from their environment. The bourgeoismodernist "psychologism" of Refig and Erksan is replaced by a "chorus", whose individual members represent the "aura" of the larger body. In conformity with the aspirations of the urban leftwing coalition supporting the coup, the forces of the State (i.e. the police) and the laws are presented as defending the masses (the weak), against the remnants of the DP based capitalists (the strong). Nevertheless, against the elitism of the military and the Jacobin intelligentsia, there is also the emphasis that the mass movement should precede the State intervention in order to bring long term solutions to social problems.

1 2

See Nezih Cog, "Turk Sinemasinda Igsi" Yedinci Sanat. Vedat Tiirkali, Eski Filmier (The Old Films) (Istanbul: Cem Yaymevi, 1984) p. 12 (my trans.).

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Corel's second collaboration with Tiirkali is Karanlikta Uyananlar (Awakening in the Darkness) realized in 1965. Reminiscent of Marcel Carné's famous Le Jour Se Lève (The Daybreak), the title of the film makes allusion to the symbolic "awakening" of the workers as well as their everyday early waking up. As Tiirkali recalls, akin to the unified action of their protagonists in Otobtis Yolculari, the production of Karanlikta Uyananlar is also based on the solidarity and cooperation between various leftwing artists. Thus Goreg, Tiirkali, Ltitfi Akad, Beklan and Ayla Algan and an American friend of theirs co-founded "Filmo" to produce Karanlikta Uyananlar} From the onset, then, Karanlikta Uyananlar was planned as a revolutionary art film not only by its content, but also by its unprecedented process of production and promotion (i.e. they rejected Yegilgam type pink pictures but instead designed art posters). The Turkish Labour Party could not remain indifferent to a film praising popular labour action and strike. As Tiirkali states, Kemal Tiirkler and Ltitfi Akad met many times, and the final scene of the film is shot with the participation of large number of workers from "Boya-I§" (Labour Union for the Painting Industry). Although "Filmo" received no financial help from the Labour Party, Mehmet Ali Aybar, Behice Boran, (Jctin Altan and Ilhan Sel?uk congratulated them and wrote articles in praise of their bold attempt.2 Unlike Refig's refusal of a Marxist analysis, Karanlikta Uyananlar1 s plot is based on the complex relationships between representatives of different social classes. Although in a rather schematical and reductionist manner, Karanlikta Uyananlar tries to apply Lukacs' notion of "typicality" to analyse certain class linked behaviours and attitudes. Thus, every social interaction (love, loyalty, friendship, courage) is based on a certain class connection, and reflects the position of its members in the process of capital accumulation. Ayla and Ekrem represent the idealist, honest and "macho" ways of the proletariat while Turgut is the hesitant son of the factory owner whose friendliness to Ekrem is unreliable. Nevin stands for the common allergy of every male Ye§il§am filmmaker: The alienated western painter whose imported ideas on feminism and modern art can not survive in Turkish society. Although depicted as "ordinary human beings", the alienated Nevin and the seemingly good intentioned Turgut, in fact, belong to the same corrupt bourgeois environment whose ideas on equality and liberty are not trustworthy. Although following the orthodox Marxist division between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, Karanlikta Uyananlar is not totally blind to the nuances between different socio-political groupings within the bourgeois class. Thus, neither Nevin nor Turgut are "evil" bourgeois characters, but "liminals", unable to choose their ways. Nevin's position is especially ' Vedat Tiirkali, Bu Gemi Nereye. Ibid.

2

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doubtful since she is not totally devoid of compassion for the workers, as she declares that "she cannot stand injustice". Likewise, the industrial bourgeoisie represented by Turgut's father is more positively described than the commercial capitalists who try to turn the factory into a packing center. Karanlikta Uyananlar directly reflects many socio-political discussions that are on the agenda in the mid 1960s. The conflict of interests between the industrial bourgeoisie that supported the coup, and the DP based commercial capitalists that went against the novel applications of the new model of accumulation (Import Substituting Industrialization), are at the center of the plot. The conspiracy that Nevin's uncle plans against Turgut's father, is based on this struggle of interests. While the national industrial bourgeoisie supports the "ISI", the commercial importers, in close collaboration with the imperialist foreign forces, opposes this new policy. Thus the film has a direct propagandist mission, which promotes industrial development against liberalism. The mission of the film is not limited to the promotion of the "ISI". The struggle of the workers and their bold decision to strike against the factory management also reflect the "educative" efforts of the Turkish intellectuals. As Ttirkali indicates: We had a major aim in those days. We tried to defend something in Kizgin Delikanli, Otobiis Yolculari, Karanlikta Uyananlar, §ehirdeki Yabanci and others... We wanted to contribute to the process of democratization in Turkey. We wanted to give a clear democratic message to the masses. The new rights brought by the coup was not well understood...For example the right to strike and to form labour unions... Most of these rights were not obtained in the wake of harsh class politics but were rather imported from abroad. Thus the filmmakers had an important popular duty: to make the masses understand and accept these rights.

Against the solitary, individual depictions of Nevin and Turgut, the labour community is a "chorus" and their joys and grieves are commonly shared. Like Otobiis Yolculari, Karanlikta Uyananlar is optimistic for the future as the birth of the "male" baby heralds a brighter — yet obviously patriarchal — future, in the struggle of the proletariat. Like Liitfi Akad, Duygu Sagtroglu is a graduate of Galatasaray, and this exposure to the French culture and cinema certainly accounted for his unique poesis and lyricism in Bitmeyen Yol (The Never Ending Road). Unlike Akad, Sagiroglu started his career as a stage designer in "Kiigiik Sahne" (Small Stage Theater) and took active part in the founding of the "Association of Theater Players". 2 Bitmeyen Yol is his first and most successful directing experience, reflecting also the "highest" point of Turkish social realist movement. Although open to criticism for its religious emphasis and 1 2

Vedat Tiirkali, Bu Gemi Nereye, p. 201 (my trans.). Alim §erif Onaran, Turk Sinemasi (Turkish Cinema) Vol. 1 (Ankara: Kitle Yayincihk, 1994).

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overdose of details and sub-stories, the enigma of synthesizing cultural modernism, socio-political engagement and local-traditional colours, that many social realist filmmakers tried to create in their own work, seems finally to be solved in Bitmeyen Yol. Although an important cultural achievement, Bitmeyen Yol did not receive as much attention as other realist films and directors did. Ay§e §asa's detailed analysis of Bitmeyen Yol in Ulusal Sinema is one of the rare articles on the film 1 . The painful struggle that the film had to undergo with the censure committee may be one of the reasons for this silence. Despite its softer political perspective compared to the explicit socialist tone of Karanlikta Uyananlar, Bitmeyen Yol's public screening has been delayed for two years. Another reason for the lack of intellectual interest in Bitmeyen Yol may be related to its intellectual complexity or overdose. Although full of admirable scenes of real cinematography, where images speak for themselves, Bitmeyen Yol tries to combine, simultaneously, too many aesthetic and sociocultural elements which have a rather negative impact on the simplicity and internal coherence of the film. Like Gurbet Kuglari, Bitmeyen Yol tells the story of rural migrants in Istanbul. Compared to Refig's subjective analysis, Sagiroglu is much more realistic and objective as to his treatment of his protagonists. He focuses more on the "human depth" of being an "outsider" in the big metropolis. It focuses on the story of Ahmet, a newcomer to the city, who settles in his fellow villager Gullii's house, who lives with her two daughters in one of the shanty towns of Istanbul. One of the daughters, the "evil" Fatma, works as a housekeeper and is extremely envious of her rich and frivolous lady. The other is Cemile, a charming young girl, working at a textile factory. Both of them fall in love with Ahmet; Fatma with an exaggerated sexual desire, and Cemile with a rather romantic passion. Like Refig, Sagiroglu also uses certain stereotypes to describe his "degenerated" urban caricatures. To emphasize the opposition between the "purity", "decency" of rural values and the "decadence" of the city life, urban men are depicted as alcoholics, gamblers and exploiters. Women's situation is even worse: Although their sexual needs are acknowledged by Sagiroglu, the opportunity offered to women by the big city of having a life "outside" of the house, is described as almost synonymous with "prostitution". The only exception is Cemile, who still keeps her innocence in spite of her bad surrounding and evil sister. Ahmet's vain search in the city for a proper job, constitutes the most poetic and visually beautiful parts of the film. Like Ricci's odyssey in invincible Rome in The Bicycle Thief, Ahmet's wandering in the streets of Istanbul, is accompanied with authentic and innocent images of people from the big city. This painful search also reflects Sagiroglu's conflictual socio1

Ay§e §asa, "Bitmeyen Yol ve Genjekcjilik Sinavi" (The Never Ending Road, and the Test of Realism) Ulusal Sinema (1968) No: 3/4.

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political worldview. On the one hand, there is a strong and successful materialistic emphasis of how ignorant rural people, without any social security arrangements can be exploited by urban capitalist forces. Unlike Refig's almost ironical idea that "laziness is the cause of poverty", Sagiroglu has a firm grasp of how the relations of productions shape people's destiny. On the other hand, there is also a powerful religious aspect in the film which contradicts the materialist stress of the director. Thus, the oft-expressed idea that "God will surely help those who are correct" and the enigmatic usage of the "ezan" (Islamic call for prayer) at the "îrgat pazan" (the labour market), are unnecessary metaphysical additions to the film, whose raisons d'être are not easy to grasp. Bitmeyen Yol is considered as the last example of a film wave marked by a period of social and political reconstruction in Turkey. The materialist stress and the objective depiction of everyday life, that Erksan, Refig, Goreç and Sagiroglu with many other less prominent filmmakers engaged in, aimed at creating a "national image" that would help to improve the socio-cultural problems of the society. The eclectic elements within this "national image" included a reformist, yet still "patriarchal" look at gender relations, a strong confrontation between the "universal" and the "local", an anti-western tendency whose artistic forms nevertheless reflected western cultural norms, nostalgia for the lost innocence in a rapidly developing country, compassion for the weak and the exploited... The most striking element, however, was the pessimistic perspectives of the well educated middle class directors such as Erksan, Refig and Sagiroglu, whose political ideology was based on "progressivism". With the exception of Goreç and Tiirkali collaborations which reflected a "proletarian" perspective and a more pronounced socialist tendency, it seems as though the progressive bourgeois directors were not very persuaded, from the onset, that the 1960 coup would suffice to reverse the dynamics of the capitalist system in Turkey. In fact, this experience of "eclectic" critical realism in Turkish cinema was abruptly brought to a halt following the "historical defeat" of 1965 elections, which brought Demirel's conservative Justice Party to power. Seeing their political as well as commercial downfall, the social realist filmmakers started to abandon their earlier leftwing rhetoric and engaged in the defense of "national cinema", an intellectual euphemism for populism in filmmaking. 5. RESURGENCE OF DP SPIRIT: INTELLECTUAL FRUSTRATION AND NATIONAL CINEMA MOVEMENT THE 1965 ELECTIONS: END OF BOURGEOIS PROGRESSIVISM

The period between 1960 and 65 was characterised by a twofold approach to the progressive role of the urban middle class consensus. As

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thoroughly analysed in the previous chapters, the reformist policies of the new middle class in Turkey were interpreted either as efforts in the way of a Turkish version of third world socialism (Yon movement), or as the transition to a more advanced level of capitalist development (the rise of the industrial bourgeoisie). The 1965 elections, that brought to power the Justice Party, the most successful inheritor of the Democrat Party tradition, showed that the bourgeois ideological hegemony was in no sense transcended in Turkey. The coup, which was also associated with a movement of cultural modernization in Turkey had ultimately served to modernize the profile of the new bourgeois class. Menderes, a former landowner, was replaced by Demirel, an engineer trained in the United States. As Keyder observes: The Justice Party which emerged as the true successor to the Democrat Party tradition inherited another strand from the populism of the 1950s and sought to recreate the anti-bureaucratic coalition which had proven successful. For electoral strength, its main appeal was to the peasantry and the aspiring petty bourgeoisie, especially the self employed new urbanites. *

Within a rhetoric of national development and solidarity guaranteed by the new constitution, JP yielded increasingly more ground to the interests of the big business. The commercial business class favoured by the DP liberalism, was replaced by the industrial bourgeoisie whose interests were more and more protected in the coming five year plans. Having established its power, the manufacturing bourgeoisie gradually ceased to be the dynamic and progressive force of industrialization, and the lack of effective state autonomy combined with JP's populism, turned the policy of Import Substitution Industrialization into a "patron-client" network. 2 Unlike DP's well pronounced rhetoric of liberalism, JP had little ideological coherence. To prevent the party from splitting into various groups representing religious reactionaries, western-oriented liberals and petty producers, Demirel had frequent recourse to two tactics that both went against the "progressive premises" of the former middle class urban coalition. According to Ziircher, the first of these tactics included the stress of the Islamic character of the party. Demirel openly flirted with the leaders of the "Nurcu" movement during his election campaigns, and frequently emphasized how JP stood for traditional values. His second strategy involved a strong anti-communist propaganda and harassment of leftist movements. Says Ziircher:

^ faglar Keyder, Stale and Class in Turkey..., p. 203. Izzettin Onder, "1961 Anayasasi'mn Ekonomik Modeli" in Suna Kili (ed.) 27 Mayis 1960 Devrimi... 2

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... With the backing of the National Security Council and with the help of the "MlT", continuous pressure was exerted on left-wing organizations and individuals. In 1966-7, there was an attempt to purge the schools and universities of leftist teachers. Translators of foreign socialist or radical literature were brought to trial... People were arrested for publishing communist propaganda, which, in the most famous case, turned out to consist of quotes from an early speech by Atatiirk himself. 1

The pro-religious and anti-communist stance of Demirel was strikingly parallel to the developments that followed the Christian Democrat ascendancy in Italy. At the parliamentary elections of April 1948, the Christian Democrats had managed to win an absolute majority of the seats in the Parliament. With the pressures of the Vatican and the US State Department, De Gasperi had resolutely refused to recreate the previous Catholic-Communist Coalition. In order to suppress the strong leftist tendency in Italy, De Gasperi had publicly "cursed" the Communists, and presented the elections as being between the Christ and anti-Christ. Like the Italian Christian Democrats, the representatives of the Justice Party had organic linkages with the financial circles abroad (especially within the United States). In other words, the American national and economic interests played an important role in determining the fate of the progressive middle class rule in both countries. Against the strong anti-imperialistic spirit, which was the main common denominator between different partners of the progressive urban coalition in Turkey, JP's 1965 program openly encouraged foreign capital and the de-nationalization of the oil industry, which was in congruity with American economic interests.2 The oil question was the issue that caused the greatest stir in domestic policy. Although the RPP and the TLP had stood firmly against amending the law on the Turkish Petroleum Corporation, declaring that concessions to US oil companies would mean new "capitulations", the JP, in this matter, was sympathetic to the foreign oil companies. 3 As reported by Avcioglu, in a letter sent to Mr. Solomon in London from the general manager of Mobil, Mr. Fricker, it was stated that the oil companies should not worry as it was clear that the 1965 elections would be won by the JP. 4 Milliyef s US correspondent Hasan Yilmaer also indicated that, "the US officials often declared their wish to see Demirel as the prime minister, and expressed their worry for the potential intellectual support of the TLP." 5 The election results were extremely frustrating for the progressive segments of the society, especially for the intellectuals. In one sense, the 1960 revolution seemed to have been in vain. In the issues of October 15th 1 2 3 4 5

Eric J. Zürcher, Turkey..., p. 264. C.H.Dodd, Politics and Government in Turkey. Ibid. Dogan Avcioglu, Türkiye'nin Düzeni. Ibid. p. 780 (my trans.).

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and 22 n d of Yon, following the 1965 elections, this disillusionment was expressed as follows: " Land reform, and social justice lost while oil theft, foreign capital and religious abuse won... Why?... The romantic period of socialism should come to an end..." (M. Soysal), "The 10 th of October is the date when, five years after the coup of 27 th of May, we set our watches back to 1960..." (Fethi Naci), "The victory of the dollar! We tried to tell the truth about unemployment, homelessness... But they won simply by saying that we were Communists... This is not just the victory of their dirty games; but of the dollar!" (Mehmed Kemal), "Those, who left by the sword in May 1960, came with a majority of votes in 1965. The new government will inevitably be a "counter revolutionary" force. The difficult times of socialism have just started..." (Avctoglu). The election results were equally disappointing for the social realist filmmakers. Many projects were suspended and the previously made films faced the danger of prohibition. As Refig tells in a letter to Ozon, his next project insan Avcilan (Man Hunters) was based on the assumption that RPP would win the elections. Worrying about the increased pressure of censure, Refig planned to take the script to TLP deputies like f e t i n Altan and tlhan Sclguk, or to the ex-members of the NUC, in case the script was refused in the censure committee 1 . As reported by Tiirkali, JP's religious antipropaganda on Karanlikta Uyananlar decreased the film's box office chances. The theater managers refused to show the film, on the grounds that Beklan (Ekrem) and Ayla Algan's relationship in the film was incestuous. 2 Halit Refig's most ambitious work, Haremde Dort Kadin, faced similar conservative public protests. Says Refig: A period in our cinema, that had begun in May 1960, thus came to an end on the 10 th of October, 1965. When the right wing audience protested against Haremde Dort Kadin in the third Antalya Film Festival, they were only walking on a corpse. It was all over. The movement that had started with the resistance of Irazca in Yilanlarin Ocii, had ended by the stabbing of the "Jeune Turc" medical student in Haremde Dort Kadin, by one of those people for whom he was fighting.-'

THE NATIONAL CINEMA MOVEMENT

In this adverse socio-political context, the "then" social realist directors engaged in new theoretical searches that would fit the changed parameters of the political atmosphere. As the case for "social realist movement", Halit Refig became again the unofficial spokesman for the bewildered filmmakers, 1 Refig quoted in Nijat Ozon, "Ye^il^am 1965: Kirilma Noktasi" (Pinetree 1965: A Point of Break) , Yeni Sinema (Winter, 1997-98) No: 4. Vedat Tiirkali, Bu Gemi Nereye. ^ Halit Refig, Ulusal Sinema Kavgasi, p. 35 (my trans.).

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this time, in an extreme fear of persecution and unemployment. Refig's concepts of "popular cinema" (Halk Sinemasi) and "national cinema" (Ulusal Sinema) both discussed after 1965, were almost unanimously supported by the directors, against the criticisms of the leftwing intelligentsia who accused Refig of political pragmatism and theoretical inconsistency. In Refig's understanding, "popular cinema" was the acknowledgement of the specific financial logic of the Turkish film industry. The Turkish cinema was not an imperialist cinema as it was not founded by foreign capital, neither a bourgeois cinema as it was not dependent on national bourgeoisie, nor a state cinema as it was not financed by the State. Turkish cinema was a "popular cinema" based on "labour", for it was born out of people's need of watching films. The governing logic behind Ye§ilçam was the "bono system" (bonds) that made the producer directly dependent upon the local distributor, and therefore, on the "audience". 1 As Refig explicitly underlined, the "popular cinema" was based on popular local genres and foreign popular culture. His Karakolda Ayna Var, made in 1966, was a good example of "popular cinema" that pleased the audience, and thus gave him "the chance to breathe!" 2 Refig's efforts to find a theoretical basis to commercial Ye§ilçam cinema reflected the filmmakers' ambiguous positions vis-à-vis the cruel realities of the Turkish film industry. On the one hand, they were long honoured by the leftwing intelligentsia as the major supporters of a progressive conception of art and thus did not want to be labelled as "traitors". On the other, they were in a position to choose between the lesser evils: Either they should make no films at all, or comply with the necessities of the market. Having seen the conceptual weakness of "popular cinema", Refig, Erksan, Sagiroglu and others, polished up their former theory and embraced the "national cinema" movement. The "national cinema" movement was not very different from "popular cinema" as both had the same implicit defense of Yegilçam's commercial system. As understood by Refig, the "national cinema" movement refuted the former social realist perspective of historical materialism, on the grounds that Turkey was different from Western countries in major political, social and cultural aspects. Thus essentialist Western theories on social classes could not account for the complexities of the Turkish society. Refig held that the capitalist bourgeois society was a Western notion as the Ottoman Empire lacked the Western feudal background, and thus did not develop the same system of class divisions. Together with the "ex"-Marxist Erksan, who now publicly declared that "there were no social classes in Turkey" 3 , Refig renounced social realism as the "artistic form of the class based Western societies". 4

1

Ibid. Ibrahim Tiirk, Halit Refig: Diqlerden Dùçuncelere Sôyle§iler (Halit Refig: Interviews from Dreams to Thoughts) Istanbul: Kabalci Yayinevi, 2001) p. 213. 3 MTTB Sinema Kuliibti, Milli Sinema: Açik Oturum (A Panel on National Cinema) (Istanbul: MTTB Sinema Kuliibii Yayinlan, 1973). 4 Halit Refig, Ulusal Sinema Kavgasi. 2

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Although partly basing his arguments on Kemal Tahir's post-Marxist, "Ottomanist" analyses in Devlet Ana, and the new theories of Asian Mode of Production (Asya Tipi Uretim Tarzi) advocated by Selahattin Hilav and Sencer Divit?ioglu, Refig's dictum that "there were no classes in Turkey" obviously reflected Refig's pragmatic approach to social history and a great lack of theoretical depth. Giving examples from what he saw in his family circles, Refig tried, in vain, to convince the leftwing critics: ... Marxists are so angry at me! I have no intention of defending Marx. I take from Marx whatever serves to my purpose. He says that the bourgeoisie exploits the proletariat. I come from a "so-called" bourgeois family. I don't think that my family exploited or mistreated our housekeepers. That is because our way of life was not totally different from theirs...On the contrary, as far as the question of social hegemony is concerned, I think that my family was not the dominant but the dominated class. Just think of the tax of wealth!... 1

According to Refig, an ideology of "Westernism" (Baticilik), without the bourgeois social basis, was bound to collapse. This was also the major reason why the coup of 1960 had not been successful. A strong emphasis of "anti-westernism" was present throughout Refig's theory of "national cinema". Against the western norms of "universal art", Refig held that art should be local (yerel). But Refig's "localism" was nothing more than the "reactionary" support of religious, ultra-nationalist and traditional values of Turkish society, as his unique "national" film Bir TUrk'e Gonul Verdim (/ Fell in Love with a Turk) demonstrated.2 As Refig emphasizes, the new theory of "national cinema" based on the pragmatic interpretations of Divit§ioglu and Hilav, was enthusiastically received by other ex-realist filmmakers such as Erksan, Akad, Sagiroglu and Yilmaz. They were under the strong impact of Kemal Tahir who was actively involved in the discussions of the cinema circles. 3 Tahir, who had already worked in the script writing of Haremde Dort Kadin, a historical realist film on the decadence of a late Ottoman pasha, was setting out the new philosophical criterion for Refik and Erksan: "To overcome western narrative traditions". Extremely critical of himself for his "erroneous" interpretation of the late Ottoman period in the "national disaster" of Haremde Dort Kadin, Tahir held that, it was only natural that the filmmakers were the firsts to engage in this quest for understanding our people and history. As cinema was the "unmediated" art of the people, the directors were in a position to immediately grasp the importance of real values.4

1 2 3 4

Ibrahim Turk, Halit Refig: Du§lerden Dti^tincelere Sdyle§iler, p. 234 (my trans.). Nijat Ozon, Karagozden Sinemaya Vol. 2. Ibrahim Turk, Halit Refig.... Kemal Tahir, "Soru§turma" Ulusal Sinema (1968) No: 3-4.

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According to Tiirkali, in the heyday of JP's oppressive social policies, Tahir's historical insights became very fashionable among the filmmakers. 1 The anti-Western, pro-Ottoman perspective was reduced to the legitimization of Ye§il§am's populist cinema and Divit§ioglu's theories were used in superficial manners. Ironically, in the same issue of Ulusal Sinema (.National Cinema), where Tahir defended the filmmakers' position in the "national cinema" debate, Divit§ioglu condemned the "reductionist" usage of his theory. Said Divitgioglu: ... My book entitled Asya Uretim Tarzi ve Osmanli Toplumu (Asian Mode of Production and The Ottoman Society) was written to discuss an important question, not to solve it! It would be precarious to establish a direct relationship between the Turkish cinema and the Asian mode of production... The idea that Turkish cinema is a kind of "popular cinema" (halk sinemasi), for it is based on labour and not on capital, has no economic or logical meaning. Like all other industries, film industry also requires both labour and capital.^

Apart from the theoretical discussions as to the relevance of the Asian Mode of Production to the economic structuring of the Turkish film industry, it would be appropriate to specify two main reasons that constituted the basis of "national cinema" movement: a) The economic, social and political hardships that were faced by the filmmakers in the wake of 1965, b) The directors' redefinition of their traditional positioning on the leftright political axis, following the conflicts with the Marxist film critics. It was already pointed out that, the JP's coming to power after the elections of 1965 had a very negative effect upon the social realist movement. With the increased pressures of censure and fear of socio-political isolation, the producers became apprehensive of Marxist inspired filmmakers. Many of them (including Erksan, Refig and Goreg) remained unemployed for long periods of time. In the immediate aftermath of the elections, Refig was strongly opposed to commercial Yegilgam films that he related to US' economic and political interests. Says Refig, in a letter he wrote to Ozon, in 1965 (a few days after the October elections): I don't think that Turkey has ever been that much corrupt. In this catastrophic act of theater played by Stlleyman, "the Morrison", Mehmet Turgut, "the Mobil" and similar personalities, it is evident to find other related developments. The Turkish cinema between 1960 and 65 was a typical "post-May 27 cinema. Its limits were the limits of the coup. The vitality and progressivism it brought to Turkish film industry were parallel to the vitality and progress the coup brought to the Turkish society. But the

1 Tiirkali, Bu Gemi Nereye ^ Sencer Divitfioglu, "Soru§turma" Ulusal Sinema, p. 11 (my trans.).

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post-1965 Turkish cinema shows negative signs of becoming a "Morrison" and "Mobil" cinema. ^ But Refig who has declared on various occasions that "he has always tried to remain within the system" 2 could not resist, for a long period of time, to the pressures of the market. The changed parameters of the socio-political context was directly reflected to the audience preferences which meant that the social realist films would no longer be popular. Thus, Refig's Haremde Dort Kadin did not reproduce the financial success of Gurbet Kuglari. Likewise, Goreg's Karanhkta Uyananlar and Erksan's Suglular Aramizda became great financial failures, compared to previous similar examples. 3 As in the case of Italy after 1949, many committed social realist filmmakers faced the dilemma of conforming to the necessities of the market or giving up completely the film business. Unlike Visconti or de Sica, though, Turkish social realist filmmakers were not very much inclined to take the risk of being declared as "persona non grata", nor could they dare to openly declare their ambiguous positions within Ye§il?am. In an interview he gave to Ibrahim Turk, almost four decades after the heated debates of "national cinema" movement, Refig finally acknowledged the unbearable social and economic pressures that faced them: — Mr. Refig, you were accused of trying to defend the commercial cinema by finding theoretical covers to it.... — Yes, yes...That's what they said...Now let me say...Okay that's how it was in the beginning... Listen Ibrahim, I knew that it was impossible for me to make any films at all if I did not make those films... When I shoot Haremde Dort Kadin, who produced it? The same company who financed Kiigtik Hanimefendi. What about Kanlar Kogu^ul The production company of Girgiriye... If we did not have this tradition of "Popular Cinema" neither me, nor Erksan would ever be able to make any other films... When I said "Popular Cinema" I tried to emphasize the importance of Ye§il§am...4 A second important factor, which alienated the social realist filmmakers from engaging in any further experiences in Marxist inspired aesthetics, was the deep "schism" emerged between them and the leftwing critics. Parallel to the extreme elite polarization, typical of the post-1965 period, the critics and the filmmakers were literally divided into two camps. Especially with the founding of "Sinematek" by a group of young intellectuals mostly educated in France, the tension between the Yegilgam based directors and the western oriented critics escalated. Defending a "universal" conception of art based on Marxist humanism, Onat Kutlar (the founder of Sinematek) strongly opposed 1

Refig quoted in Nijat Ozon, "Yegilgam 1965: Kirilma Noktasi", Yeni Sinema, p. 58 (my trans.). 2 Ibrahim Turk, Halit Refig...., p. 205. 3 Ibid. ^ Ibid. p. 235 (my trans.).

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Refig's and Erksan's ill-founded theories of "localism" (yerellik) and "Ottomanism". Insensitive to the hardships the directors were facing within the JP dominated Yegilçam, the critics accused the filmmakers of "cowardice" and "ignorance". In return, the filmmakers accused the critics of being CIA agents, sent by the US to divide the Turkish left. 1 The result was the complete rupture of the filmmakers from progressive conceptions of art identifying them with the authoritarian demands of the leftwing critics and writers. Says Refig: ... There emerged a leftist group gathered around the "Sinematek". They were hostile to us, although we were also calling ourselves "leftists". We were already facing serious problems within Yegilçam. We had lost contact with the audience. The producers were not very sympathetic to us. And all that happened after the elections!... In this difficult situation, the critics' accusations and contempt of us inevitably pushed Liitfi Akad, Vedat Tflrkali, Ertem Gôreç, Atif Yilmaz and myself towards the right.2

The lack of effective communication between the two groups, combined with some personality problems, turned this "schism" into a "blood feud" that would last for decades. Apart from the changed political context after 1965, which definitely had a determining impact on the fate of the social realist movement, the critics' lack of tolerance, and the filmmakers' "weak" capacity of resistance to adverse social conditions, brought the end of the first organized efforts of modernisation in Turkish cinema. In the late 60s, the leftwing critics supported the revolutionary "Genç Sinema" (Young Cinema) movement. The "national cinema" turned into "milli sinema" acquiring a religious overtone. With the exceptions of Akad and Yilmaz (Atif Yilmaz Batibeki), who had not really taken part in the social realist movement, none of the filmmakers, actively engaged in the politics and aesthetics of social realism were able to repeat the achievements of the early 1960s. Gôreç and Sagiroglu made unimportant commercial films while Refig worked for the Turkish Radio Television (TRT), and Erksan completely gave up filmmaking in the late 1970s.

1 2

See Onat Kutlar "Ye§ilçam" Papirus (November 1968) No:29 Turk, p. 223 (my trans.).

20. Susuz Yaz (Erksan, 1963)

21. Susuz Yaz (Erksan, 1963)

22. Çehirdeki Yabanci (Refig, 1963)

23. §afak Bekçileri (Refig, 1963)

24. Suçlular Aramizda (Erksan, 1964)

26. Gurbet Kuçlan (Refig, 1964)

28. Karanlikta Uyananlar (Gôreç, 1965)

29. Harem'de Dort Kadin (Refig, 1965)

30. Bitmeyen Yol (Sagiroglu, 1965)

32. Sevmek Zamani (Erksan, 1966)

CONCLUSION

This study was an attempt to combine formerly "closed" disciplines that are more and more challenged in today's understanding of "multivocality" and "interdisciplinarity". I tried to synthesize seemingly unrelated, even "opposing" fields such as aesthetics and politics. For many, to attempt to link film, as an object of art, to the general socio-political context is nothing but to kill the former's "sublime" dimension: "Art is art" and political considerations should not overshadow its "Platonic" privileged realm. But does "pure art" really exist? Although for Kant, art transported us to a world of aesthetic exaltation, we know, since the "death of God" and the replacement of idealism with science and materialism, that nothing can exist in total independence from its material conditions of survival. Thus, as Plekhanov once stated, "the esthetic ideals of a given period, in a given society are rooted partly in biological conditions and racial peculiarities, and partly in historical conditions which underlie the rise and existence of this society or class, and for this reason esthetic ideals are very rich in specific content, which is never absolutely unconditional..."1 But does that interaction between culture and society purport to say that nothing can exist in "relative autonomy" from the infrastructure? In other words, should the aesthetic "transcendence" be completely transcended in favour of "meaning" and "matter"? Pierre Bourdieu's answer to this intricate relationship between socio-political base and aesthetic texture is illuminating: He reformulates the classic Marxist orthodoxy with the inclusion of the concept of "prismatic reflection". For Bourdieu, an artistic genre, has a peculiar aesthetic history exclusive to it, and the industry that popularizes these art works have its own logic of production. But this "relatively autonomous field of cultural production" functions like a prism which refracts eveiy external determination: Demographic, economic and political events are always translated according to the specific logic of the field. Each artistic prism has a "refraction coefficient" and we should know this coefficient to understand the degree of responsiveness of a cultural field to its "material" surrounding. Therefore, as I tried to emphasize in my criticism of Marxist aesthetics, certain aesthetic fields like the "fine arts" are closer to Kantian interpretation of "disinterested" formal beauty, whereas literature, which is after all based on a social construct, the language, can certainly reflect more of its social context. As far as film, a hybrid medium of art, is concerned the 1

Plekhanov, Art and Society, p. 29

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multivocal approach that I tried to develop throughout this study becomes an imperative, as film is at the intersection of politics, economy, technology and "high art". The general argument of this work is based on Georg Lukacs' assumption that "classical realism", as opposed to "abstract" art, is the cultural reflection of bourgeois progressivism and "balance of class contradictions" within a specific historical context. Although Lukacs' aim is to create a Marxist sociology of novel especially for the second half of the 19th century, the idea of aesthetic realism ("anthropomorphic" art ) as opposed to "art for art's sake" movement, being the symbol of a "healthy", cohesive social order, is not limited to Marxist circles. Abell, in his psycho-social materialist synthesis, talks about the "manifest imagery" of a society which is directly translated into the realm of culture. Thus, an abstract style, like negative mythical imagery, is a manifestation of negative tensions within a social order; a trend toward realism, on the other hand, reflects increasingly positive psychological adjustments resulting from increasingly favorable historical circumstances. Lukacs' contribution to this general psychological assumption is to clarify the notion of "healthy social order". According to Lukacs, a Marxist under the strong impact of the classical humanist tradition from Aristotle to Hegel, the progressive role the bourgeois class assumes visà-vis the reactionary forces within society (i.e. clergy or monarchy) is mainly responsible in the promotion of a "classical realist" conception of art. Likewise, the art of a class is likely to turn "escapist" and "abstract" when that class ceases to be a progressive power. With the introduction of Vytautas Kavolis' notions of "revitalization" and "reconstruction" periods, I tried to elaborate the historical contexts where the bourgeoisie can assume a "progressive role" and the "balance of class contradictions" is likely to occur. As Lukacs' analysis is limited to 19 th century France, the idea of bourgeois progressivism and social cohesiveness had to be reformulated to explain the Italian and the Turkish social contexts. More than any other medium of art, film is a sub-conscious image of a political order because of its wide audience appeal and the particular socioeconomic basis of its mode of production, strongly dependent upon political variables. Thus, to examine the birth of realism as a "film wave" in specific socio-political contexts is a step forward from Lukacs' sociology of novel and can tell us more about this enigmatic relationship between culture and society. But as cinema, as a "field of cultural production", has its intrinsic rules of functioning, it is also inevitable to analyse other theories centering on "semiotics" and "sociology of film". Together with Pasolini's emphasis on the "métonymie" (as opposed to metaphoric ) character of cinema, it is also crucial to examine the industry. Apart from the suitable political climate (for the present case, elite coalescence and bourgeois progressivism), the existence of a technical base and a mode of organization of film industry permissive of the general ideology of the film wave are essential for the birth of a peculiar

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film movement. Thus, in line with Bourdieu's emphasis on the intrinsic logic of the field of cultural production, George Huaco's fourfold analysis, stressing the technical and industrial basis of a film wave, has also been taken into consideration in examining the Italian and the Turkish social realist movements. In a comparative perspective, both the Italian neo-realist movement (1945-51) and Turkish social realism (1960-65) exhibited the same spirit of reformation and elite solidarity. In line with Kavolis' notion of "reconstruction", the post-war Italian society, devastated by Fascism and war economy, created the necessary socio-political basis for a new artistic trend that served to "reintegrate" the society. During the war, the formation of the Committee of National Liberation (CLN) with the participation of six parties, each representing different ideologies: Liberal, Democratic Labor, Christian Democratic, Action, Socialist and Communist Parties, and the Catholic -Communist coalition government following the fall of Fascism, constituted the basis of Lukacscian "balance of class contradictions". Likewise, in Turkey, in the aftermath of the 1960 coup d'état, an urban middle class coalition was formed with the common ideal of economic progress and social justice. In Manfred Halpern's terminology, a "new middle class", a salaried well educated strata distant to property relations, was the backbone of the "progressive urban coalition" in Turkey. Within this coalition, the Army and the Intelligentsia (including the bureaucrats) as representatives of this "new middle class" together with the Manufacturing Bourgeoisie, as partly conforming to the premises of the traditional "developmentalist middle class thesis", took the most important political positions. In both the Italian and Turkish cases, the adoption of social reformist policies within "national consensus" governments signalled a progressive move from rural, pre-capitalist modes of production to a higher level of capital accumulation, symbolized within this general rubric of "modernization" and "industrialization". It is one of the reasons why "agrarian reform" has always been in the agenda of both Italian and Turkish reform programmes. On the other hand, in both Turkey and Italy, following the crystallization of power of the new "elites" (the manufacturing bourgeoisie and the clerico-liberal business circles), the bourgeois class ceased to be a progressive power, and evolved increasingly towards the protection of "new capitalism" against further claims of the workers. The "healthy" cohesive social order has been destroyed, and "classical realism" (realization of an organic unity between the individual and the society) has been replaced by a more subjective aesthetic conception, in line with modernism's ontological premise of "solitude of man". In Turkey, the rise of conservative powers following the 1965 elections was directly reflected to Turkish film industry with the persecution of leftist directors and the emergence of commercialpopulist film movements. In Italy, the Marshall Aid plan and the ascendancy of clerico-liberal forces put an end to neo-realist movement associating it with "Communism". Although the aesthetics of neo-realism continued until mid

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1960s, the revolutionary humanism that underlined the major neo-realist films was abandoned in the late 1940s (with the exception of De Sica's II Tetto made in 1956). As far as the industrial and aesthetic backgrounds of the realist film movements are concerned, both Italy and Turkey showed similar patterns of developments. Prior to the emergence of their own "national film movements", both societies suffered from a serious "inferiority" complex visà-vis other contemporary cinemas. The Italians had a "love and hate" relationship with French "réalisme poétique", whereas the Turkish filmmakers needed to prove themselves to their western "senior" counterparts. Similar to the efforts of "modernization" within the broader socio-political context, "catching up with the west" or to "modernize-westernize" the film industry, has been the major aim of many filmmakers within the cultural intelligentsia. In both countries, the efforts of "rehabilitation" of national cinemas preceded the "official" birth of the realist movements. The works of Blasetti, Camerini and the Calligraphers in Italy, together with Mussolini's interest in film as a propaganda medium, prepared the necessary aesthetic and industrial basis for neo-realism. Likewise in Turkey, the formation of Yegilçam created an enormous increase in film production, and filmmakers like Akad, Seden, tin and Batibeki taught the infant Turkish cinema "how to speak". When the aesthetic-industrial developments coincided with the suitable socio-political context, a realist film movement flourished, reflecting the rich aesthetic traditions of the country as well as the political and psychological dispositions of the filmmakers. As art is polysémie and does not necessarily produce empirical knowledge, it is important to stress that the Italian and the Turkish social realisms in film are not "identical" aesthetic movements, and have only "family" resemblances. They are called "realist", as they both exhibited certain general features, that can be summarized as the depiction of "low life", reflection of social reality without distortion or idealization, and a leftward political attitude. On the other hand, both movements had also room for "digressions", and what Aristotle calls "meaningful imagination" certainly added an individual "sublime" dimension to the works I analysed. Thus, we had Visconti's depth of field together with Rossellini's naturalist approach and Erksan's modernism as well as Goreç's socialist realism. The differences in personal styles were partly related to filmmakers' socio-political and aesthetic backgrounds, and partly to their creative artistic "genius". It is nevertheless necessary to emphasize that, compared to Turkish social realism, the Italian neo-realist movement had more aesthetic maturity and its world-wide success was clearly beyond the boundaries of its national territory. Apart from the richer artistic and literary traditions that prepared a more favourable background for Italian neo-realism, the socio-political context of the film wave was also different from that of Turkey. The nature of the elite consensus that created the Lukacsian ideal of "balance of class contradictions"

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in Italy was more "pronounced" than the Turkish case. While the Italian movement of reconstruction and bourgeois progressivism cut across many social cleavages (regional, class-based, religious), Turkish reformism, that followed the military coup, was "city" based, and mirrored the progressive ideology of a relatively "limited" social strata. This had certainly restricted the scope of Turkish social realism, at least in terms of its audience appeal, as the "national consensus" that followed the military coup lacked the "mass" component overwhelmingly present in the Italian context.... What can be said about the future of "realism" in cinema? Is the era of great classical works a "passé" phenomenon? We clearly live in an era in which many filmic movements live side by side. Together with the omnipresence of the post-modern "hyper-real" and "simulacrum" that are generally associated with the works of Anglo-Saxon and Far Eastern directors (Taiwan and Hong-Kong), we also encounter surprisingly "innocent" photographic images coming from countries like Iran, Turkey, Greece and China. Obviously, the theoretical framework that I tried to design throughout this work has some analytical power as there seems to be a strong correlation between the degree of "consumerism" in a society and the popularity of the concept of "hyper-real" especially in visual arts. If we accept Baudrillard's notion of "simulacrum" as the post-modern version of "art for art's sake" movement (because of the former's negation of an essential "real"), it may be possible to apply Flaubert and Baudelaire's letters describing the loss of authentic human values in the 19 th century France to the existing "postmodern condition" in some advanced societies: Everything was false", says Flaubert in a letter to Maxime Du Camp dated 28 September 1871: a false army, false politics, false literature, false credit and even false courtesans...And this falseness was applied especially in the manner of judging. They asked art to be moral, philosophy to be clear, vice to be decent, and science to be within the range of the people". And says Baudelaire: "... There are no more great ideas, the Empire idealized tastes and hated to see things as they are. '

The question as to the "end of realism" can be parallel to the question as to the end of the "pure, innocent gaze" that Angelopoulos was yearning for in Ulysses ' Gaze. Although the modern man is more and more estranged from his natural surrounding, realism in art can take various forms and still co-exist with "high-tech" arts in novel and alternative forms.

1

Quoted in Pierre Bourdieu, The Rules of Art (Stanford Univ. Press, 1995) p. 59, emphasis is mine.

APPENDIX

SHORT BIOGRAPHIES OF MAJOR TURKISH SOCIAL REALIST FILMMAKERS

1. Metin Erksan Born Ismet Metin Karamanbey in Çanakkale, in 1929, Metin Erksan is one of the first Turkish filmmakers who saw cinema as an "art form" apart from a mass entertaining medium. Having studied art history in Istanbul University and being the brother of a little known director named Çetin Karamanbey, Erksan found himself at a very early age in a favourable position to combine film practice with aesthetic concerns. He worked as his elder brother's assistant for a short while and made his first debut with the script of Binnaz (1950) shot for Atlas Film Production Company. As many other filmmakers of the era, who took the seventh art seriously, Erksan worked as a columnist in papers and film periodicals before engaging in active filmmaking. Metin Erksan's first film as a director, that also heralded the unique and controversial place he would later occupy in the history of Turkish cinema, was A§ik Veysel'in Hayati (1952). Telling the dramatic life of the famous blind poet and song writer A§ik Veysel, the film was later prohibited by the censure committee for showing the Turkish land as "infertile". With the advent of the social realist movement following the 1960 Coup d'état, Erksan established himself as the "enfant prodige" of the post 60 era. Among the best films made during this period (including the Golden Bear Awarded Susuz Yaz (Dry Summer) Erksan's work occupy a central place. His films are the fruits of an eclectic mixture of modernist themes (i.e. individual loneliness), metaphysics (the fight of good vs evil), and notions of Marxism. As other "engagés" directors of the era, who did not only saw them as artists but also as "social engineers", Erksan played a major role in the foundation of the Union of Turkish Film Workers and the Association of Turkish Filmmakers. He was also Turkish Labour Party's candidate of Istanbul in the General Elections of 1965. But it is important to stress that Erksan's films are primarily praised for their "aesthetic maturity" which coexisted (until 1965) with a firm social commitment. Like other filmmakers, who had to work within the narrow confines of the Turkish film industry, Erksan also shot commercial films to survive within the liberal minded "Pinetree" (Yesilçam) system. After 1965, he gradually abandoned his social outlook and made either market oriented popular films or violent personal phantasies focusing on themes of loneliness and obsessive love. After shooting short films and serials for the Turkish

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Radio and Television (TRT) in the 70s, Erksan completely gave up filmmaking after 1983. He started to teach at Istanbul Mimar Sinan University and is still working there, mostly isolated from the current discussions on modern Turkish cinema. Select Filmography: A§ik Veysel'in Hayati (1953) Dokuz Dagin Efesi (1958) Gecelerin Otesi (1960) Yilanlarin Ocii (1962) Susuz Yaz (1963)-Awarded "Golden Bear" in 1964 Berlin Film Festival Suglular Aramizda (1964) Sevmek Zamani (1966) Kuyu (1968) 2. Halit Refig Refig was born in Izmir, in 1934, into a family whose origins went to Salonica, the native town of Atatiirk. According to Refig, more than a simple coincidence for him and his family, this common background with the founder of the Republic, mostly accounted for his patriotism and strong penchant for Kemalism. Having completed his secondary education in Istanbul, he studied engineering in Istanbul Robert College for two years, mainly to please his family who wanted him to continue the family business on textile. But Refig soon got bored with engineering and decided to follow a career in,filmmaking. During his military service that he completed in Korea, Refig got acquainted with Marxist ideas, but never became a full-fledged Marxist in the universal sense of the word. Rather, he developed a personalized notion of Kemalism mostly inspired from Kemal Tahir, based on a nationalistic interpretation of Marxism. Upon his return from Korea in 1955, Refig worked as a translator and film critic, and published with Nijat Ozon the first serious film journal in Turkey entitled Sinema. Taking active part in the scriptwriting and shooting processes of many films, he made his debut as a director in 1960 with Yasak A§k (Forbidden Love). After the Coup of 1960, Refig joined the famous Yon movement and became one of the first signatories of the Yon Declaration which can be summarized as a "search for a socialist method of development for Turkey". Refig knew well about the world cinema and was deeply influenced by neo-realist films, especially the works of Visconti. In his Gurbet Ku§lari (Birds of Exile, 1964) and Harem'de Dort Kadin (Four Women in The Harem, 1965), he tried to bring a similar narrative and historical depth to his stories. Refig was also the major spokesman of the social realist filmmakers until 1965, and has always been actively present in all heated debates and polemics that appeared in the 60s and 70s between the critics and the filmmakers.

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Halit Refig has also been famous for his controversial theories about the Turkish cinema. Following the change of government in the 1965 general elections, Refig suddenly gave up his former support and defense of "realism", and brought forth novel concepts that would, in a sense, save him within the liberal minded Ye§il§am film industry. Refig's efforts to justify commercial films was backed by other fellow Ye§il§am filmmakers. Thus after 1965, Refig refuted "social realism", on the grounds that it was alien to Turkish society, and advocated, what he called, a "popular", "national" understanding of cinema. This effort, however, has never been "appreciated" by Turkish film critics who had a deep rooted dislike of Yesilgam. Halit Refig continued filmmaking until 1990s shooting TV serials for the TRT and some commercial films for the general audience. One of his important TV serials Yorgun Sava§gi (The Tired Warrior, 1983) was allegedly burned by the military in the aftermath of the 1980 Coup, on the grounds that it misrepresented Atatiirk. The film, however, was rediscovered and shown in 1993. Like Erksan, Refig has also been teaching at Mimar Sinan until recently, but unlike the former, Refig has remained popular in the film circles through various talks and publications. Select Filmography: Yasak A§k (1960) Sevi§tigimiz Gtinler (1961) §ehirdeki Yabanci (1963) §afak Bekgileri (1963) Gurbet Ku§lan( 1964) Harem'de Dort Kadin (1965) Bir Ttirk'e Gontil Verdim (1969) Fatma Baci (1972) Hanim (1989) 3. Duygu Sagiroglu Sagiroglu was born in 1932, in Trabzon, a small town on the Black Sea coast. Like Refig, he grew up in Istanbul having little in common with his native town. He studied at Galatasaray (a famous French language high school located in Istanbul) where he certainly learned about French film traditions. This exposure to French culture and cinema later made itself apparent in the poesis and lyricism of Bitmeyen Yol (The Never Ending Road, 1965). Sagiroglu also studied architecture for a short while at Istanbul Technical University, which opened up new artistic horizons for him. Unlike other filmmakers of the era, Sagiroglu had a keen interest also in theater and stage decoration, mostly related to his background in architecture. He started his artistic career as a stage designer in "KUguk Sahne" (Small Stage Theater) and took active part in the founding of "Association of Theater Players".

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In many of the important films of Atif Yilmaz and Memduh Un made during 1950s, Sagiroglu worked as a stage designer. Bitmeyen Yol made in 1965 is Sagiroglu's first and most successful directing experience also reflecting the "highest" stage of Turkish social realist movement. Telling the stories of migrant workers in difficulty to adjust themselves to the life style in Istanbul, the film was, in a sense, the "culminating" point of all previous artistic experiences and hardships. Although sometimes criticized for its religious emphasis and narrative complexity, the enigma of synthesizing cultural modernism, socio-political engagement and local-traditional colours, that many social realist filmmakers tried to create in their own work, was finally solved in Bitmeyen Yol. The film's script was also written by the director, himself. After Bitmeyen Yol, Sagiroglu made Ben Oldiikge Ya§arim (/ Live as long as I Die, 1966) with Yilmaz Guney as his lead actor. During the heated debates between the filmmakers and the leftist critics in the late 60s, Sagiroglu sided with the directors. His previous distance from Marxism and his penchant for religious mysticism made him easily reject social realism and support the "popular" film theory mostly advocated by Refig. Having directed many unimportant films in the 70s, Sagiroglu later decided to focus completely on stage design. He won many awards with the work he did in the plays like "Abelard and Heloise", "The Chronicle of a Mad Man", "Hysteria" in the 80s and 90s. Like Erksan and Refig, Sagiroglu also joined the faculty at Mimar Sinan University, Department of Film. He is still working as a stage designer and takes part in successful productions. Select Filmography: Bitmeyen Yol (1965) Ben Oldiikge Ya§anm (1966) Vatan ve Namik Kemal (1969) Ley la He Mecnun (1972)

4. Ertem Gôreç Among all the other intellectual and well-educated filmmakers who learned about cinema in their French high schools or acclaimed Universities, Gôreç is the only director (within the core of the realist movement) who started from the bottom steps of the film industry. Born in 1933, in Bursa, he quickly got bored with schooling and found himself in the movie industry at a very early age. Starting with editing, he worked as a visual assistant and cowrote many scripts. Until the shooting of his first film Kanh Sevda (Bloody Love) in 1960, Gôreç also regularly played basketball and was even chosen to the National team.

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In the early 1960s, Gore? was very active in the newly developing labour union movement. Although far from being a committed Marxist, Gore? was surely a devoted labour unionist, and played a major role in the foundation of Sine-i§ (film workers' union). His close collaborator, Vedat Tiirkali, though, was known for his radical tendencies and had been imprisoned for his membership to the banned Turkish Communist Party. Gore? and Tiirkali worked together in the making of Otobtis Yolculari (The Bus Passengers, 1961) and Karanhkta Uyananlar (Awakening in The Darkness, 1965). Those were the only films within the social realist movement that could be labelled as "socialist realist". The emphasis upon the "positive types", the "friendly crowd", and the message that the solidarity and unity of the proletariat would prevail over the selfish motives of the "rotten bourgeoisie" were some of the common characteristics of the two films. Tiirkali-Gore? collaboration had not been very long-lived. According to Vedat Tiirkali, Gore?'s anti-intellectualism made it often difficult for them to find a common ground. Indeed, after 1965 Gore? preferred to focus completely on commercial genre films. In the 70s he lived in Germany and continued his career in sports. After 1980, Gore? came back to Turkey and shot cheap melodramas and comedies for the general audience. Select Filmography: Otobtis Yolculari (1961) Kizgin Delikanli (1964) Karanhkta Uyananlar (1965)

BIBLIOGRAPHY Books and

Articles

Abell, Walter, The Collective Dream in Art (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1957). Abisel, Nilgiin, "Nasil Ya§iyor, Nasil Dü§lüyoruz?" in Abisei, Onaran, Köker (eds) Türk Sinemasinda Demokrasi Kavraminin Geliçmesi (Ankara: Kiiltür Bakanligi Yay., 1994). Akerson, Tanju, "Türk Sinemasinda Elegtiri" Yeni Sinema (Ekim-Kasim 1966) No: 3. Allum, Percy "The Changing Face of Christian Democracy" in Duggan and Wagstaff (eds) Italy in the Cold War : Politics, Culture and Society 1948-58 (Oxford:Berg Publishing Limited, 1995). Andrew, J. Dudley, The Major Film Theories (London: Oxford University Press, 1976). Aristoteles, Poetika (Ankara: Remzi Kitabevi, 1995). Armes, Roy, Film and Reality (Penguin Books, 1974). Armes, Roy, Patterns of Realism (London: Barnes Company, 1971). Armes, Roy, Third World Film Making and the West (University of California Press, 1987). Avcioglu, Dogan, "Ìlerici Askeri Rejimler ve Marksist Teori", Yön (Temmuz, 1966). Avcioglu, Dogan, Türkiye'nin Düzeni, Vol. 2 (Istanbul: Cem Yayinevi, 1973). Aybar, Mehmet, TIP Tarihi, Vol. 1 (Istanbul: BDS, 1988). Ayfre, Amedée, (Untitled), Etudes Cinématographiques (Summer, 1964) No. 32-35. (Special issue on Italian Neo-Realism). Ayfre, Amedée, Le Cinéma et Sa Vérité (Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1969). Balazs, Bela, Theory of Film (London: Dennis Dobson Ltd. 1931). Baudry, Jean-Louis, "Ideological Effects of the Basic Cinematographic Apparatus" in Philip Rosen (ed.) Narrative/Apparatus/Ideology (New-York: Routledge, 1986). Bazin, André, Çagdag Sinemanin Sorunlari, trans. Nijat Özön, (Ankara: Bilgi Yayinevi, 1995). Bazin, André, What is Cinema ? (University of California Press, 1974). Bazin, André, What is Cinema? Vol. II (University of California Press, 1971). Benjamin, Walter, Reflections (London: Helen and Kurt Wolf Books, 1978). Berger, John, "Problems of Socialist Art" in Lee Baxandall (ed.) Radical Perspectives in the Arts (Penguin Books, 1972). Berger, Morroe, Bureaucracy and Society in Modern Egypt (Princeton University Press, 1957). Beg Romanci Tarti§iyor (Istanbul: Düjün Yayinevi, 1960).

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Bondanella, Peter, Italian Cinema : From Neorealism to the Present (New-York: Fredrick Ungar Book, 1998). Bondanella, Peter, The Films of Roberto Rossellini (Cambridge University Press, 1993). Bordé, Raymond and Bouissy, André, Le Néo-Réalisme Italien: Une Expérience de Cinema Social (Lausanne: Cinémathèque Suisse, 1960). Bourdieu, Pierre, The Field of Cultural Production (Columbia University Press, 1993). Bourdieu, Pierre, The Rules of Art (Stanford Univ. Press, 1995). Brecht, Bertold "The Three Penny Opera Trial" in Christopher Williams (ed.) Realism and the Cinema (London: Routledge, 1980). Bull, Martin J., "From Pluralism to Pluralism" in Andrew Cox and Noel O'SulIivan (eds.) The Corporate State (London: Elgar Publishing Company, 1988). Caesar, Ann Hallamore, "Post-War Italian Narrative: An Alternative Account" in Forgacs and Lumley (eds.) Italian Cultural Studies (Oxford University Press, 1996). Chiarini, Luigi, "A Discourse On Neo-Realism", in Overbey (ed.) Springtime in Italy (Connecticut: Archon Books, 1978). Comolli, Jean Louis, "Cinema, Ideology, Criticism" in Bill Nichols (ed.) Movies and Methods (University of California Press, 1976). Co§, Nezih, "Susuz Yaz: Hangi Toplumsal Ger§ek§ilik?" Yedinci Sanat (HaziranAgustos, 1975) No: 24. Co§, Nezih, "Türk Sinemasmda l§