For this week’s blog I have chosen to discuss the literary work of Catherine Cooke called “Socialist Realist architecture: theory and practice.” This is a very intriguing piece that focuses on the artistic history, basis, and evolution of Socialist realist art and in specific the architecture that was produced as part of this artistic genre. But in another very interesting piece by Igor Golomstock titled “Totalitarian Art in the Soviet Union, The Third Reich, Fascist Italy, and The People’s Republic of China,” the same ideals of Socialist realist architecture were also covered. In each piece the authors emphasized the meaning and derivation of Socialist Realist architecture. In juxtaposition with one another one can develop a pretty firm notion of Socialist realist architecture. Both Golomstock and Cooke made it transparently clear Stalin intended to create this “mass” architecture that would symbolize and represent the entire people as a whole. Both of these authors stated how one of the primary objectives of socialist realist architecture was to break free of the capitalist driven individuality in the aesthetic that former architecture had created. To do so, a grand centralized structure had to be the shining representation of the entire nation and the nation’s culture. For Stalin his Palace of the Soviets in Moscow (the capital of the USSR) would be the embodiment of such an idea. Golomstock compared this towering structure to Hitler’s House of the People in Berlin (the capital of Germany). An even more important aspect of socialist realism was, what Golomstock quoted, the “speaking architecture” notion. The architecture must tell the tale of the Soviet Union with all its greatness. Golomstock pointed out in one instance the general criticism of two different metro station designs. The Komsomolaskia-koltsevaia metro station was decorated with Soviet hero’s of the past in response to Stalin’s speech about the heroic pastime of Russian warriors. This piece of architecture was highly praised and the architect commended for such work. On the other hand, the Surpukhavskaia metro station was absent such adorning murals and was therefore highly criticized for its lack of national cultural pride. Socialist Realism ushered in a very unique and significant period of architecture that to this day still remains one of the most visited and studied series structures in history.