The Russian Revolution of 1917 brought with it a flowering of artistic freedom and expression hitherto unknown, bringing with it a desire to push the boundaries of both form and content in the fields of literature, theater, painting, sculpture, and film. Before the dead weight of Stalinist bureaucratism settled in and suppressed and rechanneled these impulses, competing schools of thought and of art sprang up and battled over the future of art and its place in society. This talk will explore this exciting period and draw on the deep connections between revolutionary strivings for a new society and the role played by art in this process.