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Why did Socialist Realism portray workers and engineers as heroic figures?

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Painting by Gustave Courbet showing the artist at his easel in a crowded studio, surrounded by figures including a nude model, onlookers, and a child with a white dog. — Realism *The Painter's Studio*, showing Gustave Courbet at the easel, oil on canvas by Courbet, 1854–55; in the Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

Socialist Realism portrayed workers, engineers, and scientists as heroic figures to serve as a propagandistic and ideological tool for the Soviet state. By utilizing naturalistic idealization, artists and writers depicted these individuals as dauntless, purposeful, and youthful to promote the building of socialism and a classless society.1

This aesthetic approach functioned to mold the consciousness of the masses by encouraging the idealization of heroes and events. Unlike critical realism, which often highlighted societal flaws, Socialist Realism required a positive and optimistic perspective, focusing on the "positive hero" who perseveres against all obstacles. By presenting these figures as archetypes of progress and reconstruction, the state aimed to inspire the population and reinforce the official doctrine of the Soviet Union.1