From the middle of 1930s the main issue for the soviet literature and art becomes the development of a method of socialistic realism

At the First congress of the Union of writers of the USSR in 1934 this method was announced to be fundamental for all creative workers. The Soviet newspaper photographers, pictorialists and amateur photographers could not stand aside of the common cultural processes. At the same time they should not have been limited by simple recording of current events. It was required from photographers to change the reality according to the principle of socialistic realism, as well as in other kinds of art. Formalism and naturalism were identified as the main dangerous phenomena. In the spring 1936 there was a discussion of theory and practice problems of the photography, which took place in the Moscow House of cinema. A group of ranking officers of various photography organizations and photoassociations (Sojuzphoto, the Central Committee of Union of film-photoworkers, etc.), critics, professionals of an art photography and the picture story, press photography beginners took part in that discussion. The «Soviet photo» magazine has published the main materials of that discussion where were determined the signatures of formalism and naturalism. Their negative influence on the development of Soviet photography was also pointed out. Moreover the sharp criticism concerning some photomasters was heard during the debates in the House of cinema. Some were requested to admit former «formalistic» mistakes (A. Rodchenko, E. Langman, B. Ignatovich, etc.), others - the representatives of the so-called old school -were declared bourgeois pictorialists and urgently recommended to re -form. The present article is an attempt to illustrate the course of discussion by specific examples, to generalize its outcomes and to estimate the extent of its influence on the Soviet photography of 1930s.