“Literatura mirovoj revoljucii”, 1932, 7/8, 1932 - [S040]

During the post-revolutionary era, new constructions with supporting verbs emerged within the framework of the nascent Russian-Soviet language, which over time became stabilised in the Russian syntagmatic system. The verb ‘razvernut’‘ within the construct ‘razvernut dvizhenie‘ (to initiate/expand a movement) represents a further instance of the emergence of a new meaning and, consequently, a new verbal-nominal construct, in the semantics of which an activity’s incoativity and intensity are merged: “Zadacha sostoit v tom, chtoby pomoch’ stahanovcam razvernut’ dal’she stahanovskoe dvizhenie i rasprostranit’ ego vshir’ i vglub’ na vse oblasti i rajony SSSR” [The task is to help the Stakhanovites to further initiate the Stakhanovist movement and to spread it far and wide in all regions and areas of the USSR], I.V. Stalin, Rech’ na Pervom Vsesojuznom soveshchanii stahanovcev, “Pravda”, 1935.11.22; “Na osnove politiki likvidacii kulachestva i ustanovlenija sploshnoj kollektivizacii razvernulos’ moshhnoe kolhoznoe dvizhenie” [On the basis of the policy of liquidating the kulaks and establishing total collectivisation, a powerful Kolhoz movement was launched], Istorija VKP(b). Kratkij kurs (1938). The construct ‘razvernut’ dvizhenie‘, used in both political and social contexts to indicate the intensification of the struggle for the socialist idea and against the external threat to the new world of the Soviets, constitutes an obvious reference to conflict and in general to the metaphor of war, as it takes up the military meaning of the verb ‘razvernut’‘ (‘razvyernut’ front‘ – to deploy the front). In the example given, this construct is employed in the context of the intensification of the literary activity of proletarian writers. The semantic shift of the verb ‘razvernut’‘ is recorded in Tolkovyj slovar’ russkogo jazyka [Dictionary of the Russian Language] by D.N. Ushakov, where the meaning “organizovat’, uchredit’, predprinjat’ v shirokih razmerah, ispol’zovav vse vozmozhnosti” [to organise, establish, undertake on a large scale, using all possibilities] is marked as new, while the expression ‘razvernut’ dvizhenie‘ emphasises the beginning and intensification of the struggle (also in a figurative sense) and possesses a marked positive connotation.