When so doing, we would expect to arrive at some real appraisal of the work and not merely an offhand opinion. As I said before, different people have different standards. But whatever the standards, they are created by certain objective factors. In the largest sense, standards in art are determined by all factors in a society, but most basically by the economic system and the class structure. I think it would be a grave error of thinking ever to approach art with the premise that standards are immutable.
Standards are as mutable as society itself.
And if one accepts the factor of change at all, one must extend that factor to the field of art. Now, though Marxists will accept, in historical terms, the proposition that the only permanent factor in life is the factor of change itself, many of them hesitate to extend that principle to the values of art. There are old ideas and theories which have outlived their day and serve the interests of' the moribund forces of society. Their significance lies in the fact that they hamper the development, the progress of society. Then there are new and advanced ideas and theories which serve the interests of the advanced forces of society.