Control of the people, 1917-85 Flashcards
What did the Decree on the Press of 1917 do?
Allowed the government to close any paper deemed ‘counter-revolutionary’
What did the Revolutionary Tribunal of the Press 1918 do?
gave the state the power of censorship. The Cheka could punish any journalists or editors committing ‘crimes against the people’
What agency gave the state control of advertising and news reporting in 1918?
ROSTA
(All-Russia Telegraph Agency)
What did Glavlit do, introduced in 1922?
examined all books for anti-communist ideas
What agency produced cartoon films supporting the revolution?
ROSTA
What state publishing organisation controlled what could be released after 1919?
Gosizdat
What art movement was suppressed by early Bolsheviks?
Russian Surrealism
Radical artist Gustav Klutsis used as propaganda by Lenin:
- used photomontage to promote electrification
Radical artist El Lissitzky used as propaganda by Lenin:
- ‘beat the whites with the red wedge’ poster using abstract techniques
When was a film re-enacting the storming of the winter palace made?
1920
What did Stalin impose on all artistic mediums with the ‘decree on the reformation of literary-artistic organisations’ 1932?
‘Socialist realism’
- focus on partynost, narodost, ideinost
After 1928, what information did Glavlit keep controlled?
economic data
How did Khrushchev begin to relax media? (3)
- allowed letters to be written into popular magazines discussing real, non-political subjects
- allowed satirical cartoons - e.g Krokodil
- relaxed censorship
Media under Brezhnev concentrated on…?
- ww2 nostalgia
- modern, fashionable people to increase public desire for consumer goods
How was Stalin presented in his personality cult? (4)
- built cult of lenin, which was manipulated to own gain
- visionary, altered his role in revolution
- ‘vozhd’
- ‘Generalissimo’ during war
Personality cult of Khrushchev? (5)
- criticised Stalin’s cult of personality and dropped images of him from media
- presented as a disciple of Lenin
- shown as responsible for the Space Programme and Virgin Lands Scheme
- presented as an authority on many subjects
- presented as hero of WW2
Did Khrushchev’s propaganda have a large impact?
It was not prominent enough to undermine his obvious failings
Personality cult of Brezhnev?
- stopped referencing Khrushchev or Stalin
- presented as a Leninist
- presented as a military hero
- presented as a man of the people - whose career began in the steel industry
Did Brezhnev’s propaganda have a large impact?
No - it was laughable as was clearly false, he was a privileged bureaucrat not a great revolutionary or hero
How did Lenin deal with religion?
- Decree on Land allowed church land to be redistributed
- The Orthodox Church had its privileges stripped in 1918
- the Cheka murdered the Archpriest in Nov 1917
- the Cheka killed priests in Moscow in Jan 1918 after a church decree excommunicated Bolsheviks
- the Living Church
- funded Islamic schools, though initially backed attacks on Islamic property this was reversed
The Living Church summarised?
- est. 1921, approved by Lenin
- removed the traditional church leaders
- was made as a rival to the Orthodox church, but was seen as a sell out and quickly lost popularity
Religion under Stalin (before and after war):
- initially churches were closed and turned into grain stores
- Islamic groups were targeted during the terror e.g Sufi’s in Turkestan 1936
- allied with the church during WW2, 414 churches reopened and church leaders supported the war effort
Khrushchev and religion?
- believed there was no place for religion
- in 1958 Khrushchev re-introduced anti-religious propaganda, put convents under surveillance and refused access to holy sites
- the Space Programme was used as anti-religious propaganda and evidence there was no god. The first man and woman in space both made atheist statements on their return
Brezhnev and religion?
- believed a scientific education would stop children believing in god, therefore cancelled Khrushchev’s anti-religious campaigns
- started supporting anti-American Islamic groups in the Middle East and changed the party’s stance on Islam instead saying it was progressive and revolutionary
