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
When did Lenin establish the Cheka?
December 1917
How many ‘class enemies’ are estimated to have been killed by the Cheka by 1922?
est. 200,000 during the ‘Red Terror’
When was the NKVD formed and who was in charge?
July 1934 - Yagoda in charge
4 roles of the NKVD?
- military police
- oversaw important building projects
- controlled around 10 million prisoners in camps
- key part of the purges
When was Yagoda replaced by Yezhov as head of the NKVD?
1936
When was Yezhov replaced by Beria as head of the NKVD?
1939
Who was assassinated in Leningrad in 1934?
Kirov - head of the Communist Party
What percentage of the population were arrested between 1936-38?
10%
How many people were deported between 1936-38 under Yezhov?
635,000
How many people were executed between 1936-38 under Yezhov?
680,000
Key opponents of Stalin removed in Show Trials?
Kamenev, Zinoviev, Bukharin, Trotsky
Who did Stalin blame for the purges?
The heads of the secret police - leading to Yezhov’s execution in 1940
By Stalin’s death how many were estimated to be deported and executed?
up to 30 million deported
up to 20 million executed
When was the KGB formed?
1954
Two opponents of Khrushchev that he demoted away from Moscow?
Malenkov and Molotov
Two events the KGB had a role in crushing?
Hungarian Revolution 1956
Prague Spring 1968
Brezhnev restored the role of the KGB to its traditional activities. What were these?
- harsh suppression
- house searches
- monitoring of suspects
Who was KGB chairman in 1967?
Yuri Andropov
What was the Fifth Directorate introduced in 1967?
A way to better allow for the monitoring of potential dissidents.
When were many leaders of the Secret police purged?
After the 20th party congress 1953
Did the KGB function differently under Khrushchev?
No it was practically the same as the NKVD - it still oversaw the Gulags and functioned the same as in the past
How many labour camps and how many inmates by Lenin’s death?
315 camps
70,000 inmates
How did the KGB change under Andropov?
more sophisticated tactics against dissidents
How many ‘formal warnings’ were issued against those considered to be dangerous from the KGB under Andropov?
around 70,000
How many dissident artists were allowed to emigrate under Andropov’s KGB?
100,000
What did Andropov fail to suppress? (2)
- Samizdat magazines which were self-published and contained literature and poetry
- dissident artists who were known to the west such as Solzhenitsyn who remained free
Social malaise under Andropov 1982-5?
- alcoholism
- avoiding military service
- falling birth rate
- poor labour discipline
What novel was given as the exemplar for socialist realism under Stalin?
Gladkov’s ‘Cement’ published 1924
Example of avant-garde artists collaborating with Lenin’s government?
Rodchenko’s photomontage posters
Who established proletkult and when?
People’s Commissar of Enlightenment Lunacharsky
1917
How many new studios were established by Proletkult?
300
When was Proletkult absorbed into the Commissariat for Education?
October 1920
How many death warrants did Stalin personally sign?
44,000
What epitomised the fact that Brezhnev was reversing Khrushchev’s cultural thaws?
The 1964 Sinyavsky-Daniel trial of two authors that had risen to fame under Khrushchev - both being sent to labour camps
What samizdat group published literature emphasising how dull life was in the USSR in the 70’s?
the Moscow Conceptualists
Who were ‘stilyaga’ and why did Khrushchev target them?
Women wearing western style. Highlights continued misogyny in the period as well anti-Western views
‘popular oversight’ campaign?
Poster campaign under Khrushchev promoting awareness of “non-conformist” behaviours (alcoholism, laziness etc.) and promoting challenging these begaviours
