control of the people under Brezhnev, Andropov and Chernenko

Question 1

Religion?

Answer 1

• Active persecution declined - had damaging effect on foreign policy Council of Religious Affairs monitored religious services - Orthodox expected to stick to formal church services and support soviet policies
  1976 - group religious rebels set up - Brezhnev shut this down
• Jews + baptists less tolerated as they were critical of regime
• Efforts promote atheism unsuccessful. - pop of people religious remained constant at 20% 1960-85
• Institute for scientific atheism 1968 > published articles & newspaper promoting atheism
• Stopped closure of churches & ended prop campaigns against religion
• 1960-85 the number of people profession religious faith stayed at 20%
• Overall took a approach of spreading the philosophy of atheism rather than attacking the church or religious organisations

Question 2

Mass media?

Answer 2

• Up until 1964 only 1 radio station, but Brezhnev made 3. However, tried stop foreign stations as they threatened populations compliance
• Unintentional loss of control over print media e.g. ‘vogue’ popular
• Tightly controlled footage of news broadcasters - no bad light e.g. Afghan war not shown
• 1970s = tele becoming problem for Brezhnev > presented images stark contrast to claims of gov
• Control decreased e.g. more radios and magazines
• Samizdat technique = reducing censored news stories

Question 3

Propoganda?

Answer 3

• Cult based on idea Brezhnev successor to Lenin. Great Leninist, military hero, dedicated to ensuring world peace, true man of the people
• Portrayed as big military person e.g. loads of medals
• Ideologically opposed to ideo of personality cults = needed to strengthen position, pragmatic reasons adopted > make leader the butt of jokes & create popular cynicism towards politics
• Soviet people didn’t believe in any of his ‘cult’. His personality cult was implausible

Question 4

Terror?

Answer 4

• Dissidents receive psychiatric treatment
• Suspicious of relatively high level of freedom permitted under Khrushchev > Yuro Andropov head KGB > ordered max control over people and min amount of violence e.g. Andrei Sakharov who was a activist, but too famous to be dealt with
• KGB order no. 0051 = surveillance and control over dissidents
• Helsinki agreement, 1975 > protect human rights. Signing in Europe and brought security the Cold War

Traditional terror tactics > 528 sent prison 1968-70 > show trials 1972 of Pyotr Yakir & Viktor Krasin

• Encouraged jewish emigration to israel

Question 5

Culture?

Answer 5

• Approaches more conservative after prague spring in 1968
• Critical of Khrushchev’s cultural thaws became increasingly common e.g. thriving undergraduate art
  ‘Nostalgia’ style > highlight positives beginning in com rule e.g. 1976 film liberation
• KGB report 1965 found 1,292 anti-soviet authors written 10,000 anti-soviet docs under Khrushchev
• Censor artists and authors e.g. Sinyavsky and Daniel victims of show trials > these were now rare.
• Chernenko = there was a thriving underground art scene e.g. 1985 the Mitzi exhibition was raided by the police