HOW DID THE SOVIET PROPAGANDA EXERCISE CONTROL OVER THE MEDIA, PROPAGANDA AND RELIGION?

Question 1

What evidence is there to suggest Lenin removed freedom of the press between 1917 and the early 1920s?

Answer 1

A decree in November 1917 banned all non-socialist newspapers and, by the early 1920s, all non-Bolshevik papers were eliminated.
The printing press was nationalised with access restricted to those working in ‘the interests of the workers and the Socialist order’.
All editors and journalists were employees of the government, members of the Union of Soviet Journalists and expected to be Party members.
Approval from Glavlit, the censorship office, was needed for every article written for publication.

Question 2

What Communist Party newspapers were used and how popular were they?

Answer 2

Daily Newsapapers included Pravda (Truth), newsapaper of the Communinst Party, and Izvestiya (News), newsapaper of the government.
Pravda had a circulation of 10.7 million in 1983
The paper of the government-controlled trade unions, Trud (Labour), had a print run of 13.5 million.

Question 3

What details did the newspapers contain?

Answer 3

Achievements of socialism, with production figures related to meeting or, better still, exceeding targets of the latest economic plan. This fixation was especially true of the 1930s, under Stalin’s push to industrialise.
Favoured topics also included successful expeditions to the Arctic and northern Russia in search of gold and oil.

Question 4

What evidence is there that proves the government used the newspapers to hide issues?

Answer 4

Prohibited topics, or those subject to delayed reporting, included plane crashes and natural disasters.
In July 1972, a vast fire got out of control outside Moscow, but the city’s population had to wait one month before the blue haze over the city was explained.
In September 1957, a nuclear waste storage tank at Kyshtym exploded, resulting in at least 200 fatalities and over 270,000 people being exposed to dangerous radiation levels. In the absence of any acknowledged diasaster, the government took two years to evacuate unsafe areas.

Question 5

What is the difference between national newspapers and local newspapers?

Answer 5

Local newspapers were more likely to publish views critical of the authorities, although limits were imposed on what was permissible. It was acceptable to print letters criticising minor bureaucrats, and complaints about poor housing became an increasingly common subject in the 1970s. However, criticising Party leaders was not allowed.

Question 6

What evidence is there to suggest the Communist Party also used magazines?

Answer 6

Red Sport, established in 1924, and (after 1946) by its successor Sovetskii Sport - a hugely popular magazine that gained respect for its accurate and honest sports coverage, despite having to carry political news prasing the government on its front page.

Question 7

Why was radio an easier form of media to control?

Answer 7

In 1917, radio was a fairly recent development and therefore easier for the Bolsheviks to influence.

Question 8

How did the Communists use radio to their advantage between 1917 and 1922?

Answer 8

The Spoken Newspaper of the Russian Telegraph Agency featured news and propoganda material. Radio recievers were expensive, and in order to get their message to the people, the Bolsheviks installed loudspeakers in public places, factories and clubs. Control of radio communications was centralised through the Commissariat for Posts and Telegraph and, as the government recognised the importance of this form of communication, resources were given to ensure rapid development. By 1922, Moscow had a well-developed broadcasting station.

Question 9

How was the radio used during the war?

Answer 9

Radio was an especially useful medium because it enabled the government to get its message across to the 65% of the population who were illiterate.
The speed by which the government could convey its message through radio would prove invaluable during the German invasion of 1941. With German forces less than 50 miles from Moscow, Stalin gave a speech live on radio from Red Square to commemorate the October Revolution. Proved highly effective in reassuring the population that all was not lost in the war.

Question 10

Why might radio have become more of a threat to the government in the Brezhnev years rather than a form
of control?

Answer 10

Under the Brezhnev the number of radio stations increased from 1 to 3, including Radio Maiak (Lighthouse), which played some foreign music and was popular with Soviet Youth.
The government tried to restrict access to foreign stations by mass-producing cheap radios with a imited reception range, but they also had to rely on jamming foreign broadcasts and threatening to arrest those who listened to Voice of america or the BBC.

Question 11

How did the access to television change between 1950 and the early 1980s?

Answer 11

In 1950, the USSR had 10,000 sets; by 1958this number had risen to almost three million. Mass production of televisions in the early 1960s brought their price within the range of most of the population, even if availability failed to keep pace with demand. By the early 1980s, most of the rural population had access to television.

Question 12

How was television used by the Communists?

Answer 12

The government stations provided a mix of news, documentaries on the achievements of socialism, and cultural programmes on ballet and the classical arts. Childrens programmes were also provided and feature films made up a considerable portion of the output. Life in the Soviet Union was presented as joyous, whereas life under capitalism was rife with crime, homelessness and violence.

Question 13

What evidence is there that there was some relaxation of Communist control of television by the 1970s and
80s?

Answer 13

By 1985, there were two television channels and greater emphasis on ight entertainment. This was undemanding but more popular. In the 1970s, the Soviet singer Eduard Khil (Trololo) became a noted and popular celebrity. More positive features of Soviet television output included the broadcast of local programming for the regions of the USSR, often in local languages. Folk dancing made a change from the usual imposition of Russian culture on national minorities.

Question 14

What evidence is there to suggest the use of media was not always effective on the people?

Answer 14

Censorship and retriction of material were heavily used, if not always successfully. The Soviet public got used to reading between the lines. News of the heart problems of a member of the Politburo was interpreted as a fall from favour, as was someone’s continued non-appearance in the press.
In 1953, Soviet citizens who subscribed to the Soviet encyclopedia recieved a package that instructed them to remove pages from their collection that had details of Beria and replace them with the insert provided (which contained extra pictures of the Bering Sea). It was the first sign the public had that Beria had been arrested.

Question 15

Why was there an ever-increasing problem in the use of media for the Soviet government?

Answer 15

Alongside overt propoganda, the government came to rely increasingly on output that provided a distraction from the realities of socialism. By the 1980s, technology was advancing further. Video recorders were being mass-produced by the state, making the sharing of information among the public easier, but the rise of increasingly sophisticated technologies, including computers, was likely to provide a much more demanding challenge to a government wishing to restrict its population’s access to information.

Question 16

Which was the most important method of mass media used by the Soviet government between 1917 and
1985?

Answer 16

Arguably, the most advanced technology, such as televisions and computers, were the most important being that they were the most influential as they could spread information the fastest and to the largest number of people.

Question 17

To what extent was Soviet propaganda used successfully throughout 1917 and 1985?

Answer 17

Despite the increase in the level of public debate that came with the increase of mass media, it also allowed the government to very successfully spread important messages, such as during times of war, to a large proportion of the population. Furthermore, in regards to propoganda, the government successfully influenced the media to spread communist ideology by keeping up a constant diet of propoganda even during the later years when the level of public debate was increasing.

Question 18

Define what is meant by a ‘cult of personality’.

Answer 18

The adoration of an individual through the use of art and popular culture. It was used as a method of enhancing the status of an individual leader and creating a sense of loyalty to them.

Question 19

What is the key reason for using a cult of personality?

Answer 19

To reinforce the power of individual leaders and detach them from the collective leadership exercised in theory by the Politburo.

Question 20

What evidence is there that the cult of personality was developed AFTER Lenin’s death?

Answer 20

As soon as Lenin was buried, he was being hailed as the hero of the Revolution. Images of Lenin appeared in many forms. The newspapers, statues and the cinema all contained endless images of Lenin.The embalming of Lenin’s body for display in the mausoleum in Red Square, Moscow was the most striking example of the use of Lenin as a focus for political purposes. Petrograd was renamed Leningrad in 1924 in honour of his achievements for the Revolution.

Question 21

What evidence is there of Stalin’s cult of personality being established in the 1920s and 1930s?

Answer 21

First phase: attempts made to highlight links between Lenin and Stalin, even where none existed. Stalin presented as Lenin’s closest colleague, a hero of the civil war and the saviour of the Revolution in the face of assualts from its enemies.
1925, the town of Tsaritsyn was renamed Stalingrad.
Soon after Lenin’s death in 1924, the slogan ‘Stalin is the Lenin of today’ became widely used by sections of the rank and file Party membership.
1930s, images of Stalin used to reinforce his power by giving the impression of an all-present, all-knowing leader. Artists presented images of ‘the big hero’ or Vozhd (the boss).
Paintings identified Stalin with the achievements of the Five-Year Plans, for example Stalin posing at the Ryon hydro-electric complex in 1935.

Question 22

How did Stalin’s cult of personality develop during World War Two?

Answer 22

Posters of Stalin in military uniform were common during WW2. Images of Stalin in front of masses of Soviet troops and military hardware clearly conveyed the message that Stalin was the defender of Mother Russia. Propoganda posters highlighted Stalin as a man of the people, with images of Stalin and worker, Stalin and peasant, and so on.

Question 23

What is hagiography and how was it used for Stalin?

Answer 23

Writing which deliberately praises a person, turning them into a saint-like figure, often regardless of the facts. During Stalin’s time in power, a lot of the writings that presented Stalin as a genius to be praised was less history than pure hagiography.

Question 24

What evidence is there of Stalin’s cult of personality reaching absurd levels by the early 1950s?

Answer 24

Stalin gathered titles such as ‘Brilliant Genius of Humanity’ and ‘Gardener of Human Happiness’.
Statues of Stalin were erected in most cities and towns. These statues gave Stalin the stature of Tsar Alexander III, one of the tallest Russian leaders. Stalin was, inreality, only 5 feet 6 inches tall.
Films for the cinema featuring Stalin were also used to highlight his prominent role in events. The film The Fall of Berlin (1950) depicted Stalin’s role in the fall of Berlin to the Red Army in 1945. In the film, Stalin recieved a rapturous welcome on his arrival to Berlin. Whereas, in actuality, Stalin only visited Berlin after WW2 was concluded.
By 1953, many towns had been renamed after Stalin and the Volga-Don Canal was littered with statues of Stalin along its banks.

Question 25

What evidence is there to suggest the cult of personality was not entirely manufactured by Stalin?

Answer 25

By the end of WW2, Stalin’s popularity had grown and many Soviet citizens viewed him as a benefactor, inspiration and as the saviour of socialism and Mother Russia. Even those who did not like Stalin often had respect for him as a leader. It was telling that even prisoners in the Gulag wept when they heard of Stalin’s death.

Question 26

What evidence is there to suggest Khrushchev wanted to remove the use of a cult of personality?

Answer 26

Khrushchev had condemned Stalin’s use of a personality cult in his Secret Speech of 1956. He criticised its monstrous glorification of the leader at the expense of the role played by the Soviet people. Criticising the cult had political uses for Khrushchev as he pushed forward his policy of de-Stalinisation.

Question 27

What advantages were there of Khrushchev building his own cult of personality?

Answer 27

For Khrushchev, a cult allowed him to be seen as the more important Party leader when power had originally been shared after 1953 with Malenkov. It also suited Khrushchev’s style of leadership, which involved him personally meeting Soviet citizens on a much greater scale than Stalin.

Question 28

How did Khrushchev develop his cult of personality?

Answer 28

Visits to peasants on collective farms were good photo opportunities for the leader. This developed into adulation through articles, books and posters. K’s population increased when he appointed his son-in-law, Alexei Adzhubei, as editor of Isvestiya. The development of a cult partly reflected K’s egotistical personality. He also made use of radio, cinema and television for self-publicity, which took on a more desperate tone as K’s policy failures mounted.

Question 29

How similar was Khrushchev’s cult of personality?

Answer 29

K’s cult was never on the scale of Stalin’s - K stopped short of commissioning a biography - but it was evident enough for it to be one of the stated reasons for his dismissal in 1964.

Question 30

Why was a personality cult useful for Brezhnev after 1964?

Answer 30

Brezhnev sought to emerge ‘first among equals’ in the power struggle with Kosygin and Podgorny following K’s removal.

Question 31

What evidence is there to suggest that Brezhnev’s cult of personality was a substitute for real power?

Answer 31

One of the key reasons for Brezhnev’s popularity as a leader was his reluctance to use his power to bring about change. The cult gave Brezhnev the symbols of power without having to exercise it. Brezhnev was content with the trappings of power, especially the endless medals he was awarded.

Question 32

Why did his cult of personality take on a more practical element after 1975?

Answer 32

When Brezhnev’s health deteriorated, a series of strokes and heart attacks left him incapacitated, the cult provided the appearance of leadership to the Soviet population.

Question 33

What were the advantages of using a cult of personality for the Party?

Answer 33

It was useful to have one person as a focus for unity and loyalty, especially during the tumultuous period of the Five-Year Plans of the 1930s and at a time of war. The cult provided a human face for socialism, which remained a rather abstract concept to many poorly educated Russians. It provided a figurehead that the population could identify with the state. It also filled a gap resulting from the severe restrictions on religious worship.

Question 34

Define what the ‘Russian Orthodox Church’ is.

Answer 34

Closely connected to the Tsarist regime - the Tsar was the head of the Church and used it to serve the purposes of the state. Appointments within the Church were subject to the approval of the Tsar and this ensured that the Church would support the government and its policies. Under the Tsar, the religious hierarchy of the Church was headed by the Patriarch, with the Metropolitan of Moscow being another key post. The hold of the Church over the rural population was an important instrument in social control. As an organisation, the Church owned a considerable amount of land and therefore tended to have the same interests as the landed classes. It was both Tsarist and deeply conservative in its attitudes and, therefore, not a supporter of the new regime.

Question 35

Why was religion (in particular the Russian Orthodox Church) a threat to Marxist thinking?

Answer 35

The Church provided an alternative ideology to that of Marxism. Christianity’s emphasis on the rights of the individual contrasted with the collective mentality of socialism.

Question 36

Why was it a ‘large task’ to remove the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church?

Answer 36

The Russian Orthodox Church had been tied closely to the old order; the Tsar had been its head and the majority of the population took the word of their spiritual leaders seriously. However, the Bolsheviks decided there was to be no ‘opium of the masses’ other than communism.

Question 37

What initial measures were introduced in 1918-1919 to limit the influence of religion?

Answer 37

In 1918, the Decree on Freedom of Conscience separated the Orthodox Church from the state and it lost its privileged status. The Church was deprived of its land without compensation, its publications were outlawed and all religious education outside the home was banned.
A large number of churches were destroyed or converted to other purposes. The government closed all monasteries and by the end of 1918 the head of the Orthodox Church, Patriarch Tikhon, was under house arrest.

Question 38

How did the civil war impact religion?

Answer 38

During the famine of the civil war, attacks on the Church increased and valuable objects were seized to help pay for food supplies. Priests were deprived of the vote, denied rations during the civil war and suffered as victims of the Red Terror of 1921-22. By 1923, 28 bishops and more than 1,000 priests had been killed.

Question 39

What was established in 1929 (with reference to religion) and what impact did it have?

Answer 39

The League of the Militant Godless was established by the Bolsheviks as part of a propaganda campaign against religion. It launched events to disprove the existence of God which included taking peasants for plane rides to show them heaven did not exist in the sky. Weeping icons were ridiculed, with demonstrations of how they could be operated by rubber squeezers.

Question 40

What religious rituals were replaced?

Answer 40

Religious rituals were attacked and there was a campaign to replace baptisms with ‘Octoberings’. New names, such as Revolyutsiya and Ninel (Lenin spelt backwards), were encouraged.

Question 41

What evidence is there to suggest that Lenin had mostly destroyed religion?

Answer 41

The scale of the attacks led many Church leaders to seek an accommodation with the regime and Patriarch Tikhon’s death in 1925 opened the way for Metropolitan Sergei of Moscow to call on Church members to support the government. By the end of 1930, four-fifths of all village churches were either no longer operating or had been destroyed.

Question 42

What evidence is there to suggest Lenin had failed in destroying religion?

Answer 42

Bolshevik actions had severely restricted the Orthodox Church but failed to stamp out its influence. Surveys of the peasantry in the mid-1920s revealed that 55% were still active Christians.

Question 43

What evidence is there to suggest Stalin continued Lenin’s purging of religion?

Answer 43

A campaign of religious repression accompianed Stalin’s policy of colectivisation. More churches were closed and village priests were labelled as ‘kulaks’ and deported. Further attacks followed during the Great Purge of 1936-39, and by 1939 only 12 out of 163 bishops were still at liberty.

Question 44

What evidence is there to suggest that Stalin was more pragmatic in his approach towards religion?

Answer 44

The German invasion of the USSR in 1941 changed the policy. The Church supported the war effort and this prompted an accomodation between Church and state. Stalin took a more liberal approach to the Church; the patriarchate was re-established, some churches reopened and new seminaries were set up to train priests. There was some acknowledgement that religion could play a beneficial role in sustaining morale during the hardships of war.

Question 45

What evidence is there that Khrushchev’s policies were similar to that of pre-war Stalin?

Answer 45

K was fervently anti-religious and pursued a programme of active repression. In 1958-59 K launched a harsh anti-religious campaign that continued until his removal from office in 1964. The role of the priest was limited to one of spiritual advice only. Parish councils were placed under the control of Party officials who often took action to dismiss priests on the grounds that they were no longer needed. Within four years, 10,000 of the existing churches were closed. Surviving priests were often harassed by the secret police and Baptists and Jews also suffered from severe restrictions on their right to congregate and worship.

Question 46

What evidence is there to suggest Brezhnev was more tolerant of religion?

Answer 46

With the fall of K in 1964, active persecution of the Church declined. B was aware that stories of religious persecution did not go down well in the West and had a damaging impact on the USSR’s attempts to conduct foreign policy. B was therefore happy to allow the Church to act within its defined limits. The government used the Council of Religious Affairs to moniter religious services and clergy were classified according to loyalty to socialism. The Orthodox Church was expected to stick to to formal church services and support Soviet policies, especially social policy where the Church could provide facilities, such as help for the poor.

Question 47

What was the reaction of church leaders to Brezhnev’s approach?

Answer 47

Not all Church members were satisfied with this submissive attitude to the state. In 1976, a group of Orthodox priests set up the Christian Committee for the Defence of Believers’ Rights to draw attention to human rights abuses. This was a step too far for B: its leader, Father Yakunin, was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for anti-Soviet propoganda in 1979.

Question 48

Which groups were treated with less tolerance?

Answer 48

Those religious groups, such as Jews and Baptists, who were more likely to be critical of the regime. Their evangelical activites of preaching to gain converts were restricted. Prayer meetings were broken up and members dismissed from their jobs. Nonetheless, unregistered congregations continued to meet and distribute prayer books.

Question 49

Why might the influence of Islam be more problematic than that of the Russian church?

Answer 49

The Central Asian regions of the Soviet Union contained a sizeable Muslim community. Dealing with Islam was a more difficult task for the Bolsheviks as it was more engrained in to a distinct way of life and integrated within its community. The Bolsheviks feared that Islam’s links to national minorities within the USSR might threaten the social cohesion of the state.

Question 50

How did Lenin initially react to the influence of Islam?

Answer 50

In recognition of the hold of Islam, the Bolsheviks initially made little attempt to reduce the influence of sharia law courts, schools and mullahs. It was not until the mid-1920s that the government felt confident enough to attack Islamic institutions and rituals.

Question 51

What policies were introduced in the late 1920s to curb the influence of Islam?

Answer 51

Religious endowments of land were prohibited, making the upkeep of mosques more difficult.
Most mosques were closed down.
Sharia courts were phased out.
Mullahs were removed as part of the collectivisation process, often forced to publicly admit to being ‘deceivers of the people’.
The campaign against the veiling of women was launched on Internation Women’s Day in 1927 when huge gatherings of women took part in a ceremony. They cast off their veils and threw them onto a bonfire.
Ramadan fasting was condemned to interfering with work discipline.
Polygamy was prohibited on the grounds of its subjection of women.

Question 52

How did some Muslim populations react?

Answer 52

These measures resulted in a series of violent revolts in 1928-29, during which the Chechens of Southern Russia were particularly active. The unrest was only crushed through the use of Soviet armed forces. Many Muslims attempted to observe obedience to the state in public while retaining Islamic customs in private. Others joined underground brotherhoods, known as tariqat, to continue the fight for Islamic rights.

Question 53

What evidence is there to suggest the religious policies of the Communist government worked?

Answer 53

A survey commissioned by the government during the 1980s found that only 25% of the population believed in God; far fewer were engaged in any religious worship.

Question 54

What evidence is there to suggest the religious policies of the Communist government were not completely successful?

Answer 54

The influence of formal religious structures had declined considerably, but for those who remained faithful the actions of the government seemed to have intensified their religious commitment. An underground network of support developed that often provided sustenance to those whose needs were not met by the government.