propaganda and censorship Flashcards
official culture aim
aim: all available info to be brought into line with the outlook of stalin and the communist party
groups competing for influence and holding conflicting and alternative views
communist party, nkvd secret police, the army, officials running the economy and setting targets, pesatns who ran away from collective farms, workers who tried to get factories running in ways benefitting them, members of middle class from tsarist times (who reinvented themselves to survive), members of minority and ethnic groups.
socialst realism
attempt to cnotrol culture in art world. 1920s - socialst realism emerged. 1930s - most infulential style of art in ussr
1st reason to start purges
needed to establish totalitarian dictatoriship
not everything fit in line with stalins will
couldn bring into control every source of idea
which decree stalin published in 1932
what happened shortly after
on the reconstruton of literary and art organisation
moscow and leningrad union of artisists established
outstanding socialst realist artists
kuzma petrov-vodkin
isaak broksky
alexander samokhvalov
alexander deineka
yuri pimenov
what happened in 1930s
cutural revolution
stalins attempt to drive ussr forward and get rid of old ways of life
what did cultural revolution do to schools
school students encouraged to denounce teachers if they lacked enthusiasm for communism
end to school discipline, uniforms and exams
workers given more ecnouragement in education than middle class people
middle class young people kicked out of school
what had the cultural revolutin done for stalin
old fashioned teachers and middle class students driven out
new generation of educated workers who owed everything to communist party
how did stalin restore order after cultural revolution
school uniforms reintroduced
girls expected to braid hear in traditional pig tails
fees charged for top senior school or higher education
new textbooks produced - purged people erased from history, stalin presented as lenins right hand man
core curriculum in maths, science, foreign language, histry and geogrpahy - designed to convey stalins view of life and world
government attacks on orthodox christianity
orthodox church faced pressure from communists since 1917 - especially as they supported tsar and whites
many chruches shut down
priests shot or imprisond
persecution increased
what happened to colleges for training priests
closed. religious pulications and reigious education for children banned
what happened to the churches by 1941
most shut down. by 1941, 500 left open. 1914 - 54000 were open.
notable churches shut down
alexander nevsky cathedral in baku shut demolished 1937
kazan cathedral in moscow demolised 1936
cathedral of christ the saviour in moscow demolished 1931
attacks on islam
attacked as muslims had loyalty to religion existing outside of ussr
told to stop using arabic script in writing
non russian speakers forced to speak russian
local leaders shot - accused of being nationalists wanting independence from ussr
mosques, muslim schools, islamic courts shut down
campaigns against women wearing the veil took place in uzbekistan
going on hajj to mecca banned
muslim nomads forced to join collective farms
attacks on judaism
though anti semitism illegal - religious jews still faced discrimination
stalin set up an area in far east called jewish autonomous oblast - as oposition towards jews wanting to emigrate to middle east
hope was jews wuld go there - wasnt a success.
local jewish leaders fel victim to purges
attacks on buddhism
buddhist tecahers expelled or arrested as ‘japaese spies’
among kalmyk people of southern russia, buddhist monasteries shut down, monks and livstock herders sent to siberia, religious text destroyed
media censorship
everyting had to b positive about stalin and communist party
all problems in ussr blamed by wrecking by enemies of the people’
designed to make people accept purges were necessary and problems werent government fault
extensivity of media censorship
writings of purged people disappeared
e.g trotskys work banned, anyone caught owning it - ‘trotskyist oppositionist’
government body called glavit controlled publication of economic data.
only views of government could be seen
consequences of media censrship
no other sources of info made people believe what they read and saw
many had limited education - didnt have confidence or intellect to question ‘official truth’
not everyone believed what they were told - rumours whispers and half truths sspread
ussr became country difficult to verify or chck anything - safest to accept what u were told
short term and long term consequences of media censorship
short term - increased stalin power
long term - bad for development of soviet union - people couldnt talk about state failures
what hapened 1936
soviet constitution
rights promised in soviet constitution
dierct elections of government
a job
end of discrimination against ‘class-enemies’
leisure
paid holidays
health care
right to vote from age 18
secret ballot
housing
education
freedom of religion
freedom of press and right to meet
protection for individuals and theri homes from interference and mistreatment
what message did the constitution send
ussr transformed since tme of 1924 constitution
aimed to increase support among ordianry people
what did secret ballot make ussr seem like
made it seem democratic
way of inspiring support from citizens
encouraging people to discuss constitution, contribute ideas and make them believe they were involved in decision making
what did constituiton help persudae people about
persuaded peope with middle class origins to support ussr
caliemd they were no lnoger facing discrimination ofr their origins
