Russia Theme 3: Control of the people, 1917–85 Flashcards
how were newspapers utilised by the state?
all non-socialist newspapers banned in 1917; by 1920s all non-B newspapers were eliminated. press industry was nationalised.
the two main newspapers were pravda (truth) and izvestiya (news) - pravda was the paper of the communist party, and izvestiya was the paper of the government.
the newspapers were used to promote the party agenda, and high readership was encouraged by making the papers very cheap, and widely available. they often reported on production meeting or exceeding expected targets for the economic plan of the day (this was particularly true under stalin during the push to industrialise). there would also often be reports on the advance of soviet technology and expeditions, such as soviet explorers flying over the north pole.
prohibited topics, or those that commonly received delayed reporting, included plane crashes and natural disasters. eg in july 1972 there was a vast fire outside moscow, that took 1 month to be explained by the press.
a disaster at kyshtym in 1957 where a nuclear waste tank exploded was simply never reported on. this resulted in around 200 deaths and hundreds of thousands being exposed to dangerous radiation levels.
local newspapers could publish views critical of the authorities, although there were limits on what was permissible. eg criticising minor bureaucrats or the housing situation was allowed, while criticism of party leaders was not.
how were magazines utilised by the state?
vast selection of magazines and journals were available to cater to an ever-increasing range of interests. many of these were aimed at specific groups of worers, eg farmers, soldiers or teachers. others were aimed at children, or those with a particular hobby. some areas were off limits; sex, crime and religion were not included as topics in magazines.
how was radio utilised by the state?
in 1917 radio was quite a recent development, and as a result was much easier for the bolsheviks to manipulate; there was no history of independent radio activity as there was with other forms of media. details of the revolution were broadcast in morse code, and by 1921 voice radio was being utilised.
in order to get political messgaes out, loudspeakers were installed in public places. radio was centralised though the commissariat for posts and telegraph. the government recognised the usefulness of this form of media, so it was invested in heavily and by 1922 moscow had a well developed broadcasting station. messages were often broadcast alongside classical music, to make them more palatable.
radio was also especially useful in the early days of the revolution, as messages could be broadcast to the 65% of the population who were illiterate.
apartment blocks were wired with radio reception. under brezhnev the selection of stations available to the soviet population increased from 1 to 3. one addition was a station that played foreign music (this was popular with the soviet youth).
the government attempted to restrict access to stations from other countries by mass producing cheap radios with little reception range, and threatening the arrests of people who listened to america today or the BBC, although these threats never amounted to much.
how was TV utilised by the state?
TV became a more important resource in spreading messgaes in the latter years of the USSR. in 1950 there were only around 10,000 TVs in the country. by 1958 this had risen to around 3 million. the 1960s lowered their price to be reasonable for most of the population and by the 1980s almost all of the rural population had access to a TV. much of the TV coverage was news and documentaries on the achievements of socialism and failures of capitalism. this failed to spark much enthusiasm in the population and by the 1980s the coverage had moved towards light entertainment.
there was also broadcast of local programming for regions of the USSR, often in the local languages of the region.
what were the results of the control over the media?
censorship was very widely used in soviet media, but it was not always successful. the public became used to reading between the lines. eg if there was news that a politician had a heart problem, this would be interpreted as a fall from favour. the same was true if a prominent figure was consistently not appearing in the news.
in 1953, subscribers to the soviet encyclopedia were instructed to remove the pages detailing the life of beria, and to replace them with an insert containing info on the bering sea. this was the first sign to the public that beria had been arrested.
restriction of info also became far more difficult in the 80s due to the spread of info technology like computers. technologies like these made censorship essentially impossible, however a steady flow of propaganda was used throughout the lifespan of the USSR.
what was the cult of personality in the USSR?
a COP was used to reinforce the power of individual leaders and detach the from the collective leadership that was in theory exercised by the poliburo. thus as individual leaders wanted to raise their power and status above that of their colleagues, the COP was a useful tool.
two COPs emerged in the late 20s and early 30s. there was lenin being posthumously being hailed as the hero of the revlution; pictures of him could be seen across the country. the use of this COP was to supply the government with goodwill from the public, as there was a wave of support for lenin at the time of his death. this cult of lenin persisted in all subsequent leaders, as a way of them demonstrating their supposed alleigance to the original goals of the revolution.
the cult of stalin also emerged in the 30s; stalin actively promoted himself as a the worthy defender of the work of lenin.
what were the features of the cult of stalin?
-links established between lenin and stalin, in areas where none existed; S presented as L’s closest colleague. in 1924 the slogan “stalin is the lenin of today” began to be widely used in party leadership
-trotsky removed from photos
-in the 30s, images of stalin were used, presenting him as a godlike figure; he was portrayed as a inspirational defender of socialism. many of the pictures depicted stalin with children; large part of his COP involved him being a sort of father figure.
-commonly depicted in military uniform during WW2
-stalin’s early life was often embellished or outright fictional in biographies. eg s happy family life was invented, while in reality he referred to his mother as the “old whore”. his family home in georgia was turned into a shrine.
-records of stalin’s speeches were quickly dispatched to the most remote corners of the ussr
-statues of stalin were prominent in most towns and cities - presented him as far taller than he really was.
as stalin’s rule progressed, his COP became increasingly ficticious; there were reports of government officials not recognising stalin in person due to how differently he was presented in statues, pictures etc
the COP was not entirely manufactured - there was genuine goodwill toward stalin from the soviet public, especially during and after WW2 when strong nationalist rhetoric was instilled.
what were the features of the cult of khrushchev?
-K had condemned the COP of stalin, as a monstrous glorification of a cruel leader. however this criticism had political uses for K himself, as it allowed him to push for his policy of de-stalinisation.
-COP allowed K to be seen as the most important party leader after he had originally shared leadership from 1953-56.
-using a loose COP suited his leadership style - he met soviet citizens much more regularly than stalin. visits to peasants on collectives were much good photo opportunities.
-over the course of his leadership, these photos developed into articles, books and posters praising K. he used these methods for self-publicity grew more prominent as his failures in policy became obvious.
dispite this the scale of K’s cult was never anywhere near the scale of stalin’s.
what were the features of the cult of brezhnev?
brezhnev’s COP centred around his victory from the power struggle in 1964; focus on the idea of “first among equals”. however B’s COP differed to the previous leaders, bc his COP was less a way of securing power, but rather a substitute for it. B was content with being a popular leader and appearing to be powerful without exercising nearly as much personal power as his predecessors.
B also awarded himself at least 100 medals of highly questionable legitimacy. this was commonly joked about among the soviet public; however B was not affected by this: “if they are poking fun at me, it means they like me”
B’s COP became more practical after 1975 when B’s health rapidly deteriorated. one historian claims that for the last 6 years of his life B was clinically dead. the COP served as an image of a strong leadership when the reality was very different.
what purpose did COPs serve for the party?
useful to have one figurehead for unity and loyalty, especially during difficult periods in five year plans and in times of war. COPs provided a human face for socialism - was especially useful given that socialism was an abstract concept for much of the poorly educated public. it also filled a gap that was left by restrictions on religious worship.
how was the russian orthodox church a threat to the revolution?
Bs saw religious institutions as a threat to spread of socialist ideology; seen as an alternative ideology to marxism. christian values of individualism contrasted with socialist emphasis on collectivism.
power and influence of church also posed serious threat to the power of the Bs, especially in more remote regions. church had historical ties to the tsarist regime - ideological basis to oppose it
what were the measures introduced to limit the power of the orthodox church?
-1918 - decree on freedom of conscience separated the church from the state and it lost its privileged status. lost land w/o compensation, religious education outside the home banned
-large number of churches destroyed/converted. all monasteries closed, head of church placed under house arrest in 1918
-during famine of civil war, attacks on church increasd, valuable objects seized to pay for food supplies. priests were denied the vote and rations, and were victims of red terror of 1921-22.
-league of the militant godless established established as propaganda campaign against religion. launched events to disprove existence of god, eg taking peasants for plane rides to show them that heaven was not in the sky.
-religious rituals attacked - campaign to replace baptisms with “octoberings” and new names like “ninel” (lenin backwards) were encouraged for children.
despite these measures, and the fact that 80% of churches were no longer in use or destroyed by 1930, 55% of the peasantry were still active christians around the same time.
what were the changes to religious policy under stalin?
campaign of religious repression accompanied S’s policy of collectivisation. more churches were closed, village priests were labelled as kulaks and deported.
after the german invasion in 1941 policy changed - the church supported the war effort, so there was a liberalisation and accommodation between the church and the state. some churches were reopened, and there was acknowledgement that religion could help sustain morale during the war.
what was khrushchev’s attitude towards religion?
K was fervently anti-religious - followed stalin’s initial policy of active repression, beginning in 1958. role of priests was reduced to one of spiritual advice only, 10000 churches were closed. party officials became involved in parish councils and many priests were removed from them. baptists and jews also suffered major restrictions on their right to worship.
what was brezhnev’s attitude towards religion?
B significantly relaxed the state’s policy towards religion - he was aware that restrictions on religion damaged international relations which he was attempting to promote.
the govt used the council of religious affairs to monitor religion - the orthodox church was expected to adhere to socialist social policy, such as help for the poor.
however, religion was not completely free - in 1976 the committee for defence of believers’ rights was set up by orthodox priests - the leader of this organisation was sentenced to 5 years’ imprisonment.
other religious groups like jews and baptists, who were more likely to be critical of the government, were treated with less tolerance. preaching was restricted, prayer meetings were disbanded, and members were dismissed from their jobs. however unregistered congregations continued to meet and distribute prayer books.
