State control of mass media & propoganda

Question 1

What did Lenin introduce to control press

Answer 1

Decree on the Press (1917) - gave Gov the power to close any newspapers that supported ‘counter revolution’

Revolutionary Tribunal of the Press (1918) - State = power to censor press = editors who committed ‘crimes against the people’ could be punished by Cheka

All Russia Telegraph Agency (ROSTA) (1918) = state control of all advertising, all news reportings

Glavlit (1922) - Employed professional censors to examine all books (old or new) for anti communist ideas

Question 2

How did Lenin control Propaganda?

Answer 2

it was very experimental

Gustav Klustis - used photomontage to create posters advertising Lenin’s electrification plan

ROSTA - Produced cartoon films to support the revolution

Question 3

How did Stalin use Media?

Answer 3

Censorship tightened, works of Stalins opps banned

Lenin’s own works edited to remove complimentary statement about Stalin opps

1928 Glavlit controlled access to economic data

-Soviet media forbidden to publish story about natural disasters, even weather, suicides to make it look better

Question 4

How did Stalin use propaganda

Answer 4

Focused on idealised images of workers and peasants happily building socialism in modern factories and farms

Question 5

What was media like under Khrushchev?

Answer 5

Relaxed censorship, popular magazines encouraged to publish readers letters:
Can express own thoughts, e.g Women’s magazine Rabotnitsa exposed profound social problems

Propaganda changed too - rather than idealised images of works = Satirical cartoons, Krokodil (poking fun at men who arrived at parades drunk or late)

Question 6

What was media like under Brezhnev?

Answer 6

Focused on victory of 2nd World War

Soviet cinema made films set in contemporary Russia focussing on fashionable citizens in luxurious apartments. Grew public desire for fashion

Rich Russians exposed to Western ideas through Western magazine (available on the black market)