Theme 3 - Key evidence Flashcards
Media and Propaganda
-Decree on Press (Nov 1917): gov could close down newspapers. By 1921, Bolsheviks has shut down 2000 newspapers and 575 printing presses leading to Pravda dominating
-Glavit established in 1922 to make censorship more efficient: works of Trotsky and others removed from libraries under Stalin
-Under K and B, magazines like ‘The Woman Worker’ became popular but often published reader’s letters exposing social issues like alcoholism
-Western magazines like Vogue became available under B and gov lost control of media
Personality Cults
-First photograph of Lenin published in Jan 1918, failed assasination attempt in Aug 1918 intesifies cult
-Stalin wtote the two histories of the CP published in 1938
-Stalin called the Vozhd (meaning leader), word had no legal significance and made Stalin’s power unlimited
-During WW2, Generalissimo used to portray stalin as a great military leader
-K based his cult on his success which made him look bad when Virgin Lands Scheme failed
-B’s cult was vein and portrayed him as a war hero (he recieved 60 medals) which very few took seriously
Religion
-Decree concerning speration of Church and State (Jan 1918) banned church schools and property but fredom of religion guaranteed in 1922 constitution
-Church leaders were murdered such as Archpriest Ivan Kochurov in Nov 1917
-Mosques forsibly closed and muslim shrines attacked in the 1920s
-Stalin attacked churches that aided resistance to collectivisation in 1920s
-Christianity re-emerged during WW2 as it increased morale, 414 churches re-opened in 1945 and anti-religious propaganda ceased, priesthood grew from 9254 in 1946 to 11,827 in 1948.
-K closed 3000 churches between 1958-64, all catholic monestaries close in 1959
-B eased attacks on religion, people who practiced a religion remained steady at 20% 1960-85
Terror under Lenin
-Cheka closed down constituent assembly in Jan 1918, and were used to enforce war communism 1917-21 by torturing and killing (The Red Terror)
-GPU instructed to surveil and deport tsarist army officers and intelectuals (1922)
-Trial of SR leaders organised in 1922, all were sentenced to death but most were imprisoned
Terror under Stalin
-Yagoda (1934-36), Yezhov (1936-38), Beria (1938-53)
-Yagoda turned NKVD against Party: Trail of the 16 in 1936 organised by Yagoda (Kamenev and Zinoviev purged)
-In 1937, the NKVD was purged and new agents recruited
-Trial of the 17 (1937) against Trotsky supporters + Trial of the 21 (1938) against Bukharin and his supporters
-The worst stage of the terror (Yezhovshchina): 1.5m arrested, 635k deported, 680k executed
-Yezhov arrested in 1939 and Trotsky assassinated in 1940
-In 1944, 460k Chechens deported to Siberia resulting in 170k deaths
-Leningrad Affair (1949) and Doctors Plot (1952-53)
Andropov as head of KGB
-Andropov head of KGB 1968-82, focused on surveillance and suppression, eg: KGB Order No. 0051
-High profile dissidents (like Solzhenitsyn) were allowed to emigrate, this was extended to 100k ‘potential trouble makers’ and Jews who wished to move to Israel
-Repressive psychiatry became used much more in 1969
-From Nov 1972, KGB gave official warnings to groups of dissidents leading to 2000 groups being prevented in early 1970s
-Helsinki Agreement in 1975 (Human Rights)
-Law and Order campaign of 1979
Monitoring of popular discontent, 1982-85
-Anti-Corruption campaign: Brezhnevites such as Shchelokov tried for corruption
-Anti-Alcohol campaign: workers could be sacked/fined for drunkeness
-Operation Trawl (anti-absenteeism): KGB agents patrolled parks looking for absent workers
All brought in under Andropov’s premiership
Art under Lenin
-Proletarian art movement or Proletkult (1917-20) encouraged by Lunacharsky, 84k members across 300 studios with weekly magazine ‘Gorn’
-Proletkult merged with ministry of education Oct 1920 as Lenin concerned it was dominated by opposition socialists
-Department of Agitation Propaganda (Agitprop) formed in 1920
-‘Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge’ unveiled as a sculpture in Oct 1918 on anniversary of the revolution, it was also turned into posters
-Cinema flourished in 1920s thanks to film makers such as Vertov and Einstein with the support of Lenin making films like ‘Strike’ (1925)
Art under Stalin
-Union of Soviet Writers established in 1932 and developed Socialist Realism, some examples of Soviet Realist art:
‘Cement’ by Fyodor Gladkov (novel, 1924)
Leonid Lavrosky’s version of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ (ballet, 1940)
Morning of Our Motherland by Fedor Shurpin (painting, 1949)
Art under Khrushchev
-1953-54, thaw following Stalin’s death, ended after Pasternak’s ‘Doctor Zhevago’ was critical of Lenin
-1956-57, thaw following Khrushchev’s secret speech
-1961-62, thaw following 22nd party congress (where it was voted that Stalin’s body should be removed from display), ended after art exhibition in which Khrushchev called Neizvestny’s work “dog shit”
-Posters like ‘The Alcoholic’ (1959) attacked non-conforming members of society
Art under Brezhnev
-The ballet became world renowned under Brezhnev, with ‘Spartacus’ recieving huge praise
-A KGB report in 1965 claimed there were 1292 anti-soviet authors publishing 10k documents
-Sinyavsky-Daniel (1966) trail found 2 authors guilty in a show trial after which they recieved 7 and 5 years in a labour camp
-7-8k dissidents recieving repressive psychiatric treatment by the early 1970s
-The Prague Spring (1968) hardened Brezhnev’s attitude towards dissident art
