Theme 3 Media and Propaganda

Question 1

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

Answer 1

• Decree in 1917 banned all non-socialist newspapers. By 1920s, all non-Bolshevik newspapers were eliminated. All editors for newspapers were government employees.

Question 2

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

Answer 2

-Pravda (Truth) and Izvestiya (news) were popular newspapers of the time. Pravda was the newspaper of the party and Izvestiya was for the government.
- Newspapers were cheap and readily available for people to buy. Pravda had a circulation of 10.7 million in 1983.

Question 3

What details did the newspapers contain?

Answer 3

-Both heavily used propaganda and highlighted the achievements of government and and socialism.
- Spread party-mindedness (partiinost).

Question 4

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

Answer 4

Featured the successes of communism such as high production figures or exceeding targets for the economic plans.
Showed successful expeditions to the Arctic and Northern Russia for gold and oil.
Prohibited topics included: plane crashes and natural disasters. A vast fire in Moscow was only released 1 month after in 1972.

Question 5

What is the difference between national newspapers and local newspapers?

Answer 5

Local newspapers would publish views critical of authority (with some limits).
It was acceptable to print criticisms of minor bureaucrats but not party leaders.
National newspapers only published things passed by the government.

Question 6

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

Answer 6

Magazines used to cater to more people’s interests. Aimed at specific workers such as farmers, soldiers or teachers, young children.
Areas of limits were: Sex, pornography, crime and religion.

Question 7

What was the famous sports magazine?

Answer 7

The magazine Red Sport (1924) was replaced by the Sovetskii Sport in 1946. It gained respect for being highly accurate sports coverage despite featuring political news.

Question 8

Why was radio an easier form of media to control?

Answer 8

By 1917, it was a new development and therefore easy for the Bolsheviks to control.

Question 9

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

Answer 9

Made it easier to spread messages across the whole soviet union and spread propaganda.
Voice radio began by 1921.
Moscow had a broadcasting station by 1922.

Question 10

How was the radio used during the war?

Answer 10

They could quickly convey messages from the front line through radio during Germany’s invasion in WW2.
Stalin gave speeches to motivate Soviet population even when German’s were close to Moscow.

Question 11

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

Answer 11

There was more freedom with a newly opened 3rd radio channel under Brezhnev. This played more foreign music for the soviet Youth. Despite the governments attempts to restrict these channels, they rarely succeeded. They would attempt to jam foreign broadcasts and threaten to arrest those listening.

Question 12

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

Answer 12

Between 1950 and 1980, the spread of those owning TVs increased substantially. By 1980, even those in the rural areas owned a TV set due to mass production in 1960s.

Question 13

How was television used by the Communists?

Answer 13

Government stations provided news, documentaries on socialism, cultural programmes on ballet and arts, children programmes and feature films.
It all presented the Soviet Union as being happy whilst the capitalists had crime, homelessness and violence.

Question 14

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

Answer 14

. In the 1970s the Soviet singer Eduard Khil (Trolclo) became a noted and popular celebrity, although his style not to everyones taste.
Local languages began to be used in areas around the USSR
Folk dancing shown which showed freedom from national minorities.

Question 15

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

Answer 15

Censorship and restriction was used heavily but not always successfully. Soviet people began to read in between the lines to find actual news e.g. “heart problems” meant someone had fallen out of favour.
Favoured and rising stars gained more air time and news space.
Stories were changed to suit the government’s ideology.

Question 16

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

Answer 16

After the 1980s, video cameras were being made which allowed people to recording and sharing their own information easier. This would have likely wanted to restrict the populations access to information.

Question 17

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

Answer 17

Newspapers and Radio were the main ways to quickly sell and distribute propaganda to the public. They were mostly all governmentally owned and therefore nearly always included mostly revolutionary ideas and the successes of socialism. They were also both readily available by the cheap prices of Newspapers + radios.