How did the Soviet government exercise control over the media, propaganda and religion?

What was Soviet mass media characterised by?

state control through nationalisation, restriction of information and censorship

Did the purpose of control change?

no but had to adapt to changes in technology

What did Lenin view newspapers as?

mouthpieces of the bourgeoisie

What did the November 1917 decree do?

banned all non-socialist newspapers

When were all non-Bolshevik papers eliminated?

by the early 1920s

What happened when the printing press was nationalised?

access was restricted to those working in 'the interests of the workers and the Socialist order'

What were editors and journalists members of?

the Union of Soviet Journalists - employees of the government and expected to be Party members

Who did every article need approval from?

Glavlit, the censorship office

What were the daily newspapers that were used as instruments of propaganda, agitation and organisation?

- Pravda (Truth) - the paper of the Communist Party
- Izvestiya (News) - paper of the government

What was the guiding principle of the Soviet press?

partiinost (party-mindedness)

What was an example of the newspapers being cheap to buy and widely available?

copies were posted on boards along pavements and at workplaces were they were free to read

What was the circulation of Pravda in 1983 and what paper was more popular with 13.5 million?

- 10.7 million
- less than the paper of government-controlled trade unions Trud (Labour)

What did the newspapers carry and what were favoured topics?

- endless details about the achievements of socialism → production figures, exceeding targets esp. during 1930s and Stalin's industrialisation
- favoured = successful expeditions to Arctic and northern Russia and triumph of technology over nature (aviators flew over North Pole presented as conquering heroes)

What topics were prohibited or had delayed reporting in newspapers?

events such as plane crashes and natural disasters

When was the July 1972 fire outside Moscow reported?

1 month after it happened

What event was completely ignored and when did people become suspicious of it?

nuclear waste storage tank exploded at Kyshtym (200 fatalities and 270,000 exposed to dangerous radiation levels), only became suspicious when map readers noticed over 30 small communities disappeared 1958-91

Which papers were more likely to publish critical views and what limits were imposed?

local newspapers
- acceptable to print letters criticising minor bureaucrats but Party leaders unacceptable
- complaints about poor housing became increasingly common subject in the 1970s

What was the status of radio in 1917?

new technology which was easy to influence - broadcast news of Revolution in morse code

When were voice radio and programmes broadcast?

by 1921

What did the Spoken Newspaper of the Russian Telegraph Agency feature?

news and propaganda rather than music

How did the Bolsheviks tackle the radio receivers being expensive?

installed speakers in public places, factories, clubs to spread message (group listening = collective response)

How was control of radio communications centralised?

through the Commissariat for Posts and Telegraph (high levels of investment)

When did Moscow have a well-developed broadcasting station?

by 1922

What did broadcasts reach?

the 65% illiterate population

What did radio convey in the 1920s?

the official message alongside light or classical music

When was the speed of radio broadcasting invaluable?

during German invasion of 1941 - Stalin gave a speech live from Red Square to commemorate Revolution with German forces less than 50 miles from Moscow = reassured soldiers

How were most new apartment blocks wired?

for radio reception

When was there only one radio station and when did this increase?

until 1964, 3 under Brezhnev including Radio Maiak (Lighthouse) which played some foreign music which was popular with the youth

How did the Communists prevent listening to Western radio stations such as Voice of America or BBC?

mass production of cheap radios with limited reception range, but also relied on jamming foreign broadcasts and threatening to arrest those who were listening to them (threats rarely successed, but limits on information restricted levels of public debate)

How many television sets were there in 1950, and in 1958?

1950 = 10,000
1958 = almost 3 million

When was TV a key method of getting messages to the public?

by 1950s

When did most of the rural population have access to TV?

by the early 1950s

What did government TV channels/stations involve?

mix of news, documentaries on achievements and cultural programmes on ballet and classical arts

What else was provided on Soviet TV stations?

children's programmes and feature films

On TV, how was Soviet and capitalist life presented?

life in Soviet Union = joyous
life under capitalism = rife with crime, homelessness and violence (failed to spark enthusiasm)

By 1985 what was television like?

two television channels and greater emphasis on light entertainment

What Soviet singer became a popular celebrity in the 1970s?

Eduard Khil (Trololo) became noted and celebrity due to easy-listening style

What were more positive features of TV?

broadcast of local programming, often in local languages and folk dancing

Who were magazines aimed at?

- many aimed at specific groups of workers, such as farmers, soldiers or teachers
- others aimed at young children, sports fans and those with a particular hobby

What areas of interest were off limits? (magazines)

sex, pornography, crime and religion

Newspapers often gave sports coverage little attention so what was the gap for sports fans filled by?

Red Sport, established in 1924, after after 1946 by its successor Sovetskii Sport (hugely popular and gained respect for its accuracy and honesty in sports coverage, even if it had to carry political news praising government on the front page)

Why was cult of personality used?

- reinforced power of leader and detach them from the socialist idea of a 'collective leadership'
- qualities and achievements highlighted (often reached ridiculous levels)

What were the advantages of cult of personality for the Party

- reinforced legitimacy of the Communist Party
- provided a 'human face for socialism'
- provided a focus for unity
- replacement for religion

How was Lenin portrayed and used? (cult of personality)

- hailed as hero of Revolution
- used to motivate population and imitate commitment to Revolution
- had a wave of support
- used by successive leaders to support their claim to be legitimate heirs of Lenin and socialist order

What were examples of strategies praising Lenin?

- images in newspapers, statues and cinema
- embalming for display in mansoleum in Red Square in Moscow
- Petrograd renamed Leningrad in 1924

What happened in the first phase of the cult of Stalin?

attempts made to highlight links between Stalin and Lenin - presented as closest colleague, hero of war and saviour (Trotsky removed from photos)

What happened in 1923?

Tsaritsyn renamed Stalingrad

What slogan did rank and file members use about Stalin?

'Stalin is the Lenin of today'

What were images of Stalin used in the 1930s?

‘the big hero' or Vozhd (boss) turned Georgian peasant into image of a Hollywood star

What did images of Stalin portray him as?

a benefactor, inspiration and defender of socialism, painted with achievements and as a father figure (children looking up, holding flowers etc)

What was common during WWII? (cult of Stalin)

Stalin posters in military uniform, in front of masses of Soviet troops and military hardware (defender of Mother Russia)

How was Stalin presented?

a man of the people (images as a peasant, worker etc was ironic but always presented as down-to-earth in plain clothes and smoking a pipe)
sheer number of images = intimidating

What did official biographies of Stalin do?

embellished and often invented Stalin's early life as him being a devoted son (truth = only saw mother 3 times in 40 years and often referred to as an 'old whore')

What did the official History of the All-Union Communist Party ('Short Course') do?

gave Stalin a prominent role in all policy developments since Lenin's death and showed him as essential in saving Revolution (pure HAGIOGRAPHY)

When and who wrote an official biography of Stalin?

G. Alexandrov in 1945

What titles was Stalin given?

'Brilliant Genius of Humanity' and 'Gardener of Human Happiness'

What were distributed everywhere? (cult of Stalin)

records of speeches

What were statues of Stalin like?

made him out to be tall (only 5ft 6), gave him stature of Tsar Alexander III

How were films used in cult of Stalin and give an example

to highlight his prominent role in events → film Fall of Berlin 1950 depicted his role in fall of Berlin in 1945 - welcome his arrival by plane whereas in reality visited after the war and rarely flew

When was Stalin not recognised?

in the late 1940s by government officials

By 1953, many dams were renamed after Stalin → give an example of a dam

Volga-Don Canal was littered with statues of him

Was Stalin's cult of personality entirely manufactured?

No - by end of WWII popularity grown - even those who disliked him respected him, told story that Gulag prisoners cried when he died

When did Khrushchev condemn Stalin's use of a cult of personality and what use did it have?

in his Secret Speech - criticised its glorification at the expense of the Soviet people's vote → had political use (helped with de-Stalinisation)

When did Khrushchev's cult of personality allow him to be seen as the more important Party leader?

when he shared power with Malenkov after 1953

Why did a cult of personality suit Khrushchev's style of leadership?

he personally met Soviet citizens e.g visiting peasants on collectives

How was Khrushchev adulated and when did this increase?

articles, books, posters, radio, cinema and TV
→ increased when he appointed his son-in-law (Alexei Adzhubei) as editor of Isvestiya
→ more desperate tone as failures of policy mounted

What did publications about Khrushchev/ his cult reflect and was it ever on Stalin's scale

reflected egotistical personality
no never - no commissioned biography

What did Brezhnev seek to emerge as in power struggle with who?

'first among equals', Kosygin and Podgorny

How was the cult of Brezhnev a substitute for real power and why?

he was reluctant to use power to bring about change (gave him symbols of power), content with the trappings of power

What did a Soviet joke suggest about Brezhnev?

he was having his chest expanded to accommodate more medals

How many medals did Brezhnev have and what did this include?

at least 100 - Lenin Prize for Literature for his memoirs

Why did the cult of Brezhnev have a practical element after 1975?

provided appearance of leadership (was very ill)

What did historian Roy Medvedev claim about Brezhnev?

for the last 6 years of his life he was clinically dead

Brezhnev
" I T A P F A M, I M T L M "

"If they are poking fun at me, it means they like me"

Why were the Bolsheviks atheists who dismissed religion as little more than superstitious nonsense?

-threat to socialist ideology (alternative to Marxism)

- emphasis on individual contrasted with collective mentality of socialism 

Who did Lenin particularly hate?

priests

Why was there a concern of the Russian Orthodox Church being a threat to the imposition of socialist values and government control?

- tied closely to old order → tsar had been its head 

- majority of population took word of spiritual leaders seriously

What did the Decree on the Freedom of Conscience (1918) do?

- separated Orthodox Church from state and it lost its status 

- Church deprived of land without compensation, publications outlawed and all religious education outside the home banned

What happened to churches and monasteries under Lenin?

- large number of churches destroyed or converted to other purposes

- government closed all monasteries

When was the head of the Orthodox Church under house arrest?

(Patriarch Tikhon) by the end of 1918

What happened during the Civil War? (religion)

- attacks on Church increased and valuable objects seized to help pay for food supplies

- priests deprived of vote, denied rations and victims of 1921-22 Red Terror

By 1923, how many bishops and priests had been killed?

28 bishops and more than 1,000 priests

In 1921, the League of the Militant Godless was established as part of a propaganda campaign, what did it include?

- launched events to disprove existence of God including taking peasants on plane rides to show them heaven isn’t in the sky

- weeping icons ridiculed (demonstrations of how they could be operated by rubber squeezers)

What happened to religious rituals?

attacked - campaign to replace baptisms with ‘Octoberings’, new names such as Revolutsiya and Ninel (Lenin backwards) encouraged

What did the scale of attacks on religious beliefs and practices do?

led many Church leaders to seek an accommodation with the regime 

What did Patriarch Tikhon’s death in 1925 do?

opened the way for Metropolitan Sergei of Moscow to call on Church members to support the government

What did the tone after Patriarch Tikhon’s death result in?

less strident attacks by the government against the Church 

When were 4/5 of all village churches no longer operating?

by the end of 1930

What did surveys of the peasantry in the mid-1920s reveal?

55% were still active Christians

What accompanied Stalin’s policy of collectivisation?

- a campaign of religious repression

- most churches closed and village priests labelled as ‘kulaks’ and deported 

When we’re further attacks on religion and by 1939 how many bishops were still at liberty?

during Great Purges of 1936-30

only 12/163

How did religious policy change after the 1941 invasion?

- church supported war effort = accommodation between Church and state

- more liberal approach, patriarchate re-established, some churches reopened and new seminaries set up to train priests

- acknowledgement religion could play role in sustaining morale

What did Khrushchev pursue? (religion)

- anti-religious campaign 

- a programme of active repression (similar to pre-War Stalin)

What happened in 1961?

- role of priests limited to one of spiritual advice only

- parish councils placed under control of Party officials - often dismissed priests on grounds they were no longer needed 

Within 4 years (1961-65), how many of the existing churches were closed?

10,000

What happened to surviving priests, Baptists and Jews?

- surviving priests often harassed by secret police

- Baptists and Jews suffered from severe restrictions on right to congregate and worship

Why did active persecution of the Church decline after fall of Khrushchev 1964?

- Brezhnev aware stories of persecution did not go down well in West - damaging impact on USSR’s attempts to conduct foreign policy

- allowed Church to act within its defined limits 

Where contained a sizeable Muslim community?

the Central Asian regions of the Soviet Union

Why was dealing with Islam a more difficult task?

- more engrained into a distinct way of life

- integrated within the community 

- feared links to national minorities within USSR (nationalism) = threatened social cohesion 

What did the Bolsheviks initially make little attempt to reduce the influence of?

sharia law courts, schools and mullahs