History A-level Edexcel - Russia 1917-1991: from Lenin to Yeltsin - Theme 3:3a

Context: Yevgeny Zamyatin's book 'We'

- published in 1921

- portrayed modern industrial society with extreme gov control through propaganda, everyone spied on

- satirical view of direction soviet state was going in

- first book communist regime banned

State control of mass media

from Oct 1917 until 1985, state controlled media through restriction of information, censorship and nationalisation

- media seen as tool for educating masses and promoting Bolshevik agenda

Lenin control of media

- believed in centralised, state controlled media for spreading Marxism ideology and securing Bolshevik power

- Decree on Press (1917)

- used Glavlit

Stalin control of media

- media used to glorify himself and Cult of personality

- strict censorship and repression

- use media to rewrite history, erase opponents and emphasise his role in revolution

Khrushchev control of media

- used media for de-stalinisation

- continued control over media

- used media to glorify soviet achievements

- controlled liberalisation

Brezhnev control of media

- media held more conservative tone

- strict censorship remained

- media focused on stability - military and economic achievements

State control of newspapers

- Lenin viewed newspapers as mouthpiece of bourgeoisie

- Decree on Press (Nov 1917) - gov given powers to close any counter-revolutionary newspapers

- Revolutionary Tribunal of Press established in Jan 1918 to censor press

- by early 1920s, non-bolshevik papers eliminated

- printing press nationalised

- editors+ journalists were party members

- every article needed approval from Glavlit

- examples: Pravda (truth) - party newspaper, Izvestiya (news) - gov newspaper

- plane crashes and natural disasters were prohibited topics in newspapers e.g. Moscow fire (1972)

State control of magazines

- sex, pornography, crime and religion off-limits

- sports popular e.g. Sovertskii Sport

- complaints about quality and scarcity of consumer goods in consumer magazines

- Robonsita (women's magazine) - complaints about male alcoholism, home inequalities, domestic violence

Soviet control of television (Khrushchev and Brezhnev)

- used from 1950s

- by 1960s, mass production made them affordable

- provided news, documentaries on socialism achievement, ballet, children's programmes

- by 1985, 2 channels with greater emphasis on entertainment

- films focusing on communist and soviet victory and role ordinary people played

- Brezhnev used TV to focus on working people an daily lives, transmitting his speeches - backfired as showed him to be incapacitated

State control of radio

- Oct Revolution broadcasted in morse code

- Petrograd Telegraph Agency (Nov 1917) nationalised

- by 1921, programmes being broadcast

- expensive so loudspeakers installed in public places

- useful as gov could get message to illiterate, also could convey message quickly

- until 1964, only one soviet radio station - extended to 3 under Brezhnev

- foreign stations banned

Glavlit ( censorship post Civil War)

- introduced by Felix Dzerzhinsky

- GPU put in charge of policing every publication in SU

- professional censors employed

- all books investigated for anti-communist bias

- GPU compiled list of banned books

- 'book gulags' for banned books

Stalin's further censorship of media

- works of Zinoviev, Kamenev, Trotsky purged from libraries

- Lenin's works edited to remove complimentary statements about Stalin's opponents

- soviet history rewritten to remove opponent's contributions

- from 1928 - glavlit controlled access to economic data

Lenin's cult of personality

- initially, regime quite pluralistic

- Lenin did not approve of propaganda of Cult of Lenin

- busts and statues produced during Civil War in 1919

- photographed wearing a cap showing he was down to earth

- developed further after he died:

- images appeared in newspapers, statues, cinema

- used to motivate population to imitate his commitment to the revolution

- displayed body embalmed in mausoleum in Red Square

- cult of Lenin used by successive leaders to be legitimate heirs

Stalin's Cult of Personality (1920s)

- linked him to Lenin to manoeuvre for power

- present as Lenin's close colleague, Trotsky removed from pictures

- emphasised legitimacy to take over leadership

- 1925 - Tsaritsyn town renamed Stalingrad

- 'Stalin is the Lenin of today' slogan

- The myth of the two leaders - led people to believe Oct Revolution, Civil War was orchestrated by duumvirate of Lenin and Stalin

Stalin's Cult of Personality (1930s)

- reinforcing his personal dictatorship

- images used to present the 'Vozhd' or 'big hero' presenting that his power was beyond the law

- images portrayed him as benefactor, socialism defender, father figure (images with children)

- Example: Stalin posing at hydro-electric complex in 1935 - 'the morning of our motherland'

- posters of him in military uniform/ standing in front of troops during WW2 showing him to be defender of Russia

- role as Generalissimo focused on post WW2 presenting him as military genius

- biographies embellished his early life

- 'History of the All-Union communist Party' (1938) gave Stalin prominent role in policy developments

- poems used e.g. 'Song about Stalin'

- record of speeches

- statues erected

- films in cinemas

- by 1953, many towns renamed after him

- mentioned in the national anthem

Khrushchev's Cult of Personality

- condemned Stalin's cult in Secret Speech (1956)

- revived Cult of Lenin - 'Lenin lives!'

- purpose was to move away from Stalinism and remind Soviet citizens that gov was founded on Lenin's revolution not Stalin's terror

- more personal meetings with citizens

- presented as respected statesman, WW2 hero, Lenin's disciple, great reformer, responsible for successes

- adulation through articles, books, posters

- appointed son-in-law as editor of Isvestiya

- self-publicity in radio, cinema, television

- not same scale as Stalin's

Brezhnev's Cult of personality

- wanted to emerge as 'first among equals' in power struggle

- reluctant to use power to bring about change (cult gave him symbols of power without having to utilise it)

- presented him as great Leninist, military hero, dedicated to ensuring world peace, true man of the people

- awarded endless medals

- 'if they are poking fun at me, it means they like me'

- cult became more practical element from 1975 after his health deteriorated

- became a tool with which he was mocked as exaggerated his priase

Comparing Cults of Personalities

- Stalin's more developed+larger scale than successors

- Stalin's reinforced personal dictatorship from 1930s whereas Khrushchev and Brezhnev did not use them in same way

- Stalin's inspired fear and respect which the others' did not

- all linked themselves to Lenin to legitimise authority

- all helped to stabilise regime by making leader focus for unity

- all wanted to replace tradition/religion with secular 'religion'

- all were used to reinforce personal power to some extent

Advantages of the cult for the party

- useful to have unifying figure during tumultuous periods of 1930s and war

- provided human face for abstract concept (socialism)

- provided figurehead for population to identify with state

- made use of traditional Russian attitudes (Tsarist regime)

- filled a gap present after restrictions on religion

Bolsheviks and religion

- Karl Marx - 'religion is the opium of the masses'

- saw religion as threat to imposition of socialist ideology as provided alternative

- revolution would liberate working people from delusions of religion and capitalist exploitation

- christianity emphasis on right of individual contrasted socialism

Attacks on Russian Orthodox Church under Lenin

- Lenin critical as church ally of Tsar

- Decree on Freedom of Conscience (1918)

- Decree on Land (1917) gave peasants right to seize Church land

- Nov 1917 - archpriest murdered outside Petrograd

- Jan 1918 - Metropolitan tortured and shot in Kiev

- Bolsheviks excommunicated in Jan --> priests massacred

- Nov 1918 - cheka ordered to mass execute priests

- churches destroyed/converted to other purposes

- all monasteries closed by end of 1918

- Patriarch Tikhon (head of Orthodox Church) under house arrest

- during civil war attacks increases

- priests deprived of vote and denied rations during civil war

- 1925, League of Militant Godless established

Decree on Freedom of Conscience (1918)

- separated Orthodox Church for status losing its privileged status

- church deprived of land without compensation

- church publications outlawed

- religious education outside the house banned

- campaign to replace baptisms with 'octoberings'

- new names e.g. Ninel encouraged

League of the Militant Godless

- part of propaganda campaign against religion

- events to disprove g-d e.g. peasants taken on plane rides to show no heaven in sky

- weeping icons ridiculed

Changes to religious policy under Stalin

- during collectivisation, more churches closed and village priests labelled as kulaks

- NKVD attacked priests, intellectuals, Jadids and Sufi groups

- attacks during Great Purge

- changed after 1941 as church supported war effort - patriarchate re-established, seminaries to train priests

- religion could sustain morale and provide comfort during war

- anti-religious propaganda ceased in war, censorship of religious magazines ended after war, churches reopened after war

Khrushchev's anti-religious campaign (1958-64)

- mid 1950's-protestant church prophesying end to soviet regime

- priests limited to one off spiritual advice only

- parish council under control of party officials

- closed churches

- anti religious propaganda and magazines reintroduced

- space programme used-Gagarin claimed he had seen no g-d

- religious women targeted

- baptists and jews also restricted in worship

Brezhnev's policies towards the Church

- active persecution had damaging effect on foreign policy

- advocated spreading atheism philosophy rather than attacking religious organisations

- Council of Religious Affairs monitored religious services - Orthodox Church expected to stick to formal church services and support Soviet policies, especially social policies

- 1976 - Orthodox priests set up Christian Committee for Defence of Believers' rights - Brezhnev shut down

- supported anti-American Isalmic groups as seeking allies in middle east

- Jews and Baptists less tolerated as they were more critical of regime

Dealing with Islam initially

- Islam more engrained into distinct way of life

- Initially, little attempt to reduce influence of sharia law courts, schools and mullahs

Attack on Islam (mid 1920's and onwards)

- religious land endowments prohibited (hard to upkeep mosques)

- most mosques were closed down

- pilgrimages discouraged

- sharia courts phased out

- mullahs removed in collectivisation

- campaign against veiling of women (1927)

- ramadan condemned

- polygamy prohibited

Violent revolts (1928-29) against these measures

Results of religious policy

- increase in atheism

- decreased religious worship

- decline of influence of formal religious structures

- underground network of support developed

Comparing treatment of religion

- all remained ideologically opposed to religion and its institutions

- all engaged in persecution of religious personnel

- all attempted to dismantle infrastructure of organised religion

- all used propaganda/education to weaken attachment to religion

- Lenin funded Islamic school and encouraged muslims to join party - not the same as the others

- Stalin's pragmatic alliance with church during WW2

- Brezhnev more tolerant to western church as religious persecution alienated western opinion