Theme 3 Control of the people
Media propaganda, religion
Lenin viewed the press and the media as central to advancing in the revolution and ensuring
communists retained power,
● Decree on press announced in november 1917, which gave the government
emergency powers to close down any newspapers which supported a counter
revolution
● Also created a state monopoly of advertising in Nov 1917 meaning only government
could establish public adverts
● Established the Cheka, a political police force tasked with defending the revolution.
They could close down opposition newspapers, raiding anarchist organisations. They
could torture, imprison or kill anyone they deemed a threat. E.g in Kremenchuk, in
ukraine church leaders were impaled on spikes
● Initally Lenin closed down papers supported by Tsar and Provisional Government.
However, by 1921, the communists closed down 2000 newspapers.
Early Propaganda
Inital Cult of Lenin
● Type of early propaganda that emerged in the regime that Lenin did not like.
● Pictures of lenin were a form of propaganda used to promote the Government in
1918 20
● January 1918, first publication of the first photograph of Lenin
● Following an assasination attempt, Lenin was described as miraculous, and
emphasis on his willingness ot suffer and sacrifice his life made Lenin/ into a modern
day Christ
● During civil war, despite resource shortages, statues of Lenin were put up and
photographs with titles like ‘ leader of the revolutionary proleteriat’,
● Lenin was uncomfortable with the cult, but he understood the importance and
allowed it to grow as it gave the Russian people someone the could support.
Media and NEP
● Leader of soviet political police force , Felix Dzerhinsky, introduced Glavlit in 1922, a
new organisation which oversaw a more systematic censorship regime,
● Glavlit wor ked on the following principles: The GPU was put in charge of policing
publication available in the Soviet Union, new professional censors were employed,
all books investigated for anti-communist bias and the compiled a list of banned
books
● As a result ‘book gulags’ were set up to house the banned books and access was
restricted to only senior party members
Stalin’s Media
● Under stalin, censorship was tightened even further
● Works of zinvoviev, Kamanev, Trotsky and other leading revolutionaries had to be
purged from soviet libraries. Even Lenin’s works had to be ‘edited’. Even Stalin’s
works had to be ‘edited’ to remove indication that he was once close to them.
● From 1928, Glavlit controlled access to economic data
, ● Soviet media was forbidden from publishing stories about natural disasters, suicides,
industrial accidents or even/ bad weather in order to create impression that Soviet
Union was a place were good things happened.
Growing Media Pluralism
● Under stalin and Brezhnev the media changed, as part of their attempts to create a
new consumer society magazines profilerated, as did radio and arts
Media under Khruschev
● magazines: encouraged to publish readers letters to create a consumer society, but
these exposed long-term issues within soviet society with complaints about scarcity
of consumer goods, male alcoholism, domestic inequality.
● Khrushchevs media responded to by making its own campaign against worthless
men and their lack or devotion to communism. Cartoons in Krokodil, a satiral
magazine poked fun at men who arrived to parades drunk or late
● Cinema focused on traditional themes like soviet victory in WW2, or communist
victory in the civil war, focusing on the role played by ordinary people.
● Television took off in3 supporting the regime: space race triumph in the 1960s,
focusing on Valentina Tereshkova the first women in space who was born on a
collective farm, tv programmes regularly featured model workers on farms to drive an
increase in labour productivity.
● censorship was relaxed during his cultural thaws
Media under Brezhnev
● Nostalgic and focused on victory in ww2 in posters, books and films
● Fillms set in contemporary russia became popular, focusing on fashionable citizen
with luxury goods that provoked demand for consumer goods.
● Brezhnev was centre of most media coverage as his speeches were transmitted in
full (in an attempt to keep tight control of the footage of the war in Afghanistan to
keep horrors hidden)
● by late 1970s cameras showed he was physically and mentally incapacitated,
struggling to make speeches so viewers could see his decline.
● lost control of print media KGB continued to police political publications but western
magazines became increasingly available that undermined faith in the soviet system
by showing the quality of western goods/ lifestyles.
Personality Cults
Lenin’s cult of personality
● Present him as a prophet leading the soviet people to a better future: e.g. following
an assassination attempt his survival was described as 'miraculous' and emphasised
his willingness to suffer and sacrifice his life for his people
Stalin’s cult of personality
● emphasized he was the legitimate ruler of the soviet union as was the 'Lenin of today'
and was presented as a visionary leading the way of socialism
● The 'Myth of two leaders led the soviet people to believe the October revolution,
victory in civil war and the foundation of the soviet union was mastered by both lenin
and stalin
● required the manipulation of history and removal of trotsky and other leaders from the
story- altering photographs, publication in 1938 of two histories of the communist
Media propaganda, religion
Lenin viewed the press and the media as central to advancing in the revolution and ensuring
communists retained power,
● Decree on press announced in november 1917, which gave the government
emergency powers to close down any newspapers which supported a counter
revolution
● Also created a state monopoly of advertising in Nov 1917 meaning only government
could establish public adverts
● Established the Cheka, a political police force tasked with defending the revolution.
They could close down opposition newspapers, raiding anarchist organisations. They
could torture, imprison or kill anyone they deemed a threat. E.g in Kremenchuk, in
ukraine church leaders were impaled on spikes
● Initally Lenin closed down papers supported by Tsar and Provisional Government.
However, by 1921, the communists closed down 2000 newspapers.
Early Propaganda
Inital Cult of Lenin
● Type of early propaganda that emerged in the regime that Lenin did not like.
● Pictures of lenin were a form of propaganda used to promote the Government in
1918 20
● January 1918, first publication of the first photograph of Lenin
● Following an assasination attempt, Lenin was described as miraculous, and
emphasis on his willingness ot suffer and sacrifice his life made Lenin/ into a modern
day Christ
● During civil war, despite resource shortages, statues of Lenin were put up and
photographs with titles like ‘ leader of the revolutionary proleteriat’,
● Lenin was uncomfortable with the cult, but he understood the importance and
allowed it to grow as it gave the Russian people someone the could support.
Media and NEP
● Leader of soviet political police force , Felix Dzerhinsky, introduced Glavlit in 1922, a
new organisation which oversaw a more systematic censorship regime,
● Glavlit wor ked on the following principles: The GPU was put in charge of policing
publication available in the Soviet Union, new professional censors were employed,
all books investigated for anti-communist bias and the compiled a list of banned
books
● As a result ‘book gulags’ were set up to house the banned books and access was
restricted to only senior party members
Stalin’s Media
● Under stalin, censorship was tightened even further
● Works of zinvoviev, Kamanev, Trotsky and other leading revolutionaries had to be
purged from soviet libraries. Even Lenin’s works had to be ‘edited’. Even Stalin’s
works had to be ‘edited’ to remove indication that he was once close to them.
● From 1928, Glavlit controlled access to economic data
, ● Soviet media was forbidden from publishing stories about natural disasters, suicides,
industrial accidents or even/ bad weather in order to create impression that Soviet
Union was a place were good things happened.
Growing Media Pluralism
● Under stalin and Brezhnev the media changed, as part of their attempts to create a
new consumer society magazines profilerated, as did radio and arts
Media under Khruschev
● magazines: encouraged to publish readers letters to create a consumer society, but
these exposed long-term issues within soviet society with complaints about scarcity
of consumer goods, male alcoholism, domestic inequality.
● Khrushchevs media responded to by making its own campaign against worthless
men and their lack or devotion to communism. Cartoons in Krokodil, a satiral
magazine poked fun at men who arrived to parades drunk or late
● Cinema focused on traditional themes like soviet victory in WW2, or communist
victory in the civil war, focusing on the role played by ordinary people.
● Television took off in3 supporting the regime: space race triumph in the 1960s,
focusing on Valentina Tereshkova the first women in space who was born on a
collective farm, tv programmes regularly featured model workers on farms to drive an
increase in labour productivity.
● censorship was relaxed during his cultural thaws
Media under Brezhnev
● Nostalgic and focused on victory in ww2 in posters, books and films
● Fillms set in contemporary russia became popular, focusing on fashionable citizen
with luxury goods that provoked demand for consumer goods.
● Brezhnev was centre of most media coverage as his speeches were transmitted in
full (in an attempt to keep tight control of the footage of the war in Afghanistan to
keep horrors hidden)
● by late 1970s cameras showed he was physically and mentally incapacitated,
struggling to make speeches so viewers could see his decline.
● lost control of print media KGB continued to police political publications but western
magazines became increasingly available that undermined faith in the soviet system
by showing the quality of western goods/ lifestyles.
Personality Cults
Lenin’s cult of personality
● Present him as a prophet leading the soviet people to a better future: e.g. following
an assassination attempt his survival was described as 'miraculous' and emphasised
his willingness to suffer and sacrifice his life for his people
Stalin’s cult of personality
● emphasized he was the legitimate ruler of the soviet union as was the 'Lenin of today'
and was presented as a visionary leading the way of socialism
● The 'Myth of two leaders led the soviet people to believe the October revolution,
victory in civil war and the foundation of the soviet union was mastered by both lenin
and stalin
● required the manipulation of history and removal of trotsky and other leaders from the
story- altering photographs, publication in 1938 of two histories of the communist
