sectionA propaganda

newspapers:

• printing press was nationalised
• daily newspapers ie pravda, which were used as vehicles for propaganda, were cheap and widely availble
• highlighted the acheivements of socialism and the government in general - they were all about the wonderful production figures, feats of russian heroes etc
• topics which showed the negative side of socialism were prohibited or just ignored ie nuclear disasters and fires etc

magazines:

• all of these were approved by the government
• contained all the little things people love to read however they were all heavily influenced by propaganda with a political slant
• subjects such as crime and religion were off limits for magazines

television:

• in the 1950's this became a key method of propaganda
• these were mass produced at a cheap price to show all russians films conveying capitalism as a life of homelessnes, crime and violence
• it became less centralised and an emphasis was made on light entertainment
• this helped control the people through retaining popularity more than anything else - it helpes to prevent too much disatisfaction of the government

radio:

• fairly recent development and was therefore easy to use to influence the people
• easy to broadcast from all over russia with propaganda and persuation techniques, broadcast through loudspeakers in town squares for the 60% of illiterate russians
• the first broadcasts came from The Spoken Newspaper of the Russian Telegraph Agency and was heavily influenced politically with propaganda
• during brezhnev's era the number of stations increased to three, including a music channel
• the government showed signs of weakness and a loss of control through restricting radio signals and jamming broadcasts to prevent russians getting through to outside information - it was another method of censorship

• was heavily used throughout the entire communist rule in russia
• although the methods and technology changed, the constant stream of propaganda didnt
• overt propaganda was used to influence the people
• but the subtle propaganda was used more to entertain and divert the people from the realities of socialism
• however the government had to face the increasing challenges arising from the sophistical technogical advances with computers
• restrictive access to information became a huge and demanding task

• however the soviet public got used to reading between the lines to find out what really happened in russia and with the poilitburo
• for example news of a heart problems of a politburo member was sure sign that he had fallen from favour as was continuous non-appearance in the press
• when the subscribers to the soviet encyclopedia received a package instructing them to remove the pages about Beria from the books, this was the first sign of his arrest

lenin:

• this didnt occur until after his death
• statues newspapers and cinemas all contained images and information on lenin
• his body was embalmed and kept on display in red square moscow
• petrograd was renamed leningrad in his honour
• these efforts were made in an attempt to motivate the population as to the revolution and committing themselves to it in lenin's honour
• his cult was used by future leaders as their claim to be legitimate heirs of lenin

stalin:

• focus on his leadership was a useful tool for proving his legitimate claim to be lenin's successor
• he was represented as lenins closest confidante and war hero altho in reality he wasnt
• tsaritsyn was renamed stalingrad
• 'stalin is the lenin of today'
• images portrayed him as all knowing, benevolant and a father figure, a man of the people
• hagiographical poems and biographies written about him
• people held him in such high esteem they were forced to submit and agree with him
• his cult was very fake but the people of russia did kind of like and respect him as a leader

khrushchev:

• he began his reign with criticism of stalins personality cult but soon began one of his own
• it was useful for singling him out among party leaders with whom he had originally shared the power
• it suited him better than stalin as he was willing to actually meet the peasants face to face
• he visited collectives which was good for photo shoots
• articles books posters radio cinema and television reflected his personality and publicised him
• it didnt play as big a role as stalins but was useful for proving him rightful leader
• however it was also stated as a reason for his dismissal in 1964

brezhnev:

• it was less of a method of securing real power than a substitute for real power
• he was popular because reluctant to bring about change 
• his cult gave him the appearance of power without the necessity to actually exercise it 
• he was awarded around 100 medals and most of them were for non-extistant feats
• he knew his cult was ridiculous but didnt care
• later in life when incapacitated by strokes the cult allowed him to appear to be in power still

soviet aims:

• wanted to embed values and beliefs of communism into the soviet population
• artists and writers would be used to create a whole new culture and way of thinking, known as the creation of the soviet man
• it would sweep away the old bourgeoisie culture of the tsar
• stalin wanted to make people believe they were living in an idealised life in the soviet union so artists and writers were supposed to endorse this in their work
• immersing people in a form of cultural propaganda
• it didnt always work since artists wanted to be free in their work, so many became cynical and left the soviet union

bolshevik attitude:

• lenin saw culture as useful but not as important as class conflict or holding onto power
• however he wanted the best writers and artists as an endorsement to communism
• the commisariat of enlightenment flattered artists and writers and raised their status
• the period of the revolution gave them the chance to create myths and sentimentalised representations
• trotsky and other bolsheviks mistrusted them and didnt think they were needed

prolekult:

• this was the new and completely untainted version of art preferred by the bolsheviks
• the idea was for art to be an expression of politics not just the individual creator of it
• the key movement was the constructivists, which would emphasise and encourage the workers to create their own art and writing about factories and machines
• it would celebrate great events such as the storming of the winter palace
• it was designed to challenge high culture and prove the peasants could equal and surpass it
• it would reinforce the success of communism-at first was successful until it raised difficult q's

avant-garde:

• was about sweeping away the old and conveying a new futuristic world in abstract ways
• bolsheviks welcomed it since it tuned in with what they wanted to achieve
• idealised posters had a big influencing on bolstering the often illiterate soviets
• it attracted the endorsements of artists outside the country and became leading edge in cinematic technology
• it failed as a method of molding peoples beliefs because in the main it was too sophisticated for them to understand
• it became narrow and focused and culturally elitist

the cultural revolution

• by the time of the five year plans the party was more focused on the practical side of survival and production
• old artists and fellow travellers were no longer tolerated
• loyalty and obedience to socialism and the cause were all that mattered
• suspected plays against the cause were disrupted by boos and cries
• the state took more control setting up the russian association of proletarian writers
• they condemned avant-garde and the selfishness of its artists
• they preffered prolekult and stressed the achievements of the working man, terming it the cult of the little man
• culture became so earnest and lost its influence since the same predictable art and literature got so boring
• the people, like anyone, only resonded to good storylines and so the propaganda side had to be so subtle to achieve this
• in the soviet union, even a good love story could be boy meets girl meets tractor

socialist realism:

• this was the most famous of the arts and culture movements
• it described art which presented idealised images of life under socialism to inspire the people towards its achievement
• stalin saw the influence of artists and writers so great that he described them as engineers of the soul
• he therefore closed down the raap, replacing it with the union of soviet writers which policed its own movement, frowning upon experimentation and rewarding those who towed the party line
• there was more control and influence of the people but the quality of work of these artists suffered considerably and many gave up altogether

art:

• avant-garde and abstract was abandoned and all art had to reflect the achievements of workers alongside the cult of personality
• it helped to endorse the five year plan and collectivisation often showing the peasant and the factory worker toiling for the same thing

literature:

• here there was an emphasis away from the little man to the heroes of the party
• this hero was often a member of the communist party
• books were made cheaper and subsidised and made available through libraries
• more and more people were reading and taking in the subtle form of propaganda through this

music:

• this was restricted according to its suitability
• the government favoured military music over jazz and saxaphones were banned for being decadant

film:

• films were supposed to show the achievements of people
• eisensteins film of the storming of the winter palace was so realistic it used real bullets and more people were killed in the filming than in the actual event

architecture:

• socialist realism promoted the style known as stalinist baroque, sometimes known as wedding cake architecture
• even metro stations were decorated with elaborate chandeliers and murals showing the endeavours of workers
• this proved to the people that they could own all of the fine pieces that had previously only been available to the rich
• it wasnt a contradiction of communism but actually proof of the ultimate equality

• socialist realism in the form of accessible art and literature for the people was a useful tool of soviet propaganda
• although this did encourage the already committed workers to work harder, it did nothing to change the mindset of everyone else, the people who really needed encouragement
• soviet citizens didnt believe everything they read and saw but it was still a form of escapism and the government could still use it as a method of feeding the people with propaganda
• although the restricted information wasnt as good as it could have been, the soviet citizens still enjoyed what they could to the fullest degree possible - it was better than nothing