USSR topic 3- Control of the People Flashcards
(224 cards)
<p>What did the decree on November 1917 do to newspapers? What is the result of this?</p>
<p>it banned all non-socialist newspapers, by the early 1920s, all non-Bolshevik papers were eliminated</p>
<p>Under Lenin, what was nationalised to help Bolsheviks control the press?</p>
<p>printing press, access was restricted to those working in 'the interests of the workers and the Socialist order', all editors and journalists were employees of the governmentm, members of the Union of Soviet Journalists and expected to be Party members</p>
<p>What was set up under Lenin's regime to ensure that the press only spoke with one voice?</p>
<p>Glavlit, the censorship office, they approved every article written for publication</p>
<p>What were the two main daily newspapers?</p>
<p>Pravda (Truth) - from the Communist Party and Izvestiya (News) - from the government</p>
<p>What was the purpose of the daily newspapers of the Communist Party? How did they ensure a high readership?</p>
<p>the purpose was to act as an instrument of propaganda, agitation and organisation, they ensured high readership by making papers cheap to buy and widely available, copies were posted on boards along pavements/ workplaces to enable people to read them for free</p>
<p>What was an evidence of the high readership of Pravda?</p>
<p>it had a circulation of 10.7 million in 1983</p>
<p>What was another newspaper that was even more popular than Pravda?</p>
<p>Trud, which was a government-controlled trade union paper, it had a print run of 13.5m</p>
<p>How were newspaper used to promote socialism?</p>
<p>they carried endless details about the achievements of socialism, with production figures relate to meeting/ exceeding targets of the latest economic plan, especially during Stalin's push to industrialise. They also had topics about the USSR's successful expedition in search of gold and oil/ triumpth of tech</p>
<p>What were some prohibited topics in newspapers? What was an example? (1972)</p>
<p>Things that would tarnish the government's reputation, they would delay reporting of these e.g. natural disasters/ plane crashes. Example: July 1972, a vast fire was handled poorly by the government, which led to an explosion of nuclear waste storage tank which led to at least 200 fatalities</p>
<p>Were criticisms allowed in newspapers?</p>
<p>yes, local newspapers were more likely to publish views critical of the authorities, but limits were placed where possible. People could complain about minor bureaucrats/ poor housing but not party leaders</p>
<p>Except for newspapers, what were also allowed to cater for an increasing range of interests?</p>
<p>magazines and journals, they were aimed at specific groups like farmers, soldiers/ teachers/ young children etc.</p>
<p>What were some prohibited topics in magazines?</p>
<p>sex, pornography, crime and religion</p>
<p>What was a sports magazine that was hugely popular?</p>
<p>Sovetskii Sport</p>
<p>How did the use of radio contributed to the October Revolution?</p>
<p>it was used to broadcast news in October 1917 in Morse code</p>
<p>Which radio programme was in charge of spreading news/ propaganda material?</p>
<p>The Spoken Newspaper of the Russian Telegraph Agency</p>
<p>How did the Bolshevik party used radios to get their message to the people?</p>
<p>they installed loudspeakers in public places, factories and clubs so group listening can result in collective response that ensured everyone got the message</p>
<p>Who controlled radio communications? (Commissariat)</p>
<p>the Commissariat for Posts and Telegraph</p>
<p>Why were radios so useful?</p>
<p>it enabled the government to get its message across to the 65% of the population who were illiterate</p>
<p>How did Stalin use radio to gain support?</p>
<p>he gave a speech through the radio during te German invasion of 1940, and commemorated the October Revolution, it reassured the Soviet population that not all was lost in the war</p>
<p>How many radio stations were there until 1964?</p>
<p>only one</p>
<p>Under Brezhnev, how many radio stations were there?</p>
<p>3, including Radio Maiak which played some foreign music and was popular among the youth</p>
<p>How did the government try to restrict access to foreign stations? Were they successful?</p>
<p>they mass-produced cheap radios with a limited reception range, but they also had to rely on jamming foreign broadcasts and threaten to arrest those listening to foreign stations (they rarely succeeded though) NEVERTHELESS the limit on the amount of info received the Soviet population was enough to stifle public debate</p>
<p>In 1950, how many sets of television were there?</p>
<p>10,000 sets</p>
<p>By 1958, how many sets of television were there?</p>
<p>3 million</p>
Did the rural population have access to television?
by the early 1980s, most of the rural population had access to TV, partly because of mass production in the 1960s that made them affordable
What did government television stations provided?
news, documentaries on the achievements of socialism, and culural programmes on ballet and classical art, children programme
How was life under in the USSR presented in television?
it was presented as joyous, whereas life undere capitalism was rife with crime, homelessness and violence
How did television programme enable the spread of other cultures in the USSR?
there were broadcasts of local programming for the regions of the USSR, often in local languages
In what ways was censorship/ restriction of material not successful?
the Soviet public got used to reading between the lines, they would interpret sickness of a member of Politburo as a fall from favour, and favoured and rising stars would have more coverage
Alongside propaganda, what did the government rely heavily on to distract from the realities of socialism?
output
Why did it become harder for the government to restrict the population's access to information?
advancing technology like video recorders, computers
Why was a cult of personality used?
to reinforce the power of individual leaders and detach them from the collective leadership exercised in theory by the Politburo , which is beneficial to individual leaders who wanted to raise their power and status above their colleagues
How was cult of personality used in the 1920s?
after Lenin died, images of Lenin appeared in many forms and in newspapers, statutes and cnemas, and he was used to motivate the population to imitate his commitment to the Revolution
How was the cult of Lenin used by successive leaders?
to support their claim to be the legitimate heirs of Lenin and the socialist order
How did Stalin use the cult of personality?
he actively promoted himself as the worthy defender of the work of Lenin and to reinforce his claim that he is Lenin's rightful successor, this was especially useful when he was manoeuvring for power in the 1920s
After Stalin gained power, how did he use the cult of personality?
for his personal dictatorship
What were some examples of Stalin showing his close link with Lenin during his cult of personality?
he was presented as Lenin's closest colleague, a hero of the civil war and saviour of the Revolution, and after his death, the slogan 'Stalin is the Lenin of today' was widely used by sections of the rank and file Party membership
In the 1930s, what were used to reinforce Stalin's power?
images where he was presented as the all-present and all-knowing leader, presenting him as 'the big hero'. Images portrayed him as the benefactor, inspiration and defender of socialism, painting identified him with the achievement of the FYPs, picture of Stalin with children emphasises his role as the father figure
What method of propaganda was used during Second World War?
Stalin in military unifrom. and him in front of masses of Soviet troops and military hardware conveyed the message that Stalin was the defender of Mother Russia, propaganda posters also presented him as a man of people, working with workers and peasants
How was art used during the cult of Stalin?
poems were written to praise Stalin, they were films to highlight his prominent role in events
Was the cult of Stalin's successful?
Yes, Stalin was very popular and many Soviet citizens saw him as a benefactor, inspiration and the saviour of socialism, even people who disliked him respected him as a leader
When did Khrushchev criticse Stalin's cult of personality?
during his Secret Speech of 1956 when he was pushing his policy during de-stalinisation
Why was the cult of personality advantageous for Khrushchev?
it allowed him to be seen as the more important leader when power had originally been shared after 1953 with Malenkov
Why did Khrushchev's cult of personality suit his style of leadership?
because it involved him personally meeting Soviet citizens on a much greater level thann Stalin, which were good photo opportunities, and allowed him to develop it into articles, books and posters
How did cult of Khrushchev help during the later years of his leadership?
when his policies were increasing failing, he made use of radio, cinema and television for self-publicity
How was the cult of Brezhnev beneficial to him after 1964?
during his power struggle with Kosygin and Podgorny after Khrushchev's removal
Why didn't Brezhnev need to use the cult of personality at a large extent like Stalin?
because he was a popular leader due to his reluctance to use power to bring about change, the cult only gave Brezhnev symbols of power without having the exercise it
How did Brezhnev use the personality cult to a larger extent after 1975?
when his health deteriorated and was clinically dead, the cult provided the appearance of leadership to the Soviet population
How did the personality cult benefit the Party? (3)
it was useful to have one person as a focus for unity and loyalty especially during the FYPs in 1930s and war, it also provided a human face for socialism which remained a rather abstract concept for poorly educated Russians. it also made use of traditional Russian attitudes, where loyalty had to be expressed to the country through one person during the rule of Tsars. also filled a gap resulting from the severe restrictions of religious worship
Why did the Bolshevikes see religion as a threat?
they think it is a threat to the imposition of socialist ideology, since the Church provided an alternative ideology to that of Marxism
What emphasis did Christianity have that contrasted with the ideology of socialism?
the emphasis on rights of the individuals contrasted with the collective mentality of socialism
Which religious group did the Bolsheviks have most concerns with? Why?
the Ruthssian Orthodox Church, they saw it as an instrument of social order that posed a threat to the imposition of socialist values and government control + it was tied closely to the old order (the tsar was its head), and the majority of the population took the word of their spitiual leaders seriously
Which phrase was used by Marx to describe the use of religion by the ruling class as a tool to keep the population under control?
opium of the masses' (Bolsheviks thought that there was to be no opium of the masses other than communism
When was the Decree of Freedom of Conscience implemented? What did it do?
1918 - it separated the Orthodox Church from the state and it lost its privileged status, the Church was deprived of its land without compensation, its publications were outlawed and all religious education outside the home was banned
What did the government do to the churches and monastries?
they destroyed a large number of churches or converted them to other purposes, the gov also closed all monastries
Who was arrested by the end of 1918? (Russian Orthodox Churh)
Patriarch Tikhon was under house arrest, he was the head of the Orthodox Church
How did the famine (of the civil war) negatively impact the Orthodox Church?
attacks on the Church inreased and valuable objects were seized to help pay for food supplies, priests were depived of the vote, denied rations during the civil war and suffered as victims during the Red Terror (1921-22)
by 1923, how many bishops and priests had been killed?
28 bishops and more than 1000 priests killed
What was establsied in 1929 by the Bolsheviks as propaganda campaign against religion?
the League of Militant Godless
How did the League of Militant Godless promote against religion?
it launched events to disprove the existence of God which included taking peasants for plane rides to show them heaven did not exist in the sky, weeping icons were ridiculed, with demonstrations of how they could be operated by rubber squeezers
How did the Bolsheviks attack rituals and baptisms?
religious rituals were attacked and there was a campaign to replace baptism with 'Octoberings', new names like Ninel (Lenin spelt backwards) were encouraged
What was the impact of Patriarch Tikhon's death?
it opened the way for Metropolitan Sergei of Moscow to call on Church members to support the government
What did the scale of the attacks under Lenin lead to?
many Church leaders seeked an accomodation with the regime
By the end of 1930, how many village churches were destroyed/ gone?
four-fifths of village churches were gone/ destroyed
Did Bolsheviks attack on the Russian Orthodox Church limit its influence?
it restricted the Church but did not stamp out its influence, in the mid 1920s, surveys of the peasantry revealed that 55% were still active Christians
How did Stalin's policy of collectivisation accompany the campagion of religious repression?
more churches were closed and village priests were labelled as 'kulaks' and deported, further attacks followed during the Great Purge of 1936-39
By 1939 (after Great Purge), how many bishops were still at liberty?
only 12 out of 163
What event led to the ease of restrictions on the Church under Stalin?
the German invasion of the USSR in 1941, the Church supported the war effort, which promted an accommodation between Church and state
In what ways did Stalin take a more liberal approach towards the Church?
the patriarchate was re-established, some churches reopened and new seminaries were set up to train priests, there were some acknowledgement that religion could play a beneficial role in sustaining morale during the hardships of war
How did Khrushchev view religion?
also viewed that it needed repression (like Stalin), he was fevently anti-religious
When did Khrushchev launch a harsh anti-religious campaign?
in 1958-59, continued until 1964
What did Khrushchev's anti-religious campaign consist of?
the role of priest was limited to one of spiritual advice only, parish councils were placed under the control of Party officials who often took action to dismiss priests on the grounds that they wre no longer needed
What was the impact of Khrushchev's anti-religious campaign?
1) within 4 years, 10,000 of the existing churches were closed 2)surviving priests were often harassed by the secret police 3) baptists and jew also suffered severe restrictions on their right to congregate and worship
Did Brezhnev have a different approach towards religion? Why?
yes, he was happy to allow the Church to act within its defined limits (less persecution) because he was aware that storeis of religious persecution did not go down well in the West and had a damaging impact on the USSR's attempts to conduct foreign policy
Under Brezhnev, what did the government use to monitor religious services? What were clergy classified?
Council of Religious Affairs, clergy were classified according to loyalty to socialism
What was the Orthodox Church expected to do under Brezhnev?
to stick to formal church services and support Soviet policies, especially social policy where the Church could provide facilities, such as help for the poor
Under Brezhnev, where there any opposition to the restrictions imposed on Churches?
yes, in 1976, a group of Orthodox priests set up the Christian Committee for the Defence of Believers' Rights to draw attention to human rights abuse
How did Brezhnev clamp down opposition against his policy for the Churches?
the leader of the Christian Committee for the Defence of Believers' Rights was sentenced to five years' imprisonment for anti-Soviet propaganda in 1979
How were Jews and Baptists treated under Brezhnev?
they were treated with less tolerance bc they were more likely to be critical of the regime - their evangelical activities of preaching to gain converts were restricted, prayer meetings were broken up and members dismissed from their jobs
Did the religious practices of the Jews and Baptists continue?
yes, unregistered congregations continued to meet and distribute prayer books
Why was dealing with Islam a more difficult task for the Bolsheviks?
it was more engrained into a distinct way of life and integrated within its community
Why was there a need to clamp down on the Islamic religion?
the Central Asia regions of the Soviet Union contained a sizeable Muslim community, they feared that Islam's link to national minorities within the USSR might threaten social cohesion of the state
What did the government do to attack Islamic institutions and rituals in the mid-1920s? (7)
1) religious endowments of land were prohibited, making the upkeep of mosques more difficult
2) most mosques were closed down
3)sharia courts were phased out
4) Mullahs were removed during collectivisation (forced to admit to being 'deceivers of the ppl')
5) campaign against veiling of women launched on International Women's day in 1927(many women took part)
6) ramadan fasting was condemned as interfering with work discipline
7) polygamy prohibited on the ground of its subjection of women
What did the measure against Islamic institutions lead to?
a series of violent revolts in 1928-29, during which the Chechens of Southern Russia were particularly active - crushed through the use of Sovet armed forces
Was the attack on Islam successful?
no, many Muslims attempted to observe obedience to the state in public while retaining Islamic customs in private, others joined underground brotherhoods to continue to fight for Islamic rights
What did the government anticipate the impact of the Communist Party's attacks on the Orthodox Church and Islam would result in?
decrease in numbers engaged in active worship
How can it be argued that the Communist Party was successful in attacking religion?
a survey commissioned by the governmend during the 1980s found that only 25% of the population believed in God, far fewer were engaged in any religious worship
How can it be argued that the Communist Party was unsuccessful in attacking religion?
the gov's actions seemed to have intensified faithful believers' religious commitment, an underground network of support developed that often provided sustenance to those who needs were not met by the government
What was the name of the secret police under Lenin? Who was its leader? What was their task?
Cheka in 1917, headed by Felix Dzerzhinsky, its task was to act against counter-revolution and sabotage (that they undertook with great ruthlessness)
What was the role of Cheka during the civil war?
they were given powers to act with minimal interference from other legal bodies so they could act quickly to deal with actual and perceived enemies
Who were the Cheka's targets during the Red Terror? How many opponents were shot?
Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, up to 200,000 opponents were shot
When was Cheka replaced? Who was it replaced by?
replaced by the GPU in 1922, which became the OGPU in 1923
What was the significance of the change from Cheka to OGPU?
the growing independence of the secret police from the interference from other state institutions, they became a body that only took orders and instructions from the leadership of the Communist Party
How did the power of the secret police increase further in 1934?
when it merged with an enlarged Interior Ministry - NKVD
How did Stalin use the secret police?
during the Five-Year Plans, secret police were used to deal with kulaks and other peasants who opposed collectivisation in the Gulags - to ensure the successful transformation of the USSR
How did Stalin use the secret police when consolidating his power?
to identify political opponents (esp after trial of Zinoviev, Kamenev), purge the right o the party and members of the Red Army who were accused of working with foriegn countries to undermine the USSR
How did the secret police deal with the arrests?
they would often arrest ppl in the middle of the night to disorientate the accused, they would be torture until ther confessed (high profile victims- show trials)
When did Yagoda become the head of the secret police? What was keen to do under this position?
1934, he was keen to prove his loyalty to Stalin and with his ambitious nature - resulted in a concerted attempt to build up his own empire
What did Yagoda's time as head of secret police lead to the the rapid expansion of?
Gulag (the Chief Administration of Corrective Labour Camps), in 1930, the labour camps were expanded under the Gulag and transformed into a vast system of forced labour to support industrialisation
How did Yagoda deal with opponents?
he used his influence with Stalin to ensure that the secret police could deal with opponents without interference from regular courts
How did the labour camps (under Yagoda) contribute to the economy?
the camps were to provide a pool of labour for exploiting the economic resources of the Soviet Union in areas where no one would live of their own free will, those deported to labour camps were placed in hostile environments, where many died of extreme cold and starvation
What was one of Yagoda's industrial achievements?
the completion of the White Sea Canal, which used 180,000 labourers from the Gulag that dug by hand, the canal was completed under budget in less thatn 2 years but costed 10,000 lives + because of low costs, the canal was not dug deep enough, which made it useless
How did Yagoda's influence increase?
during the Great Purge in 1936 when the number of political opponents arrested rose (he was given the task of arresting members of the Party who had alleged links with the Trotskyite opposition)
When was Yagoda removed from power and why?
1936, he was accused of incompetence of not being able to safeguard Kirov and for not pursuing the opposition with sufficient enthusiasm
Who was Yagoda replaced by?
Yezhov
How was the process of arest, trial and imprisonment sped up under Yezhov?
Courts made up of 3 people, one of whom was the regional NKVD boss, in Sep 1937, the Karelian Court processed 231 prisoners each day
What happened to the Gulags under Yezhov?
in July 1937, he issued orders that required camps to meet quotas for the execution of prisoners, NKVD officers who carried out the executions were awarded medals, but often executed themselves in order to meet quotas
How did surveillance of the general public by the NKVD increase under Yezhov?
plain-clothes police officers were used + system of informers from the general public themselves to collect info on the behaviour of individuals, Soviet criminal code was used to condemned people for anti-Soviet activity and the no. of detectives recruited to the NKVD quadrapled and extra staff were employed to torture subjects
Under Yezhov, who were considered opponents?
anyone who didn't show sufficient commitment to the Revolutionary cause, even the secret police were at threat from accusation (members of NKVD were also purged)
When was Yezhov dismissed? What did Stalin accuse him of?
1938, he accused Yezhov of being responsible for the excesses for the pruges
What was Beria's approach to the procedure of arrest and trial?
he reintroduced more conventional methods of police procedure and public trials were only held where solid evidence was available
Did surveillance continue under Beria?
yes, but it only led to arrests when evidence was found
What was one of Beria's achievements?
the oversee of murder of Trotsky, killed by a Stalinist agent in Mexico in 1940
What did Beria do to the Gulag?
made it a more profitable part of the Soviet economy, in 1939 food rations were improved to get maximum work out of prisoners + 1000 scientists were put to work on various projects that created many new military hardware (e.g. Tupolev, an aviation engineer, and Korolev, Soviet space programme)
How did the Gulag's economic activity grow from 1937-1940?
2 billion roubles to 4.5 billion roubles
What was a success of Beria's reform of the Gulag?
by the 1950s, it was a major contributor to the Soviet economy, over 1/3 of the country's gold and timber and coal was produced through the Gulag
How did the secret police's power changed in 1941?
they were given some powers of supervision of the Red Army with responsibility for monitoring disloyalty and dealing with any desertions
What was the NKVD's power in relation to national minorities?
they were given control over the deportations of those national minorities whose loyalty to the Soviet state was considered suspect - e.g. Crimean Tartars, Volga Germans and Chechens - the three-person courts (Troikas) were given powers outside the normal process of law
What department did Beria set up by 1943 after the German invasion?
Special Departments to root out traitors, deserts and cowards, anyone suspected of co-operating with the Germans, e.g. SMERSH dealth with suspected spies and it was probably involved in the murder of 4000+ Polish officers at Katyn in 1943
How were Soviet troops that were captued by German treated?
they were considered suspects, and Order 270 treated all Soviet troops who surrendered to the Germans as traitors. and returning prisoners of war were automatically held in detention camps run by secret police
What did Beria do during Stalin's last years?
he used his role as the head of secret police to a launch a fresh wave of purges to gain Stalin's favour when there growing rivalry within the Party - he targeted the Leningrad branch of the Party, and imprisoned over 2000 members in 1949
What Affair seemed to be Stalin's warning to Beria? (as Stalin was becoming suspicious of Beria)
the Mingrelian Affair of 1951, Beria was of Mingrelian ethnicity
Why did Politburo members move so quicly to remove him from his position in June 1953 (after Stalin's death)?
bc he had a lot of power, he was in control of the secret police, the network of Soviet spies across the world, the Gulag system and its associated links to industry
Who took the lead to eliminante Beria?
Khrushchev
What did the Politburo do to limit the independence of the secret police after Beria's removal?
it was brough firmly under Party control, answerable to the Soviet Security and Intelligence Service (KGB), Khrushchev also dismantled the Gulag system and forced labour no longer played a party in the Soviet economy
How can it be argued that Stalin was responsible for the extent of terror? (6)
How can it be argued that the three heads of secret police were just merely functionaries carrying out Stalin's orders?
1) Yagoda, Yezhov and Beria all became powerful leaders of the secret police as a consequence of their willingness to follow Stalin's wishes, they all had sadistic tendencies, they owed their positions to Stalin 2) none of the three had much impact on the targets of the terror (they were made by Stalin)
How can it be argued that the three heads of secret police had a role in influencing the development of terror
1) even though Stalin set the targets of the terror, and arguably they were the ones that implemented them, the three took the opportunity to add to the death lists people who stood in their way (e.g. Yagoda used his influence to enhance his career, Yezhov advanced his career by undermining Yagoda) 2) they had influence in the implementation of terror and the operation of the Gulag (e.g. the changes the three heads made to the Gulag system - Yagoda expanded it greatly during collectivisation, Yezhov speeded up process etc.)
Who headed the KGB in 1967? What was its role?
Andropov, its role was to carry out surveillance of perceived enemies
Who were the dissidents?
those who criticised the Soviet state or system and included a diverse range of people, they were the KBG's target
Which 4 groups of peope did the dissidents make up of?
intellectual, political dissidents, national dissidents and religious dissidents
Why were intellectuals considered dissidents?
because their high status in society allow them to develop independent ways of thinking, constatly came up against restrictions (that were usually of political nature)
What was an example of intellectual dissidents?
Andrei Sakharov, a scientist, wrote a letter to Brezhnev complaining about the restrictions put on their research since they weren't allowed to exchange ideas with forieng colleagues nor use foreing equipments, the authorities later banned him from further military research
Who were political dissidents?
people who tried to hold the government to the account of its own laws, they were usually concerned with abuses of human rights that broke Soviet law and international agreeents signed by the USSR
What was the UN Declaration on Human Rights 1948?
that all member states had to promote human rights and fundamental freedoms for all (including freedom of speech)
What was the Helsinki Accords 1975?
an agreement to respect basic human rights, e.g. freedom of speech/ movement
How did political dissidents hold the government accountable?
by establishing groups to monitor the Soviet Union application of the UNDHR and Helsinki Accords
Who were the nationalists?
groups of Ukraines, Latvians, Lithuanians and Georgians- they wanted a greater status of their own national languages and culture; some for independence from the USSR
what did the KGB do to the nationalists?
they tried to ban celebrations of the anniversary of a Ukranian poet and also caused fire at the Ukranian archive
What did the Lithuanians do to raise awareness? What happened to them?
they formed a National Popular Front to call for greater recognition for them and an end to Soviet colonisation, but further arrests followed
Whose support did the nationalist groups have?
their compatriots from abroad
Who did religious dissidents include?
Baptists and Catholics- they both faced restrictions on their worship/ religious practices, Catholic dissidents were often prominent in the Baltic republics
Which religious group had support from the US Congress?
refuseniks (Soviet Jews) who had been denied their wish to emigrate to Israel - they remained a difficult issue at international summits
What did the dissidents do to promote their cause?
they would produce illegal, self-published materials that voiced their concerns - 'samizdat'
By the 1970s, how did the dissidents promote their views?
they made use of foreign press to advance their case
How were the intellectuals treated by the secret police/
they were threatened of expulsion from their professional organisation, or might be denied permission to publish/ be dimissed from their posts, houses were searched to look for any materials that could be used to produce material + they were classified as political prisoners (would be discriminated at wrk, fail to gain a place at uni, continued surveillance)
By the mid-70s, how many political prisoners did Amnesty International estmate that there would be?
10,000
What did the new criminal code in 1960 do?
abolished night-time interrogations and limited the powers of the KGB, but Article 70 provided the authorities the power to deal with anything that was 'anti-Soviet'
Even though the criminal code 1966 dropped the requirement in criminal code in 1960, what changes were made the arrest/trial procedure?
the arrested had to be dealth with a court of justice, court records of proceedings were kept (which allowed dissident to publicise their cases)
What was one important development made to the treatment of dissidents?
the use of psychiatric hospitals who were run by the NKVD and 'patients' were held until they were 'cured' (which usually meant changing their views and opinions of the Soviet state), those who refused to change their views would be 'treated' with electric shocks and drugs
What was an example of a dissident being treated in a pyschiatric hospital?
Natalya Gorbanevskaya, one of the editors of the 'Chronicle of Current Events' (samizdat) was sent there for treatment
What was another method to limit the impact of dissidents?
send them into internal exile, troublesome academic were sent to out-of-the-way places (which was why the Siberian division of the Academy of Science produced a lot of excellent works)
What was an example of a dissident being sent to internal exile?
Sakharov in 1980 was sent to Gorky (close to the foreigners) which restricted his means of communication with supporters
What issues within the USSR did the dissidents shed light on to other countries? What problems did it cause for the USSR?
violation of Helsinki Accords 1975 bc of the treatment of dissidents which could embarrass the Soviet leader and damage Soviet diplomacy with the growing mass comunication on a worldwide scale, internatioal condemnation sometimes led to the realse of dissidents
Did the dissidents have support from the general public?
no, the dissidents were a collection of individuals but not a coherent group nor movement, they struggled to organise public demonstrations, and when they did, they received little support (due to fear of prosecution by the secret police)
What was an example of a failed public demonstration by the dissidents?
in 1968, they organised a public protest at the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in Red Square but only 7 people showed up
By the end of 1970s, whose measures had succeeded in keep the dissident groups small and divided and in a state of mutual mistrust?
Andropov, using developments in surveillance technology like electornic bugging devices, professionalism, status and reputation of the KGB also grew
What event convinced Andropov of the need to control dissident to prevent a popular uprising?
the Hungarian Uprising in 1956
Under Andropov, how did monitoring of dissident groups increase in 1982?
there were plain-clothes secret police officers, conversations were recorded using tape and cassette recorders and listening devices and cameras were secreted in briefcases and bras so that the KGB was well informed of the criticisms put forward by the dissidents, and their threats to political and social stability had been effectively neutralised
What did Andropov believe popular discontent would be based on apart from the threat of dissidents?
Economic conerns, he was concerned with the growing inefficiency in the Soviet economy and believed that if the Soviet gov did not deliver a reasonable standard of living, there would be an uprising
How did Andropov use the secret police to bring greater efficiency to the Soviet economic system?
secret police were used to clamp down on alcoholism and absenteeism in the workplace, KGB officers also did spot checks on factories to record attendance and combed the streets for traunting workers
Why were female workers disavantaged by the KGB's spot checks on factories for attendence?
because female workers had to work full-time as well as queuing for food at shops (due to cheap government-set prices, which meant that goods sold really quickly upon arrival at shops)
What did Andropov do in order to 'acquire an understanding of the society in which [they] live'?
he visited factoreis to talk to workers, in Feb 1983, he visited a Moscow factory but this event was rather contrived because he was humourless and lacked charm, workers who met him felt restricted by the fact that they were talking to the ex-head of the KGB
What did Andropov do to the appointment of government advisers to get more in touch with the general population?
he surrounded himself with people who were relatively free thinkers, e.g. journalists/ academics, who were in touch with the causes of popular discontent - he made use of a group of sociologists and economists, espeically Tatyana Zslavskaya, who argued that the abritraty nature of the Soviet gov was a key cause of resentment
Within the Party leadership, what did Andropov do so that it more in touch with the general population?
by promoting a younger, more reformist generation, whose experience in the lower ranks of the Party meant they were more in touch with the realities of daily life in the USSR - e.g. Ligachev, Gorbachev, Ryzhov
To Andropov, what was the best way to make the existing system work better in order to meet the needs of the population and address public concerns?
instilling greater discipline in the workforce
Was the Soviet Union in the mid-1980s stable?
yes, there was little public criticism of the government and social conflict was rare, and a well-worked system of propaganda, censorship, rewards and sanctions was highly effective. However, this doesn't mean that the Soviet public was happy since there was still public discontent
New Soviet Man
An ideal socialist who thinks and acts according to socialist values. Soviet government's aim of producing the 'New Soviet Man' entailed using writers and artists to construct a whole new culture that would sweep away the old bourgeoisie culture associated with the Tsarist regime.
What was Lenin's view on culture?
According to Lenin culture was vital but subordinate to class conflict and the retention of power.
Lenin's cultural tastes were conservative, with a liking for classical Russian culture.
He wanted the Party to keep high-calibre artists and writers on side as much as possible.
When was the establishment of the Commissariat of Enlightenment?
1917
What was the Commissariat of Enlightenment?
It was a ministry of culture, to support and encourage artists.
This was a development accepted by artists as it replaced the heavy restrictions and censorship of the old regime.
What was Lenin prepared to do to those artists who were not Communists?
Lenin seemed prepared to accommodate those artists who were not Communists but who were sympathetic to the ideals of the Revolution.
Trotsky labelled these artists as Fellow Travellers.
What was the Prolekult?
Proletkult was an experimental Soviet artistic institution which arose in conjunction with the Russian Revolution of 1917.
Who promoted the Prolekult?
Alexander Bogdanov, a leading figure in the Party, and Anatoly Lunacharsky, the head of the Commissariat of Enlightenment.
What did the prolekult entail?
A group of proletariat artists assembling where art was to serve a social and political purpose.
The emphasis was to be on the collective of the worker as a class, rather than individualism.
Workers and peasants were encouraged to make their own culture, from writing their own stories to putting on theatre productions. E.g Smithy Magazine, that contained poems about machines and factories.
What is an example of the Prolekult?
The anniversary of the Revolution in 1920 was celebrated by a re-enactment of the Storming of the Winter Palace using over 8,000 people.
Parades through Red Square in Moscow were organised and directed by the Party by such an extent that they were examples of street theatre.
Constructivists
Those who wished to create a new proletarian culture based on the worker and industrial technology.
High culture
This is used to refer to art forms, such as ballet, opera and fine art, that are geared towards a restricted and exclusive audience. Prolekult was a deliberate direct challenge to high culture.
The Bolsheviks disliked high culture as opposed to low culture as it is seen as a bourgeoisie art.
What happened to Prolekult in the early 1920s?
Although Prolekult was popular for a time, by the early 1920s the government was concerned at the variety of viewpoints expressed through this culture from the people, and started to impose restrictions on it. Lenin was suspicious of the organisation and believed that Prolekult was dominated by socialists associated with opposition movements such as anarchism. Also believed that working people needed an education rather than opportunities for artistic expression.
Avant-garde
A wave of experimental art, the influence modernism, with its emphasis on abstract art, was coupled with futurism as artists attempted to convey visions of a new futuristic world.
Which artist the Bolsheviks use?
In poster art, the Bolshevik regime was to hire the services of talented poet and playwright, V Mayakovsky, who set his work producing posters and slogans for the government. Lots of stress on visual arts b/c low literacy rates.
What was Agitprop?
Lenin and Trotsky believed art could be used to inspire ppl to support the new govt. In 1920= establishment of the Department of Agitation Propaganda (agitprop), a dept within the CP. In the same year, the Commissar of Enlightenment established a similar dept: Glavpolitprosvet. Tgt these two organised propaganda that was designed to support the govt, and agitprop was often produced by avant-garde artists.
Who was Sergei Eisenstein?
Eisenstein was a leading innovator in the new medium of cinema under Lenin, when Soviet Cinema flourished. He already made 'Strike' in 1924 and 'Battleship Potemkin' was to be produced by 1925. Lenin stated the importance of cinema as a tool for promoting political messages, but it was sometimes too sophisticated; culture of avant-garde was not the answer to mould ppl's beliefs and values. Dziga Vertov was also another experimental film maker who filmed people in their daily lives -- so experimental that Pravda described them as 'insane'.
Cultural Revolution
Launched in 1928, it was the movement by Communist Party activists to purge all 'bourgeoisie' elements from Soviet culture.
Why did the Cultural Revolution entail?
-A full-scale assault on traditional writers and artists. Fellow travellers tolerated under Lenin were replaced by artists whose loyalty was not in question.
-Theatre productions of suspect plays were disturbed by booing and whistling .
-The Russian Association of Proletarian Writers (RAPP) made increasingly bitter attacks on the Fellow Travellers and condemned the decadent individualism of writers who adopted new experimental techniques.
Komsomol
The youth organisation of the Communist Party that were encouraged to root out and attack 'bourgeois' elements.
Cult of the 'little man'
The writings of novels that glorified the achievements of the industrial worker and collective peasant. It was encouraged by the government and was the criticism of bourgeoisie writing., which often focused on wealthy people of high status. E.g Kataev's novel 'Time Forward'.
What happened to the RAPP in 1932?
In 1932, the Party leadership announced that RAPP would be closed down and replaced by a new Union of Soviet Writers.
This, in effect was bringing the cultural Revolution to an end.
Socialist Realism (brought about in 1932 under Stalin [when the Russian CR ended])
A term used to describe art that produced idealised images of life under socialism to inspire the population towards the achievement. Stalin had strong views on art and thus initiated a significant shift in Soviet art.
Social Realism was used to convince the Soviet population that Stalin's statement of 1935 'Life has become more joyous' was true. It contained a 'true reflection of reality'.
What was art like under socialist realism?
-There was to be no experimentation with avant-garde styles.
-Art was harnessed by the regime to project real images of life under the Five-Year Plans.
-Stalin told artists they should make it clear who was responsible for socialism. This often resulted in a fusion of socialist realism with the personality cult of Stalin.
What was literature like under Socialist Realism?
-Saw a change away from the cult of the 'little man' to heroes connected to the Party.
-The standard plot of novels in the 1930s was a hero from the people who is guided by the Party to greater things.
-The low price of these books and the tenfold growth in library acquisitions ensured the population had access to the material
What was music like under socialist realism?
- Pressure to toe the line as well. In 1935, Stalin walked out of a performance of Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (a politically correct story of adultery) due to discordant notes.
-The real reason was Stalin's shock at the bedroom scene, where trombones were used to underline what was happening.
-In popular music, government favoured military songs rather than jazz, this led to the banning of saxophones in the 1940s.
What was architecture like under Socialist realism?
-Socialist realism promoted the style known as 'Stalinist baroque', better known as 'wedding cake' architecture, which made use of classical lines.
-Many buildings were built in this style, the best example being Moscow University, which was rebuilt after 1945.
-The Moscow metro system was another example of Stalinist baroque, with stations decorated with chandeliers and elaborate murals.
What was film like under Socialist Realism?
-The achievements of the Revolution were conveyed through films such as Eisenstein's October (1927), which presented the heroic events of storming the winter palace in 1917.
-This served the interest of government in presenting the Revolution as a mass movement.
-During the second World War, the cinema was used to present patriotism in the defence of Mother Russia and socialism.
How did the government use Socialist Realism?
It gave the government many opportunities to use the arts and popular culture to mobilise support at a range of levels for the regime b/c of formalised but accessible styles in art & writing.
What happened after the Second World War with culture?
-The government was prepared to allow artists and writers to have greater freedom.
-Both Boris Pasternak and Anna Akhmatova were allowed to give public readings of their unorthodox poetry. in Moscow in 1946
Western Culture condemned in the Zhdanovschina campaign
-Zdanov was a Party boss in Leningrad and had a particular interest in culture.
-In 1946, a campaign was launched to remove all aspects of 'bourgeois' culture from the West. Influenced by Xenophobia.
How was Khrushchev's cultural policy like?
A series of 'thaws' and 'freezes'. During the 'thaws' a degree of freedom of expression was encouraged, and during the 'freezes' government control was re-emphasised. This 'zig- zag' policy reflected the contradictions in Khrushchev's approach to art and the pressure Khrushchev was under from the Communist Party to maintain control and suppress the truth about the true horrors of Stalin's policies.
Why did Khrushchev want to form an alliance between the Party and creative intellectuals?
1) due to investment in education by previous soviet leaders, there was a growing no. of intellectuals in the SU.
2) Khrushchev believed that intellectuals should help the govt build socialism. This is because he believed that true intellectuals wld understand the benefits of Communism and thus willingly collab w/ Soviet leaders.
3) He also believed that Communism should liberate the artists
Conflict between Khrushchev and art?
1) He believed that ordinary Soviet workers were not ready for complete freedom, or even the truth abt Stalin's policies.
2) He believed that freedom could destabilise the Party by allowing criticism of the govt.
Thus, K's policies lurched b/w his desire to increase freedom for some and his concern that too much freedom, especially for ordinary citizens, could undermine the regime.
What was the impact of de-Stalinisation on culture?
Those artists and writers who wished to express themselves freely were to receive greater hope from Khrushchev's de-Stalinisation policy after 1957.
Khrushchev allowed work to be published that had previously been banned:
- Work by Isaac Babel, a writer who had been shot in the purges, were published.
Examples of voices speaking out against official culture
Writers began to explore new themes such as spiritual concerns, the bleakness of rural life, problems of adultery, divorce, and alcohol abuse.
Were the 'thaws' only about literature?
No; there were other cultural innovations during these periods. For example, during the World Youth Festival, in Moscow in 1957, young people danced to jazz music
and African drumming. Equally, in terms of music the
Soviet Union experienced a 'thaw' under Khrushchev. For example, the classical music of Western Europe and the US, which was not taught in schools under Stalin, was put back on the curriculum in 1957.
The temporary 'freezes' at the end of each period (as artistic expression went beyond the limits that the authorities were prepared to tolerate)
1) After the initial thaw in 1953-54, Boris Pasternak's novel 'Doctor Zhivago' led to cultural restrictions. Pasternak's novel was critical of Lenin's period as leader and therefore unacceptable to Khrushchev's regime. The book was banned in the Soviet Union until the late 1980s.
2) After the final thaw Khrushchev was horrified by an exhibition of Moscow artists. He reacted to the show with anger shouting loudly.
3)The final freeze led to the arrest and imprisonment of
several artists. The poet Josef Brodsky, for example, was arrested in January 1964.
What was happening to the culture by the late 1950s?
Nonconformity was starting to have an important impact on the youth culture of the USSR.
Soviet youths became influenced by music tastes from the West. Urban groups developed who listened to the pop and rock 'roll music that was smuggled from the West.
From 1955, this music was broadcast into the USSR by the radio station voice of America.
Explain the rise of the guitar-poet?
Its leading figure was Alexander Galich, who composed and performed his own work rather than official pieces produced by the government.
The guitar-poet typically addressed the feelings of the individual and often spoke to the socially alienated.
