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Control - Russia - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Oct. 1917 - Decree on Land allowed peasants to seize land belonging to the Church
      - January 1918 - decree concering seperation of Church and State, and of School and Church -> Church lost its privileged position in society
        
        Church land + properties nationalised - state subsidies for Church ended + religious education banned in schools
      - 1922 Soviet Constitution guaranteed 'freedom of conscience' for all soviet people
    - - Lenin viewed Church as an enemy of the revolution -> used terror to undermine it
        
        Nov. 1917 -> Archpriest Ivan Kochurov murdered outside Petrograd
        
        Jan. 1918 - Metropolitan Vladimir was tortured + Shot in Kiev
        
        Orthodox priests in Moscow were massacred in Jan. 1918 -> folowed Church decree excommunicating Bolsheviks
        
        November 1918 -> Politburo issued secret order to Cheka ordering mass execution of priests -> within 2 yeaars, most of most popular Priests killed
        
        Roman Catholic priests treated differently -> they had been persecuted minority rather than Orthodox -> deported in 1918 and executions began during civil war
        
        Govt. used propaganda against church and sezed assets to fund famine relief
    - - 1920s -> Soviet authorities initiated campaigns against Islamic groups
        
        Communists claimed Islam encouraged 'crimes based on custom' and recognised that Islamic organisations had support of many in Caucasus and Central Asia -> wanted to destroy the religion to extend power
        
        Measures taken
        
        Mosques closed - turned into sports clubs/storage depots
        
        Discouraged pilgrimages
        
        Islamic shrines attacked
        
        Campaigns against women wearing chador
        
        Anti-Islamic museums opened in midst of recognised holy places
    - - Claimed to be reformed version of old Orthadox Church -> regular people had power
      - Aided by GPU
      - Govt. backed strategy to split the church -> weaken its structure
      - Leader of Living Church, Archbishop Vedenskii -> not prepared to support Communists -> debated science and religion in 1923 with Lunacharsky, gaining support
  - - - Pragmatic alliance made during WW2 - appeal to patriotism of people to boost morale + inspire them to fight
        
        Anti-religious propaganda ceased
        
        Stalin granted Metropolitan Sergey official residence in Moscow
        
        Stalin promised to end censorship of religious magazines following war
        
        Stalin promised that churches closed by govt. would re-open
        
        Churches of many denominations grew following 1945
      - Russian Orthadox Church linked to Russian national identity
      - Church provided comfort for bereaved families
      - Soldiers found comfort in the thought of life after death - one soldier commented when facing death -> more comfort in a few of Jesus' words than entire works of Marx and Lenin. Jesus is Lord
  - - - Anti-religious campaign started in 1958
        
        Churches re-opened during + after WW2 closed
        
        Anti-religious propaganda reintroduced
        
        Anti-religious magazines reintroduced
        
        Roman Catholic monasteries closed in 1959
        
        Orthodox convents placed under surveillance
        
        Patrols refused to let believers have access to holy sites
      - Space program used to attack religion -> Yuri Gagarin commented that having 'travelled up to heavens he had found no God'
      - 1960s -> propaganda campaign encouraged men to take leading role in education of their children
      - Schools expected to deliver anti-religious message
  - - - Opened Institute for Scientific Atheism which published articles in newspapers and advised teachers how to spread atheism
      - Did not lead to reduction in numbers of people professing religious faith
    - - Established Spiritual Board of Muslims of Central Asia and Kazakhstan, allowing Soviet Islamic leaders and scholars to have limited contact with fellow Muslims in other countries
- - - - Decree on the Press: November 1917 - gave the govt. the power to shut down papers supporting counterrevolution
      - Creating a state monopoly of advertising in November 1917 - ensured only govt. could publish adverts
      - Petrograd Telegraph Agency nationalised in November 1917 - new government given control of electronic means of communication
      - Revolutionary Tribunal of Press: January 1918 - power to censor the press -> editors, journalists who committed crimes could be punished by Cheka
      - All-Russia Telegraph Agency (ROSTA) - solely responsible for distributing news
      - Results
        
        By 1921 - 2000 newspapers shut down, 575 printing presses closed down
        
        Economic controls under War Communism aided Govt. control of printing press
    - - Lenin did not approve of all the images/approaches used -> uncomfortable with the cult of personality, but allowed it
      - Assassination attempt -> Lenin portayed as a man who was willing to sacrifice for his people
      - Photos of Lenin in a cap circulated -> showed him to be an approachable man of the people who turned away from luxury - down to Earth
    - - Military victory did not lead to press freedom
        
        Felix Dzherzinsksy - head of the GPU -> introduced Glavlit in 1922
        
        Books checked for anti-Communist messages
        
        List compiled by the GPU of banned books
        
        Banned books stored in 'book Gulags' - Only senior officials could access
        
        Professional censors hired
  - - - Censorship heightened under Stalin
        
        Works of political opponents such as Zionviev, Trotsky and Kamanev were purged from Soviet libraries
        
        Lenin's works were 'edited' removing compliments towards Stalin's rivals
        
        History was rewritten -> role of Stalin's opponents in revolution lessened, whilst his own was heightened massively
        
        Soviet media not allowed to report 'bad news' -> Stalin credited for all good things
        
        1928 -> Glavlit controlled access to economic data
      - Propaganda
        
        Focused on Stalin -> turned him into a semi-divine figure
        
        Socialist Realist art -> focused on archetypal Soviet workers
        
        Depicted as muscular, heroic, dedicated and beautiful -> embodiment of the society Stalin wanted to build
  - - - Popular magazines changed Soviet media in 50s and 60s
      - Magazines encouraged to publish readers' letters -> many exposed long-term problems with Soviet society -> such as scarcity + quality of consumer goods
        
        Instead of supressing letters -> Khrushchev's media responded with own campaigns against 'worthless men' -> poked fun at men through cartoons who arrived at parades drunk, late or not at all
    - - Under Khrushchev -> many films focused on traditional themes of Soviet victory in Civil War/WW2 + role of ordinary people -> not Stalin.
      - TV took off during Khrushchev's last years -> between 1960 - 64, Soviet television broadly successful in supporting the regime
        
        Celebrated Soviet Union's triumphs in space race - Yuri Gagarin in 1961, Valentina Tereshkova in 1963 -> stressed her ordinariness
        
        First news channel contained regular features about model workesr
      - Changed significantly under Brezhnev -> traditional elements, but more films dealing with ordinary people -> tended to be fashionalble citizens livign in luxurious apartments -> stoked desire for consumer goods
        
        Brezhnev attempted to use TV to his advantage -> tight control of war in Afghaniststan -> Brezhnev speeches transmitted in full -> 1970s, this tactic backfired as Brezhnev was clearly unwell
        
        Soviet leaders lost control of print media -> KGB continued to police political publications but Western magazines increasingly available
- - - - To emphasise Stalin's legitimacy of leadership
      - To create a figure that Soviet citizens could trust and respect
      - To blame dissatisfaction with daily lifeo n local leaders whilst citizens could trust Stalin to make a better future
    - - Led Soviet People to believe that October Revolution + Civil War had been masterminded by a duumvirate of Lenin and Stalin
        
        History had to be extensively rewritten - Stalin at centre of events, remove Trotsky + other leaders
        
        1938 -> Histories of the Communist Party, both edited by Stalin
        
        Photos altered - rivals taken out of pictures with Lenin
        
        Socialist Realist paintings created showing Stalin working with Lenin
    - - Cult of Stalin implied that Stalin was continuing on the path created by Lenin
    - - Turned Stalin into an infallible and celebrated figure - routinely known as 'the vozhd;, meaning leader - no legal significance like PM or President -> Stalin's power had no legal limit
    - - From 1945 -> Stalin's role as war leader became focus of propaganda.
      - Stalin presented as military genius -> the man who defeated Hitler -> saviour of the nation
  - - - Khrushchev criticised cult of Stalin but established two of his own
        
        Cult of Lenin -> depicted as fun, approachable, humane, family man
        
        Own personality cult by 1958 -> presented as a disciple of Lenin completing his journey -> responsible for new successes such as Soviet space programme + rising harvests in Virgin lands -> hero of WW2 -> authority on literature, art, science, industry, agriculture -> great reformer who was perfecting the Soviet system
        
        Became problematic in 60s -> Khrushchev associated himself very closely with VLS so seriously damaged by his failure -> Corn Campaign failed too - failed to deliver on promise of out-producing the USA
        
        Own personality cult by 1958
        
        Presented as a disciple of Lenin, completing his journey
        
        Responsible for new success such as Soviet space program + rising harvests in Virgin lands
  - - - Cult attempted to present Brezhnev as a great leader:
        
        A great Leninist - Brezhnev hadn't known Lenin -> but claimed to be continuing Lenin's work, and working for world peace
        
        Military hero -> attempted to present himself as a military leader -> in reality, inflated his role
        
        Dedicated to ensuring world peace - stressed foreign policy successes in developing relaxed relations with US
        
        A man of the people - biographies told of humble origins
        
        Constructing the image
        
        Done through a series of public festivals, marking important anniversaries
        
        Brezhnev Cult -> counterproductive -> mocked for claims to greatness
        
        WW2 Veterans resented inflation of Brezhnev's role in the war - young people were not taken in by his claims to be an advocate of peace -> military was very large
        
        Lavish lifestyle of Brezhnev's family undercut claims of him being a man of the people
        
        Brezhnev cult inspirted cynycism