Media & the Cult of Stalin

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The Media and the New Constitution

The media - newspapers, novels, poetry, plays - was heavily censored. In 1936, the new constitution was enacted.

Censorship

The media needed to be supportive of Stalin and the Party.
Works written by those who had been purged were banned, including those of Trotsky. Trotsky was even removed from photographs.
‘Glavlit’ (Main Administration for Literary and Publishing Affairs) controlled publication of statistics.
- This included economic data, which meant that no one could check the claims of the government about the economy.

The 'official truth'

Given government control of information, people did not know what to believe.
Most people tended to believe the government’s message because there was no alternative.
- Many had only a limited education, and were not confident in questioning the ‘official truth’.

The new constitution of 1936

After waves of mass arrests, this constitution had very little value. People's rights were theoretically enshrined, but Stalin had no intention of honouring them in practice.
The new constitution seems to have been introduced as a way to show that the Soviet Union had changed since the 1924 constitution.
A secret ballot for party elections made the country ‘seem’ democratic, especially to those living in dictatorships abroad.

1The Leadership Struggle, 1924-1929

1.1Struggle for Power 1924-28

1.1.1Stalin & his Rivals

1.1.2The End of Lenin & Stalin

1.1.3Stalin & the Communist Party

2Five Year Plans & Collectivisation

2.1Changes in Industry

2.1.1Industrialisation & Gosplan

2.2Agriculture & Collectivisation

2.2.1Five Year Plans & Grain Hoarding

2.2.2Collectivisation

2.2.3Kulaks

3Purges, Show Trials & The Cult of Stalin

3.1The Use of Terror in the 1930s

3.1.1Purges

3.1.2NKVD

3.1.3Show Trials

3.1.4Labour Camps

3.2Propaganda & Censorship

3.2.1Art & Religion Under Stalin

3.2.2Media & the Cult of Stalin

3.2.3The Cult of Stalin

3.2.4History

4Life in the Soviet Union, 1924-1941

4.1Life in the Soviet Union

4.1.1Living Conditions & Ethnic Minorities in the USSR

5The Second World War, 1941-1953

5.1USSR in the War

5.1.11941-1942

5.1.21943-1945

5.2Stalin & WW2

5.2.1Stalin's Popularity

5.2.2Post-War Consolidation

5.3Post-War Recovery

5.3.1Economic Recovery

5.3.2The USSR by 1953

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