Propaganda in the Soviet Union helped the regime and its dictators (particularly Stalin) create Homo Sovieticus. This essay will discuss how propaganda contributed to the Homo Sovieticus (NB I assume that Homo Sovieticus is a negative term to describe the product of Soviet policies).
First of all, it is crucial to take note of the role of ‘Pravda’ in fostering the revolutionary spirit in Russia since 1912. This newspaper helped Lenin spread anti-tsarist Marxist ideas around Russia and became a leading soviet Newspaper after the October Revolution in 1917. The overthrow of Tsar Nicholas II after the February revolution allowed Pravda to reopen. However, the original editors were replaced by the new editors (Stalin, Kamenev and Muranov) 1.
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For example, Lenin’s April Thesis, condemning the Provisional Government as “Counter-Revolutionary”, was published in the Pravda and the newspaper from then on followed the editorial choices of Lenin. The newspaper circulation, at its peak, reached 60,000 per day with an average circulation of 40,000 per day2. Pravda laid the foundation for the formation of Homo Sovieticus mainly due to its high daily circulation. After the revolution it became mandatory for state-run institutions to subscribe to the newspaper and other forms of this newspaper appeared for different sections of the population (such as Trud for Trade Unions, Izvestiya which covered foreign news, etc.) and almost all of them were run by the central government. Billington states that by the time of Lenin’s death (1924)
The USSR showed great educational progress as it is shown in the statistics , the literacy was twenty-five percent in 1915 and it grew to ninety-nine in 1980. Another example of Russia’s social condition is the massive instability and genocides during 1937 and 1938. In Document C it states “According to declassified Soviet archives, during 1937 and 1938, the NKVD detained 1,548,366 victims , of whom 681,692 were shot -an average of 1,000 executions a day ( in comparison, the Tsarists executed 3,932 persons for political crimes 1825 to 1910-an average of less than 1 execution per week).” (Document C) it shows how the NKVD, the police force that carried out Stalin’s orders to keep his people from rebelling and having freedom of speech
On December 5, 1936, the Soviet Union adopted a new constitution to reform the government. It replaced the 1924 constitution that was ratified shortly after the death of Vladimir Lenin. The 1936 constitution lasted until 1977, when a new constitution was adopted. According to a former kulak named Andrei Arzhilovsky, people celebrated on the streets when the constitution was ratified, and everyone called it the “Stalin Constitution”. Rightfully so, it deserved the name because Josef Stalin was heavily involved in the creation of the new constitution. Indeed there were good reasons for Soviet citizens to celebrate the adoption of the new constitution, because it granted rights that were previously denied to the people. Among the rights that were provided were: (1) universal rights for all Soviet citizens including kulaks (2) freedom of religion (3) preservation of the rights of all ethnic groups. In this paper, I will argue that the 1936 Soviet Constitution did not achieve its goal of providing universal rights to all Soviet citizens,
Ukraine’s hope and will was in the hands of the dictator Joseph Stalin. Joseph Stalin instilled a totalitarian government into Ukraine’s society. Moreover, Stalin tried to cut any threats that would affect his plan in making Russia a communist utopia, by using the secret police. But according to document 1, the Ukrainian’s were independent, rebellious people who believed strongly in their culture and traditional ways consequently, this caused much controversy with Joseph Stalin and the Ukrainian’s, such as Ukrainian’s not being able to speak up about the collectivization and not being able to practice different religions because of Russification. Likewise, Stalin used propaganda for in an effort of gaining support for collectivization, this
Propaganda used to induce terror included posters, political statements, and comics. One such comic was Is This Tomorrow?, a popular dramatization of the Soviets and of communism(Document 7). By depicting the Soviets in such a violent, authoritarian light, it spread anti-communist feeling among Americans, and attempted to prevent any Soviet sympathizers. In the Soviet Union, a secret speech made by Nikita Khrushchev to the closed session of the Twentieth Party of Congress denounces capitalism and fights against the anti-communist campaign(Document 6). The Secret Speech was a counter to recently made anti-communist organizations, and reinforced the Soviet Union’s own ideals, while countering the US’s arguments for capitalism. Through the use of past faults and militaristic policies, Khrushchev argues that the US’s attempts at peace were false, and only a front for their true intentions. This effectively promoted terror and anti-capitalist feeling among Soviet Congress. It gave strong reasoning to fight back against Americans, as it instilled fears of a capitalist overtake, and the need for preservation of the
The concept of Stalinism, being the ideologies and policies adopted by Stalin, including centralization, totalitarianism and communism, impacted, to an extent, on the soviet state until 1941. After competing with prominent Bolshevik party members Stalin emerged as the sole leader of the party in 1929. From this moment, Stalinism pervaded every level of society. Despite the hindrance caused by the bureaucracy, the impact of Stalinism was achieved through the implementation of collectivization and the 5-year plans, Stalin’s Political domination and Cultural influence, including the ‘Cult of the Personality’. This therefore depicts the influence of Stalinism over the Soviet State in the period up to 1941.
Had Stalin’s opposition published Lenin’s Testament during the conflict for leadership, he would never have made it to power and Russian history would be very different. However the fact remains that they failed to publish this until it was too late; Zinoviev, Kamenev and Trotsky attempted to publish the testament in 1926 but Stalin was already too strong – he ordered the secret police to remove the illicit copies, leaving the United Opposition to appear desperate and undermined. These general errors by the Bolsheviks made Stalin’s rise to power easier, as they could have ended his political career if people had recognized his vast control and power within the party.
Both the Bolsheviks and the Nazis shared a fundamental commitment to create a creating a higher human type. However, the ideals and approaches of both regimes towards this mission differed substantially. While the Nazis sought to create a master race above all in European hierarchy, the Bolsheviks sought a system of liberation of their entire race and complete equality. Within both ideologies, the role of women was a hotbed of debate and instigated a period of change. In Germany, women confined to roles that were ‘natural’ or intended by nature, while in Russia, although women ‘received’ previously inaccessible rights and freedoms, it became more of a burden rather than a boon, The creation of “new men and women,” became more about the removal of undesirable classes or nationalities and the integration of the rest of the population with particular characteristics. Women were expected to accept state-propagated guidelines for conduct and appearance, and conform to certain gender roles that were defined by the state. In Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union ideology, the rebirth of the nation, its prosperity and survival depended directly on women’s conformity to the propagated feminine ideal and thus, their participation was severely influenced by the regime’s economic, social and political policies. In this essay, I
From Stalin’s Cult of Personality to Khrushchev’s period of De-Stalinization, the nation of the Soviet Union was in endless disarray of what to regard as true in the sense of a socialist direction. The short story, This is Moscow Speaking, written by Yuli Daniel (Nikolai Arzhak) represents the ideology that the citizens of the USSR were constantly living in fear of the alternations of their nation’s political policies. Even more, the novella gives an explanation for the people’s desire to conform to the principles around them.
Stalin like Hitler “used propaganda, censorship, and terror to force his will on the Soviet people. Government newspapers glorified work and Stalin himself. Secret police spied on citizens, and anyone who refused to praise Stalin and the state faced severe punishment, even death” (“The Soviet”, n.d.).
Indeed, the telegraph demonstrated many of the characteristics one might expect from a Soviet document degenerating the United States. Not only did Novikov accuse the United States of desiring “world domination,” for example, but he also criticized America’s reliance on unfair “monopoly capital[ism],” which in his view permitted U.S. expansion into Eurasia. A deeper analysis, however, reveals hidden suggestions into how the Soviets saw themselves in the world. In fact, some parts of Novikov’s response almost appear to portray the USSR as an underdog overcoming an imperialistic power – a portrayal strikingly similar to the Marxist idea of the downtrodden proletariat overcoming the disproportionately overpowered bourgeois. Just as Cold War America may have understood its place in the world thanks to Manifest Destiny, the founding ideals of Marx and Lenin may have also defined how Cold War Russia viewed
It is undeniable that Stalin had a profound impact on the Soviet Union following Lenin’s death. His rise to power within the Soviet Union has provided historians with a hotbed of political intrigue for many years. He was an opportunist, coming to dominance by manipulating party politics and influential figures in the politburo to eliminate his opposition by recognising and exploiting their weaknesses thus becoming the dominant leader of the Soviet Union. He was severely underestimated by other members of the Politburo about his potential within the party, leading to missed opportunities to ally and stand against him- a mistake that Stalin never made. He gained support from the public by exploiting the idea of ‘the Cult of Lenin’ in 1924 at Lenin’s funeral, and then adopting this concept for himself, thereby likening himself to Lenin; and, more importantly, gained support from other party members by following the wishes of Lenin, for example, initially supporting the continuation of the NEP and supporting the idea of factionalism. This essay will also argue that he was ideologically flexible as he was able to change his ideas for the party according to who he needed as an ally, in order to achieve dominant status in the party. He sought out which individual was the biggest threat, and eliminated them before they could stand against him.
My confirmed dates of availability are from May 16th- August 22nd, and my preferred duration is that entire period (13 weeks). If granted and accepted an internship with the Manatee Research Program, there would be nothing that would prevent my ability to participate as an intern. Please note that these dates have changed to what was stated in my application, as my graduation date was moved up and I was accepted into graduate school starting in the fall.
The Russian Revolution is a widely studied and seemingly well understood time in modern, European history, boasting a vast wealth of texts and information from those of the likes of Robert Service, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Allan Bullock, Robert Conquest and Jonathan Reed, to name a few, but none is so widely sourced and so heavily relied upon than that of the account of Leon Trotsky, his book “History of the Russian Revolution” a somewhat firsthand account of the events leading up to the formation of the Soviet Union. There is no doubt that Trotsky’s book, among others, has played a pivotal role in shaping our understanding of the events of The Revolution; but have his personal predilections altered how he portrayed such paramount
In the excerpt, Libertarian philosopher Ayn Rand reflects on the concept of selfishness. She views “selfishness” can also be known as a synonym of “evil,” as it can portray the imagery of “a brute trampling over corpses to achieve their own ends.” Typically, when selfishness comes in mind it is usually labeled as someone who is self-centered or egotistical, which are all bad traits. She explores deeper into the definition of selfishness, as she perceives the dictionary definition of selfishness does not include a moral evaluation.
Many people, both teens and adults, fail to become aware what marijuana can do to a college student’s academic performance. Marijuana is most commonly used illegal drug in the United States of America. According to Dr. Calvin Carey of Baylor University, marijuana has been widespread all over universities in the United States for college students to take in. For a student who hopes to meet success in school, taking in marijuana is not a good idea.