Censorship Under Stalin

Censorship in the Soviet Union

All media and information in the USSR was controlled by the government, with Stalin at the head of it all. Through his censorship of books, magazines, advertisements, movies, radio broadcasts, newspapers, and much more, he was able to implant ideas in the heads of the Russian citizens. He achieved goals such as promoting Socialism and anti-Westernization, causing hatred against the Kulaks as a scapegoat, and blocking off the Soviets from the rest of the world.

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Censorship of Literature

In the USSR, all foreign or pre-Russian Revolution books were destroyed, save for a select few that could be accessed by the government only. These books and journals disappeared from libraries everywhere, and personal books were destroyed by citizens for fear of persecution from the government. In 1922, an agency named Glavlit was established to protect secret information from foreign bodies. Glavlit censored things such as advertisements, the press, and books in order to promote socialist realism, which is  "a mode of art production that positively portrays socialism and constituents of socialist nations". Authors were encouraged to write in a way that would please Stalin because of the obvious risks there would be in disregarding them.

Ideas of anti-westernization were spread through censorship to promote nationalism. Xenophobia was widespread in the USSR due to this censorship. Part of the reason Stalin did this could have been Russia's lacking in technological advancements, which can be seen by the fact that Glavlit removed sections of books which describe the advancements of other countries. Another theme spread by the censorship was religious intolerance and atheism, which is just an extension of anti-westernization. After Stalin's death in 1953, most of this censorship disappeared. Previously removed literature was released into the public once again, authors had freedom to write how they pleased, and the people of Russia became informed on other countries and their own backwardness. The Glavlit lost authority and the ideas of anti-westernization and socialist realism died away.

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Censorship of Film

Censorship of film was also effective in aiding Stalin's goals of promoting socialist realism, anti-westernization, and nationalism. Many of the things censored in books were censored in all other things, such religion and foreign technology. Another goal Stalin accomplished through the power he had over what people read and watched was vilifying the Kulaks. Kulaks were peasant farmers that Stalin used as a scapegoat for all of the starvation that was happening in Russia, when in reality, it was mostly Stalin who was causing them to be starving. He made it seem like the Kulaks were hoarding all of the grain and keeping it from everyone else.

An example of how this was accomplished is a film Stalin approved called "The Party Card". In this film, Anka, the main character, has her party card stolen by her lover, who happens to secretly be a son of a Kulak. At the end of the movie, Anka is portrayed as loyal to the union by turning in her lover to the authorities. Similar to with literature, censorship of film died away after Stalin's death, although due to the nature of movies, took a bit longer to return to normal. Here is a Soviet propaganda video from WWII, an example of some film that was approved by Stalin:

Other Forms of Censorship

Since Stalin could not censor foreign radio broadcasts at the source, he had massive jamming towers set up. For over 60 years, he was able to block all incoming radio broadcasts. Along with this, he controlled the production of radios so they could be restricted to only frequencies that he desired.

Stalin censored photography as well. This is yet another example of the complete control he had over the information the Russians had as he did everything from removing unwanted people or objects, changing signs, and even banning pornographic images. Stalin is infamously known for having people he killed removed from any photos he was in with them. Here is an example of one such change:

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In the first photo, you can see Stalin walking with a man named Nikolai Yezhov, who was a Soviet official. After Yezhov fell from power, he was arrested and shot. The second photo has been altered by Stalin's censors, so that Yezhov is no longer in the picture.

In One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, it is mentioned that the prisoners could send letters, but they would have to be censored first. This shows that Stalin's control over information spreads even to the letters prisoners send from gulags. Shukhov does not mention any specifics, but it can be assumed that Stalin is preventing the prisoners from describing the terrible conditions of the camp so the citizens of Russia can not learn about it.


Sources:
Censorship in the Humanities. Censorship Issues, 21 Sept. 2010. Web. 12 Dec. 
     2014. <https://censorshipissues.wordpress.com/2010/09/21/ 
     censorship-of-books-in-the-soviet-union-from-1920-1940/>. 
Gitelman, Zvi. "Censorship in the USSR." YIVO Encylopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 
     Dec. 2014. <http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Censorship/ 
     Censorship_in_the_USSR>. 
Sinitsyna, Olga. "Censorship in the Soviet Union." IFLANET. IFLANET, 21 Aug. 
     1998. Web. 12 Dec. 2014. <http://archive.ifla.org/IV/ifla64/ 
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