Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and does them, I will liken to a wise man who built his house on a rock; and the rain fell, and the rivers overflowed, and the winds blew, and rushed on that house, and it did not fall, because it was founded on a stone. And everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not fulfill them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand; and the rain fell, and the rivers overflowed, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and he fell, and his fall was great.
(Gospel of Matthew 7: 21-28)
On the pages of VO, discussions about the role and place of the party leadership in the life of Soviet society, and also about whether it was positive or negative, flare up every now and then. There is also talk about censorship. It would be nice to return her … There is a lot of fervor in this polemic, but there is little knowledge. At best, the debaters refer to their personal experience and articles in the electronic media. And for a dispute in the kitchen or in the smoking room of the sheet-rolling shop, this is enough. Still, here, on this site, more weighty arguments are desirable. In this regard, I would like to present the material of Svetlana Timoshina, associate professor of the Penza State University, who, as part of her research, processed a lot of information: the newspaper Pravda from 1921 to 1953, local Penza newspapers, documents from the archive of the State Archive of the Penza Region, that is, everything that contains a lot of interesting concrete facts and examples.
IN. Shpakovsky
In the early 1920s. in the Soviet state, a unified centralized system of party and state agitation and propaganda bodies subordinate to them was created, covering all levels of government. By 1921, the multi-party press was liquidated, and the entire network of Soviet newspapers became one-party. It received the functions of an instrument of agitation and propaganda of socialist values, an instrument of party control of all aspects of the daily life of the population [1]. The main organizational feature of Soviet agitprop was the rigid centralization of the entire system of agitation and propaganda bodies. Analyzing the style of work of the apparatus of the Bolshevik agitation and propaganda system, A. I. In his work, Guryev characterizes it as "military-bureaucratic" [2], noting that "in Soviet Russia and then in the USSR, the communist party completely subjugated the state apparatus."
"Pravda" on the front line
Despite the huge number of institutions that controlled, in one way or another, the activities of the Soviet press, the dominant structures directing the work of the Soviet media were precisely the party organizations. As noted by O. L. Mitvol in his research [3], "within the framework of 1922, the Central Committee of the RCP (b), represented by its departments, decisively moved to the main place among the departments that controlled the work of the media."
In the early 1920s. at the meetings of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), documents were considered that clearly regulate relations between party bodies and newspaper editorial offices [4]. According to these documents, in the localities, the activities of newspapers were controlled by the regional, provincial, and later, regional committees of the CPSU (b). In the Penza province, the activities of the local press were controlled by the General Department, the Agitprop Department and the Press Department of the Penza Provincial Committee of the CPSU (b).
It should be noted that citizens were informed both about events in the country and about life abroad, and the latter faced certain difficulties. The questions arose "what to write about" and "where to get information", but the main thing - "what to write?" Whether to give comparative information "with them - with us" or limit ourselves to short informational blocks that "everything is bad there." How to dose the truth and outright lies is a task that always faces the propaganda bodies. An obstacle in this work was even such a reason as the weak organizational structure of the above-named structures, which led to the emergence of contradictions in the activities of central and local party organizations: “It has been established that many local committees do not send their printed publications to the Central Committee of the RCP (b). The situation is especially bad with the dispatch of leaflets, posters, newspapers and brochures. This makes it difficult for the Secretariat of the Central Committee to systematically give instructions to the field and provide information to the field in a timely manner”[5]. Difficulties also arose in organizing the activities of district newspapers due to a lack of understanding by the local leadership of the role of newspapers in the young Soviet society. This is clearly seen from the content of the documents of that period: “… Subscription to our provincial newspaper Trudovaya Pravda by party members and individual party members is extremely sluggish. The overwhelming majority of party members, both urban and especially rural, did not take any measures to carry out a mandatory subscription or limited themselves to a resolution that remained on paper”[6].
Pravda newspaper. No. 74. April 1, 1925
The lack of coordinated work between the central party bodies and local organizations of the RCP (b) influenced the policy of informing the population of the Penza province about events abroad. The local leadership, judging by the archival documents, did not attach such importance to information about foreign life as the Central Committee of the CPSU (b). For example, the Head of the Agitpropaganda Department of the Penza Provincial Committee of the CPSU (b) sent on August 17, 1921 to the Nizhne-Lomovskiy Ukom a circular regulating the activities of the newspaper Golos Bednyak, which stated the following: business executives and maximize the participation of the local peasant population in the newspaper. The latter may well be achieved if the editorial board, instead of messages about Churchill's vacation in Paris (No. 15), prints economic instructions to the peasants on combating drought, on animal husbandry, etc. " [7]. Probably, it was the correct remark for the newspaper "The Voice of the Poor" and the correct remark in general. However, on the other hand, it was also impossible to ignore foreign news. This is an important part of educating the masses.
The next reason for the poor organization of informing the population about life abroad was the poorly developed media network in the early 1920s. In the Penza province, newspaper publishing was in a difficult situation due to a shortage of qualified personnel and a lack of equipment and funding, so newspapers hardly reached the majority of the population of the province, then living in rural areas. This fact was reflected in the reporting documentation of the press subdivision of the Penza Gubkom of the RCP (b) [8]. The scarcity of newspapers in the countryside was acutely felt throughout the 1920s. For example, in the part of the Report on the results of party education in the Ruzaevsky district of the 1927-1928 academic year, which characterizes the activities of the newspaper circle, the following was said: - Zavod i Pashnya, in the Nizhne-Lomovsk district there are “no newspapers” in the newspaper circle. Consequently, at the first stages of the formation of the Soviet state, in the implementation of the policy of informing citizens about life abroad, the informing function was performed mainly not by the media, but by the party workers themselves, who traveled to the countryside and to enterprises with lectures.
The third factor that determined the nature of activities to inform about foreign events in the field was the low level of literacy among the population of the province against the background of the unfavorable situation in the economy [9]. In 1921, the following situation developed in the Chembarsky district of the Penza region: “The propaganda department stated that, despite the fact that newspapers are sent from the local Department of the Central Press throughout the entire district by mail, the newspapers do not reach the village. Getting into volispocoms, they immediately go into the pockets of smokers completely unread”[10]. In 1926, the report on the press contained the following data on the literacy of the population of the Penza province: “Literacy, especially among ethnic minorities, still falls within 10-12%, or even less. The rest of the Penza villages are absolutely illiterate. " It should also be said here that illiterate people also met among party members even 10 years later. For example, in 1936, in a letter from the Secretary of the Penza City Committee of the CPSU (b) Rudenko to the Department of Party Propaganda and Agitation of the Regional Committee of the CPSU (b), the following figures were given: people, including: members of the CPSU (b) - 357 and candidates 192 people. 128 people graduated from the educational program, 256 people studied in rural schools and 165 people were engaged in self-education. Among the self-taught there are 30 communists (without the Frunze plant) who are completely illiterate, i.e. they read in warehouses, do not know the multiplication tables and do not know how to write fluently … The list of illiterate communists is attached”[11]. Then a list with the names was attached. Speaking about the low level of literacy of the population of the Penza province, it should be noted that our region was not an exception in those years. As noted by A. A. Grabelnikov in his work, most of the country's population was illiterate. Describing the role of the press in the first post-revolutionary years, he cites the following data: “Compared with such developed European countries as Sweden or Denmark, where practically the entire population was literate, and in Switzerland and Germany the illiteracy rate was 1-2%, Russia looked very backward: before the revolution, more than 70% of the population, not counting children under 9 years of age, was illiterate”[12].
Despite the fact that the Penza City Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks took measures to eliminate illiteracy among the ordinary population and communists, the number of illiterates did not decrease as quickly as we would like. According to the report "On the progress of the elimination of illiteracy and illiteracy of communists in the city of Penza on January 20, 1937" attendance in groups for the elimination of illiteracy among illiterate and semi-literate communists was 65% [13], "which speaks for the lack of attention from a number of party organizations to the training of communists and weak control by the district committees over the work of schools. " It should be noted here that the difficult economic and sanitary-epidemiological situation that developed in the Penza region in the first half of the 1930s left its mark on the level of education of the population. This is eloquently evidenced by the theme of the campaigns conducted by the Penza City Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the City Council. In 1934, with the help of the local newspaper Rabochaya Penza, the Penza City Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) promulgated a decree on the campaign "For a clean apartment, hut, for a clean yard" sanitary and epidemiological situation in Penza: “… 4. During a two-decade period, carry out a continuous washing of all towns and villages, assign personal responsibility for washing in the city to the chairmen of ZhAKT-v, house representatives, commandants of buildings, in the village - to the chairmen of the s / s. collective farms and foremen; on state and collective farms for directors and section managers … 7. For persons subject to compulsory haircuts - make one in the baths free of charge … 9 … On the line (railway) send mobile baths with a camera for processing passengers, railway stations, as well as adjacent villages … 11. Carry out a general cleaning of all public places, as well as Soviet and economic institutions, institutions throughout the city and village”[14].
The low level of literacy of the population inevitably influenced the content of the activities to inform about citizens at the local level. In particular, in 1936, the programs of monthly courses for collective farm party organizers included "the study of a geographical map in order to orient the collective farm party organizers with the countries of the world, state borders and major cities of both the USSR and capitalist countries, to give brief geographical political and geographical information about the most important countries. so that the party organizer, using the newspaper, has a clearer idea of the geographical location of the countries, states, peoples and cities about which he reads in the newspaper. It should be added to this that when studying the map, one or two reports on the international situation should be delivered as additional activities."
In connection with the current difficult situation in the media system, the Agitprop Department of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) called for more decisive actions on the ground: “It is necessary to strengthen, strengthen and in every possible way support the Department of Periodicals of the State Enterprise (Rosta). Local party committees should allocate party-strong and politically trained workers to work in the local press, to manage the Rostov branches. Such a powerful apparatus as radio, telegraph and telephone communications between the press and information agencies must be fully used by the party”[15].
Gradually, in the process of the formation of the party system, the contradictions between the central and local bodies of the CPSU (b) in their activities to inform about events abroad were eliminated. The Penza Gubkom of the CPSU (b) strictly followed the circulars received from the Central Committee of the CPSU (b). In the 1930s, work on informing about foreign events was systematically carried out in rural areas; the Penza City Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks subscribed to the newspaper Rabochaya Penza, which was the organ of the City Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. It should be said here that the process of informing the population about life abroad was highly politicized, and the coverage of facts concerning foreign events sometimes had nothing to do with reality, since the main task of local party workers was not to inform reliable facts, and, following instructions from above, reflect the point of view of the country's leadership on this or that event abroad. An example of this is the secret circular [16] signed by the Secretary of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) V. Molotov dated October 9, 1923, where an assessment of the events that took place in Germany at that time was given: in Germany it is not only inevitable, but already quite close - it has come close … The conquest of broad strata of the petty bourgeoisie by fascism is extremely difficult due to the correct tactics of the German Communist Party. For Soviet Germany, an alliance with us, which is immensely popular among the broad masses of the German people, will be the only chance of salvation. On the other hand, only Soviet Germany is able to provide the USSR with an opportunity to resist the impending onslaught of international fascism and the fastest resolution of the economic problems facing us. This determines our position in relation to the German revolution."
Trudovaya Pravda newspaper. No. 235. October 11, 1928
Further in this document, detailed instructions were given regulating the activities of local party bodies in the process of informing the population about the events in Germany: “The Central Committee considers it necessary: 1. To focus the attention of the broadest workers and peasants on the German revolution. 2. To expose in advance the intrigues of our external and internal enemies linking the defeat of revolutionary Germany with a new military campaign against the workers and peasants of the Soviet republics, with the complete rout and dismemberment of our country. 3. To consolidate in the minds of every worker, peasant and Red Army soldier the unshakable confidence that the war that foreign imperialists and, above all, the ruling classes of Poland are preparing to impose on us (as you can see, Poland was considered the main striking force of imperialism at that time, as if it were really had the strength to attack the USSR - V. O.), will be a defensive war for the preservation of land in the hands of the peasants, factories in the hands of the workers, for the very existence of the workers 'and peasants' power.
Due to the international situation, propaganda campaigns should be carried out widely and systematically. To this end, the Central Committee invites you to: 1. Introduce in the agenda of all party meetings (general, regional, cells, etc.) the issue of the international situation, highlighting every stage and turn in events that are now at the center of international life. 2. Regularly convene meetings of senior officials (party, Soviet, military, economic) for information and discussion of issues related to the international situation. 3. Immediately organize trips of provincial workers to districts and uyezd workers to volosts with reports on the international situation at party meetings in order to focus the attention of the entire Party on the German revolution. 4. Pay special attention to the organization of agitation and propaganda among the workers and peasants and, in particular, students. The secretaries of the Provincial Committees of the RKP undertake to keep the Bureau of the Provincial Committees of the RKSM up to date on the events. 5. To take all measures for broad coverage of the issue in the press, guided by articles published in Pravda and sent from the Press Bureau of the Central Committee. 6. Organize meetings at factories in order to fully illuminate the current international situation in front of the broadest masses of the working class and call on the proletariat to be vigilant. Use female delegate meetings. 7. Pay special attention to the coverage of the question of the international situation among the masses of the peasantry. Everywhere broad peasant meetings about the German revolution and the impending war should be preceded by meetings of the party members, where there are such. 8. Speakers … should be instructed in the most careful manner in the spirit of the general party line outlined by the last party meeting and the instructions of this circular. In our propaganda … we cannot appeal (as in the text - V. Sh.) only to internationalist feelings. We must appeal to vital economic and political interests …"
Thus, we can conclude that even in the most democratic period for the press, 1921-1928. Soviet newspapers were already not free to cover foreign reality. Literally from the first years of the existence of the Soviet state, the media in informing about foreign events were forced to comply with the decisions of the party leadership.
In the 1920s. In pursuing a policy of informing citizens of the country about life abroad, newspapers played the role of a link between the party bodies and the ordinary population. From the editorial office of the newspaper Trudovaya Pravda, under the heading "Secret", reports on the mood among citizens were sent to the Penza Gubkom of the CPSU (b). Judging by the content of the information summaries compiled by the Penza Gubkom of the CPSU (b), in 1927 there were rumors among the workers about the impending war: “The workers of the Textile Factory. Kutuzov (B-Demyan uezd), rumors are spreading about the approach of war, for example, one worker said in a conversation: “that foreign powers have already designated Kerensky as president in the USSR” [17]. How did he know this and why did he talk about it?
At the rallies, workers and collective farmers, showing interest in events outside the USSR, asked questions about life abroad. For example, in September 1939 g.residents of the Luninsky district were worried about such questions as: "Why did the Polish people not want to join the Soviet Union in 1917?" and France to fight the USSR? "," Will Germany liberate the occupied cities belonging to Western Belarus and Ukraine? " An interesting fact is that during such events an atmosphere of dialogue between representatives of party structures and the ordinary population was really created. The reports on the conduct of campaigning events included not only positive responses to foreign policy events, but also negative statements from citizens. For example, regarding the events in Poland in 1939, citizens openly expressed their opinion: “The watchman of the Luninsky Penkozavod, an old non-party man, Knyazev Kuzma Mikhailovich, in a conversation with him, the propagandist comrade. Pakhalin: “It’s good that the matter goes without great sacrifices in the defense of Western Belarus and Ukraine, but this is again on our neck, after all, they are beggars and they need to help a lot” … Collective farmer of the Lenin Merlinsky collective farm with / at the rally in speeches he said: “After all, the capitalists need war, the capitalists make money in the war, and the working class becomes poor, so why are we starting a war?” [18].
The newspaper "Rabochaya Penza". No. 138. June 16, 1937
Questions about the international situation were regularly included in the agendas of county party conferences of the days of congresses of workers and peasants, were considered in classes at political literacy schools and circles of the party education network, were included in the list of general tasks of the work of local pro-groups, were discussed during campaigns to popularize the International Women's Communist Day, among recruits in the Red Army were covered even during campaigns for the sale of tickets of the All-Union Lottery Osoaviakhim, they figured in the plans of the party offices of the region in the 1930s.
Much attention was also paid to the dissemination of information about events abroad and among young people. At the plenary sessions held by the Komsomol Committee, strategies were developed and proposals were put forward for work to inform the population about international events: in China, and why the Kuomintang split into right and left ….
But to a greater extent, the Penza Gubkom of the CPSU (b), in working with local newspapers, focused on local events, as well as issues of the state of the press, distribution of newspapers among workers and peasants, work among workers' correspondents and village correspondents, the work of the press sub-department, following circular instructions and the Central Committee RCP (b). This can be seen from the content of the resolutions and work plans of the press sub-department of the Penza Gubkom of the CPSU (b): “… 1. To recognize the work of the printing department of the Penza Provincial Committee satisfactory and basically correct. To propose to the press department in the future to pay special attention to the ideological leadership of the provincial and district press and to strengthening control over the correct and more active implementation of the party's political line by it … 4. To recognize it necessary: a) to intensify the coverage of rural issues in Trudovaya Pravda, in particular, a specific explanation of the resolution of the 14th Party Congress on rural policy. b) to increase the coverage of the work of the soviets in the newspaper and the participation of the workers and peasants in Soviet construction”[19].
In the 1930s. In the work of the Penza City Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, the same tendency persisted, that is, the party organization called on newspapers to focus on covering local events, not getting carried away with describing international events. The report of May 22, 1937 on the work of the "regional and grassroots press" said the following: "…" Rabochaya Penza "pays little to letters from workers' correspondents and the newspaper, as a rule, is filled with Tassov material and materials from the editorial staff."Moreover, the main criterion for choosing any recommendations for action by the local press was, as in informing about foreign events, decisions of party congresses.
Due to the poorly developed broadcasting network [20] in the early 1930s. the population of the countryside learned about the events taking place abroad, mainly from newspapers and during various political campaigns carried out by representatives of the party. However, later in the late 1930s. Along with newspaper material, radio began to play its role in informing the population about events abroad. It should be noted that the same algorithm was used here in informing about the facts of foreign reality, that is, first, information about events outside the USSR was processed by the party leadership, and then it was presented in the right light to collective farmers and workers. An example of this is the document of the Poimsky RK VKP (b) "On the work done to clarify the speech of comrade. Molotov, broadcast on the radio on September 17, 1939 ", sent to the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Regional Committee of the CPSU (b): 1. The District Committee of the CPSU (b) 18 / IX-39g. at 5 o'clock in the evening, a meeting with the entire party activist was held in the party office, 67 people from the party Komsomol activists were present. The entire Raipartaktiv received printed leaflets with the speech of Comrade. Molotov, broadcast on the radio, after which everyone went to the collective farms to hold rallies and meetings. 2. September 18 of this year at 7 o'clock in the evening a meeting was held in the Raykino Center, in the Raikino building. Attended by 350 people, the meeting heard the speech of the head of the Soviet government, Comrade Molotov, broadcast on 17 / IX-on the radio and the question of international events, at the rally, as well as at the meeting of the Raipartaktiv, a resolution was adopted approving the foreign policy of our government and the government's decision to take under the protection of the peoples of Western Ukraine and Belarus living in Poland."
In 1939, by the Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces of February 4, the Tambov region. divided into Tambov and Penza regions, in March the Penza Regional Committee of the CPSU (b) was organized.
The topics of lectures and seminars on international events held in the regions of the region in 1939 were concretized, namely, the issues of German-Soviet relations, "Japanese aggression in the Far East", military operations in Poland, China, events of the Second World War began to be highlighted.
The Penza Regional Committee of the CPSU (b) took measures to improve the professionalism of journalistic personnel. For example, in 1940, according to the decree of the Bureau of the Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, from September 9 to 13, an excursion was organized for 10 workers of regional newspapers to Moscow at the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition, where they listened to lectures by employees of the Pravda newspaper, and also got acquainted with the work of the plant. Truth”[21]. After all this, their professionalism, of course, increased very much …
So, by the beginning of the 1940s. the system of informing Soviet citizens about life abroad was fully formed and acquired the following scheme: the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) sent out directives to the localities about conducting explanatory campaigns about an event in international life, the regional and regional committees of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), on the basis of these directives, issued instructions to the districts, the district committees of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, in turn, organized campaigning events and monitored the press, based on the content of the instructions of higher authorities. The starting point in organizing activities to inform the population about life abroad was the decisions of party congresses and plenums, directives of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. In the Penza region in the 1921-1940s. the main work on the management of the media was carried out by the Gubkom and the City Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. The Bureau of the Penza Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks heard reports on the work of regional and regional newspapers at its meetings. All events related to coverage of events in the country and abroad, party organizations carried out from the point of view of the next congress of the party. International issues were given due attention during political campaigns (for example, dedicated to the study of the "Short Course of the CPSU (b),organized by the Departments of agitation and propaganda of the Penza Regional Committee of the CPSU (b) and the District Committees of the CPSU (b). It should be noted that information about life abroad was presented not just in the form of a dry statement of facts, it was presented by employees of the Agitation and Propaganda Departments from the point of view of political decisions of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. The events of foreign reality were in every possible way "explained" to ordinary citizens in the light of the directives and decisions of the Central Committee [22].
It is interesting that, along with ordinary newspapers, already in the 20s of the twentieth century, photo newspapers appeared, which could be viewed and were a very informative source for the then illiterate people. Photo newspaper "Trudovaya Pravda". No. 7. February 1-15, 1928
So, having analyzed the activities of the party organizations of the Penza region in informing the population about life abroad in the 1920s-1940s, the following conclusions can be drawn:
- at the first stages of the formation of the Soviet state in the implementation of the policy of informing citizens about life abroad - that is, when submitting comparative information, the informing function was performed mainly not by the media themselves, but by party workers who went to the countryside and to enterprises with lectures, since, firstly, the overwhelming majority of the population was illiterate, and newspaper articles were inaccessible to people, and secondly, due to the fact that at the beginning of its formation the network of newspapers was in a state of crisis and could not perform the function of informing qualitatively.
- even in the most democratic period for the press, 1921-1928. Soviet newspapers were already not free to cover foreign reality. Literally from the first years of the existence of the Soviet state, the media in informing about foreign events were forced to be guided by the decisions of the party leadership. That is, there was an increase in the critical mass of inaccurate information. Conflicting information could not be given either. Otherwise, in one issue of Pravda, Tukhachevsky was a native of peasants, and three months later, after his arrest, he became the son of a landowner!
- in informing about the facts of foreign reality, the structures of the CPSU (b) developed the following algorithm: first, information about events outside the USSR was processed by the party leadership, and then it was presented in the right light to collective farmers and workers, that is, it was practically impossible. In principle, for protective purposes, it was even good. No comparison - no "bad thoughts". But the bad thing was that it was asserted, for example, that "the world revolution is near," but for some reason it still did not happen, that there was famine in the USA, but the revolution did not start there either, that "fascism in Germany is helping the cause of the proletarian revolution" (!), but only there it again did not start. At the same time, many Soviet citizens found themselves in the West, and contacted Western experts, and saw something completely different there, of course, this information also diverged, albeit through narrow sections of the population. Nevertheless, all this slowly but surely undermined the confidence of the masses in the information of the Soviet media. What all this led to in the end is well known.
