Communist propaganda

“Comrade Lenin Cleanses the Earth of Filth” by Viktor Deni

Communist propaganda is propaganda aimed to advance the ideology of communism, communist worldview and interests of the communist movement.

A Bolshevik theoretician, Nikolai Bukharin, in his The ABC of Communism wrote:^[1]

The State propaganda of communism becomes in the long run a means for the erodication of the last traces of bourgeois propaganda dating from the old régime; and it is a powerful instrument for the creation of a new ideology, of new modes of thought, of a new outlook on the world.

Communist propaganda as defined by Bolsheviks

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia defines the communist propaganda in an opposition to what is called bourgeois propaganda described as manipulation of the masses in the interests of certain groups, in fact, in the interests of the ruling class. On the contrary, the communist propaganda is defined as a scientifically-based system of the dissemination of the communist ("Marxist-Leninist") ideology with the purpose of education, training and organizing of the masses.

Purposes

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia identifies the following functions of the Communist propaganda:^[2]

• The link of the Communist party with the worker class and other working people^[3]
• Incorporation of the Scientific Socialism into the worker movements and revolutionary activities of the masses
• Unification and organization of national divisions of the workers', communist, and democratic movements
• Coordination of the activities of the above mentioned movements, exchange of information and experience
• Expression of the public opinion of the worker class, working people, their needs and interests
• Spread opposition to the bourgeois and revisionist propaganda
• Dissemination of propaganda about the socialist society (i.e., the one of a communist state).

Targets

As a common trait of any propaganda and its analogue, advertising, Communist propaganda goals and techniques are tuned according to the target audience. The most broad classification of targets is:^[4]

• Domestic propaganda of the Communist states
• External propaganda of the Communist states
• Propaganda of the Communist supporters outside the Communist states

A more detailed classification of specific targets (workers, peasants, youth, women, etc.) may be found in the Communist Party documents, usually presented at the Congresses of the communist Party.^[4]

Techniques

Use of Marxist ideology

Further information: Marxism

The creation of the Soviet Union was presented as the most important turning event in human history, based on the Marxist theory of historical materialism. This theory identified means of production as chief determinants of the historical process. They led to the creation of social classes, and class struggle was the 'motor' of history. The sociocultural evolution of societies had to progress inevitably from slavery, through feudalism and capitalism to communism. Furthermore, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union became the protagonist of history, as a "vanguard of the working class", according to development of this theory by Vladimir Lenin. Hence the unlimited powers of the Communist Party leaders were claimed to be as infallible and inevitable as the history itself.^[5] It also followed that a worldwide victory of communist countries is inevitable.

Marxism was widely used to justify political repressions. For example, the peasantry was represented as an incarnation of backwardness, an enemy class that must be brought under control, for example in the Soviet Union, Vietnam and Tanzania.^[6] Millions died as a result of Soviet dekulakization policy that included execution, imprisonment, and deportation to Siberia of better off peasants called "kulaks". Lev Kopelev, who was personally involved in actions against starving villagers in 1930s explained his motivation as a result of the Communist propaganda ^[6]:

"It was excruciating to see and hear all this. And even worse to take part in it.... And I persuaded myself, explained to myself. I must not give in to debilitating pity. We were realizing historical necessity. We were performing our revolutionary duty. We were obtaining grain for our socialist Fatherland. For the Five Year Plan. Our goal was the universal triumph of the Communism, and for the sake of that goal everything was permissible - to lie, to steal, to destroy hundreds of thousands and even millions of people... everyone who stood in the way".

Polarized values

Political caricature from Krokodil magazine : American "Freedom"

While somewhat modified since the times of the détente, the Communist propaganda was centered around a number of polarized dichotomies: virtues of the Communist world vs. vices of the Capitalist world, such as:^[4]

• communists for peace, the West for war
• communists for cooperation, the West is based on exploitation

Still another polarization was focused on the real and alleged essence of various terms, such as "freedom", "democracy", often counterpointing, e.g., "bourgeois democracy" vs. "true democracy" or "people's democracy". The latter term is seen, e.g., in the expression "countries of people's democracy" as applied to what is called "communist states" in the West.^[7]

Means

Communist propaganda was delivered via:

• Printed media
  • Manuals
  • Newspapers and magazines
  • Books
• Radio and TV broadcasting
• Congresses and conferences of various internationational organizations under various Communist umbrellas, such as World Peace Council
• Local communist parties and fellow-travellers

Communist manuals

During the years 1938 - 1953 the History of the CPSU(B). Short Course was an obligatory explanation of Soviet ideology. The book was translated into many languages.

Communist periodicals

A number of periodicals were printed by communist states, either exclusively for distribution abroad or with versions tailored for foreign audiences. While the Soviet Union and the Communist China were the major contributors, other communist states contributed their share as well. The lists below are for early 1960s compiled by J. Clews. The list contains mostly English language titles, but many of these journals were edited in many languages.^[4]

Soviet Union

Further information: Printed media in the Soviet Union and Censorship of images in the Soviet Union

• Culture and Life
• International Affairs
• Moscow News
• The New Times
• Oeuvres et opinions
• Soviet Film
• Soviet Literature
• Soviet Union
• Soviet Woman, in Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, French, German, Hindi, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean and Spanish
• Femmes de nous jours
• Sputnik - not allowed in GDR and Cuba during glasnost.

People's Republic of China

• China Pictorial
• China Reconstructs
• Peking Review
• People's China
• China's Sports
• Women in China
• Evergreen

Other

(Partial list)

• People's Republic of Poland
  • Daily News
  • Demokratis
  • Polish Review
• Czechoslovakia
  • In the Heart of Europe
  • Czechoslovak Life
  • Czechoslovak Woman
• Bulgaria
  • Bulgaria Today
  • New Bulgaria (in English, French, Arabic)
• East Germany
  • Al Najallah (for Arabic-speaking countries)
  • GDR REview
  • Democratic German Report
  • Jena Review
  • Saut- as-Sadaka (Arabic)
  • Voix de l'Amitie (French, for Africa)
  • Picture News (English, for Asia)
  • Echo d'Allemagne (French)
• North Korea
  • Korea Today
  • Democratic People's Republic of Korea (Periodical)

Radio broadcasting

A 1952 article "Communist broadcasts to Italy" reported that as of June 1952 the total communist radio broadcast to Italy amounted 78 hours per week, as compared to 23 hours of the Voice of America and BBC, noting that Italy occupied a pivotal position in the East-West conflict of the time. These broadcasts originated not only from Moscow, but also from the countries of the Soviet Bloc, as well as from fake "underground resistance" radios probably located within the Soviet Bloc as well rather than in the West.^[8]

Film and stage

Soviet leaders believed that film was an important tool of propaganda [1], see Cinema of the Soviet Union. Soviet films helped to create the legends of the revolution: The Battleship Potemkin, October: Ten Days That Shook the World, The End of St. Petersburg. Roman Karmen was a war cameraman and film director and one of the most influential figures in documentary film making; he could be considered USSR's answer to Leni Riefenstahl. Obyknovennyy fashizm (Common Fascism aka A Night of Thoughts or Triumph Over Violence) (1965) by Mikhail Romm described totalitarian propaganda on the example of Nazism.

In 2007 a high ranking intelligence officer and defector from the Eastern Bloc, Ion Mihai Pacepa, stated that in February 1960, Nikita Khrushchev authorized a covert plan (known as Seat 12) to discredit the Vatican because of its strong anti-communism, with Pope Pius XII as the prime target.^{[9][10][11][12]} As part of that plan General Ivan Agayants, chief of the KGB’s disinformation department, created the outline for what was to become the play, The Deputy, which although fictional purports to cast doubt on the Pontiff's moral credibility with regard to the Holocaust.^{[9][11][13][14]}

International organizations, congresses and festivals

During the Cold War the World Festivals of Youth and Students were held, with some exceptions, in capitals of Communist states and were a powerful tool of Communist propaganda.^[4]

Education

See also: Education in the Soviet Union and Education in People's Republic of Poland

Education in the Communist states included a considerable amount of indoctrination, both in special political/philosophical courses and in properly crafted courses of general education: history, geography, world literature, etc. Soviet ideology was taught in the Soviet Union divided into three disciplines: Scientific Communism, Marxism-Leninism (mostly in form of Leninism) and Communist Political Economy) and was introduced as part of many courses, e.g., teaching Karl Marx' or Vladimir Lenin's views on topics of science or history. The Soviet format of education was imposed (although with varying success) onto other satellite states.^[15]

Culture and arts

Main article: Socialist realism

From the early days of the first Communist-ruled state, Soviet Russia, arts were recognized as a powerful means of propaganda and placed under strict control and censorship in all Communist states. Lenin and Joseph Stalin were preferred subject, almost all Stalin's images and monuments removed and/or destroyed after his death, mostly in 1956.

Kukryniksy were three propaganda caricaturists/cartoonists, who attacked all enemies of the Soviet Union.

Financial means

Further information: Active measures and Soviet influence on the peace movement

J. Clews cites German, French and British estimates of early 1960s on the amount of money spent in the world for Communist propaganda and political activities in the non-Communist world, estimating to about $2,000 million, i.e., about $2 per person outside the Communists states, with major spenders being the Soviet Union and People's Republic of China.^[4]

Perception in the West

The doorway of the newspaper "La Clarte", a weekly communist newspaper, padlocked by the police in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1937.

The basic aspects of the communist ideology, such as violent means for attaining its goals (revolution), abolition of the private property and animosity towards religion were against the traditional values of the Western world and have met with strong opposition, including attempts to make the communist propaganda illegal in some states. For example,

• In 1937, the Canadian province of Quebec enacted the "Padlock Law", which enabled police to prevent the use of any premises for the promotion of Communism or Bolshevism. The Supreme Court of Canada struck down the Padlock Law as unconstitutional in 1957.^[16]
• In 1962, the U.S. state of Louisiana passed a law identifying Communist propaganda as a subversive activity ^[17] and declared that "it shall be a felony for any person to knowingly, willfully and intentionally deliver, distribute, disseminate or store communist propaganda in the state of Louisiana except under the specific exemptions hereinafter provided." ^[18]

Specific examples

• Propaganda in the Soviet Union
• Propaganda in the People's Republic of China
• Propaganda in the People's Republic of Poland
• Propaganda in North Korea
• Agitprop
• Agitprop theatre

See also

• Imperialist propaganda
• Soviet historiography

Censorship:

• Eastern Bloc information dissemination
• Censorship in the Soviet Union

References

• John Connelly (2000) "Captive University: The Sovietization of East German, Czech, and Polish Higher Education, 1945-1956", ISBN 0807848654

1. ^ Nikolai Bukharin, Yevgeny Preobrazhensky The ABC of Communism (1969 translation: ISBN 0140400052), Chapter 10: Communism and Education
2. ^ Great Soviet Encyclopedia, Propaganda article
3. ^ In the Communist and Soviet parlance the "worker class" is the class of industrial workers, while "other working people" includes other "non-exploiting" classes
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f} John C. Clews (1964) Communist Propaganda techniques, printed in the USA by Praeger and in Great Britain
5. ^ David Satter. Age of Delirium: The Decline and Fall of the Soviet Union, Yale University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-300-08705-5
6. ^ ^{a b} "Reflections on a ravaged century", pages 93-95
7. ^ John Connelly (2000), p. 48
8. ^ "Communist broadcasts to Italy", Harold Mendelsohn and Werner J. Cahnman, The Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 16, No. 4, Special Issue on International Communications Research (Winter, 1952-1953), pp. 671-680
9. ^ ^{a b} Pacepa, Ion Mihai, Moscow’s Assault on the Vatican: The KGB made corrupting the Church a priority National Review Online Jan. 25, 2007
10. ^ Mindell, Cindy, Pope Pius XII: The Case For - and Against -Canonization, The Jewish Ledger, November 25, 2008
11. ^ ^{a b} Follain, John, KGB and the plot to taint 'Nazi pope', The Times, Feb. 18, 2007
12. ^ Poprzeczny, Joseph, THE COLD WAR: How Moscow framed Pope Pius XII as pro-Nazi, News Weekly, Apr. 28, 2007
13. ^ Crowe, David,The Holocaust: roots, history, and aftermath By , p. 371, Westview Press 2008
14. ^ Did Pope Pius XII help the Jews? by Margherita Marchione 2007 ISBN 080914476X page 37
15. ^ See John Connelly (2000)
16. ^ "Padlock Act". CANADA'S RIGHTS MOVEMENT: A HISTORY. Dominique Clément. http://www.historyofrights.com/events/padlock.html. Retrieved 22 September 2009. 
17. ^ §390.1, Louisiana Code (1962)
18. ^ §390.2, Louisiana Code (1962)

Further reading

• Harry Hodgkinson (1955) Doubletalk (USA title: The language of Communism), Pitman Publishing
• Hans Koch (1959) Theorie Taktik Technik des Weltkommunismus Ilmgauverlag, Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm, Germany