Soviet Censorship Under Stalin

What was censorship under Stalin?

Censorship is the control of information in the media which could be considered unacceptable by the government. Under Stalin's rule, the Soviet government had very strict control of information in terms of what people could see, hear or read.

Why did Stalin use censorship?

There were 3 main reasons why Stalin used censorship:

• ❖ To control what people knew.
• ❖ To stop any criticism of him or the government.
• ❖ To stop any opposition developing or having the ability to undermine the government.

How did the communists implement censorship of the media?

There were 6 important ways to censor information:

• ❖ Lenin had banned all non-Bolshevik newspapers in 1917.
• ❖ The radio was also controlled by the Commission for Posts and Telegraph.
• ❖ Printing presses were nationalised by Lenin.
• ❖ The Communist Party had its own newspaper, Pravda (Truth).
• ❖ The Soviet government had its own newspaper called the Izvestiya (News).
• ❖ The government controlled what could be published using the Censorship Office or Glavlit which was controlled by the secret police.

How did censorship affect Soviet art and culture?

Censorship had a negative impact on art and culture as the quality of what was produced was reduced. Some artists refused to create any work.

What happened to people who broke the censorship laws in the Soviet Union?

Writers, journalists, artists or anyone who broke the censorship laws were punished in 2 main ways:

• ❖ They could be internally exiled which meant being sent to live in a different part of the USSR.
• ❖ They could be sent to a gulag.