Research Paper on "Political Persona Joseph Stalin"

Research Paper 12 pages (3921 words) Sources: 20

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Political Persona: Joseph Stalin

Political Persona:

Joseph Stalin

From 1909 to 1991 were defined as political instruments by the Communist Party leadcrship to further political and ideological aims. Directed from above, the structure of the Soviet communication system reflected the understanding of media as a specialization and mobilization force.

The most important characteristics of the media system were (a) saturation of the vast territory of the Soviet Union, (h) centralized and hierarchical political control, (c) journalistic training and norms, including self-censorship, and (d) leadership misunderstanding of the effect of media messages. These explain the decree to which Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko, and (both desired and were able to control the content and use of media messages).

Soviet leaders from Stalin to Gorbachev believed the control of communications was essential for the development of the Soviet state. What became clear over time was that the effect of Soviet media messages varied significantly in terms of understanding and acceptance by the Soviet population. Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of openness in the media was introduced to engage the Soviet population in solving significant economic and political challenges, but had unintended consequences that undermined one-party rule in the Soviet Union, contributing significantly to the breakup of the U.S.S.R.

(1982-1984) and Chernenko (1984-1985) similarly used mass media to promote their own political campaigns, policies, and agendas. By the time Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985, the number of serious challenges to the Soviet system had grown. Like his predecessors, Gorbachev used the media to publicize and promote his own policy initiatives. One of his policies, called glasl1ost, or openness, was directly related to how mass media covered, explained, and analyzed Soviet life. According to Gorbachev, the goal was to shed light on problems within Soviet society and to encourage Soviet citizens to participate in finding solutions to these problems. What happened in a relatively short period of time, however, was that media began to question components of the one official ideology. Newspaper journalists wrote about an increasingly wide range of political, economic, and historical topics that had previously been taboo. Television journalists developed programming that appealed to the desires of the audience more fully. The questioning and criticism helped to create an environment in which the system, based as it was on one official ideology, would not survive. Thus, glasnost and the media contributed to the demise of the Soviet Union.

Soviet Understanding of the Role of Media and Communications

All Soviet leaders shared a belief that media were vital to the successful transformation of the Soviet people and for the development of socialism in the country. Therefore, leaders promoted media saturation of the country. In addition, Communist Party political leaders maintained centralized and hierarchical political control over the communications system. Journalists were a part of this system and their training and political development fell under the jurisdiction of the Party as well. Because the media were seen as so powerful, it is perhaps ironic that political leaders did not attempt to gauge the effects of media messages throughout most of the Soviet period. Only gradually (and late) did Soviet leaders understand that media messages were not always received, understood, and accepted, as previously taken for granted. An attempt to remedy this situation contributed to the changes.

Saturation

The Soviet leadership perceived media to be central to the socialization of the Soviet citizen and to the mobilization of the masses in support of Communist Party objectives. The press was seen as agitator, propagandist, and organizer, tied inextricably and hierarchic- ally to the leader and the Party.

In fact, Soviet leaders believed that media would help transform the population of the country into new socialist people, transcending cultural, ethnic, and other differences.

The functions of media, as defined by the political elite, determined, to a large degree, the structure and workings of the communication system in the Soviet Union. Party leaders, beginning with Lenin, had curtailed and then eliminated all media not owned and con- trolled by the Communist Party. All communications media were to be used to develop the new Soviet man and all political leaders used the media to intro- duce and support particular political campaigns and policies.

Press

Because of the importance attached to media, Soviet political leaders made the penetration of the vast territory of the Soviet Union a priority. They did this in two ways. First, they reached as much of the population as possible.

For example, in 1928 the First Five-Year Plan contained a plan for the press, and Stalin is quoted as saying 'the press should grow not by the day, but by the hour, for it is the sharpest and most powerful weapon of our Party.' The large number of Party-dominated newspapers that appeared in the decade and a half following World War II confirmed the government's commitment to using the press as an outlet for expressing official views. As literacy improved, so did the reach of newspapers. In 1920, approximately 60% of the population was illiterate, but by 1980 that number was less than 1%). In fact, newspapers led in providing information to the masses until the 1960s. The second way the Soviet media system penetrated the population was by the specialization of newspapers, magazines, and journals. The press was designed to target specific audiences, including children, women, and military personnel, and individual newspapers were associated with particular organizations. At the national level, for example, Praida (Truth) was the official daily newspaper of the Communist Party and was, therefore, the most important for disseminating the Party line. Izvestia was the official government press, Trml represented the trade union, was the newspaper of the Young Communist League (the Komsomol). Newspapers also existed at the provincial and local levels. Even though individual papers might have different affiliations or audiences, each had to reflect the Party's line.

Radio and Television

Soviet leaders also encouraged the development of radio and television, seeing them as ways to communicate over the vast territory of the Soviet Union. Radio could reach those places within the country that had trouble receiving newspapers and, importantly, served that portion of the population that was illiterate. Radio spread a unified message designed for political resocialization over a disparate territory.

This was also the case for television, which became very important to the leadership beginning in the 1960s. At this time, the development of the Soviet television system began in earnest; satellite transmission enabled full penetration of the country by the 1980s. In 1960, only 5% of the Soviet population had access to television, but by 1986 that number had risen to 93%.

Not only did satellite technology allow television to reach a large percentage of the population, it also allowed the leadership to centralize television. In the Soviet Union, there were two main national networks. Channel One, or First Program, began broadcasting in 1960 and reached the entire Soviet territory.

It was the most important channel because it had the most extensive reach. Channel Two, or Second Program, began in 1982. Residents of Moscow could also receive Third Program, with its educational offerings, starting in the mid-1960s; Fourth Program, covering sports and cultural events, beginning in 1967; and the Leningrad channel. Color television was introduced in 1967.

Centralized and Hierarchical Political Control

Political control over the communications system extended beyond the penetration of the Soviet territory by media organs. The Party also maintained control over form, function, and content. This could be accomplished because the Party had formal supervision not only of production but also of themes, stories, and programs. Beginning with Stalin, Soviet leaders- operating at the head of the parallel bureaucratic and institutional infrastructures of Party and government- ultimately determined the tone of coverage and the major political campaigns of the mass media.

On the Party side, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, under the direction of the General Secretary and the Politburo, set the ideological tone through departments of propaganda and culture.

The Propaganda Department allocated budgets, over- saw media content, and appointed some of the leading editors. On the government side, state committees were established under the direction of the U.S.S.R. Council of Ministers in the areas of book publishing (Cjoskomizdat, the State Committee for the Affairs of Publishing Houses, Printing and the Book Trade) and in radio and television broadcasting (Gostelradio, the State Committee for Television and Radio). In addition, editors and the heads of radio and television were Party members who could be relied upon to extend Party control. Glavlit (the Chief Administration for the Affairs of Literature and Publishing Houses), the official organ for censorship established in 1922, set specific and clearly articulated rules for the exclusion of material for publication or broadcast.

The Party also controlled the content of publications and broadcasts through institutions such as TASS (the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union), which oversaw the dissemination of political information beginning in 1935. TASS correspondents worked in all the republican and provincial capitals as well as in other cities. Novosti (Novosti Press Agency)… READ MORE

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