Freedom of the Press According to Stalin
Nicolaevski, Boris J.
Freedom of the Press According to Stalin The Basic "Right to Know Does Not Exist in Russia By Boris J. Nicolaevski THE past decade has taught mankind to appreciate the value of freedom of the...
...This report, earned, Alexandrov his present position...
...The lack of such a stamp on any printed matter—book, pamphlet, newspaper or magazine— brings severe penalties to the manager of the printing house...
...Within the Party, all matters pertaining to the press are centered in the Press Bureau, a division of the Office of Propaganda and Agitation of the Central Committee...
...since the war the number hat been increased...
...It dealt with the subject, now rather fashionable among ranking Stalinists, of Marx's and Lenin's views on political foresight, and was intended to prove that scientific forecasting of the future it feasible, and that,'accordingly, every decision made by Stalin, who is endowed with this foresight, should be accepted as infallible...
...Of course, the slightest deviation from the Party line is severely punished, and no reference te a previous approval of a censor of the Glavlit will be of sny avail...
...All the edi~ . tore of all the publieationt in the Soviet Union, without any exception, are appointed by the Prttt Bureau of the Communist Party...
...From the Government point of view, any sense of mental independent on their part may become dangerous, for it may bt reflected in their writings, and nowhere is the might of the written word realized as it is in Soviet Russia...
...They prepare daily reviews of the press...
...He began hit Party career in the period of the great Moscow trials, and reached prominence in 1939 by his defense of the Stalm Hitler pact...
...Responsible to their superiors in the Glavlit, they consult them in every doubtful ease...
...Now and then these t periodicals publish letters from their own correspondents, yet such letters arc invariably written by specially designated persons in high position...
...Individual records are kept for each editor and author, registering every detail concerning them, even typographical errors in their publications...
...An important manuscript has to be read by several censors, ant) only after obtaining the censor's stamp, and compliance with all his demands, may the publisher send a manuscript to the printer...
...In the magazine's opinion, freedom of the press does not exist in America, in Britain, or any other capitalist country...
...Until 1940 this stamp read: "Commissioner of the Glavlit, No.—," but since then only the number is indicated...
...The Division gathered information about every author of any consequence as to how he lived and worked, what he wrote and how he reacted to current events...
...Whatever information is acknowledged a* proper for the Soviet reader, is presented in a spirit consistent with the government's views, and Is sent to periodicals throughout the country...
...Such outstanding Russian writers as Pilniak, Paul Vasiliev, and Babel vanished, leaving no trace...
...facts are fit for the Soviet reader to know...
...Not for a moment does the Press Bureau relax its grip on the editors...
...An elaborate system of influencing writers functions continuously...
...Thjs is the only information of which the Soviet press can avail itself, and the reader in Vladivostok learns from his local paper exactly what the reader in Baku or Murmansk does...
...However, within the Commissariat, Glavlit enjoys complete independence...
...strictly censored by the Press Bureau, The leading political articles aad editorials, particularly comments on foreign affairs, arc written in MOSCOW upon special Instructions ef government - organs...
...an error in reprinting a speech by Stalin, even an innocuous one, calls for severe punishment, not only of the proofreader, but also of the editor...
...They are therefore in fact the main censors of all works published under their editorship...
...The greatest attention is paid to the most popular writers who occupy a special position in Soviet Russia...
...His works will no longer be accepted, his most brilliant writings will remain on his desk...
...Therefore it may be pertinent to give the reader an idea of what freedom ef the press in Russia really looks like...
...Like all former censorships, they watch the press from without...
...He may have written, in . the most loyal manner, never have had any conflict with the censorship—still the Soviet Government was not satisfied...
...Yet all these supervisors are in their turn controlled by the supreme suthority—Stalin, His is the ultimate decision as to the personnel of the three offices Thus, it is evident that all tht talk about freedom of the preei "guaranteed to every worker arte peasant in the USSR" is utter nonsense, in kit conversation with Erie Johnson the dictator remarked that in Russia there is nc other opinion than Kit, Stalin's...
...Glavlit effects its control along two lines...
...What he introduced in Russia is not simply a censorship—it is a complex system of censorships complementing and controlling one another so elaborately that not a shadow of opposition thought can slip through the net...
...For this reason persistent efforts have been made recently in all free countries in support of the compulsory es...
...It has been an old tradition of Russian absolutism to entrust organs of education with the suppression of the freedom of press...
...SoVIET newspapers have no correspondents wiring to them reports on events abroad...
...The unanimity of public opinion is truly amazing...
...Its representatives are attached to every publishing house, and without their preliminary permission no manuscript may be printed...
...They <are taken down ia shorthand in the office* of the local newspapers, and on the ¦est morning all newspapers throughout the USSR carry the same editorials...
...This it accomplished by a staff of employees—before the war there were more than four hundred...
...They are presented with residences, country houses, automobiles, trips abroad—yet all the time they are kept under strictest surveillance...
...More important is the task assigned to the Bolshevik Party, which holds a monopoly of political activity and exercises an unlimited control over the press...
...A hint from abort will suffice to close all doors to him...
...Metternich in Austria, Nicholas I in Russia, Napoleon III in France— inventors of the most celebrated systems of censorship in the past—were pigeon-hearted novices compared with Stalin...
...The third organ supervising the press is the state secret police...
...After the signing of the pact, an All-Union Conference of Party Lecturers was convened by the Propaganda Office for instructing local Party officers...
...Bat in Stalin's scheme) this external supervision plays a collateral role...
...ThESE first two forms of censorship are not the most important ones...
...the Party) than do the censors of the Glavlit...
...it wanted to know whether his writings reflected his innermost sentiment, or whether they wer* a product of shrewd hypocrisy...
...they work on the premises of the publishing houses and are paid by them...
...Editors are the mainspring of this system...
...The totalitarian nations could carry out the policy of provoking war only after they had abolished freedom of the press...
...They are courted because of their popularity, and their material well-being is equal to that of responsible members of the Government and of the Party...
...Even major events abroad are sometimes suppressed, if they are likely to tempt the reader to indulge in ideas which the government considers undesirable...
...tablishment, by international agreement, of the freedom of press, as a means for preventing new wars...
...Despotic governments of the past used various systems of control over the press, but none was as complete and effective as Stalin's...
...Every publication printed .in any part of the USSR is minutely analyzed by the Bureau...
...The second line of control consists in the supervision of printing houses by Commissioners of the Glavlit The function of the Commissioners is only to tee that every printed text conforms to the text released by the first group of censors, and that each publication bears the censor's stamp...
...Some of these srtlclea are bee wed ever the radio, between iz sad i ». m, the most In port tat ones, twice...
...They are members of the staff...
...it can be found only in Soviet Russia, where every toiler enjoys the right to voice his opinion publicly...
...Stalin's semi-official organ, War and the Working Close, has ajso taken part in the discussion of this problem...
...The highlight of the conference was Alex-androv's report...
...3. Division of Literary Control in the Information Service of the Home Commissariat, which seeks to dominate the minds of writers...
...TllIS multiform and totalitarian control continues beyond the domain of the Press Bureau...
...The right to know" has been called the basis of all other rights...
...2. Press Bureau in the Office of Propaganda and Agitation of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, which controls all the editors of all the publications and publishers in .Soviet Russia...
...1 Excepted from this rule are only certain Moscow publications: Pravia, War and the Working Class, lzvcetia, and a few others...
...All the information that is released to the press concerning events in foreign countries, passes through the channels of the official press sgency TASS...
...Hi is Me only on* in Russia who really enjoys freedom of the press: tht right to eram kit opinions down tht throatt of 190,000,000 people bt kit vast empire...
...As a rule they reflect more accurately the views of the government (i.e...
...The end may be arrest or death...
...Far from being confined to the elementary task of suppressing oppositional thoughts, the Press Bureau keeps an eye on authors to see that they interpret political events in accordance with the Party line...
...The Buresu supplies all publications with compulaory material on all important questions, and censors publishing houses • from within...
...Some 20 years ago, within this police (then called GPU) there was formed a special division, called Division of Literary Control, for watching authors and the trends prevailing among them...
...The method applied in this case is the same old method of alternatively luring and terrorizing, with the difference that in Russia both are carried to th* extreme...
...These records are constantly revised and brought up to date, and upon them depends the fate of the editor and the writer...
...Every single printed word in the USSR is carefully supervised from several sides...
...To begin with, there is in Soviet Russia a preliminary censorship supervising every printed word: the censor's permission is required for the printing not only of books and newspspers, but also of visiting cards, ledgers and letterheads...
...In the recent general reorganization of the political police, this Division, too, was transformed, but its essential functions were taken over by a division of the information Service of the Home Commissariat A great number of secret agents attached to this Division keep it informed about private conversations among writers, the inside life of editorial offices, literary groups, etc...
...Freedom of the Press According to Stalin The Basic "Right to Know Does Not Exist in Russia By Boris J. Nicolaevski THE past decade has taught mankind to appreciate the value of freedom of the press...
...Compliance is rewarded by betterment of hit material circumstances, arid by honors and decorations...
...Accordingly, as soon as a writer exhibits the least token of inner independence, he is taken to task by the supervising organs...
...Thus, the pyramid of press censorship consists of three state organs complementing one another: 1. Glavlit, which performs the preliminary, external censorship, similar to that which in former times existed in every despotic state—with the important difference that it is far more complete...
...The Press Bureau issues to the editors all the necessary instructions...
...If he persists, the pressure increases: he is evicted from his apartment (for, in Soviet Russia, apartments, too, are under state control), every source of income is closed to him and, what is perhaps , the wont of all, no one will ever hear of his tragedy...
...This preliminary censorship Is carried on by a special government office called Glavlit iits full name is Chief Administration of Literary and Publishing Affairs), attached to the People's-Commissariat for Education...
...Since the whole press, all publishing houses and printing shops are a monopoly of the state, the Government can stifle the activity of any writer...
...This office it headed by a member of the Polit-bureau, Zhanov, but its actual head is G. Alexandrov (an alius), a relatively young Communist, without a pre-revolutionary record, and author of The Formatum of Marx's and Enyeis Philosophic View...
...In Moscow this information is studied by experts who work under the direction of a special commission appointed by the Press Bureau, with the participation of representatives of the Foreign , and Home Commissariats, This commission determines' what...
...It is to these editors, after confirmation by the Central Committee of the Communist Party, that the main task of censorship is assigned...
Vol. 28 • February 1945 • No. 8
