Soviet press on the eve and during the Great Patriotic War

69
Soviet press on the eve and during the Great Patriotic War

The Soviet press played an important information and propaganda role during the Great Patriotic War. Newspapers and magazines not only informed about the events taking place at the front, but, along with the radio, were the main “window” to the outside world. The well-known writer, publicist and war correspondent Ilya Ehrenburg assessed the importance of the press during the war years as follows:

“In peacetime, the newspaper is an informer. In the days of the war, the newspaper is air. People open a newspaper before opening a letter from a close friend. The newspaper now has a letter addressed to you personally. Your fate depends on what is in the newspaper ... "

Below we will trace how the press changed during the war years compared to the pre-war years, how the circulation, number and content of newspapers changed, and what scale censorship reached. For the sake of completeness, let's follow history Soviet press in dynamics, starting from the pre-war years.



A Brief Review of the Soviet Press in the 1920s-1930s


During the years 1920-1930, the number and circulation of newspapers were steadily growing, propaganda was becoming more and more mass. If in 1928 there were about 2000 newspapers in the country, the one-time circulation of which was 9,5 million copies, then in 1940 there were about 9000 of them, and the circulation exceeded 38 million copies. The largest newspapers were Pravda, Izvestia, Komsomolskaya Pravda, Pionerskaya Pravda and others.

The most famous journalists of the 1920-1930s were V. V. Mayakovsky, L. S. Sosnovsky, M. E. Koltsov, N. Pogodin, I. Ilf, E. Petrov. Essay writers A. Kolosov, M. Shaginyan, B. Gorbatov, feuilletonists K. Radek, D. Zaslavsky, A. Zorich, G. Ryklin had wide popularity. Pravda and Izvestia also often published articles and texts of Maxim Gorky's speeches.

As early as 1921, all non-Bolshevik press was banned in Soviet Russia. Socialist-Revolutionary, Menshevik and other non-Bolshevik party publications were first forced to go underground, and soon ceased their activities altogether. From now on, it was possible to publish such press only abroad. Thus, a monopoly on information was established for Soviet propaganda. Millions of Soviet citizens did not have the opportunity to receive information from any other publications than official Soviet ones.

Let's open the source itself - the Pravda newspaper, the most widely circulated Soviet newspaper of those and many subsequent years, which could be found without any problems even in the most remote corners of the USSR. So, this is what she wrote about a few years before the war:

“35 thousand workers, engineers, technicians and employees of the car factory in your name send you, our teacher and leader, their fighting greetings!

We are proud to subscribe to a new loan, which marks a new gigantic scale of socialist construction. With a friendly subscription, we demonstrate our selfless devotion and love for our beautiful homeland, for its government, party and dear, wisest leader of the peoples of the USSR and the working people of the whole world, Comrade Stalin.

("Pravda", No. 182, July 4, 1936)

“Letter from the wives of students and teachers of the industrial academy. L.M. Kaganovich.

Dear Comrade Stalin!
With a feeling of great joy and infinite gratitude, we discussed the draft law on the prohibition of abortions, on assistance to women in childbirth, etc. This draft is another contribution to your greatest concern for our children. And it is not for nothing that in our country our children laugh louder than anywhere else, the smiles of our children are wider than anywhere else. Because there is no country in the world where mothers would be so happy, where care for children would be so great.

The new law instills in us even more vigor and desire to give many good strong men-heroes to our happy country of Soviets. We promise you, Comrade Stalin, that we will honorably justify the title of Soviet mother. Long live our dear, beloved Stalin!”

("Pravda", No. 150, June 2, 1936)

The quoted quotes were chosen randomly; all issues of Pravda and many other newspapers of those years are full of similar notes. You can open any of them and find very similar rhetoric and set of phrases.

Any critical opinion was declared "anti-Soviet propaganda", and those who expressed it would either be shot or sent to concentration camps for many years. Of course, such measures would also apply to censors who let such information pass.

With such strict censorship and the sword of Damocles hanging over all the propagandists of that era without exception, there was no question of writing about the real problems of the country. For example, such a large-scale event as the famine of 1932-1933, which killed at least seven million people, was not covered by newspapers at all. After reading any of the issues of Pravda or another Soviet newspaper, an inexperienced reader inevitably got the impression that everything is fine in the country, there are no problems at all, that “life has become better, life has become more fun».

Naturally, when such propaganda flows from all the media without exception, then some part of the population, the most gullible, will inevitably begin to believe it. However, there were those who, even in such conditions, could maintain a clear mind. So, a huge number of diaries and letters of those years have come down to our time, where people talk about problems: about hunger, poverty, crime, denunciations, repressions, arbitrariness of officials, etc. Still, no matter how strong the propaganda, but to your own eyes you always believe more willingly than newspapers.

Changes in the press in the first months of the war


In June 1941, about 9000 newspapers and 1800 magazines were published in the USSR with a total circulation of 38 million copies. Thus, the press continued to be the main and most massive source of information in the country.

Since the beginning of the war, the press and magazines have undergone significant changes. Many civilian publications were closed, and their resources were redirected to front-line needs. So, out of 39 central newspapers that existed before the war, only 1941 remained in July 18. Of the 335 central magazines, 145 were closed, and the rest began to appear less frequently and in much smaller circulations. Many newspapers and magazines of related trends were merged, out of 3-4 editions one was created with a new name.

Such reductions in the press continued throughout the first half of the war, and as a result, by December 1941, out of 9000 pre-war newspapers, only 4500 remained, and their total circulation was reduced to 18 million copies. Along with the newspapers, the number of journalists also decreased, one order from the Kremlin directly stated:

“Newspapers should be made with a smaller apparatus of people, and this apparatus should cost the state much less.”

So, for example, if the Izvestia newspaper had 198 employees before the war, by the end of 1941 their number had decreased to 84. This was how money was saved that went to pay employees.


Note from the newspaper "Pravda" No. 303 for 1941

The main newspaper of the country continued to be Pravda, but even its staff was significantly reduced: out of 240 employees, only 147 remained, the vast majority of whom either became military officers at the front or left for evacuation to Kuibyshev and Kazan. Only 14 employees of the newspaper remained in Moscow. Thus, Pravda would continue to publish even if the capital fell.

In the autumn of 1941, the buildings of the editorial office and the printing house of Pravda were subjected to air bombardments, but this did not stop the work of the editorial office. Here is how Yakov Makarenko, an employee of the newspaper, recalls this:

“One of the fascist planes that broke through turned out to be over the Pravda building. A high-explosive aerial bomb dropped by him fell not far from the editorial office. An air wave from its rupture knocked out the windows in the windows, one of the watchmen was killed. At the same time, “lighters” rained down on our roofs, the premises of the motor depot caught fire near the Pravda building ... The fight against the fire continued all night, but the work in the editorial office and printing house on the next issue of the newspaper did not stop for an hour.

The circulation of Pravda, like that of other newspapers, also declined significantly. So, if in June 1941 it reached three million copies, then by the beginning of 1943 it was reduced to one million.

At the same time, the number and circulation of front-line newspapers increased. Each front, army and even division had their own newspapers. Their total number during the first months of the war increased from 635 to 710.

Surprisingly, newspapers were published even by partisans in the occupied territories. The most famous example is the newspaper "Working Way", published since January 1942 in the Smolensk region occupied by enemy troops. The circulation of this newspaper by April of the same year reached 50 copies.

Newspaper content


Now about what and how they wrote in the newspapers during the war years. The entire press worked according to the same rules as the Soviet Information Bureau, that is, in accordance with the basic principles of military propaganda. Even in the most difficult days of the war, newspapers continued to write about the victories of the Red Army, that the enemy was suffering heavy losses, the exploits of ordinary military men were described, and much attention was paid to the crimes of the invaders.

Stalin himself often acted as the chief censor. All military reports were submitted to him before publication, and he always made changes to them. Sovinformburo employee Vladimir Kruzhkov later recalled:

“Reports about the battles on the fronts were submitted to Stalin before release. If things went badly, they returned from him unrecognizable... The leader did not spare the Germans. If, according to our reports, we count all the aircraft lost by the enemy, Tanks, ships, guns and manpower, then neither in Germany, nor in Europe captured by it, there would be no people or equipment left by the middle of the war.


1st page of Pravda, September 20, 1941. The day before, Soviet troops left Kyiv, and about 600 Red Army soldiers were surrounded, but there was not a word about this in the newspaper.

Interestingly, in all the Soviet media, the enemy side was referred to exclusively as "fascists" and never as "Nazis." This is due to the extreme inconvenience of the second term for military propaganda. As you know, "Nazi" is short for "National Socialist". If this term were used, it would be very difficult for propaganda to explain to the average Soviet layman why the socialists attacked us, while we ourselves are also socialists, and the word itself is used even in the name of our country - the USSR. At the same time, there were no such difficulties with the term "fascist".


The term "Great Patriotic War", which soon became common, also first appeared in the newspapers. In the newspaper "Pravda" dated June 24, 1941, a note was printed that said:

“Thus began the great patriotic war of the Soviet people against German fascism. We salute the heroic Red Army in its first battles of the Great Patriotic War, in its first successes…”

It is characteristic that the name of the war in the original is written both times in small letters: no one knew then that the war would last four years and cost 27 million victims.

Thus, during the war years, the Soviet press underwent significant changes. But even despite the sharp reduction in circulation, publications and journalists, she managed to remain one of the main sources of information for millions of people.
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  1. +3
    28 December 2022 05: 45
    The future anti-Soviet Orwell wrote during the war, "I envy the Soviet people .." The conversation was about social equality in Soviet society in a moment of danger. Further, he writes about how things are going in the UK. They say one barely makes ends meet with cards, and the other buys diamonds or hires a maid. Social swagger in difficult times is a mine laid under society.
  2. +7
    28 December 2022 05: 50
    Thus, during the war years, the Soviet press underwent significant changes. ...., she was able to remain one of the main sources of information for millions of people.
    Well, yes, there was no internet back then...
    1. +4
      28 December 2022 08: 17
      Quote: svp67
      There was no internet back then...

      And accordingly, it was not possible to reprint enemy fakes and, on their basis, draw conclusions that everything was lost and thereby excite society. Yes, and censorship worked ... Ideal conditions for the formation of moods in society.
    2. +3
      28 December 2022 09: 58
      Quote: svp67
      Well, yes, there was no internet back then...

      And sellers of Kizlyar knives too. smile
  3. +4
    28 December 2022 06: 06
    that everything is fine in the country, there are no problems at all, that “life has become better, life has become more fun.” Naturally, when such propaganda flows from all the media without exception, then some part of the population, the most gullible, will inevitably begin to believe it.
    As an inexperienced, naive and gullible person, I believe that now "life has become better, life has become more fun", everything is fine in the country, there are no problems at all .. They are there, dying of cold and hunger, we are grinding the enemy on the fronts, not today , so tomorrow, all opponents will crawl on their knees to ask for forgiveness .. That the United States, for example, jumps on trampolines, trying to get into space, and the ISS stands for the Moscow Space Station .. Well, etc.)))
    1. The comment was deleted.
  4. +1
    28 December 2022 06: 07
    Sovinformburo employee Vladimir Kruzhkov later recalled:
    “If, according to our reports, we count all the aircraft, tanks, ships, guns and manpower lost by the enemy, then neither in Germany nor in Europe captured by it would there be any people or equipment left by the middle of the war.”

    Without denying that in the reports the figures of enemy losses were overestimated, for the sake of objectivity, we still ask ourselves the question, how could Kruzhkov know the true state of affairs in order to make such statements?
    How the Germans really fared with their losses, only the Germans themselves knew for sure.
    1. +6
      28 December 2022 06: 53
      Sovinformburo Vladimir Kruzhkov later recalled:

      and how could Kruzhkov know the true state of affairs in order to make such statements?

      The key word here is LATE. But how much later? Most likely during the Khrushchev thaw, no matter how they scolded Nikita, but under him there was much more information and it was much more accessible.
    2. -5
      28 December 2022 07: 54
      Quote: Comrade
      how could Kruzhkov know the true state of affairs in order to make such statements?

      The true state of affairs knew only comrade. Stalin and all those who are supposed to know this.
      1. +4
        28 December 2022 08: 20
        Quote: Luminman
        The true state of affairs knew only comrade. Stalin and all those who are supposed to know this.

        And now, any front-line report from any "housewife" can immediately be followed by indignation: show us the photos, and the newspapers wrote that there were only 44 hamers, and you say that you destroyed 46, etc. etc.
      2. +6
        28 December 2022 09: 32
        Quote: Luminman
        The true state of affairs knew only comrade. Steel

        He also did not know everything, not God, after all ... He knew what people were reporting ...
        1. +2
          28 December 2022 10: 23
          Quote: kalibr
          He also did not know everything, not God, after all.

          But you are in vain, Vyacheslav Olegovich. So up to article 148 of the Criminal Code can be negotiated. smile
        2. +1
          28 December 2022 11: 08
          Quote: kalibr
          I knew what people were reporting.

          And in people Comrade. Stalin understood well - he picked them himself. So they reported to him exactly what happened in reality. And for everyone else - the newspaper Pravda and the Statistical Bureau ...
          1. +4
            28 December 2022 11: 44
            Quote: Luminman
            So they reported to him exactly what happened in reality.

            About two years ago I read books by Vyacheslav Mosunov dedicated to the battle for Leningrad, in particular the Sinyavin operation of the summer-autumn of 1942. By the way, I recommend this author. If you are interested in the topic of the battle for Leningrad, you will learn a lot of new and interesting things.
            So, it is very clearly described there, with links to official documents, how Meretskov informed the Headquarters about the course of hostilities near Leningrad.
            The Germans stopped our corps near Sinyavino and are mowing them down with fire - a "successful offensive" is underway near Meretskov. The Germans launched a counterattack south of Gaitolovo - Meretskov did not say a word about this. A week later (!) the Germans captured Gaitolovo, slamming our encirclement to the east of this village (two corps, not many, not few) - not a word to Headquarters. The corps fight in complete encirclement for another two weeks, no ammunition, no food, no supplies at all! - Headquarters receives reports like "we are advancing, drop in reinforcements."
            A similar story is described by General Vladimirov in his memoirs. Meretskov gives him an order to change units of some division at a certain line (I don’t remember the number, it was near Voronovo in the summer of 1943, it’s in the same place, the eastern face of the Mginsk ledge, ten kilometers south of the same Gaitolovo) at a certain, clearly marked line and start an offensive from this line. Vladimirov learns on the spot that the line from which he is to attack is in the hands of the enemy, that the division that occupied it has been driven out of there, as reported to the commander, he himself reports this to Meretskov, to which he shouts to him that the offensive has begun from the indicated milestone has already been reported to the Headquarters and let's go ahead, otherwise - failure to comply with the order with all the consequences.
            Three questions.
            Who appointed Meretskov to the post of front commander?
            What did Stalin know about the situation near Leningrad?
            Was such practice during the war, in your opinion, single?
            1. +2
              28 December 2022 12: 03
              Quote: Trilobite Master
              Who appointed Meretskov to the post of front commander?

              It is obvious that com. Stalin. However, this does not detract from his merits. In war, as in life, anything can happen. How not to remember here: "He who is sinless, let him be the first to throw a stone at me"

              Quote: Trilobite Master
              What did Stalin know about the situation near Leningrad?

              I'm sure I knew everything! In addition to the military, there were representatives of the NKVD and party control at the front, who did not depend on the military in any way. Finally, just ideological comrades, accustomed to telling only the truth...

              Quote: Trilobite Master
              Was such practice during the war, in your opinion, single?

              This is not known to me. Although everyone tries to protect their sirloin places from punishment and, probably, was hiding something. I repeat - there was strict party control over the military of this rank and it was impossible to hide anything like that ...

              P.S. The book you indicated is just a book where you can write whatever you like, depending on the sympathy or antipathy of the author ...
              1. 0
                28 December 2022 14: 23
                Quote: Luminman
                I'm sure I knew everything!

                Well, then he, apparently, did not communicate with Shaposhnikov - maybe, just at that moment, they quarreled smile - because the directives of the General Staff were given to the Leningrad Front, based on the information reported by Meretskov. All these documents are in Mosunov's book.
                If Vladimirov’s memoirs can still be called into question - he clearly did not like Mretskov, as well as his immediate superior Starikov - then the documents cited by Mosunov, in my opinion, clearly indicate that the Stavka was misinformed by him regarding the real state of affairs, or Meretskov himself was catastrophically unaware of this situation. In any case, Meretskov could receive orders to strike from areas that were actually occupied by the enemy only if the Stavka believed that these areas were controlled by ours, and therefore was misled.
                So Comrade Stalin was neither omniscient, nor omnipresent, nor omnipotent, his cadres were crystal clear and honest, and their control system was faultless and impartial.
                And Meretskov, when it turned out that he openly lied to the Headquarters, was not shot or even demoted, but simply moved to a secondary sector - to Karelia. This, just, albeit indirectly, may indicate that the practice of such eyewash in his performance was not at all exclusive, but to one degree or another was characteristic of many, if not all, military leaders of the initial period of the war, in any case.
                1. 0
                  28 December 2022 14: 39
                  Quote: Trilobite Master
                  All these documents are in Mosunov's book

                  Well, it's like studying the history of France from the novels of Dumas. In no case do I want to defend anyone, but all these books are the subjective attitude of the author to the events taking place. It is simply impossible to hide such information, because it will immediately be like in the saying about two, a pig and information. Stalin was not a fool and, for sure, had alternative sources of information. The real information is all in the archives and no one has access to it. Suvorov, sitting in London and not having access to any archives, sucks entire volumes out of his finger ... wink
                  1. +3
                    28 December 2022 16: 07
                    There is such a book - "The blockade of Leningrad in the documents of declassified archives." It can be freely downloaded from the net. Look at the reports of the Volkhov Front for the end of September 1942 and compare with the real state of affairs.
                    And here is what the Headquarters writes to Meretskov when it turned out that our people had actually been sitting in the cauldron for a week and could not get out.

                    Here Stalin directly reproaches Meretskov for lying. Only too late.
                    Are you saying it's fake again?
                    1. -1
                      28 December 2022 17: 22
                      Quote: Trilobite Master
                      Here Stalin directly reproaches Meretskov for lying.

                      This only confirms my words that it is simply impossible to hide the true state of affairs at the front by sending false reports to the Headquarters!

                      And this means that Comrade. Stalin was well aware of the state of affairs on the fronts. It seems that this is where our discussion began ...
                      1. +2
                        28 December 2022 18: 11
                        Quote: Luminman
                        Stalin was well aware

                        Have you read the directive? smile
                        Would you like to translate from official Russian into just Russian?
                        Excuse me
                        The directive literally says: "We have the impression that everything you tell us is a lie. Immediately report the truth and a plan to resolve the situation."
                        The Headquarters DOES NOT KNOW what is happening at Meretskov, DOES NOT KNOW that our troops are surrounded (a week has passed), and only suspects that what is happening is not what he reports, therefore he demands to immediately report the truth and provide plans.
                        You surprise me... what
                        Is it really so difficult to read and understand the contents of such a small document?
                      2. -3
                        28 December 2022 19: 45
                        Quote: Trilobite Master
                        Have you read the directive?
                        Would you like to translate from official Russian into just Russian?

                        I read. This only proves that because of the false reports to the Headquarters, there, in the Headquarters, they do not quite understand what is happening ...

                        Quote: Trilobite Master
                        The directive literally says: "We have the impression that everything you tell us is a lie. Immediately report the truth and a plan to resolve the situation."

                        Well? Surely, some well-wisher reported to the Headquarters about the state of affairs, different from Meretskov's report. Here in Headquarters and "an impression was created." Doesn't this prove that the Headquarters had an understanding of what was happening? Even if it's vague

                        Quote: Trilobite Master
                        The headquarters DOES NOT KNOW what is happening at Meretskov, DOES NOT KNOW, report the truth and provide plans

                        The Headquarters KNOWS what is happening there, and therefore demands to report the truth ... If it had not been known, there would not have been such insistent demands to clarify ...

                        In our discussion, we talked about the knowledge of the Stavka about the real state of affairs on the fronts. And this awareness was. It was from the NKVD, which did not subjugate the army, it was from constant inspections from the Politburo of the party, constantly leaving for the front. Independent information constantly came from representatives of the Headquarters, who were assigned to each front. Another thing is that sometimes it was not possible to more accurately verify the incoming information.

                        Imagine that you have two directly opposite documents on your desktop - one says that we are advancing, the other says we are retreating. What will be your actions? wink
                      3. 0
                        29 December 2022 19: 16
                        Quote: Luminman
                        And this awareness was. It was from the NKVD, which did not subjugate the army, it was from constant inspections from the Politburo of the party, constantly leaving for the front. Independent information constantly came from representatives of the Headquarters, who were assigned to each front. Another thing is that sometimes it was not possible to more accurately verify the incoming information.

                        and all these sources week DO NOT provide truthful information about the real state of affairs.

                        I don’t even want to remember about Zhigarev with his 702 planes and “Let’s beat the scoundrel Guderian!” - you say that this is not confirmed by documents, yeah ...
            2. +2
              29 December 2022 01: 19
              I dare to suggest that Meretskov did not want to return to Lefortovo and hoped that it would somehow resolve, we would break through on heroism. From my own experience, I will say that subordinates begin to lie en masse if they are not bludgeoned just for good news
    3. +4
      28 December 2022 08: 33
      Quote: Comrade
      How the Germans really fared with their losses, only the Germans themselves knew for sure.

      And that is doubtful. smile
      The number of casualties in the war is an extremely painful thing and therefore, how should I put it ... ambiguous. The company commander knows exactly how many people he lost in today's battle. Almost always. Well, often anyway. But does the commander of a battalion, especially a regiment or division, know the true number of his own losses? Therefore, they wrote their own, just in case, less, but no one spared enemies at all times. smile
      1. +3
        28 December 2022 10: 05
        Hi Michael! smile
        But does the commander of a battalion, especially a regiment or division, know the true number of his own losses?

        For example, General Herman Goth, already on the way to Moscow, did not know at all that he did not have a single tank left. belay request
        1. +4
          28 December 2022 10: 31
          Hello, Uncle Kostya.
          I won’t say about Goth, but I read the memoirs of some Fritz regarding the exit from the Korsun-Shevchenko cauldron, however, for a long time. I remember that such a mess is described quite thoughtfully and substantively there, that I already felt warm in my soul - like, it happened to them too, you just had to hit harder ... Something similar happened to the Germans in Belarus in 1944 - one to one like ours in 1941 ...
          What losses, who counted them at such moments? Up to mushrooms now? smile
          1. 0
            28 December 2022 17: 20
            I meant that, judging by our reports, almost twice as many German tanks were destroyed as Goth had them in kind at the beginning of the offensive. Yes
        2. -1
          28 December 2022 17: 03
          For example, General Herman Goth, already on the way to Moscow, did not know at all that he did not have a single tank left.

          Did Goth himself tell you that?
          1. +1
            28 December 2022 17: 16
            Did Goth himself tell you that?


            Yeah, only in a private conversation. laughing
            1. +2
              28 December 2022 20: 53
              I mean, by the time the remnants of Panzergruppe 3 on November 28 were stopped north of Yakhroma and there were about 80 tanks left in it, Herman Goth had not commanded it for two months, since the beginning of October. It was commanded by Reinhardt.
              1. +1
                29 December 2022 16: 43
                You are right, Reinhardt. But I meant the reports of our Informuro, and there you can substitute the name of any general, because by this moment they "lost" all their tanks. laughing
    4. +2
      28 December 2022 10: 04
      Quote: Comrade
      How the Germans really fared with their losses, only the Germans themselves knew for sure.

      And that is not always the case. As the same Overmans wrote, there is simply no exact data, for example, on the Volkssturm.
  5. +7
    28 December 2022 06: 45
    Dear Andrey! For the first time at VO I read an article about Pravda, which I did not write myself. On the whole, not bad, but your problem is that you yourself did not read Pravda from June 22, 1941 to May 9, 1945, or read selectively. "Sovinformburo employee Vladimir Kruzhkov later recalled ..." For example, this phrase ... And he had no comparative information. He could not know that it was truthful and accurate from the very beginning, and Stalin rewrote it beyond recognition. And you don’t know that if you add up ALL our losses in the same tanks for the war and take the German ones from the Bundesarchive (on our publications - “Remove the secrecy stamp”), it turns out that only in 1944 we knocked out more tanks from the Germans than lost themselves. That is, even if the leader and "lied", in general ... "Pravda" gave "Pravda". I just counted. By days. And there was an article on this subject here. And I also read the article "Hitler's Nonsense" (December issue 1941) and it is more convincing than your example with 600000 prisoners. That is, what is the conclusion from this? And the conclusion is this: before writing something yourself, refer to the historiography of the issue. Here on VO there was a whole series of articles "Poisoned Pen", where all this was with links to relevant articles, tank calculations for each day and month of the war. So, in my opinion, you should be more serious about the selection of materials for articles about newspapers. But not bad for a start, we all once started with something. Understanding that you need to delve into the "little things" and archives does not come immediately.
    1. +6
      28 December 2022 08: 50
      My respect, Vyacheslav Olegovich. hi
      I wanted to make critical remarks about the article and its content, but you beat me to it. Actually, I wanted to say almost the same thing, but in a harsher form, using such words as "superficially", "didn't understand", "not enough", etc. smile
      By and large, from the useful information in the article, only numbers on the number and circulation of newspapers, well, also about the number of editorial staff. However, in this case, it would not be bad to cite the figures that the author only hints at, namely, how the number of military press publications has changed and how the number of editorial staff of these publications has changed. It would be interesting to compare the number of active journalists and correspondents, as well as the number and total circulation of publications before, during and after the war. After is also very important.
      Taking into account all the comments, I would give the article a solid "satisfactory".
      1. +4
        28 December 2022 09: 33
        Quote: Trilobite Master
        Taking into account all the comments, I would give the article a solid "satisfactory".

        And I - my respect also to you, dear Michael.
    2. BAI
      +1
      28 December 2022 12: 49
      Here on VO there was a whole series of articles "Poisoned Pen",

      Tendentious, anti-Soviet
    3. +2
      28 December 2022 12: 52
      Vyacheslav, this is an article from a series on propaganda, so the press itself interested me only as one of the elements of propaganda. Of course, she does not pretend to an exhaustive analysis of the press of those years, but will only contribute to the overall picture of the propaganda of those years.
  6. +4
    28 December 2022 06: 48
    It is necessary to recall the sports press. The newspaper *Krasny Sport* began its life already in the 22nd year in the form of the magazine *Sports News*, in the 24th the newspaper version went. Well, and then - *Soviet Sport*.
    hi
    1. +2
      28 December 2022 07: 25
      Hello, Sergey, I'm in the "order" on the Machine's laptop, it's a pity that Photoshop is not present on it. Well, anyway. smile
      1. +3
        28 December 2022 07: 27
        Quote: Sea Cat
        in line

        It is important that in the ranks. good Good morning! hi The pictures are working. good
        1. +4
          28 December 2022 07: 55
          The pictures are working.


          Yes. On "Quinte Sertoria" he inserted Rubens' "The Rape of the Sabine Women". wink
  7. +3
    28 December 2022 07: 54
    With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, newspapers and magazines of an atheistic orientation ceased to exist - "Godless", "Godless at the Machine" and other "masterpieces"
    The long-term struggle of the young character of the magazine "The Godless at the Machine" - Antipka, against the Lord God himself ended in complete failure.
    1. +4
      28 December 2022 08: 33
      Here, rather, the need for rallying and trying on for a common victory played a role in the closure and not a failure as such. After all, if you lose, the Orthodox Church would be quickly banned and replaced by Catholics, and the remaining believers who sat out would lose one fig from this. So they rallied all the available resources.
      1. +4
        28 December 2022 08: 42
        Quote: evgen1221
        Here, rather, the need for rallying and trying on for a common victory played a role in closing

        Yes, that's right, I agree completely, by the way, now it is precisely cohesion that is lacking.
        Quote: evgen1221
        After all, if you lose, the Orthodox Church would be quickly banned and replaced by Catholics

        Not quite so, even if we assume such an option - Hitler did not need, in this case, neither Catholics nor Orthodox.
    2. +3
      28 December 2022 09: 36
      Quote: bober1982
      The long-term struggle of the young character of the magazine "The Godless at the Machine" - Antipka, against the Lord God himself ended in complete failure.

      In a critical situation, a war, any weapon is suitable, as long as it kills well. The people needed God - they gave them God, the war ended - godlessness began to flourish again. But there was an ideology in the country, but what about ...
      1. +4
        28 December 2022 10: 35
        Quote: kalibr
        People needed God - they gave them God

        Yes, that's right, and Stalin turned to the people ....... brothers and sisters, they remembered Kutuzov and Bagration, reintroduced shoulder straps.
      2. +4
        28 December 2022 10: 41
        In general, the magazine is very impressive. laughing



        It is interesting who read it and did they read it at all, besides the hut in the hut-reading room?
  8. +3
    28 December 2022 08: 13
    Quote: Nikolai Malyugin
    The future anti-Soviet Orwell wrote during the war, "I envy the Soviet people .." The conversation was about social equality in Soviet society in a moment of danger. Further, he writes about how things are going in the UK. They say one barely makes ends meet with cards, and the other buys diamonds or hires a maid. Social swagger in difficult times is a mine laid under society.

    it’s a pity that now they still didn’t understand the phenomenon of mutual trust between the Soviet government and the Soviet people, when the institutions of the Soviet government had to retreat along with the retreating Red Army, and the Soviet people who remained under the occupation of the Germans believed even scraps, scraps of leaked news from the Soviet Information Bureau or a partisan newspaper , for which it was possible to say goodbye to life. It seemed that there shouldn’t even be a ray of hope in the occupied territories (the army and the authorities retreated and the Germans went ahead and the occupation propaganda every day for a couple of years hammered the brain about the successes of the Germans and the defeats of the Red Army), but people believed a scrap of newspaper news from the Soviet Pravda and a phrase heard from the Soviet Information Bureau, although German propaganda used both its newspapers and its radio and its films in Russian! Just watch, read and listen! And people believed only even a scrap of Stalin's "Pravda"
    And this means only one thing, that even before the war, people believed that truth and the deeds of Stalin, and the Soviet people believed that if before the war Stalin managed to destroy the enemies within the country, then under the leadership of Stalin, the external enemy that came with the war in the USSR will be destroyed.
    1. +2
      28 December 2022 09: 38
      Quote: north 2
      And this means only one thing, that even before the war, people believed that truth and the deeds of Stalin, and the Soviet people believed that if before the war Stalin managed to destroy the enemies within the country, then under the leadership of Stalin, the external enemy that came with the war in the USSR will be destroyed.

      But the fact that our generation will live under communism is no longer there ... The credit of trust is over!
    2. +2
      28 December 2022 13: 03
      Vidas, and where did 1 million collaborators come from, if everyone believed so?
      1. +4
        28 December 2022 14: 52
        and where, in this case, 1 million collaborators appeared


        From the same place where all these runners abroad come from now - fear for oneself, the desire to live from the belly and not starve! am After all, "your shirt is closer to the body," isn't it?
        In addition, how many "former" were, and simply dissatisfied?
        1. +2
          28 December 2022 18: 23
          I don't see anything wrong with going abroad for a while). So, not everyone believed. And that idyll, about which Vidas' comment above, simply did not exist.
          1. +3
            28 December 2022 18: 44
            I don't see anything wrong with going abroad for a while).


            There is nothing wrong, absolutely, to relax or earn extra money. It seems to me that aakvit's colleague (Andrey) was referring to those who had gone to the cordon with the outbreak of hostilities in order to avoid being drafted into the army, deserters, to put it simply.
  9. +7
    28 December 2022 08: 16
    As early as 1921, all non-Bolshevik press was banned in Soviet Russia. Socialist-Revolutionary, Menshevik and other non-Bolshevik party publications were first forced to go underground, and soon ceased their activities altogether.
    And at the same time, they have "abroad" there .. In the Baltic "democratic" republics, Poland, Finland, communist publications were also forced to go underground .. Here it is worth recalling the 1917 July events, after which, The democratic Provisional Government banned Bolshevik publications and they were published underground. But let us return to the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries. Why were their publications and other non-Bolshevik publications banned? Let us recall the ring of fronts of 1918, in the North the Socialist-Revolutionary-Menshevik government headed by the old revolutionary populist, Socialist-Revolutionary Tchaikovsky, on the Volga and Siberia, the Socialist-Revolutionary-Menshevik governments of Komuch, the Directorate, in Turkestan and there the Socialist-Revolutionaries, in Ukraine the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, so they also ardent nationalists, in Armenia and Azerbaijan, nationalist Musavatists and Dashnaks, in Georgia - Mensheviks. On the Don and Kuban, a "combustible" mixture of small-town nationalists, monarchists, socialists .. Yes, by the way, in these territories, the Bolshevik press was not published .And after the defeat of all these forces, the Bolsheviks should have allowed the publication of the Socialist-Revolutionary-Menshevik, nationalist publications, so that they, with new forces, would begin the fight against Soviet power? smile
  10. +4
    28 December 2022 08: 27
    The topic of propaganda and control of information in the media by the state during wars, crisis and peacetime, as well as the usefulness of this, is too capacious a topic and a couple of lines at the top are indispensable. An example, let's say they would begin to talk about the loss of armies and yell savoring all the irons then (well, how about Kherson) Will this strongly unite the nation and help in the struggle? It's one thing to write everything well to the marquis and believe it yourself and not do anything knowing about the problems, it's another thing just not to write too much (not savoring at least this way and that) but systematically correct the situation. Well, would we have built the USSR if everyone had a double view of things, one of the alternative (Western media) the second of the Soviet ones? Pluralism, double-thinking, they ate plenty under Gorbachev, not everyone is happy with the result.
    1. +2
      28 December 2022 09: 39
      Quote: evgen1221
      double look at things

      But did doublethink begin under Gorbachev?
      1. +4
        28 December 2022 19: 33
        Well, under Gorbachev, this phenomenon was officially given the green light and the red carpet. Before him, somehow not so rabidly propagandized.
    2. +4
      28 December 2022 10: 09
      Quote: evgen1221
      Well, would we have built the USSR if everyone had a double view of things, one of the alternative (Western media) the second of the Soviet ones? Pluralism, double-thinking, they ate plenty under Gorbachev, not everyone is happy with the result.

      Double vision did not begin under Gorby, but already under dear Leonid Ilyich - when the people, finally losing faith in domestic propaganda, began to listen and retell various "voices" in the kitchens.
      It hurts our souls
      "Voices" for thousands of miles.
      We do not silence America in vain,
      Oh, in vain we do not crush Israel:
      With all its hostile essence
      Undermine and harm -
      They feed us, drink us bermuta
      About the mysterious square!

      There is a dentist-homeworker Rudik -
      He has a Grundig receiver,
      He turns it at night -
      Catching, contra, FRG.
      1. +1
        28 December 2022 12: 00
        began to listen and retell various "voices" in the kitchens.


        That’s what I didn’t listen to, so I didn’t listen. I didn’t even have a receiver, only a tape recorder, Grundig, by the way. Here are the corresponding songs:
        "I have a bermudor heart
        And Bermuda at heart ... " laughing
      2. +3
        28 December 2022 19: 38
        Again, it’s far from massive who had this receiver, and far from everyone could find a radio amateur to plow the Soviet one for him, plus the KGB won’t pat him on the head for this. But with a hunchback, the head of the USSR is already talking from the guys’ screens, what we say is not what we say, and in general, when we see a white sheet, we boldly say that it is black, yellow, green, depending on nothing, believe what you want.
        1. 0
          29 December 2022 19: 35
          Quote: evgen1221
          But with a hunchback, the head of the USSR is already talking from the guys’ screens, what we say is not what we say, and in general, when we see a white sheet, we boldly say that it is black, yellow, green, depending on nothing, believe what
          -and the country did not see who was given the Order of Victory and a stack of GSS?
          a little later in 1985, my grandfather was given the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, as a war invalid (heavy howitzer artilleryman, then an artillery spotter, near Kursk was blown up by a German anti-personnel - his foot was torn off by a third). And to a neighbor down the street - who served the entire war in Samara in the railway commandant's office, and how he found out that they could send him to the war with Japan - he slashed 1 phalanx of the little finger of his left hand with an iron door - also gave.
          And the grandfather, having learned about this, did not put on his own even once. He wore the rest of the awards - he is not there. Moreover, all the awards after his death were in a chest of drawers - and there was no Patriotic War. Knowing my grandfather, I wouldn’t be surprised if he threw him away.
          And it all started under "dear Leonid Ilyich"
  11. 0
    28 December 2022 16: 08
    Quote: Andrey_Sarmatov
    Vidas, and where did 1 million collaborators come from, if everyone believed so?

    in my commentary, I spoke about the Soviet people who believed Stalin before the war and during the war.
    In the same place, I spoke about the enemies that Stalin destroyed inside the country before the war. They are enemies and I did not call them the Soviet people. These are not the Soviet people, although they had Soviet citizenship. Who they were in reality and that Stalin was right, but he did not have enough time to destroy all these enemies inside the country before the Second World War, the Second World War showed. Those enemies of the Soviet people whom Stalin did not have time to destroy before the war, they began to serve Hitler. So it is necessary to beat not on the passport of the owners, but on the muzzles of those who own passports, for the specific deeds and crimes of these muzzles, which you intelligently call collaborators.
    1. +5
      28 December 2022 18: 33
      But don’t you think that it’s the other way around, because of repressions, famine, Yezhovism, etc. there were so many disagreements? By the way, not all of those who disagreed were collaborators, the same Rokossovsky was in prison before the war. Does this mean that Rokossovsky did not belong to the "Soviet people" either?
      And anyway, where did you get this strange division into "Soviet people" and all the rest? That is, the same Yezhov in 1937 belonged to the Soviet people, but after his arrest he no longer exists? Or did the same Beria first relate, and then not?
      1. +2
        28 December 2022 20: 54
        No, Yezhov and Beria belonged to the NKVD, but the Soviet people were divided into "dosidents" and "otsidents", except for those, of course, who managed to put up against the wall. bully
        1. +2
          28 December 2022 23: 17
          So the “salt” is that at first they belonged to the NKVD, they felt like the masters of life, and then they themselves were put against the wall by their own).
          1. +1
            29 December 2022 14: 48
            Quote: Andrey_Sarmatov
            then they themselves put their own against the wall).

            And what did you, Andrey, want? Professional, you know, risk! laughing
    2. 0
      29 December 2022 19: 39
      Quote: north 2
      Those enemies of the Soviet people whom Stalin did not have time to destroy before the war, they began to serve Hitler. So it is necessary to beat not on the passport of the owners, but on the muzzles of those who own passports, for the specific deeds and crimes of these muzzles, which you intelligently call collaborators.
      - that is, it was necessary to destroy at least 1,5 to 3 million people (including clean western Ukraine)?
      1. 0
        16 February 2023 22: 44
        Well, yes, that's right. Now there would be no need to fuss.
  12. 0
    19 February 2023 01: 35
    Both in the pre-war and in the war period there was no place for discussions. All of them ended before the mid-30s for a simple reason, because. they led the essence to a change of power without being constructive for the country as a whole, and this despite the fact that the civilian one claimed millions of lives. Internal struggles had to be ended at any cost, one way or another, in order to save the population in the end. Bloodletting, if not specifically dealt with this issue, can continue indefinitely. Afghanistan is the guarantee.
  13. 0
    19 February 2023 02: 05
    If you pay attention to the names flashing on the pages of publications of those years and compare them with the owners of the current ones, we can conclude who these publications represented. Not Medvedev and Siluanov, but the people. Today it seems strange, but there was also a time when they wrote not about presidents and prostitutes, but about miners, scientists, and the military.

"Right Sector" (banned in Russia), "Ukrainian Insurgent Army" (UPA) (banned in Russia), ISIS (banned in Russia), "Jabhat Fatah al-Sham" formerly "Jabhat al-Nusra" (banned in Russia) , Taliban (banned in Russia), Al-Qaeda (banned in Russia), Anti-Corruption Foundation (banned in Russia), Navalny Headquarters (banned in Russia), Facebook (banned in Russia), Instagram (banned in Russia), Meta (banned in Russia), Misanthropic Division (banned in Russia), Azov (banned in Russia), Muslim Brotherhood (banned in Russia), Aum Shinrikyo (banned in Russia), AUE (banned in Russia), UNA-UNSO (banned in Russia), Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People (banned in Russia), Legion “Freedom of Russia” (armed formation, recognized as terrorist in the Russian Federation and banned)

“Non-profit organizations, unregistered public associations or individuals performing the functions of a foreign agent,” as well as media outlets performing the functions of a foreign agent: “Medusa”; "Voice of America"; "Realities"; "Present time"; "Radio Freedom"; Ponomarev; Savitskaya; Markelov; Kamalyagin; Apakhonchich; Makarevich; Dud; Gordon; Zhdanov; Medvedev; Fedorov; "Owl"; "Alliance of Doctors"; "RKK" "Levada Center"; "Memorial"; "Voice"; "Person and law"; "Rain"; "Mediazone"; "Deutsche Welle"; QMS "Caucasian Knot"; "Insider"; "New Newspaper"