Propaganda in the World and Local Conflicts

49-54

Authors: Vladislav A. Parkhomenko

The article analyzes the formation of “the image of the enemy” in the Russian society in 1914–1916 on the basis of periodical and non-periodical publications. The author focuses on the relationship of information policy and its part in the military-political events in the world. It displays the impact of media on mass consciousness. It is also noted that the formation of the image of the enemy was productive in the army and among the population, but only during the early years of the war. In addition to newspapers and illustrated periodicals (“Lyetopis’ voyny”, “Velikaya voyna v obrazakh i kartinkhakh”, “Ogonyok”, “Iskry”, “Neva”), brochures and books, published for “propagandizing” the reader during the Great War were also used as materials for the article.

65-71

Authors: Dmitry V. Liventsev

The article deals with the organization of the military propaganda in the Baltic fleet during the Soviet-Finnish war 1939–1940. The author analyzed the propaganda spread in the Navy along with the objective difficulties related to the clarification of the goals and objectives of the war with Finland. The author of the article used materials from the funds of the Russian State Archive of the Navy (RSA Navy), the city of St. Petersburg. Publications and rare editions of the political department of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet were used. In this work, traditional and general scientific methods were used with the historical-situational method in respect to the Red Banner Baltic Fleet and its political management. In conclusion, the author notes the reasons for the effectiveness of military propaganda among officers and sailors of the Baltic fleet. At the same time little-known questions of the Soviet – Finnish war of 1939–1940 are investigated.

81-93

Authors: Michal Šmigel

The development of a solution to the question of Subcarpathian Ruthenia in 1944–1945 which ultimately led to the withdrawal of this territory from the Soviet Union (initially called the Transcarpathian Ukraine), had a certain significance in the territory of Slovakia too. In the broader meaning, it had affected the situation around the so-called Ukrainian question in Slovakia. It emerged through the so-called Movement for annexation of northeastern Slovakia to Transcarpathian Ukraine (Soviet Ukraine) and the establishment of the Ukrainian National Council of Prjaševščina (at the turn of 1944–1945 or at the beginning of 1945), evidently being carried out with the support of the Communist authorities in Transcarpathia, the Red Army headquarters and Soviet State Security Departments. The events in Transcarpathia have obviously influenced developments in northeastern Slovakia and had a major impact on the political activation of some local representatives of the Ukrainian population (as it was in the case in the Marmaros-Sighet region of Romania) who, at the time of the liberation of Eastern Slovakia, had not any clear idea of the further orientation. At the beginning of their activities, they attempted to imitate the variant of the Transcarpathian sovietisation and were supported by Soviet military and security structures. Clearly, this was a local initiative developed and coordinated by Uzhhorod which the Soviet leadership in Moscow had tolerated for some time (as a means of pressure on the Czechoslovak government and president Beneš to give up Subcarpathian Rutheniato the Soviet Union as soon as possible) and then halted regarding the willingness of Czechoslovak government officials not to complicate relations with Kremlin and carry out the handover of Subcarpathian Ruthenia to the USSR in 1945.

9-16

Authors: Konstantin V. Taran

The paper uses the example of the city of Sochi to explore the forms of agitation and morale building activities practiced in extermination battalions during the Great Patriotic War. Materials that helped accomplish the paper include archival records of primary party organizations in the Sochi extermination battalions, stored by the Center for Documentation of the Contemporary History of the Krasnodar Krai (Krasnodar, Russian Federation). Research problems were addressed using both general scientific methods (analysis and synthesis, concretization, generalization) and traditional methods of historical analysis. The historical chronological approach allowed an insight into issues that existed in extermination battalions and was instrumental in reviewing the forms and methods of agitation and morale building activities carried out among the personnel. The extermination battalions were created early in the Great Patriotic War, and first inspections revealed weak discipline and numerous violations in them. To correct this, the party bodies were assigned the task of organizing morale building activities and agitation campaigns among the personnel. Agitation efforts in the extermination battalions were the responsibility of specialists appointed by primary party organizations of the units. These specialists utilized a wide range of activities, including rallies, lectures, production of wall newspapers and combat leaflets, roll-outs of patriotic and political campaigns and other. Importantly, these had a strong focus on reading and understanding the “Brief course of the history of the AUCP(B)” (Kratkiy kurs istorii VKP(b)), which contributed to the ideological indoctrination of Communists, Komsomols and non-Party personnel in line with Marxism-Leninism pillars.

26-31

Authors: Irina G. Tazhidinova

The article reviews mediation processes that accompanied the preparation of the first trials of war criminals in the USSR in 1943. During the liberation of the country's territories occupied by the Nazi invaders, the truth about the atrocities committed against peaceful Soviet citizens was revealed. The crimes of the enemy and his accomplices were covered in the Soviet press, including through photo-printing of newspapers. In this article, we analyzed the content and dynamics of the photographic presentation of this topic in the central and regional printed periodicals during 1943, and also evaluated the possible effects of its impact on the audience. This aspect is of interest in the context of the topic of information preparation of the first trial of the accomplices of the enemy, which took place in Krasnodar in July 1943, as well as the next war crimes tribunal that was held in Kharkov in December 1943.

96-102

Authors: Dmitry V.Liventsev

The article discusses the confrontation between the military and anti-war propaganda in the Russian Navy in a key historical period: February – October 1917, special attention is paid to the sailor lynchings, the policy of the Provisional government and the activities of the Bolshevik party in the Russian Navy. The article is written based on archival documents of the Russian State Navy Archives (RGA VMF), St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, publications in the Morskoy Sbornik (Sea Collection) journal as well as dissertations and published research papers. Research problems were approach using both general scientific methods (analysis and synthesis, concretization, generalization) and traditional methods of historical analysis. The work applied the historical and situational method which implies the study of historical facts in the context of the period under study and in conjunction with related events and facts. In conclusion, the author summarizes reasons that led to the failure of the official propaganda of the Provisional Government, calling the Navy to conduct the «war to the glorious end». At the same time the effectiveness of anti-war propaganda of the Bolshevik party in the Russian Navy in February – October 1917 was highlighted.

110-116

Authors: Irina G. Tazhidinova

The article deals with the mediatization processes that accompanied the trials of collaborators in the USSR. As an example, open courts were held in Krasnodar in 1962, 1963, 1965. Content-analytical research publications in the regional newspaper Sovetskaya Kuban allowed to establish general trends of these processes, largely related to the foreign policy context. The campaign to cover the Krasnodar processes in 1962–1965 in the local periodical press is systematic and consistent. But in the central press courts received minimal coverage. It can be concluded that mediation was more aimed at Soviet citizens. Thus, the population was explained the difference in approaches to war criminals in the USSR and the capitalist West, the cardinal difference between the two socio-political systems.

124-127

Authors: Anton Sebyshev

The article examines Soviet military propagandists activities on the territory of Carpatho-Ukraine in 1945. The forms of work and types of agitation as well as some attempts of the Ukrainian nationalists to counter Soviet propaganda were reflected in the article. It is noted that military propagandists actively used meetings, rallies, reading sessions, as well as collective and individual conversations in their work. Different kind of activities also took place – creating slogans and holding concerts. As a result, a significant number of defectors stopped supporting rebel ideas in the area of propaganda campaign.

17-23

Authors: Sergei Bogdanov, Vladimir Ostapuk

This article reveals one of the most thoroughly hidden aspects of the everyday life in Leningrad and Leningrad region during the first months of the Great Patriotic war. Recently declassified NKGB situation reports on Leningrad and Leningrad region from the Central archive of the Ministry of Defense were used as the information source for this article. The article deals with anti-government manifestations such as spreading panic rumors, anti-Soviet advocacy, listening to enemy radio broadcasts, distributing anti-Soviet leaflets and planning riots against local party and State authorities. Both urban and rural anti-Soviet manifestations’ specifics are revealed in the article, as well as repressive activities of the state security service, due to the restructuring of the Soviet society during the first months of the war . We considered certain features of moral and psychological state of Soviet citizens at the initial stage of the German aggression against the USSR.

52-61

Authors: Alexander Fedorov

The analysis of the journal Cinema Art – 1977 revealed the following main film criticism trends: - the magazine was unable to preserve the "thawing" tendencies, which were still strong even in the late 1960s, and in many ways proved to be in the ideological line of the peak of the L. Brezhnev’s epoch; - At the same time, the journal tried to analyze the most notable works of Soviet cinema, while, alas, not allowing even in minimal doses a criticism of the shortcomings in the works of the most "principally" influential at that time the screen masters; - giving a weighty tribute to the Soviet propaganda pathos, the magazine could afford to publish the substantive discussions “on certain narrow bridgeheads”. In general, the Cinema Art in 1977 was part of a typical model of the Soviet humanitarian journal, which, with significant censorship concessions and powers, tried to retain at least 50 % of the total text for art analysis of the film process.

81-86

Authors: Vladimir B. Karataev

Distribution of printed materials in the combat zone can be used both to raise the units’ morale (publication of newspapers and military leaflets of military units) and to demoralize enemy units (publication of anti-military propaganda materials). Combat auto-printing mobile units are produced in the armies all over the world for these purposes. BPK-63MKL is one of the models of the combat auto-printing mobile units in the Russian army. Open sources (auction data, technical information of the manufacturer, etc.) were used as materials in this work. General scientific traditional methods of analysis, synthesis, concretization and generalization were used in the research. The historical comparative method was used to reveal and characterize the general and the particular aspect in the selected materials. We also applied the method of generalization of the information on the studied subject. The author comes to the conclusion that the combat auto-printing mobile unit BPK-63MKL is the new generation weapon of the Russian army and it fully meets the modern requirements for the weapon of the propagandists. Despite the lack of feedback on this product from the military conflicts zone, the combat auto-printing mobile unit proved itself during maneuvers and exercises.

59-67

Authors: Konstantin V. Taran

The article makes use of the materials of the Soviet periodical press to give an insight into the annexation of Bessarabia and Bukovina to the Soviet Union. It particularly focuses on the operations which involved airborne troops of the Red Army and the rhetoric adopted by the Soviet press. The materials used include the issues of the Krasnoye Znamya (The Red Banner) newspaper published between July 2 and 10, 1940. The article also resorts to scientific works on the subject discussed, which helped reconstruct the overall picture of the events at the time. At the end, the author concludes that the materials of the Soviet periodical press, describing the integration of Bessarabia and Bukovina into the Soviet Union, are an important source which allows us, in retrospect, to have a closer look at these events. The periodical press enables us to analyze fields of action the Soviet propaganda acted in, as well as the propaganda rhetoric in the pre-war period. In the annexation period, the Krasnoye Znamya newspaper covers the following key topics in its propaganda articles: 1. The invincibility of the Red Army, 2. The main mission of the Red Army is the Liberator army, 3. Blackening the previous history of the annexed territories and portraying a magnificent vision of the future.

78-86

Authors: Irina G. Tazhidinova

The article examines the processes of mediatization that accompanied the trials of war criminals in the USSR. As an example, a first public trial of accomplices of the Nazi invaders, held in July 1943 in the city of Krasnodar. Content analytical research publications in the regional newspaper "Bolshevik", covering the problems of enemy atrocities in the temporarily occupied territories of the Soviet Union, allowed to reveal the role of the Soviet print media in the preparation process of Krasnodar. This role was to discharge hatred of the enemy on an emotional level; objective basis for this and acted statistics detailing the atrocities of the Nazis in the liberated from the occupation of the territories of the country. Dynamics of publications on this topic are also stimulated by the need to produce the desired effect in the international community, to respond to the provocation "information events" by the Nazis. Regarding the process of presentation of Krasnodar in the Soviet press it concluded that it was distinguished by the magnitude, integrity and compliance with the ideological standards. This feed topics of war crimes in the territory of the USSR and the coming retribution for them possible to effectively tackle current domestic and foreign policy objectives.

101-105

Authors: Timur A. Magsumov

The review analyzes the book by Yuriy N. Logvinenko, entitled German Secret Services and Repressive Apparatus between the 7th and 20th Centuries: A Literary and Historical Study through the Lens of Philately, published in 2014. The book by Logvinenko is one of the few works which look at the German propaganda and the way it is represented in postage stamps. The reviewer considers this literary and historical study as a scientific and journalistic work which includes all basic elements of scientific research, is written in simple and clear language and richly illustrated. These factors, taken together, are sure to generate widespread interest to the book. The author primarily focuses on the secret services and repressive agencies which operated in Nazi Germany, as well as describes the history of German espionage and investigation operations in the Middle Ages and modern times, and the country's security services in the 5 decades between its division and reunification. The reviewer emphasizes the importance of the personalistic perspective adopted in the book, its respect to the German history, vivid historical and philatelic sketches on a variety of subjects, and patriotic and educational value of the work. The book also outlines possibilities of using the materials for learning purposes.