News from Moscow [Elektronische Ressource] Soviet Journalism and the Limits of Postwar Reform

News from Moscow: Soviet Journalism and the Limits of Post-war Reform is a history of the post-war Soviet press that takes readers from the tense ideological climate of the late Stalin era to the comparative freedom of the Thaw. Through a case study of one of the country’s most innovative and popular titles, the youth daily Komsomol’skaia pravda, the book shows how journalists attempted to remake the Soviet newspaper after Stalin’s death, but details the many obstacles they faced along the way. The book argues that Thaw journalism was characterised by an unresolvable tension between innovation and conservativism: the more journalists tried to devise new forms to attract readers, the more officials grew anxious about the potentially disruptive consequences of reform. Taking readers from the gloomy climate of late Stalinism to the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, the book’s six chapters offer examples of journalists attempts to innovate, from its advocacy for person-centred pedagogy in the late Stalin and Thaw periods, to the creation of the country’s first polling institute and its support for Brezhnev’s technocratic reforms in the 1960s. Drawing on a range of unseen internal documents, including transcripts of private editorial meetings, the book takes readers into the Soviet newsroom for the first time, and details the conversations—with colleagues, functionaries and readers—that characterised journalists’ daily work, and the conflicts with officials that came to characterise the Thaw project. Cover 1 News from Moscow: Soviet Journalism and the Limits of Postwar Reform 4 Copyright 5 Contents 6 Acknowledgements 8 List of Figures 10 Note on Abbreviations and References 12 References to Komsomol’skaia pravda Editorial Meetings and Articles 14 Introduction: Reformers and Propagandists: The Paradoxes of Post-war Soviet Journalism 16 Overcoming the Past 18 Journalism and Thaw Media 23 Book Structure 29 SECTION 1: 1945–1957: Ritual Socialism 32 1: Rituals, Routines and Ideology in the Late Stalinist Press 36 Editorial Routines 37 Public Rituals: Supreme Soviet Elections 43 Campaign Messages 45 The View from Backstage 49 An Individual Approach 54 Epilogue: The Stalinist Roots of Thaw Journalism 65 2: Satire, Sensations, and Slander: Criticism and Self-Criticism from Stalin to the Secret Speech 69 Criticism and Self-Criticismin the Late Stalin Period 70 The Good and the Better 73 Self-Criticismafter the Twentieth Party Congress 79 Criticism and the Courts 82 Student Unrest and the Hungary Effect 84 Satire and Sensationalism 87 How Criticism was Extinguished 93 Epilogue: Criticism and Self-Criticismafter 1956 97 SECTION 2: 1956–1964: Romantic Socialism 102 3: Far from Moscow: Heroic Autobiographies and the Paradoxes of Thaw Modernity 108 The Virgin Lands Campaign 110 The Revolutionary Baton 113 Edited Subjects 119 Is It Easy to Be Modern? 127 Conclusion: Romantics ‘In’ and ‘Out’ of the Soviet System 135 4: From Word to Deed: The Communard Method and Thaw Citizenship 138 Formalism and the Problem of Boredom 140 Youth and Labour Education 142 The Frunze Commune 144 The Importance of Discussion 148 Raising the Scarlet Sail 154 The Communards and the End of the Thaw 163 SECTION 3: 1960–1970: Reforming Socialism 168 5: The Institute of Public Opinion and the Birth of Soviet Polling 172 How Sociology Became Soviet (Again) 174 Sociology as Plebiscite 179 Disciplining Public Opinion 181 Decline and Fall 189 Conclusion: Polling and the Thaw Public 200 6: From Technocracy to Stagnation: When Did the Thaw Freeze Over? 202 ‘Don’t Whistle!’ 204 ‘More realistic, more sober, more dialectical’: Economic Reform and the Expert Public 210 The Kosygin Reforms and Reader Sociology 215 A Post-HeroicAge? 222 The Death of Brezhnev’s Thaw 228 Epilogue: Thaw Journalism after the Thaw 232 Journalistic Ethics after Communism 238 Bibliography 242 Archives and Collections 242 Online Archives and Sources 242 Newspapers and Journals 243 Document Collections, Memoirs and Interview Collections 243 Published Sources 244 Unpublished Sources 257 Index 260 News from Moscow is a social and cultural history of Soviet journalism after World War II. Focusing on the youth newspaper Komsomol'skaia Pravda, the study draws on transcripts of behind-the-scenes editorial meetings to chart the changing professional ethos of the Soviet journalist. Simon Huxtable shows how journalists viewed themselves both as propagandists bringing the Party's ideas to the wider public, but also as reformers who tried to implement new ideas that would help usher the country towards Communism. The volume focuses on both aspects of the journalists' role, from propaganda editorials in praise of Comrade Stalin and articles lauding young heroes' exploits in the Virgin Lands, to revolutionary new initiatives, such as the country's first ever polling institute and clubs promoting the virtues of unfettered public debate. Soviet journalism, argues Huxtable, was riven with an unresolvable tension between innovation and conservativism: the more journalists tried to promote new innovations to perfect Soviet society, the more officials grew anxious about the disruptive consequences of reform. By demonstrating the day-to-day conflicts that characterised the press's activity, and by showing that the production of Soviet propaganda involved much more than redrafting orders from above, News from Moscow offers a new perspective on Soviet propaganda that expands our understanding of the possibilities and limits of reform in a period of rapid change. Provided by publisher