Propaganda State in Crisis: Soviet Ideology, Political Indoctrination, and Stalinist Terror, 1928-1930

Description

The USSR is often regarded as the world's first propaganda state. Particularly under Stalin, politically charged rhetoric and imagery dominated the press, schools, and cultural forums from literature and cinema to the fine arts. Yet party propagandists were repeatedly frustrated in their efforts to promote a coherent sense of "Soviet" identity during the interwar years. This book investigates this failure to mobilize society along communist lines by probing the secrets of the party's ideological establishment and indoctrinational system. An exposé of systemic failure within Stalin's ideological establishment, Propaganda State in Crisis ultimately rewrites the history of Soviet indoctrination and mass mobilization between 1927 and 1941. Contents List Of Illustrations Acknowledgments A Note on Conventions Terms and Acronyms Introduction: Ideology, Propaganda, and Mass Mobilization 1. The Propaganda State’s First Decade 2. The Search for a Usable Party History 3. Personifying The Soviet “Experiment” 4. The Cult of Heroes and Heroism 5. The Pageantry of Soviet Patriotism 6. The Popularity of the Official Line 7. The Murder of The Usable Past 8. Mass Culture in a Time of Terror 9. Public Opinion Imperiled 10. Ossification of the Official Line 11. Stalinist Mass Culture on the Eve of War Conclusion: The Propaganda State in Crisis Archival Repository Abbreviations Notes Index