- 2 days ago
How did the USSR erase free speech, shut down 100+ publications, and control Russian minds?
👉 What World Leaders NEED to Know about Russia: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6d9EIByxz1AdkmIOYUlrDd0rmByq5zSN
In this deep dive into Soviet censorship, I unpack the mechanics of how the Soviet government silenced an entire nation and manipulated its narratives. We’ll explore how the Soviet regime crushed independent thought and forced its citizens to conform. How did the Bolsheviks seize control of the media? How did they manage to shut down almost 100 publications in just a few months? And how did they manipulate writers and artists to push their narrative?
Video Chapters:
00:00 Building Your Own Censorship System
00:57 Step 1 - Income Deprivation
03:53 Step 2 - Nationalization
07:15 Step 3 - Co-Optation
11:25 Step 4 - Punishment
14:16 Modern Censorship
👉 JOIN ME ON THE JOURNEY Sign-up for news about the New Book here: https://elvirabary.com/elvira-barys-newsletter/
MY HISTORICAL FICTION BOOK SERIES
➡️ Russian Treasures (a historical novel about the Bolshevik Revolution and Russian Civil War) https://amzn.to/43PutaM
➡️ The White Ghosts' Empire (a historical novel about
👉 What World Leaders NEED to Know about Russia: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6d9EIByxz1AdkmIOYUlrDd0rmByq5zSN
In this deep dive into Soviet censorship, I unpack the mechanics of how the Soviet government silenced an entire nation and manipulated its narratives. We’ll explore how the Soviet regime crushed independent thought and forced its citizens to conform. How did the Bolsheviks seize control of the media? How did they manage to shut down almost 100 publications in just a few months? And how did they manipulate writers and artists to push their narrative?
Video Chapters:
00:00 Building Your Own Censorship System
00:57 Step 1 - Income Deprivation
03:53 Step 2 - Nationalization
07:15 Step 3 - Co-Optation
11:25 Step 4 - Punishment
14:16 Modern Censorship
👉 JOIN ME ON THE JOURNEY Sign-up for news about the New Book here: https://elvirabary.com/elvira-barys-newsletter/
MY HISTORICAL FICTION BOOK SERIES
➡️ Russian Treasures (a historical novel about the Bolshevik Revolution and Russian Civil War) https://amzn.to/43PutaM
➡️ The White Ghosts' Empire (a historical novel about
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LearningTranscript
00:00One of my subscribers asked me, why was Russian censorship so effective?
00:05How do you silence a nation and make them too terrified to even whisper a rebellious thought?
00:11Well, I'm hoping you are asking because you are curious, not because you are plotting your own dictatorship.
00:17We really don't need any more Stalin's opponents. Thank you very much.
00:22My name is Elvira Berry, and today we are diving into the twisted yet oddly fascinating world of Soviet censorship.
00:32You know, if you have got the right recipe, a healthy mix of persuasive speech and a bit of firepower,
00:40you can easily hash up an entire population or, at the very least, make them parrot whatever narrative you choose,
00:49no matter how far it strays from their own thoughts.
00:58Right after the Bolsheviks seized power, they realized they had to silence independent journalism,
01:05and they wasted no time in doing so.
01:08In November 1917, they passed a new law stating that all private ads and advertisements
01:15could only be published in state-run media.
01:18The media never operates solely on sales.
01:22To survive, you either need advertising money or sponsorship donations.
01:27By the way, if you'd like to support my channel and inspire me to achieve new feats in the name
01:31of knowledge and art,
01:33consider becoming one of the members of Elvira's think tank.
01:37Click on the Join button below this video.
01:40Despite the severe shortage of funds, many wealthy individuals in Russia were still eager to support independent media.
01:48But the Soviet government quickly devised a solution.
01:52On February 10, 1918, they created the Revolutionary Tribunal of the Press,
01:58a body with the power to arrest journalists, fine them, or even shut down publications for publishing false or distorted
02:05information.
02:06The tribunal proved to be an incredibly effective tool for chalking out the independent press.
02:12In just three months, it shut down nearly 100 publications.
02:18In order to survive, the media had to get creative.
02:21They started registering newspapers under false names,
02:24bribing officials for publishing permits,
02:27and using irony, jokes, and metaphors to communicate the truth about what was happening in the country.
02:34Formally, it was hard to find fault, but the Bolsheviks weren't fooled.
02:39If you pushed it too far, they'd crack down hard.
02:44Many independent newspapers were shut down under the pretext of a paper shortage.
02:50The Bolsheviks claimed it was only fair to distribute newsprint based on the size of the readership.
02:56Since the former upper classes represented a much smaller demographic than the workers,
03:01they argued it was only right to seize the paper and give it to the publications that supported the revolution.
03:10If you want to learn more about the struggles of independent journalists during this time,
03:14check out my novel Russian Treasures, link in the description.
03:18It's important to remember that Soviet censorship didn't just appear overnight.
03:23Censorship had been alive and well in Tsarist Russia.
03:26There was never true freedom of speech under the Tsars.
03:30Ironically, the Bolsheviks came to power during a brief period when censorship had been lifted after the fall of the
03:37monarchy.
03:38But as we all know, the Bolsheviks, who once despised censorship, were quickly to embrace it.
03:46Only this time, they took it to a whole new level.
03:55If there is still any private press left in the country, free thoughts will occasionally break through to the public.
04:02The Soviet state could not allow that.
04:05Up until 1927, there were newspapers, magazines and even radio stations in private hands in the USSR.
04:13But with Stalin's rise to power, all of that was wiped out.
04:19People with revolvers showed up at the editorial offices and declared to the owners and editors,
04:25what was yours is now ours.
04:28This left journalists and writers with no choice but to work for the state.
04:33According to Soviet law, if you did not work, you had no right to housing or food russians.
04:41Under Stalin, food russians returned and finding work was literally a matter of life and death.
04:48This did not just apply to the press, but also to cinema, painting and theatre.
04:54Even after everything was nationalized, creative people still needed to be monitored.
05:00This was done by a special censorship agency that checked all works, whether to approve their publication or not.
05:07Take, for example, the fate of Russia's most beloved writer, Mikhail Bulgakov.
05:13He wrote The White Guard, a novel about educated and morally upright people living through the civil war.
05:20The magazine that began publishing the book went bankrupt.
05:24But Bulgakov reworked it into a play called Days of the Turbines,
05:29which was staged at one of Moscow's leading theatres, the Moscow Art Theatre.
05:34The play was a huge success.
05:37The educated public of Moscow flocked to see it.
05:40And the quotes from the play became what we call memes today.
05:46Bulgakov started earning decent money for that time, but in 1928, all of this came to an end.
05:53Censorship banned the play, and Bulgakov was stripped of the ability to publish and stage his works.
05:59The rules in the game in the USSR were simple.
06:03If you create something that fits within the framework of state propaganda, you would have access to the public.
06:10If not, well, you have only yourself to blame.
06:15Cultural officials quickly realized that people would do anything for the slightest chance of fame and recognition.
06:22Where there is burning desire, corruption is sure to follow.
06:27These bureaucrats did not just control the destinies of creative individuals.
06:32They had access to vast budgets.
06:35They allocated apartments, duches, country houses, and even creative retreats by the warm South France's
06:42where writers could spend the summer working on their next novel at the state's expense.
06:48But most importantly, they decided who would get published and who wouldn't.
06:54It wasn't about talent.
06:56It was about who could be useful to them and who could secure the right connections.
07:02Remember, in the USSR, it wasn't money that mattered.
07:06It was blood, a system of mutual favors.
07:10I have a separate video on that topic.
07:16A creative person simply can't stop creating.
07:20When you have talent, it consumes you from the inside if you don't act on it.
07:25You can't be anyone else because abandoning your craft feels like betraying yourself.
07:31Many Soviet actors, writers, and artists were forced to do just that.
07:36And it often led to alcoholism.
07:38The only way to reconcile with a reality that didn't allow them to pursue their art.
07:44Some creative individuals were willing to sell their souls just to continue their careers in the arts.
07:50This is exactly what happened to many writers, artists, directors, and actors during that time.
07:56Take Maxim Gorky, for example.
07:58One of the most famous Russian writers of the early 20th century,
08:02Gorky initially rejected the Bolshevik Revolution and immigrated.
08:06For years, he lived off the income from his books and plays.
08:11But when the Great Depression hit Europe, his earnings dwindled.
08:16By that point, Gorky had built an enormous household.
08:21A sprawling network of family, friends, and hangers-on who all relied on him financially.
08:28When the Soviet government called him back, Gorky couldn't resist.
08:32The promise of solving all his financial problems was too tempting.
08:38But in return, he was expected to write what Stalin demanded.
08:44The same thing happened to Alexei Tolstoy.
08:47Unlike his famous relative, Leo Tolstoy, Alexei is largely unknown in the West, but he was a brilliant writer.
08:54I was absolutely captivated by his novel Peter the Great when I read it as a child,
09:00and I even brought my old tattered copy with me to America.
09:04Maxim Gorky and Alexei Tolstoy became the true aristocrats of the Soviet Union.
09:09They lived the most luxurious lives imaginable.
09:13Meanwhile, others were bought off for much smaller sums.
09:17In the 1920s and 1940s, many white immigrants who had fled the Bolshevik Revolution returned to the USSR because they
09:26couldn't succeed in the West.
09:29While artists, dancers, and circus performers might still find success abroad, it was incredibly difficult for writers, singers, and actors.
09:38Very few spoke foreign languages fluently, and even fewer had the connections in the international arts scene to rebuild their
09:46careers.
09:47Before the Internet and AI translation, the language barrier was nearly impossible to overcome.
09:54A Russian writer had to compete with authors who were native speakers of English, French, or German.
10:01How could they possibly stand a chance?
10:04Very few were able to stay true to themselves and still succeed as creative individuals.
10:11Ivan Bonin, a Nobel Prize-winning writer, is one example.
10:14But there are others.
10:16Once, I came across Novel with Cocaine by M. Agaev.
10:20I have a trained eye.
10:22I immediately recognized the potential of a promising writer.
10:27I googled the author and discovered it was Mark Levy, a Russian-Jewish immigrant.
10:33In 1934, he published Novel with Cocaine in a Russian magazine in Paris.
10:39But that was the end of his writing career because he had no means to translate his work into foreign
10:46languages or promote it.
10:48Mark Levy returned to the USSR where he lived a long life, but he never wrote again.
10:54His talent was wasted.
10:56This is happening right now.
10:59Many talented actors, writers, and screenwriters are leaving Russia.
11:04But how will they integrate into the cultural landscape of Europe and the US?
11:10I hope to grow this channel so I can tell their stories.
11:14Many of them are my students.
11:17But let's get back on track.
11:19Moving on to the next step.
11:26The human desire for truth and compelling stories is unstoppable.
11:31Despite all the efforts of censorship, Soviet citizens still yearn to read, watch, and listen to the forbidden.
11:39In the USSR, the genre of short, funny, anonymous stories spread for word of mouth became extraordinarily popular.
11:47We call them anecdotes.
11:49Sometimes they were political, sometimes just everyday humor, and at times even dirty jokes.
11:55Under Stalin telling a political joke could lend you a 10-year sentence.
12:01The Gulag needed fresh generations of laborers to replace those who died in the grand construction projects.
12:08So any excuse for oppression was fair game.
12:12The same applied to forbidden literature.
12:14I know a woman who, as a first-year student, decided to start her own literary magazine back in the
12:21late 1950s.
12:23It published poems and short stories from her friends.
12:27There wasn't a word about politics.
12:29But all the authors were expelled from the university because it was forbidden to challenge the state's sacred monopoly.
12:37As the Soviet regime began to weaken, underground samizdat literature flourished.
12:43Books by banned authors were retyped on office typewriters and then passed along to friends, who would copy them again
12:51and so on.
12:52It spread slowly, painstakingly, and, of course, the authors didn't earn a penny for their work.
12:59But even in the early 1980s, possession or distribution of forbidden literature could have dire consequences.
13:07Typewriters were confiscated, people were fired, and if the KGB found other transgressions, you could be imprisoned or sent to
13:15forced psychiatric treatment.
13:17Some people might think, no one could silence me.
13:21No one can break my spirit.
13:24If I were in the Soviet Union, I'd do things differently.
13:27Well, I'd advise this brave soul to imagine a situation where every media outlet is state-owned.
13:37And even starting a handwritten magazine of your own is impossible.
13:42No matter how important your message is or how talented you are, your work will only be published if a
13:48bureaucrat personally deems it safe for him.
13:51And if he doesn't have someone else, more useful, claiming the same spot in the magazine or bookshelf.
13:59It was not about demand or creativity.
14:02All media and the arts in the Soviet Union were state-funded and not driven by profit.
14:17Modern Russia experienced a brief period of freedom of speech from the late 1980s until the early 2000s, before Vladimir
14:25Putin began systematically taking control of or dismantling major media outlets.
14:31Today, censorship still follows the same principles I've discussed, but on a more sophisticated level.
14:39In the past, it was a balance of both carrot and stick.
14:42But now, propaganda targets the most subtle strings of human emotions.
14:48When everyone has a phone in their pocket and access to information from all over the world, what truly matters
14:55is what the individual wants to know.
14:58And what people want to know is often what's most pleasing or interesting to them.
15:04So, a clever dictator no longer needs to control the information flow, something that can never truly be blocked, but
15:13must instead focus on shaping the narratives inside people's minds.
15:18That's when they'll start filtering out everything else themselves.
15:23In the Soviet era, officials decided the fate of rioters.
15:27Today, it's the readers and viewers who call the shots.
15:32If you enjoyed what you've learned today and want to exchange ideas, get to know each other, and create narratives
15:38that could actually make the world a better place, consider becoming a member by clicking the join button below.
15:46A heartfelt thank you to everyone who supports me in my journey as a writer and as a talking head
15:54on YouTube.
15:55See you soon.
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