Home – Home – Jornals – Humanitarian sciences in Siberia 2016 number

Contemporary studies on the Soviet man identity shows that there were ambiguities in the ways of its development. Many Soviet people (regardless of whether or not they were famous) were forced to pretend to be ideological Communists, to lead a double life, fabricate a fake biography. Many active “builders of communism” with party tickets unenthusiastically received and obeyed the orders from the Bolshevik power. Among the well-known members of the Soviet press there were many people of that sort. The paper aims to show that even the most active propagandists of the Soviet system often were hypocritical. Many professional and well-educated Communist media employees were secretly critical of the dogmas of propaganda. They considered them primitive and criticized them, while some Bolshevik journalists renounced their Communist views. The article shows how dissent manifested itself among the prominent representatives of “ideological front”, for the most part in Moscow. People’s commissars L. Krasin and G. Chicherin were known for their great skepticism regarding the world revolution. In communicating with each other many famous Communists invented epigrams and jokes about the Soviet regime. Many provincial journalists also showed dissent. In the years of the Great Terror, even the most loyal servants of the regime were willing to criticize the policy of repressions. Thus, the journalistic elite was dominated not by the ideological fanatics, but by conformists, who agreed to accept the Bolshevik policy. Their articles and books written in dogmatic spirit often contained hidden criticism or irony. Some journalists believed in communism and criticized the Soviet regime in order to improve it. Other propagandists defended their personal interests and therefore agreed to lead a double life. Some propagandists associated with the anti-Stalinist opposition sharply criticized the foundations of Bolshevism. Thus, in the Soviet Union the ideological sphere was sometimes marked by rejection of the tenets of communism which was not always concealed.