Talk:Great Soviet Encyclopedia

message: All articles which related to Bolshevik leaders who were purged were changed, Trotsky, Bukharin, Zinoviev. Fred Bauder 21:54, Nov 29, 2004 (UTC)
: I'm not disputing that, in subsequent versions of the encyclopedia entries were removed from new books.  For example, in the online GSE, one can find "Trotskyism", and "Trotsky-Zinovev anti-Leninist block", but no biography of Trotsky, as the original one was removed in versions of the first edition after he fell out of favor.  So new books, new versions would not have that article.  Beria is the only cut-and-paste one I have heard about though.  And of course, Beria was post-Stalin. Ruy Lopez 09:19, 1 Dec 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Paste in revisions

message: I fill the the original name for the ASE and correct the english translation Azeri to Azerbaijani since it is more suitable. Azeri has a little different meaning which is disputed in fact.--Araks 11:46, 16 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Azerbaijani Soviet Encyclopedia

message: If caught possesing an unrevised copy, one could have faced several years of imprisonment.
There could have been no official law saying that, so there is no way to know that "one could have faced" such a thing. From what I know about Soviet reality, it seems unlikely - revisions in party ideology and evaluations of specific political figures changed many times during Soviet history, but nobody was prosecuted for the mere possession of official state-published materials reflecting earlier dogma. I have inherited a copy of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia from my own grandfather, and his copy has the "original" Beria article. He was never imprisoned, as far as I know. :-) --91.148.159.4 (talk) 15:16, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Removed as dubious and having been marked so since April. If anyone can find any reliable source for this claim, it can be added back, of course.Giovanni33 (talk) 06:57, 1 June 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Dubious (Damnatio Memoriae)

message: The series formerly in Ealing Central Library is no longer on general access. Jackiespeel (talk) 19:29, 28 October 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Access to encyclopedia

message: needs help.  Whoever's watching this, please address if you can.  Or I'll do it later. -- Y not? 19:33, 9 March 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: [[Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia]]

message: I added communist propaganda category to this article, but User:PasswordUsername reverted my edit . Great Soviet Encyclopedia was written from a communist viewpoint. It was not any scholarly encyclopedia, but simply propaganda. Your article itself says The Great Soviet Encyclopedia had a strong pro-communist bias. Then why these two categories were removed? BTW I have a reliable source as per wiki guideline which says the purpose of Great Soviet Encyclopedia was propaganda. --Joklolk (talk) 10:31, 4 August 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: And certainly the editors themselves professed to the mission of inculcation of Soviet thought. VЄСRUМВА  ☎  12:54, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

text: All encyclopedias have their biases. Doesn't this one have some too? I suspect that the GSE's article on Sunflowers was less propagandistic than it's article on Trotsky. I suspect that EB's article on Sunflowers is also less biased than on their spin of the sinking of the Lusitania, or of the Boer war. Dr. Dan (talk) 00:45, 6 August 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: If you have refs calling the Great Soviet Encyclopedia a piece of propaganda, it'd be good to see them. Radeksz's references don't claim that, so there's a need for reliable sourcesor we get WP:OR. PasswordUsername (talk) 03:07, 6 August 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: William Benton, based on his interviews with the editors of the GSE, states that the GSE was ordered by the state as a "propaganda weapon." When I have a chance I'll expand the article. For now, the categories return. You will note that the very own statements of the GSE scream propaganda, just avoid that word. VЄСRUМВА  ♪  01:28, 8 August 2009 (UTC)
replies: text:  Article expanded. Also, I have to take issue with PasswordUsername's contention "but none of this is the same as calling the factual material stated in the encyclopedia a piece of "'propaganda.'" Propaganda is a combination of content and purpose; there is nothing that says propaganda is not factualthe best propaganda blends fiction, fact, and bias into a seamless unity. No one has ever stated there is not factual material in the GSE, let's not put words in other editors' mouths. That there is factual material in the GSE does not make the GSE "not propaganda." VЄСRUМВА  ♪  17:17, 8 August 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: An example of propaganda would be the Programme of the CPSU or a speech during an election campaign. Contributors to the encyclopedia have the highest academic credentials, making it impossible to characterize the encyclopedia as propaganda. Just a few of the thousands of contributors include: S.S. Ginzburg, doctor of art history; E. Aleksandrova, doctor of chemical sciences; A. Aganbegian, member of the Academy of Sciences; I. Braginsky, member of the Academy of Sciences of the Tadzhik SSR.Kravavi (talk) 02:32, 25 March 2010 (UTC)

text: There are -- or were, at least -- elements of propaganda and/or bias in it. I read an article about Catholicism in the copy we had at the James Branch Cabell Library at VCU in Richmond, and right after stating the official number of catholics in the world, it added in parentheses: "obviously exaggerated". Kinda funny, I think.76.113.104.58 (talk) 04:02, 27 July 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: Communist propaganda

message: Years ago I had the opportunity to read the English translation at a university library (see, http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/). It was amusing to observe that the article on Boston, Massachusetts (where I lived at the time) showed a picture of the "State Bank" near a paragraph indicating Boston's importance as a financial center. The picture was actually of the 225 Franklin Street building of the State Street Bank and Trust, which is a private bank, not a "State" bank (gosbank) at all.
Finding errors in an encyclopedia is something that stirs the heart of anyone who has done even the least bit of work on Wikipedia. There must have been other curious errors of that sort, as the Great Soviet encyclopedia is huge and I viewed only a small part of it. I believe that a gold mine of errors awaits someone with access and with the gumption to wade through the English translation. A small list of errors could be a fine addition to this article. The research involved wouldn't be tremendously original, would it? Snezzy (talk) 17:00, 4 January 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Errors in the English translation 

message: http://books.google.pl/books?id=2C4-Pq8N8MMC&pg=PA308&lpg=PA308&dq=great+soviet+encyclopedia+evaluating+source&source=bl&ots=aNK8p_csrV&sig=KYjlgT5F4N8OC4qqryBqn3LsV_Q&hl=pl&sa=X&ei=RYpeUZ3FLIKxO6H0gWg&ved=0CEgQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=great%20soviet%20encyclopedia%20evaluating%20source&f=false
 GSE interprets events from a Communist viewpoint. 
 The silent supression of alternative viewpoints or interpretations constitutes bias.
Xx236 (talk) 08:31, 5 April 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Evaluation of Reference Services edited by Bill Katz and Ruth A. Fraley 

message: *Why these specific editors are listed?
*Three of them have been murdered and their biographies edited describing them as criminals. Were their biographies available to the readers?Xx236 (talk) 06:43, 12 April 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Editors 

message: The table should inform about Attempts and Editions.Xx236 (talk) 08:28, 11 April 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Other Soviet encyclopedias 

message: Was the GSE one or rather three? The infobox misinforms.Xx236 (talk) 08:37, 11 April 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  The GSE ''is one'' of ... 

message: The section informs about the 2nd and 3rd editions, nothing about the 1st one.Xx236 (talk) 06:42, 12 April 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Role and purpose in Soviet society 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: An editor has asked for a discussion to address the redirect Great Soviet Encylopaedia. Please participate in the redirect discussion if you wish to do so.  Regards, SONIC678 15:15, 15 April 2020 (UTC)
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