Closer to the masses
Subtitle: Stalinist culture, social revolution, and Soviet newspapers
By: Matthew Lenoe.
Series: Russian Research Center studies ;; 95
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: 2004
Place of publication: Cambridge, Mass
Language: eng
Number of pages: 315
Subjects: Press and propaganda -- Soviet Union -- History; Communism and culture -- Soviet Union -- History; Socialist realism -- Soviet Union -- History
Description: "In this book, Matthew Lenoe traces the origins of Stalinist mass culture to newspaper journalism in the late 1920s. In examining the transformation of Soviet newspapers during the New Economic Policy and the First Five Year Plan, Lenoe tells a story of purges, political intrigues, and social upheaval." "Under pressure from the party leadership to mobilize society for the monumental task of industrialization, journalists shaped a master narrative for Soviet history and helped create a Bolshevik identity for millions of new communists. Everyday labor became an epic battle to modernize the USSR, a fight not only against imperialists from outside but also against shirkers and saboteurs within. Soviet newspapermen mobilized party activists by providing them with an identity as warrior heroes battling for socialism. Yet within the framework of propaganda directives, the rank-and-file journalists improvised in ways that ultimately contributed to the creation of a culture. The images and metaphors crafted by Soviet journalists became the core of Stalinist culture in the mid-1930s and influenced the development of socialist realism."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [263]-302) and index.