H/W 30th April 2018
How far was the government control over the lives of the people maintained in the years
1953-1985?
Whilst the control over the Soviet people was there throughout the tme of the USSR, the years
1953 to 1985 saw change not only from the previous years, but also within these years. The
government was able to maintain its control through the use of mass media and propaganda and
attacks against dissidents; however, factors such as de-Stalinisaton and the growth of youth culture
in the 1960s through Western music suggests that control was not fully maintained. Whilst this
perspectve is in mind, I maintain the belief that the government control of the populatonn’s lives
was maintained between 1953 and 1985 to a greater degree, but stll had factors that challenged
this.
The governmentn’s use of mass media and propaganda was a key factor in controlling the lives of
the people of the Soviet Union, as it allowed for the government to cement their ideas and values
into the populaton, through a medium tolerated by the public, and in a way that could cause long
term controlling methods; this may have been more tolerated as it showed an advance in
technology, and so showed Russia to be modernising and keeping up with the West, which also
would have been good propaganda, as well as a high degree of control. For example, Pravda and
Izvestya were mass newspapers all the way from 1917 to the 1980s, with Pravdan’s circulaton hitng
10.7 million in 1983; this indicates that the government were able to maintain some form of control
over the lives of the people in an efectve and long term manner, as these papers included details of
socialist achievements and targets in factories being met or exceeded. From the circulaton numbers
you can infer that the government were able to showcase their ideals in a manner that reached
many Russians, allowing for them to have sustained control over the Soviet people; in this respect,
you could argue the government control over the lives of the people was maintained to a greater
degree in the years 1953 to 1985, as the foundatons were already in place for the government to
contnue and grow this style of propaganda through media, indicatng that the control was
maintained to a fairly high degree from this perspectve. This informaton was then further pushed
through the use of radio broadcasts, especially as untl 1964, there was only one Soviet staton;
under Brezhnev, this number extended to three. The use of television also grown by 1953, where the
number of sets had raised to three million in 1958 (as opposed to 10,000 in 1950) which promoted
the socialist achievements and news, as well as the joyous life of socialism, allowing the government
to promote socialism as a positve lifestyle that people would want to cohere to. Although
uninspiring, it showed to the populaton a life of crime under capitalism, and so the government
were able to brainwash the populaton into believing the messages they put out and persuade the
Russians to push forward with socialism, which suggests that the government were stll able to keep
control over the Soviet populaton. From this, you can infer that through mass media and
propaganda the government were able to maintain some form of control over the lives of the Soviet
populaton to a greater degree.
Another factor that suggests the maintenance of control of the people in the USSR was to a greater
degree is the attacks against the dissidents during Brezhnevn’s reign, between 1967 and 1982. Many
dissidents were those trying to hold the government account for their own laws, or wanted to
encourage society to think independently, or natonalists who recognised their own culture wasnn’t
properly represented. Whilst this implies that the government were being threatened by their own
people, the secret police were able to conduct searches and would ofen harass the suspects, with
