Censorship in The Soviet Union - Soviet Censorship of Film

Soviet Censorship of Film

Censorship of film was commonplace since the USSR’s inception. Beginning with the Russian Civil War (1917-1922), censoring film effectively advanced socialist realism, a mode of art production that positively portrays socialism and constituents of socialist nations. As propaganda tools against the masses—particularly the illiterate—themes of Anti-Westernization and nationalism depicted socialist realism in films by negatively portraying elements of capitalist countries while positively depicting the Soviet Union. Elements of Anti-Westernization included censoring religion and technological superiority, while signs of weakness in the Soviet military like lost battles or frightened soldiers were expurgated to further nationalistic goals. Nationalism was also achieved by obfuscating the reality of the Holodomor in order both to prevent exposing information to the West about the inhumane collectivization and to discourage peasant revolt. Film censorship peaked during the rule of Stalin (1941-1953).

Acting as the chief censor for films, Stalin was demanding meticulous revisions in a way befitting his interpretation, as if a co-author. One famous letter Stalin wrote to Alexander Dovzhenko pertained to, “The Great Citizen,” a film about the purge trials. Stalin's letter made several intrusive revisions on the characters, props, and vital scenes such that the entire film needed restructuring. More moderate cases were recorded, such as a picture by Ivan Pyr'ev, where Stalin only changed the title from “Anka,” to, “The Party Card.” However, movies which Stalin thought did not cohere with socialist realism were denied being released to the public; “The Party Card” was not such a film. This picture’s screenplay was written during the time of a national campaign to renew individual party cards, and losing one amounted to a serious lack of Soviet discipline. Anka, the main character, has her card stolen by her lover, who is the surreptitious son of a Kulak.

Kulaks were Ukrainian peasant farmers resisting Stalin’s crop collectivization, and Anka’s lover uses the party card for iniquitous purposes. In the final scene of the movie she confronts him at gunpoint and, after he ignominiously begs forgiveness, she has him arrested by the authorities. By vilifying Kulaks, Stalin aimed to diminish public sympathy for them, even while millions were starved to death because he forcefully redistributed their crops. Socialist realism is promoted since, at the end of the movie, her loyalty to the party takes precedence over her romantic feelings; therefore, Stalin approved its production. However, not all films earned his approval.

One example is the 1940 film, “The Law of Life,” which was retracted from cinemas after ten days because it negatively portrayed a Komsomol leader by depicting him as hypocritical and abusing of his power. Stalin organized a military tribunal which castigated the scenarist Aleksandr Avdeenko, accusing him of inaccurate representations of Soviet reality. While nothing was said of the director, Avdeenko was jettisoned from the party. However, directors were not always spared, as in the case of Margarita Barskaia. Her film “Father and Son,” features a factory director who prioritizes his work over educating his son, Boris. Portraying Boris as an unhappy child and the father—a war hero—as a slothful parent was regarded as slanderous by a film reviewer. After her movie was removed from cinemas she was arrested, and died in the Gulag.

While Glavlit censored literature, Stalin micro-managed the film industry. He made “recommendations” on what should be included, edited, or deleted entirely. If ignored, similar consequences to those that befell Margarita were meted out. However, while he was obsessed with films, Stalin was uneducated on film production. Due to this ignorance, Stalin thought of the director as a mere technician who carried out instructions. Therefore, he dictated that camera angles should not be shot from below, or above the actor, but always at eye level. Stalin’s callowness over the importance of the director’s work was of great benefit to the filmmakers since, “with few exceptions, they survived.”

The centrality of Stalin in film censorship lasted to his death in 1953, but the strictness of Soviet censorship did not survive him. Khrushchev succeeded Stalin as the USSR’s Premier, and articulated de-Stalinization in his secret speech to the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. At this point, censorship finally began to diminish; this was known as the "Khrushchev Thaw.” Film output grew to 20 pictures in 1953, 45 in 1954, and 66 in 1955. Movies now introduced themes that were formally considered taboo, like conflicted characters. In the 1956 film, “Ballad of a Soldier,” Alyosha, the main character, experiences a conflict between his lover and his obligations to the military. The off-screen text at the end of the film reads, “He could have become a worker…grown wheat and adorned the earth with gardens. But all he managed in his short life was to become a soldier.” This represents the way in which socialist realism declined in prominence. Indeed, one could imagine Stalin censoring this film believing it featured an inner conflict between duty and love, which is not an ideal depiction of the Soviet soldier. Without the reforms the “Thaw” engendered, this film would have never been produced. However, restrictions were not completely absent during this time. The 1956 American film “Silk Stockings,” starred Cyd Charisse, who played a brash Soviet agent sent to Paris to retrieve a famous Russian composer. During her mission, she became enamored with the city and longed to extricate herself from Russia; predictably, this film was never released in the USSR. While restrictions on film still pervaded during the “Khrushchev Thaw”, they were significantly fewer than under Stalin.