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The October Revolution of 1917 in the Coverage of the Contemporary Press (to the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution of 1917)

Научные исследования: 
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For citation: Akhmadulin E.V. (2018) Oktyabr'skaya revolyutsiya 1917 goda v otrazhenii sovremennoy ey pressy (k 100-letiyu Oktyabr'skoy revolyutsii 1917 g.) [The October Revolution of 1917 in the Coverage of the Contemporary Press (to the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution of 1917)]. Mediaskop1. (in Russian). Available at: http://www.mediascope.ru/2421

DOI: 10.30547/mediascope.1.2018.10

 

© Evgeniy V. Akhmadulin
Doctor of Philology sciences, Professor at the Chair of Journalism Theory, Southern Federal University (Rostov-on-Don, Russia), ahmadulin@mail.ru

 

Abstract

The timeliness of the article is conditioned by a huge number of contradictory sources, books, articles, scientific and pseudoscientific treatises, judgments and points of view on the driving forces and results of the October Revolution of 1917. One of the sources and powerful mechanisms of influence was the periodical press of that time. In the article, with the help of an empirical sample, a systematic approach, a typological and substantive analysis, it was shown that, in the background of the First World War, in the conditions of dual power (on the one hand, the Provisional Government, on the other hand, the Council of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies), stages of formation, differentiation of the system of the Russian press after the February Revolution of 1917. After the closure of the monarchical editions, the Bulletin of the Provisional Government was created on the basis of the Governmental Herald. The system of the bourgeois press basically remained the same. The series of periodicals were enlarged due to the editions of socialist parties that had emerged from the underground-the Socialist-Revolutionaries, Social-Democrats (Mensheviks and Bolsheviks) and anarchists. In total, during 1917 there were more than 4,800 newspapers and magazines in the country. All this numerous press of capitals and Russian provinces hotly discussed the problems of war and peace, the further fate of the revolution, democratic changes in the organization of government, the granting of land to the peasants, the establishment of an eight-hour day, and others. On April 27, new regulations of the press were approved; The Council of the Russian Press was established under the minister-chairman. For the registration of publications, the Book Chamber was established, and a special bureau was established to compile press reviews.

All liberal democratic newspapers and magazines supported the Provisional Government and took leading positions in the promotion of its activities. They numerically significantly exceeded the editions of socialists. For example, in Petrograd in March 1917 there were more than 50 newspapers, of which 35 were liberal and 11 were Socialist-Menshevik. The Bolsheviks in Petrograd had one newspaper − Pravda (restored March 5, 1917) with a circulation of 60−100 thousand copies, in Moscow came out "Social Democrat". Later, Bolshevik newspapers appeared in other cities. It was the Bolshevik publications that opposed the continuation of the war and the overthrow of the existing system. They were opposed by the bulk of liberal and socialist publications. However, their newspaper and magazine propaganda was conducted in the political and legal field and was designed for the so-called bourgeois-intelligent audience, which was mostly satisfied with the outcome of the February revolution, while the Bolsheviks, in the conditions of incessant popular unrest, relied on curbing these unrest with the help of populist promises, generously distributed through newspapers, leaflets and appeals of agitators.

Keywords: revolution, war, the Provisional Government, the Council of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies, the system of journalism, the liberal-democratic press, Bolshevik propaganda.

 

Notes

Edinstvo. Pertograd, 1917, October 22.

Gor'kiy A. Nel'zya molchat' [Impossible to Be Silent]. Novaya zhizn'. Pertograd, 1917, October 18.

Narodopravstvo. Moscow. 1917, no. 15.

Novyy satirikon. Pertograd, 1917, June

Pis'ma i dokumenty (1917–1922) [Letters and Documents (1917-1922)]. Available at: http://fanread.ru/book/2895147/?page=60

Publitsisticheskiye stat'i Amfiteatrova posle vozvrashcheniya iz emigratsii i v period posle prikhoda k vlasti bol'shevikov [Articles of Amfiteatrov after his return from emigration and in the period after the Bolsheviks came to power]. Available at: https://vuzlit.ru/451726/publitsisticheskie_stati_amfiteatrova_vozvrascheniya_emigratsii_period_prihoda_vlasti_bolshevikov

Rabochaya gazeta. Pertograd, 1917, April 28, June 3, October 26.

Rech'. Pertograd, 1917, April 21.

Russkoe slovo. Moscow, 1917, April 14.

Russkie vedomosti. Moscow, 1917, June 15, November 21; 1918, January 10.

Utro Rossii. Moscow, 1916, Desember 14.

 

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