Preliminary Military Censorship of the Press in the East of Russia after the Establishment of the Dictatorship of A.V. Kolchak (November 19–30, 1918)

For citation: Sheremetyeva D.L. (2017) Predvaritel'naya voennaya tsenzura pechati na vostoke Rossii posle ustanovleniya diktatury A.V. Kolchaka (19−30 noyabrya 1918 g.) [Preliminary Military Censorship of the Press in the East of Russia after the Establishment of the Dictatorship of A.V. Kolchak (November 19–30, 1918)]. Mediaskop4. (in Russian). Available at: http://www.mediascope.ru/2395

© Darya L. Sheremetyeva

PhD in Historical Sciences, junior researcher at the Institute of History, Siberian Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Novosibirsk, Russia), dalas83@yandex.ru

Abstract

The article examines the reasons, content and consequences of the establishment of preliminary military censorship in the east of Russia during the Civil War. The author introduces into the scientific circulation documents on the establishment of censorship during the Coup d'état on November 18, 1918, which led to the dictatorship of A.V. Kolchak. Censorship was carried out not by specially trained specialists, but also by the heads of military districts, garrisons and commandants of cities.

Based on an analysis of the newspapers, published in November 1918 on the territory from Ufa to Vladivostok, the author concluded that the military put principally pressure on the socialist press. "White spots" became a sign of the opposition newspapers. A few critical assessments of the Coup d'état leaked into the press, but they were expressed in a relatively neutral emotional tone and did not contain calls for action. The preliminary military censorship of the press has achieved the desired effect – the channels for the spread of remonstrance have been blocked, the opposition has been demoralized and disorganized. The effectiveness of censorship in the conditions of the Coup became an argument for its legalization after the seizure of power.

Keywords: censorship, periodical press, counterrevolution, the Civil War.

Notes

Armiya i narod (Ufa), 1918, November 21.

Bibliograficheskiy ukazatel' gazet i zhurnalov, vykhodivshikh na russkom Dal'nem Vostoke do 1922 g. i khranyashchikhsya v bibliotekakh i arkhivakh regiona [Bibliography of Newspapers and Magazines Published in the Russian Far East until 1922 and Stored in Libraries and Archives of the Region]. Vladivostok RGIA DV Publ., 2010.

Delo rabochego (Krasnoyarsk), 1918, November 22.

Gazety 1917−1922 godov v fondakh otdela literatury russkogo zarubezh'ya Rossiyskoy gosudarstvennoy biblioteki [Newspapers of 1917-1922 in the Funds of the Department of Literature of Russian Community Abroad, Russian State Library]. Moscow: [n. p.], 1994.

Golos naroda (Tomsk), 1918, December 8.

Gosudarstvennyy arkhiv Rossiyskoy Federatsii (GARF) [State Archives of the Russian Federation]. F. P-148; F. P-176.

Lenskiy kray (Bodaybo), 1918, November 22.

Narodnaya gazeta (Tomsk), 1918, November 21.

Nash put' (Chita), 1918, November 22.

Nesovetskie gazety (1918−1922 gg.): Katalog sobraniya Rossiyskoy natsional'noy biblioteki [Non-Soviet Newspapers (1918−1922): Catalogue of Collection of Russian National Library]. St.Peterburg: RNB Publ., 2003.

Novaya Sibir' (Irkutsk), 1918, November 20.

Novyy Altayskiy luch (Barnaul), 1918, November 21.

Pepelyaev V.N. (1923) Dnevnik [Diary]. Krasnye zori (Irkutsk), no. 5, p. 45.

Porshnev G.I. (1920) Knizhnaya letopis' Irkutska za gody revolyutsii (1917–1919 gg.) [Chronicle of Books of Irkutsk in the Years of Revolution (1917–1919)]. Irkutsk: Gubernskaya tipografiya Publ.

Pravitel'stvennyy vestnik (Omsk), 1918, November 30; 1918, December 7−8; 1919, January 1.

Vlast' naroda (Chelyabinsk), 1918, November 22.

Vologodskiy P.V. (2006) Vo vlasti i v izgnanii: dnevnik prem'er-ministra antibol'shevistskikh pravitel'stv i emigranta v Kitae (1918−1925 gg.) [In Power and in Exile: Diary of a Prime Minister of Anti-Bolshevik Governments and of an Emigrant in China (1918−1925)]. Ryazan': P.A. Tribunskiy Publ., p. 141.

Volya Sibiri (Krasnoyarsk), 1918, November 20.

Zveno (Mariinsk), 1918, November 20.

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