Research Article
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COMMUNISM PROPAGANDA IN SOVIET ARMENIA

Year 2022, Issue: 45, 151 - 175, 14.11.2022

Mehmet Sezai Türk Abdülhakim Bahadır Darı Özkan Avcı

Abstract

The Soviet Union brought communist regimes to power in the socialist republics affiliated to it and spread communist propaganda to ensure that the people embraced these regimes. The Soviet administration used discourses that glorified the ideology of communism through the mass media it dominated, and in this way, it aimed for the peoples of the Soviet Union to embrace communism and implement the decisions taken by the regime without question. The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR) was also one of the Soviet socialist republics of the Soviet Union where communist propaganda was implemented. The Soviet Union made effective use of various mass media for propaganda in the ASSR. One type of mass media used was propaganda posters. Propaganda posters in this study directly reflect the features of Soviet Totalitarian Media Theory. For this reason, the examination of the posters containing the communist propaganda is important in terms of revealing the Soviet Union’s propaganda in the ASSR. Thus, this study aims to explain which messages the Soviet Union used in the communist propaganda in the ASSR through the visual and written indicators on the posters. For this purpose, the posters that include communist propaganda in the ASSR are analyzed using the semiotics method in the light of the semiotic concepts of the linguist Karl Bühler. How Soviet propaganda presented communist ideology in the ASSR and how it established a link between the Armenian people and communism are examined in the posters. In the light of the findings obtained in the study, it is revealed that the messages that communism played a leading role in the construction of contemporary and prosperous Armenia, and at the same time, that the Armenian people were loyal to the communist ideology are given in the posters. In this way, this study concludes that Soviet propaganda tried to legitimize the decisions taken by the communist regime in the ASSR in the Armenian public opinion.

Keywords

Propaganda Communism Armenia Soviet Union Ideology

References

  • “About.” International Digital Ephemera Project (IDEP) - UCLA Library, accessed June 3, 2022. https://idep.library.ucla.edu/about.
  • “All nations will make their way towards socialism…” International Digital Ephemera Project (IDEP) – UCLA Library, accessed October 12, 2021. https://idep.library.ucla.edu/search#!/document/armeniaposters:200.
  • “For the sake of the socialist fatherland's power.” International Digital Ephemera Project (IDEP) – UCLA Library, accessed October 12, 2021, https://idep.library.ucla.edu/search#!/document/armeniaposters:173.
  • “Glory to the builders of communism.” International Digital Ephemera Project (IDEP) – UCLA Library, accessed October 12, 2021, https://idep.library.ucla.edu/search#!/document/armeniaposters:101.
  • “Lenin: To the Communists of Armenia... Begin the large-scale work of electrification.” International Digital Ephemera Project (IDEP) – UCLA Library, accessed October 12, 2021, https://idep.library.ucla.edu/search#!/document/armeniaposters:190.
  • “The Soviet Armenia Propaganda Posters.” International Digital Ephemera Project (IDEP) – UCLA Library, accessed October 12, 2021, https://idep.library.ucla.edu/search#!/collection=Soviet+Armenian+Posters.
  • “We are led by the party.” International Digital Ephemera Project (IDEP) – UCLA Library, accessed October 12, 2021, https://idep.library.ucla.edu/search#!/document/armeniaposters:137.
  • “Yerevan, during the 17 years of Soviet authority.” International Digital Ephemera Project (IDEP) – UCLA Library, accessed October 12, 2021, https://idep.library.ucla.edu/search#!/document/armeniaposters:98.
  • Altun, Fatmanur. “Propaganda from Conventional Media to New Media: Continuity and Change.” Mevzu - Journal of Social Sciences, Issue 7 (2022): 1-22.
  • Aşkan, Hakan, and Aytuğ Mermer Üzümlü. “The Examination on the Short Film "The Towers of Truth" Regarding Free European Radio in the Cold War.” Anadolu Akademi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi 2, Issue 1 (2020): 71-92.
  • Baytimur, Tuğba, Caner Çakı, and Ferit Arda Arıca. “The Propaganda in Armenia of The Five-Year Development Plans Implemented in The Soviet Union.” Review of Armenian Studies, Issue 42 (2020): 81-102.
  • Bolsover, George H. "Soviet ideology and propaganda." International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944-) 24, Issue 2 (1948): 170-180.
  • Bühler, Karl. Theory of Language: The representational function of language. Translated by Donald Fraser Goodwin in collaboration with Achim Eschbach. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing, 2011.
  • Büyüköztürk, Şener, Ebru Kılıç Çakmak, Özcan Erkan Akgün, Şirin Karadeniz, and Funda Demirel. Bilimsel Araştırma Yöntemleri. Ankara: Pegem Akademi, 2018.
  • Çalışkan, Sadık, and Mehmet Barış Yılmaz. “The cult of leadership construction of Vladimir Lenin through propaganda posters in media in Armenia Soviet Socialist Republic.” Ermeni Araştırmaları, Issue 65 (2020): 75-100.
  • Cassinelli, C. W. “Totalitarianism, Ideology, and Propaganda.” The Journal of Politics 22, Issue 1 (1960): 68-95. Eatwell, Roger. "Ideology, propaganda, violence and the rise of fascism." In Rethinking the Nature of Fascism, ed. António Costa Pinto, 165-185. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.
  • Eckhardt, William. "War propaganda, welfare values, and political ideologies." Journal of Conflict Resolution 9, Issue 3 (1965): 345-358.
  • Erol, Ebru Gülbuğ. "The Publishing in Nazi Germany, The Construction of Anti-Semitist Discourses Spread by the Nazism Ideology and the Use of Books for the Purpose of Propaganda." Türk Kütüphaneciliği 34, Issue 4 (2020): 693-722.
  • Gavrilova, Anzhelika V., and Egor A. Bogolyubov. "Theoretical and practical interaction between legal ideology and legal propaganda in the Soviet society." RUDN Journal of Law 22, Issue 3 (2018): 346-369.
  • Geçikli, Fatma. “Propaganda; From Past to Present.” Istanbul University Faculty of Communication Journal, Issue 9 (1999): 265-276.
  • Gheorghiță, Nicolae. "Military Music between Use and Abuse: Music, Ideology and Propaganda in the Music of the Romanian Popular Army." Musicology Today: Journal of the National University of Music Bucharest 7, Issue 28 (2016): 323-337.
  • Gülada, Mehmet Ozan. “The Presentation in Posters of the Propaganda Against Espionage of the Soviet Union in the Second World War.” Journal of Civilization and Society (JCISO) 3, Issue 1 (2019): 49-68.
  • Hanh, Lai Thi Ngoc, Dinh Tran Ngoc Huy, and Dinh Thi Hien. "Ho Chi Minh Ideologies on Public Propaganda and Organization." Review of International Geographical Education Online 11, Issue 5 (2021): 2711-2718.
  • Işık, Metin, Mustafa Karaca, and Caner Çakı, “The Election Propaganda in Armenia under The Rule of The Communist Party of Armenia.” Review of Armenian Studies, Issue 44 (2021): 53-82.
  • Işık, Metin. “İletişim Sistemleri-Siyasal Sistem İlişkileri Bağlamında İletişim Alanının Düzenlenmesi ve Medya-Devlet İlişkilerinin Değerlendirilmesi.” Selçuk İletişim 2, Issue 2, (2002): 23-34.
  • Kershaw, Ian. "Ideology, propaganda, and the rise of the Nazi party." The Nazi Machtergreifung (RLE Nazi Germany & Holocaust), ed. Peter D. Stachura, 176-195. Routledge, 2014.
  • Kılıçbeyli, Elif Hatun. “Red Army Propaganda in The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic: An Investigation on Posters.” Review of Armenian Studies, Issue 43 (2021): 109-140.
  • Lee, Dongchoon, and Chaehong Pang. "Shakespeare in China: Ideology, the People, and Propaganda." Shakespeare Review 41, Issue 2 (2005): 321-341.
  • Luehrmann, Sonja. "The modernity of manual reproduction: Soviet propaganda and the creative life of ideology." Cultural Anthropology 26, Issue 3 (2011): 363-388.
  • MacLennan, Gary. "Truth, propaganda, ideology, power and the media teacher." Metro Magazine: Media & Education Magazine 94, (1993): 22-28.
  • May González, Ángel Omar. "Propaganda and ideology in the press: The case of the Rojo Amanecer in Campeche, 1921-1924." Signos históricos 14, Issue 27 (2012): 64-103.
  • Min, John B. "Propaganda, ideology, and democracy: A review of Jason Stanley, How Propaganda Works." The Good Society 24, Issue 2 (2015): 210-217.
  • Mini, Panayiota. "Striving for the maximum appeal: ideology and propaganda in the Soviet cinema of the 1920s and 1930s." In The Routledge Companion to Cinema and Politics, eds. Yannis Tzioumakis and Claire Molloy, 183-196. Routledge, 2016.
  • Payne, Kenneth. "Winning the battle of ideas: Propaganda, ideology, and terror." Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 32, Issue 2 (2009): 109-128.
  • Peirce, Philip. "The Arch of Constantine: propaganda and ideology in late Roman art." Art History 12, Issue 4 (1989): 387-418.
  • Şahan, Süleyman. “The Criticism of the Radio Broadcasting of the West Block on Caricatures of the Soviet Union.” TRT Akademi 5, Issue 9 (2020): 270-291.
  • Sevindi, Koray. Sovyet Propaganda Animasyonları. İstanbul: Urzeni Yayınevi, 2021.
  • Shagan, Ethan Howard. "Constructing discord: ideology, propaganda, and English responses to the Irish Rebellion of 1641." Journal of British Studies 36, Issue 1 (1997): 4-34.
  • Siebert, Fredrick S., Theodore Peterson, and Wilbur Schramm. Four Theories of the Press: The Authoritarian, Libertarian, Social Responsibility, and Soviet Communist Concepts of What the Press Should Be and Do. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1963.
  • Splichal, Slavko, and Anuška Ferligoj. "Ideology in International Propaganda: A Clustering Approach for Content Analysis Data." In Sociometric Research, ed. Willem E. Saris and Irmtraud N. Gallhofer, 69-89. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1988.
  • Türk, Mehmet Sezai. “Katılımcı Demokratik Medya Kuramı Çerçevesinde Yeni Medyayı Anlamak.” ICT Media Dergisi, Issue 75 (2016): 56-58.

SOVYET ERMENİSTAN’INDA KOMÜNİZM PROPAGANDASI

Year 2022, Issue: 45, 151 - 175, 14.11.2022

Mehmet Sezai Türk Abdülhakim Bahadır Darı Özkan Avcı

Abstract

Sovyetler Birliği, kendisine bağlı sosyalist cumhuriyetlerde komünist rejimleri iktidara getirmiş ve iktidara getirdiği bu rejimlerin halk tarafından benimsenmesini sağlamak için komünizm propagandasına yönelmiştir. Sovyet yönetimi, egemen olduğu kitle iletişim araçları üzerinden komünist ideolojisini yücelten söylemlere yer vermiş, bu şekilde Sovyetler Birliği halklarının komünizmin sahiplenmesini ve rejimin aldığı kararların Sovyetler Birliği halkı tarafından sorgulanmadan uygulanmasını amaçlamıştır. Ermenistan Sovyet Sosyalist Cumhuriyeti (ESSC) de, Sovyetler Birliği’nin komünizm propagandasının uygulandığı Sovyet Sosyalist Cumhuriyetleri’nden biri olmuştur. Sovyetler Birliği, ESSC’de propaganda yaparken çeşitli kitle iletişim araçlarından etkin bir şekilde yararlanmıştır. Bu kitle iletişim araçlarından biri de propaganda posterleri olmuştur. İncelenen propaganda posterleri, Sovyet Totaliter Medya Kuramı özelliklerini de doğrudan yansıtmaktadır. Bu nedenle ESSC’deki komünizm propagandasını içeren posterlerin incelenmesi, Sovyetler Birliği’nin ESSC’deki komünizm propagandasının ortaya koyulması bakımından önem taşımaktadır. Böylece çalışmada propaganda posterlerinde yer alan görsel ve yazılı göstergeler üzerinden Sovyetler Birliği’nin ESSC’de komünizm propagandasında hangi mesajlara yer verdiğinin açıklanması amaçlanmıştır. Bu amaçla ESSC’deki komünizm propagandasına yer veren posterler, dilbilimci Karl Bühler’in göstergebilim kavramları ışığında göstergebilim yöntemi kullanılarak analiz edilmiştir. Posterlerde Sovyet propagandasının ESSC’deki komünizm ideolojini ne şekilde sunduğu ve Ermeni halkı ve komünizm arasında nasıl bir bağ kurduğu incelenmiştir. Çalışmada elde edilen bulgular ışığında posterler üzerinden komünizmin, çağdaş ve refah içinde bir Ermenistan’ın inşasında öncü rol oynadığı ve aynı zamanda Ermeni halkının komünizme bağlı olduğu mesajlarının verildiği ortaya çıkarılmıştır. Bu şekilde çalışmada Sovyet propagandasının, ESSC’de komünist rejiminin aldığı kararları Ermeni kamuoyunda meşrulaştırmaya çalıştığı sonucuna ulaşılmıştır.

Keywords

Propaganda Komünizm Ermenistan Sovyetler Birliği İdeoloji

References

  • “About.” International Digital Ephemera Project (IDEP) - UCLA Library, accessed June 3, 2022. https://idep.library.ucla.edu/about.
  • “All nations will make their way towards socialism…” International Digital Ephemera Project (IDEP) – UCLA Library, accessed October 12, 2021. https://idep.library.ucla.edu/search#!/document/armeniaposters:200.
  • “For the sake of the socialist fatherland's power.” International Digital Ephemera Project (IDEP) – UCLA Library, accessed October 12, 2021, https://idep.library.ucla.edu/search#!/document/armeniaposters:173.
  • “Glory to the builders of communism.” International Digital Ephemera Project (IDEP) – UCLA Library, accessed October 12, 2021, https://idep.library.ucla.edu/search#!/document/armeniaposters:101.
  • “Lenin: To the Communists of Armenia... Begin the large-scale work of electrification.” International Digital Ephemera Project (IDEP) – UCLA Library, accessed October 12, 2021, https://idep.library.ucla.edu/search#!/document/armeniaposters:190.
  • “The Soviet Armenia Propaganda Posters.” International Digital Ephemera Project (IDEP) – UCLA Library, accessed October 12, 2021, https://idep.library.ucla.edu/search#!/collection=Soviet+Armenian+Posters.
  • “We are led by the party.” International Digital Ephemera Project (IDEP) – UCLA Library, accessed October 12, 2021, https://idep.library.ucla.edu/search#!/document/armeniaposters:137.
  • “Yerevan, during the 17 years of Soviet authority.” International Digital Ephemera Project (IDEP) – UCLA Library, accessed October 12, 2021, https://idep.library.ucla.edu/search#!/document/armeniaposters:98.
  • Altun, Fatmanur. “Propaganda from Conventional Media to New Media: Continuity and Change.” Mevzu - Journal of Social Sciences, Issue 7 (2022): 1-22.
  • Aşkan, Hakan, and Aytuğ Mermer Üzümlü. “The Examination on the Short Film "The Towers of Truth" Regarding Free European Radio in the Cold War.” Anadolu Akademi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi 2, Issue 1 (2020): 71-92.
  • Baytimur, Tuğba, Caner Çakı, and Ferit Arda Arıca. “The Propaganda in Armenia of The Five-Year Development Plans Implemented in The Soviet Union.” Review of Armenian Studies, Issue 42 (2020): 81-102.
  • Bolsover, George H. "Soviet ideology and propaganda." International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944-) 24, Issue 2 (1948): 170-180.
  • Bühler, Karl. Theory of Language: The representational function of language. Translated by Donald Fraser Goodwin in collaboration with Achim Eschbach. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing, 2011.
  • Büyüköztürk, Şener, Ebru Kılıç Çakmak, Özcan Erkan Akgün, Şirin Karadeniz, and Funda Demirel. Bilimsel Araştırma Yöntemleri. Ankara: Pegem Akademi, 2018.
  • Çalışkan, Sadık, and Mehmet Barış Yılmaz. “The cult of leadership construction of Vladimir Lenin through propaganda posters in media in Armenia Soviet Socialist Republic.” Ermeni Araştırmaları, Issue 65 (2020): 75-100.
  • Cassinelli, C. W. “Totalitarianism, Ideology, and Propaganda.” The Journal of Politics 22, Issue 1 (1960): 68-95. Eatwell, Roger. "Ideology, propaganda, violence and the rise of fascism." In Rethinking the Nature of Fascism, ed. António Costa Pinto, 165-185. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.
  • Eckhardt, William. "War propaganda, welfare values, and political ideologies." Journal of Conflict Resolution 9, Issue 3 (1965): 345-358.
  • Erol, Ebru Gülbuğ. "The Publishing in Nazi Germany, The Construction of Anti-Semitist Discourses Spread by the Nazism Ideology and the Use of Books for the Purpose of Propaganda." Türk Kütüphaneciliği 34, Issue 4 (2020): 693-722.
  • Gavrilova, Anzhelika V., and Egor A. Bogolyubov. "Theoretical and practical interaction between legal ideology and legal propaganda in the Soviet society." RUDN Journal of Law 22, Issue 3 (2018): 346-369.
  • Geçikli, Fatma. “Propaganda; From Past to Present.” Istanbul University Faculty of Communication Journal, Issue 9 (1999): 265-276.
  • Gheorghiță, Nicolae. "Military Music between Use and Abuse: Music, Ideology and Propaganda in the Music of the Romanian Popular Army." Musicology Today: Journal of the National University of Music Bucharest 7, Issue 28 (2016): 323-337.
  • Gülada, Mehmet Ozan. “The Presentation in Posters of the Propaganda Against Espionage of the Soviet Union in the Second World War.” Journal of Civilization and Society (JCISO) 3, Issue 1 (2019): 49-68.
  • Hanh, Lai Thi Ngoc, Dinh Tran Ngoc Huy, and Dinh Thi Hien. "Ho Chi Minh Ideologies on Public Propaganda and Organization." Review of International Geographical Education Online 11, Issue 5 (2021): 2711-2718.
  • Işık, Metin, Mustafa Karaca, and Caner Çakı, “The Election Propaganda in Armenia under The Rule of The Communist Party of Armenia.” Review of Armenian Studies, Issue 44 (2021): 53-82.
  • Işık, Metin. “İletişim Sistemleri-Siyasal Sistem İlişkileri Bağlamında İletişim Alanının Düzenlenmesi ve Medya-Devlet İlişkilerinin Değerlendirilmesi.” Selçuk İletişim 2, Issue 2, (2002): 23-34.
  • Kershaw, Ian. "Ideology, propaganda, and the rise of the Nazi party." The Nazi Machtergreifung (RLE Nazi Germany & Holocaust), ed. Peter D. Stachura, 176-195. Routledge, 2014.
  • Kılıçbeyli, Elif Hatun. “Red Army Propaganda in The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic: An Investigation on Posters.” Review of Armenian Studies, Issue 43 (2021): 109-140.
  • Lee, Dongchoon, and Chaehong Pang. "Shakespeare in China: Ideology, the People, and Propaganda." Shakespeare Review 41, Issue 2 (2005): 321-341.
  • Luehrmann, Sonja. "The modernity of manual reproduction: Soviet propaganda and the creative life of ideology." Cultural Anthropology 26, Issue 3 (2011): 363-388.
  • MacLennan, Gary. "Truth, propaganda, ideology, power and the media teacher." Metro Magazine: Media & Education Magazine 94, (1993): 22-28.
  • May González, Ángel Omar. "Propaganda and ideology in the press: The case of the Rojo Amanecer in Campeche, 1921-1924." Signos históricos 14, Issue 27 (2012): 64-103.
  • Min, John B. "Propaganda, ideology, and democracy: A review of Jason Stanley, How Propaganda Works." The Good Society 24, Issue 2 (2015): 210-217.
  • Mini, Panayiota. "Striving for the maximum appeal: ideology and propaganda in the Soviet cinema of the 1920s and 1930s." In The Routledge Companion to Cinema and Politics, eds. Yannis Tzioumakis and Claire Molloy, 183-196. Routledge, 2016.
  • Payne, Kenneth. "Winning the battle of ideas: Propaganda, ideology, and terror." Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 32, Issue 2 (2009): 109-128.
  • Peirce, Philip. "The Arch of Constantine: propaganda and ideology in late Roman art." Art History 12, Issue 4 (1989): 387-418.
  • Şahan, Süleyman. “The Criticism of the Radio Broadcasting of the West Block on Caricatures of the Soviet Union.” TRT Akademi 5, Issue 9 (2020): 270-291.
  • Sevindi, Koray. Sovyet Propaganda Animasyonları. İstanbul: Urzeni Yayınevi, 2021.
  • Shagan, Ethan Howard. "Constructing discord: ideology, propaganda, and English responses to the Irish Rebellion of 1641." Journal of British Studies 36, Issue 1 (1997): 4-34.
  • Siebert, Fredrick S., Theodore Peterson, and Wilbur Schramm. Four Theories of the Press: The Authoritarian, Libertarian, Social Responsibility, and Soviet Communist Concepts of What the Press Should Be and Do. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1963.
  • Splichal, Slavko, and Anuška Ferligoj. "Ideology in International Propaganda: A Clustering Approach for Content Analysis Data." In Sociometric Research, ed. Willem E. Saris and Irmtraud N. Gallhofer, 69-89. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1988.
  • Türk, Mehmet Sezai. “Katılımcı Demokratik Medya Kuramı Çerçevesinde Yeni Medyayı Anlamak.” ICT Media Dergisi, Issue 75 (2016): 56-58.
There are 41 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Political Science
Journal Section Research Article
Authors

Mehmet Sezai Türk 0000-0003-3619-4241

Abdülhakim Bahadır Darı 0000-0003-3525-5823

Özkan Avcı 0000-0003-1524-1379

Publication Date November 14, 2022
Published in Issue Year 2022 Issue: 45

Cite

Chicago Türk, Mehmet Sezai, Abdülhakim Bahadır Darı, and Özkan Avcı. “COMMUNISM PROPAGANDA IN SOVIET ARMENIA”. Review of Armenian Studies, no. 45 (November 2022): 151-75.
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