Mass Media as an Instrument of Propaganda Policy During the Civil War in Siberia

Abstract

The article studies information systems of the main political centres operating in Siberia during the Civil War. The Soviet government, the White movement, the allied forces of the Entente were developing a large-scale propaganda in their struggle for power. The articles studies the methods and forms of confrontation of the political centres, their strong and weak points, as well as the channels of information transfer and means of information dissemination. The role of the information aspect during the Civil War in Siberia has not been studied properly so far. One does not have a complete scientific notion of how mass media were related to different political regimes and allies in Siberia. Therefore, the history of the political centres’ struggle for power needs to be widely researched applying interdisciplinary synthesis. It is necessary to consider the information-propaganda policy of the political centres as a specific activity of the governments of Siberia and allies, and as a significant instrument of implementing a new state ideology. In addition, the article discusses the information propaganda policy of the foreign countries participating in the Civil War, revealing the ideological views imposed by the government propaganda of the political centres. Studying the press, telegraph and printing has allowed to define the specific features of the information policy of the political centres. Controlling mass media, effectively set political propaganda contributed to the government stability. The First World War and, then, the Civil War became the pivot point that helped the political centres realise that mass media are the main allies in a crisis as the role and significance of information in society increases profoundly.