The State Committee on Science and Technology of the USSR Council of Ministers

1977 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 596-596 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandr I. Lushin ◽  
Ivan V. Kalinin

Introduction. The epoch of Khrushchev’s “thaw” is a turning point in the history of the development of state security agencies. There is a break in the ideological connection between Cheka agency’s methods of work and the newly formed State Security Committee under the USSR Council of Ministers, a rethinking of the structure, goals and objectives of the department in accordance with the new policy of the ruling authorities. Research methods. In order to study the reform trends in the state security bodies of 1953–1964, in the article the method of historicism was used. It allows to consider the institute of state security bodies in the context of the definitely historical conditions of its existence. Besides the elements of the comparative historical method was used for creating a general idea of the tasks and goals of the department from the beginning of its existence in the RSFSR and until the end of period. Results and discussion. The analysis of publicly available sources of scientific literature has allowed to delineate the boundaries of modernization processes in the state security agencies of the Khrushchev “thaw” period. The actual transition of the heir to the VChK – OGPU – NKVD – NKGB – MGB from subordination of the state to the party power determined the further development of the KGB. Entirely subordinate to the party apparatus, the department was transformed depending on the interests of the political bureaucracy in power. However, the absence of a specific policy and the obvious distrust of N. S. Khrushchev to the state security authorities led to mixed results in regarding the effectiveness of the KGB, designed to ensure the protection of the country. The negative consequences included “the birth trauma” of the KGB after the 20th Congress of the CPSU, denouncing the violation of legality by the past KGB, weakening the moral and psychological climate inside the system and turning the Committee, designed to protect the state and its citizens from internal and external threats, into a party appendage with the inviolability of party employees, which led to a decrease in the rule of law. The positive results of the transformation of the state security bodies consisted in partial liberalization of the established system, softening the methods of the KGB, reorienting to protect the state from external enemies, creating the legal basis of the department’s activities and promoting its positive image.


Author(s):  
Liudmyla Khmelnytska

The purpose of the paper is to unblended analysis of sources and literature on the repressive policy of Soviet power against the representatives of Ukrainian cinema. In general, the main principles of party-state policy in the field of cinematography, including the mechanism of the influence of ideology on the cinematographic process in the Ukrainian SSR, are grounded, and the interaction between public administration and creative organizations is grounded; The main methods and forms of the repressive policy directed against the artists of Ukrainian cinema are described. The existing structure severely restricted the powers and independence of the respective republican units of management. In Ukraine, the general management of cinematography was carried out by the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR through the State Committee of the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR on cinematography - a union republican body that did not have the necessary independence in determining the main principles of the development of cinema art. Derzhkino's powers included economic, financial functions and control over the ideological content of film production. Derzhkinos powers included economic, financial functions and control over the ideological content of film production. It was in its structure that the Cinema Repertoire Control Inspection functioned, the decision of which depended on the fate of films: from the approval of the script to the release of the film on the screen. In those years, the practice of «film on the shelf» was extended, when films that were fully licensed for rental by all instances were fully prepared for rental, in the final version they did not satisfy the authorities, they were banned from showing. A more liberal requirement was the processing of unsatisfactory moments. The control over the repertoire of films that fell into the audience was reliant on the Main Directorate of Film and Film. The article uses the following research methods: comparative-historical, typologies, classifications, problem-chronological, objectivity, multifactor, which allow to study complex social phenomena, concrete events and facts in their dynamics. In the course of the study, it was found that during this period there was a structuring and centralization of the management system of the cinematographic industry, the general leadership of which belonged to the State Committee of the USSR. It is proved that during the years of stagnation the influence of the command-administrative system and the rigorous subordination to the principles of party ideology, which involved interference with creative processes, increase of authorizing powers of administrative structures and increase of censorship, was intensified. It was found out that after the thaw was extinguished, Ukrainian cinema was subject to strict regulation of the canons of «socialist realism». Ideological policy was secured by relevant party and state regulations, which provided a party assessment of the development of cinematography, criticized areas that were not interested in the party-bureaucratic system, the thematic orientation of cinema was normalized. Against the representatives of this course, the authorities used the usual spectrum of methods of struggle: blatant criticism and discredit in the media, in party and government decisions at the gathering of cinematographers; prosecution and imprisonment. The process of organization of the state campaign against the school of poetry films in the context of implementation of the policy of narrowing the sphere of application of the Ukrainian language and reducing the production of films in the Ukrainian language is analyzed. The planning of the work of film studios, censorship on the subject of films became the main tools for enhanced control over the development of Ukrainian cinema during the studied period. The interaction of public administration and creative organizations - the Union of Cinematographers of Ukraine, which was a pro-government structure and controlled by the party bureaucracy, was grounded, although one of its statutory tasks was protection of the creative, professional, copyright and public rights of its members.


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