East European Mass Media: The Soviet Role

Abstract

One of the most striking features of the system that the Soviet Union imposed on Central and Eastern Europe in the aftermath of the Second World War was the sameness of the political organization of their respective societies. In order to make the East European countries a parallel part of his empire Stalin imposed the same standardized patterns in politics, in the army and in the security forces.¹ Dana A. Schmidt in her analysis of The Anatomy of a Satellite, written in 1952, pointed out four main spheres of direct imitation:

Immediately upon seizing power in a country, the Communists do four things. They abolish all opposing political parties and establish a oneparty dictatorship; they create secret police; they establish a ministry of propaganda to tell people what they should know and how should they think; and, finally, they surround the whole system with an Iron Curtain. It is moot to ask what comes first. They are interdependent; take one away and the entire structure is threatened. They are four walls of the Communist house.²