Issue ? 38. June 2013

Propaganda in the Soviet Union: shaping the public opinion on Soviet-American Relations in the 1970s

Graduate student, School of Public Administration, Lomonosov Moscow State University.
E-mail: dmit.22@mail.ru

Propaganda was one of the main mechanisms of social control in the Soviet Union. Shaping public opinion of Soviet citizens, the state and the Communist Party tried to control public sentiment and actions. Public opinion on Soviet-American relations was determined by the perception of the socialist system and its comparison with the capitalist system. As Soviet citizens received information through the mass media, the propaganda system allowed the authorities to directly shape the public opinion.

Keywords

Propaganda, formation of public opinion, nuclear war threat, image of war, counter-propaganda.