The Press: Truth, Etc.

¶ Nikolai Lenin decreed the functions of the Communist press long before Russia's revolution. The press was to be "propagandist, agitator and organizer."

¶ Joseph Stalin, a founder of the Bolshevik press, shaped it to Lenin's formula.

Last week Russia celebrated Press Day, 32nd anniversary of the birth of the Soviet press in the revolutionary underground. Florid editorials proclaimed the press's role anew. Writers, editors, correspondents got official awards.

The Soviet press is thousands of town, village and factory papers, shop wall newspapers, group publications for trade unions, the Party, youth, the Army....

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