Censorship+in+Russia

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** Censorship in Russia **   Censorship: The suppression of speech or other forms of media which is considered harmful or detrimental to the person/group in question. Censorship plays a long role in the history of Russia, lasting from well before the 19th century. Though there was a brief repeal of censorship laws during 1855 to 1865 and a short period in the early months of 1917, the majority of Russia's history was dominated by the presence of consistent censorship of press and speech. __**Censorship in the 1800's:**__ Nicholas I of Russia brought about strict censorship and control in an effort to control the country and its people. Due to the effects of the Decembrist Revolt, Nicholas I was determined to control Russian society. He accomplished this through the formation of a network of spies and informants, also know as the 'Third Section', along with strict government control over education, publishing and other forms of public life through censorship of delicate or anti-governement material. During this period, one notable example of censorship was within the postal system. Using various different stamps and seals, the government regulated the contents of post, restricting the political, social and military related aspects of society in general. __**Military Censorship:**__ The military history of Russia features censorship as a constant presence. Throughout periods of unrest, mail, whether electronic or physical, are all regulated, and any material which is deemed dangerous or controversial would disappear in the process of logging, processing and filing of all communication. This resulted in many military documents being eliminated, most notably during the World War periods and Cicil war. __**The Reason for Censorship**__
 * By 1800, a lot of Russian literature were works of social commentary representing real-life problems. Russian literature in the 19th century provided a place for discussion of political and social issues although much of the written works were censored. **


 * Writers of social commentary under the tsarist censorship got past censorship by baffling censors with an array of "linguistic tricks, allusions, and distortions comprehensible" only to an attuned reader. This device was called Aesopic language. "The best practitioner of this style was Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, a prose satirist who, along with the poet Nikolay Nekrasov, was considered a leader of the literary left wing in the second half of the century." **



//"The National Library of Russia, custodians of a Secret Department until 1917, today holds collections such as The Free Russian print collections (app. 15,000 items) containing banned and illegal publications printed in Russia and abroad between 1853 and 1917."// //﻿//  //"The total number of listed banned books, magazines and newspapers in the period 1803 - 1916 is approximately 20,000 items."//     ﻿**Sources:** [|http://www.russiansabroad.com/russian_history_144.html] [|http://www.beaconforfreedom.org/liste.html?tid=415&art_id=555]