Communications as an instrument of political censorship in USSR (1970s - early 1980s)

Based on a wide range of literature and sources, the author of the article sets a goal - to analyze the methods of using communications as an instrument of political censorship and the fight against dissent in the USSR in the 1970s. The formation of bodies for control over internal and external information exchange is considered, the specifics of the use of various sub-types of communication for state political supervision are determined: in particular, postal and telegraph and telephone communications (international, intercity). In the conditions of the "Iron Curtain" and the complete absence of the possibility of free travel abroad, post service, telegraph and telephone service were the only channel of information exchange in contacts with the "outside world" in the Soviet Union. The work shows that censorship was exposed not only international, but also internal postal and telegraph correspondence. However, if the perusal of "home" letters was carried out selectively, according to the lists of names, surnames and addresses of certain persons, and the nature of the handwriting, there were no such lists for international dispatches. Analysis of the documentary evidence confirms the fact that the Soviet telephone networks were under the same strict control as postal and telegraph communication. However, as in the case of the postal service, it was practically impossible to prove the implicit intervention of the state. The authorities denied any involvement in unlawful actions and referred, as a rule, to technical problems or accused foreign communication services. The testimonies of contemporaries of the events in question show that it was also impossible to obtain material compensation for the "missing" correspondence. Judiciary under various pretexts refused to initiate lawsuits. At the same time, the official search for items on the line of communication services and correspondence with various authorities lasted for years. Thus, the author comes to the conclusion that the free exchange of information with abroad, in spite of the formal absence of any open administrative barriers, was practically impossible in practice, just like physical movement outside the country. While in tsarist Russia this kind of private activity was selective, in the Soviet period it was striving for the full coverage of the whole society. At the same time, important for the controlling bodies was not the actual content of the detained items, but the subjects of information exchange themselves - the dispatcher and / or the addressee. The perusal of the civil correspondence, as well as the hearing of telephone conversations, were clearly anti-constitutional in nature and related to the top secret activity of the state security bodies. By the early 1980's such discriminatory approach by the Soviet Union to the delivery of international correspondence began to take on an official character.

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