Censorship in the Soviet Union

Censorship in the Soviet Union was pervasive and strictly enforced.

Censorship was performed in two main directions:

• State secrets were handled by the General Directorate for the Protection of State Secrets in the Press (also known as Glavlit), which was in charge of censoring all publications and broadcasting for state secrets
• Censorship, in accordance with the official ideology and politics of the Communist Party was performed by several organizations:
  • Goskomizdat censored all printed matter: fiction, poetry, etc.
  • Goskino, in charge of cinema
  • Gosteleradio, in charge of radio and television broadcasting
  • The First Department in many agencies and institutions, such as the State Statistical Committee (Goskomstat), was responsible for assuring that state secrets and other sensitive information only reached authorized hands.