Rip The Truth That Lived On Lies

History will say that Pravda–“truth,” in Russian–lived on lies. Founded by Lenin himself in 1912, it hailed Stalin’s show trials in the 1930s; one headline screamed SQUASH THE REPTILES. In the early ’80s its cartoonists depicted America as a dog with nuclear missiles for claws. Still, for Western Kremlinologists, Pravda was often one of the best sources of information available on the arcane inner workings of the Moscow elite; experts perused its pages for hidden clues to the fortunes of Politburo members and hints about coming changes in Soviet foreign policy. The paper became a less dogmatic, more journalistically sophisticated publication during the glasnost years of Mikhail Gorbachev, but squandered any credibility it might have regained when it decided to cooperate with the August 1991 coup attempt by party, KGB and army hard-liners. After the putsch failed, Pravda dropped Lenin’s picture from the masthead so as to appear as if it were keeping up with the changing times. The editors said last week they are hoping that a little perestroika will bring the paper back.

title: “Rip The Truth That Lived On Lies” ShowToc: true date: “2023-02-01” author: “Patricia Messenger”

History will say that Pravda–“truth,” in Russian–lived on lies. Founded by Lenin himself in 1912, it hailed Stalin’s show trials in the 1930s; one headline screamed SQUASH THE REPTILES. In the early ’80s its cartoonists depicted America as a dog with nuclear missiles for claws. Still, for Western Kremlinologists, Pravda was often one of the best sources of information available on the arcane inner workings of the Moscow elite; experts perused its pages for hidden clues to the fortunes of Politburo members and hints about coming changes in Soviet foreign policy. The paper became a less dogmatic, more journalistically sophisticated publication during the glasnost years of Mikhail Gorbachev, but squandered any credibility it might have regained when it decided to cooperate with the August 1991 coup attempt by party, KGB and army hard-liners. After the putsch failed, Pravda dropped Lenin’s picture from the masthead so as to appear as if it were keeping up with the changing times. The editors said last week they are hoping that a little perestroika will bring the paper back.