Signals from Stalin

This chapter focuses on the third element of Stalinist control via its treatment of lower level functionaries and the more indirect stage direction from the Kremlin to which they responded. The chapter concentrates on the activities of the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) and the interaction between its offices in Moscow, London and New York. Signals relayed from the centre played a crucial though inconsistent part in mobilising this key institution of state during what proved to be a period of significant change in the Telegraph Agency’s role and responsibilities within the propaganda machinery. This chapter traces how, from the early stages of the relationship between the Telegraph Agency leadership and Stalin, the responsibilities of TASS became broader and more rigorously exploited.