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Agitprop (Agitation and Propaganda Department) Publishing House

Агитпроп-oтдел (Агитационно-пропагандистский отдел Центрального комитета, РКП (б))

Circulating political information was the task of the Communist Party’s Central Committee department of Agitprop (Agitation and Propaganda). The department was formed in 1920 and it was placed under the auspices of Glavpolitprosvet (Main Department for Political Education). Early-on, the term Agitprop was used to describe a politically-themed theatrical performance. Gradually, its meaning changed and it later was used to describe a variety of art developed for political education. Agitprop relied on a collective of artists to create politically-driven content disseminated via its publishing and printing sectors. In 1928, Agitprop was consolidated within the Press Department of the Central Committee. By 1988, the functions of Agitprop were absorbed into the Ideological Department of the USSR.

Sources & Citations

Kenez, P. (1985). The birth of the propaganda state: Soviet methods of mass mobilization, 1917-1929. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. (p. 124, coordination of Agitprop sections)
Fitzpatrick, S. (1970). The commissariat of enlightenment: Soviet organization of education and the arts under Lunacharski. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (p. 181, Agitprop under Glavpolitprosvet)
britannica.com (Agitprop, defined)
memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/ (Ideological Department cited in country studies, from the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress)