ABSTRACT
One of the first acts of the Soviet government after the triumph of the October revolution was the establishment of a state monopoly over the media. This state of affairs has never changed. All the newspapers, magazines, and journals, all the publishing houses, and all the radio and television stations in the USSR are directly, or through the intermediary of state-controlled public organizations, controlled by state and party authorities. Control over the media is vested in Glavlit, the Chief Administration for Literary and Publishing Affairs, which covers radio and television programs as well and exercises advance censorship. With the purpose of freedom of expression clearly defined as being freedom to support the status quo, and with the authorities being the ultimate judge, the Soviet meaning of this freedom takes a very peculiar bend.
