“To Turn the Printed Word into a Powerful Ally...”: The Project of Prime Minister I.L. Goremykin on the Transformation of Military Censorship (1915)

Abstract

This article for the first time presents a report to Nicholas II compiled by Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Empire I.L. Goremykin and his letter to Minister of War A.A. Polivanov. Both documents date back to December 1915, a period of relative political and military tranquility in the country after the Great Retreat in the summer of 1915, when the press widely and sharply criticized the government for failures to supply the army and the home front. Seeing it as an attempt to shake the foundations of the state and resume the struggle for power, Goremykin, having enlisted the support of both the majority of the Council of Ministers and the tsar, launched in September 1915 a “counterattack” on the press. The “quiet” opposition was made up of the War Ministry and, in part, the Stavka of the Supreme Commander, who were unwilling to interfere in the political struggle through military censorship. During September–December, Goremykin prepared a report to Nicholas II suggesting a significant expansion of the censors’ powers, primarily in terms of inspecting the materials of newspapers and magazines. Essentially, this implied recreating the precensorship of the press, which had existed before 1905, but already had broader powers and greater freedom of action. Having received the approval of Nicholas II, the prime minister presented his plan to Polivanov. The latter, however, took his time and produced a reply when Goremykin had already been dismissed. In the new conditions, Goremykin’s project was not fully implemented. Military censorship was tightened, however inconsistently and selectively, which not only failed to calm the press, but, instead, increased the irritation and discontent within society as a whole.