Fireside Propaganda

With State Department approval, the American TV public will shortly be treated to a series of films depicting life in the USSR—a la Potemkin

Nearly all the anecdotes attributed to the Russian Field Marshal Potemkin are fictitious (especially the crop developed by Helbig in the journal, Minerva). But there is solid truth in the story of the deception practiced by the unscrupulous (and able) administrator, when he created stage-prop villages and settlements to be viewed by Empress Catherine II as she went on an inspection trip. This story is entirely plausible because it is so Russian. These props were the original Russian “fronts.” They are today the standard techniques of all bureaucratic Potemkins—except. that today it is done with statistical graphs and departmental annual reports.

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Charles A. Willoughby

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With State Department approval, the American TV public will shortly be treated to a series of films depicting life in the USSR—a la Potemkin

Nearly all the anecdotes attributed to the Russian Field Marshal Potemkin are fictitious (especially the crop developed by Helbig in the journal, Minerva). But there is solid truth in the story of the deception practiced by the unscrupulous (and able) administrator, when he created stage-prop villages and settlements to be viewed by Empress Catherine II as she went on an inspection trip. This story is entirely plausible because it is so Russian. These props were the original Russian “fronts.” They are today the standard techniques of all bureaucratic Potemkins—except. that today it is done with statistical graphs and departmental annual reports.