FROM CONDUITS TO COMMANDERS: SHIFTING VIEWS OF WORKER CORRESPONDENTS, 1924–26

In the period 1923–25, the worker and peasant correspondent movement (rabsel′korovskoe′ dvizhenie) marked a partial exception to Bolshevik denigration of the informational function of the press. Through an analysis of contemporary debates, especially the statements of key figures such as Bukharin and Stalin, this article charts the evolution of the movement in a period when it was neither the neutral conduit for grassroots views that Bukharin hoped for nor the simple instrument of Party influence that Stalin intended. Instead, the movement briefly fulfilled both functions before a combination of internal and external factors caused opinion to veer towards Stalin’s position.