Pravda

{{short description|Russian newspaper founded in 1912}} {{Other uses}} {{distinguish|Prada|Pravda.ru|Komsomolskaya Pravda|Ukrainska Pravda|pravda DE|pravda EN|pravda ES|pravda FR|pravda PL}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}} {{Use British English|date=January 2018}} {{Infobox newspaper | name = Pravda<br />{{noitalic|{{nobold|{{lang|ru|Правда}}}}}} | logo = Газета Правда.svg | image = Газета «Правда». 1912, №01.pdf | caption = First issue, 5 May 1912 (22 April 1912 OS) | type = Triweekly newspaper | format = Broadsheet | founded = {{Start date and age|1912|05|05|df=yes}} (officially) | ceased_publication = | price = | owners = Communist Party of the Russian Federation | editor = Boris Komotsky | chief_editor = | associate_editor = | staff_writers = | language = Russian | political_position = Communism<br />Marxism–Leninism | publishing_country = {{flagdeco|Russian Empire}} Russian Empire (1903–1917)<br />{{flagdeco|Russian Republic}} Russian Republic (1917)<br />{{flagdeco|Russian SFSR|1918}} Russian SFSR (1918–1922)<br />{{flagdeco|Soviet Union}} Soviet Union (1922–1991)<br /> {{flagdeco|Russia}} Russian Federation (since 1991) | circulation = 100,300 (2010) | headquarters = 24, Pravda Street, Moscow | ISSN = 0233-4275 | website = [http://www.gazeta-pravda.ru Pravda's website] (CPRF branch) }} '''''Pravda''''' ({{lang-rus|Правда|p=ˈpravdə|a=Ru-правда.ogg}}, {{lit}} 'Truth') is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most influential papers in the country with a circulation of 11 million.<ref name="Specter">{{Cite news|title = Russia's Purveyor of 'Truth', Pravda, Dies After 84 Years|url = https://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/31/world/russia-s-purveyor-of-truth-pravda-dies-after-84-years.html|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 31 July 1996|access-date = 19 October 2015|issn = 0362-4331|first = Michael|last = Specter|archive-date = 11 July 2022|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220711132955/https://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/31/world/russia-s-purveyor-of-truth-pravda-dies-after-84-years.html|url-status = live}}</ref> The newspaper began publication on 5 May 1912 in the Russian Empire but was already extant abroad in January 1911.<ref>V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Progress Publishers Moscow, Volume 17, p.45</ref> It emerged as the leading government newspaper of the Soviet Union after the October Revolution. The newspaper was an organ of the Central Committee of the CPSU between 1912 and 1991.<ref>Merrill, John C. and Harold A. Fisher. ''The world's great dailies: profiles of fifty newspapers'' (1980) pp 242–49</ref>

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, ''Pravda'' was sold by the then Russian president Boris Yeltsin to a Greek business family in 1992, and the paper came under the control of their private company Pravda International.<ref name="Specter" /><ref name="Pravda {{!}} Soviet newspaper">{{Cite web|title = Pravda {{!}} Soviet newspaper|url = http://www.britannica.com/topic/Pravda|website = Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date = 19 October 2015|archive-date = 22 May 2022|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220522222126/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pravda|url-status = live}}</ref> In 1996, there was an internal dispute between the owners of Pravda International and some of the ''Pravda'' journalists that led to ''Pravda'' splitting into different entities. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) acquired the ''Pravda'' paper, while some of the original Soviet ''Pravda'' journalists separated to form Russia's first online paper ''Pravda Online'' (now ''Pravda.ru''), which is not connected to the Communist Party.<ref name="Pravda {{!}} Soviet newspaper" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite news|title = Which Pravda did John McCain write about Syria for?|url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/shortcuts/2013/sep/19/john-mccain-pravda-syria|newspaper = the Guardian|access-date = 19 October 2015|date = 19 September 2013|archive-date = 15 June 2022|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220615100806/https://www.theguardian.com/world/shortcuts/2013/sep/19/john-mccain-pravda-syria|url-status = live}}</ref> The ''Pravda'' paper is still run by the CPRF, whereas the online ''Pravda.ru'' is privately owned and has international editions published in Russian, English, French, and Portuguese. After a legal dispute between the rival parties, the Russian court of arbitration stipulated that both entities would be allowed to continue using the ''Pravda'' name.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title = There is no Pravda. There is Pravda.Ru|url = http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/16-09-2013/125664-pravda_mccain-0/|website = English pravda.ru|access-date = 19 October 2015|date = 16 September 2013|archive-date = 9 September 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150909075812/http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/16-09-2013/125664-pravda_mccain-0/|url-status = live}}</ref>

== Origins == === Pre-revolutionary ''Pravda'' === Though ''Pravda'' officially began publication on 5 May 1912 (22 April 1912 OS), the anniversary of Karl Marx's birth, its origins trace back to 1903 when it was founded in Moscow by a wealthy railway engineer, V.A. Kozhevnikov. ''Pravda'' had started publishing in the light of the Russian Revolution of 1905.<ref name=James>White, James D. (April 1974). "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/150476 The first Pravda and the Russian Marxist Tradition]". ''Soviet Studies'', Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 181–204. Accessed 6 October 2012.</ref>

During its earliest days, ''Pravda'' had no political orientation. Kozhevnikov started it as a journal of arts, literature and social life. Kozhevnikov was soon able to form up a team of young writers including A.A. Bogdanov, N.A Rozhkov, M.N Pokrovsky, I.I Skvortsov-Stepanov, P.P Rumyantsev and M.G. Lunts, who were active contributors on 'social life' section of ''Pravda''. Later, they became the editorial board of the journal, and, in the near future, also became the active members of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP).<ref name=James/> Because of certain quarrels between Kozhevnikov and the editorial board, he had asked them to leave and the Menshevik faction of the RSDLP took over as the editorial board. But the relationship between them and Kozhevnikov was also a bitter one.<ref name=James/>

The Ukrainian political party Spilka, which was also a splinter group of the RSDLP, took over the journal as its organ. Leon Trotsky was invited to edit the paper in 1908, and the paper was moved to Vienna in 1909. By then, the editorial board of ''Pravda'' consisted of hard-line Bolsheviks who sidelined the Spilka leadership soon after it shifted to Vienna.<ref>Corney, Frederick. (September 1985). "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/40868466 Trotskii and the Vienna ''Pravda'', 1908–1912]". ''Canadian Slavonic Papers''. Vol. 27, No. 3, pp. 248–268. Accessed 6 October 2012.</ref> Trotsky had introduced a tabloid format to the newspaper and distanced itself from the intra-party struggles inside the RSDLP. During those days, ''Pravda'' gained a large audience among Russian workers. By 1910, the Central Committee of the RSDLP suggested making ''Pravda'' its official organ.

alt=Pravda – published on 5 May 1912 (22 April 1912 OS)|thumb|267x267px| First published ''Pravda'' dated 5 May 1912 (22 April 1912 OS) At the sixth conference of the RSDLP held in Prague in January 1912, the Menshevik faction was expelled from the party. The party under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin decided to make ''Pravda'' its official party organ. The paper was shifted from Vienna to St. Petersburg and the first issue under Lenin's leadership was published on 5 May 1912 (22 April 1912 OS).<ref>Bassow, Whitman. (February 1954) "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/2492164 The Pre Revolutionary Pravda and Tsarist Censorship] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230811110321/https://www.jstor.org/stable/2492164 |date=11 August 2023 }}". ''American Slavic and East European Review''. Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 47–65. Accessed 6 October 2012.</ref> It was the first time that ''Pravda'' was published as a legal political newspaper. The Central Committee of the RSDLP, workers and individuals such as Maxim Gorky provided financial help to the newspaper. The first issue published on 5 May cost two kopecks and had four pages. It had articles on economic issues, workers movement, and strikes, and also had two proletarian poems. M.E. Egorov was the first editor of St. Petersburg ''Pravda'' and Member of State Duma of the Russian Empire {{ill|Nikolay Poletaev|ru|Полетаев, Николай Гурьевич}} served as its publisher.<ref name=Ralph>Elwood, Carter Ralph. (June 1972) "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/2494339 Lenin and ''Pravda'', 1912–1914]". ''Slavic Review''. Vol. 31, No. 2, pp. 355–380. Accessed 6 October 2012.</ref>

Egorov, as well as the 42 editors that came after him until 1914, were not real editors of ''Pravda'' as the position was pseudo in nature{{clarify|date=October 2025}}. The main task of these editors was to go to jail whenever needed and to save the party from a huge fine.<ref name=Ralph /> On the publishing side, the party had chosen only those individuals as publishers who were sitting members of Duma because they had parliamentary immunity. Initially,{{when|date=October 2012}} it had sold between 40,000 and 60,000 copies.<ref name=Ralph /> With the outbreak of World War I, the paper was closed down by tsarist authorities in July 1914. Over the next three years, it changed its name eight times because of police harassment:<ref>See Tony Cliff's ''Lenin''. Vol 1: Building the Party (1893-1914) (1975). London: Pluto Press. [http://www.marxists.org/archive/cliff/works/1975/lenin1/chap19.htm Chapter 19] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308122946/http://www.marxists.org/archive/cliff/works/1975/lenin1/chap19.htm |date=8 March 2021 }}. {{oclc|1110326753}}.</ref> * ''Рабочая правда'' (''Rabochaya Pravda'', Worker's Truth) * ''Северная правда'' (''Severnaya Pravda'' Northern Truth) * ''За правду'' (''Za Pravdu'', For Truth) * ''Пролетарская правда'' (''Proletarskaya Pravda'', Proletarian Truth) * ''Путь правды'' (''Put' Pravdy'', The Way of Truth) * ''Рабочий'' (''Rabochiy'', The Worker) * ''Трудовая правда'' (''Trudovaya Pravda'', Labor's Truth)

=== During the 1917 Revolution === thumb|16 March 1917: ''Pravda'' reports the declaration of Polish independence.

The abdication of Emperor Nicholas II during the February Revolution of 1917 allowed ''Pravda'' to reopen. The original editors of the newly revived ''Pravda'', Vyacheslav Molotov and Alexander Shlyapnikov, were opposed to the liberal Russian Provisional Government. However, when Lev Kamenev, Joseph Stalin and former Duma deputy Matvei Muranov returned from Siberian exile on 12 March, they took over the editorial board – starting from 15 March.<ref>Leon Trotsky, ''History of the Russian Revolution'', translated by Max Eastman, Chicago, Haymarket Books, 2008, p. 209</ref> Under Kamenev's and Stalin's influence, ''Pravda'' took a conciliatory tone towards the Provisional Government – "insofar as it struggles against reaction or counter-revolution" – and called for a unification conference with the internationalist wing of the Mensheviks. On 14 March, Kamenev wrote in his first editorial:

{{blockquote|What purpose would it serve to speed things up, when things were already taking place at such a rapid pace?<ref>See Marcel Liebman, ''Leninism under Lenin'', London, J. Cape, 1975, {{ISBN|978-0-224-01072-6}} p.123</ref>}}

On 15 March, he supported the war effort:

{{blockquote|When army faces army, it would be the most insane policy to suggest to one of those armies to lay down its arms and go home. This would not be a policy of peace, but a policy of slavery, which would be rejected with disgust by a free people.<ref>See E. H. Carr, ''The Bolshevik Revolution'', London, Macmillan Publishers, 1950, vol. 1, p. 75.</ref>}}

== Soviet period == [[File:Delegates at the 17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks).jpg|thumb|A delegate at Bolshevik 17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party holding a ''Pravda'' newspaper in 1934]] thumb|left|A soldier reading ''Pravda'' during the Second World War, late 1941 thumb|upright|''Pravda'' frontpages from the 1960s

The offices of the newspaper were transferred to Moscow on 3 March 1918 when the Soviet capital was moved there. ''Pravda'' became an official publication, or "organ", of the ruling Soviet Communist Party. ''Pravda'' became the conduit for announcing official policy and policy changes and would remain so until 1991. Subscription to ''Pravda'' was mandatory for state run companies, the armed services and other organizations until 1989.<ref>See Mark Hooker. ''The Military Uses of Literature: Fiction and the Armed Forces in the Soviet Union'', Westport, CT, Praeger Publishers, 1996, {{ISBN|978-0-275-95563-2}} p.34</ref>

Other newspapers existed as organs of other state bodies. For example, ''Izvestia'', which covered foreign relations, was the organ of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, ''Trud'' was the organ of the state-controlled trade union movement, ''Bednota'' was distributed to the Red Army and rural peasants. Various derivatives of the name ''Pravda'' were used both for a number of national newspapers (''Komsomolskaya Pravda'' was the organ of the Komsomol organization, and ''Pionerskaya Pravda'' was the organ of the Young Pioneers), and for the regional Communist Party newspapers in many republics and provinces of the USSR, e.g. ''Kazakhstanskaya Pravda'' in Kazakhstan, ''Polyarnaya Pravda'' in Murmansk Oblast, ''Pravda Severa'' in Arkhangelsk Oblast, or ''Moskovskaya Pravda'' in the city of Moscow.

Shortly after the October 1917 Revolution, Nikolai Bukharin became the editor of ''Pravda''.<ref>Stephen F. Cohen, ''Bukharin and the Bolshevik Revolution: A Political Biography, 1888–1938'' (Oxford University Press: London, 1980) p. 43.</ref> Bukharin's apprenticeship for this position had occurred during the last months of his emigration/exile prior to his return to Russia in April 1917.<ref>Stephen F. Cohen, ''Bukharin and the Bolshevik Revolution: A Political Biography, 1888–1938'', p. 44.</ref> These months from November 1916 until April 1917 were spent by Bukharin in New York City in the United States. In New York, Bukharin divided his time between the local libraries and his work for ''Novyj Mir'' (The New World) a Russian language newspaper serving the Russian speaking community of New York.<ref name="Stephen F. Cohen p. 43">Stephen F. Cohen, ''Bukharin and the Bolshevik Revolution: A Political Biography, 1888–1938'', p. 43.</ref> Bukharin's involvement with ''Novyj Mir'' became deeper as time went by. Indeed, from January 1917 until April when he returned to Russia, Bukharin served as ''de facto'' editor of ''Novyj Mir''.<ref name="Stephen F. Cohen p. 43"/> In the period after the death of Lenin in 1924, ''Pravda'' was to form a power base for Bukharin, which helped him reinforce his reputation as a Marxist theoretician. Bukharin would continue to serve as editor of ''Pravda'' until he and Mikhail Tomsky were removed from their responsibilities at ''Pravda'' in February 1929 as part of their downfall as a result of their dispute with Joseph Stalin.<ref>Stephen F. Cohen, ''Bukharin and the Bolshevik Revolution: A Political Biography, 1888–1938'', p. 311.</ref>

A number of places and things in the Soviet Union were named after ''Pravda''. Among them was the city of Pravdinsk in Gorky Oblast (the home of a paper mill producing much newsprint for ''Pravda'' and other national newspapers), and a number of streets and collective farms.

[[File:Правда 18.11.1940.png|thumb|left|18 November 1940 issue, featuring Vyacheslav Molotov and Adolf Hitler]] [[File:ПРАВДАобращениесталина.jpg|thumb|right|3 July 1941 issue, featuring Joseph Stalin]] As the names of the main communist newspaper and the main Soviet newspaper, ''Pravda'' and ''Izvestia'', meant "the truth" and "the news" respectively, a popular saying was "there's no news in Pravda and no truth in Izvestia".<ref name="1987_nytimes">Overholser, Geneva. (12 May 1987). "[https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/12/opinion/the-editorial-notebook-dear-pravda.html?pagewanted=1 The Editorial Notebook; Dear Pravda]" ''New York Times''. Accessed 6 October 2012.</ref> Though not highly appreciated as an objective and unbiased news source, ''Pravda'' was regarded – both by Soviet citizens and by the outside world – as a government mouthpiece and therefore a reliable reflection of the Soviet government's positions on various issues. The publication of an article in ''Pravda'' could be taken as indication of a change in Soviet policy or the result of a power struggle in the Soviet leadership, and Western Sovietologists were regularly reading ''Pravda'' and paying attention to the most minute details and nuances.

== Post-Soviet period == After the dissolution of the Soviet Union ''Pravda'' was sold by Russian president Boris Yeltsin to a Greek business family – the Giannikoses – in 1992, and the paper came under the control of their private company Pravda International.<ref name="Specter" /><ref name="Pravda {{!}} Soviet newspaper" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Black, white and red no longer: Pravda folds |work=Tampa Bay Times |date=16 September 2005 |orig-date=31 July 1996 |access-date=25 August 2022 |url= https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1996/07/31/black-white-and-red-no-longer-pravda-folds/ }}</ref>

In 1996, there was an internal dispute between the owners of Pravda International and some of the ''Pravda'' journalists which led to ''Pravda'' splitting into different entities. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation acquired the ''Pravda'' paper, while some of the original ''Pravda'' journalists separated to form Russia's first online paper (and the first online English paper) ''Pravda.ru'', which is not connected to the Communist Party, but is run by journalists associated with the defunct Soviet Pravda.<ref name="Pravda {{!}} Soviet newspaper" /><ref name=":0" /> After a legal dispute between the rival parties, the Russian court of arbitration stipulated that both entities would be allowed to continue using the ''Pravda'' name.<ref name=":1" /> The ''Pravda'' paper is today run by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, whereas the online ''Pravda.ru'' is privately owned and has international editions published in Russian, English, French and Portuguese.

''Pravda'' was a daily newspaper during the Soviet era but nowadays it is published three times a week, and its readership is largely online where it has a presence.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Russian newspaper Pravda (Truth) celebrates its 100th anniversary|url=http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russian-newspaper-pravda-truth-celebrates-its-100th-anniversary-flna754281|access-date=2022-01-21|website=NBC News|date=4 May 2012 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://kprf.ru/xiii_congress/61738.html|title=The Communist Party of the Russian Federation today}}</ref> ''Pravda'' still operates from the same headquarters at Pravda Street in Moscow from where journalists used to work on ''Pravda'' during the Soviet era. It operates under the leadership of journalist Boris Komotsky, who is also a member of the Russian State Duma.<ref name=ТАСС>{{cite web |url=https://tass.ru/encyclopedia/person/komockiy-boris-olegovich |title=Комоцкий, Борис Олегович |publisher=ТАСС |language=ru |access-date=2022-05-20 |archive-date=4 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230604220112/https://tass.ru/encyclopedia/person/komockiy-boris-olegovich |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 5 May 2012, ''Pravda'' marked its centenary, with a grand celebration at the Trade Unions house organised by the Communist Party.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://kprf.ru/party_live/105774.html |title="Правда" на все времена. В Колонном зале Дома Союзов прошёл праздничный вечер, посвящённый 100-летию главной партийной газеты {{!}} KPRF.RU |access-date=2012-05-19 |archive-date=2012-05-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120508061545/http://kprf.ru/party_live/105774.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The gala was attended by the former and current employees of the newspaper, its readers and party members, representatives of other communist media organisations. Gennady Zyuganov made a speech, and congratulatory messages were received from Russian president Dmitry Medvedev and Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://kremlin.ru/events/president/letters/15214 |title=Коллективу редакции газеты "Правда" {{!}} Президент России |date=5 May 2012 |access-date=2020-04-06 |archive-date=2020-10-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031105013/http://kremlin.ru/events/president/letters/15214 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== McCain controversy === In 2013, after Russian president Vladimir Putin published an op-ed in ''The New York Times'' in support of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad,<ref>{{Cite news|last=Putin|first=Vladimir V.|date=2013-09-12|title=Opinion {{!}} A Plea for Caution From Russia|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/opinion/putin-plea-for-caution-from-russia-on-syria.html|access-date=2022-01-21|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=9 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201209091106/https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/opinion/putin-plea-for-caution-from-russia-on-syria.html|url-status=live}}</ref> US senator John McCain announced that he would publish a response article in ''Pravda'', referring to the newspaper owned by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. McCain, however, eventually published his op-ed in ''Pravda.ru''.<ref>{{Cite web|last=McCain|first=John|date=2013-09-19|title=Senator John McCain: Russians deserve better than Putin|url=https://english.pravda.ru/opinion/125705-McCain_for_pravda_ru/|access-date=|website=Pravda.ru|language=en|archive-date=21 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121175304/https://english.pravda.ru/opinion/125705-McCain_for_pravda_ru/|url-status=live}}</ref> This caused protests from the editor of communist ''Pravda'' Boris Komotsky and a response from the editor of ''Pravda.ru'' Dmitry Sudakov: Komotsky claimed that "there is only one ''Pravda'' in Russia, it is the organ of the Communist Party, and we have heard nothing about the intentions of the Republican senator" and dismissed ''Pravda.ru'' as an "Oklahoma-City-Pravda", while Sudakov derided Komotsky, claiming that "the circulation of the Communist Party ''Pravda'' is like a factory newspaper of AvtoVAZ from the Soviet times".<ref>{{Cite web|author=Guardian Staff|date=2013-09-19|title=Which Pravda did John McCain write about Syria for?|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/shortcuts/2013/sep/19/john-mccain-pravda-syria|access-date=2022-01-21|website=the Guardian|language=en|archive-date=21 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121173109/https://www.theguardian.com/world/shortcuts/2013/sep/19/john-mccain-pravda-syria|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Sudakov|first=Dmitry|date=2013-09-16|title=There is no Pravda. There is Pravda.Ru|url=https://english.pravda.ru/opinion/125664-pravda_mccain/|access-date=2022-01-21|website=Pravda.ru|language=en|archive-date=21 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121172819/https://english.pravda.ru/opinion/125664-pravda_mccain/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=McCain claim leaves Communist Party baffled {{!}} eNCA|url=https://www.enca.com/world/mccain-claim-leaves-communist-party-baffled|access-date=2022-01-21|website=eNCA|language=en|archive-date=21 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121175306/https://www.enca.com/world/mccain-claim-leaves-communist-party-baffled|url-status=dead}}</ref> McCain later attempted to publish his op-ed in the Communist ''Pravda'' as well, but the paper refused to publish it "because it was not aligned to the political positions of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Kopan|first=Tal|date=19 September 2013|title=Truthfully, McCain in wrong Pravda|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/john-mccain-pravda-russia-vladimir-putin-097040|access-date=|website=Politico|language=en|archive-date=12 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912112642/https://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/john-mccain-pravda-russia-vladimir-putin-097040|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Editors-in-chief == The editorship of ''Pravda'' during its early years was collective and constantly changing; only the more important figures are listed here.<ref name="Inside">{{cite book |last1=Roxburgh |first1=Angus |title=Pravda: Inside the Soviet News Machine |date=1987 |publisher=George Braziller |location=New York |isbn=9780807611869 |page=282}}</ref> <div style="column-count:2"> * Joseph Stalin, Yakov Sverdlov, Miron Chernomazov, Lev Kamenev, Vyacheslav Molotov (1912–1914) * ''Publication suspended by order of the Bureau of Censorship'' (1914–1917) * Vyacheslav Molotov, Alexander Shliapnikov, Konstantin Eremeev, Mikhail Kalinin (5–13 March 1917) * Joseph Stalin, Matvei Muranov, Lev Kamenev (13 March – 4 April 1917) * Vladimir Lenin, Grigory Zinoviev, Joseph Stalin, Matvei Muranov, Lev Kamenev (4 April – 5 July 1917) * Yakov Sverdlov and others (6 July – 9 December 1917) * Nikolai Bukharin (10 December 1917 – 23 February 1918) * ''Unknown'' (24 February – July 1918) * Nikolai Bukharin (July 1918 – October 1928; nominally until April 1929) * Editorial board of Harald Krumin, Yemelyan Yaroslavsky and N. N. Popov (1929–1930) * Maximilian Saveliev (1930) * Lev Mekhlis (1930–1937) * Alexander Poskrebyshev (1937–1940) * Pyotr Pospelov (1940–1949) * Mikhail Suslov (1940–1951) * Leonid Ilyichev (1951–1953) * Dmitri Shepilov (1953–1956) * Pavel Satyukov (1956–1964) * Aleksei Rumyantsev (1964–1965) * Mikhail Zimyanin (1965–1976) * Viktor Afanasyev (1976–1989)<ref name="Inside" /> * Ivan Frolov (1989–1991) * Gennadiy Seleznyov (1991–1993) * Viktor Linnik (1993–1994) * Aleksander Ilyin (1994–2003) * Valentina Nikiforova (2003–2005; acting) * Valentin Shurchanov (2005–2009) * Boris Komotsky (2009–present) </div>

==Similar newspapers in current communist countries==

* ''People's Daily'' – People's Republic of China, official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party; * ''Rodong Sinmun'' – North Korea, official newspaper of the Workers' Party of Korea; * ''Granma'' – Cuba, official newspaper of the Communist Party of Cuba; * ''Nhân Dân'' – Vietnam, official newspaper of the Communist Party of Vietnam; * ''Pasaxon'' – Laos, official newspaper of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party;

== See also == {{Portal|Soviet Union|Journalism}} <div style="column-count:2"> * Central newspapers of the Soviet Union * Eastern Bloc information dissemination * Freedom of the press in Russia * ''Iskra'' * ''Izvestia'' * ''Kommunist'' * ''Kommunistka'' * ''Komsomolskaya Pravda'' * ''Krasnaya Zvezda'' * Mass media in Russia * People's correspondent * Ukrainska Pravda * Vitali Korionov * ''Völkischer Beobachter'' * ''Zreniye'' </div>

== Notes and references == {{Reflist}}

== Further reading == * Brooks, Jeffrey. ''Thank You, Comrade Stalin!: Soviet Public Culture from Revolution to Cold War'' (Princeton Up, 2001) on the language of ''Pravda'' and ''Izvestia'' * Cookson, Matthew (11 October 2003). [http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=2434 The spark that lit a revolution] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514104438/http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=2434 |date=14 May 2013 }}. ''Socialist Worker'', p.&nbsp;7. * Merrill, John C. and Harold A. Fisher. ''The world's great dailies: profiles of fifty newspapers'' (1980) pp 242–49 * Pöppel, Ludmila. "The rhetoric of Pravda editorials: A diachronic study of a political genre." (Stockholm U. 2007). [http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:197005/FULLTEXT01.pdf online]

==External links== {{Commons category}} * [http://www.gazeta-pravda.ru/ Official website] * [http://www.marxists.org/history/ussr/publications/pravda/index.htm Some articles published in ''Pravda'' in the 1920s] *[http://kprf.tv/video/torzhestvennyy-vecher-posvyashchennyy-100-letiyu-pravdy.html 100 Years of ''Pravda'' video clip] * [https://adt.arcanum.com/en/collection/PravdaMoscow/ Archives] of ''Pravda'' (1952–1993) via Arcanum Newspapers. * [https://www.eastview.com/resources/gpa/pravda/ Archives] of ''Pravda'' (1912–2024) via East View Global Press Archive. * [http://nlr.ru/res/inv/ukazat55/record_full.php?record_ID=121229 "Pravda" digital archives in "Newspapers on the web and beyond"], the digital resource of the National Library of Russia. * [https://marxism-leninism.info/paper/pravda-1 Archive of ''Pravda''] (1918–1991)

{{Communist Party of the Soviet Union}} {{Eastern Bloc media}} {{Cold War}} {{Authority control}}

Category:Pravda Category:1908 establishments in the Russian Empire Category:Communist Party of the Russian Federation Category:Eastern Bloc mass media Category:Newspapers established in 1908 Category:Propaganda in the Soviet Union Category:Propaganda newspapers and magazines