In Robert Kaiser's book, "Russia, The People and the Power",
first published in 1976, we get a look at the official censorship
system that they had there. He reprinted part of a list of things a
Soviet newspaper ought not to print, acquired, he told us, from an
unofficial but usually reliable source. Here it is:

	The itineraries of trips and locations of stopovers or
speeches of members and candidate members of the Politburo.

	Information about the organs of Soviet censorship which
discloses the character, organization, and method of their work.

	Activities of the organs of state security and Soviet
intelligence organs...

	...The amount of crime, the number of people engaged in
criminal behavior, the number arrested, the number convicted...

	Information about the existence of correctional labor camps...

	Facts about the physical condition, illnesses, and death rates
of all prisoners in all localities.

	The number of illiterate people.

	Reports about the human victims of accidents, wrecks, and
fires...

	Information about the consequences of catastrophic
earthquakes, tidal waves, floods, and other natural calamities...

	Calculations of the relative purchasing power of the ruble and
the hard currency of foreign states...

	The size of the total wage fund [that is, wages pade to the
population], or the amount of money which comprises the population's
purchasing power, or the balance of income and expenditure of the
population...

	Information about hostile actions by the population or
responsible officials of foreign states against representatives or
citizens of the USSR.

	The correlation between the cost of services for foreign
tourists in the USSR and the selling price of tourist trips in the
USSR.

	Information about export to foreign countries of arms,
ammunition, military technology, military equipment...

	Information suggesting a low moral-political condition of the
armed forces, unsatisfactory military discipline, abnormal relations
among soldiers or between them and the population...

	The number of drug addicts...

	Information about occupational injuries.

	Information about the audibility of the radio stations of
foreign states in the USSR.

	Information about the duration of all-union [that is,
nationwide] training sessions for athletes; information about the
rates of pay for athletes; information about the money prizes for good
results in sports competitions; information about the financing,
maintenance, and staff of athletic teams...


	As Robert Kaiser noted, that was certainly not the end of
subjects omitted by the Soviet press. These include domestic political
differences, positions taken by Communists elsewhere in Europe that
are contrary to Soviet positions, the higher standing of living of
some of Eastern Europe, and the social services offered by some
Western European countries, such as Sweden, which surpass their Soviet
counterparts. When then-President Sadat of Egypt kicked out 10,000
Soviet advisers, _Pravda_ was silent at first, but after 24 hours,
reported that they were coming home by mutual Soviet-Egyptian
agreement, having completed their mission.

	The list pretty much speaks for itself, though some parts of
it may be worth further comment. Information on the travels of
Politburo leaders may be kept under wraps to make them more difficult
to locate and assassinate. Crime may be kept covered up to avoid
disturbing people and to allow snickering to the effect that only the
morally degraded evil empires of the "imperialist camp" have lots of
troublemakers on the loose. Information on prisoners may be hushed up
to avoid creating any sympathy for them. Why natural disasters are to
be covered up I am not sure -- again, perhaps to avoid disturbing
people. If people start comparing the purchasing power of various
currencies, they will find that the official exchange rate for the
ruble is greatly inflated. Hostile actions directed at Soviet citizens
abroad may also be considered disturbing. As with crime, discussing
arms sales would mean acknowledging something that they like to
attribute to those evil empires. Likewise with drug addicts. The
Soviet Government had tried to jam some foreign radio stations, and it
was not going to undermine its efforts. On the last one, Soviet sports
officialdom has long presented an image of pure amateurism in Soviet
sports, hinting that professionalism in sports is somehow degrading.
Presenting the truth about Soviet sports would reveal Soviet athletes
to be professionals, something they insist is only true of the
athletes of those evil empires.

	There is a certain school of criticism of journalism that
states that the news media like to present nothing but bad news, that
the media are fundamentally unpatriotic, etc. etc. I wonder what those
who make such criticisms would think about the system of Soviet
censorship. It is practically made to order for such people -- never
present anything unflattering. And the main fare of newspapers such as
_Pravda_ in decades past would warm these people's hearts -- lots of
stories about speeches made by Party leaders and the achievements of
this factory or that collective farm. So those who complain about bad
news ought to consider the alternatives.