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Lachal, Helen (2025) Teaching children to be Soviet: a textual and visual analysis of Murzilka’s role models in the era of de-Stalinisation. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham.

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Abstract

The focus of this thesis is the Soviet children’s magazine Murzilka in the period 1956 – 1964 and the role models presented therein. From its very foundation, children were viewed as vital to the success of the Soviet Union. Literature as a means of guiding, educating and shaping these children became of paramount importance to the regime. Murzilka was one of the earliest magazines for Soviet children, and is now recognised as the longest-running in the world.

By the 1960s, by its own estimation, Murzilka boasted a readership of twenty million children. In the years after the death and denunciation of Stalin, how did the magazine speak to these young readers? What were the main themes of its content? In particular, with the dismantling of Stalin’s personality cult, what role models did the magazine offer its readers in the era of de-Stalinisation? How did Murzilka portray these role models, and what norms and values did these embody and enact for children to emulate? In order to tackle these questions, this study examines closely the visual and textual content of Murzilka at this particular moment in time, relating its analysis to themes and tropes more widely prevalent in propaganda and culture of the Thaw period.

This study looks at the written and illustrated content of the magazine both quantitatively and qualitatively. Initial examination of the magazine in the period 1956 – 1964 identified a number of recurring role models: Lenin, the military, parents and cosmonauts all featured frequently on the pages of the magazine. Closer reading of the source material and deep content analysis seeks to understand how these recurring role models were presented to readers and how they were exploited as a means of modelling appropriate behaviour.

This thesis provides a focused case study of four major role models presented to Soviet children on the pages of Murzilka in the period 1956 – 1964. Through careful, in-depth content analysis, I consider change and continuity in the literary and visual representation of these role models in relation to broader socio-political and cultural developments. This contributes to a better understanding of the ideological, cultural, and moral underpinnings of de-Stalinisation.

Item Type:	Thesis (University of Nottingham only) (PhD)
Supervisors:	Badcock, Sarah Baron, Nick
Keywords:	Murzilka, children's magazine, Soviet Union, de-Stalinisation, de-Stalinization
Subjects:	D History - General and Old World > DK Russia. Soviet Union. Former Soviet Republics H Social sciences > HX Socialism. Communism. Anarchism
Faculties/Schools:	UK Campuses > Faculty of Arts > School of History
Item ID:	82325
Depositing User:	Lachal, Helen
Date Deposited:	09 Dec 2025 04:40
Last Modified:	09 Dec 2025 04:40
URI:	https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/82325

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