You can read, but watch and listen – “semi-impossible”?

The Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation has revoked the rental certificate of the documentary historical and educational film “Hunger”. The strange thing is that this is not a ban, but a kind of “semi-ban”.

The decision of the Ministry of Culture is already being actively discussed in the information space. Here we will focus only on the factual and legal side.

The film “Hunger” (authors Tatyana Sorokina, Alexander Arkhangelsky and Maxim Kournikov) tells about the famine of 1921-1923 in Russia, which claimed millions of lives. Immediately it should be emphasized that the rental certificate was issued. But then withdrawn. Changed their mind. They saw something. Legally, the revocation is based on subparagraph “d” of paragraph 20 of the rules for issuing rental certificates: “Information was found, the distribution of which is prohibited by the legislation of the Russian Federation.”

Yes, in a special document of the Ministry of Culture it is indicated: “The basis for revoking a rental certificate is … the identification during a public demonstration of a film of materials containing information, the distribution of which is prohibited by the legislation of the Russian Federation.” (https://culture.gov.ru/documents/ob-utverzhdenii-poryadka-vydachi-otkaza-v-vydache-i-otzyva-prokatnogo-udostovereniya-na-film-i-porya-241114/)

But there is nothing in the film that falls under this clause. Any “secrets” and “state secrets” 100 years after the events are no longer secrets and mysteries. I will quote the Federal Law “On State Secrets” (on the website of the FSB http://www.fsb.ru/fsb/npd/more.htm%21id%3D10343056%40fsbNpa.html):

“The period of classification of information constituting a state secret should not exceed 30 years. In exceptional cases, this period may be extended upon the conclusion of the interdepartmental commission for the protection of state secrets.

The Ministry of Culture did not present any materials of the “interdepartmental commission”. Yes, they could not be due to the expiration of the “statute of limitations”. The age has passed. Moreover, all documents about the famine of those years are in the public domain. The participants in the film are historians Yulia Khmelevskaya, Sergey Kolychev, Douglas Smith, Sergey Nikitin, Nail Usmanov. Their scientific works, articles and books have been published in Russia. What’s the point then? Yulia Khmelevskaya says from the screen: “How many lives this famine claimed … It was the first famine since the Time of Troubles, when cases of cannibalism were officially recorded.”

Maybe the cruel word “cannibalism” scared? But in the official materials of the Soviet United State Political Directorate (OGPU, the former Cheka), an even more terrible word is used – “cannibalism.” Moreover, not even about 1921-23, but even about the famine of 1933. I will cite only the introductory three lines of my article “NEP: breakthrough, flourishing and reprisal”, published two years ago in Moskovskaya Pravda (https://mospravda.ru/2020/08/20/162470/):

“From the report of the OGPU of the USSR, March 31, 1933: “In recent months, a number of cases of cannibalism, the sale of human meat in the markets and murders for this purpose have been established in some regions of the Soviet Union.”

What follows is the gruesome details. And all this is in the public domain.

Speaking of NEP. As you know, the new economic policy was introduced in 1921 by the decision of the Tenth Congress of the RCP (b). Before that, there was a surplus appropriation, that is, the taking away from the peasants of all the food they had grown. Which caused the famine. The NEP replaced the surplus tax with a tax in kind. Lenin said at the congress:

“That is not what we should be afraid of, that the petty bourgeoisie and small capital will grow. We must be afraid that the state of extreme hunger continues for too long … ”(V.I. Lenin. PSS, vol. 43, p. 84.)

Yes, Soviet censorship forbade the publication of articles about the famine of the 1920s and 1930s. But now all the materials have long been made public, up to the State Duma resolutions. What kind of “forbidden information” does the Ministry of Culture write about? It’s incomprehensible and strange.

However, in the letter about the revocation of the rental certificate there is the following passage:

“This decision is connected with numerous complaints about this picture received by the Russian Ministry of Culture from citizens. The film “Hunger” was described by them as inappropriate for the show. Citizens point out the content of provocative and shocking audiovisual information. All this, according to the audience, can cause a sharp negative reaction in society, in connection with which a decision was made to revoke the rental certificate.

So in the USSR, official bodies justified unpopular measures: “At the request of the working people.” That is, some Russian citizens were “shocked” by what they saw and heard? And they wrote to the ministry. The Ministry listened and…

And what does the word “inappropriate” mean? With what or with whom is “inappropriate”? And what if tomorrow another “group of citizens” considers films about Khatyn and besieged Leningrad “inappropriate” and “shocking”?

In general, it turns out that reading is allowed, but watching and listening is “semi-forbidden”?

Why “half forbidden”?

This is another oddity of the revocation of the rental certificate of the film “Hunger”. It is forbidden to show it in wide distribution, on cinema screens. However, it is allowed “for cultural and educational purposes within the framework of the statutory activities of museums, exhibition halls or educational organizations.” (https://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_11454/125c3833a032b683212225dbc7b49e5d15c7b3a4/)

In this case, it turns out even worse: it will be possible for someone to watch, but for the broad masses of the people it will not be possible. And that doesn’t “shock” anyone?

Sergei Baimukhametov.

In the photo: The first monument in the Volga region to the victims of the famine of the 20s, the village of Akhmetyevo, the Republic of Tatarstan.