Mid Sweden University

The Russian revolution is one of the most crucial events of the twenty century, defining the political landscape for the Second World War and the postwar world. The First World War saw an explosion in the use of propaganda in war and has influenced how states conduct warfare. This is a matter that have been studied a lot in most of Europe but, surprisingly, little propaganda research has been conducted in Sweden about the First World War period. Propaganda as a term is something that invokes strong feelings in individuals. This paper takes a stab at defining the meaning of propaganda and exploring possible uses for the term in the context of historical research. This study focuses on the Swedish media coverage of the Russian revolutions from a perspective of propaganda and Goffman’s framing theory. Examining the use of propaganda in three Swedish newspapers (Dagens Nyheter, a liberal newspaper, Norrskenflamman, a socialist newspaper and Svenska Dagbladet, a right of centre newspaper) this study aims to explore how the propaganda in Swedish newspapers changes between the February revolution and the October revolution in Russia. The study explores what type of propaganda is used and what kind of frame this propaganda creates. The study found that all the newspapers used propaganda at varying levels, and that the propaganda frame aligns with the political affiliation of the newspapers. Furthermore, the study found that that while the propagandic messages may change, the way the newspapers conducted this propaganda remained the same over time. Taken together, the study concludes that the newspapers actively engaged in persuasion strategies in the form of propaganda, trying to convince their readers of their reality frame they project. This demonstrates the importance for historians to consider the use of propaganda when examining historical source materials.