Agitpunkt

(a propaganda or agitation center), an institution for political and educational instruction.

Agitpunkts were established in cities and on railroad stations by the statute of May 13, 1919, of the Soviet of Workers’ and Peasants’ Defense as centers of mass political work. By means of literature, newspapers, posters, records, films, and the living Party word, agitpunkts were to explain to Red Army men and the toiling masses the meaning of the ongoing struggle and the goals and tasks of the Soviet regime; to involve them in the struggle for the triumph of the cause of the Great October Socialist Revolution; and to unite them around the Communist Party. With the first elections to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in 1937, agitpunkts became centers for political work during the electoral campaign. Agitpunkts played a large role in the communist education of workers during the prewar five-year plans and during the Great Patriotic War, 1941–45. Reports, lectures, discussions, and meetings between voters and candidates for the soviets and for the posts of people’s judge and people’s assessor were held at agitpunkts; consultation offices, expositions, film showings, and amateur theatrical and art activities were organized and wall newspapers were put out by agitpunkts. Along with agitpunkts, voters’ clubs became widespread.