Bednota

Bednota (Russian: Беднота, or "poverty") was a daily newspaper for peasants, issued by Central Committee of the Communist Party in Moscow, Russia, from March 1918 till January 1931. Its predecessors were newspapers "Derevenskaya Bednota" (Rural Poverty), "Soldatskaya Pravda" (Soldier's Truth, printed in Petrograd), "Derevenskaya Pravda" (printed in Moscow). During the Russian civil war "Bednota" was the Red Army's paper as well – nearly half the print was sent to the army (by 1919 the distribution was 750,000).

Bednota was the main tool for the Communist party to spread propaganda in the predominantly rural USSR. It also featured letters from peasants and various correspondences. The paper employed nearly 4,000 staff. In 1931 the paper merged with "Socialisticheskoe Zemledelye" (Socialist Agriculture).[1]