We will deal with the press in the following manner: What is the present rôle of the press? It serves to arouse furious passions or egotistic party dissensions which may be necessary for our purpose. It is empty, unjust, inaccurate, and most people do not understand what end it serves. We will shackle it and keep a tight rein on it. We will also do the same with other printed matter, for what use would it be for us to rid ourselves of attacks on the part of the periodical press if we remain open to criticism through pamphlets and books? We will convert the products of publicity, now so expensive, owing to the need of censorship, into a source of income for our state. We will impose a special stamp tax. When a newspaper printing shop is started, bonds will have to be deposited, which will guarantee our government from all attacks on the part of the press. In case of an attack, we will mercilessly impose fines. Such measures as stamps, bonds, and fines, the payment of which is guaranteed by the bonds, will bring a huge income to the government. It is true that party papers might not fear the loss of money, so we will suppress these after the second attack on us. No one shall touch the prestige of our political infallibility and remain unpunished. The pretext for stopping a publication will be that the publication in question excites public opinion without cause or reason. I ask you to bear in mind that among those who attack us there will be also organs established by us, but they will attack exclusively those points which we plan to change.
Not one notice will be made public without our control. This is already being done by us, since the news from all parts of the world is received through several agencies in which it is centralized.
These agencies will then be completely in our power and they will publish only such news as we will permit.
If we have already managed to subjugate the minds of the Goys to such an extent that almost all of them see world events through colored glasses which we put over their eyes; if, even at present, there is not one state which bars our access to state secrets, so termed by the stupid Goys, then what will it be when we, in the person of our universal sovereign, are the recognized rulers of the world?
Let us return to the future of the press. Anybody who wishes to become an editor, a librarian, or a printer, will be obliged to obtain a diploma, which in case of disobedience will be immediately revoked.
With such measures, thought will become an educational instrument in the hands of our government, which will not allow the people to be led astray into realms of fancy and dreams about beneficent progress. Who of us does not know that these fantastic blessings are the direct road to baseless hopes which lead to anarchistic relations between the people and the government? Progress, or better still the idea of progress, has led to the creation of different modes of emancipation without setting any limit to it. All so-called liberals are essentially anarchists in thought if not in action. Each one of them pursues the phantom of liberty, becoming self-willed, that is to say, falling into a state of anarchy by protesting for the mere sake of protesting.
We will now again refer to the question of the press. We will place stamp taxes secured by bonds on each page of all printed matter, while on books containing less than four hundred and eighty pages we will place a double tax. We will classify them as pamphlets, so as to lessen the number of magazines, which represent the worst printed poison—and on the other hand, to force writers to prepare such long works that they will be little read, especially as they will be expensive. Our own publications, guiding public opinion in the direction we desire, will be cheap and rapidly bought. The tax will discourage the writing of mere leisure literature, whereas punishment will make the writers dependent upon us. Even if there were writers who would like to attack us, they would find no publishers for their works. Before printing any work, the editor or printer will have to apply to the authorities for permission. We will then know beforehand of the attacks that are being prepared against us, and we will destroy them by coming out with advance statements on the subject.
Literature and journalism are the two most important educational forces; for this reason our government will become the owner of most of the periodicals. This will neutralize the injurious influence of the private press and have great influence on the people. If we permit ten periodicals, we ourselves will print thirty, and so forth. This, however, must not be suspected by the public. All the periodicals published by us will seem to be of contradictory views and opinions, inviting trust in us, thus attracting to us unsuspecting enemies, and in this way they will be caught in our trap and made harmless.
The predominant place will be held by periodicals of an official character. They will always stand guard over our interests and consequently their influence will be comparatively limited.