Propaganda works, using techniques first developed in WWI by Bernays and his group. Goebbels was another master of propaganda as were the Soviets.(I do not know individual names of Soviets beyond Lenin and his group.)
Me too. Sadly, my instant recall doesn’t work instantly any more.
Marx said religion is the opiate of the masses. Lenin sought to substitute propaganda for religion. It turned out in the USSR that unlike religion, propaganda really was like a drug. People grew a tolerance for it and it became less and less effective. By the 1970s, everyone in the USSR knew Pravda was nothing but lies.