I would trase the roots of state propaganda in Bolsheviks regime prior to Stalin. Lenin who was the the key person from the beginning understood this well and all the actions of communists were covered with lies from the start. I am not sure if Lenin was the orchestrator of propaganda or someone else on behalf of him but Stalin is later. 

Now, every regime needs its own narrative to organize the people. Russians had theirs, Germans hed theirs, Americans, Brits, French, you name it. But the history is written by the victors and the buctors are the good one in this version of history.