This was a regular feature of Soviet photographic record going back to the 1930s at least. They became quite good at removing (and occasionally adding) people

This was a regular feature of Soviet photographic record going back to the 1930s at least. They became quite good at removing (and occasionally adding) people to photographs for propaganda purposes or just rewriting history. This was the origin of Winston Smith's job in Orwell's Ministry of Truth -- are you going to believe your memory when the photographic (and text) record says otherwise?