Western intellectuals and the Soviet Union, 1920-40 : from Red Square to the Left Bank / Ludmila Stern.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stern, Ludmila.

Series:

BASEES/Routledge series on Russian and East European studies ; 31.

BASEES/Routledge series on Russian and East European Studies ; 31

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Communism and intellectuals--History--20th century.

Communism and intellectuals.

Intellectuals.

Intellectuals--Attitudes.

History.

Politics and government.

Soviet Union--Politics and government--1917-1936--Foreign public opinion.

Soviet Union.

Intellectuals--Attitudes--History--20th century.

Communism--History--20th century.

Communism.

Intellectuals--Europe, Western.

Intellectuals--United States.

United States.

Western Europe.

Physical Description:

269 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Routledge, 2007.

Summary:

Despite the appalling record of the Soviet Union on human rights questions, many Western intellectuals with otherwise impeccable liberal credentials were strong supporters of the Soviet Union in the interwar period. This book explores how this seemingly impossible situation came about, examining the involvement of many prominent Western intellectuals with the Soviet Union, including Theodore Dreiser, G. B. Shaw, Henri Barbusse, Romain Rolland, Albert Marquet, Louis Aragon and Elsa Triolet, Victor Gollancz, Lion Feuchtwanger and Jean- Richard Bloch. Previously unpublished documents from the Soviet archives show the 'behind the scenes' operations of Soviet organisations that targeted, seduced and led Western Intellectuals and writers to action. The book focuses in particular on the work of various official and semi-official bodies, including Comintern, the International Association of Revolutionary Writers (MORP), the All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries (VOKS), and the Foreign Commission of the Soviet Writers' Union, showing how cultural propaganda was always a high priority for the Soviet Union and how successful this cultural propaganda was in seducing so many Western thinkers.

Contents:

The Soviet myth and Western intellectuals : from attraction to action

Comintern : the origins of Soviet cultural propoganda

MORP : propoganda through coercion

MORP : the closing years

Laying the foundations of relations with Western intellectuals : VOKS in the 1920s

Manufacturing support : VOKS in the 1930s

VOKS and the 'famous foreigners'

The bond of friendship : Foreign Commission of the Soviet Writers' Union and French writers.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [246]-257) and index.

ISBN:

0415360056

0203008146

OCLC:

65978544

Publisher Number:

9780415360050

9780203008140