Exercise in frustration: Soviet foreign propaganda in the early cold war, 1945-47

Cold War History

Volumn 1, Issue 2, 2001, Pages 1-27

  Pechatnov, V ^a  

^a MGIMO UNIVERSITY   (Russian Federation)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 34248084670     PISSN: 14682745     EISSN: 17437962     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/713999921     Document Type: Article

References (48)

1. A different version of this article was published in Russian as 'Strelba kholostymi: sovetskaya propaganda na Zapad v nachale kholodnoi voiny' ('Blank Shooting: Soviet Propaganda against the West in the Early Cold War'), in A. Chubaryan (ed.), Stalinskoe desyatiletie kholodnoi voiny (Stalin's Decade of the Cold War) (Moscow: Nauka Publishing House, 1999).
2. Minutes of the staff conference of Chief Political Bureau of the Red Army with comrade S. Lozovsky, 17 May 1946, RGASPI, f.17, op.128, d.870, l.97-98.
3. 'Report on the Organization and Methods of British Propaganda', enclosed in G. Bespalov to A. Panyushkin, 25 Oct. 1946, l.189-90.
4. 'On the State of Soviet Propaganda in England', report by the SIB representative in London S. Rostovsky, RGASPI, f.17, op.128, d.1006, l. 195.
5. 'On the Allies' Campaign to Discredit the Red Army', S. Lozovsky to V Molotov and G. Malenkov, 5 Oct. 1945, RGASPI, f.17, op.125, d. 136, l. 82.
6. G. Kolmakov to L. Baranov, 1 Jan. 1946, RGASPI, f.17, op. 128, d. 870, l. 1; 'On the State of Soviet Propaganda in Poland', P. Orekhov to S. Lozovsky, 28 May 1946, d. 54, l. 1-10; M. Burtsev to M. Suslov, 3 June 1946, l. 35-8, 45-51.
7. 'The Organization of British Foreign Propaganda', report by D. Kraminov, 2 Oct. 1945, f. 17, op. 125, d. 383, l. 65-85.
8. See, e.g., John Henderson, The United States Information Agency (NY, 1969), pp.36-9.
9. 'Staff Meeting with comrade Lozovsky on the report of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, May 22, 1945', State Archive of Russian Federation (hereafter GARF), f. 8581, d. 149, l. 30-31.
10. 'Conference with comrade Zhdanov, May 15, 1945', RGASPI, f.629, op. 1, d. 93, l. 324.
11. Pravda, 28 Dec. 1945.
12. 'On the First Issue of Journal "America"', B. Vronsky to A. Panyushkin, 27 March 1945, RGASPI, f.17, op. 128, d. 754, l. 114.
13. For analysis of these debates, see Jerry F. Hough, 'Debates about the Postwar World', in Susan L. Linz (ed.), The Impact of World War II on the Soviet Union (Totona, NJ: Rowman & Allenfeld, 1985), pp.253-81.
14. 'On the Improvement of Soviet Propaganda Abroad', OrgBureau Directive of 29 Sept. 1945, RGASPI, f. 17, op. 128, d. 371, l. 149;
15. for more detail on Stalin's response to Churchill's speech see, Vladimir Pechatnov, 'Fultonskaia rech' Cherchillia', Istochnik, 1 (1998).
16. Minutes of Conference at the Central Committee on propaganda chaired by A. Zhdanov, 18 April 1946, RGASPI, f. 77, op. 1, d. 976, l. 88-89.
17. 'To the Secretary of the Central Committee Comrade Zhdanov from special correspondent Yu. Zhukov', 20 May 1946, f. 17, op. 125, d. 383, l. 55, 56, 59, 64.
18. Vladimir Pechatnov, 'The Allies Are Pressing On You to Break Your Will...', Foreign Policy Correspondence between Stalin and Molotov and Other Politburo Members, Sept. 1945-Dec. 1946.
19. Cold War International History Project, Working Paper No 26, Washington, Sept. 1999, pp.10-14;
20. Phone conversation with Comrade Stalin, October 22, 1946', P. Pospelov's notes, f.621, op.1, d.254, l.22.
21. 'Minutes of the session of the CC's Commission on Sovinformbureau Work', 28 June-8 July 1946, f. 17, op. 125, d. 383, l. 19, 20, 23; d. 383, l. 6, 45, 7-8; d. 385, l. 45-6;
22. 'The Report on SIB's Work', d. 509, l. 233.
23. 'To Comrade I.V Stalin - On the Work of Sovinformbureau', 10 July 1946, f. 17, op.128, d. 870, l. 134.
24. 'Minutes of the session...', ' f. 17, op. 125, d. 385, l. 50, 341.
25. 'To Comrade Stalin...', f. 17, op. 128, d. 870, l. 131-134.
26. On further development of this campaign, see G. Kostyrchenko, V Plenu u Krasnogo Faraona (Moscow, 1994), pp.60-61.
27. Both Lozovsky and Yuzephovich among SIB's leadership later became victims of the deadly purge of Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, see M. Redlikh (ed.), Evreisky Antifashistsky Komitet v SSSR, 1941-1948: Documentalnaia Istoria (Moscow, 1996), pp.85-388).
28. 'For the CC Commission' (a report by B. Vronsky), f.17, op.125, d.384, l.56-62.
29. 'Minutes of the staff conference of the Chief Political Bureau of the Red Army with comrade S. Lozovsky, May 17, 1946', RGASPI, f. 17, op. 128, d. 870, l. 106.
30. 'Minutes of the staff conference...', f. 17, op. 128, d. 870, l. 105, 106.
31. 'Conference with comrade Zhdanov, May 15', 1945, f. 629, . 93, l. 315; similar criticism was voiced in OB's directive on Pravda of 2 Aug. 1946, f. 17, op. 3, d. 1059, l. 90).
32. 'Minutes of the conference at the Foreign Policy Department on the work of VOKS, April,4,5,7,and 8, 1947', f. 17, op. 128, d. 1060, l. 168.
33. 'Report on the work of Sovinformbureau from October 1, 1946 to May 1, 1947', in S. Lozovsky to V Molotov, 6 June 1947, f. 17, op. 125, d. 509, l. 239.
34. P. Pospelov's working notes, f. 629, op. 1, d. 93, l. 352-353.
35. 'Minutes of the conference with comrade Lozovsky, January 29, 1947', GARF, f. 8581, d. 223, l. 178.
36. 'On the work of Sovinformbureau', OrgBureau Directive of 6 Oct. 1946, RGASPI, f. 17, op. 3, d. 1063, l. 35-7.
37. Pechatnov, 'The Allies are Pressing', p.20.
38. 'On Subscription and Usage of Foreign Literature', OrgBureau Directive of 14 Sept. 1946, f. 17, op. 3, d. 1063, l. 8-10.
39. This story is told in full in: Vladimir Pechatnov, 'The Rise and Fall of "Brutansky Souyznik": A Case Study in Soviet Response to British Propaganda of Mid- 1940s', The Historical Journal, 1 (1998).
40. See American Embassy report from Moscow, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1948, 4 (1974), pp.832-3.
41. 'On the Work of All-Union United "International Books"', Report of the CC Department Commission, RGASPI, f. 17, op. 128, d. 1062-3, l. 2-32, 105, 28.
42. 'We had no informers in our midst', recollected Alexander Karaganov, then VOKS deputy chairman, interview with A. Karaganov, 25 Dec. 1996.
43. 'Minutes of the Conference at the Foreign Policy Department on the Work of VOKS, April 4,5,7 and 8, 1947', RGASPI, f. 17, op. 128, d. 1060-61, l. 111; 25 Dec. 1996 interview with A. Karaganov;
44. 'Minutes of the Conference at the Foreign Policy Department...', f. 17, op. 128, d. 1060-61, l. 111, 39.
45. 'Report on the Work of Sovinformbureau from October 1, 1946 to May 1, 1947', S. Lozovsky to V Molotov, 6 June 1947, f. 17, op 125, d. 509, l. 232, 238, 240-41, 252-4.
46. 'On the Realization of the VKP/b CC Directive of October 9, 1946 "On the Work of Sovinformbureau"', to the CC Secretary com. Zhdanov, l. 264-268, 271.
47. 'On the Soviet Propaganda in the USA', to com. V. Mochetov, November 1947;
48. 'Minutes of the Conference on the State of Work in the fields of Propaganda and Agitation, September 19, 1947', f.17, op.128, d.1128, l.273-5; f. 17, op. 125, d. 493, l. 39, 40.