Link
5. Our slogan - The Soviet Union of the whole world
According to the official ideology, the Soviet Union was the center of the world, the source of the renewal of human history. "The earth begins with the Kremlin", - all Soviet children were taught, convinced that they were living in the best country of the world. Complete isolation from life outside the USSR played an important role in the upbringing of "a new man". People received information exclusively from Soviet media. Only foreigners who were loyal to the regime could visit the Soviet Union, among them authors H. G. Wells, Romain Rolland and Lion Feuchtwanger, artist Pablo Picasso, and singers Paul Robeson and Dean Reed.The art of Bolshevik manipulation lay in making the "new Soviet man" outraged with injustice everywhere except in his own country. He was ready to defend blacks in America, miners in England, and Republicans in Spain. This was called "internationalism". To bring up a new generation in the spirit of internationalism was a major challenge for socialist propaganda. The Communist International (also known as the Comintern or the Third International), an organization that existed from 1919 to 1943, united the Communist parties of the world to champion the policies and interests of the Soviet Union under Stalin. The Communist Youth International was one of its divisions. In 1922 International Red Aid (MOPR) was created by the Comintern to provide material and moral assistance to political prisoners in the West, while also training cadre for future Communist revolutions and the building of world socialism.
Throughout its existence the USSR gave a great deal of money to support foreign Communist Parties. Soviet leaders advertised their friendly relations with the leaders of other socialist countries (Fidel Castro, Mao Tse-Tung, et al.) and other Communist Parties (Luis Corvalan, Babrak Karmal, et al.).
The ideas of internationalism, friendship and mutual support for "fraternal nations"-- those who at least gave lip service to accepted socialist ideology -- were reflected in posters and slogans, songs and movies. The ideas of internationalism permeated the 1957 World Youth Festival held in Moscow and the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
|
|