Cold War Culture

Home fronts

Selling image

Frames of the theme• Social-cultural dimension of the Cold War:

– It means as an umbrella term to embrace the mass experience within cold-war political events.

– social history in its broad sense of ‘ordinary’ and ‘everyday’, but in extraordinary circumstances.

• Problems: – Did the Cold War high politics influence arts, movies,

pop culture, everyday life, etc. of people who lived during the period of the Cold War, 1940s -1990?

– Were the cultural artifacts to use as a tool in propaganda or they were made by autonomous artists who lived in the cold war and reflect its the reality?

2 dimensions of Cold War Cultures (American-West and Soviet-socialist)

1) Home fronts: how did the Cold War influence a domestic life?

2) Selling a brand (image) aboard: How did both superpowers sell their images, ideologies to foreign public and to each other?

at home: inside the U.S/West and USSR: social dimension

1) Purge: both in the United States and Soviet Union: pursue of dissidents

1) Campaign against those who appraised West culture in the Soviet Union (in Russian: “against cosmopolitism) – “Kosmopolit”, since 1950s until the end of 1980s =

traditional Russian xenophobia VS. America-and-West-admirers

2) Camping against communists (Senator McCarthy), since the end 1940 until the mid-1950s >>

American variant of xenophobia during the Cold War – a scare to be infected with leftist and communist ideas

at home: inside the U.S/West and USSR: social dimension

2) dissidents in all the countries whose words were differentiated from an official discourse:

In Soviet Union: - The Thaw since 1956: phenomenon of

physicist-lyric poet – a dissent voice among technocrats (scholars, and engineers) like A. Sakharov = R. Havemann in the GDR.

- The defection to the West of a number of leading Soviet artists

However, a support of the communist regime in 1960-1970s became more wide: a standard of life became higher and the absent of repression

at home: inside the U.S/West and USSR: social dimension

Eastern Europe: from open riots to silent opposition• Germany, 1953• Riots in Poland, 1956 • Hungary, 1958 • Czechoslovakia, 1968 >> • Silent nonviolent dissidents were strong in

Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland• Church (Catholic and Lutheran) was shelter for

dissidents in GDR, and Poland• End of 1970s – Jimmy Carter idea to promote

human rights became the main idea of dissidents

at home: inside the U.S/West and USSR: social dimension

In United States:

-1960s-1970s generation of baby-boomers – 20% of population of 24 years.

-Hippy and counterculture movement (rock groups) against War (pacifism)

-strong revisionism in arts and social studies (critical theory to interpret history and politics)

In Western Europe:

-radical students in the FU, leftists, post-modernism, the battles between left- and right-wing intellectuals: Picasso and Congress of for Cultural Freedom:

Main ideas – rejection of dominant values of American society, idea of American imperialism

at home: inside the U.S/West and USSR: cultural dimensions

3) Making divergent official cultural discourses in historical memory: different story of the Second world war (two victors) in both the U.S. and the USSR;

4) Official games with public fear of future nuclear war: through anti-war demonstrations, documentary films and movies like ‘The third war’

5) “We [USSR] turned out to be in position of defender in the face of American cultural offensive:” inserting some American ideas in society, movies, culture (globalization, Americanization or copying to smooth people)

Байкал (Baikal)/ Pepsi

Пугачева (Pugacheva)/Monro

Idea of “American dream” in Hollywood and of a birth of a “Soviet dream” in Mosfilm

“Soviet dream” as an answer to Hollywood films:

- provincial girls win big cities by following methods:

• A successful career but a tragedy of personal life• A successful marriage (love, family)

Moscow does not believe in tears, Oscar, 1979

at home: inside the U.S/West and USSR: cultural dimensions

6) Patriotism as a theme in arts was the main tool for counter-offensive.Flight 222 (movie, 1985)

-we love USSR

-we do not leave it

The friendship of people

II) Selling its image to foreign public

How both the U.S. and the Soviet Union tried to sell their ideologies

• Main motive: to win an allegiance of people around the world (the war for hearts and minds)

• Means: – Propaganda (radio)– Training of definite social and professional

groups– Cultural presentations

How both the U.S. and the Soviet Union tried to sell their ideologies

• United States Information Agency

• Agency of Intentional Development

• Voice of America

DOS+NSC

More people were mobilized through private initiative than in the USSR

• Central Committee of Communist Party (Propaganda Division)

State Committee of Foreign Relations at MFA

SU Committees of Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries (SSOD)

Radio of Moscow

Radio propaganda

• Radio Moscow:The U.S. was first targeted since

early 1950s, from MoscowSince 1970s – from Cuba and

Vladivostok70 languages

1. News and answer on American propaganda

2. Russian ClassicsRadio Moscow World Service

>> Voice of Russia

• Voice of AmericaThe Soviet Union was targeted

since 1947, from AustriaSoviet jamming

80 languages

1. News and Music2. Strong and free critics of

American government and life3. Encourage people for internal

change through programs about “democratic legacy” or national history of a country.

4. Forbidden literature

NEW: the VOA turned out to be more respected that the Radio Moscow

Influence through printed mass media: two journals

Another journals: Sputnik/Диалог

The printed media• USSR

Primary topics:

Science,

Space

Russian literature

Belated Counter-attacks on American pop-culture in the early 1980s

• USA

Primary topics:

Government

People

Consumerism (retail goods)

Consumerism undermined Soviet life and communism regime

Nixon-Khrushchev kitchen debates, 1958

Training of foreign citizen Two divergent approaches to reproduce allegiance:

• USA: an existed professional elite was the main target

• 600,000-700,000 were trained

• 900 former grantees became members of ruling elite (presidents, leaders of parties)

• Main success: Alexander Yakovlev, an adviser of M. Gorbachev

• USSR: lower social groups were trained to reproduce new elite loyal to the SU

• 250,000-270,000 were trained

• 100 former grantees became members of ruling elite

When and Why the Soviets failed

• Since 1956, NSC-5506 “Eat-West Exchanges” –

1) To stimulate consumerist desires of captive and Soviet people

2) To return people in Easter Europe to their national history, history of independence and prosperity. (the seeds of nationalism)

3) The increase of funds since the early 1980s

• Soviet Union:1) Movement for Peace defeat in political campaigning

to reach short-term political aims

2) Artistic and sporting exchanges to advertise a prestige and success of Russian culture and Soviet sport;

3) A lack of funds for support of “socialist” movements in 28 countries (Africa, Arabs, 2 countries in Latin America) since the early 1980s

Conclusion

• Dissidents and consumption society of the West have undermined the political regime of the Soviets.

Methodological problems in studies of cultural cold war and proposed theoretical frames

1) Problems in methods: 1) what kinds of methods are more appropriate

to estimate the audience response to domestic and foreign influence?

2) How to evaluate an efficiency of both American and Soviet cultural influence?

3) Multiple meanings of cultural phenomena.

Proposed theoretical frames for cultural cold war

• American and Soviet cultural imperialism (pressure and deep implantation of values in all the clusters of life)

• Americanization and Sovietization (partial influence –politics, technologies, language)

• Cultural Transfer (mutual exchange and globalization without borders and Walls)

• Response theory (resistance of local culture to coming values) – toasts VS.grenki

Soviet Grenki/American Toast

Гренки (the brad in oil on the pan)/toasts