Political utopia or Potemkin village? Italian travellers to the Soviet Union in the early Cold War

Modern Italy ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 379-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne Lee
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Italo Calvino ◽  
Western Society ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
Italian Politics ◽  
Post War ◽  
Shed Light

Situated on the border between the capitalist West and Communist East, and with the largest Communist party in Western Europe, Italy found itself at the centre of global ideological struggles in the early Cold War years. A number of Italian writers and intellectuals who had joined the PCI (Partito Comunista Italiano) during the Resistance had hoped that the party would play a central role in the post-war reconstruction of Italy and were attracted to the Soviet Union as an example of Communism in action. This article centres on accounts of journeys to the USSR by Sibilla Aleramo, Renata Viganò and Italo Calvino. It will argue that although their writings portray a largely positive vision of the USSR, they should not be dismissed as naive, or worse, disingenuous travellers whose willingness to embrace Soviet-style Communism was based on a wholescale rejection of Western society and its values (see P. Hollander's 1998 [1981] work, Political Pilgrims: Western Intellectuals in Search of the Good Society). Rather, the article shows how their accounts of the USSR shed light on the writers' relationship with the PCI and argues that the views expressed in the travelogues emerge from the writers' personal experiences of war and resistance, a fervent desire to position themselves as anti-Fascist intellectuals, and their concerns regarding the direction that Italian politics was taking at a pivotal moment in the nation's history.

J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI, and the Religious Cold War

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dianne Kirby
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Post War ◽  
American Catholic ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
American Catholic Church

Despite Hoover's efforts to develop an alliance with the American Catholic Church, other Christian communities came under suspicion during the Cold War. This chapter by Dianne Kirby examines the surveillance of communities during the Cold War period that had transatlantic links and supported the continuation of the alliance with the Soviet Union or developed other contacts beyond the Iron Curtain. Her case studies include surveillance of the Russian Orthodox Church in America, which in the course of the war sought to transfer allegiance to the Moscow Patriarchate, a move that was stymied in the post-war period by deteriorating US-Soviet relations and Roman Catholic opposition.

FROM WORLD WAR TO COLD WAR: THE WARTIME ALLIANCE AND POST-WAR TRANSITIONS, 1941–1947

2002 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 211-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVID REYNOLDS
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
The United States ◽  
World War ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Social ◽  
Post War ◽  
The One ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Second World

This review examines some of the recent British, American, and Russian scholarship on a series of important international transitions that occurred in the years around 1945. One is the shift of global leadership from Great Britain to the United States, in which, it is argued, the decisive moment was the fall of France in 1940. Another transition is the emergence of a wartime alliance between Britain and America, on the one hand, and the Soviet Union, on the other, followed by its disintegration into the Cold War. Here the opening of Soviet sources during the 1990s has provided new evidence, though not clear answers. To understand both of these transitions, however, it is necessary to move beyond diplomacy and strategy to look at the social, cultural, and economic dimensions of the Second World War. In particular, recent studies of American and Soviet soldiers during and after the conflict re-open the debate about Cold War ideology from the bottom up.

scholarly journals Urban Societies in Europe since 1945: Toward a Historical Interpretation

2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 475-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
MORITZ FÖLLMER ◽  
MARK B. SMITH
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Historical Interpretation ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Alternative Communities ◽  
History Of ◽  
Post War ◽  
Eastern And Western Europe ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
The Way

How can we write the history of urban societies in Europe after 1945? This article offers an interpretative overview of key developments in both Eastern and Western Europe, while also discussing some key conceptual issues. Along the way, it takes stock of the relevant historiography (much of which is very recent) and introduces a selection of papers from a cycle of three international workshops held between 2011 and 2013. The papers range geographically from Britain to the Soviet Union and cover topics as diverse as post-war reconstruction and alternative communities in the 1970s. Their respective approaches are informed by an interest in the way societies have been imagined in discourses and reshaped in spatial settings. Moreover, the papers move beyond case studies, urban history's classic genre, and can therefore facilitate synthetic reflection. It is our hope that, in so doing, we can make urban history more relevant to contemporary European historians in general.

scholarly journals DIASPORA DAN IDENTITAS KOMUNITAS EKSIL ASAL INDONESIA DI BELANDA

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
Gusnelly Gusnelly
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Cold War

This paper is the result of research on Indonesian migration that focuses on the diaspora of the exile community in the Netherlands. The purpose to discuss this issue is to tell about the existence of an Indonesian community that has been exiled from the country for decades and became stateless or lost citizenship, because its passport was revoked by the Indonesian government. They are the generation who have been forced to move to several countries and choose to seek asylum in various Western European countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The history of their existence abroad as a result of the event of G30S/1965. They were abroad when the G30S occurred in the country. Their departure abroad was in the leftist (socialist) countries of the mid-1960s not because of political affairs but for various interests, but in fact it was related to the occurrence of the G30S/1965. In 1989 with the fall of communism and the end of the cold war after the collapse of the superpower of the Soviet Union, most of them have registered themselves as asylum seekers to several countries in Western Europe, including to the Netherlands. As a Dutch citizen, their descendants get education and work in the Netherlands. Their descendants feel that the Dutch or Europeans are his identity but the exiles keep their nationalism for Indonesia. We call that with long-distance nationalism.Keywords: Dutch, diaspora, exile community, asylum, citizenshipABSTRAKTulisan ini merupakan hasil penelitian tentang migrasi orang Indonesia yang fokus pada diaspora komunitas eksil di Belanda. Tujuan untuk membahas masalah ini adalah untuk menceritakan tentang keberadaan komunitas Indonesia yang sejak puluhan tahun terbuang dari tanah air dan menjadi stateless atau kehilangan kewarganegaraan, sebab pasportnya dicabut oleh pemerintah Indonesia. Mereka merupakan anak bangsa dari satu generasi yang terpaksa pindah ke beberapa negara dan memilih mencari suaka ke berbagai negara Eropa Barat pascaruntuhnya Uni Soviet. Sejarah keberadaan mereka di luar negeri sebagai akibat dari peristiwa G30S tahun 1965. Mereka sedang berada di luar negeri ketika terjadi peristiwa G30S di dalam negeri. Kepergian mereka ke luar negeri yaitu di negara-negara beraliran kiri (sosialis) di pertengahan tahun 60-an bukan karena hanya karena urusan politik, tetapi untuk berbagai kepentingan, namun pada kenyataannya disangkutpautkan dengan terjadinya peristiwa G30S tahun 1965 tersebut. Pada tahun 1989 dengan kejatuhan komunisme dan berakhirnya perang dingin setelah keruntuhan negara adi kuasa Uni Soviet sebagian besar mereka telah mendaftarkan diri menjadi pencari suaka ke beberapa negara di Eropa Barat, termasuk ke Belanda. Sebagai warga negara Belanda, anak keturunannya mendapatkan pendidikan dan bekerja di Belanda. Anak-anak keturunannya merasa Belanda atau Eropa adalah identitasnya akan tetapi orang eksil tetap menjaga nasionalisme mereka buat tanah airnya yaitu Indonesia. Kami menyebutnya dengan nasionalisme jarak jauh.  Kata Kunci: Belanda, diaspora, komunitas eksil, suaka, kewarganegaraan

Western Europe

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Etges
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
The United States ◽  
Internal Dynamics ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
German Question ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Political Economic

This chapter explores the role and experience of Western Europe in the Cold War. It explains that Western Europe is not a precise political or geographical entity, and that its role in the Cold War can only be understood in the context of its changing internal dynamics and changing relationship with the United States, the Soviet Union, and countries of Eastern Europe. The chapter argues that Western Europe both shaped and was shaped by Cold War in a political, economic, military, cultural, and ideological sense, and also considers the German question, Franco-German rapprochement and European integration, and military aspects of the Western alliance.

scholarly journals The (Science Diplomacy) Origins of the Cold War

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 411-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Turchetti
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Science Diplomacy ◽  
The Us ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Atomic Diplomacy

The US monopoly of information regarding nuclear weapons was one of the distinctive features of the early Cold War. It encouraged US officials to bolster their country’s hegemonic role in post-war affairs, something that scholars have previously referred to in terms of “atomic diplomacy.” This paper shows that Cold War atomic diplomacy originated in an ancestral form of what we call today “science diplomacy,” distinctive of wartime allied relations during WW2. It first explores how science became a distinctive feature of wartime diplomacy by looking at agreements regarding exchanges of information and collaboration that shaped the relations between wartime allies (US, UK, and the Soviet Union). It then shows that their signing (and, at times, their rejection) eventually paved the way to conflicting views within allied administrations on what to share, making their officials less inclined to pool more knowledge toward the end of WW2. In conclusion, US monopolistic stances and atomic diplomacy originated in these disagreements, also marking the demise of wartime science diplomacy. This essay is part of a special issue entitled Science Diplomacy, edited by Giulia Rispoli and Simone Turchetti.

Growing Up Communist in the Netherlands and Britain

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elke Weesjes
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Political Movements ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Second World

This book documents communists' attempts, successful and otherwise, to overcome their isolation and to connect with the major social and political movements of the twentieth century. Communist parties in Britain and the Netherlands emerged from the Second World War expecting to play a significant role in post-war society, due to their domestic anti-fascist activities and to the part played by the Soviet Union in defeating fascism. The Cold War shattered these hopes, and isolated communist parties and their members. By analysing the accounts of communist children, Weesjes highlights their struggle to establish communities and define their identities within the specific cultural, social, and political frameworks of the Cold War period and beyond.

3. Empire, Cold War, and Decolonization, 1945–53

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. Young ◽  
John Kent
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
The United States ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Nation States ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Post War ◽  
Formed Part ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Second World

This chapter examines decolonization and the changes that took place within the European empires during the early years of the Cold War. Decolonization constituted a crucial element of the new international order after the Second World War and formed part of the broader shift in the global balance of power. The war marked the end of the European-dominated system of nation states and was followed by the decline of the major European powers, with international dominance lying for a quarter of a century with the United States, challenged only by the Soviet Union. The chapter considers the challenges to colonial rule that were evident in both Africa and Asia during the inter-war years. It also discusses the imperialism and the struggles against it that have formed part of a post-war landscape in the Middle East.

scholarly journals “To Serve Revenge for the Dead”: Chinese Communist Responses to Japanese War Crimes in the PRC Foreign Ministry Archive, 1949–1956

2009 ◽  
Vol 200 ◽  
pp. 1053-1069 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Cathcart ◽  
Patricia Nash
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Foreign Relations ◽  
War Crimes ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
War Criminals ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Post War ◽  
War Of Resistance ◽  
Foreign Ministry ◽  
Shed Light

AbstractUsing newly available documents from the PRC Foreign Ministry Archive, this article traces the evolving legacies of the War of Resistance in the first seven years of the People's Republic. Analysis is offered of PRC campaigns against Japanese bacteriological war crimes, criticisms of American dealings with Japanese war criminals, and the 1956 trial of Japanese at Shenyang. Throughout, behind-the-scenes tensions with the Soviet Union and internal bureaucratic struggles over the Japanese legacy regarding these matters are revealed. The article thereby aims to shed light on how the War of Resistance affected post-war China's foreign relations, demonstrating how the young Republic advantageously used wartime legacies as diplomatic tools in relations with the superpowers and within the orchestrated clangour of domestic propaganda campaigns.

Stalin, Togliatti, and the Origins of the Cold War in Europe

2001 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 3-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvio Pons
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Marshall Plan ◽  
National Unity ◽  
The West ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
West European

Soviet policy toward the Italian Communist Party (PCI) from 1943 to 1948 exemplified Josif Stalin's complicated relationship with the West European Communist parties and Western Europe in general. For a considerable while, Stalin insisted that the PCI follow a policy of moderation. Palmiro Togliatti, the leader of the PCI, heeded Stalin's orders and tried to ensure that the Italian Communists pursued a policy of national unity and avoided conflicts that might lead to civil war in Italy. But this moderate approach collapsed after the Soviet Union rejected the Marshall Plan in 1947 and thereby forced the West European Communist parties into extra-parliamentary opposition. Not until after the poor showing of the PCI in the 1948 Italian elections was the party able to regain a viable role. Stalin's conflicting advice to the PCI was indicative of his tenuous grasp of the situation in Western Europe.

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