scholarly journals Uriel Weinreich’s “Languages in Contact” in the Soviet Union: Treading a Dangerous Ground

2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (45) ◽  
pp. 22-34
Author(s):  
Oleksandra Litvinyak
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Market Economy ◽  
Russian Translation ◽  
Editorial Policy ◽  
Democratic Society ◽  
Iron Curtain ◽  
Limited Access ◽  
Languages In Contact ◽  
Financial Feasibility ◽  
The Soviet Union

 In a democratic society with a market economy, editorial policy is often a matter of financial feasibility rather than anything else. Meanwhile, totalitarian societies approach it from a different angle, frequently putting political considerations in the centre. Living behind the Iron Curtain, Soviet scholars had very limited access to Western publications – very few of them were translated into the languages of Soviet republics. What is more, research shows that they were subject to censorship, just like literary works. Besides, the work of a translator, being invisible to the majority of readers, could be quite dangerous and ruin one’s scholarly career. Thus, a scholar embarking on a translation journey to acquaint their colleagues with the best samples of world research had to be very considerate. Such was the case of the Russian translation of Uriel Weinreich’s seminal book Languages in Contact done by the Ukrainian linguist, translator, lexicographer, and educator Yuriy Zhluktenko. The present paper explores the matter of censorship and self-censorship in this translation and its paratexts.

Lukewarm Neutrality in a Cold War? The Case of Austria

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 36-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erwin A. Schmidl
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Military Occupation ◽  
Iron Curtain ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
East And West ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Other Orientation ◽  
Over Time

Geographically, Austria's position during the Cold War differed significantly from that of Switzerland or Sweden, let alone Ireland. Austria, like Finland, was situated along the Iron Curtain. In 1945, Austria was divided between East and West, and the Soviet Union hoped that the Austrian Communists could quickly gain power by largely democratic means. This effort failed, however, when the Communists lost decisively in the November 1945 elections. Over the next decade, Austria remained under Soviet and Western military occupation. The formal adoption of a neutral status for Austria in May 1955, when the Austrian State Treaty was signed, was a compromise needed to ensure the departure of Soviet forces from Austria. Although some other orientation might have been preferred, neutrality over time became firmly engrained in Austria's collective identity.

The Theme of Repatriation of Jews from the USSR in the Soviet Media as a Manifestation of Media Propaganda in the 1970s (the Сase of the Izvestiya)

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 135-148
Author(s):  
Strovsky Dmitry L. ◽  
◽  
Antoshin Alexey V. ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Editorial Policy ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Mass Consciousness ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Russian Media ◽  
Soviet Ideology ◽  
Empirical Material

This article analyzes the substantive approaches used by the Soviet press when reflecting the topic of the repatriation of Jews from the USSR to Israel in the 1970s. This period is of particular importance in the course of studying information propaganda as an independent socio-political activity aimed at the formation of a certain type of mass consciousness. During this period, information propaganda of the Soviet mass media was perceived as an essential basis for strengthening ideological and political positions of the Soviet Union by leveling the complexities of its daily life. The study of how exactly these media promoted the topic of repatriation seems to be new in the study of the information space. The disclosure of this topic through the use of extensive empirical material enables to see the patterns of development of this space at the final stage of the Soviet period, which in turn, determines the relevance of the study in modern conditions, when manipulative priorities anew have become noticeable in the practice of the Russian media. The authors envisage the editorial policy of such an influential central newspaper as Izvestia. This publication, like all the other Soviet media, was attached to propaganda priorities, which predetermined manipulative approaches when covering the topic of repatriation. In order to determine the main trends of manipulative influence, we used structural-functional and systemic methods, as well as a method of content analysis, which together afford to see the patterns of development of the Soviet print media in the disclosure of the topic presented in the title of this article. The results of the research are not only theoretically but practically oriented, since they provide understanding of effective methods of influencing the audience and using them in everyday media practice. Keywords: media, Soviet ideology, propaganda, manipulation, class approach, Zionism, Jews

Information and the Market Economy

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Sarokin ◽  
Jay Schulkin
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Market Economy ◽  
Invisible Hand ◽  
Planned Economy ◽  
Large Measure ◽  
Subprime Mortgage ◽  
Market Signals ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Mortgage Crisis ◽  
Centrally Planned Economy

The Soviet Union tried to manage the information needed to run a centrally-planned economy. Their efforts failed in large measure due to information shortcomings. Capitalism is a much better information processor, relying on the ‘invisible hand” to recognize and respond to market signals. But capitalism can have information failures too, as evidenced by Enron, the subprime mortgage crisis, and the work of information economists.

Whither the Cuban economy after recovery? The reform process, upgrading strategies and the question of transition

2002 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 365-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
CLAES BRUNDENIUS
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Development Strategy ◽  
Market Economy ◽  
Average Rate ◽  
Reform Process ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
New Development ◽  
Upgrading Strategies ◽  
Ruling Party

Where is the Cuban economy heading? The economy has been recovering at an average rate of four per cent per year since 1994 (after GDP declined by 35 per cent between 1989 and 1993). Many reforms have been undertaken in the direction of a market economy, but it is far from clear what kind of economy the Cuban ruling party has in mind after recovery. This article discusses the successes and shortcomings of the reform process in Cuba since the downfall of communism in Europe and the Soviet Union. It also addresses the salient issues in what appears to be a new development strategy in Cuba, and what could be said about the reforms and the strategy in the light of the debate on transition ‘ten years after’.

Is It Transnational? A New Perspective in the Study of Communism

2013 ◽  
Vol 40 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 114-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bogdan C. Iacob
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Iron Curtain ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Fundamental Shift ◽  
The Continuum

This article presents a comprehensive review of the transnational perspective in the study of communism and the implications of this methodological turn for the transformation of the field itself. While advancing new topics and interpretative standpoints with a view to expanding the scope of such an initiative in current scholarship, the author argues that the transnational approach is important on several levels. First, it helps to de-localize and de-parochialize national historiographies. Second, it can provide the background to for the Europeanization of the history of the communist period in former Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Third, and most importantly, the transnational approach can reconstruct the international dimension of the communist experience, with its multiple geographies, spaces of entanglement and transfer, and clustered, cross-cultural identity-building processes. The article concludes that the advent of transnationalism in the study of communism allows for the discovery of various forms of historical contiguousness either among state socialisms or beyond the Iron Curtain. In other words, researchers might have a tool to not only know more about less, but also to resituate that “less” in the continuum of the history of communism and in the context of modernity. The transnational approach can generate a fundamental shift in our vantage point on the communist phenomenon in the twentieth century. It can reveal that a world long perceived as mostly turned inward was in fact imbricate in wider contexts of action and imagination and not particularly limited by the ideological segregationism of the Cold War.

scholarly journals Through the Witness’s Emotional Eyes: Bruno Barbey’s Portrait of Poland

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-90
Author(s):  
Gisela Parak
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Iron Curtain ◽  
Martial Law ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
International Diplomacy ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Photo Book

The enforcement of martial law in Poland in December 1981, a major setback to the policy of détente, contributed to a cooling of international diplomacy and triggered a second phase in the Cold War. This analysis of the photo book Pologne by Magnum photographer Bruno Barbey, published in 1982, shows how the photo book commented on the political situation in Poland and gave a vivid testimony from major protagonists in the field. This article argues that the book was not merely a ‘documentary’, but also dared to offer a transnational response to the events of the day and, as such, reflected wider French sympathy for the aims and requests of Polish citizens, as seen by a French photographer. Moreover, Barbey attempted to introduce Polish history in general, and Poland’s burdened relationship to the Soviet Union in particular, in order to suggest that it belonged to the history of Western democratic states across the Iron Curtain.

scholarly journals Financial Control in the Transition from Classical Socialism to a Market Economy

1991 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 107-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald I McKinnon
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Market Economy ◽  
Financial Management ◽  
Price Level ◽  
Financial Control ◽  
Average Price ◽  
Market Prices ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
The Soviet Union

The transition from socialism to capitalism poses severe problems of financial management that have yet to be resolved in principle, let alone in practice. One unfortunate consequence is continual financial turmoil as socialist economies of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe attempt reform. Inflation, either open or repressed, first accompanies and then undermines attempts to decentralize decision-making. But why should the transition from central planning to a market economy be inflationary? Understanding the system of financial control in the preexisting regime of “classical” socialism is the key to understanding what might go wrong in the transition. I discuss how in a more deliberate transition, domestic tax and monetary arrangements might be managed to keep the average price level stable as the market prices of individual goods and services become free to fluctuate, and suggest complementary policies governing tariffs and foreign exchange convertability in the move toward free foreign trade.

A New Look at Churchill'S ‘Iron Curtain’ Speech

1979 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 895-920 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry B. Ryan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
The United States ◽  
Iron Curtain ◽  
Western Front ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Electoral Defeat ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
New Look

Churchill's ‘iron curtain’ speech at Fulton, Missouri, on 5 March 1946, was a major effort to promote both a strengthened Anglo-American combination and a firmer western front against the Soviet Union. In the months between his electoral defeat and his talk at Fulton he had viewed Soviet consolidation in Europe with continuing concern, probably coupled with despair at his own inability to do very much about it. This presidential invitation, however, to deliver an address at an American college could provide a means to push to the fore the policies that he believed in. Certainly, the effect of his talk can be overestimated, but, despite its failure to create the very close alignment Churchill hoped for with the United States, it undoubtedly contributed to hardening western positions towards the Soviets.

The Soviet Union and the Problem of Refugees and Displaced Persons 1917–1956

1957 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 325-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Ginsburgs
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
International Law ◽  
Iron Curtain ◽  
Displaced Persons ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Soviet Experience

The Soviet Union, since its inception in 1917, has been the world’s largest source of refugees and displaced persons. This in itself would be sufficient motive to examine the Soviet attitude towards this category of individuals, but apart from mere quantity, the question is of interest, too, for other reasons: Russian refugees were the cause and the first subjects of international legal attempts to solve the problem; Soviet policies toward them have been unusual at all times, resulting in some bold innovations in international law; and most refugees and displaced persons at present come from behind the Iron Curtain, thereby involving the Soviet Union and its satellites, whose policies are influenced by and modeled on the Soviet experience.

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