Western intellectuals and the Soviet Union, 1920-40

About this book

"Despite the appalling record of the Soviet Union on human rights questions, many Western intellectuals with otherwise impeccable liberal credentials were strong supporters of the Soviet Union in the interwar period. This book explores how this seemingly impossible situation came about, examining the involvement of many prominent Western intellectuals with the Soviet Union, including Theodore Dreiser, G. B. Shaw, Henri Barbusse, Romain Rolland, Albert Marquet, Louis Aragon and Elsa Triolet, Victor Gollancz, Lion Feuchtwanger and Jean-Richard Bloch. Previously unpublished documents from the Soviet archives show 'behind the scenes' operations of Soviet organisations that targeted, seduced and led Western intellectuals and writers to action. The book focuses in particular on the work of various official and semi-official bodies, including Comintern, the International Association of Revolutionary Writers (MORP), the All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries (VOKS), and the Foreign Commission of the Soviet Writers' Union, showing how cultural propaganda was always a high priority for the Soviet Union, and how successful this cultural propaganda was in seducing so many Western thinkers."--BOOK JACKET.