Article
"Под властью угля", или история о том, как британский углекоп Гарольд Хезлоп так и не стал советским писателем
The paper explores the work of the British working class author Harold Heslop, whose sponsor was the Soviet diplomat Ivan Maisky, as part of the Soviet cultural diplomacy. Its focus is the Soviet publications of the writer, 1926-1931, and their Soviet criticism. Discussing the British author as a Soviet cultural project demonstrates the shift of cultural paradigms in the Soviet cultural policy, from the internationalist projects of the 1920s to the messianic ‘cosmopolitan’ (Clark) projects of the 1930s.
Unlike bigger sections of the International Union of Revolutionary Writers (IURW), such as the German, American or French ones, the British section was created in two stages, first in 1930-2 and then in 1935. Whereas the second attempt was quite successful and the British section of the IURW of 1934 can be studied through a variety of bureaucratic documents, the first left hardly any typically bureaucratic paperwork, but correspondence between the British and Soviet representatives of the union. The letters come together as an adventure story that is of interest within the institutional history of the IURW as well as a wider context of the Soviet cultural diplomacy.
The article focuses on the history of the English version of Internatsionalnaya Literatura, International Literature, addressing different aspects of the institutional history of the magazine over the 1930s. The magazine is discussed as a mouthpiece of IURW (International Union of Revolutionary Writers), so the published and (newly revealed) archival materials are used to show the connection and, more importantly the difference between the two institutions, presented by more or less the same set of people. Another perspective is introduced by the editorial correspondence with the readers from Britain. The institutes under consideration are discussed as both cultural and political entities and analyzed from these two perspectives.
The article discusses dissemination in Great Britain and United States of America of the English-language addition of the magazine “International literature" in the period of active work of International Union of Revolutionary Writers’ (1932-1936)
Despite increasing scholarship on the cultural Cold War, focus has been persistently been fixed on superpowers and their actions, missing the important role played by individuals and organizations all over Europe during the Cold War years. This volume focuses on cultural diplomacy and artistic interaction between Eastern and Western Europe after 1945. It aims at providing an essentially European point of view on the cultural Cold War, providing fresh insight into little known connections and cooperation in different artistic fields. Chapters of the volume address photography and architecture, popular as well as classical music, theatre and film, and fine arts. By examining different actors ranging from individuals to organizations such as universities, the volume brings new perspective on the mechanisms and workings of the cultural Cold War. Finally, the volume estimates the pertinence of the Cold War and its influence in post-1991 world. The volume offers an overview on the role culture played in international politics, as well as its role in the Cold War more generally, through interesting examples and case studies
This chapter is based on an examination of the writings of the leading fellow-travelers of the 1930s and archival study of their Soviet visits. At its center is the web of concrete ties binding them to Soviet intel- lectual mediators and cultural institutions. It will make several inter- locking arguments that address longstanding debates about Western intellectuals and communism.