«Песню дружбы запевает молодежь»: успехи и неудачи советской международной молодежной политики (1957–1985)

RussianStudiesHu. 2023. Т. 5. № 1. С. 113–132.

I. B. Orlov

This article examines the main stages of the development of international youth tourism in
the USSR in the period between the 1957 and 1985 World Festivals of Youth and Students.
These were held in Moscow and marked the nodal points of international youth policy in
general and international tourism in particular. The focus of this research is on the activities
of the “Sputnik” International Youth Tourism Bureau as it welcomed foreign youth (primarily
on excursions) and served them a diet of ideology. These young people represented a specific
audience due to their age and psychological characteristics. The Bureau’s techniques of
hospitality and propagandistic influence went beyond the formation of momentary positive
impressions from the trip. The long-term effect was more important, since young foreign
tourists (especially from Western countries) would potentially be joining the ranks of the
political, economic and intellectual elite of their countries in the future; this could be the
key to creating a more balanced attitude towards our country and the basis for improving
the policy of “peaceful coexistence” between the two socio-political systems. International
youth tourism, as a “synthetic” form of youth policy, was considered by the Soviet leadership
as a promising branch of “people’s diplomacy”, an important channel for positioning the
Soviet Union in the world community. It is noted that youth tourism took its first steps within
the structure of Intourist, but over the years it acquired its own forms and mechanisms of
presenting Soviet reality in the foreign youth environment.

Keywords: фестиваль, молодежная политика, international tourism, международный туризм, Бюро "Спутник", festival, техники гостеприимства, youth policy, sputnik, hospitality practices