Soviet soft power in Poland : : culture and the making of Stalin’s new empire, 1943-1957 / Patryk Babiracki

by Babiracki, Patryk,

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Scope and content: "Concentrating on the formative years of the Cold War from 1943 to 1957, Patryk Babiracki reveals little-known Soviet efforts to build a postwar East European empire through culture. Babiracki argues that the Soviets involved in foreign cultural outreach tried to use 'soft power' in order to galvanize broad support for the postwar order in the emerging Soviet bloc. Populated with compelling characters ranging from artists, writers, journalists, and scientists to party and government functionaries, this work illuminates the behind-the-scenes schemes of the Stalinist international propaganda machine. Based on exhaustive research in Russian and Polish archives, Babiracki's study is the first in any language to examine the two-way interactions between Soviet and Polish propagandists and to evaluate their attempts at cultural cooperation. Babiracki shows that the Stalinist system ultimately undermined Soviet efforts to secure popular legitimacy abroad through persuasive propaganda. He also highlights the limitations and contradictions of Soviet international cultural outreach, which help explain why the Soviet empire in Eastern Europe crumbled so easily after less than a half-century of existence"--Provided by publisher

UID	ocn935892633
Full Title	Soviet soft power in Poland : : culture and the making of Stalin’s new empire, 1943-1957 / Patryk Babiracki
Publication Info	Chapel Hill, The University of North Carolina Press, 2015
ISBN(s)	9781469620893, 1469620898
Series	The New Cold War history, New Cold War history
Physical Description	xv, 344 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
Bibliography Note	Includes bibliographical references (pages 303-328) and index.
Formatted Contents Note	From Sel’tsy to Siedlce — Postwar hopes and promises — Soft power on the sidelines — Unlikely heroes — Soviet soft power and the Polish thaw — Epilogue: The old and the new — Conclusion: Trapped in history — Appendix: Tables and charts
Summary, etc.	Scope and content: “Concentrating on the formative years of the Cold War from 1943 to 1957, Patryk Babiracki reveals little-known Soviet efforts to build a postwar East European empire through culture. Babiracki argues that the Soviets involved in foreign cultural outreach tried to use ‘soft power’ in order to galvanize broad support for the postwar order in the emerging Soviet bloc. Populated with compelling characters ranging from artists, writers, journalists, and scientists to party and government functionaries, this work illuminates the behind-the-scenes schemes of the Stalinist international propaganda machine. Based on exhaustive research in Russian and Polish archives, Babiracki’s study is the first in any language to examine the two-way interactions between Soviet and Polish propagandists and to evaluate their attempts at cultural cooperation. Babiracki shows that the Stalinist system ultimately undermined Soviet efforts to secure popular legitimacy abroad through persuasive propaganda. He also highlights the limitations and contradictions of Soviet international cultural outreach, which help explain why the Soviet empire in Eastern Europe crumbled so easily after less than a half-century of existence”–Provided by publisher