Conspiracy of Peace: the Cold War, the International Peace Movement, and the Soviet Peace Campaign, 1946-1956
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The London School of Economics and Political Science Conspiracy of Peace: The Cold War, the International Peace Movement, and the Soviet Peace Campaign, 1946-1956 Vladimir Dobrenko A thesis submitted to the Department of International History of the London School of Economics for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, London, October 2015 Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the MPhil/PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 90,957 words. Statement of conjoint work I can confirm that my thesis was copy edited for conventions of language, spelling and grammar by John Clifton of www.proofreading247.co.uk/ I have followed the Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition, for referencing. 2 Abstract This thesis deals with the Soviet Union’s Peace Campaign during the first decade of the Cold War as it sought to establish the Iron Curtain. The thesis focuses on the primary institutions engaged in the Peace Campaign: the World Peace Council and the Soviet Peace Committee. Chapter 1 outlines the domestic and international context which fostered the peace movement (provisional title) and endeavours to construct a narrative of the political and social situation which the Soviet Union found itself in after World War II (as a superpower and an empire leading the Socialist Bloc) in order to put forward the argument that the motivations for undertaking the project of the 'peace movement', above all, were of an international-political nature, rather than of an internal and domestic nature. Chapter 2 starts off with the Soviet project of establishing an international peace movement, including firstly the World Peace Congress, which simultaneously convened in Paris and Prague, and then proceeds with the institutional, political and social development of the Campaign up to the dissolution of the Cominform in 1956. The task of this chapter is not merely to chronicle the history of the Soviet Peace Campaign, but to extract from the narrative underlying themes and organise them accordingly. Finally, Chapter 3 deals with internal Soviet Peace Campaign. The task here is to construct a historical account of the Soviet anti-war movement from 1949 to 1956 through the institutional history of the Soviet Peace Committee. Furthermore, the aim is to demonstrate the relationship between the Soviet Peace Committee and party and state institutions and its dependency on and implications for political decision-making processes within the Central Committee of the Communist Party. Finally, this chapter will also examine the role of the Soviet Peace Committee and its affiliated institutions in the advancement of Cold War propaganda through the media (i.e. press, journalism, etc.), literature (i.e. novels, poems, etc.), film and political art (i.e. posters, caricature, etc.). 3 Conspiracy of Peace: The Cold War, the International Peace Movement, and the Soviet Peace Campaign, 1946-1956 Table of Contents Acknowledgement…………………………………………..……….………………………………………………………………………5 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………...……...6 Chapter 1. The Political, Social and Ideological Origins of the Soviet Peace Movement23 Fall of an Alliance, Rise of ‘Peace’. ........................................................................................ 23 Peace Sells, but Who’s Buying?. ............................................................................................. 38 A Revolutionary Theory of Peace …………………………………………………...…...….47 Chapter 2. The Global Peace Campaign: Establishing the Soviet Brand of ‘Peace’.......63 Cominform Beginnings. ........................................................................................................... 63 Signs of Revolt…. .................................................................................................................... 88 Undermining the American-led European Project and the Biological Warfare Campaign…………………………………………………………….…………………..…101 Expanding Beyond Europe and the Crisis of the Movement after Stalin’s Death……….....116 The Movement dithers, diplomacy returns, peace come crashing 1953-1956….…………..134 Chapter 3. The Internal Soviet Peace Campaign……………………………….……….154 The Soviet Peace Committee: Bureaucracy of Peace……………………….…….…..……154 Performing Peace: Soviet Commedia dell'Pacem……………………………….……….…169 The Peace Propaganda Industry………………………………………………….………....187 Internalisation: Consuming Peace……………………………………………...…………...199 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………….206 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………….211 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This thesis would not have been possible without the encouragement and support of numerous people. First and foremost, I am grateful to my academic supervisor, Professor Odd Arne West, for taking initial interest in my proposal and then guiding my research throughout the last four years. His insightful comments gave a sense of direction for the research, and equally as important, confidence in my own writing. This work would also not have been possible without the backing of the Department of International History, which assisted in travel expenses during research trips. This thesis would not have been completed without the advice and suggestions of scholars at the at the International History Department at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and the Cold War History Research Seminar at LSE IDEAS. I want to thank Professor Anita Prazmowska and Steve Casey for giving me detailed feedback on the historiography section and Professor Vladislav Zubok on very useful commentary on Chapter Two. I am also grateful for Dr. Svetozar Rajak for his understanding while I attempted to juggle finishing my PhD and working on the BA-RA project at LSE IDEAS. I would also like to thank all the staff RGASPI, RGANI, GARF, the Russian State Library and the LSE Archives for giving me assistance with finding documents and guiding to potentially other crucially important documents. Finally, I want to thank my colleagues, in particular Natalia Telepneva, who gave me the time of the day to remind me that I was not alone in dealing with all the problems with undertaking a PhD. 5 INTRODUCTION On March 13th, 2014, two days before the referendum in the Crimea which would become the starting point for what many are calling a new Cold War, a dramatic scene took place at the UN Security Council. Addressing the Russian Ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk held up the UN Charter and accused Russia of violating it:1 Addressing Mr Churkin directly, he said in Russian that Kiev was "looking for an answer to the question, whether Russians want war" with a country with whom it has "for decades had warm and friendly relations". "I'm convinced that Russians do not want war," he said. "I hope that the Russian Government and the Russian president will heed the wishes of their people and that we return to dialogue and solve this conflict." In response, Mr Churkin said: "Russia does not want war and nor do the Russians, and I'm convinced that Ukrainians don't want this either.” "Furthermore, we do not... interpret the situation in such terms. We don't want any further exacerbation of the situation." At the Hall of the UN Security Council, during the past decades since the end of World War II, many speeches about peace have been delivered and the word ‘peace’ and its derivatives have almost always been the most widely used. Many speeches were made especially during the Cold War and occupied much of the history of the United Nations (1946- 1991). The Cold War was accompanied by constant recriminations of aggressive tendencies and the never-ending "struggle for peace." In a sense, the Cold War was a "war for peace". With almost complete mutual misunderstanding, one thing united Yatsenyuk and Churkin – both were brought up in the Soviet era and speak the same "language of peace”. This code was hardly noticeable to anyone in the room, apart from them: “Do the Russians want war?” This is not simply a rhetorical question. This is the refrain of the Cold War. One of the most popular Soviet songs, with words by Evgeny Evtushenko, has since 1961 become a kind of anthem of Soviet peace, absorbing all the basic ideological codes developed in Soviet propaganda during the formative period of the Cold War, 1946-53: 1 BBC, “Ukraine crisis: Russia tells UN it does not want war”. Accessed May 15, 2015. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26564851 6 O, do the Russians long for war? Ask of the stillness evermore, Ask of the field, or ask the breeze, And ask the birch and poplar trees. Ask of the soldiers who now lie Beneath the birch trees and the sky, And let their sons tell you once more Whether the Russians long for war. Not only at their country's call Did Russian soldiers fight and fall; They died that men from ev'ry shore Might live without the fear of war. Ask those who fought, and those erased, Ask those who at the Elbe you embraced. These monuments are only for To show if Russians long