Late Soviet Internationalism in Practice, 1953-1993

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

This panel revisits internationalism in the postwar Soviet Union. Internationalism was a fundamental tenet of Soviet state doctrine, describing an idealized vision of interethnic collaboration and cohesion within the Soviet Union, as well as international cooperation and aid to oppressed peoples abroad. In practice, internationalism manifested in various ways across different spheres of Soviet life. It often held different meanings for distinct groups and actors, sometimes conflicting and occasionally undermining its original intent. The participants in this panel examine diverse expressions of Soviet internationalism and their ramifications. Lyudmila Austin argues that internationalist vospitanie (education or cultivation), which represented the full spectrum of Soviet nationality policy but promoted interethnic ties and Soviet unity, became a major policy initiative under Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev. Zukhra Kasimova analyzes Soviet-American sister city diplomacy through the 1973 Tashkent-Seattle twinning, the first city-level cooperation program of its kind, which was intended to bridge the Cold War divide from the margins. Jonathan Raspe shows how, against the backdrop of the longstanding association of national republics with their contribution to the country’s economy, the 1987 economic reform debates fueled concerns about economic justice among the republics. Finally, Carolina de Stefano explores the transition from Moscow’s Soviet-era nationalities policy to Russian foreign policy toward the former Soviet republics in 1990-1993, focusing in particular on the issue of ethnic Russian communities abroad, which represented another consequence of Soviet domestic internationalism.

Sub Unit

• History: 1945-1990

Chair

• Alex Jackson, Harvard U

Papers

• Cold War's Warm Bond: Tashkent-Seattle Sister-Cities’ Transnational Diplomacy - Zukhra Kasimova, Bucknell U

• Economic Reform, Republican Khozraschet, and Nationalist Mobilization during Perestroika - Jonathan Raspe, U of Zurich (Switzerland)

• From Soviet Nationalities Policy to Russia’s Foreign Policy: The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the CIS, and the Question of the Russian Communities Abroad, 1990-1993 - Carolina de Stefano, Luiss School of Government (Italy)

Discussant

• Jonathan Brunstedt, Texas A&M U