Cultural exchange between Canada and Ukrainian SSR as an tool of Soviet propaganda

Abstract

The aim of the research is to analyze peculiarities of cultural exchange between Canada and the Ukrainian SSR in the 1960s and 1980s, which took place during the Cold War. The research methodology is defined by an interdisciplinary approach (history, culture, foreign relations) and is based on general scientific and special scientific methods, first of all, retrospection and historical comparison. The scientific novelty of the research is that on the basis of archival materials determined the forms and content of cultural exchange between the Ukrainian SSR and Canada, in particular its propaganda content. The Conclusions. During the Cold War the cultural sphere became an arena of confrontation, and art (or what was meant by it) became part of ideological propaganda campaigns. Cultural exchange was seen by the Soviets as a way of representing «achievements of socialist culture» to Canadian Ukrainians and as an effective propaganda tool. Formally, on the Soviet side, cultural exchanges were carried out by specially created organizations, which, however, were managed and financed through the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the International Department of the Committee of State Security (KGB). The request to maintain cultural ties with the Ukrainian SSR in Canada was largely due to the desire of the Ukrainian community overseas to maintain spiritual ties with the Motherland. Different approaches to the interpretation of cult exchange – from approval to complete denial – have provoked a lively discussion in the diaspora. Adherents of cultural programs from the Ukrainian SSR were Canadian left-wing organizations, such as the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians. The League of Liberation of Ukraine was a categorical opponent of the cultural exchange, whose representatives saw in the artists from the USSR Soviet emissaries called to «destroy» the Ukrainian community in Canada. Organizations within the Ukrainian Canadian Committee (UCC) condemned cultural exchange as a one-sided tool of Soviet propaganda, but viewed cultural ties as a way to influence Soviet artists. Because of one-sided Soviet cultural infiltration, on several occasions the UCC voiced its protest against Canada’s cultural exchanges with this country. Ukrainian Canadian artists, choirs and dance ensembles are not permitted to perform in Ukraine unless they were politically acceptable to the Soviet authorities.