Foreign Commission of the Soviet Writers’ Union in the 1950s.

Abstract

The article examines the development of the Foreign Commission of the Soviet Writers’ Union in 1953–1959. Commission’s goals were determined by the new document, “Regulations on the Foreign Commission.” Most of duties fell on consultants involved expanding ties with different countries. The Second and Third Writers’ All-Union Congresses (1954, 1959), where dozens of foreign authors participated, played an important role in the development of the Foreign Commission’s contacts. The main political events of the period, such as the 20th Congress of the CPSU and the Pasternak case, made the work of the institution’s staff more difficult. Aware of the influence of the United States among the foreign writers, as well as the competition of the young Chinese project, the Foreign Commission understood the need for a more open, democratic and businesslike approach, but was failing to achieve its implementation in the 1950s. But still the Foreign Commission of the Soviet Writers’ Union was not like other soviet propaganda institutions of its time, mainly because the special status of the foreigners it dealt with, and also due to the fact that this work was carried out not by professional propagandists, but by literary critics and translators.