A Joyful Soviet Childhood: Licensed Happiness for Little Ones

Kelly, Catriona

doi:10.7135/upo9781843318170.003

Cited by 13 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…During the 1970s and 1980s, Catriona Kelly argues, the perceived locus of childhood happiness moved from the state to the family. The Soviet Union shifted away from a focus on institutional life and embraced a new “celebration of the (virtuous, Soviet) home as the ideal place for raising useful and well‐balanced citizens” (Kelly, , p. 8).…”

Section: Child‐rearing the Family And The Statementioning

confidence: 99%

The nursery'sIronCurtain: Children, childhood, and the globalColdWar

Fieldston

2019

History Compass

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This essay surveys recent literature on children, childhood, and the Cold War. Over the past decade or so, numerous studies have explored the complex ways in which children and young people both bolstered and challenged the Cold War order. In doing so, they have shed new light on the social and cultural dynamics of the Cold War, encouraged historians to recover formerly marginalized voices, and expanded our definition of politics to include arenas far removed from the formal halls of power. Moreover, looking at youth has revealed striking similarities between the two superpowers whose rivalry defined the latter half of the 20th century.

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Section: Child‐rearing the Family And The Statementioning

confidence: 99%

The nursery'sIronCurtain: Children, childhood, and the globalColdWar

Fieldston

2019

History Compass

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“…5 Soviet realism is otherwise known as Socialist realism. 6 On how happy that childhood was, see Kelly (2008Kelly ( , 2009) and Balina (2009). The new Soviet prose and poetry for children emerged very quickly, and immediately it was also scrutinised by the Party. The revolutionary movement naturally produced a new type of book that was supposed to help children embrace new socialist ideas and ideals.…”

Section: For Young American Comradesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why Are They So Afraid of Children’s Books? The Subversive Power of Imagination (Part 2)

Bukhina

2019

dlk

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The second part of the article explores particular examples of subversive books in American, Soviet, and Russian children's literature as well as the revolutionary role of fantasy and innovative literary forms through different periods of the history of the USA, the Soviet Union, and Russia. To show how children's literature was often at odds with particular governments and common opinions, the article uses the examples of the American Left writings for young readers, the 1920s Soviet children's prose and poetry, and contemporary Russian children's books. The article discusses the various attempts of governmental censorship and control over this literature and the ability of writers and publishers to resist the ideological and political pressures.

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“…Despite their ideological differences, leaders, propagandists and advertisers on both sides of the Iron Curtain recognized that consumer happiness would be the key to remaining solvent and to winning the hearts and minds of populations around the world. While scholars have conducted a significant amount of research on the politics of mass consumption that existed in the USA and the Soviet Union in the years following the Second World War, they have yet to recognize the extent to which consumerism shaped the Cold War on a transnational scale (Balina, 2009;Castillo, 2010;Cohen, 2003;Hessler, 2004;Kelly, 2009;Osokina et al, 2001;Randall, 2008;Reid, 1997). Economic comforts and consumer happiness stood as measures for victory in the Cold War.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cold War consumption and the marketing of childhood in the Soviet Union and the United States, 1950-1960

Peacock

2016

Journal of Historical Research in Marketing

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Purpose – This paper aims to explore the relationship between childhood, consumption and the Cold War in 1950s America and the Soviet Union. The author argues that Soviet and American leaders, businessmen, and politicians worked hard to convince parents that buying things for their children offered the easiest way to raise good American and Soviet kids and to do their part in waging the economic battles of the Cold War. The author explores how consumption became a Cold War battleground in the late 1950s and suggests that the history of childhood and Cold War consumption alters the way we understand the conflict itself. Design/Methodology/Approach – Archival research in the USA and the Russian Federation along with close readings of Soviet and American advertisements offer sources for understanding the global discourse of consumption in the 1950s and 1960s. Findings – Leaders, advertisers, and propagandists in the Soviet Union and the USA used the same images in the same ways to sell the ethos of consumption to their populations. They did this to sell the Cold War, to bolster the status quo, and to make profits. Originality/Value – This paper offers a previously unexplored, transnational perspective on the role that consumption and the image of the child played in shaping the Cold War both domestically and abroad.

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A Joyful Soviet Childhood: Licensed Happiness for Little Ones

Cited by 13 publications

References 0 publications

The nursery'sIronCurtain: Children, childhood, and the globalColdWar

The nursery'sIronCurtain: Children, childhood, and the globalColdWar

Why Are They So Afraid of Children’s Books? The Subversive Power of Imagination (Part 2)

Cold War consumption and the marketing of childhood in the Soviet Union and the United States, 1950-1960

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