Soviet Soft Power in Poland

Abstract

Concentrating on the formative years of the Cold War from 1943 to 1957, this book reveals little-known Soviet efforts to build a postwar East European empire through culture. The text argues that the Soviets involved in foreign cultural outreach tried to use “soft power” in order to galvanize broad support for the postwar order in the emerging Soviet bloc. The book shows that the Stalinist system ultimately undermined Soviet efforts to secure popular legitimacy abroad through persuasive propaganda. It also highlights the limitations and contradictions of Soviet international cultural outreach, which help explain why the Soviet empire in Eastern Europe crumbled so easily after less than a half-century of existence.