SOVIET PROPAGANDA DURING THE POLISH-BOLSHEVIK WAR OF 1919-1920 IN INTERNATIONAL OPINION. SELECTED ISSUES (Propaganda sowiecka w okresie wojny polsko-bolszewickiej 1919-1920 w opinii miedzynarodowej. Wybrane zagadnienia)

• Authors: Leinwand Aleksandra J.
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

After the First World War Europe became the scene of unrest and local conflicts. Assorted parts of the Continent witnessed a struggle for, i.a. new borders. The war waged by renascent Poland and Soviet Russia in 1919-1920 constituted a conflict that exceeded local dimensions. Armed hostilities were accompanied by political-propaganda campaigns, whose range considerably transcended bilateral relations. In a confrontation with their western neighbour and in efforts to carry 'the flame of the revolution' across (the hopefully) vanquished Poland to the rest of Europe, the Bolsheviks deployed, apart from the army and the traditional arms and armaments, also propaganda envisaged as a weapon. The ultimate objective was the Sovietisation of Poland. The phenomenon that distinguished the Russia of Lenin and Trotsky was the creation, soon after the October upheaval (1917), of an enormous agitation and propaganda ('agit-prop') arsenal. The impoverished country, involved in conflicts on several fronts, did not spare funds for this particular purpose. In the war against Poland it applied unprecedented propaganda pressure. Indoctrination encompassed also other European countries, since Soviet agents and propaganda experts persistently and often quite successfully attempted to mould European and even global public opinion. The great effort of the Soviet propaganda apparatus, visible in the mass-scale 'agit-prop' production, the spectacular campaigns conducted with extraordinary impetus, and the differentiation of the conveyed contents, could not remain unnoticed. What was the reaction to the tide of communist agitation and propaganda outside Russia? Did the persons involved and institutions established for this purpose appreciate the scale of the problem? Was the phenomenon ignored or regarded as a threat that must be countered, and if so, then in what ways? The presented text seeks answers to the above questions upon the basis of the selected opinions expressed by observers from the period and experts on Russia, predominantly French, British and Polish. The author studied material from various archives in Paris and Warsaw and, by way of a supplement, in London.

Keywords

EN

POLISH-BOLSHEVIK WAR OF 1919-1920; SOVIET PROPAGANDA; SOVIETISATION OF POLAND

Discipline

• HISTORY: HISTORY

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla PAN w Warszawie
• Journal: Studia z Dziejów Rosji i Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej
• Year: 2009
• Volume: 44
• Pages: 65-75
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Leinwand Aleksandra J.

• Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla PAN, Rynek Starego Miasta 29/31, 00-272 Warszawa, Poland

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

11PLAAAA10263