소비에트 러시아 공공외교의 기원 : 1921~1922년 러시아 대기근과 소연방대외문화교류협회의 탄생

Abstract

This paper examines the historical context in which the Bolshevik government established the All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries (VOKS) in 1925. In so doing this paper traces the origin of Soviet public diplomacy. From the mid-1920s to the 1930s, Soviet diplomacy was led by three different organizations each with own aim and strategy—the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs that focused on ensuring the newly-found socialist regime’s security and normalizing relations with foreign countries; Comintern which was devoted to spreading socialist revolutionary ideology globally; and lastly, VOKS that complemented the work of these organizations by constructing cultural ties with foreign intellectuals and workers organizations. Soviet Russia was thus one of the early pioneers who simultaneously pursued traditional ‘official diplomacy’ with what could be described as ‘public diplomacy.’ The origin of Soviet public diplomacy however dates back to the immediate aftermath of the Russian Revolution to 1921-1922 when a devastating famine that struck the Southern part of Russia put pressure on the Bolshevik state to learn to engage with the foreign public. This paper first explores collaboration between the All-Russian Central Commission for Famine Relief and the Workers International Relief, a Berlin-based NGO created by the Comintern, to show how Soviet overseas propaganda emerged from the organizations’ collaborative efforts to win the hearts of the foreign public and to encourage active participation in relief work. Then the paper explores Russia’s diplomatic successes from the 1922 Berlin Russian Art Exhibition, the first-ever international exhibition of Soviet art co-organized by the Bolshevik government and the Workers International Relief. In the conclusion, the paper demonstrates how the two organizations’ collaborative efforts during the 1921-1922 Russian Famine built the foundation for Soviet cultural diplomacy and the creation of VOKS.