ANGLO-SOVIET LITERARY CONNECTIONS IN THE 30-ies TWENTIETH CENTURY

Abstract

The relevance of the topic is due to the fact that cultural interstate relations are viewed as a democratic trend in diplomatic activity. In this connection, it is of scientific interest to reveal the mechanism of participation of various kinds of social circles, organizations and movements in foreign policy activity. In the article the main tendencies, stages and forms of the Anglo-Soviet literary exchange in the 1930s are analyzed on the basis of extensive archival material. It is emphasized that the basis for this was the interest of the public in the mutual enrichment and penetration of the cultures of the two peoples. Socialist construction was the subject of close attention of citizens of capitalist countries. On the other hand, the expansion of literary contacts with Great Britain was viewed by the Soviet leadership as a way to solve a number of political problems. The article concludes that the literary exchange in the 1930s has not undergone significant development, although there has been some revival in this area in 1934–1936, which was due to the improvement of political relations between the two countries. Since 1937 there has been a decrease in the intensity of literary connections. In the second half of 1939 there was a sharp decrease in the number of such contacts, although, in comparison with other cultural spheres, literary exchange still retained its significance. By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union, the cultural ties between Great Britain and the USSR, including literary ones, were virtually collapsed. The reason for this was the negative attitude of most of the British intelligentsia towards the Soviet Union in this period and the antiBritish orientation of Soviet propaganda.