Global and Transnational in Form, Soviet in Content: The Changing Semantics of Internationalism in Official Soviet Discourse, 1917–1991

Abstract

The term “internationalism” underwent a series of dramatic, semantic transformations in the USSR between 1917 and 1991. This article offers a Begriffsgeschichte‐style analysis of the conceptual history of the term, tracking its usage in the official press over the course of the Soviet Union's existence. Such a broad, systematic survey indicates that internationalism was used with considerable rigor in official messaging as it was invoked over and over again in the context of ideological formulas and sloganeering. More importantly, this study reveals the connotations of the term to have varied significantly over time for reasons linked chiefly to changes in policymaking priorities. Such findings challenge longstanding assumptions about the static nature of Soviet internationalism, the stability of the so‐called “official line” and the nature of the relationship between ideology and practice in the USSR. Ultimately, this analysis suggests that over the 74‐year lifecycle of the term, internationalism exchanged its revolutionary, antiestablishment semantics for something much more conventional and Soviet‐specific.