Soviet “Defense Literature” of the Early 1930s and (Anti)colonialism: Literary Formation of the New Ideology

Abstract

The article deals with the problem of Soviet propaganda in literature, specifically with the combination of anticolonial and defense aspects. The Literary Association of Red Army and Navy was the main organization introducing defense theme into Soviet literary discourse. The Association issued a journal named LOKAF, which had to make all literature “defense literature”. This term was invented by the members of the Association themselves. Soviet propaganda of the interwar period had a special interest in making the reader believe that the new war was inevitable because of the “imperialistic” ambitions of foreign governments. This aspect was also realized in conjunction of defense and colonial topics. This conjunction provided specific patterns of literary discourse. The authors developed specific strategies in order to follow this point of view. They combined their original field of literary interest (such as Soviet Central Asia or marine theme) with anti-colonial discourse in different ways. Literary reviews also integrated colonial patterns into defense literature in order to show that issues of colonialism were defense issues too. The reader had to learn that Soviet politics was anti-colonial. Defense literature aimed to legitimize Soviet politics, both external and internal.