‘The Burns connection’: the Scotland–U.S.S.R. Society and Cold War cultural diplomacy

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Abstract Literature on Soviet friendship societies in the West has traditionally focused on their position as communist front organizations. However, work is now emerging noting their role in burgeoning civil societies, allowing non-state actors to increasingly work with both the socialist superpower and their respective governments. This article explores the particular case of the Scotland–U.S.S.R. Society during the Cold War. Cultivating a peripheral cultural tradition within Britain’s composite state, the Society was able to promote a native radicalism that proved particularly appealing to Soviet sensibilities. The internationalist network afforded by these links subsequently provided an alternative outlet for the stateless nation to amplify its voice in line with wider transnational forces challenging the conflict binary.