Abstract
This article examines Sino–Soviet relations in the 1950s through the medium of political cartoons in Manhua and Krokodil, satire magazines published in the People’s Republic of China and the Soviet Union. Images of friendship and enmity produced an intricate narrative about world affairs and the paths of socialism and capitalism. By comparing the stories and visual representations in Krokodil and Manhua, this study underscores the similarities and contradictions existing between the Soviet Union and China in the years before their split. This approach provides an example of two ideological machines working to reflect unexpected shifts in alliances while maintaining a claim on the teleological coherence of socialist development. It also exemplifies the mechanics of visual propaganda under the stress of contradictory policies and purposes.
Highlights
Relations between the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) after the latter’s foundation in 1949 are often described in terms of close friendship and mutual support
This name seems apt in light of the great number of Soviet specialists sent to China in those years, the scale of other technical and economic support measures offered by the USSR to China (Shen Zhihua 2003, 176, 197), and China’s readiness to follow the Soviet example at that time
This paper looks at such distortions to reconstruct the visual images of Sino–Soviet relations in the 1950s as they were presented to the readers of satire magazines in the Soviet Union and China, reflecting the alliances and contradictions of the Cold War
Summary
Relations between the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) after the latter’s foundation in 1949 are often described in terms of close friendship and mutual support. There were a number of less observable issues, such as various hitches in administrative and bureaucratic procedures, and, importantly, the mutually ambivalent perceptions of Soviet and Chinese people Both the USSR and the PRC, being ideological states that relied heavily on indoctrination in governance, needed to maintain finely tuned domestic propaganda about relations with each other, with other socialist countries, and with the rest of the world. The Soviet Krokodil (Crocodile) was established in 1922, and by the 1950s it was issued three times a month; the magazine outlived the USSR and was intermittently published until as late as 2008.6 The Chinese Manhua 漫画 (Cartoon) first appeared in 1950, was initially published monthly and later fortnightly, and was closed down in 1960 Both magazines were part of the wider state-directed mass media system. – depictions of the USSR’s and the PRC’s interactions with capitalist countries
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