In Spains momentous Civil War, Soviet propaganda reached new heights as Joseph Stalin and his minions learned it doesnt take an army to win a war in the long term, just an effective shift in the narrative. Its a lesson still being felt in two hemispheres. Probably the most decisive victory for the Comintern, the USSRs international-operations arm charged with spreading revolution, came during the 1936-39 war between Spaniards loyal to the democratically elected Spanish Republic and a rebel group led by Gen. Francisco Franco. The conflict was as ideological as it was military. Stalin took power in 1924 after the death of Vladimir Lenin and focused primarily on consolidating his power and institutionalizing Lenins Bolshevism, calling it socialism in one country. Stalin scrapped Lenins quasi-free market changes and turned the country inward. That was a far cry from the old Bolshevism propounded by the likes of Russian Civil War commander and ideologue Leon Trotsky, who continued to preach world revolution even as he was cast out by Stalin in a purge. By 1936, Stalin learned to embrace a new kind of war abroad, through propaganda in Spain. This followed a period of hesitancy, given that Russia had no national interests in Spain during its war. The Comintern had not been particularly interested in Spain, wrote Stephane Courtois and Jean-Louis Panne in The Black Book of Communism. But the Soviet Union quickly acquired much greater influence in the government as communists invited in its operatives and they saw opportunities. Courtois and Panne added: The country became a kind of laboratory where the Soviet authorities not only applied new political strategies and tactics, but also tried out techniques that would be used during and after World War II.......... news.investors/ibd-editorials-viewpoint/051214-700537-soviet-propaganda-got-a-full-workout-during-spanish-civil-war.htm
Posted on: Tue, 13 May 2014 00:41:49 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015