Soviet foreign propaganda
- Princeton Princeton University Press 1964
- 329 p.
Although by now a truly vast literature on the Soviet Union has been produced by scholars, many significant as pects of Soviet policy still remain relatively unexplored. Per haps one of the most important of these neglected areas is the international political communication program of the USSR. In this study I have attempted to trace the historical development of the unprecedentedly systematic effort made since 1917 by the Soviet communists to shape world opinion. I have also sought to analyze the major themes and to describe the organization and techniques of the international propa ganda activity centered in Moscow.
Perhaps an attempt to deal with such a vast subject be tween two covers smacks of rashness. I hope, nevertheless, that this book will not only contribute to knowledge of a significant instrument of Soviet foreign policy but will also stimulate other scholars to seek to widen and deepen our un derstanding of the role of the manipulation of symbols on the international scene as a factor in Soviet world policy.
Whatever the limitations of this study may be, they would certainly have been much more serious had I not benefitted by a great deal of invaluable advice and assistance from a wide variety of sources. I owe a continuing debt to those pioneers in the analysis of the political uses of communication, Had ley Cantril, Mark A. May, and Harold D. Lasswell, for friendly counsel and stimulating example. Of course, neither they nor the many other persons in academic or official positions who generously offered bibliographical or interpretive suggestions bear any responsibility for the use or misuse I may have made of their help.