Suchergebnisse

The Soviet-Yugoslav dispute and the subsequent defection of the Yugoslav Communist Party from the ranks of the Cominform early in 1948 took the world by surprise. This surprise was in itself indicative of our belief that Stalinist control was to be taken for granted at least in the areas where the local Communist parties had come to power through direct or indirect help from the Soviet Union and particularly from the Red Army. Even when no such help had been given, the ideological affinities of Communist states and their need of alliances to preserve the Communist power structures would lead, it was believed, to a tightening of relations with the Soviet Union and to Soviet predominance. In other words, we tended to accept without question the premises of Stalinism.

Since the early 1930's but especially during and since the war of 1941–1945, the Kremlin has made increasing use of symbols and terms designed to elicit "patriotic" responses in the population under its control. While never completely abandoned, the ideology of "proletarian internationalism" has receded ever further into the background in Soviet doctrine and propaganda. The concept of the "Soviet fatherland" was developed in connection with Stalin's program of "socialism in one country" and of rapid industrialization and the formation of a new Soviet bureaucracy. This process was expressed most vividly in connection with the adoption of the "Stalin Constitution" in 1936, and the claim, maintained ever since, that a new type of "socialist" democracy and citizenship had been established and embodied therein.