Krasnoshchekov N.A., Solov'ev K.A. —
Political and administrative support of the American Exhibition of 1959 in Moscow
// History magazine - researches. – 2021. – ¹ 4.
– P. 10 - 26.
DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2021.4.36156
URL: https://en.e-notabene.ru/hsmag/article_36156.html
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Abstract: The topic of decision-making in the sphere of foreign policy propaganda and counter-propaganda in the USSR of the mid XX century is poorly studied within the Russian historiography. The object of this research is the administrative decision-making process by political and administrative authorities in the context of reversal of directions and development of the new techniques in the Soviet foreign policy. The subject of this research is the organization of work on counter-propaganda in the process of preparing and hosting the American Exhibition in Moscow in 1959. The goal consists in determination of specificity of administrative activity in the sphere of propaganda and counter-propaganda. The author set the following tasks: identification of the organizational-administrative forms of ideological activity on the organization of exhibition; determination of the algorithm for making administrative decisions in this sphere; description of the tasks solved by the administrative authorities at different stages of this process depending on the implemented techniques. Research methodology is based on the documentary analysis (informative and textological) using the materials from the Russian State Archive of Contemporary History. The main conclusion lies in revealing the specificity of decision-making at different stages conducting such activity. The first stage is the analysis of actions of the American side and the forecast of possible response of the Soviet citizens to the information acquired during exhibition. This resulted in the development of preliminary proposals on adopting the measures to reduce the propaganda effect of the exhibition. The second stage is the political decision-making on holding the counter-propaganda events, development and approval of the particular action plan at the session of the Municipal Committee of CPSU. This stages mars the establishment of the two blocks of measures were formed: distraction of the Soviet citizens from exhibition, and measures on reduction of the propaganda effect (counter-propaganda). The third stage indicates positive perception of the exhibition by the Soviet citizens, which did not fully resolved the set tasks, and thus, required additional measures that would give the appearance of the critical attitude of Soviet people towards the exhibition.