Abstract
During the Second World War the Soviet intelligentsia had a special place in the system of inter-allied relations. On the one hand, its representatives were “national speakers”, whose status and popularity were to promote the development and consolidation of relations between the Soviet Union, the United States and Great Britain. On the other hand, those characteristics attracted attention to the intellectual elite from the state security. The Soviet leadership tried to use the creative and scientifi c intelligentsia, as a kind of “bait”, which stimulated the interest of Western states to the Soviet Union. At the same time the limits have always been under the full control of the political elite. Among the intelligentsia existed a burning desire to escape from the government’s care and frank conformism in relations with the authorities determined by motives of self-preservation.
The attitude of the Soviet intelligentsia to the allies was equally controversial. With greater (compared with the average citizens) sources of information about Western countries, including personal acquaintance with famous foreign science and art personalities, Soviet intellectuals could quite deep and accurately describe the main trends in the relations with the allies and produce their social and psychological portraits. However, there was a subjective assessment of the West. The defeat in the war could make the Soviet writers, artists, composers seek asylum abroad. It restrained open criticism of the allies. The result of this duality has become a multi-level and controversial image of the Western allies, which was broadcast in the mass consciousness of Soviet society. It required the country’s leadership.
Keywords
Soviet intelligentsia, anti-Hitler coalition, allies, Soviet writers, Jewish antifascist committee, censorship, the image of the allies
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