Interference or friendly gestures? Soviet cultural diplomacy and Finnish elections, 1945–56

ABSTRACT

In autumn 1944, the Soviet Union and Finland made peace, beginning a complete restructuring of their relations. As a result, Finland became the most important target country in the capitalist West for Soviet cultural diplomacy. The USSR sent numerous top artists to Finland for extensive tours. One objective was to support a peaceful image of the USSR, but, at the same time, these operations were to support the electoral successes of Finnish Communists. This paper examines Soviet cultural diplomacy directed towards Finland. Special attention will be paid to the different motivations behind major actions of Soviet cultural diplomacy in Finland.

KEYWORDS:

• Soviet Union
• cultural diplomacy
• cultural Cold War
• propaganda
• Finland

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

¹ Finland had waged a defensive war (the so-called Winter War) against Soviet invasion in 1939–40. In 1941, Finland joined forces with Germany to invade the Soviet Union in the so-called Continuation War (1941–4). This was followed by the Lapland War against Germany (1944–5). Finland was the only parliamentary democracy to side with Nazi Germany.

² Fear of Soviet occupation remained rife while the Allied Control Commission remained in Finland. Even after the departure of Soviet officials, fears of a communist takeover persisted. Kimmo Rentola, Niin kylmää että polttaa: kommunistit, Kekkonen ja Kreml 1947–58 (Helsinki: Otava, 1997), 17–57. Nevertheless, when the Allied Control Commission was leaving Finland in 1947, Zhdanov seemed certain that Finland would become a people’s democracy; see Jukka Nevakivi, Ždanov Suomessa (Helsinki: Otava, 1994), 224–5.

³ The political and cultural liberalisation that began slowly after the death of Stalin and continued to the early 1960s. The period is typically associated with Nikita Khrushchev’s tenure as the general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party.

⁴ For a concise discussion of the use of culture and cultural means in the post-Second World War setting, see Simo Mikkonen, Jari Parkkinen, and Giles Scott-Smith, “Exploring Culture in and of the Cold War,” in Entangled East and West: Cultural Diplomacy and Artistic Interaction during the Cold War (Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2019), 1–14. For more on Soviet cultural diplomacy in particular, see Nigel Gould-Davies, “The Logic of Soviet Cultural Diplomacy,” Diplomatic History 27, no. 2 (2003): 193–214; Simo Mikkonen, “Winning Hearts and Minds? The Soviet Musical Intelligentsia in the Struggle against the United States during the Early Cold War,” in Twentieth-Century Music and Politics, ed. P. Fairclough (Farnham: Ashgate, 2013); and Pia Koivunen, “Performing Peace and Friendship: The World Youth Festival as a Tool of Soviet Cultural Diplomacy, 1947–57” (PhD diss., University of Tampere, 2013).

⁵ For a general account, see Richard Arndt, The First Resort of Kings: American Cultural Diplomacy in the Twentieth Century (Dulles, VA: Potomac Books, 2005); on cultural relations between Western Europe and the United States, see Alexander Stephen, ed., The Americanization of Europe: Culture, Diplomacy, and Anti-Americanism after 1945 (New York: Berghahn, 2005). For an overview of Finnish relations with Western great powers during this period, see Marek Fields, “Reinforcing Finland’s Attachment to the West: British and American Propaganda and Cultural Diplomacy in Finland,1944–62” (PhD diss., University of Helsinki, 2015).

⁶ On VOKS and the role of cultural diplomacy in Soviet foreign policy, see Jean-Francois Fayet, “VOKS: The Third Dimension of Soviet Foreign Policy,” in Searching for a Cultural Diplomacy, ed. Jessica Gienow-Hecht and Mark Donfried (New York: Berghahn, 2010), 33–49; and Michael David-Fox, Showcasing the Great Experiment: Cultural Diplomacy and Western Visitors to the Soviet Union, 1921–41 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012). On Soviet cultural diplomacy more generally, see David Caute, The Dancer Defects: The Struggle for Cultural Supremacy during the Cold War (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003); Michael David-Fox, Showcasing the Great Experiment: Cultural Diplomacy and Western Visitors to the Soviet Union, 1921–41 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011); Gould-Davies, “The Logic of Soviet Cultural Diplomacy”; Mikkonen, Winning Hearts and Minds; Mikkonen, Parkkinen, and Scott-Smith, “Exploring Culture in and of the Cold War”; Meri Herrala, “Pianist Sviatoslav Richter: The Soviet Union Launches a ‘Cultural Sputnik’ to the United States in 1960,” in Music, Art and Diplomacy: East-West Cultural Interactions and the Cold War, ed. Simo Mikkonen and Pekka Suutar (Farnham: Ashgate, 2016), 87–105; and Meri Herrala, “Challenges for Soviet-American Collaboration in the Cold War: The Capitalisation of Pianist Sviatoslav Richter for American Musical Markets,” Cold War History 19, no. 2 (2019): 187–208.

⁷ Gould-Davies, “The Logic of Soviet Cultural Diplomacy”; and Mikkonen, “Winning Hearts and Minds.”

⁸ David-Fox, Showcasing the Great Experiment.

⁹ From its establishment in 1925, VOKS supervised Soviet cultural connections with foreign countries; it also played an important role in Soviet foreign policy. Terminated in 1957, VOKS was replaced by two new organisations, signalling changes in Soviet foreign policy and its use of culture. See Gould-Davies, “The Logic of Soviet Cultural Diplomacy”; Mikkonen, “Winning Hearts and Minds.”

¹⁰ Most of the basic literature on Finnish-Soviet affairs is in Finnish and often deals with key politicians. See for example Tuomo Polvinen, Hannu Heikkilä, and Hannu Immonen, J. K. Paasikivi: valtiomiehen elämäntyö 4, 1944–48 (Porvoo: WSOY, 1999) and Jukka Seppinen, Vaaran vuodet: Suomen selviytymisstrategia 1944–50 (Helsinki: Minerva, 2008). Most of the cultural exchange literature has focused more on certain Finnish organisations than on Finnish-Soviet interaction; see Ville Pernaa, Tehtävänä Neuvostoliitto. Opetusministeriön Neuvostoliittoinstituutin roolit suomalaisessa politiikassa 1944–92 (Helsinki: Venäjän ja Itä-Euroopan instituutti, 2002); and Kaisa Kinnunen, Suomi-Neuvostoliitto-Seuran historia 1944–74 (Helsinki: Suomi-Venäjä-Seura, 1998).

¹¹ Rentola, Niin kylmää että polttaa; Mikko Majander, Pohjoismaa vai kansandemokratia? Sosialidemokraatit, kommunistit ja Suomen kansainvälinen asema 1944–51 (Helsinki: SKS, 2004).

¹² The history of the Finnish-Soviet Society mostly focuses on the society itself rather than its actions in a broader context. See Kinnunen, Suomi-Neuvostoliitto-Seuran historia. Elina Melgin also writes at length about Finnish-Soviet cultural diplomacy between 1945 and 1952 in “Propagandaa vai julkisuusdiplomatiaa? Taide ja kulttuuri Suomen maakuvan viestinnässä 1937–1952” (PhD diss., University of Helsinki, 2014). See also Simo Mikkonen, “The Finnish-Soviet Society: From Political to Cultural Connections,” in Nordic Cold War Cultures: Ideological Promotion, Public Reception and East-West Interactions, ed. Valur Ingimundarsson and Rosa Magnusdottir (Helsinki: Kikimora, 2015). For a broader perspective on friendship societies with the Soviet Union, see Sonja Grossman, “Dealing with ‘Friends’: Soviet Friendship Societies in Western Europe as a Challenge for Western Diplomacy,” in Beyond the Divide: Entangled Histories of Cold War Europe, ed. Simo Mikkonen and Pia Koivunen (New York: Berghahn, 2015), 196–217.

¹³ See e.g. Antero Holmila and Simo Mikkonen, Suomi sodan jälkeen. Pelon, katkeruuden ja toivon vuodet 1944–1949 (Jyväskylä: Atena 2015), 60–1.

¹⁴ Action Report of the Finnish-Soviet Society for 1945 (Helsinki: SN-seura, 1946), 6.

¹⁵ For example, in 1949, Finnish Social Democrats tried to force the FSS to allow parties other than the FCP and its affiliates to access leading positions in the FSS; see Rentola, Niin kylmää että polttaa, 109. On the rhetoric of the FSS reminding that of the FCP, see e.g. Action Report of the Finnish-Soviet Society for 1945 (Helsinki: SN-seura, 1946), 6-7; see also Francoise Thom, Newspeak: Language of Soviet Communism (London: Claridge Press, 1989).

¹⁶ Separate Soviet visits have been discussed in various publications, but there is no comprehensive account. See for example Melgin, Propagandaa vai julkisuusdiplomatiaa, 152–219; Meri Herrala, “David Oistrakh and Sviatoslav Richter Stepping through the Iron Curtain,” in Ei ihan teorian mukaan: kollegakirja Tauno Saarelalle, ed. Kimmo Rentola et al. (Helsinki: Työväen historian ja perinteen tutkimuksen seura, 2012), 241–60.

¹⁷ Kari Immonen, “Neuvostoliitto-kuvan muuttuminen Suomessa toisen maailmansodan jälkeen,” in YYA ja Suomi, ed. Heikki Viitala (Kuopio: kustannuskiila, 1990), 24.

¹⁸ E.g. Pernaa, Tehtävänä Neuvostoliitto, 86–7. Until the mid-1950s, the Finnish government was mostly passive in regards to Soviet cultural operations, and even then, it was concerned mostly about expenses related to cultural exchange rather than political influencing.

¹⁹ Orlov’s letter to Kemenov, 16 November 1944, f. 5283, op. 20, d. 135, GARF.

²⁰ Ad, Helsingin Sanomat, 24 December 1944. See also Maija Koskinen, “Taiteellisesti elvyttävää ja poliittisesti ajankohtaista: Helsingin Taidehallin näyttelyt 1928–68” (PhD diss., University of Helsinki, 2019), 250–62.

²¹ In fact, Finnish-German connections had a very long history. See Vesa Vares, Viileää veljeyttä: Suomi ja Saksa 1918–1939 (Helsinki: Otava, 2018); and Marjaliisa Hentilä and Seppo Hentilä, Saksalainen Suomi 1918 (Helsinki: Siltala, 2016).

²² “Venäläisen suuryhtyeen vierailu,” Uusi Suomi, 28 January 1945.

²³ “Punaisen Armeijan kuoron konsertti,” Helsingin Sanomat, 28 January 1945.

²⁴ “Punaisen armeijan kuorovierailu ainutlaatuinen taide-elämys,” Vapaa Sana, 29 January 1945.

²⁵ “Puna-armeijan kuoro matkustaa maasta tänään,” Uusi Suomi, 10 February 1945.

²⁶ “Venäjän taide- ja tiede-elämän edustajia Helsingissä,” Helsingin Sanomat, 26 January 1945.

²⁷ “Det ryska kulturbesöket,” Nya Pressen, 30 January 1945; and Istomin’s letter to Kemenov at VOKS, 13 April 1945, f. R-5283, op. 20, d. 135, l. 111, GARF.

²⁸ “Leninin kaupungin taiteilijoita saapunut,” Vapaa Sana, 22 February 1945; and “Taide saarretussa Leningradissa,” Vapaa Sana, 22 February 1945.

²⁹ “Ural-utställningen öppnad,” Hufvudstadsbladet, 13 March 1945.

³⁰ “Rysk balettsucces,” Hufvudstadsbladet, 6 March 1945.

³¹ In the autumn of 1945, Sergei Istomin, a member of the ACC and VOKS’ representative in Finland, urged the head of VOKS, Lidia Kislova, to send more Soviet artists to Finland; see Istomin’s letter to Kislova, 8 October 1945, f. R-5283, o. 20, d. 135, ll. 60–1, GARF.

³² There had been elections in countries that remained neutral, such as Switzerland and Sweden.

³³ This was noted by the Allied Control Commission and reported to Moscow; see Istomin’s letter to Kemenov, 13 April 1945, f. R-5283, op. 20, d. 135, l. 111, GARF.

³⁴ “Mainehikas Moisejevin kansantanssiyhtye Suomessa,” Vapaa Sana, 6 March 1945.

³⁵ VOKS report on its operations in Finland in 1946, signed by Istomin; no date [early in 1947], f. R-5283, op. 20, d. 170, ll. 178–85, GARF.

³⁶ Both Izvestiya and Pravda ran lengthy reports and analyses of the Finnish elections, both before and after. See for example “Nakanune vyborov v Finlyandii,” Izvestiya, 16 March 1945.

³⁷ “Leningradin valtiollisen filharmonian vierailu,” Uusi Suomi, 3 March 1946.

³⁸ Extract from the minutes of the Central Committee of the Soviet CP, sent to Molotov, 1 September 1953. f. 3, op. 66, d. 627, l. 100, APRF. Cited in Timo Vihavainen, Ohto Manninen, Kimmo Rentola, and Sergei Zuravljov, Varjo Suomen yllä. Stalinin salaiset kansiot (Juva: Docendo, 2017), 424–5.

³⁹ Memorandum re. Soviet artistic tours in Finland during summer 1948 (n.d.), FSS, Folder 246 – Vastaanotetut vieraat (1947–51), FNA.

⁴⁰ Music Commission Action Report of the Helsinki City for 1955, Kertomukset Helsingin kaupungin kunnallishallinnosta, Helsinki City Archive.

⁴¹ In other parts of the capitalist West, the influx of Soviet artists only began in the late 1950s; see for example Gould-Davies, “The Logic of Soviet Cultural Diplomacy.”

⁴² Pieck and Grotewohl’s letter to the CC of Soviet CP, 20 October 1950, f. 82, op. 2, d. 1177, ll. 93–4, RGASPI.

⁴³ Merkulov’s memorandum to Stalin, 5 July 1950, f. 3, op. 66, d. 640, ll. 85–9, APRF. Cited in Varjo Suomen yllä, 411–14.

⁴⁴ Letter to VOKS, 12 December 1949 (erroneously entered as 1948); lists drafted in 10 January 1949. Folder 88/Kirjeet Neuvostoliittoon/NL:n ystävyysseurat, FSS, FNA.

⁴⁵ Memorandum listing participants for FSS music section soiree, 5 November 1949, Folder 246 – Vastaanotetut vieraat (1947–51), FSS, FNA.

⁴⁶ See for example Gromyko to Stalin, 21 November 1949, f. 3, op 66, d. 640, ll. 51–4, APRF. Cited in Varjo Suomen yllä, 401–3. The letter discusses various possible operations of counter propaganda in Finland.

⁴⁷ Kuznetsov to Stalin, 10 October 1949, f. 3, op. 66, d. 640, ll. 42–4, APRF. Cited in Varjo Suomen yllä, 397–9.

⁴⁸ N. Dedkov, “Poslantsy sovetskoi kultury v Finljandii,” Izvestiya, 5 December 1949, 4. The Social Democratic Party of Finland and the Finnish Communist Party constantly struggled over the control of numerous trade unions and labour confederations.

⁴⁹ Rejection of request from Musiikki-Westerlund, 13 August 1948, f. R-5283, op. 20, d. 194, ll. 1–4, GARF. The letter states that the persons mentioned were on tour in the Soviet Union throughout the 1948–9 season.

⁵⁰ Mikkonen, “Winning Hearts and Minds.”

⁵¹ Grigoryan to Suslov, regarding Oistrakh’s trip to Finland, 15 March 1952, f. 17, op. 137, d. 491, l. 102, RGASPI.

⁵² Mikko Novitsky’s report, “Eräitä huomioita neuvostotaiteilijain matkasta Suomessa 4–21.4.1959,” 22 April 1959, FSS, Folder 250 – Vastaanotetut vieraat (1955–59), FNA.

⁵³ Mari Tampere-Bezrodny’s interview with the author on 18 May 2017.

⁵⁴ Marina Frolova-Walker, Stalin's Music Prize: Soviet culture and politics (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016), 324.

⁵⁵ Bespalov from the Soviet Ministry of Culture to Orlov at the Foreign Ministry, 7 October 1950, f. 962, op. 3, d. 2252, l. 3, RGALI; see also Bespalov and Zorin’s calculations at the Arts Committee, 12 September 1950, f. 962, op. 3, d. 2252, l. 11, RGALI.

⁵⁶ Memorandum: Publika na kontsertah (n.d.) 25.11–15.12.1951, FSS, Folder 246 – Vastaanotetut vieraat (1947–51), FNA.

⁵⁷ Grigoryan to Suslov regarding Oistrakh’s trip to Finland, 15 March 1952, f. 17, op. 137, d. 491, l. 102, RGASPI. For attachments to the resolution and preceding correspondence, see ll. 98–103.

⁵⁸ “Suurta suomalaista mestaria kunnioitetaan Neuvostoliitossa,” Työkansan Sanomat, 12 June 1953; and “Igor Bezrodnyin konsertti,” Kansan Ääni, 19 June 1953.

⁵⁹ Letter from the FSS to S.G. Dyakonov at the Soviet Ministry of Culture re. Helsinki Symphony Orchestra, 27 April 1953, FSS, Folder 85 – Kirjeet Neuvostoliittoon, Virastot ja yhteisöt (1945–70), FNA.

⁶⁰ Letter from Toivo Karvonen and Ontro Virtanen to VOKS music department, 27 April 1953, FSS, Folder 145 – Musiikkijaosto (1947–89), FNA.

⁶¹ Letter from Ontro Virtanen to VOKS, 29 June 1953, FSS, Folder 145 – Musiikkijaosto (1947–89), FNA.

⁶² Memorandum re. visit by Soviet artists, 6–30 November 1953, FSS, Folder 248 – Vastaanotetut vieraat (1952–53), FNA.

⁶³ Private artists [sic.] visiting from the Soviet Union, 1954, [n.d.], FSS, Folder 249 – Vastaanotetut vieraat (1954), FNA.

⁶⁴ Letter from Kislova to Tverdokhlebov, 13 July 1953, f. R-5283, op. 20, d. 217, l. 2, GARF recommending that Bezrodny be sent to Finland in March 1954. Other Finnish suggestions are also supported. It seems, however, that the matter was finalised at the last minute. See also Ontro Virtanen’s letter to VOKS, 29 June 1953, FSS, Folder 145 – Musiikkijaosto (1947–89), FNA. Originally, the Helsinki Symphony had hoped for a reply by mid-May. See Veikko Helasvuo’s letter to the Soviet Embassy in Helsinki (April 1953), f. R-5283, op. 20, d. 217, l. 18, GARF.

⁶⁵ Letter from Toivo Karvonen and Mirja Ruonaniemi to VOKS, 24 February 1954, FSS, Folder 249 – Vastaanotetut vieraat (1954), FNA.

⁶⁶ Letter from Toivo Karvonen and Mirja Ruonaniemi to VOKS, 24 February 1954, FSS, Folder 249 – Vastaanotetut vieraat (1954), FNA.

⁶⁷ “Opiskelu on tyypillistä kaikille opiskelijoille,” Hämeen Yhteistyö, 6 April 1954.

⁶⁸ “Beecham, Oistrah ja Ellabelle Davis Sibelius-Viikon ulkomaiset vierailijat,” Helsingin Sanomat, 24 April 1954.

⁶⁹ Oistrakh’s report to Soviet officials on his trips to Finland and Sweden in summer 1954, 30 June 1954, f. 2329, o. 8, d. 37, ll. 1–7, RGALI.

⁷⁰ “Kolme neuvostotaiteilijaa tuli,” Helsingin Sanomat, 11 November 1954.

⁷¹ Ringbom’s report to the Music Commission of Helsinki, 22 November 1954, FSS, Folder 145 – Musiikkijaosto (1947–89), FNA.

⁷² Ringbom’s report to the Music Commission of Helsinki, 22 November 1954, FSS, Folder 145 – Musiikkijaosto (1947–89), FNA.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Academy of Finland, Research Council for Culture and Society [276486].

Notes on contributors

Simo Mikkonen

Simo Mikkonen is Senior Research Fellow at the Department of History and Ethnology, University of Jyväskylä (Finland). He is specialized in 20th Century Russian and Eastern European history, cultural and artistic diplomacy of the Cold War era, and Russian émigrés. He has published extensively on cultural, international and transnational East-West connections, particularly from the Soviet perspective, including a monograph State Composers and the Red Courtiers. Music, Ideology and Politics in the Soviet 1930s (Mellen 2009), and edited volumes Beyond the Curtain: Entangled Histories of the Cold War-Era Europe (Berghahn 2015), Music, Art, and Diplomacy: East-West Cultural Interactions and the Cold War (Routledge 2016), as well as Entangled East and West. Cultural Diplomacy and Artistic Interaction during the Cold War (Degruyter 2018). He has also authored a multi-author monograph Networking the Russian Diaspora: Russian Musicians and Musical Activities in Interwar Shanghai together with Hon-Lun Yang and John Winzenburg (Hawaii UP 2019).