Soviet Campaigns against “Capitalist Ideological Subversives” during the Cold War: The Latvian Experience

Abstract

This article discusses the Soviet Union's use of propaganda warfare during the Cold War, focusing on the specific case of Soviet Latvia. Archival materials from recently opened archives in the former USSR show that the Soviet Union pursued a methodical ideological campaign against certain groups of U.S. citizens, including the post-World War II political refugees from Latvia. The main institution charged with this task was the Liaison Committee for the Cultural Relations with Countrymen Abroad (LCCR), which was highly influential at the time. Archival materials allow scholars to examine the LCCR's history, methods, and goals, as well as its successes and failures. Among the findings in the article is the importance the Soviet Union attached to propaganda and to programs to counter and discredit “anti-Soviet” émigré organizations.