Existing scholarship suggests that Stalin’s Great Terror of 1936–8
seriously undermined Soviet cultural diplomacy and forced its main
promoter, the All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign
Countries (VOKS), to succumb to the strict control of the party and
secret police. By contrast, this article argues that by the spring and
summer of 1939 VOKS was recovering from stagnation and reintroducing
customs from before the Great Terror. Through a micro-historical
analysis of Finnish writer Olavi Paavolainen’s exceptionally long visit
to the Soviet Union between May and August 1939, the article
demonstrates how case studies of select VOKS operations can explain many
of the dilemmas and peculiarities of Soviet cultural diplomacy during
the thus far scantily researched 1939–41 period. By focusing on the
interactions between Paavolainen, the VOKS vice-chairman Grigori
Kheifets and Soviet writers, the article illustrates that after the
purges, VOKS continued its efforts to disseminate a positive and
controlled image of Soviet life by complex means that linked propaganda
with network-building. Finally, the article highlights the role of
individuals in cultural diplomacy and explores how an outsider perceived
the Great Terror’s effects on Soviet cultural intelligentsia.