«Песню дружбы запевает молодежь»: успехи и неудачи советской международной молодежной политики (1957-1985) = “The Youth Sings the Song of Friendship”: Successes and Failures of Soviet International Youth Policy (1957–1985)

Orlov, Igor (2023) «Песню дружбы запевает молодежь»: успехи и неудачи советской международной молодежной политики (1957-1985) = “The Youth Sings the Song of Friendship”: Successes and Failures of Soviet International Youth Policy (1957–1985). RUSSIANSTUDIES.HU, 5 (1). pp. 113-132. ISSN 2677-0660

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Abstract

This article examines the main stages of the development of international youth tourism in the USSR in the period between the 1957 and 1985 World Festivals of Youth and Students. These were held in Moscow and marked the nodal points of international youth policy in general and international tourism in particular. The focus of this research is on the activities of the “Sputnik” International Youth Tourism Bureau as it welcomed foreign youth (primarily on excursions) and served them a diet of ideology. These young people represented a specific audience due to their age and psychological characteristics. The Bureau’s techniques of hospitality and propagandistic influence went beyond the formation of momentary positive impressions from the trip. The long-term effect was more important, since young foreign tourists (especially from Western countries) would potentially be joining the ranks of the political, economic and intellectual elite of their countries in the future; this could be the key to creating a more balanced attitude towards our country and the basis for improving the policy of “peaceful coexistence” between the two socio-political systems. International youth tourism, as a “synthetic” form of youth policy, was considered by the Soviet leadership as a promising branch of “people’s diplomacy”, an important channel for positioning the Soviet Union in the world community. It is noted that youth tourism took its first steps within the structure of Intourist, but over the years it acquired its own forms and mechanisms of presenting Soviet reality in the foreign youth environment.

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