The Soviet-Chinese Conflict in the Second Half of the 1960s Through the Mirror of Soviet Satire

The aim of the article is to study the reflection of the Soviet-Chinese conflict in the Soviet satire of the second half of the 1960s. The sources for the study were the materials of the central and regional press (feuilletons, poems, caricatures), jokes that appeared at that time, archival materials (reports on meetings, questions from lectures on the international situation), memoirs and diaries. Thus, both official and unofficial sources help to identify the core usage of Soviet satire. The article analyzes the specifics of the construction of visual and text satirical materials. The conflict with China was the only conflict within the Socialist Camp that the Soviet press covered using satire as one of the main expressive tools. Irony was effective in terms of shifting the emphasis from the ideological confrontation between the USSR and China to individual manifestations of the "Cultural Revolution" in China. The techniques of absurdity and hyperbole served to portray unrealistic images of what was happening in China. Satire in the official press partially used stereotypes Soviet citizens had about China and its inhabitants. These stereotypes were most fully reflected in jokes. Newspapers and magazines regularly published cartoons about China's politics, including its anti-Soviet position. The image of China was significantly different from those portraying the main foreign policy enemies of the USSR (the USA and West Germany). The caricatures showed mild aggression and elements of Chinese culture, while the actors were presented only fragmentary. The main topic, the development of the cult of personality of Mao Zedong in China, was emphasized by feuilletons, caricatures and jokes. Other common themes detailed the existence of an opposition to Mao Zedong in China, the connection of the leadership of the Communist Party of China with the capitalist countries (the Western Bloc), and China's anti-Soviet position. The jokes were based on the material of both the media and rumours. One item treated only as jokes was the possible war between the USSR and China, with official media firmly treating the conflict as a quarrel inside the family. Separately, the article details the impact of satire and humour on public awareness. Frequent mention of facts and stories from satirical materials shows the long-term efficacy of this genre, as well as the fact that issues covered by satire continued to provoke questions from the public. The images journalists used in the official satire, as well as those existing in the informal field of jokes, were remembered for a long time.

Keywords

Authors

References