USSR as a Civilization through the Eyes of Western Intellectuals (Sidney & Beatrice Webb, Romain Rolland, Lion Feuchtwanger)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of analyzing the development of the discourse of So­viet civilization. This discourse was carried out in various works of Western intellectuals who visited the USSR in the 1930s. The author presents his own vision of the context of creation of the analyzed works. It was formed by the events, which in their totality are usually called the “Stalin’s turn of the 1930s”, and reveals the meaning and content of this “turn”. In Romain Rolland’s “Moscow Diary” the image of Joseph Stalin is compared with the figure of Emperor of Rome Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus. Lion Feuchtwanger in his book “Moscow 1937” talks about the impressions that the young Soviet civilization he saw in the USSR made on him. Sidney and Beatrice Webb in their fundamental treatise “Soviet Communism: A New Civilization?” provide a panoramic analysis of Soviet society and state in the 1930s. Using a large material of facts, they substantiate the conclusion that the USSR really represents a new civilization.