VTG WW2 PROPAGANDA: Soviet Russia and the Post-War World, Lamont, NCASF, 1943 VG

Description: We present a small piece of wartime (WWII) propaganda put out by the National Council of American-Soviet Friendship, Inc.: Soviet Russia and the Post War World. No date is given, but Library of Congress and academic sources list it as having been published in 1943. 24 pages long, it's a pamphlet ostensibly sold for 5 cents, but this was handed out in policy and intellectual circles, especially on the east coast, although this one was given out in Chicago, probably at an event at the Museum of Science and Industry in 1943 (to a family member). It was written by the chairman of the organization, Corliss Lamont. This was one in a series of pro-Soviet pamphlets issued by the National Council of American-Soviet Friendship seeking to US influence popular opinion and government policy towards the Soviet Union in what was still a rather distant post-war world. Background for the interested, drawn from NYU's blurb about their collection of the archives of NCASR: The National Council of American-Soviet Friendship succeeded the National Council on Soviet Relations, founded in 1941. The NCASR grew out of the more overtly radical American-Soviet friendship movement of the 1930's, whose organizational center was the Friends of the Soviet Union founded in 1929. The Council, composed largely of professionals who were sympathetic to Socialism, believed that the USSR and the United States should join together in their common fight against fascism. In 1946, the House Un-American Activities Committee began a formal investigation of NCASF, and in 1947, it was indicted for failure to register with the Subversive Activities Control Board. Throughout its operation, the NCASF issued numerous pamphlets and bibliographies about life in the Soviet Union, as well as information on American-Soviet relations. The NCASF enjoyed widespread success under the chairmanship of Corliss Lamont. Almost immediately, more than 30 local affiliates sprang up across the country, including the very active American-Russian Institute in San Francisco and the Los Angeles Society for Cultural Relations between the US and the USSR. The program of the NCASF emphasized cultural interchange and education as a means of strengthening the bonds of understanding between the American and Soviet people. The Council set up special committees, such as an Architects Committee, a Committee on Education, a Women's Committee, and a Committee on the Arts. These committees sponsored various conferences and exhibits, such as the American-Soviet War Exhibit, shown at the Museum of Science and Industry in 1943 in New York City, and an exhibit of Soviet Architecture and American Housing and Planning. The Council also sponsored an exhibit of paintings by Soviet children at the Museum of Modern Art and an exhibit entitled "Soviet Artists and the War," held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In the mid-to-late 1940s, the Council held annual mass rallies in Madison Square Garden. In 1945, Reverend Richard Morford became the Executive Director of the National Council, and remained in that capacity until 1981. Beginning in 1945, the radical post-war shift in American foreign policy brought the Council under increasing attack. In 1946, the House Un-American Activities Committee began a formal investigation of the National Council, and Lamont and Morford were cited for contempt of Congress. In 1947, the NCASF was indicted for failure to register with the Subversive Activities Control Board. In 1950, Morford was again charged with contempt of Congress and spent three months in jail. In 1951, the Supreme Court ruled that the Attorney General acted arbitrarily and illegally by placing the Council on the List of Subversive Organizations. Three years later, the Subversive Activities Control Board again declared the Council a "Communist Front", and the Council initiated proceedings against the SACB. During this period, the number of local affiliates shrank to three. In 1989, the Council again had to resume legal defense when the NCASF's executive director, Reverend Alan Thomson, was indicted by the federal government for bringing funds from the Soviet Union into the United States. The piece of wartime and cold war history pamphlet will be carefully packed in a padded mailer with pieces of stiff cardboard.

Price: 19.99 USD

Location: Alexandria, Virginia

End Time: 2024-12-10T20:04:25.000Z

Shipping Cost: 4.63 USD