Századok – 2011
MŰHELY - Baráth Magdolna: Szovjet „imázsépítés" Magyarországon. A Szovjetunió magyarországi népszerűsítésének módszerei és eszközei 1956 után VI/1525
1542 BARÁTH MAGDOLNA egyszerű emberek, milyen gyorsan jutnak el az általuk kívánt végcélhoz, a szocializmushoz. " Az amerikai propaganda Vető véleménye szerint nem azért volt sikeresebb, mert az amerikaiak „nagy eszmékkel" népszerűsítették Amerikát, hanem mert „rádióállomásukon, mozijukon, magazinjaikon és más csatornákon keresztül naponta propagálnak olyan apró, de az egyszerű emberek szívéhez közeli dolgokat, mint az amerikai munkás nagy vásárlóereje, az iparcikkek és élelmiszerek alacsony ára, a háztartási cikkek (hűtőszekrények, mosógépek) nagy mennyisége és jó minősége. Mindez Magyarországon sokkal erősebben hatott és hat, mint az elvont politikai koncepciók."6 0 SOVIET „IMAGE-BUILDING" IN HUNGARY. The Means and Methods of Popularising the Soviet Union in Hungary after 1956 by Magdolna Baráth Summary After World War II the Soviet Union established and ran a considerable propaganda machinery in order to project into the word a favourable view of the country Yet the participation of Soviet troops in the suppression of the Hungarian revolution shaked to its very foundation this image, built up carefully with a lot of efforts, both in Hungary and in the world. The Soviet leadership recognised as one of the lessons offered by the Hungarian revolution the necessity of suppressing inequalities in the cultural relations between the two countries, and of reassessing the methods previously used in foreign propaganda by the Soviet Union. For coordinating the activities of different units of propaganda, the State Committee of Foreign Cultural Relations was established in March 1957, which was expected to increase considerably the level of propaganda. The present study analyses the means the Soviet Union had its disposal, and the methods it intended to put into effect, for its own popularisation in Hungary after the revolution. It deals in particular with the reorganisation and activities of the Association of Hungarian-Soviet Friendship, which regarded as its main objective the popularisation of the Soviet Union in Hungary. In the second part of her study the author tries to answer the question of why the attempts at bringing closer the Soviet realities to the Hungarian public opinion failed, despite the continuous stressing of the enormous political importance of the matter. According to her opinion, the answer should partly be looked for in the inability to remedy the mistakes much regretted before 1956. On the other hand, the effort to depict the Soviet Union in favourable terms after the role it played in the suppression of the revolution would have been doomed to failure even in case all the means of an effective propaganda had been applied and its level increased considerably. 60 Uo.
