Translation and the History of European Communism

This chapter recounts the spread of Bolshevism, from a tiny faction of the Russian Social Democratic Workers’ Party into an empire of Soviet-dominated countries, focusing on translation and the way it was used to indoctrinate the citizens of diverse historical and cultural backgrounds. It also shows how, under the controlled culture of the USSR, translations (including samizdat publications) played a significant role in maintaining cultural values and beliefs that were shared before Marxism-Leninism became the mandatory ideology in the Eastern Bloc.