Foreign trips of Soviet students as an instrument of cultural diplomacy of the USSR (1920’s)

This article considers foreign trips of Soviet students as an instrument of cultural diplomacy of the USSR in the period between the two World Wars sorting out the difficulties in their organization and highlighting their role in promoting Soviet foreign policy interests. The materials of the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF) form the basis of the present paper: messages and reports of the employees from the All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries (VOKS). While studying the archival sources it was revealed that students of Soviet higher educational institutions in the 1920s had the opportunity to travel abroad for scientific and educational purposes –mastering and utilizing advanced foreign technical expertise with a focus on training of specialists in different industries of the economic life of the USSR. Some of the students were members of international organizations which united both Soviet and European youth. The trips were strictly regulated. VOKS carried out their organization through the network of its representatives, who provided those who travelled abroad with visas. Special attention has targeted to the ideological training of students, because they were entrusted with the propagandist functions. The implementation of travels directly depended on the diplomatic and interstate relations of the USSR with other countries. 

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