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May 18, 1925

J.V. Stalin, 'The Political Tasks of the University of the Peoples of the Far East: Speech Delivered at a Meeting of Students of the Communist University of the Toilers of the East, May 18, 1925'

After World War I, several communist movements tried to replicate the Bolsheviks’ take-over of Russia in European countries, most importantly and most often in Germany. All failed. As a result, the Soviet leadership and communists worldwide from around 1920 focused more energies on colonized countries, especially in Asia. As most of these seemed to lack the economic and sociopolitical conditions necessary for a communist revolution, the aim was to weaken if not overthrow European imperial rule, serving the interests of both the USSR and the local petit bourgeoisie, peasants, and few industrial workers. The perhaps greatest price was China. Moreover, India was seen to be (exceptionally) ripe for direct communist action.

Communists and some anti-colonial nationalists were also active in and across the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe, often sharing resources while being networked with the Communist International. Abbreviated as the Comintern (also the Third International), the latter was thekey international communist organization: founded in 1919 in Moscow, headquartered there, and employing through its dissolution in 1943 thousands of professional cadres from around the world, principally from Europe and Asia, as Brigitte Studer’s Reisende der Weltrevolution: Eine Globalgeschichte der Kommunistischen Internationale (2020) shows. Also in the Soviet Union, the year 1920 saw the landmark Congress of the Peoples of the East, in Baku. And in 1921, the Communist University for Laborers of the East (Kommunistichyeskii univyersityet trudyaschikhsya Vostoka, KUTV) opened its doors in Moscow. It became the first full-fledged Soviet training center for Soviet Muslims and for foreign communist cadres, principally from Asia and the Middle East and North Africa, and it impacted Soviet views of the East, as Lana Ravandi-Fadai and Masha Kirasirova have shown in “Red Mecca” (2015) and “The ‘East’ as a Category of Bolshevik Ideology and Comintern Administration” (2017), respectively. The text here is the English translation, published in 1954 in the collection J. V. Stalin: Works: Volume 7, of a Russian text published in 1925 in the principal Soviet newspaper, Pravda, rendering a speech that the 1924-1953 Chairman of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin (1878-1953) held to KUTV’s students in 1925.

August 27, 1986

Comprehensive Plan of cooperation of USSR KGB 1st Main Directorate Departments with the 1st Directorate of the CSSR FMVD concerning the organization of agent operational work in the countries of the Near East between 1986 and 1990

Cooperative agreement with a focus on shared intelligence work in the "Near East against the US, Britain, the FRG, France, and the other NATO countries, and also against Israel, the Arab countries, and Arab political forces and organizations."

April 1975

Report on the Result of the Visit to the USSR by Saddam Hussein

The Soviet meeting with Saddam Hussein resulted in affirmation of Soviet-Iraqi cooperation, arrangements to improve Soviet-Iraqi relations, evaluation of Iraqi-Iranian relations, discussion of Kurdish autonomy within Iraq, and emphasis to strengthen relations with other Arab countries.

December 1978

Report to the German Democratic Republic on Discussions with Saddam Hussein

In this report, the Soviet Union informs the East German government that during their talks with the Iraqi delegation, led by Saddam Hussein, the Soviets stated that the Arab states must first end the policy of separate deals in order to resolve many Middle East problems. The Soviet Union addressed the need to stop imperialistic and anti-Arab policies in the Middle East.

February 24, 1972

Report on the Visit of Saddam Hussein to the USSR

During the visit of Saddam Hussein to the Soviet Union, the delegation discussed with Soviet leaders the need for strengthening Iraqi-Soviet relations to give positive guidance on the situation in the Middle East. The Iraqi delegation also promoted their intention to develop relations with other Arab states in order to decrease the effects of imperialism. Topics of discussion also included Iraqi oil policy and domestic conflict.

March 14, 1974

Report on the Visit of Saddam Hussein to Moscow

In a meeting initiated by Saddam Hussein with Leonid Brezhnev, Alexei Kosygin, Andrei Gromyko, and Boris Ponomarev, the Iraqi leader discussed relations with the Soviet state, United States involvement in the Middle East, border conflict, and the development of the Iraqi economy.

October 27, 1981

Report on the Results of the Visit to the USSR by the Palestine Liberation Organization Delegation

The meeting between the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Soviet Union addresses the United States imposition of imperialistic policy in the Middle East. PLO head Yasser Arafat believes that the United States, Israeli, and Western European agreements at Camp David will negatively impact Palestinians and other Arab states and must be overturned. The Soviet Union responds by restating the need for unity in the Middle East.

November 20, 1979

Report on the Visit to the Soviet Union by the Palestine Liberation Organization Delegation

Report on the meeting between Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) delegation and the Soviet Union on the situation in the Middle East. The Soviet Union emphasizes their position on anti-imperialist action in Arab lands and on strengthening the relationship between Arab states.

January 13, 1959

Soviet Report, 'The Ideological Aggression of American Imperialism in the Orient'

This report emphasizes American propaganda in the Middle East, such as promoting democracy and American way of life, as well as its anti-Soviet propaganda. The report also extensively lists the Americans' participation in the region such as how much money and resources were devoted there, including from private institutions.

February 22, 1988

Record of a Conversation of M. S. Gorbachev with US Secretary of State G. Shultz

Gorbachev and Shultz discuss issues in the Middle East, including the Soviet withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and the Iran-Iraq War.

Pagination