The creation of the Mexican-Russian Cultural Exchange Institute as a Soviet instrument of the “ideological front”

Abstract

The ideological dispute that emerged with the Cold War involved various mechanisms of political-ideological propaganda on the part of both sides in dispute. Although the Soviet Union already had the communist parties of each country for propaganda work, it decided to reinforce the "ideological front" dispute through the creation of institutions whose objective was to win supporters and sympathizers between intellectuals and artists, without this it involved a militant commitment. In Mexico this work was carried out through the Mexican-Russian Cultural Exchange Institute. This article is an approximation to its foundation, its operation, its political link with the Soviet government, as well as an account of the intellectuals who participated in the first years of the Institute.