Russia had long-standing strong cultural ties with many countries, primarily with European ones. The capitalist world, which met the birth of the socialist state with extreme hostility, tried to eliminate it by military intervention, economic blockade and cultural isolation. In these difficult conditions, the young Soviet state had to make great efforts to establish international scientific and cultural exchange with capitalist countries, but now on a fundamentally different basis.
In recent years, a number of works have appeared covering the formation and development of international scientific and cultural exchange of the Soviet state as a whole and its bilateral relations with various countries of Europe, Asia and America .1 However, these links with a number of countries (for example, Switzerland) remain poorly understood.
This article attempts to reveal some aspects of the formation and development of Soviet-Swiss cultural and scientific ties from 1917 to 1937. The choice of this period is determined by the fact that in the years leading up to the Second World War, due to the growing reaction in Switzerland and in the capitalist countries in general, scientific and cultural contacts between both states were practically curtailed.
Most important for the young Soviet state was the establishment of scientific and cultural ties with large, developed capitalist countries, such as Germany, England, the United States, and France. However, the specifics of the situation of Switzerland, which adhered to neutrality and was the seat of various international organizations, were of particular interest to our country.
1 See: Valieva D. V. Soviet-Iranian Cultural relations (1921-1960). Tashkent, 1965; Murav'ev Yu. P. Soviet-German scientific relations in the years of the Weimar Republic. In: Yearbook of German History, Moscow, 1969; Nikolskaya L. S. Establishment of Soviet-French contacts in the field of science and culture (1919-1928). In: French Yearbook, Moscow, 1970; her. ...
Читать далее