The Eastern International: Arabs, Central Asians, and Jews in the Soviet Union’s Anticolonial Empire 

In this tremendous historical research project conducted in various countries, Kirasirova draws from Russian, Central Asian, and Middle Eastern studies in looking at how the Soviet Union sought to cultivate the Arab left and Central Asian activists, intellectuals, and cultural figures in its pursuit of leadership in global anticolonial movements. A fascinating chapter is devoted to the Communist University of the Toilers of the East, established in Moscow in 1921, which trained students from the countries of “the colonized East,” such as China and India, in Marxist ideology. The Soviet Union’s policies, such as its support for the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, often conflicted with its ambition to build an “Eastern International.” Earlier, in the 1930s, the Soviet Union’s anticolonial stance was compromised by Stalin’s turn to xenophobic and isolationist policies. And in the 1960s, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev chose to support the nationalist revolutionary regimes in Egypt and Syria, thereby betraying local communists who were violently repressed by those regimes. But despite these and many other political setbacks, as Kirasirova shows, the Soviet Union was able to maintain its anticolonial bona fides throughout most of its history, owing to its propaganda efforts, cultural engagement, and economic aid.