“A certain expansion of cooperation is planned”: A view of the Yugoslav diplomacy on Yugoslav-Soviet literary exchange. 1961–1964

Relations between Yugoslavia and the USSR in 1961–1964 differed for the better in comparison with the previous period. Intensive cooperation in the field of culture and literature characterized those years. The article traces the activities of Yugoslav diplomats in maintaining literary ties between Yugoslavia and the USSR. Yugoslav diplomats, in negotiations with their Soviet colleagues, publishers and editors of magazines, presented their country’s literature as a reflection of the current state policy of Yugoslavia. According to the reports of the embassy, Soviet partners were unofficially recommended to publish contemporary Yugoslav works. By encouraging Soviet publishers to negotiate directly with Yugoslav writers and their union, which was more competent in matters of literature, the embassy tried to present the matter as if the state in Yugoslavia did not interfere in the activities of independent creative associations. An exhibition of Yugoslav books, including political ones, organized in the USSR, was supposed to present the Yugoslav path to socialism. The mutual trips of the writers demonstrated the closeness and friendship of the two countries. The Yugoslav diplomats were faced with the task of maintaining positive relations between Belgrade and Moscow through interaction with Soviet partners, on the one hand, and with Yugoslav publishers and the Writers’ Union, on the other. It was necessary to prevent cultural contradictions that could darken bilateral political relations. This instrumentalization of culture, reflected in diplomatic reports, demonstrates that despite the public demonstration of the differences between Yugoslavia and the USSR, in practice, both states had a similar approach to culture policies.