Russia and the Latin American Left: New Approaches to Exploring the Topic

The presence of powers from other regions in the Western Hemisphere is one of the most relevant areas of contemporary Latin American studies. The collective monograph «Moscow, the Left and the Comintern in Latin America: Historical and Contemporary Outlook» is in line with that. It explores the development of political, economic and cultural relations between the USSR and Latin American states after World War II, as well as the transformation of left-wing political movements in the region in the early 21 st century. What makes the book unique is a plethora of issues considered and their presentation in the form of separate essays. The book, which consists of two parts, is based on many sources, including Russian and foreign documents and materials from archives, and contains a detailed review of the existing academic literature. In a broad panorama of the history of Latin American countries, the authors seek to determine the correlation between ideology and pragmatism in the Soviet foreign policy towards the region. Great emphasis is placed on the contacts of the Soviet party and state bodies with Latin American communist parties, their opponents and allies. The authors note that in contrast to the Comintern’s tactics, which relied on supporting armed uprisings of local communist parties in the first half of the 1930s, postwar Soviet leaders believed that military force could only be used in Latin America if a particular country had a favorable balance of socioeconomic and political factors. Analysts at the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union assessed the stability of the new left-wing governments, their «class nature» and their socioeconomic programs. Soviet leaders often chose to cooperate even with military dictatorships if they thought they could reap economic and geopolitical benefits. Parts of the monograph are devoted to reconsidering landmark events for Moscow, such as the Cuban Revolution, the rule of the Popular Unity coalition in Chile, and a series of military coups. The book includes interesting essays on U.S. policy in the Western Hemisphere, which was staunchly anti-communist. The second part of the book analyzes the state of left-wing movements in the region in the early 21 st century. The authors pose a question of whether or not there is currently a pink tide (i.e. turn to the left) in Latin America. What makes categorization even more challenging is the emergence of new parties and movements whose programs combine elements of social democracy, «new left» philosophy, ecological and human rights discourse. The authors use the term «pink tide 2.0» to describe this social and political dynamic. The book is an important contribution to Russian and global Latin American studies. The authors show that Russia, following the USSR, uses the emerging opportunities in its cooperation with the region without having unrealistic expectations.