“Literatura mirovoj revoljucii”, 1, 1931 - [S028]
Communicative Intention: Creation of the image of the Other as the "Enemy"
Utterance Aim: To arouse rejection, contempt and hatred (a negative view)
Concrete Linguistic Means/Tool: Attributive collocations with negative connotations
Journal Title: "Literatura mirovoj revoljucii"
Journal Number: 1
Contexts & Examples: Эти происшествия ещё более ослабляют сопротивляемость разлагающегося общества, которое пытается удержаться, хотя ему не на кого опереться кроме духовенства и полиции.
Edited by Svetlana Slavkova
In the texts of “Literatura mirovoy revolyutsii” and “Internatsional’naya literatura”, stylistic tools are used to guide the audience as to how a particular denomination should be perceived. The linguistic devices established at the beginning of the 1930s aimed at creating a certain ‘image of the enemy’ in culture and literature, in particular through simplification, the formation of stereotypes and clichés that emphasised the ideological and social foreignness of the object described. The wealth of linguistic means and techniques used in the ideological education of the Soviet reader induces that reader to produce evaluations and behaviour useful to the regime, all the more so since a certain hostility towards the OTHER (i.e. non-proletarian) society already exists. The conspicuous number of evaluative adjectives with a negative connotation gives the texts a greater emotional charge and emphasises the ideological position of the contributors. In particular, in the example cited, western society is defined as ‘razlagajushchajasja‘ [decaying]. This adjective refers to cultural and moral degradation and a tendency towards self-destruction, hence the message is that Soviet society (US) must distance itself from Western society.