The Cominform’s founding conference opens

The Red Army attacked Japanese forces in Manchuria, Korea, and surrounding territories. The swift campaign helped bring about Japan’s surrender and expanded Soviet influence in Northeast Asia, while...

The surrender formally ended the Second World War. Stalin’s Soviet Union emerged as a global power with influence in Eastern Europe and Northeast Asia, but wartime victory also consolidated a security...

In a major Moscow speech, Stalin called for continued development of heavy industry and military capacity. The address presented security as a reason for centralized planning and sacrifice, while...

A Central Committee resolution attacked writers Anna Akhmatova and Mikhail Zoshchenko and tightened control over literary life. The campaign narrowed cultural debate and made publication dependent...

The Soviet foreign minister withdrew from European discussions about U.S. recovery aid, following Stalin’s opposition to a program viewed as extending American influence. The decision contributed to...

The Communist Information Bureau coordinated several European communist parties and strengthened Moscow’s influence over the postwar movement. Its creation came amid the hardening Cold War and...

A Central Committee resolution denounced Vano Muradeli’s opera and condemned prominent composers including Dmitri Shostakovich and Sergei Prokofiev. It made artistic work answerable to political...

The organization expelled Yugoslavia’s Communist Party after its leadership resisted Soviet control. The split showed that anti-fascist and socialist movements could face pressure to subordinate...

At the end of the VASKhNIL session, Trofim Lysenko’s doctrine was declared the official line, with Stalin’s support. Genetics was marginalized, research and teaching were disrupted, and scientists...

The Soviet Union and allied governments created Comecon to coordinate economic relations in the emerging Eastern Bloc. It offered a framework for trade and planning but also reinforced Moscow’s...