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TWO GENERATIONS OF SOVIET MAN by John Kosa

TWO GENERATIONS OF SOVIET MAN

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Pub Date: Nov. 17th, 1962
Publisher: Univ. of N. C.

Was Orwell's 1984 anything more than horrible fiction? Did Koestler's Darkness at Noon accurately characterize the Communist believer? Can a totalitarian society mould the minds of its subjects so as to impose its thought and will on a thought- and will-deprived group? These are some of the questions Professor Kosa attempts to answer in his book. The book is written under the stress of deep emotion, but the writer remains completely objective throughout. He analyzes the techniques of mass manipulation employed by the Soviets in making loyal subjects out of the people under their domination: the social system of coercive persuasion, manipulative techniques of ""brain-washing"". Although the great bulk of Professor Kosa's book is devoted to a study of the Soviet man, his main concern is the apparent success of the Soviets in creating a second generation of Soviet men out of the East European populations-- people of a different cultural and political background from the long oppressed Russian peoples. In order to gain insight into the psychological factors of Communist party membership, the author conducted a careful study of refugees in this country. There is a great deal of useful information and lucid thought in these pages that will interest the general reader as well as the political scientist and psychologist.