Paper short abstract:

The presentation is dedicated to the analysis of the role that Central Asian women were playing in the work of the Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF) in the 1960s-1970s.

Paper long abstract:

The presentation is dedicated to the analysis of the role that Central Asian women were playing in the work of the Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF) in the 1960s-1970s. The WIDF was created in 1945 in Paris and openly supported politics of the "Soviet bloc". The anti-colonial struggle and creation of the newly independent states in Asia and Africa in 1950s-1960s made the WIDF to make efforts in order to bring influential women from the newly independent countries and liberation movements to the organization; it was a part of the cultural Cold War competition with the "West". In order to do it, the WIDF transformed its leadership structures, organized conferences, workshops and studytrips for women from Africa and Asia. In this context, women from the Central Asia were seen as a particularly important resourse due to their status of the former colonial subjects who were "emancipated" by the Soviets. The aim of my presentation is to question the official Soviet and WIDF's presentation of the encounters between the Soviet Central Asian women and postcolonial female activists from Asia and Africa. In particular, I show how contradictions of the Soviet "emancipation", including Russification and double burden, were made invisible for the non-European guests. In order to do it I analyze WIDF's official journal - Women of the Whole World - and archival materials from the State Archive of the Russian Federation, collection of the Committee of Soviet Women (Moscow). The archival materials, in particular, the classified letters between the Soviet representatives in the WIDF headquarters (in Paris and later in East Berlin) and in Moscow allow to understand the work of the WIDF behind the smiling faces and words on solidarity that can be found in the WIDF journal.