Transnational Anti-Communism and the Cold War ― Agents, Activities, and Networks

How was anti-communism organised in the West? Was it all run by the CIA? This book covers the agents, aims, and arguments of a range of transnational anti-communist activists during the Cold War. While the CIA were obviously important, other motives, interests, and financial sources were available. This book opens up new fields of research to explore how far anti-communism was actually planned, coordinated, and structured across Western nations. By taking a transnational approach, the book moves beyond simply reducing anti-communist activities to the interests of governments and instead focuses on the role of individuals and private networks, how they organised themselves, and how they pursued their own interests.
The book provides a colourful mosaic of the main figures and organisations active during the Cold War, bringing into focus their motives and movements in the anti-communist cause. Several of the chapters include unique insights on individuals and organisations not previously studied. While Cold Warriors in both the US and Europe called for an anti-communist 'crusade', various factors - geopolitical interests, elitist prejudices, ideological divisions, religious beliefs – were influential in fuelling activism. Neither was there much coordination – different groups often overlapped, and there was constant competition for resources. The book demonstrates the complex array of forces, factions, and frictions that were active during the Cold War, and shows that Western anti-communism, despite its apparently straight-forward goal to oppose Soviet power, moved along many different paths simultaneously.

Luc van Dongen is a Post-Doctoral Researcher in contemporary history at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. He has taught previously at the University of Geneva and Lausanne. His areas of research include anti-communism, the Cold War, the far right, transnational networks, intelligence, and americanization.

Stephanie Roulin is a Post-Doctoral Researcher in contemporary history at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. Her areas of research cover anti-communism, religious history and intellectuals.

Giles Scott-Smith is Senior Researcher with the Roosevelt Study Center and Ernst van der Beugel Chair in the Diplomatic History of Transatlantic Relations since World War II at Leiden University, the Netherlands. His most recent publication is Western Anti-Communism and the Interdoc Network: Cold War Internationale (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012).