The END of the Cold War
Soft Power: The Impact of Culture and Bold Personalities
Iron Maiden –
Behind the Iron Curtain (1984)
• Video
Common Core Standards
Reading Standards for Literacy in History
• Craft & Structure:
• (4) Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in
a text, including vocabulary describing political, social, or economic
aspects of history/social science.
• (6) Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author’s point of view or
purpose (e.g., loaded language, inclusion or avoidance of particular
facts).
CA Content Standards
• 10.9 Students analyze the international developments in the postWorld World War II world.
• Analyze the reasons for the collapse of the Soviet Union, including the
weakness of the command economy, burdens of military commitments,
and growing resistance to Soviet rule by dissidents in satellite states and
the non-Russian Soviet republics.
Where do I start?
I have already spent 6 weeks teaching the Cold War…
• Students are starting to get restless
I start (THE END of C.W.) with the problems facing the USSR
• The Blueprint has a good lesson called “Developments Within the Soviet
Union”
• Talks about the “cracks” in the system (social, economic, political, and
environmental)
• My emphasis on “soft power” – that music had an important, yet
under-appreciated role in the fall of communism – would add an
additional layer to this narrative
Music as a form of soft power
• How Rock and Roll Brought Down the Soviet Union – article
• I would argue that rock music per se did not destroy Socialism, but the
values and cultural practices related to obtaining this music contributed
to the end of socialism. (Sergei Zhuk)
• Another example: How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin video
• In June 1983 Konstantin Chernenko, then Minister of Ideology, announced to
the Communist Party Central Committee that the rockers were causing
ideological and aesthetic harm to the Soviet ideology. (Bushnell, P76).
• Swiftly the Soviet leadership repressed the rock community
• Analyzing a song from 1985
• Sting – “Russians” video
• Lecture: Introduce Gorbachev and his policies of glasnost
and perestroika
Gorbachev’s leadership changes everything…
The ‘Cult of Personality’: Reagan & Gorbachev
video
• Glasnost in action…
• Billy Joel – Bridge to Russia video
• People’s Century (PBS):
• People Power episode (1989)
• Start at 8:00
Russia today
• Musicians are still a thorn in the side of leadership.
• Putin jailed feminist punk rock band, Pussy Riot
• Video