The Conspiracy of Brainwashing: the Experiences of the First and the Second Cold War
Keywords:
Brainwashing, Propaganda, Conspiracy theory, Cold War, Mind control
Abstract
With the recent rise of a new confrontation between the East and the West, the convergence of different understandings of brainwashing emerges as a problem of political communication and poses a challenge for information security. The principle objective of this paper is to present a contemporary understanding of brainwashing, determine its propaganda potential, and provide educated guesses about successor concepts, which could be traced back to the origins of brainwashing. Therefore, the article describes the ‘classical’ Western understanding of brainwashing; looks for the potential equivalents of brainwashing on the other side of the Iron Curtain; reveals the rebirth and transformations of the concept in post-communist countries during the period of time, when brainwashing in the West had already came out of fashion; notes to the potential misunderstandings between the new and old democracies, which arise because of the different interpretation of brainwashing.The contemporary comprehension of brainwashing continues to alternate between instrumental and political understanding. The broadened concept becomes more blurred, although the lack of precision compensates the potential loss of mystery and allows the brainwashing to preserve an image of an almighty technique.
References
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ANON. (1979). Lietuva bolševikų okupacijoje. Chicago: Jūrų šaulių kuopa Klaipėda, 1979.
ANON. (1999). Psichiatrinės inkvizicijos siautėjimas Lietuvoje. Vilnius: Šventaragio slėnis, 1999.
ANUŠAUSKAS, A. (2000). KGB ir lietuvių visuomenė - Slaptasis karas 1954-1991 metais. In: Darbai ir dienos. No. 21, 2000, pp. 233-283.
ANUŠAUSKAS, A. (2012). Teroras, 1940-1958 m. Vilnius: Versus aureus, 2012.
APPLEBAUM, A. (2012). Iron curtain: The crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-1956. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2012.
BAGUŠAUSKAS, J. (2004). Komunistų partijos ideologinė apologetika slopinant tautos pasipriešinimą (1944-1953 m.). In: Genocidas ir rezistencija. No. 16, 2004, pp. 41-54.
BARTLETT, J. (2018). Big Data is Watching You. In: Spectator, March 24, 2018, p. 15.
BERLET, C. (2009). Toxic to democracy. Conspiracy Theories, Demonization, Scapegoating. Somerville: Political Research Associates. [online]. Available at:
BIDERMAN, A. (1957). Communist attempts to elicit false confessions from Air Force prisoners of war. In: Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine. Vol. 33, No.9, 1957, pp. 616–625.
BUKOVSKY, V., GLUZMAN, S. (1974). A Manual on Psychiatry for Dissenters. [online]. Available at:
CARRUTHERS, S. (2009). Cold War Captives: Imprisonment, Escape, and Brainwashing. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009.
CHIVVIS, C. (2017). Understanding Russian “Hybrid Warfare” and What Can be Done About It. Santa Monica: RAND Corporation. [online]. Available at:
CONDON, R. (2004). The Manchurian Candidate. New York: Pocket Books, 2004.
ČEREŠKA, B. (2004). Reklama: teorija ir praktika. Vilnius: Homo liber, 2004.
DUNNE, M. (2013). A Cold War State of Mind: Brainwashing and Postwar American Society. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2013.
GERASIMOV, V. (2013). The Value of Science in prediction. [online]. Available at:
HOFSTADTER, R. (1996). The Paranoid Style in American Politics. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1996.
HOLMES, M. (2016). The ‘Brainwashing’ Dilemma. In: History Workshop Journal. Vol. 81, No. 1, 2016, pp. 285-293. [online]. Available at:
HUNTER, E. (1951). Brainwashing in Red China. New York: Vanguard Press, 1951.
HUNTER, E. (1956). Brainwashing: The story of men who defied it. New York: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, 1956.
HUNTER, E. (1962). Brainwashing, from Pavlov to Powers. Linden, N.J.: Bookmailer, 1962.
JUST, P., CHARVAT, J. (2016). Business-Firm Parties and the Czech Party System after 2010. In: Politics in Central Europe. Vol. 12, No. 3, 2016, pp. 83–110.
KENEZ, P. (1985). The Birth of the Propaganda State: Soviet Methods of Mass Mobilization, 1917-1929. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
KILLEN, A., ANDRIOPOULOS, S. (2011). Editors’ Introduction On Brainwashing: Mind Control, Media, and Warfare. In: Grey Room. No. 45, 2011, pp. 7-17. [online]. Available at:
KUKLYTĖ, B. (2007). Disidentų kalinimas Sovietų Sąjungos psichiatrijos ligoninėse 1918-1988 m. In: Genocidas ir rezistencija. No. 1 (21), 2007, pp. 31-53.
LAAR, M. (2010). The power of freedom: Central and Eastern Europe after 1945. Tallinn: Unitas Foundation, 2010.
LEE, M. (2011). Conspiracy Rising. Conspiracy Thinking and American Public life. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2011.
LENIN, V. (1901). Where to Begin? [online]. Available at:
LENIN, V. (1902). What is to be done? [online]. Available at:
LIFTON, R. (1989). Thought reform and the psychology of totalism: A study of “brainwashing” in China. Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press, 1989.
LINKEVIČIUS, L. (2016a). Foreign Minister of Lithuania on BBC Hardtalk. [online]. Available at:
LINKEVIČIUS, L. (2016b). Linas Linkevičius BBC „Hardtalk“: Rusija plauna smegenis visai Europai. [online]. Available at:
LITTLEJOHN, S. W., FOSS, K. A., & OETZEL, J. G. (2017). Theories of Human Communication. Long Grove, Illinois: Waveland Press, 2017.
LUTHI, L. (2008). The Sino-Soviet Split: Cold War in the Communist World. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008.
MEERLOO, J. (1956). The Rape of the Mind. New York: Universal Library, 1956.
MELLEY, T. (2012). Covert Sphere: Secrecy, Fiction, and the National Security State. NY: Cornell University Press, 2012.
NEVINSKAITĖ, L. (2006). Žiniasklaidos kokybė: nepatenkinti publikos lūkesčiai. In: ŽILIUKAITĖ, R., (ed.) Neatrasta galia: Lietuvos pilietinės visuomenės žemėlapis. Vilnius: Versus Aureus, 2006, pp. 180-198.
PACKARD, V. (1980). The hidden persuaders. Brooklyn: Ig Publishing, 1980.
RASMUSSEN, A. (2014). Public opening remarks by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen at the doorstep prior to the meetings of NATO Foreign Affairs Ministers. [online]. Available at:
ROBIN, R. (2009). The Making of the Cold War Enemy: Culture and Politics in the Military-Intellectual Complex. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009.
SARGANT, W. (1957). Battle for the Mind. A Physiology of Conversion and Brain-Washing. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1957.
SCHEIN, E. (1960). Brainwashing. Cambridge: Center for International Studies, MIT, 1960.
TAYLOR, K. (2004). Brainwashing: The science of thought control. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
TRIMAKAS, K. (1981). Psichiatrijos piktnaudojimas Sovietų Sąjungoje. In: Aidai. No. 4, 1981. [online]. Available at:
VAISETA, T. (2014). Balsai iš sovietinių psichiatrijos ligoninių. Savojo aš sampratos skunduose. In: Darbai ir Dienos. No. 62, 2014, pp. 187-207.
VAN VOREN, R. (2015). Fifty years of political abuse of psychiatry — no end in sight. In: Ethics, Medicine and Public Health. Vol. 1, No. 1, 2015, pp. 44-51.
WALTZMAN, R. (2017). The Weaponization of Information. The Need for Cognitive Security. Santa Monica: RAND Corporation, 2017. [online]. Available at:
Published
2020-04-15
How to Cite
Aleknonis, G. (2020) “The Conspiracy of Brainwashing: the Experiences of the First and the Second Cold War”, Slovak Journal of Political Sciences, 20(1). Available at: https://sjps.fsvucm.sk/index.php/sjps/article/view/124 (Accessed: 19April2024).
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