Transnational Anti-Communism and the Cold War

How was anti-communism organized in the West? Was it all run by the CIA? The book covers the aims, arguments and associations 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. The contributors of this volume open 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 organized themselves and how they pursued their own interests. 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. This volume 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 straightforward goal to oppose Soviet power, moved along many different paths simultaneously.