Conscripting Civilians: Communist Travel Administration in the Cold War

Why did communist states build intricate systems to control who could travel to the West? This open access book argues that travel administration was not merely for surveillance, but was a tool for international influence.

Under communism, professionals traveling abroad were vetted for loyalty, trained to represent the state abroad, and debriefed upon return. Offering a social constructivist interpretation of Charles Tilly’s theory that war-making drives state-making, this book argues that the travel administration of communist countries in the twentieth century conscripted professionals into this ongoing war over narratives, sympathies, and political identities; whether they were university professors, ballet dancers or doctors. In doing so, communist regimes turned travel into a strategic instrument of state power.

Using East Germany’s relationship with Sweden as a case study, the book draws on the records of the East German regime and the secret police (the Stasi) to reveal how travel administration constituted a distinct, covert form of state capacity, one designed not only for defence, but to influence the West. It examines how the travel administration system was organized, how it shaped conditions for transnational dialogue, and how it could be leveraged to influence domestic discourse in other countries.

The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond.