Political Tourists

For Socialists and many liberals, the Soviet Union of the 1920s-1940s was the site of the great Socialist Experiment. Most Australians who travelled there wrote about their extraordinary experiences, and the recent opening of the Soviet archives gave access to the Soviets’ reactions to their visitors.

Collecting the research of leading historians and writers, Political Tourists explores Soviet tourism through figures such as Eric Ashby, RM Crawford, Reg Ellery, Neill Greenwood, Esmonde Higgins, Katharine Susannah Prichard, Betty Roland and Jessie Street. Drawing on both Australian and Soviet archives, this is a unique insight into the Soviet experience in the 1920s-1940s.