“THE CLUB OF FAMOUS CAPTAINS”: THE REPRESENTATION OF ANTI-COLONIALISM

Abstract

This article analyzes the representation of anti-colonial themes in books based on the radio series The Club of Famous Captains (by Klimenty Borisovich Mints and Vladimir Mikhailovich Kreps). The radio series was a hit in Soviet broadcasting, airing from 1945 to 1982, and was distinguished by its pronounced anti-colonial theme. The books in The Club of Famous Captains series, which served as the material for this study, feature Rus- sians, English, French, Germans, Americans, Native Americans, Africans, Indians, Chinese, Polynesians, Arabs, and Japanese. Through the lens of postcolonial theory, the article examines the contradictory nature of Soviet anti-colonialism. On the one hand, the works consistently condemn Western imperialism and racism, while promoting ideas of internationalism and respect for cultural diversity. On the other hand, the novels and radio plays retain elements of colonial discourse: Eurocentrism, paternalism, the exoticization of non-European peoples, and the romanticization of their images. Special attention is paid to the strategy of silence regarding the colonial experience of the Russian Empire and the USSR, as well as the contrast between “bad” Western colonizers and “good” Russian explorers.
The conclusion is that The Club of Famous Captains conveyed an ambivalent discourse, combining declared anti-colonialism with narrative patterns and perceptions of the “other” inherited from the colonial era.