Cold War - Episode 06: Reds (1948–1953)

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6. Reds (1948–1953) The fears the leadership of both sides had were projected inwards towards their own people. In the United States the House Committee on Un-American Activities and the Tydings Committee carried out investigations into alleged Communist sympathisers in US public life, in particular the State Department and Hollywood. In the Soviet Union a personality cult  emerged around Stalin, and a repressive police environment and comprehensive surveillance kept the population fearful. In response to Yugoslavia's maverick foreign policy, Stalin inspired the Prague Trials  to warn Eastern European leaders not to stray away from emulating the Soviet model. Repression in the Soviet Union peaked with the investigations into the so-called Doctors' Plot, just before Stalin's sudden death in 1953. Interviewees include Arthur Kinoy, Ralph de Toledano and Boris Pokrovsky. The pre-credits scene shows a Russian labour camp and its victims.

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