Türkiye’de Anti-Komünizmin Kaynakları -3: 1940’lı Yıllarda Soğuk Savaşın Erken Provası The Resources Of Anti-Communism In Turkey - 3: The Early Rehearsing Of Cold War In The 1940s.

The decade before the 1940s, in other words, the 1930s, are the years when the left/communism movement was reticent and stagnant. The movement inclined to translation and literature and went into the effort of popularizing itself through literature. In this period, the scientific studies (hypothetical and empirical) in the sociology chair in the Faculty of Language History and Geography in Ankara, led by “American- oriented faculty members, who were affected by Marxism to a certain extend and most importantly took 151 a distant stand to the single-party rule” stood out. The work written by the highbrows, who gathered around the “Kadro” magazine -some of its writers came from the left movement- about economic Statism and cooperation which were influenced by Marxism, shone out. We can also mention the translations of works about Socialism-Marxism by Haydar Firat in the 1930s. One of the reasons for the political silence and why people drifted to science and literature was due to the successive prosecutions exposed to the Turkish left-wing in 1929 and 1931 and the dissolution of underground organizations. Besides that, another important factor was the policy of convergence towards Soviet Russia after the Great Depression in 1929. Due to the fact that the Soviet Russia was influenced less from the depression than the other Western countries and the transition to the policy of state-oriented economy in Turkey, the two countries got closer. Considering this conjuncture, the left movement avoided causing a disturbance between these two countries. The call to the communist movement in Turkey to stop its illegal activities and to help the CHP (The Republican People’s Party) by the Soviet Union Communist Party in their 7th congress in 1935 was influential in this progression. Another domestic reason for the silence and stagnancy during this period was the unifying charisma of Ataturk over the society. Every fraction had his own Ataturk in Turkey in the 1930s. According to the left wingers, Ataturk was a “revolutionist”. For the Nationalists; he was the “grey wolf”, for the conservatives; he was a “conservative and religionist”. Even though there were circumstances that affected different fractions negatively, there was an alliance around Ataturk. It was a “magical” era when countertendencies intertwined, contradictions and reconciliations were seen. The period of revolution was completed and it was time for institutionalization. In terms of the history of sociology, during these years sociologist were overshadowed by the bureaucrats. And the sociologists in this period strived to redound sociological paradigms for the political and social changes under the guidance of the political staff.