The Japanese Journal of Language in Society
Online ISSN : 2189-7239
Print ISSN : 1344-3909
ISSN-L : 1344-3909
Communication as Ideological Struggles : Ideology and Narrative Strategies in a Conversation between Stalin and H. G. Wells(<Special Issue>Sociolinguistic Sciences of Communication)
Kenichiro TAKAHASHI
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2003 Volume 6 Issue 1 Pages 40-51

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Abstract
The aim of this paper is to analyze a conversation between Stalin and H.G. Wells in 1934, which is an example of noncooperative communication, from the perspective of "ideological struggles." The elementary propositions on which Stalin's discourse is based are the following : "Capitalism leads to anarchy" (i.e. Capitalism is evil) and "mankind is classified into the capitalist class and the proletarian class, which are conflicting with each other." Our concern is to consider how Wells criticizes these propositions and how Stalin justifies them. Wells criticizes Stalin's propositions by presenting himself as "a common man" who is free from ideological restraint and who "understands the condition of the world" and by putting Stalin in the opposite position. Stalin tries to defend his position from the criticism of Wells by slipping his propositions on "Capitalism" and "the class war" into his discourse with the help of various linguistic forms of "presupposition." In addition, he brings up "rich historical experience" as opposed to the above position of Wells, trying to reverse the value judgment : from "being old-fashioned" to "having rich historical experience."
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© 2003 The Japanese Association of Sociolinguistic Sciences
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