ABSTRACT
The Iranian Azeri writers who first came into contact with the Soviets in 1941 were heirs to a classic literary tradition that traced its origins to the XIIIth century. The Soviet Azeri public was kept informed on the apparent deepening of the literary connections. Soviet poets devoted their works to colleagues in Iran in the hopes of eliciting a response. Soviet national liberation symbolism was designed to evoke a sense of a common history, tradition and customs shared by both the Azeris of Iran and the Soviet Union. One technique that Soviet Azeri writers exported to Iran was the enumeration of a series of historical and pseudo-historical personages from Azeri history or mythology; listings were intended to stimulate the sense of a common revolutionary bond. The Soviet decision to shift the emphasis of their propaganda from the passive "longing" to the more active, and to the Iranian government, more threatening "One Azerbaijan" approach was almost inevitable.
