Although  the LOD existed since the 1950s, its early activities were largely limited to providing the films and the literature for Friendship Societies abroad. At the beginning of the 1970s, however, Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic became a showcase example of the “victory of Lenin’s national policy”. 

During the XXIV Congress of the CPSU in 1971,  Leonid Brezhnev’s Peace Program was adopted. This program aimed at local level development of production, agriculture and the progress in industrial, economic and cultural spheres. Internationally, it sought to restructure relations between different states (especially non-aligned states) and the most important – the recognition of the territorial division after the Second World War. The last point would mean the recognition of the borders of the Soviet Union and the permanent integration of the Baltic states in the USSR without possible revindication of their independence before 15 June 1940 (the first occupation of the Baltic states by the Soviet Union). Thus, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania started to play a major role within the promotion of this program, to show the progress and development under the Communism of these recently integrated Soviet republics. In the context of renewed militarization during the 1970s, peaceful cultural and technical exchanges became an important instrument of Soviet foreign relations, particularly with Western countries. 

This paper focuses on the activities of the LOD during this period, showing how exhibitions and artistic tours abroad served not only Moscow’s propaganda purposes but also enabled Latvian cultural and political circles to cultivate their own ties with Western countries - most notably France and Austria - in a comparative perspective.