The Dulles’ Plan: Russian conspiracy theory inspired by a Ukrainian fiction book

Conspiracy theory is something at which Russian propagandists seem to have no equal. However, not everything is obvious here. Since the early 1990s, Russian politicians and clergy have repeatedly describeded the “Dulles’ Plan” — a fictitious secret CIA doctrine, attributed to Allen Dulles, alleged to be aimed at ideologically disorienting young people in the USSR. The first mention of this concocted plan belongs to Ukrainian writer and author of Soviet-era spy novels Yuri Dold-Mykhailyk.

What actually happened.  NSC Memorandum 20/1

Fake stories arise from somewhere, rooted in some form of reality or context. Every canonical text, for example, has its share of unverified texts; in that case, we are talking about sacred writing. However, something similar happens with documents of the special services. Memorandum NSC 20/1, dated Aug. 18, 1948, can be found in the archives of the United States National Security Council. This top-secret document analyzes actions of the USSR and suggests means of deterring it. It can hardly be called sensational; it is a typical analytical work of the Cold War intelligence community. The evaluations and conclusions found in NSC 20/1 are far from what is typically considered hawkish —  post-World War II exhaustion is evident. A direct military confrontation with Stalin’s regime is viewed as an undesirable scenario and a potentially flawed decision. The memorandum’s authors emphasize the importance of limiting Moscow’s influence in Eastern Europe, where it was in the process of forming a bloc of satellite states.

It is unclear whether it was this single document that formed the basis of  the conspiracy theory known as the Dulles’ Plan or a number of documents from that period. What is certain is that the United States recognized the threat of the expansion of the USSR and developed various strategies for confronting it, including military, diplomatic, informational, and economic. In fact, all of these are what Washington has to deal with today. Like the Soviet government many years ago, today’s Russian authorities are trying to demonize the collective West, which neglects Moscow’s “spheres of interest” and is preparing a near-crusade against it (yes, the “crusade against communism” was an element of Cold War rhetoric).

Allen Dulles was an American diplomat and intelligence officer, one of the founders of the CIA, which he led from 1953 to 1960. It’s important to note that Dulles wasn’t a person often mentioned in Soviet propaganda sources; rather, he served as a prototype of an abstract, stereotypical American general, a Pentagon hawk.

In general, Dulles had a lot of film incarnations in both the Soviet and American cinemas (in particular, the historical drama “Bridge of Spies”). It’s no surprise that conspiracy theorists have attributed to him a secret plan, either outlined in his book (which doesn’t exist) or announced in a speech to the U.S. Congress (not confirmed by any sources).

The collapse of the USSR as the realization of the Dulles’ Plan

The phrase “Dulles’ Plan” first emerged in the Russian right-wing radical opposition and was spread by many media outlets. The first mention belongs to Metropolitan John (Snychov) of the Russian Orthodox Church. Smychov, well-known for his anti-Semitism, wrote, in a 1993 article in the newspaper “Sovetskaya Rossiya,” about a secret CIA plan and a Zionist conspiracy that acted against “Russian spirituality.”

It is impossible to count all the references to the Dulles’ Plan in the Russian media space. There is one trend that is worth noting: while they were cited by those in the political fringes in the 1990s, conspiracy theories have, during Putin’s era, reached a new level, with propagandists and high-ranking officials now promoting them on the big screen.

It is not surprising to hear about the Dulles’ Plan from the infamous Russian filmmaker Nikita Mikhalkov or the late MP Vladimir Zhirinovsky,  who was frequently involved in or associated with disputes or debates. But it was also mentioned in an article in “EU Observer” by Russia’s envoy to the European Union, Vladimir Chizhov. He wrote that the Dulles’ Plan was aimed at dismantling the USSR “through propaganda, sowing discord among nationalities and social groups, and moral corruption.”

The essence of any conspiracy theory is a straightforward explanation for complex events. Jewish or Masonic conspiracies, or even alien intervention — all these fictions have very simplistic interpretations and unambiguous conclusions, with appointment of the guilty. The Dulles’ Plan was no exception. Its purpose was to explain that the collapse of the USSR occurred because the CIA was working purposefully to “change traditional values,” “corrupt the youth,” awaken consumerist instincts in people, make them soulless, and “reprogram” historical memory. According to conspiracy theorists, propaganda was the main tool for implementing the plan.

According to Russian propagandists, the plan’s implementation started with Soviet youth being “bought” with jeans and rock music, women with imported clothes, men deliberately made drunk with vodka. Dulles’ triumph was “Perestroika,” freedom of speech, and other democratic reforms. To paraphrase a famous Bolshevik slogan, “Dulles is dead, but his work lives on.” The former CIA chief died back in 1969, and the United States has had 11 presidents since then, but conspiracy theorists are sure the Dulles’ Plan is being consistently implemented up to this day. Some Russian officials have openly stated that the implementation of the Dulles’ Plan in Russia is being carried out by, among others, opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was killed by the Russian regime in 2024. It is obvious, they say, that Ukrainians do not want to be “one people” with Russians because they have fallen under the influence of the CIA and have begun to profess false values.

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The mythology of the Dulles’ Plan goes far beyond Russia. It is hardly surprising that Lukashenko’s TV in Belarus is broadcasting it. In Ukraine, the centers of dissemination of such information were the churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchy). In some monasteries, such as the Kytaiv Pustyn in Kyiv, next to icons and quotes from the holy fathers, one can see quotes about the Dulles’ Plan aimed at destroying “Slavic unity.”

The “Dold-Mykhailyk’s Plan”?

Despite frequent references to the Dulles’ Plan, conspiracy theorists never quote the entire document. It is enough to mention that “this document existed” and present excerpts and quotes relevant to a particular context.

It is worth bringing into the discussion the “joker” of this entire story — Ukrainian writer Yuri Dold-Mykhailyk. Dold-Mykhailyk is known for his trilogy about the Soviet intelligence officer Hryhoriy Honcharenko (Heinrich von Goldrig). The first part, “Warrior Alone in the Field,” was adapted into a movie and drew millions of viewers to cinemas under the title “Far from Home” (1960). The second part, “Among the Black Knights,” was seized upon by conspiracy theorists. The novel is set in a Western intelligence school, where one of the characters is American General Dumbright (likely be the embodiment of Dulles), who reveals his devious plans:

“Among the Black Knights” by Yuri Dold-Mykhailyk (Ukrainian publication)

“It is human nature to seek an outlet in times of crisis. Some cling to religion, others gag on wine, and still others seek solace in desperate merriment. There are those who are feverishly engaged in work, considering it the best medicine. Russians are having a hard time, and we need to make sure that these last ones are the least of them. A widow who lost her husband in the war … a young girl who was betrayed by her beloved one … a young man who has not found his place under the sun … make them think that they should cry out to God, drag them into a sect if there is none, organize it yourself! Slavs like to sing with a glass of vodka, so remind them how well they made moonshine during the civil war. The sea is knee-deep when you’re drunk, as Russians put it.

“Create this sea, and then the drunk will walk where we need them to. Are Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians prone to humor? Let’s help them! Let’s arm the lovers of witty words with jokes that would ridicule their present and future … Youth is the hope of every nation. We must make sure that the Bolsheviks are fooled by this hope. This is the most vulnerable layer of the population, to which it is easiest to find the keys, because young people are generally fascinated. Poison their souls with disbelief in the meaning of life, arouse their interest in sexual problems, seduce them with the delights of the free world, such as fashionable dances, beautiful rags, special records, poems, songs … 

“Children always have something to say to their parents. Take advantage of this, and create discord between the younger and older generations … I could go on and on about the measures that can be taken in each case, but that’s not the point of my discussion today. I want to prove one thing: we must be so inventive in our psychological warfare tactics against communism that communist propaganda will not be able to keep up with us!”

This fragment might be considered the starting point from which many derivatives follow. The most famous of these is “Eternal Call,” a Soviet 1973–1983 epic TV series based on the eponymous novel of Anatoli Ivanov and shot by Mosfilm. In it, the demonic protagonist, a former officer in the Russian tsarist army who has become a Nazi collaborator, says something similar to what General Dumbright utters in Dold-Mykhailyk’s novel. This excerpt has become quite popular among Russian YouTube users.

Ivanov’s novel was published later than Dold-Mykhailyk’s “Among the Black Knights”. There is a 12-year gap between the two works. Therefore, the Ukrainian author definitely has the right of primacy. Although there is no question of direct plagiarism. Perhaps both writers were working on the same instructions from the party.

In 1964, when the second part of Dold-Mykhailyk’s trilogy was published, Soviet ideology experts were already facing a serious challenge. During the Khrushchev Thaw, young people learned more about Western culture and bought vinyl records with Western music sold on the black market, fashionable clothing could be “obtained” in large cities, and new literature that focused on national revival was emerging in Ukraine. Apparently, the top party leaders ordered the “engineers of human souls” — writers — to find a way to restrain Western cultural influence and discredit it. This is how a conspiracy theory grew up, which in the 1990s was called the Dulles’ Plan.

The Russian translation of “Among the Black Knights” was released 30 years after the original was published — in 1994, when the fabrication about the Dulles’ Plan had just begun to be promoted in the Russian information space. Perhaps the publication of this book was also a form of directive, but this time from revanchist forces who were fostering the idea of the revival of the USSR.

“Warrior Alone in the Field” by Yuri Dold-Mykhailyk (Ukrainian publication)

Could Dold-Mykhailyk have come up with the guidelines that were later called the Dulles’ Plan on his own? It’s unlikely, given the level of censorship at that time. Although the writer himself said that his books were based on real-life events, this is hard to believe. Dold-Mykhailyk was not involved in foreign intelligence, nor did he take part in World War II. In fact, he worked at a film studio in Turkmenistan. Obviously, given the “spy” theme of his work, the writer had consultants from the KGB, who voiced some of the “correct” accents.

For those who speak Ukrainian and wish to explore the original source of the toxic conspiracy theory, there are no barriers. In 2008, “Among the Black Knights” by Yuri Dold-Mykhailyk was republished by Folio and is now available in many online bookstores.

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Copy editing: Joy Tataryn