In any U.S. Embassy abroad, and many Consulates, there is someone who is liaison to university departments teaching American Studies, as well as larger libraries with international literature collections. The "Public Diplomacy" section of an embassy is the best contact - try moscow.usembassy.gov for a start. The main American research library for Central Europe is at the Embassy in Berlin, which may have more info than does Moscow, however, as it existed throughout most of the cold war years. In my experience teaching at a university in Poland, these Embassy officers are more than happy to help with questions such as yours, and to put you in touch with academics who have written for conferences or have published on American writers. They may also have native citizen "specialists" in literature and other fields, who don't get rotated out after a 4-year stint, as do foreign service diplomats. The language of American topics conferences is more often than not English, or bilingual, and the publication language is the same. The U.S. State Department in recent years has funded numerous American Libraries in medium and larger cities in Russian and other countries, a program that started in the Clinton years. They're placed within U or Public libraries -- I think the first ones were in Russia. These won't have their shelved books in the country's tongue, but the librarians will know what's available. Translations of Twain are numerous in most of the "Soviet Bloc" countries, of course, along with Jack London, Hemingway, and the normal catalog of authors of poetry, prose and drama. As to translations slanted toward the party line, of course the state publishers, which dominated, and censors would more likely approve and fund titles and content that seemed to agree with ideology. If the texts were for school/university study, textbook committees would review further - same as in our U.S. states. Getting something past the censors, then as now, is part of the game. By now some rebels among the academics have surely written on exactly your Communist Manifesto question. -Richard R - now in San Francisco