In authoritarian societies like the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany, how was foreign language education handled? I would think that in societies such as these which tried to heavily restrict the flow of outside information, ensuring a low amount of knowledge of foreign languages would be beneficial. At the same time, knowing foreign languages is obviously essential for being economically competitive. How did they balance these needs?
Was it possible to learn foreign languages as we do today in democratic societies, in public school? Or was it more tightly controlled? Would you draw suspicion onto yourself in, for example, 1950s Russia if you made an effort to learn a non-Cominform language like English or French if you didn't have a good enough reason?
Note that "being competitive" was not essential for communist economy. Global trade was becoming more relevant when it became clear that Soviet Union actually needs it, first under Khruschev, then when they desperately wanted to stop the crumble of communism under Gorbachev.
Usually there was a cadre of state-equipped multilingual interpreters employed by ministries. And yes, admitting that you want to study "enemy's" language could get you in trouble, especially under Stalin's reign.
I ain't no sovietologist but your question reminds me of André Gide's Retour de l'URSS, published 1936. He says that every student must study a foreign language, usually German or English, which they speak extremely badly. One student student apparently told Gide that now that the USSR had surpassed Germany and the US, the latter had nothing to teach them, so what would be the point of learning their languages? Then the student admitted that it was an absurd argument, because foreign languages were not good just for learning, but also for teaching!