DOCSLIB.ORG

A Cyber-Socialism at Home and Abroad: Bulgarian Modernisation, Computers, and the World, 1967-1989

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
A Cyber-Socialism at Home and Abroad: Bulgarian Modernisation, Computers, and the World, 1967-1989 A Cyber-Socialism at Home and Abroad: Bulgarian Modernisation, Computers, and the World, 1967-1989 Victor Petrov Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2017 © 2017 Victor Petrov All rights reserved ABSTRACT A Cyber-Socialism at Home and Abroad: Bulgarian Modernisation, Computers, and the World, 1967-1989 Victor Petrov The history of the Cold War has rarely been looked at through the eyes of the smaller powers, especially ones in the Balkans. Works have also often ignored the actual workings of the international socialist market, and the possibilities it created for some of these small countries. The conventional wisdom has also prevailed that the Eastern Bloc was irreversably lagging technologically, and its societies had failed to enter the information age after the 1970s, one among a myriad of reasons for the failure of socialism. Using the prism of a commodity history of the Bulgarian computer and an ethnography of the professional class that built it and worked with it, this dissertation argues that such narratives obscure the role of small states and the importance of technology to the socialist project. The backward Bulgarian economy exploited the international socialist division of labour and COMECON’s mechanisms to set itself up as the “Silicon Valley” of the Eastern Bloc, garnering huge profits for the economy. To do so, it did not hue a politically maverick road but exploited its political orthodoxy and Soviet alliance to the full, securing huge markets. Importantly, this work also shows that the state facilitated massive transfers of knowledge and technology through both legal and illicit means, using its state security and economic organisations to look to the West. This made the Iron Curtain much more porous for a growing cadre of technical intellectuals who were trusted by the regime in order to create the golden exports of the country. This transfer and mobility helped create an internationally plugged-in and fluent class of engineers and managers, at odds with most of the rest of the economy. At the same time, the Global South became an important area of exchange where these specialists competed with both nascent protectionist regimes and international firms. Using India as a case study, this dissertation shows how Bulgarian met the First World on the grounds of the Third and learned to market, negotiate, advertise, and service customers – a skillset that was then applied to its socialist dealings. Finally, the dissertation examines the domestic impact of such policies. The regime wished to use cybernetics and computing to solve the problems of its lagging economic growth, as well as usher in communism. It introduced both the widespread discourse of technological revolutions to its population, and robots and automation to some of its factories. This created both anxieties and hopes among workers, as well as vibrant philosophical debates about the future roles of humans in the information society, among both technical and humanistic intellectuals. Ultimately, however, the economic inefficiency undermined the promise and this failure was utilised by some technical managers to call for reforms, playing a hand in the end of the regime. They managed to negotiate the transfer to capitalism better than most, utilising their financial and business links, while thousands of engineers also found a better life than the vast majority of Bulgarian workers, through emigration or their possession of cutting edge skills. Using Bulgarian, Russian, Indian archives as well as interviews with living actors, the dissertation thus intervenes in both the view of the Iron Curtain as an impenetrable barrier for ideas, and 1989 as a convenient end point for communism’s legacies. It shows both the creation of new professional classes and how they were plugged into global developments, arguing that some people in the socialist bloc did enter the information age, and it is by paying attention to their actions and interests that we can get a better understanding of the developments of late socialism and its end. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Abbreviations ii Acknowledgments iii Introduction 1 Chapter 1. A Victory, a Crisis, a Possibility: The Pre-History of 44 Bulgaria’s Electronic Industry Chapter 2. The Golden Factories & the Captive Market: The 83 Development and Apogee of the Computer Industry Chapter 3. Access Denied: Spying and Technology Transfer Across 149 the Iron Curtain Chapter 4. Entangled Electronics: Bulgaria in India, and the Global 195 South as a Space of Exchange Chapter 5. Automatic for the People: the Scientific-Technical 253 Revolution, Automation, and Society Chapter 6. The Socialist Cyborg: Education, Intellectuals, and Popular 317 Discourse in the Information Age Chapter 7. Networked & Plugged-In: The Emergence of Transnational 375 Professional Classes and the Fall of Communism Conclusions 435 Bibliography 445 i LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ASU Automated System of Governance BAS Bulgarian Academy of Sciences BCP Bulgarian Communist Party BNB Bulgarian National Bank CICT Central Institute for Computer Technology COCOM Coordinating Committee for Export Controls COMECON Council for Mutual Economic Assistance CPSU Communist Party of the Soviet Union CSTP Committee for Scientific and Technical Progress (Bulgaria) DKMS Dimitrov Komsomol Youth Union DS Bulgarian State Security DSO State Economic Union ES Unified System (of Computers) ESGRAON Unified System for Civilian Registration and Administrative Services for the Population ESSI Unified System of Social Information GKNT Committee for Scientific and Technical Progress (USSR) ICCT Intergovernmental Commission on Computer Technology ITCR Institute for Technical Cybernetics and Robotics IZOT Computational, Recording and Organisational Technology KESSI Committee for the Unified System of Social Information RB Robot series (Bulgaria) SM System of Minicomputers STI Scientific-Technical Intelligence SPC State Planning Commission TITz Territorial Computer Centre VTO Foreign Trade Organisation ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The writing of any dissertation is often a solitary pursuit, but it is never one of isolation. Intellectually and personally this work is in debt to so many people that it would be difficult to list all of them here, but I will give it a try as it is the least I can do to repay the efforts and care of everyone involved. Of course, the first and greatest debt has to go to my supervisor Mark Mazower. Not only was the very concept of this topic born as a paper in one of his classes, but his constant encouragement to make the Balkans a globally connected area has been inspiration to the directions my work has taken. His keen sense of style has taught me to be a better writer, while his wide-ranging questions and comments have always made my work sharper and more concise. Without him, this project would not have been likely to exit the confines of Bulgaria to become one of more global history. It has only benefited from that, much as I have from his mentorship during my time in graduate school. For this, I will be eternally grateful. The rest of my dissertation committee have been invaluable both as readers and mentors. Adam Tooze has been incisive in always pushing me to clarify problematic areas, but also situate my own work against much larger arguments about European or economic history – ones that I would have overlooked if not for him. His endless enthusiasm for this work has been inspirational to me. I thank Malgorzata Mazurek for reading this work of prolix closely and always helping me think in the long duree of Eastern European developments. I must also thank her for her invitation to and comments during conferences and workshops that came at a key moment between research and writing, shaping the path I wanted to take my arguments. I must thank Matthew Jones for agreeing to join my committee despite the short notice, and for his penetrating comments about the history of technology, an area that was brand new to me at the start of this project. His expertise in computer and iii science history have allowed me to really realise what kind of argument I was making, and it was always delivered with humour. Last but not least I must thank Elidor Mehilli, whose guidance, comments, conversation and support have been with this project from the very start. It was his own dissertation, read during this fateful class with Mark Mazower, that launched me towards both my topic and my methodology. There have been many others whose comments and guidance have helped me sharpen my research, or learn how to be a historian. I must thank Columbia University’s department of history for its global outlook and encouragement to follow local stories wherever they take us. Tarik Amar has been a great illuminator of Soviet modernity, and a tireless companion through socialist spying in its various guises. Victoria de Grazia helped me realize what claims I was making to wider European relevance, as well as giving me my first opportunity to lecture and teach in a university setting. Susan Pedersen’s class on modern state formation has always been at the back of my mind when thinking about state projects and their uses of technology. Others throughout the world must also be thanked. I want to thank my first mentors, Dimitar Bechev and Robert J W Evans, during both my undergraduate and master’s days, for patiently and steadfastly teaching me what it is to be a historian. I hope this work is a fitting culmination to their efforts while in Oxford. Odd Arne Westad first listened to my inochoate theories, and suggested looking to India for a case study – for that I can’t thank him enough. Mary Neuburger has been a tireless commentator and friend during the writing of this project, and her own work has helped me immensely in approaching Bulgaria through a commodity angle.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • HIST 112 Sheet 2
    South Dakota State University HIST 112 - World Civilization Concepts addressed: Changing face of economic systems: communism, socialism, and capitalism 1. Communism, 1945-1989/1991 a. After WWII, Soviet Union continued to challenge capitalist world with regard to rates of economic growth but stagnation by later 1960s b. Amongst eastern bloc, Czechoslovakia and East Germany reached highest levels of development (started from higher level of development) c. Adjustments in Hungary following Revolution of 1956: "Goulash Communism" i. Combined limited private enterprise (very small businesses) and halt to collectivization of farms with state-directed big business and capital ownership ii. Slightly increased openness of culture to criticism, creativity d. Prague Spring (1968) demonstrated limits to possible reform i. Government under Alexander Dubcek sought means to open political system to debate, possibly to multiple parties ii. Economic stagnation inspired revisions of planning to suggest ways to incorporate greater flexibility on local level into overall system of state direction iii. Period of cultural opening and widespread debate within civil society crushed by Warsaw Pact tanks/Moscow directives iv. Dubcek replaced by Moscow-obedient Gustav Husak - period of "normalization" followed that entailed passive acceptance on the part of citizens in return for basic assurances in job, health, housing, education e. Solidarity in Poland challenged notion of country as a "workers' state" i. Strikes at Gdansk shipyard and elsewhere in 1980 led by charismatic mechanic Lech Walesa ii. Government capitulated but then established martial law in order to rein in protests, new movements f. Stagnation under Leonid Brezhnev in USSR - little economic growth, clear that USSR unable to compete with West in tech revolution of later 20th century (behind on computer development, communications, etc.) g.
    [Show full text]
  • The Foreign Trade Regime in the Comecon Countries Today
    THE FOREIGN TRADE REGIME IN THE COMECON COUNTRIES TODAY KAzmuExz GRzmows~i* I. THE ScoPE OF REFORM Recently, in three important aspects, foreign trade techniques in socialist Europe were changed significantly. Economic expan- sion, the growing sophistication of national economies in the en- tire area and the need for closer cooperation, both among the members of the Council for Mutual Economic Aid (hereinafter Comecon) and with the free economy countries, have rendered the system of artificial separation of import and export activities from the production of goods obsolete. Accordingly, foreign trade has been made largely the responsibility of the producers again in an effort to involve them directly in more efficient competition for foreign consumers.' Second, in the effort to promote growing effi- dency within the Eastern Bloc, the General Conditions of Delivery of 19582 and the international code of sales and deliveriess were * Professor of Law and Political Science, Duke University. This article is part of a forthcoming book entitled, East-West Economic Relations, to be published by the author in 1972. 1. See generally K. Grzybowski, Soviet Private International Law 46 (1965); K. Grzybowski, The Socialist Commonwealth of Nations: Organizations and Institutions 29, 57 (1964); S. Pisar, Coexistence and Commerce: Guidelines for Transactions between East and West 243-816 (1970); Hoya, The Comecon Gen- eral Conditions-A Socialist Unification of International Trade Law, 70 Colum. L. Rev. 253 (1970). 2. Obshchie Usloviia Postavok Tovarov mczhdu Vneshnetorgovymi Organi- zatsiiami Stran-Uchastnits Soveta Ekonomicheskoi Vraimopomoshchi (General Conditions for the Delivery of Goods Between Foreign Trade Organizations of Member-Countries of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance), in Mnogos- toronnee Ekonomicheskoe Sotrudnichestvo Sotsialisticheskikh Gosudantv 121, 297 (Institut Gosudarstvi Prava Ak-ademii Nauk SSR 1967).
    [Show full text]
  • The Central Regions and the Sofia Agglomeration Area
    Maria Shishmanova THE CENTRAL REGIONS AND THE SOFIA AGGLOMERATION AREA Abstract. The research presents central regions in Bulgaria using taxonometric method with relevant conclusions. Each municipality in central regions is particularly examined by the elaborated methodic materials. The developed agglomeration areas are situated in the central regions. Sofia agglomeration area is presented using General Spatial Plan of Sofia municipality and Municipal Development Plan (MDP) of Sofia metropolitan municipality. It is set out the vision of development and its priorities, objectives and measures. Key words: central regions, agglomeration areas, Sofia agglomeration area, General Spatial Plan, Municipal Development Plan. Introduction The Central regions comprise 45 percent of the Bulgarian territory. The agglomeration areas are formed in them. The present study examines the development of the Sofia agglomeration area – a metropolis in the central regions of Bulgaria. The agglomeration areas are formed within the range of the central regions in Bulgaria – 6 agglomeration areas with a center – a large city, 30 agglomeration areas with a center – a medium-sized town. Six of the agglomeration areas are formations with more than three municipalities, five of them are with three municipalities each, ten are with 2 municipalities and the rest 15 are autonomous municipalities with an established core. These areas represent the backbone of the economy and social and human potential of the country. They have the highest degree of competitiveness and attractiveness for investment and innovation. Eighty eight municipalities with a total population of 5885455 people1 are included within the scope of the agglomeration areas, which constitutes 77.4 percent of the population of the country.
    [Show full text]
  • Whither Communism: a Comparative Perspective on Constitutionalism in a Postsocialist Cuba Jon L
    University of Florida Levin College of Law UF Law Scholarship Repository UF Law Faculty Publications Faculty Scholarship 2009 Whither Communism: A Comparative Perspective on Constitutionalism in a Postsocialist Cuba Jon L. Mills University of Florida Levin College of Law, [email protected] Daniel Ryan Koslosky Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/facultypub Part of the Comparative and Foreign Law Commons Recommended Citation Jon Mills & Daniel Ryan Koslosky, Whither Communism: A Comparative Perspective on Constitutionalism in a Postsocialist Cuba, 40 Geo. Wash. Int'l L. Rev. 1219 (2009), available at, http://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/facultypub/522 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at UF Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in UF Law Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of UF Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. WHITHER COMMUNISM: A COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE ON CONSTITUTIONALISM IN A POSTSOCIALIST CUBA JON MILLS* AND DANIEL RYAN KOSLOSIc4 I. INTRODUCTION ........................................ 1220 II. HISTORY AND BACKGROUND ............................ 1222 A. Cuban ConstitutionalLaw .......................... 1223 1. Precommunist Legacy ........................ 1223 2. Communist Constitutionalism ................ 1225 B. Comparisons with Eastern Europe ................... 1229 1. Nationalizations in Eastern Europe ........... 1230 2. Cuban Expropriations ........................ 1231 III. MODES OF CONSTITUTIONALISM: A SCENARIO ANALYSIS. 1234 A. Latvia and the Problem of ConstitutionalInheritance . 1236 1. History, Revolution, and Reform ............. 1236 2. Resurrecting an Ancien Rgime ................ 1239 B. Czechoslovakia and Poland: Revolutions from Below .. 1241 1. Poland's Solidarity ........................... 1241 2. Czechoslovakia's Velvet Revolution ........... 1244 3. New Constitutionalism ....................... 1248 C. Hungary's GradualDecline and Decay ..............
    [Show full text]
  • River Names As a Testament of Cultural Heritage
    ONOMÀSTICA 5 (2019): 65–89 | RECEPCIÓ 28.10.2019 | ACCEPTACIÓ 28.11.2019 River names as a testament of cultural heritage (on hydronyms in the Iskar river basin) Anna Choleva-Dimitrova Department of Onomastics Institute for Bulgarian Language, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences [email protected] Abstract: River names are some of the oldest -onyms on record. The article examines 170 river names from the basin of the Iskar river – the largest tributary of the Danube in Bulgaria. The origin and significance of river names emerge through the application of traditional onomastic methods – onomastic (etymological) analysis and onomastic reconstruction. Comparative onomastic data from adjacent and more distant regions in Bulgaria and the Balkans are also drawn on. Conclusions about the relative antiquity of the hydronyms are drawn. Key words: river name, hydronym, Iskar river, Danube river, tributary of a river Els noms dels rius com a llegat del patrimoni cultural (Sobre hidrònims a la conca del riu Iskar) Resum: Els noms dels rius, o topònims fluvials, són uns dels noms més antics de què es té notícia. L’article examina 170 noms de rius de la conca del riu Iskar —el major afluent del Danubi a Bulgària. Tractem d’aclarir l’origen i la significació d’aquests noms a partir de l’aplicació de mètodes onomàstics tradicionals: anàlisi etimològica i reconstrucció onomàstica. També es recullen dades onomàstiques comparatives de regions de Bulgària i dels Balcans, més properes i més llunyanes. Proposem algunes conclusions sobre l’antiguitat relativa dels hidrònims. Paraules clau: nom de riu, hidrònim, riu Iskar, riu Danubi, afluent d’un riu 1 Introduction Hydronymy is one of the most important branches of onomastics.
    [Show full text]
  • Tseggai Isaac and Andrew Targowski, African Civilization in the 21St Century
    Comparative Civilizations Review Volume 76 Article 17 Number 76 Spring 2017 4-25-2017 Tseggai Isaac and Andrew Targowski, African Civilization in the 21st Century. Focus on Civilizations and Cultures Series. New York: Nova Publishers, 2015. Leland Conley Barrows Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/ccr Part of the Comparative Literature Commons, History Commons, International and Area Studies Commons, Political Science Commons, and the Sociology Commons Recommended Citation Barrows, Leland Conley (2017) "Tseggai Isaac and Andrew Targowski, African Civilization in the 21st Century. Focus on Civilizations and Cultures Series. New York: Nova Publishers, 2015.," Comparative Civilizations Review: Vol. 76 : No. 76 , Article 17. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/ccr/vol76/iss76/17 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the All Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Comparative Civilizations Review by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Barrows: Tseggai Isaac and Andrew Targowski, <em>African Civilization in t 144 Number 76, Spring 2017 Book Reviews Tseggai Isaac and Andrew Targowski (eds.), African Civilization in the 21st Century. Focus on Civilizations and Cultures Series. New York: Nova Publishers, 2015 Reviewed by Leland Conley Barrows Some fifty-two years ago, the eminent journalist-turned-historian, Basil Davidson, published Which Way Africa? The Search for a New Society (London: Penguin, 1964), a book that asked questions about the future of economic and political development in Africa, pan-Africanism, the role of elites, the colonial heritage, and much more.
    [Show full text]
  • Company Profile
    www.ecobulpack.com COMPANY PROFILE KEEP BULGARIA CLEAN FOR THE CHILDREN! PHILIPPE ROMBAUT Chairman of the Board of Directors of ECOBULPACK Executive Director of AGROPOLYCHIM JSC-Devnia e, ECOBULPACK are dedicated to keeping clean the environment of the country we live Wand raise our children in. This is why we rely on good partnerships with the State and Municipal Authorities, as well as the responsible business managers who have supported our efforts from the very beginning of our activity. Because all together we believe in the cause: “Keep Bulgaria clean for the children!” VIDIO VIDEV Executive Director of ECOBULPACK Executive Director of NIVA JSC-Kostinbrod,VIDONA JSC-Yambol t ECOBULPACK we guarantee the balance of interests between the companies releasing A packed goods on the market, on one hand, and the companies collecting and recycling waste, on the other. Thus we manage waste throughout its course - from generation to recycling. The funds ECOBULPACK accumulates are invested in the establishment of sustainable municipal separate waste collection systems following established European models with proven efficiency. DIMITAR ZOROV Executive Director of ECOBULPACK Owner of “PARSHEVITSA” Dairy Products ince the establishment of the company we have relied on the principles of democracy as Swell as on an open and fair strategy. We welcome new shareholders. We offer the business an alternative in fulfilling its obligations to utilize packaged waste, while meeting national legislative requirements. We achieve shared responsibilities and reduce companies’ product- packaging fees. MILEN DIMITROV Procurator of ECOBULPACK s a result of our joint efforts and the professionalism of our work, we managed to turn AECOBULPACK JSC into the largest organization utilizing packaging waste, which so far have gained the confidence of more than 3 500 companies operating in the country.
    [Show full text]
  • Federal Research Division Country Profile: Bulgaria, October 2006
    Library of Congress – Federal Research Division Country Profile: Bulgaria, October 2006 COUNTRY PROFILE: BULGARIA October 2006 COUNTRY Formal Name: Republic of Bulgaria (Republika Bŭlgariya). Short Form: Bulgaria. Term for Citizens(s): Bulgarian(s). Capital: Sofia. Click to Enlarge Image Other Major Cities (in order of population): Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, Ruse, Stara Zagora, Pleven, and Sliven. Independence: Bulgaria recognizes its independence day as September 22, 1908, when the Kingdom of Bulgaria declared its independence from the Ottoman Empire. Public Holidays: Bulgaria celebrates the following national holidays: New Year’s (January 1); National Day (March 3); Orthodox Easter (variable date in April or early May); Labor Day (May 1); St. George’s Day or Army Day (May 6); Education Day (May 24); Unification Day (September 6); Independence Day (September 22); Leaders of the Bulgarian Revival Day (November 1); and Christmas (December 24–26). Flag: The flag of Bulgaria has three equal horizontal stripes of white (top), green, and red. Click to Enlarge Image HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Early Settlement and Empire: According to archaeologists, present-day Bulgaria first attracted human settlement as early as the Neolithic Age, about 5000 B.C. The first known civilization in the region was that of the Thracians, whose culture reached a peak in the sixth century B.C. Because of disunity, in the ensuing centuries Thracian territory was occupied successively by the Greeks, Persians, Macedonians, and Romans. A Thracian kingdom still existed under the Roman Empire until the first century A.D., when Thrace was incorporated into the empire, and Serditsa was established as a trading center on the site of the modern Bulgarian capital, Sofia.
    [Show full text]
  • Defense Industry Restructuring in Russia
    S t a n f o r d U n i v e r s i t y C I S A C Center for International Security and Arms Control The Center for International Security and Arms Control, part of Stanford University’s Institute for International Studies, is a multidisciplinary community dedicated to research and train- ing in the field of international security. The Center brings together scholars, policymakers, scientists, area specialists, members of the business community, and other experts to examine a wide range of international security issues. CISAC publishes its own series of working papers and reports on its work and also sponsors a series, Studies in International Se- curity and Arms Control, through Stanford University Press. Center for International Security and Arms Control Stanford University 320 Galvez Street Stanford, California 94305-6165 (415) 723-9625 http://www-leland.stanford.edu/group/CISAC/ Contents Acknowledgments iv Executive Summary v I Introduction 1 Section One: Case Studies II The Central Aerohydrodynamic Research Institute (TsAGI) 9 III ELVIS+ and The Moscow Center for SPARC Technology (MCST) 28 IV Impuls 45 V The Mashinostroenie Enterprise 59 VI The Saratov Aviation Plant 79 Section Two: Analysis VII Privatization at Four Enterprises 111 VIII Organizational Restructuring 137 IX Principal Differences in Accounting Systems in Russia 163 and the United States X Reallocation of the Social Services 183 XI Conclusion 207 Glossary 216 1 Acknowledgments Many people have contributed to this report, and still more have contributed to the research leading up to it. In writing this report, we have not attempted to reach consensus among the authors on the interpretations to be drawn from the data.
    [Show full text]
  • TOWI Nw866 O Uj
    TOWI Nw866 o uJ HAIII: 9 THE DECHOUKAOE HAS ONLY JUST BEOUN! PERU: IHIT BLOOD THAT HAS BEEI{ SPITT SHAtt NEUER BE FORGOIIE]II F{r**ffiffi sliti;::l$ 1986t6 Hoiti The Dechoukage Has Only Just Begun! Crisis in Haiti and the Tasks of Revolutionaries by the Haitian Internationalist Revolutionary- Group A Call to the Haitian Revolutionary Movement by the Haitian Revolutionary Internationalist Group and the Haitian Workers Party t6 People Are Disposed to Take Care of Business - Talks with Haitian Workers Party l8 Peru This Blood That Has Been Spilt Shall Never Be Forgotten 34 Flames Leap to Puno 37 Support for People's War in Peru Echoes on Every Continent 39 Excerpts From Worldwide Campaign Speech Five Years of People's War in Peru 44 RIM Committee Greets Peru Campaign 46 A "Shining Trench of Combat" Statement on the Massacre of Our Comrades in Peru's Prisons by the RIM Committee 28 "Day of Herois111" - Statement by the PCP Central Committee- 32 Forward Along the Path Charted by Mao Tsetung!42 Interview with Afghan Revolutionary 48 Romania: From Goulash Communism to Capitalist Austerity 58 The Weapon of Criticism: Book Reviews 64 A llorld to I,I4n is a quarterly published by World to Win, whose address is: BCM world to win London WCIN 3XX. U.K. This issue was printed by Russell Press, Bertrand Russeil House, Forest Road West, Nottingham, U.K. AUGUST, I986. Subscribe to A World to Win From Kurdiston to Colombio - people oll oround the world reod A World to Win Avoiloble in English, 'a.,ry%i_*{ Forsi, Sponish, ltolion, ond Turkish.
    [Show full text]
  • Sofia Model”: Creation out of Chaos
    The “Sofia Model”: Creation out of chaos Pathways to creative and knowledge-based regions ISBN 978-90-75246-62-9 Printed in the Netherlands by Xerox Service Center, Amsterdam Edition: 2007 Cartography lay-out and cover: Puikang Chan, AMIDSt, University of Amsterdam All publications in this series are published on the ACRE-website http://www2.fmg.uva.nl/acre and most are available on paper at: Dr. Olga Gritsai, ACRE project manager University of Amsterdam Amsterdam institute for Metropolitan and International Development Studies (AMIDSt) Department of Geography, Planning and International Development Studies Nieuwe Prinsengracht 130 NL-1018 VZ Amsterdam The Netherlands Tel. +31 20 525 4044 +31 23 528 2955 Fax +31 20 525 4051 E-mail: [email protected] Copyright © Amsterdam institute for Metropolitan and International Development Studies (AMIDSt), University of Amsterdam 2007. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced in any form, by print or photo print, microfilm or any other means, without written permission from the publisher. The “Sofia Model”: Creation out of chaos Pathways to creative and knowledge-based regions ACRE report 2.10 Evgenii Dainov Ivan Nachev Maria Pancheva Vasil Garnizov Accommodating Creative Knowledge – Competitiveness of European Metropolitan Regions within the Enlarged Union Amsterdam 2007 AMIDSt, University of Amsterdam ACRE ACRE is the acronym for the international research project Accommodating Creative Knowledge – Competitiveness of European Metropolitan Regions within the enlarged Union. The project is funded under the priority 7 ‘Citizens and Governance in a knowledge-based society within the Sixth Framework Programme of the EU (contract no. 028270). Coordination: Prof.
    [Show full text]
  • USSR: First Computers and Evaluation of Cybernetics Points of This Papers
    Dr.Vladimir Kitov Russian Plekhanov university of economics USSR: First Computers and Evaluation of Cybernetics Points of this papers Part 1. • USSR: First Computers and Evaluation of Cybernetics. Part 2. • Several key moments of the Soviet informatics. Part 1. USSR: First Computers and Evaluation of Cybernetics. • 1.1. The first soviet computers "MESM", "M-1" and "Strela". • 1.2. The most important seven organizations of the USSR, where the first serial computers "Strela" were established. • 1.3. Difficult fate of cybernetics in the USSR. • 1.4. The first courses of lectures on computers and programming in three Soviet universities. • 1.5. The first Soviet books on programming, computers and applications and their significant role in several foreign countries. Part 2. Several key moments of the Soviet informatics. • 2.1. About the following computers after "MESM", "M-1" and "Strela. • 2.2 The first in the world project of The Nationwide computer network for the control of Economy and Military Forces of the USSR. • 2.3 The application of computers for the economy and the creation of automated management systems (AMS) for different levels and purposes. • 2.4 Soviet computers “ES EVM” are the clones of IBM/360 computers . The beginning of the end of Soviet computers. 1.1. The first soviet computers "MESM", "M-1" and "Strela". • The first official step in computer industry in the USSR was patent number 10475 for the invention of "Automatic digital computer" registered on December 4, 1948 by prominent Soviet scientists Isaak Bruk and Bashir Rameev. It was the USSR first officially registered invention in the field of electronic digital computers.
    [Show full text]