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Conclusion: How the GDR Came to Be
Conclusion: How the GDR Came to Be Reckoned from war's end, it was ten years before Moscow gave real existing socialism in the GDR a guarantee of its continued existence. This underscores once again how little the results of Soviet policy on Germany corresponded to the original objectives and how seriously these objectives had been pursued. In the first decade after the war, many hundreds of independent witnesses confirm that Stalin strove for a democratic postwar Germany - a Germany democratic according to Western standards, which must be explicitly emphasized over against the perversion of the concept of democracy and the instrumentalization of anti-fascism in the GDR. 1 This Germany, which would have to of fer guarantees against renewed aggression and grant access to the re sources of the industrial regions in the western areas of the defeated Reich, was to be established in cooperation with the Western powers. To this purpose, the occupation forces were to remain in the Four Zone area for a limited time. At no point could Stalin imagine that the occupation forces would remain in Germany permanently. Dividing a nation fitted just as little with his views. Socialism, the socialist revolution in Germany, was for him a task of the future, one for the period after the realization of the Potsdam democratization programme. Even when in the spring of 1952, after many vain attempts to implement the Potsdam programme, he adjusted himself to a long coexistence of the two German states, he did not link this with any transition to a separate socialism: the GDR had simply wound up having to bide its time until the Cold War had been overcome, after which it would be possible to realize the agree ments reached at Potsdam. -
The Russian Revolutions: the Impact and Limitations of Western Influence
Dickinson College Dickinson Scholar Faculty and Staff Publications By Year Faculty and Staff Publications 2003 The Russian Revolutions: The Impact and Limitations of Western Influence Karl D. Qualls Dickinson College Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.dickinson.edu/faculty_publications Part of the European History Commons Recommended Citation Qualls, Karl D., "The Russian Revolutions: The Impact and Limitations of Western Influence" (2003). Dickinson College Faculty Publications. Paper 8. https://scholar.dickinson.edu/faculty_publications/8 This article is brought to you for free and open access by Dickinson Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Karl D. Qualls The Russian Revolutions: The Impact and Limitations of Western Influence After the collapse of the Soviet Union, historians have again turned their attention to the birth of the first Communist state in hopes of understanding the place of the Soviet period in the longer sweep of Russian history. Was the USSR an aberration from or a consequence of Russian culture? Did the Soviet Union represent a retreat from westernizing trends in Russian history, or was the Bolshevik revolution a product of westernization? These are vexing questions that generate a great deal of debate. Some have argued that in the late nineteenth century Russia was developing a middle class, representative institutions, and an industrial economy that, while although not as advanced as those in Western Europe, were indications of potential movement in the direction of more open government, rule of law, free market capitalism. Only the Bolsheviks, influenced by an ideology imported, paradoxically, from the West, interrupted this path of Russian political and economic westernization. -
Mainstreaming Radical Politics in Sri Lanka: the Case of JVP Post-1977
Mainstreaming Radical Politics in Sri Lanka: The case of JVP post-1977 Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri Abstract This article provides a critical understanding of dynamics behind the roles of the People’s Liberation Front (JVP) in post-1977 Sri Lankan politics. Having suffered a severe setback in the early 1970s, the JVP transformed itself into a significant force in electoral politics that eventually brought the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) to power. This article explains the transformation by examining the radical political setting and mapping out the actors and various movements which allowed the JVP to emerge as a dominant player within the hegemonic political mainstream in Sri Lanka. Furthermore, it also highlights the structural changes in JVP politics and its challenges for future consolidation. Introduction The 1977 general election marked a major turning point in the history of post-colonial Sri Lanka. While the landslide victory of the United National Party (UNP) was the most important highlight of the election results, the shocking defeat for the old leftist parties was equally important. Both the victory of the UNP and the defeat of the left were symbolic. The left’s electoral defeat was soon followed by the introduction of new macro-economic policy framework under the UNP’s rule, which replaced protective economic policy framework that was endorsed by the Left.1 Ironically enough, as if to dig its own grave, the same UNP government helped People’s Liberation Front (JVP), which became a formidable threat to the smooth implementation of the new economic policies, to re-enter into the political mainstream by way of freeing its leadership from the prison. -
A New Decade for Social Changes
Vol. 6, 2020 A new decade for social changes ISSN 2668-7798 www.techniumscience.com 9 772668 779000 Technium Social Sciences Journal Vol. 6, 173-179, April 2020 ISSN: 2668-7798 www.techniumscience.com Organization and methods of the O.G.P.U: Two British Documents from 1933 Marian Zidaru [email protected] Abstract. On March 27th, 1933 a British MI5 officer Oswald Allen Harker received a report on the inter-relation of the Comintern, GPU and Department IV of the Staff of the Red Army. The source of this report was a Jewish communist. Another report received by Harker, on the same day, was the OGPU method of investigation. He informed his superiors that the source of this document was the first-hand source. This article presents these documents because they are relevant to the level of knowledge of MI5 about Russian Espionage and subversive activity at that moment. Keywords. OGPU, Komintern, Hotel Lux, Department IV 1. Introduction On March 27th, 1933 a British MI5 officer Oswald Allen Harker [1] received a report on the interrelation of the Comintern, GPU and Department IV of the Staff of the Red Army. The source of this report was a Jewish communist. This source wrote: “I before entering into details I would remark that I must of necessity make mention on matters which are already known as they are of importance I the scheme as a whole. The general political organization is already known but I shall consider to following organization separately and their connection with each other” A Komintern [2]; B OGPU [3]; Department IV of the Staff of the Red Army [4]. -
Nachruf Auf Inge Von Wangenheim
NACHRUF AUF: INGE VON WARNHEIM Wolfgang Knappe Sie schloß sich Ende der zwanziger Jahre als Schauspielerin linken Theatertruppen um Erwin Piscator und Gustav von Wangenheim an, wurde 1930 Mitglied der KPD und emigrierte vor dem Faschismus in die Sowjetunion. Dort war sie u.a. als Redakteurin für die Bewegung „Freies Deutschland" tätig. Nach ihrer Rückkehr übersiedelte sie alsbald nach Thüringen. Hier gehörte Inge von Wangenheim ü- ber Jahrzehnte zu den literarisch und kulturpolitisch prägenden Persönlichkeiten, die u.a. durch die gründliche Erörterung problematischer Fragen und den sensiblen Umgang mit ihrer Lebensumgebung geschätzt und geachtet war Wenige Monate vor ihrem Tod führte WOLFGANG KNAPPE mit ihr folgendes Gespräch, das als eine ihrer letzten öffentlichen Äußerungen gilt: Frau von Wangenheim, es heißt, das Beste, was ein Mensch weiterzugeben habe, sei seine Lebens- erfahrung. Was würden Sie aus Ihrem reichen Leben vererben wollen? In meinem 60 jährigen Berufsleben am Theater, beim Film, in der Presse und schließlich in der Litera- tur fand ein mit Schmerzlichkeit verbundener Kampf um die Erkenntnis der Wirklichkeit statt. Ich habe immer wissen wollen, was ist! Nur wenn ich dieses zu wissen glaubte, wagte ich zu sagen, was sein soll. Ich halte es mit Lessing: Das Suchen nach der Wahrheit ist die Hauptsache. Sie zu finden, bleibt ein Glücksfall. Lessing: „Es ereifere jeder seiner unbestochenen, von Vorurteilen freien Liebe nach. Es strebe jeder von Euch um die Wette, die Kraft des Steins in seinen Ring zu legen ..." Welches waren die wichtigsten Stationen Ihres Lebens? Die erste prägende Station meiner Jugend war die Motzstraße in Berlin-Schöneberg. Ich bin ein Kind der Weimarer Republik. -
5. Calling for International Solidarity: Hanns Eisler’S Mass Songs in the Soviet Union
From Massenlieder to Massovaia Pesnia: Musical Exchanges between Communists and Socialists of Weimar Germany and the Early Soviet Union by Yana Alexandrovna Lowry Department of Music Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Bryan Gilliam, Supervisor ___________________________ Edna Andrews ___________________________ John Supko ___________________________ Jacqueline Waeber Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Music in the Graduate School of Duke University 2014 i v ABSTRACT From Massenlieder to Massovaia Pesnia: Musical Exchanges between Communists and Socialists of Weimar Germany and the Early Soviet Union by Yana Alexandrovna Lowry Department of Music Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Bryan Gilliam, Supervisor ___________________________ Edna Andrews ___________________________ John Supko ___________________________ Jacqueline Waeber An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Music in the Graduate School of Duke University 2014 Copyright by Yana Alexandrovna Lowry 2014 Abstract Group songs with direct political messages rose to enormous popularity during the interwar period (1918-1939), particularly in recently-defeated Germany and in the newly- established Soviet Union. This dissertation explores the musical relationship between these two troubled countries and aims to explain the similarities and differences in their approaches to collective singing. The discussion of the very complex and problematic relationship between the German left and the Soviet government sets the framework for the analysis of music. Beginning in late 1920s, as a result of Stalin’s abandonment of the international revolutionary cause, the divergences between the policies of the Soviet government and utopian aims of the German communist party can be traced in the musical propaganda of both countries. -
The East German Writers Union and the Role of Literary Intellectuals In
Writing in Red: The East German Writers Union and the Role of Literary Intellectuals in the German Democratic Republic, 1971-90 Thomas William Goldstein A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History. Chapel Hill 2010 Approved by: Konrad H. Jarausch Christopher Browning Chad Bryant Karen Hagemann Lloyd Kramer ©2010 Thomas William Goldstein ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii Abstract Thomas William Goldstein Writing in Red The East German Writers Union and the Role of Literary Intellectuals in the German Democratic Republic, 1971-90 (Under the direction of Konrad H. Jarausch) Since its creation in 1950 as a subsidiary of the Cultural League, the East German Writers Union embodied a fundamental tension, one that was never resolved during the course of its forty-year existence. The union served two masters – the state and its members – and as such, often found it difficult fulfilling the expectations of both. In this way, the union was an expression of a basic contradiction in the relationship between writers and the state: the ruling Socialist Unity Party (SED) demanded ideological compliance, yet these writers also claimed to be critical, engaged intellectuals. This dissertation examines how literary intellectuals and SED cultural officials contested and debated the differing and sometimes contradictory functions of the Writers Union and how each utilized it to shape relationships and identities within the literary community and beyond it. The union was a crucial site for constructing a group image for writers, both in terms of external characteristics (values and goals for participation in wider society) and internal characteristics (norms and acceptable behavioral patterns guiding interactions with other union members). -
Introduction
c Introduction A Meeting in Magdeburg t was 1 September 1940, the fi rst anniversary of the start of World War II. IIn the small town of Schönebeck in central Germany, a group of school- girls—mostly thirteen years old—wondered what would become of them as the war progressed. Th ere were problems already: lessons canceled when their teachers were drafted into the army; the school itself too cold in the winter as coal supplies dwindled. Soon it would be the boys from the neighboring school, their dancing partners, being put into uniform and taken off to the front. Some of the girls were moving away with their parents; others thought they would be evacuated; and there was talk of the rest being scattered around other schools. What the girls valued most was their close-knit group of friends; what they most feared was the group falling apart. Desperate to prevent this, they made a solemn promise: come what may, they would meet up again in the Cathedral Square in Magdeburg ten years later, at three o’clock on 1 September 1950. Looking back in 1955, one of the group recalled how they had felt when mak- ing this promise: “But what was it we actually said in 1940? I believe, that we would fi nd a way to make it to the class reunion, whether we should turn out to be in Africa or on the moon!”1 For the girls, Magdeburg was the big city, and Schönebeck no more than a provincial town. Magdeburg was twenty minutes away on the train, a diff erent world, with its theater, opera, restaurants, its diverse population (including a substantial Jewish community), its streets full of shops and people and fas- cinating buildings from the late middle ages, its busy waterfront on the river Elbe, its quiet corners to meet or enjoy being anonymous. -
Suchova Zbornik.Indd
Historický ústav Slovenskej akadémie vied v Bratislave Katedra histórie Fakulty humanitných vied Univerzity Mateja Bela v Banskej Bystrici �udáci a komunisti: Súperi? Spojenci? Protivníci? Xénia Šuchová (ed.) Prešov 2006 1 �udáci a komunisti: Súperi? Spojenci? Protivníci? Výskumná správa v rámci projektu VEGA � . 2/4183/24 Radikálny socializmus a komunizmus na Slovensku v rokoch 1918 – 1989. Spolo �nos� medzi demokraciou a totalitou. Obrázok na obálke: Putovná protibolševická výstava umiestnená v piatich železni �ných voz� och, poriadaná v roku 1944 Úradom propagandy Slovenského štátu. SNA, f. STK, neg. 23253 Zostavila: PhDr. Xénia Šuchová, CSc. Posúdili: PhDr. Valerián Bystrický, DrSc. Prof. PhDr. Jan Rychlík, DrSc. Obálka: Stanislav Šalko © Historický ústav SAV v Bratislave a Katedra histórie FHV UMB v Banskej Bystrici, 2006 Vydalo vydavate �stvo UNIVERSUM, Javorinská 26, 080 01 Prešov (www.universum-eu.sk) ISBN 80-89046-38-X Obsah Úvod .................................................................................................................. 5 BENKO, JURAJ: Socialistická ideológia v konfrontácii s religióznym slovenským prostredím v prvej štvrtine 20. storo �ia (Politizácia kres� anskej tradície a sakralizácia socialistickej vízie) ......................................................................... 9 ŠUCHOVÁ, XÉNIA: „Heslo autonómie alebo právo na odtrhnutie?“ (Komunistické ponímanie národnostnej a „slovenskej“ otázky do polovice 20. rokov) ........... 24 HERTEL, MAROŠ: Komunisti, � udáci a ma� arská iredenta ............................... -
Television and the Cold War in the German Democratic Republic
0/-*/&4637&: *ODPMMBCPSBUJPOXJUI6OHMVFJU XFIBWFTFUVQBTVSWFZ POMZUFORVFTUJPOT UP MFBSONPSFBCPVUIPXPQFOBDDFTTFCPPLTBSFEJTDPWFSFEBOEVTFE 8FSFBMMZWBMVFZPVSQBSUJDJQBUJPOQMFBTFUBLFQBSU $-*$,)&3& "OFMFDUSPOJDWFSTJPOPGUIJTCPPLJTGSFFMZBWBJMBCMF UIBOLTUP UIFTVQQPSUPGMJCSBSJFTXPSLJOHXJUI,OPXMFEHF6OMBUDIFE ,6JTBDPMMBCPSBUJWFJOJUJBUJWFEFTJHOFEUPNBLFIJHIRVBMJUZ CPPLT0QFO"DDFTTGPSUIFQVCMJDHPPE Revised Pages Envisioning Socialism Revised Pages Revised Pages Envisioning Socialism Television and the Cold War in the German Democratic Republic Heather L. Gumbert The University of Michigan Press Ann Arbor Revised Pages Copyright © by Heather L. Gumbert 2014 All rights reserved This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (be- yond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publisher. Published in the United States of America by The University of Michigan Press Manufactured in the United States of America c Printed on acid- free paper 2017 2016 2015 2014 5 4 3 2 A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978– 0- 472– 11919– 6 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978– 0- 472– 12002– 4 (e- book) Revised Pages For my parents Revised Pages Revised Pages Contents Acknowledgments ix Abbreviations xi Introduction 1 1 Cold War Signals: Television Technology in the GDR 14 2 Inventing Television Programming in the GDR 36 3 The Revolution Wasn’t Televised: Political Discipline Confronts Live Television in 1956 60 4 Mediating the Berlin Wall: Television in August 1961 81 5 Coercion and Consent in Television Broadcasting: The Consequences of August 1961 105 6 Reaching Consensus on Television 135 Conclusion 158 Notes 165 Bibliography 217 Index 231 Revised Pages Revised Pages Acknowledgments This work is the product of more years than I would like to admit. -
The Tragicomedy of Romanian Communism
RESEARCH REPORT T O NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR SOVIET AND EAST EUROPEAN RESEARC H TITLE : THE TRAGICOMEDY OF ROMANIAN COMMUNIS M AUTHOR : Vladimir Tismanean u CONTRACTOR : Foreign Policy Researc h Institute PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR : Vladimir Tismanean u COUNCIL CONTRACT NUMBER : 903-0 4 DATE : September, 198 9 The work leading to this report was supported by funds provided b y the National Council for Soviet and East European Research . Th e analysis and interpretations contained in the report are those o f the author . a NOTE This report, based on an article to be published i n Eastern EuropeanPolitics andSocieties, is an inciden- tal product of the Council Contract identified on the title page . It is not the Final Report, which wa s distributed in August, 1989 . TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Introduction 1 Stalin's Romanian Disciples 1 1 The Comintern and the RCP 1 6 Stalinism for All Seasons 3 4 The Anti-De-Stalinization Platform 3 9 The Road to Absolute Power 43 The Manipulated Manipulator 47 Assault on the Party Apparatus 5 2 Notes 57 The Tragicomedy of Romanian Communis m Vladimir Tismanean u Un monde sans tyrans serait aussi ennuyeux qu'un jardi n zoologique sans hyenes . E . M . Cioran, Histoire et utopi e Now, despite eternal cabals in the inner clique and unendin g shifts of personnel, with their tremendous accumulation o f hatred, bitterness, and personal resentment, the Leader' s position can remain secure against chaotic palace revolution s not because of his superior gifts, about which the men in hi s intimate surroundings frequently have no great illusions, bu t because of these men's sincere and sensible conviction tha t without him everything would be immediately lost . -
French Involvement and Solidarity in South West France with the Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)
French Involvement and Solidarity in South West France with the Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) Oliver Astington, BA (Hons) Thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham for the degree of Master of the Arts in Modern Language Studies December 2010 1 Acknowledgements Although the research for this thesis has been based on individual research, I would like to thank all those who have in many ways funded, facilitated and enabled this research project to be successful. I am grateful for the kind support of the University of Nottingham School of Modern Languages and Cultures for part funding my research and providing me with excellent support from the staff at the Postgraduate office to the academics of the Departments of French and Francophone studies and Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies. It has been a pleasure to have discussed and presented my research, as well as learnt from the experience of academics and peers alike within these departments. Special thanks must go to Dr Gareth Stockey who encouraged me throughout the project and allowed it to develop so successfully, having benefitted from two of his courses on the Spanish Civil War as an undergraduate from 2008-2009. I would also like to thank Professor Nick Hewitt for his advice on the Front Populaire in France and whose course on the Front Populaire and Culture from 2008-09 provided me with the foundations for many aspects of the French side of this study. I must also thank the staff at numerous departmental archives across the South West of France, whose time and advice was greatly valued in finding so many intriguing documents for my viewing.