Poland's Politics
Author : Adam Bromke
Publisher :
Page : 326 pages
File Size : 15,12 MB
Release : 2013-10
Category :
ISBN : 9780674188617
Communism's Public Sphere
Author : Kyrill Kunakhovich
Publisher : Cornell University Press
Page : 354 pages
File Size : 28,75 MB
Release : 2023-01-15
Category : History
ISBN : 1501767062
Book Description
Communism's Public Sphere explores the political role of cultural spaces in the Eastern Bloc. Under communist regimes that banned free speech, political discussions shifted to spaces of art: theaters, galleries, concert halls, and youth clubs. Kyrill Kunakhovich shows how these venues turned into sites of dialogue and contestation. While officials used them to spread the communist message, artists and audiences often flouted state policy and championed alternative visions. Cultural spaces therefore came to function as a public sphere, or a rare outlet for discussing public affairs. Focusing on Kraków in Poland and Leipzig in East Germany, Communism's Public Sphere sheds new light on state-society interactions in the Eastern Bloc. In place of the familiar trope of domination and resistance, it highlights unexpected symbioses like state-sponsored rock and roll, socialist consumerism, and sanctioned dissent. By examining nearly five decades of communist rule, from the Red Army's arrival in Poland in 1944 to German reunification in 1990, Kunakhovich argues that cultural spaces played a pivotal mediating role. They helped reform and stabilize East European communism but also gave cover to the protest movements that ultimately brought it down.
Communism, Nationalism and Ethnicity in Poland, 1944-1950
Author : Michael Fleming
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 411 pages
File Size : 44,81 MB
Release : 2009-09-10
Category : History
ISBN : 1135276374
Book Description
This book fills a significant gap in the study of the establishment of communist rule in Poland in the key period of 1944–1950. It shows that nationalism and nationality policy were fundamentally important in the consolidation of communist rule, acting as a crucial nexus through which different groups were both coerced and were able to consent to the new unfolding social and political order. Drawing on extensive archival research, including national and regional archives in Poland, it provides a detailed and nuanced understanding of the early years of communist rule in Poland. It shows how after the war the communist Polish Workers Party (PPR) was able to redirect widespread anger resulting from the actions of the NKVD, Soviet Army and the communists to more ‘realistic’ targets such as minority communities, and that this displacement of anger helped the party to connect with a broader constituency and present itself as the only party able to protect Polish interests. It considers the role played by the West, including the endorsement by the Grand Alliance of homogenising policies such as population transfer. It also explores the relationship between the communists and other powerful institutions in Polish society, such as the Catholic Church which was treated fairly liberally until late 1947 as it played an important function in identifying who was Polish. Finally, the book considers important episodes – hitherto neglected by scholars – that shed new light upon the emergence of the Cold War and the contours of Cold War geopolitics, such as the ‘Westphalian incident’ of 1947–48, and the arrival of Greek refugees in Poland in the period 1948–1950.
Socialist Realism in Central and Eastern European Literatures under Stalin
Author : Evgeny Dobrenko
Publisher : Anthem Press
Page : 569 pages
File Size : 10,43 MB
Release : 2018-02-15
Category : History
ISBN : 1783086998
Book Description
Socialist Realism in Central and Eastern European Literatures' is the first published work to offer a variety of alternative perspectives on the literary and cultural Sovietization of Central and Eastern Europe after World War II and emphasize the dialogic relationship between the ‘centre’ and the ‘satellites’ instead of the traditional top-down approach. The introduction of the Soviet cultural model was not quite the smooth endeavour that it was made to look in retrospect; rather, it was always a work in progress, often born out of a give-andtake with the local authorities, intellectuals and interest groups. Relying on archival resources, the authors examine one of the most controversial attempts at a cultural unification in Europe by providing an overview with a focus on specific case-studies, an analysis of distinct particularities with attention to the patterns of negotiation and adaptation that were being developed in the process.
The Soviet Bloc, Unity and Conflict
Author : Zbigniew Brzezinski
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 628 pages
File Size : 32,63 MB
Release : 1967
Category : History
ISBN : 9780674825482
Book Description
This is the first full-length study of relations among the communist states. The study explores the implications of the status of Yugoslavia and China, the significance of the Hungarian revolution and the position of Poland in the Soviet bloc, and clarifies the Khrushchev-Gomulka clash of 1956 and the complex role of Tito. Zbigniew Brzezinski emphasizes the role of ideology and power in the relations among the communist states, contrasting bloc relations and the unifying role of Soviet power under Stalin with the present situation. He suggests that conflicts of interest among the ruling elites will result either in ideological disputes or in weakening the central core of the ideology, leading to a gradual decline of unity among the Communist states. The author, while on leave from his post as Professor and Director of the Research Institute on Communist Affairs, Columbia University, and serving on the U.S. State Department's Policy Planning Council, has revised and updated his important study and added three new chapters on more recent developments. He gives particular attention to the Sino-Soviet dispute.
Art beyond Borders
Author : Jerome Bazin
Publisher : Central European University Press
Page : 531 pages
File Size : 16,59 MB
Release : 2016-03-01
Category : Art
ISBN : 9633860830
Book Description
This book presents and analyzes artistic interactions both within the Soviet bloc and with the West between 1945 and 1989. During the Cold War the exchange of artistic ideas and products united Europe?s avant-garde in a most remarkable way. Despite the Iron Curtain and national and political borders there existed a constant flow of artists, artworks, artistic ideas and practices. The geographic borders of these exchanges have yet to be clearly defined. How were networks, centers, peripheries (local, national and international), scales, and distances constructed? How did (neo)avant-garde tendencies relate with officially sanctioned socialist realism? The literature on the art of Eastern Europe provides a great deal of factual knowledge about a vast cultural space, but mostly through the prism of stereotypes and national preoccupations. By discussing artworks, studying the writings on art, observing artistic evolution and artists? strategies, as well as the influence of political authorities, art dealers and art critics, the essays in Art beyond Borders compose a transnational history of arts in the Soviet satellite countries in the post war period. ÿ
Western Drama Through the Ages
Author : Kimball King
Publisher : Greenwood Publishing Group
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 19,22 MB
Release : 2007
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9780313329357
Book Description
With a focus on Western countries, the history of theater from 500 B.C. to the present is recounted, as are the contributions of different countries, specific plays, and theatrical techniques. Covers movements and issues such as African American, biblical, outdoor, and contemporary drama that addresses spiritual belief, gay theater, gender, and musical theater. Genres and styles are discussed, as well as theater in practice, with descriptions of directing, acting, voice coaching, dramaturgy, costume design, and stages.
Communist Eastern Europe; Analytical Survey of Literature
Author : United States. Department of the Army
Publisher :
Page : 384 pages
File Size : 16,38 MB
Release : 1971
Category : Europe, Eastern
ISBN :
Book Description
The Collapse of Communist Power in Poland
Author : Jacqueline Hayden
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 194 pages
File Size : 17,75 MB
Release : 2006-03-23
Category : History
ISBN : 1134208014
Book Description
Based on extensive original research, including interviews with key participants, this book investigates the sudden and unforeseen collapse of communist power in Poland in 1989. It sets out the sequence of events, and examines the strategies of the various political groupings prior to the partially free election of June 1989. This volume argues that the specific negotiating strategies adopted by the communist party representatives in the Round Table discussions before the elections was a key factor in communism’s collapse. The book shows that on many occasions, PZPR decision-makers ignored expert advice, and many Round Table bargains went against the party’s best interests. Using in-depth interviews with major party players, including General Jaruzelski, General Kiszczak and Mieczyslaw Rakowski, as well as Solidarity advisors such as Adam Michnik, the text provides a unique source of first-hand accounts of Poland’s revolutionary drama.
Shakespeare in the World of Communism and Socialism
Author : Irena Makaryk
Publisher : University of Toronto Press
Page : 578 pages
File Size : 46,67 MB
Release : 2013-12-11
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 1442616512
Book Description
The works of William Shakespeare have long been embraced by communist and socialist governments. One of the central cultural debates of the Soviet period concerned repertoire, including the usefulness and function of pre-revolutionary drama for the New Man and the New Society. Shakespeare survived the byzantine twists and turns of Soviet cultural politics by becoming established early as the Great Realist whose works should be studied, translated, and emulated. This view of Shakespeare as a humanist and realist was transferred to a host of other countries including East Germany, Hungary, Poland, China, and Cuba after the Second World War. Shakespeare in the Worlds of Communism and Socialism traces the reception of Shakespeare from 1917 to 2002 and addresses the relationship of Shakespeare to Marxist and communist ideology. Irena R. Makaryk and Joseph G. Price have brought together an internationally-renowned group of theatre historians, practitioners, and scholars to examine the extraordinary conjunction of Shakespeare and ideology during a fascinating period of twentieth-century history. Roughly historical in their arrangement, the essays in this collection suggest the complicated and convoluted trajectory of Shakespeare's reputation. The general theme that emerges from this study is the deeply ambivalent nature of communist Shakespeare who, like Feste's 'chev'ril glove,' often simultaneously served and subverted the official ideology. Contributors: Alexey Bartoshevitch Laura Raidonis Bates Maria Clara Versiani Galery Lawrence Guntner Werner Habicht Maik Hamburger Martin Hilský Krystyna Kujawinska-Courtney Irena R. Makaryk Zoltán Márkus Sharon O'Dair Arkady Ostrovsky Joseph G. Price Laurence Senelick Shu-hua Wang Robert Weimann Xiao Yang Zhang
