More Variations than Theme: The Sovietization of Eastern European Universities

Abstract

One of the characteristic features of Communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe was the principle of uniformity. From the 'little Stalins' to the ubiquitous red propaganda banners, institutions and practices across the bloc seemed to trace a single pattern imported from Moscow. Not surprisingly, higher education, which produced 'not only national histories and ideologies, but also elites' (p. 2), was integral to the policy of bringing countries into line with Moscow's goals. Yet, as John Connelly shows in Captive University, decreeing uniformity was one thing, enforcing it was another. Pre1945 traditions and relationships often trumped Communist attempts to transform higher education, Connelly argues, and uniformity did not reign across the bloc, because it could not. These findings challenge traditional views of the imposition of Communist rule, and suggest that Eastern Europe did not, as the title of a popular textbook puts it, 'return to diversity' only after Stalin's death (or, as some would argue, only after 1989). 1 Instead, diversity was there all along, in spite of the Communists' best intentions.