Communist Dictatorship Research Articles

Changes in the Idea of Progress in the Processes of Change in the Hungarian Reformed Identity during the Past Century

"Democracy and the idea of progress became one of the most important attrib-utes of Hungarian Reformation in the 19th century, both as its self-image and socie-ty’s image of Calvinists (and, more broadly, of Protestants). These indicators are very important because, to this day, they are essential elements of Calvinist identity, but they also illustrate well the way heritage forged into identity. The part of the past reflected and “used” in community memory loosely relates to the actual legacy of the past. Different authors have defined in different ways which exact identity elements are representative of these attributes, and it also varies how long such an el-ement retains its representative quality, if it retains it at all. Without being exhaus-tive, the study outlines the ways the specific content of these attributes changes over the 20th century: that is, in the context of changes in the relationship between church and society, in what situations and what factors these attributes are identi-fied by individual opinion formers. The author first examines the historical context of the emergence of these topoi and then looks at some cases of their use, with par-ticular emphasis on the period of communist dictatorship. Keywords: democracy, Calvinism, heritage transformation, community memory, com-munism."

Mapping the Cultural Heritage of Dissent. New Sources, New Knowledge and New Narrative(s) on European Identity

El proyecto COURAGE ha creado una base de datos electrónica de acceso abierto que recopiló nuevas fuentes, resumió nuevos conocimientos y creó nuevas narrativas sobre un patrimonio cultural europeo hasta ahora dividido: el legado de la disidencia bajo las dictaduras comunistas en Europa Central y Oriental. El equipo rumano de COURAGE ha resaltado un nuevo sentido de ser europeo, que fue experimentado por muchas personas comunes que crearon significados cotidianos y prácticas culturales como si vivieran en un país libre. Esta identificación con Europa se refleja en colecciones privadas previamente desconocidas creadas por aquellos que preveían estrategias de oposición a las dictaduras comunistas que habían rechazado los valores fundamentales que sustentan la Unión Europea: estado de derecho, derechos humanos, libertades civiles, etc. Los valores opuestos se reflejan en las colecciones creadas por la policía secreta comunista rumana, la Securitate, que recuerdan un pasado europeo no democrático y advierten sobre el peligro de olvidarlo bajo la presión de los desafíos actuales que enfrenta el proyecto europeo.

The Evolution of the Right to Property in India: From a Law and Development Perspective

AbstractProperty rights are contentious in any jurisdiction. But the right to property in India, adopted as a fundamental right in Article 31 of the Constitution of the India, 1950 (“Article”), has had a particularly tumultuous legal and political history. It holds the distinction of being the second most debated Article in the Constituent Assembly, the most amended provision of the Constitution and the only fundamental right to ever be deleted. The history of the Article is commonly understood as arising from an ideological institutional conflict between a Parliament in pursuit of socialism and a judiciary safeguarding individual freedoms. However, looking at the Article and its initial amendments from a “law and development” perspective provides a critique of the current narrative of “conflict” and offers an alternative interpretation of the history of Article 31. The paper argues that rather than arising from the pursuit of either authoritarian socialist planning or an egalitarian social revolution, the travails of the Article came in the context of India’s quest for economic modernity through a process of “passive revolution”. The powers of eminent domain reinforced in the Article empowered the state to modernise economic relations in industry and agriculture by restructuring a semi-feudal pre-capitalist property rights regime established during colonialism along productive capitalist lines. In this process, the Article helped to consolidate the powers of the developmental state in the domain of economic policy; forged the relationship between state, market and the individual; and helped shape the regime of private property rights in India. Understanding the evolution of the fundamental right to property in India therefore, not only tells a key part of India’s development story but also contributes to the “law and development” literature by assimilating diverse historical experiences within its framework, which, as critics have long argued, tends to have a strong Eurocentric bias.

The Clash of Powers in Poland\u2019s Rule of Law Crisis: Tools of Attack and Self-Defense

Many people must be wondering how it is possible that Poland, not so long ago hailed for its exemplary transition from a communist dictatorship to a liberal democracy, could have so swiftly descended into authoritarianism via a crisis in the rule of law. The majority of commentators point to the size and ferocity of the attack on those mechanisms meant to safeguard the rule of law, whereas few focus on the weakness of their defence. This article attempts to redress that imbalance. The crucial facts of the Polish crisis are first presented, and the nature of both the attacks on the rule of law in Poland and the measures taken in its defence are then presented. In describing their defence, this article not only draws on Nicholas Barber’s concept of the self-defence of institutions, but attempts to improve upon it in the light of the Polish crisis. Further in the article, I argue that one of the reasons for the success of the assault on the rule of law is the formalistic legal mindset that is prevalent among Polish lawyers. This mindset is characterized by a reductionism of the interpretative premises to be applied when deciding constitutional cases. This reductionism is conspicuous in the application of bright-line rules with no consideration of general constitutional principles. I argue that the development of a robust, non-formalistic methodology of legal decision-making is a prerequisite for a successful defence of the rule of law.

Ahí me van a matar: Cultura, violencia y Guerra Fría en Costa Rica (1979–1990)

Ahí me van a matar: Cultura, violencia y Guerra Fría en Costa Rica (1979–1990)

Kornai on the affinity of systems: Is China today an illiberal capitalist system or a communist dictatorship?

More than 40 years ago, János Kornai introduced his famous supermarket metaphor. Socioeconomic systems cannot be constructed from purposely selected features, similar to customers in a supermarket, who can freely put into their shopping trolley whatever they like. Systems constitute an organic whole. They contain good and bad features in fixed proportions. After 1990, Kornai and most Western commentators expected that as market integration and private property expand, China would eventually turn into a liberal democracy. Prior to the worldwide fall of communism, Kornai had three primary criteria to determine whether a country was socialist or capitalist; later he amended this with six secondary ones. The present paper introduces into this list an additional 11 criteria—i.e. 20 quantifiable metrics altogether. Kornai was among the very first to recognize that with President Xi Jinping taking charge, China made a U-turn. While capitalist elements remain strong, in the final analysis, the country is on its way back to where it was before 1978.

Падіння Берлінського муру та сучасні виклики спорудження нових стін: рефлексія BASEES

The conference of the British Association of Slavic and Eastern European Studies (BASEES) in 2019 was dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the event that marked democracy triumph and liberation of communist authoritarianism. The focus was made on the factors of this victory, in particular on the role played in it by intellectuals of that time. The problem of scholars’ public activity was brought to the forefront by the thesis that achievements of science and education are not only theoretical developments and their successful assimilation in the form of knowledge, but also the level of influence science and education have in the society. Transition from instrumental rationality to rationality of values enhances practical importance of intellectual activity. Addressing this issue is particularly important in the context of crisis in the values ​​of liberal democracy and increasing distrust of rational knowledge and culture. Modern technologies of manipulating consciousness contribute to the strengthening of authoritarian regimes. Therefore, the experience of intellectuals under communist authoritarianism must teach contemporary scholars to uphold the values ​​of freedom and democracy and maintain social optimism. The discussion on the fall of the Berlin Wall proved that the scholars’ civic and academic positions reinforce each other, thereby forming a powerful defence against authoritarianism. However, the reincarnation of authoritarian sentiment nowadays provides grounds for accusing intellectuals of their inability to face up the challenges of the present. Among those challenges, we should mention forgetting the horribleness of old walls and illusions on benefits of constructing new ones.

Longing for Purity: Fascism and Nazism in the Italian and German Satirical Press (1943/1945–1963)

This article compares Italian and German memory cultures of Fascism and Nazism using an analysis of Italian and West- and East-German satirical magazines published from 1943 to 1963. In the early post-war period, as a consequence of the anti-Fascist and anti-Nazi policies in Italy and in Germany that had been put into effect by the Allied occupation authorities, a significant part of the Italian and German public felt anxiety regarding the Fascist and the Nazi past and feared these past regimes as potential sources of contamination. But many, both in Italy and Germany, also reacted by denying that their country needed any sort of ‘purification’. This article’s main argument is that the interaction between these two conflicting positions exercised different effects in the three contexts considered. In Italy, especially during the years after 1948, the satirical press produced images that either rendered Fascism banal or praised it, representing it as a phenomenon which was an ‘internal’ and at least partly positive product of Italian society. I define this process as a sweetening ‘internalization’ of Fascism. In East Germany, by contrast, Nazism was represented through images linking the crimes committed in the Nazi concentration camps, depicted as a sort of ‘absolute evil’, with the leadership of the FRG, considered ‘external’ to ‘true’ German society. I define this process as a ‘demonizing’ externalization of Nazism, by which I mean a tendency to represent Nazism as a ‘monstrous’ phenomenon. In the West German satirical press, on the other hand, Nazism was not only ‘externalized’ by comparing it to the East German Communist dictatorship, but also ‘internalized’ by implying that it was a negative product of German society in general and by calling for public reflection on responsibility for the Nazi crimes, including West Germany as the Nazi regime’s successor. The demonization of the regime also played a crucial role in this self-critical ‘internalization’ of Nazism.

Public Administration in an Atypical Transition and the Need for the Agents of Europeanisation in Kosovo

This article investigates public administration reform in Kosovo by: a) analysing the extent to which an atypical transition affects administrative and governance reforms, b) examining the Europeanisation process and efforts to harmonise legislation with the European Union’s acquis communautaire as the main driving force towards a successful transition, and c) reiterating the relevance and function of the educational system in the Europeanisation process. The article addresses the following question: can the Europeanisation process be accomplished successfully when the educational system, which is limited in scale, does not manage to generate a sufficient number of Europeanisation agents? In post1999 Kosovo, public administration has been undergoing continuous reforms to detach itself from the discriminatory legacy of communist and Serbian rule, to transfer authorities from internationally established bodies to local ones, to enhance capacity-building through international assistance, and to move forward with further reforms as part of Kosovo’s EU integration efforts. Public administration reforms remain affected by past legacies, namely the atypical transition characterised by a post-WWII communist dictatorship, the Serbian apartheid-like discrimination in the 1990s, an UN-led interim administration, and challenges of capacity-building. The article concludes that without a fully consolidated and crisis-resistant democracy neither the initiated public administration reform based on the values of good governance, nor the “fair and just” distribution of resources in society have a perspective. For instance, to comply successfully with the public administration reform obligations set out in the EU’s Stabilisation and Association Agreement, Kosovo needs greater capacities and professionals serving as Europeanisation agents. As a result, much larger investments in education, research, and development appear to be paramount. An increase in the quality of education and study capacities, as well as better opportunities for social inclusion would improve the performance of public administration and enhance good governance.

Was there a socialist Rechtsstaat in late communist East Central Europe? The Czechoslovak case in a regional context

In contrast to most existing literature, the author claims that there were palpable ‘rudiments’ of authoritarian socialist Rechtsstaat in some communist countries of East Central Europe in the late 1980s. The first part of the article examines the existing terminology with regard to the functioning of law in communist dictatorships and authoritarian regimes in general. By using the example of communist countries such as Poland and in particular Czechoslovakia, the author strives to show not only how rule by law was an increasingly important ruling instrument in state socialism but also how that gradually changed the nature of the dictatorial regimes. He argues that the late communist leaderships in these countries haphazardly set out towards an authoritarian socialist Rechtsstaat in an effort to safe their grip on power by strengthening the socialist normative state. They never arrived at the envisioned optimal stage in this respect, yet they opened a fateful path inside the dictatorships towards the legalist and negotiated revolutions of 1989.

Pinochet in Prague: Authoritarian visions of economic reforms and the State in Eastern Europe, 1980-2000

The ‘1989’-inspired liberal enthusiasm about Eastern Europe’s democratisation has led to an overestimation of the efficacy of liberal ideas, and to a blotting-out of decidedly illiberal strands of political thought, in the region both during and after the end of Communist rule. One such strand was a remarkable interest in different aspects of the Chilean transformation from socialism to liberal democracy via authoritarianism across (post-)socialist Europe in the 1980s and 1990s. Based on reform debates from Poland, Russia, and Czechoslovakia, this article argues that this fascination with the military dictator Augusto Pinochet is an indicator for widespread authoritarian visions among various political and intellectual elites during the transition period. For them, Pinochet served as a code and source of inspiration for a non-democratic path to an efficient economy. Before 1989, this path was laid out under the tutelage of a de-ideologised authoritarian Communist Party. After the end of planned economies and through the 1990s, the ‘Chilean model’ was used by anti-communists and liberal economists across the region as a source of legitimacy in their internal struggle against opponents of their reform ideas.

Uses of the Throne Hall in the former Royal Palace in Bucharest from 1947 to 2019: a social semiotic perspective

The purpose of this paper is to investigate, from a socio-semiotic perspective, the manner in which the political regimes installed after the forced abdication of King Mihai I (on 30 December 1947) used the Throne Hall in the former royal palace in Bucharest to meet their own needs. In December 1947, Romania was illegally turned from a constitutional monarchy into a popular republic, with the help of the Red Army. Then, the popular republic was transformed into a socialist republic, in fact, a communist dictatorship. In December 1989, the communist regime collapsed and was replaced by a post-communist one, a regime which did not seem willing to leave behind the communist ideological legacy, manifest, in the 1990s, in the brutal repression of anti-government protesters in University Square in Bucharest, or in the Romanian Mineriads of 1990 and 1991. The political regimes that succeeded to power after 1947 deprived the Throne Hall of its monarchic symbolism and used it in ways incongruent with its inherent function, albeit for official purposes. The manner in which the communist regime made use of this particular place is indicative of its intent and success in reinventing traditions or adapting older traditions to its ideological goals, in order to alienate Romanians from their recent past, in disrespect for the nation’s heritage. Although the former royal palace was completely transformed into a national museum of art after 1990, a cultural institution meant, by its very purpose, to save at least part of the nation’s memory, political decision makers ignored the symbolism of a national museum such as the National Museum of Art of Romania, known to many Romanians as the former royal palace. In bewildering, yet not unprecedented fashion, the Throne Hall has been recently used, by the Romanian government, as a dining hall in a series of events that preceded the takeover of the presidency of the EU Council by Romania in January 2019. We claim that the government’s decision can be circumscribed to Jean Baudrillard’s concept of consumerism, characterized by the rule of sign value as a status symbol. In addition, Jan Blommaert’s and Barbara Johnstone’s taxonomies further the argument that the Throne Hall is not a mere space, but a place, its function having been perverted by both ideological manipulation and aggressive consumerism.

Postmodern architecture under socialism: the Ascension Church in Warsaw-Ursynów

The Ascension Church, built in the tower block district of Warsaw-Ursynów (1980–1985) to a design by Marek Budzyński and Piotr Wicha, reveals the mechanisms of architectural change under the declining socialist regime in Poland. Based on archival documents, interviews, and press reviews, this article traces the process of form finding and construction of what became one of Poland’s best-known postmodern buildings. I argue that in the context of the building, postmodern design occupied and widened the cracks that had appeared in the authoritarian socialist regime since the 1970s. This is evident in the ‘speaking’ architectural forms that communicated nonconformist ideas, at the level of decision making and resourcing ‘outside the plan’, and in relation to post-functionalist city planning around the building. I also argue that the impact of the Ascension Church, and by extension of similar postmodern buildings in Poland, was based on a reception of postmodernism different to that in Western Europe and North America. Rather than being related to capitalist exuberance and ironic criticism of the architectural discipline, postmodern architecture became connected to a search for lasting values that transcended the mundane socialist everyday life in Poland. At the same time, it served as a vehicle for national/patriotic narratives that are influential in Poland to date.

Arcybiskup Antoni Baraniak jako członek Episkopatu Polski cz. II (1967-1977)

The present article describes the role of Archbishop Antoni Baraniak in the Polish Episcopate in the last decade of the metropolitan’s life. It is a continuation of the analysis published in 2019 in “Seminare”. Despite the passage of many years since the death of the steadfast bishop, his full biography still has not been written. The paper is aimed at filling this gap in the record of Polish bishops’ activity in the years 1967-1977. The Metropolitan of Poznan became known as an outstanding figure in the works on the forum of the Commission / Main Council and the Episcopal Plenary Conference. He enjoyed the trust of other hierarchs, especially that of Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, being one of his most important collaborators. Archbishop Baraniak shared with the “Primate of the Millennium” a similar vision of the Church’s activity in the realities of the communist dictatorship, as well as a decisive approach to the religious policy of the authorities of the PRL. This was particularly evident in the seventies, when both hierarchs managed to see through the deceptive declarations of Edward Gierek’s political party.

Rockin' the Church: Vernacular Catholic Musical Practices

This article focuses on the unique dimensions of lived or vernacular Catholicism through the analysis of contemporary congregational music in Hungary. Looking at the musical lives of Hungarian Roman Catholics from the late 1960s to contemporary times can provide us with new understandings of the theological contents and aesthetics, as well as the vernacular religiosity of the community. Christian popular music appeared behind the Iron Curtain relatively early, in 1967 when the first “beat mass” was created and introduced at Budapest. The early Christian popular music sounded astonishingly similar to the songs of the American Folk Mass Movement of the 1960s without any connection between the two phenomena. The Communist dictatorship greatly influenced the ‘visibility,’ the characteristics of Christian popular music, and also its secrecy. Amongst authoritarian, atheistic circumstances, Christian popular music spread underground. The social dimension of this music was, therefore, an underground religious subculture that existed independently and was often prohibited by Church leaders. I give an overview of the reactions of the institutions (state authorities, churches) and persons connected to these authorities (priests, collaborators, secret police informers) and the participants of the emerging grassroots movement and analyze the inner tensions and attitudes of the opposing groups.

Idealism in Judicio of the Red Etatism

The article is devoted to the detailed review of the publications almanac of prominent Russian historian M.A. Kolerov who mainly specialized in the works of Russian political idealists of the beginning of the 20th century, and especially those of P.B. Struve. The author draws attention to the fact that in 2018 almanac and in his latest works M.A. Kolerov directly contrasts Struve’s consistent anti-Bolshevism and “White activism” with the powerful national Bolshevist views of his student and disciple N.V. Ustryalov, who accepted Soviet power in 1920, returned to the USSR in 1935 and perished in the period of Stalin repressions. In the present article the author makes the attempt to critically assess national Bolshevism mainly not from the political, but from the moral and philosophic point of view. He notes that the major mistake of Ustryalov and his associates was in their refusal to politically criticize Bolshevism, thus underestimating the destructive potential of the terrorist practices of the Communist dictatorship for the destiny of the country and its people.

The big bang of communism: The Bolsheviks’ destruction of the Russian Constituent Assembl y and the making of the first communist dictatorship (November 1917-January 1918)

The big bang of communism: The Bolsheviks’ destruction of the Russian Constituent Assembl y and the making of the first communist dictatorship (November 1917-January 1918)

Dressing The Ghost

Dressing The Ghost Emily Schultz (bio) None of my friends wanted to model a dead girl's dress, but after they did they all posted photos of it to their Instagram accounts. The outfit was black with a gold belt and black bows on each shoulder. A pleat ran across one hip, making the fabric of the skirt drape in a sexy way. I didn't remember having ever seen my roommate in it. When my roommate was killed, I'd been left with a stack of blue jeans and blouses and an empty room. Her name was Olive Baker. I met her through a friend on social media when I posted that I had an extra room. I didn't know the friend well and I hadn't lived with Olive more than three months when she was hit by a delivery truck while cycling home from work. Her parents, Stan and Jodi Baker, had that broad Midwestern stature, feet shoulder-width apart, standing tall and wide even in their grief, like very old trees. They came and collected some of her things—fit three boxes into their Toyota Corolla. They had driven nine hours to ID her body and make arrangements for her cremation. I cried a little and gave them milk and cookies, as if they were children, and told them I was sorry. They took Olive's vintage typewriter, some photographs in frames, her laptop, a couple pieces of pottery she'd made, a box of books, a teapot, and an old plush dog with a chewed-up ear. They asked me if I could look after the rest. "Of course." I didn't know what else to say. Olive died five days before rent day but I couldn't bring it up, and I found out it was hard to say no to people who had lost their child. Since moving in the only purchase Olive had made that wasn't edible was a bookshelf she ordered online from Dot & Bo. I took [End Page 233] a photograph of it, and sold it on Craigslist for $150 to a couple in Williamsburg. In Olive's closet I found vintage dresses: mostly unworn, probably because she biked every day across the Williamsburg Bridge to a publishing office in Gramercy Park. I struggled into a few different garments. The looser styles didn't look bad on me—I snapped pictures using the full-length mirror in her room. I posted them to my Etsy, Sue-Sue-Studios. I kept the descriptions brief. Wool cardigan with rhinestones, good condition, size small. Floral 1990s shirt-dress—cotton. And the measurements. A-line skirt with hot air balloon appliqué. I priced everything $30 more than I thought it was worth. The Etsy page was left over from my vase project—a couple years ago I collaged old black-and-white photos onto flower vases and mugs. It went awry when I pasted a grainy image of General Josip Tito of Yugoslavia onto a purple pitcher. He was a Communist dictator. I didn't know. My wares got reported as hateful and I was put on suspension. By the time the ban was lifted, I had tired of collage on objects, and now I mostly used my Etsy to sell stuff when I was short on cash. Electronics were what I really needed: the cold green digitalglow of cash. I looked on her shelves, but her mom had remembered to take her tablet. I tried on a pair of Olive's Mavi jeans, but they were too snug. She was a size 10. I texted my friend Gabi, who was small-waisted, and asked her to come over and help me sort. It was while I was waiting for her that I spotted the black dress. I could see right away it was too little for me. I laid it down on the couch and took a photo of it against the blue seating. I couldn't decide if it looked sad like that, empty and flat, so I picked it up and took it back in the bedroom. I tried to shimmy into it, but it was stiff—not a...

Отношение советских органов безопасности к Армии Крайовой (июль 1944 – январь 1945 гг.)

The article deals with the problem of relations between the Soviet State Security Organs and the Home Army, an underground Polish military organization, in the final period of the Second World War. The author concludes that the main tools for establishing the Communist dictatorship and suppressing Polish society were the NKVD, NKGB, and SMERSH. Repression was aimed at broad groups of Polish society (landlords, teachers, doctors, clergy, etc.) and at certain individuals who were considered by the Soviet leadership as dangerous, hostile, and threatening the new Communist authorities. According to some estimates, from January 1944 to the end of the 1940s, 80–100 thousand Poles were arrested in the territory of the Second Polish Republic, of whom several thousand were convicted (not counting Polish citizens of other nationalities). They were held in screening and filtration camps, camps for prisoners of war and internees, correctional labour camps and labour battalions of the NKVD-MVD. The arrests, internment, mass deportations and trials of this period contradicted the norms of international law and marked the beginning of the new, Soviet, period of occupation.

Політичні практики декомунізації у країнах східної Європи.

The article examines the peculiarities of the denouncement of Communist heritage in Eastern Europe. The practical cases of the Anti-Communist legislation of the Czech Republic and Poland were chosen as the basis for research, their value of their experience for Ukraine was analyzed. The political practices of Romania, Hungary, and the Baltic States were studied as well; their legislation and the reasons for De-Communization are considered.According to the critique of Ukrainian De-Communization legislation in the United States and Europe, the study considered foreign “analogues” to Ukrainian laws, determining whether they differ and in which ways. In the scope of the study, differences in the starting conditions for De-Communization and lustration in the countries were identified. A peaceful, negotiated form of transit of power dominated, leaving the perpetrators of criminal actions of the old regimes largely still a part of the society which was experiencing a transition to democracy, and in many cases they even retained the status of political elite, now responsible for abandoning the old political system, in which the former communists were active participants. Both radical (Czech) and moderate (Poland) approaches to lustration were imperfect, due to the lack of documents of the old regime, or incorrect data in these documents. Subsequently, lustrations became an instrument of the political struggle of the right-wing parties against the new left, the former communists who were able to remain in politics (similar to the political situation in Ukraine).The research has shown that the process of De-Communization and lustration began with the democratization of public life. Among the factors that affect the success of these processes are: the presence of representatives of the old elite in power, the level of legitimacy of the old regime in the eyes of the population, the level of control over society by the secret police. Most of the studied governments were set up to quickly eliminate the remnants of the “legacy” of Communist dictatorships, while acquitting the members of the resistance to the regime.Depending on the success and scope of Anti-Communist policies, three groups of countries were identified: full, partial and formal De-Communization. It has been proved that with the delegitimization of the communist past, the first group will expand.