Communist Past Research Articles

Broken by her Country of Broken Things: Memory, Resistance, and the Politics of Time in NoViolet Bulawayo’s Glory (2022)

This article presents a reading of NoViolet Bulawayo’s novel Glory (2022) in the light of indigenous temporality and structural and administrative violence in the transition from pre-colonial to colonial, and then to postcolonial times in an imaginary African land. The study argues that structures of neocolonial violence and active erasure create a pseudo-temporality in the people of the ex postcolonies. It seeks to explore the idea of time in the postcolony, the distortion of communal past by the colonisers, the imposition of an invented past, present and future on the subjects, and the multitude’s resistance to and rejection of this imposed time in an African society. The novel depicts the patterns of violence in the postcolony. The indigenous population in the novel seeks to build for them a just future. Historical consciousness of suffering and pain of the ancestors is the starting point of liberating self. Remembering and memorialising the ancestors who suffered is the first step towards it. The study gives us a key to understanding parallel democracy that decolonised nations should aim at, keeping in view the damage caused by the invader’s view of progress (Western concept of development with neocolonialism) and democracy (a colonial byproduct). memorialising the ancestors who suffered is the first step towards it. The study gives us a key to understanding parallel democracy that decolonised nations should aim at, keeping in view the damage caused by the invader’s view of progress (Western concept of development with neocolonialism) and democracy (a colonial byproduct).

Mythological Figures in Garo Lores

Oral literature can be considered the earliest form of literature in any literary tradition, preceding the written form. It signifies originality, adaptability, and fluidity, thereby contributing to the evolution of literature. The Garos possess a diverse collection of oral narratives that have been passed down through generations. This oral tradition is deeply ingrained in the communal consciousness, serving as a reflection of the community's ethos. Within these oral compositions lie ancient and authentic lexicons that are meticulously preserved in their traditional sayings, songs, legends, proverbs, rituals, and incantations. This paper endeavors to examine the mythological entities present in Garo folklore, meticulously preserved through oral traditions by the ancestors. Myths, as repositories of communal history, chronicle the vicissitudes of kingdoms and encapsulate the essence of a community's past. They not only mirror the people but also foster unity, continuity, and coherence within a cultural milieu.

The Artistic Demystification of the Communist Regime in Romania

Abstract This article explains the role played by contemporary art evocations of the communist past in the establishment of a more comprehensive memory of the communist regime in Romania. The analysis delineates the three memory frameworks of the communist regime in Romania (official memory, activist memory, and a nostalgic outlook) and contraposes them to the five artistic memory frameworks (Ceaușescu’s portraits, the 1989 revolution, the victims of communism, the portraits of the members of the Securitate, and the communist nostalgia) that have crystallized in the period 2000–2020. Theoretically, the article uses the art and politics of memory focus, which is found at the intersection of the studies of cultural/artistic memory and the role of art in Transitional Justice studies, to propose a critical perspective on contemporary artistic discourses of the communist past in Romania.

Reappropriating the communal past: lineage tradition revival as a way of constructing collective identity in Huizhou, China

This article discusses the reappropriation and redefinition of heritage and tradition as a process of purposeful and selective value extraction by various groups at the local level in Huizhou, China, based on case studies. It is a process of continuous accumulation and self-persuasion by empowering specific cultural heritages, thus reinforcing the identity and cognition of the group to which they belong. The recovery of lineage worship to negotiate different cultural meanings and gain discursive power in the village of Huangdun reveals the counterbalance of the distribution of benefits among lineage groups, locals and government officials. These heritage empowerment actions fit with the official cultural policy and the vision for cultural orthodoxy, healing the division and creating some benefits for the local community. They also generate potential conflicts between the official and folk levels but are performed with mutual achievement and utilisation rather than unilateral dominance.

A Case Study of Pallallamma Temple of Vanapalli: Local History and Significance

Local history is an original method to see how a community works because it shows how it has changed over time and how the people there have affected it. It shows how changes in society have affected the everyday lives of regular people and how they have dealt with them. Also, learning about local history helps us understand the tradition of the community by showing us where street names, sites, and buildings came from and what they mean. Local history study helps us understand how historical stories are made by looking at how environment, economy, society, and population change affect each other. It looks at smaller, more localized situations to ask bigger questions about how society has changed. Local history is the study of both people and places. It gives us a way to see how the small world of our town interacts with the big world of the rest of the world. Local history is like a miniature version of bigger historical patterns. It helps us connect big trends with specific stories about people's lives. This journey helps us understand that history is not just something we learn in school, but something that is all around us and a part of our communities. As people learn more about their community's past, they realize that they are creating its ongoing story and adding to its historical tapestry in their unique ways. Local histories are often based on oral customs and may not have the formal support of well-known historical events, but they are still useful for learning and getting information. By bringing up shared traditions and experiences, local history can help shape policy, encourage community growth, and help people get along by bringing them together. As a place to keep different traditions and stories alive, it helps us learn more about the past. Local scholars are very important to this project because they teach and lead in their communities. Their love of history makes people think more deeply about and appreciate the past, which helps people feel more connected to their community and roots. Local histories may use modern words and ways of telling stories, but they are still based on area traditions and customs, so they can be understood by people at different levels. In closing, learning about local history gives us a deeper understanding of how our towns are woven together and how the people who live there live their daily lives. The Pallalamma Temple of Vanapalli is a great example of how important it is to keep cultural and spiritual practices alive through local icons. The goal of this case study is to shed light on the temple's historical roots, how it has changed over time, and how it continues to be important to the people of Vanapalli. The purpose of this study is to learn more about the temple's traditions, holidays, and beliefs to better understand how it has changed local life and how it still has meaning in modern times.

Communism in Post-communist Romania: An Ambivalent Legacy

After Nicolae Ceaușescu’s execution on December 25, 1989, Romania faced an important issue to deal with: What was to be done with the 44 years of a quasi-totalitarian system, based on continuous political violence?! How should Romanians relate to it? What was to be remembered and what was to be forgotten? How it should be passed on to the next generations, those who were born before, around or after the fall of the regime? The answer to these questions has varied over the 35 years since the fall of the communist regime in Romania. Numerous factors contributed to the way in which Romanians related to their communist past, how it was represented in the public space, how it was and is passed on. The actors involved have also changed and the official public memory has known many avatars. In the subsequent pages, I propose an analysis of all these aspects, resulting from my research of the last 21 years on the memory of Communism.

Memorability of Romanian dissidence: Ordinary people, secret files and artistic remediations

The article explores the conditions necessary for a narrative recounting of past events to become memorable and incorporated into collective memory. The analysis is focused on the role played by artistic remediations in creating such memorability. In Romania, as well as in other East Central European countries, the production of memorability and the management of the resulting collective memories are interlinked with the narratives of communism that dominate the memorialisation of the recent past. The article reviews several examples of acts of dissent, based on their representativeness and the existing literature, and question the memorability of dissident acts by considering the memory discourse on communism and the involvement of different agents of memory. It also interrogates the use of the Romanian secret police (Securitate) files in artistic productions, examining this acknowledgement of the role played by the Securitate in creating the narratives of the communist past. Two artistic productions based on reworkings of the Securitate files are analysed: a documentary theatre play staged by Gianina Cărbunariu, Uppercase Print (2013), and Radu Jude’s 2020 film of the same title, both presenting the story of Mugur Călinescu. The article argues that these productions question mainstream frames of memory by revisiting the narratives and biographies created by the Securitate files and give new, artistically mediated voices to victims, perpetrators and collaborators.

Traditions of the Independence Day Celebrations in Poland and the Baltic States

The system of public holidays and rituals developed by people is an important indication of the transformation of the spiritual culture of each European nation. At the same time, they return to the origins – the historical past and declare the vectors of development for the future. The article is aimed at the investigation and analysis of the typology of the formation of state independence holidays in Poland and the Baltic states, correlating it with key, fateful moments in the history of each nation. Poland has rebuilt radically all spheres of material and spiritual life after the fall of the communist regime. The formation of society on new democratic essential principles reflects the calendar of festive and commemorative dates of the modern Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It includes major and minor holidays of the liturgical (Catholic) year and secular traditions of various origins. A notable attitude of the Poles is to celebrate officially both religious and important civil anniversaries on the same day. The special historical significance of the Polish Independence Day is given by the chronological reference to the date of the end of the First World War (November 11, 1918). The contemporary holiday culture of Poland is characterized by a symbiosis of ethnic and confessional elements. At the everyday level the state holiday of independence is combined harmoniously with folklore and ethnographic traditions of St. Martin’s Day. Along with Poland, the Baltic countries - Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia - whose history has a lot in common, have fought radically and consistently with the heritage of the communist past. Song holidays and festivals are of a great significance in preserving the national identity of the Baltic states. Today there are, in fact, two independence holidays in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. The first is connected with 1918, when all these republics have gained statehood on the ruins of the Russian Empire, the second one - in honor of the events of 1990-1991, finished with the decay of the USSR. The conducted research has proved that the peoples of Poland and the Baltic states at the turn of the 20th-21st centuries have been able to free themselves from the heritage of the communist past and the totalitarian dictation of the aggressive Russian Federation, becoming full members of the European Union and NATO. The system of currently acting official holidays and rituals can serve as a clear evidence of the radical restructuring of ideology and culture in these countries.

Why Is Media Trust Low in Post-Communist Countries?

ABSTRACT Do long-term propaganda and indoctrination undermine media trust? Building on studies of communist legacies, I examine whether trust in media in post-communist countries can be explained by past or contemporaneous experiences. I find that trust in media is lower in post-communist countries, but this trust deficit is more likely a consequence of the post-communist period. It is higher among authoritarian regimes, which suggests that contemporaneous experiences matter; citizens with longer exposure to communism trust the media more; finally, the deficit grows as the communist past becomes more distant. These findings have implications for institutional development in the post-communist world.

Entrepreneurs of memory: Selling history in the GDR Museum shop in Berlin

The field of memory studies rarely deals with commercial enterprises, which, as we argue in this article, play just as prominent a role in shaping collective memories as state actors or nongovernmental organizations. The aim of our study is therefore to discuss the role of private entrepreneurs and their businesses in the context of GDR memory. We focus on the privately run GDR Museum in Berlin and its best-selling products. Through the lens of the museum store, we analyze the exhibition, an iconic eggcup, and a book on the history of the GDR that has enjoyed sustained sales over a lengthy period. By tracing the intertwined distribution chains of these memory goods, we emphasize the importance of private entrepreneurs and their networks in the current German memory culture. We argue that economic interests and developments are just as important as political decisions and public institutions regarding the memory of the communist past. Thus memory studies should also focus on enterprises of memory by analyzing business data. This poses an empirical challenge that is worth tackling, since it broadens our understanding of current memory culture.

The Central European history in constitutional preambles: state narrative and governance implications

ABSTRACT The study deals with the historical narrative of the modern Central European constitutions. The earlier 20th century constitutions were also in some way responsive to historical changes, but in the post-1989 constitutions, the historical narrative has also acquired a strong legitimating function. This was partly related to the fact that several states gained state independence at the time. Another important aspect is the confrontation with the communist past. Typically the constitutional preambles deal with history. The normative nature of the preambles is disputed, but they can play an important role in the process of legal interpretation by constitutional courtes. The most interesting in this respect is the Hungarian preamble adopted in 2011, which is both the longest and the most ideological in the Central European region. The ideological elements in the post-transitional constitutions has not weakened over time, but rather strengthened. This is particularly obvious in Hungarian constitutional development. However, a strong historical narrative can sometimes become counterproductive. This is especially true for states, where there is no co-decision consensus on the judgement of certain key historical events and thus an one-sided presentation of historical issues can also make it difficult for constitutions to fulfil their social integration function.

Inside the Labyrinth. The Post-Communist Novel Between Anti-Communism and Nostalgia

ABSTRACT The article tries to map the perspectives of the post-communist East on its own communist past, as envisioned by four writers and their relevant novels: the Michal Ajvaz (The Other City, 1993), Mircea Cărtărescu (Blinding, 1996), the David Albahari (Leeches, 2006), the Olga Tokarczuk (Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, 2009). I argue that these novels – which take the form of mysteries and/or draw on conspiracy theories – resort to specific genre tropes in their attempt to render in an allegorical code the deficits in the cognitive mapping of the post-communist period. This blank spot concerns the project of post-communism as an evasive totality which the East has been constantly trying to grasp, after being confined in the cognitive labyrinth of the neoliberal capitalism that has predominated since the demise of communism in central Europe in 1989. My study relies on Fredric Jameson’s view that conspiracy theories are indicative of deficiencies of cognitive mappings. Subsequently, I analyse the four novels in a World Literature frame. These terms help in interpreting the ways in which the literatures of the former Eastern Bloc relate to their own past, but also to the new planetary conscience pushed forward by neoliberal capitalism.

Alex Goldiș, Literature and Memory Wars. Representations of Communism in Contemporary Romanian Fiction

ABSTRACT The democratic environment in Romania after 1989 witnessed the emergence of an unprecedented number of public discourses engaged with the re-evaluation of communism. In line with recent contributions to cultural memory studies (Aleida Assmann, Astrid Erll), this essay tries to assess the role that fiction played in reshaping the communist past and engaging with the post-communist present. Narratives written by Dan Lungu, Radu Pavel Gheo and Vasile Ernu, some of the most representative writers of the Romanian post-1989 era, are examined against the backdrop of public debates regarding the opposition between democracy and totalitarianism, progression and nostalgia, the ʻcivilized Westʼ and the ʻprovincialʼ East. In reaction to the pressure of ideological discourses, this article argues that literature remains a privileged site where alternative versions of memory can intertwine and negotiate their claims. Literary texts that reshape cultural perceptions fulfil the ʻmnemonic multiperspectivityʼ function of the public discourse with particular focus on recovering the marginal voices that are often disregarded by classic historiography.

Telling the Truth via Fiction: Imre Kertész, Péter Esterházy, and Hungarian Post-1989 Literary Anticommunism

ABSTRACT In post-1989 Hungary, as the superstructure of a well-established censorship rapidly collapsed, a huge wave of formerly restricted information refreshed the stagnant water of literary and social culture. Nevertheless, the mainstream of contemporary highbrow belles-lettres began to take a rather apolitical approach towards literary production. Realism as an objectivist literary style and referential mode of representation was felt, after 1989, as too ideological, and thus lost its credibility along with the grand narrative of state socialism. A postmodern canon was soon established and popularized, based on formal experimentation and on the non-referential nature of the literary work. Despite the fact that postmodernism generally rejected realist fiction, Hungarian post-communist mainstream writers felt compelled to address the memory of the communist past. This paper aims to investigate major ethical and aesthetical problems of telling the truth via fiction, focusing on seminal books like The Union Jack, Kaddish for an Unborn Child, and Dossier K. by Imre Kertész; as well as Celestial Harmonies and Javított kiadás (Revised Edition) by Péter Esterházy. Last but not least, the article will analyse the compelling piece Egy történet (A/One Story), written by both the aforementioned authors.

Problem rozliczenia z komunistyczną przeszłością u progu zmiany systemowej w Polsce

The process of settling accounts with the communist past is an answer to the question for countries that are leaving communism through peaceful negotiations with the authorities. In the case of the Polish control system, the first non-communist introduction by Tadeusz Mazowiecki, which is used as the socalled ‘thick line’, it leaked that the problem of lustration and decommunization had been postponed. In the subsequent years of the 1990s, verification tests among people performing the most important functions ended in failure. The most serious consequences occurred in the attempt to implement the lustration resolution by the Sejm in May 1992, which resulted from the failure of Jan Olszewski’s actions. The first lustration act was issued in Poland only in 1997.

Repeal of social benefits linked to the communist past

Repeal of social benefits linked to the communist past

DEMOCRACY, DEMOGRAPHY & DIASPORA: ELECTORAL LEGITIMACY, KEY TO CROATIA’S FUTURE

Looking back at thirty years since the founding of the sovereign Republic of Croatia, this article asks to what extent Croatia's electoral process has succeeded or failed in guaranteeing the democratic rights of citizens in a free, healthy, transparent and productive society. Through frank, revealing interviews conducted with noted Croatian political and humanitarian leaders, legal experts, and scholars, this article examines whether the electoral process serves to select leaders who act in the best interests of the people or of politicians with deep roots in the country’s troubled communist past. Does the law confront corruption, wrest control of the government from privileged elites, and result in policies that win public support and create a mandate that officials implement? Are political leaders and parties held accountable for their actions? The answers to these questions demonstrate the key role that electoral law plays in Croatia’s pursuit of its rightful destiny -- a democratic future.

Acts of citizenship in present-day Greece

How do communities (fully fledged, active or imagined) perform citizenship? How do recent policies on urban planning and economic development in the city impact public space as the very site where citizenship is claimed, performed and experienced? What is the relationship between practices of memory (from personal memory, to collective and institutional) and acts of citizenship? How does the memory and the archivization of community life (in other words, the creation of a communal past) help the emergence of new demands for inclusion, rights and agonistic togetherness? Drawing inspiration from the colloquium Being Citizens Together: Rethinking Social Citizenship in Greece that took place on 11 February 2023 at the National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST), we invited the participants of the colloquium to reflect on the notion of social citizenship in Greece. The contributions include an interview with the curators of the event Dimitris Papanikolaou and Theophilos Tramboulis with the Reviews+ co-editor Kristina Gedgaudaitė as well as critical reflections and creative writing interventions by eight of the participants: Christos Chrysanthopoulos, Sofia Dona, Brikena Gishto, Pafsanias Karathanasis, Erofili Kokkali, Iris Lykourioti, Anna Papaeti and Theo Prodromidis.

“Is Juvenile Delinquency in Lithuania Increasing because of the Bad Influence of the West”? Punitive Attitudes of the Lithuanian Population towards Juvenile Offenders

This article aims to assess the Lithuanian population’s punitive attitudes towards juvenile delinquents, to discuss them from the perspective of authoritarianism and to connect them to Lithuania’s Communist past. This study was a cross-sectional population-based study, administered in 2021. Multistage stratified sampling techniques were used to create a representative sample of 1,508 Lithuanian residents aged eighteen years and older. A measurement of attitudes was created by the authors based on ideas about the tripartite attitude structure: measuring multiple attributes from the areas of affect (feelings towards juvenile offenders), cognition (explanations of the causes of juvenile offending), and action (measures for reduction of juvenile delinquency). The study revealed that almost half of Lithuanians hold punitive attitudes towards juvenile delinquents. These punitive attitudes correlate with negative feelings towards juvenile delinquents related to common stereotypes and inaccurate explanations of the causes of juvenile delinquency. Punitiveness was also connected with fears of “bad” Western influences, such as the perceived overvaluing of children’s rights and disapproval of violence against children and authoritarian parenting. The question “Is juvenile delinquency in Lithuania increasing because of the bad influence of the West?” divided the Lithuanian population into two almost equal groups: “Pro-Westerners” and “Anti-Westerners.” “Anti-Westerners” were more likely to hold authoritarian views, while “Anti-Western” attitudes were more prevalent among older, less-educated, and lower-income citizens.

“Memory is a Bitch.” Taboo and False Memory in Czech Reportages by Mariusz Szczygieł

Summary This paper concerns works by the Polish contemporary author and journalist Mariusz Szczygieł (*1966). I analyze Szczygieł’s Czech reportages (Gottland [2006], Zrób sobie raj [2010] and to some extent Nie ma [2018]) from the perspective of memory studies, focusing particularly on the question of taboo in collective memory and the issue of false memory (the products of the minds of individual persons or groups of people that make them sure that a certain event took place despite the fact that it never occurred), which are meant to show the untrustworthiness of memories and reminiscences. I argue that Szczygieł’s Czech reportages are to be read in the context of questions that have been vividly discussed in the Polish public sphere in recent decades: the dilemma of how to deal with the communist past after 1989 (lustration; Polish: lustracja); and how to proceed with the referential pact when writing and reading literary nonfiction.