Perestroika and the Party: National and Transnational Perspectives on European Communist Parties in the Era of Soviet Reform

Published by Berghahn Books 2019

Perestroika and the Party

National and Transnational Perspectives on European Communist Parties in the Era of Soviet Reform

Edited by: Francesco Di Palma

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781789200218

Overview
Contents

About this book

Countless studies have assessed the dramatic reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev, but their analysis of the impact on European communism has focused overwhelmingly on the Soviet Union and Eastern bloc nations. This ambitious collection takes a much broader view, reconstructing and evaluating the historical trajectories of glasnost and perestroika on both sides of the Iron Curtain. Moving beyond domestic politics and foreign relations narrowly defined, the research gathered here constitutes a transnational survey of these reforms’ collective impact, showing how they were variably received and implemented, and how they shaped the prospects for “proletarian internationalism” in diverse political contexts.

Author / Editor information

Francesco Di Palma (1980) holds a doctorate in Contemporary History from the Freie Universität Berlin, where he is currently a Senior Fellow at the Friedrich-Meinecke-Institut. A former Teaching Fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, he has published widely on European socialism and communism, fascism and antifascism, and cultural and Jewish history.

Reviews

“Written by well-known historians and political scientists, the book addresses an underexplored topic in detail and therefore will be of interest to specialists of communism, party politics, and the political Left in Europe.” • Choice

“…a generally strong…and substantial collective contribution to the historiography of Communism.” • H-Diplo

“Perestroika and the Party gives a comprehensive look at how different national parties reacted to Mikhail Gorbachev’s program of reform. Its case studies are fascinatingly detailed and make useful additions to the larger historical literature.” • Edward Cohn, Grinnell College

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Introduction. Perestroika: The Demise of the Communist World? Francesco Di Palma Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part I Eastern Europe
Chapter 1 The Impact of Perestroika and Glasnost on the CPSU’s Stance toward the “Fraternal Parties” in the Eastern Bloc Peter Ruggenthaler Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	27
Chapter 2 Soviet Society, Perestroika, and the End of the USSR Mark Kramer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	55
Chapter 3 Perestroika Made in Hungary? The HSWP’s Approach to the Soviet Reform of the Late 1980s Tamás Péter Baranyi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	88
Chapter 4 Yugoslavia and Perestroika, 1985–1991 Between Hope and Disappointment Petar Dragišić Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	105
Chapter 5 The Polish United Workers’ Party and Perestroika Wanda Jarząbek Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	118
Chapter 6 SED and Perestroika: Perceptions and Reactions Hermann Wentker Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	132
Chapter 7 Between External Constraint and Internal Crackdown: Romania’s Non-reaction to Soviet Perestroika Stefano Bottoni Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	153
Part II Western Europe
Chapter 8 Parallel Destinies The Italian Communist Party and Perestroika Aldo Agosti Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	179
Chapter 9 “I Felt as If I Were Faced with a French Honecker” The French Communist Party Confronted with a World Falling Apart (1985–1991) Dominique Andolfatto Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	202
Chapter 10 A Dialogue of the Deaf: The CPGB and the SED during the Gorbachev Era, 1985–1990 Stefan Berger and Norman LaPorte Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	216
Chapter 11 Premature Perestroika: The Dutch Communist Party and Gorbachev Gerrit Voerman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	236
Chapter 12 Perestroika and the Greek Left Andreas Stergiou Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	256
Chapter 13 The Austrian Communists and Perestroika Maximilian Graf Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	278
Chapter 14 The Spanish Communist Party and Perestroika Walther L. Bernecker Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	298
Afterword: Gorbachev and the End of International Communism Silvio Pons Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	323
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	331