Transnational Imaginations of Socialism: Town Twinning and Local Government in “Red” Italy and the GDR

Teresa Malice

Published by De Gruyter Oldenbourg 2023

Transnational Imaginations of Socialism

Town Twinning and Local Government in “Red” Italy and the GDR

Teresa Malice

Volume 6 in the series Rethinking the Cold War

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110670950

Overview
Contents

About this book

Town twinning refers to the postwar phenomenon of administrative exchange between analogous municipalities. Cold War-related research has mostly interpreted it as an instrument to pursue European integration, or to solidify détente "from below". However, municipalities were not only administrative, neutral actors, but also bearers of political content. This is particularly visible in the case of Italian towns located in the Western bloc, guided by socialist-oriented administrations, and their "twin" counterparts in the German Democratic Republic.

This volume explores the connections initiated by such towns in the 1960s-1970s, focusing on socialist-specific conceptions which fueled the policies implemented by "red" municipalities, in managing local economies and social policies, but also in maintaining a lively and interconnected transnational microsociability among grassroots activists. Despite the increasing ideological divergences between Eastern and Western communists, and between Italian democratic communists and the more dogmatic and repressive, strictly pro-Soviet ones in the GDR, communication continued to flourish on the local level. The book explores what still linked the two worlds together, the "bright side of socialism": in this case, a common symbolism related to the past, practical exchanges in the present dimension, and a shared future imagination and conception of the town on the basis of a socialist horizon, built around welfare and services for citizens and workers.

Author / Editor information

Teresa Malice, University of Bielefeld.

Reviews

“This book is a rich contribution to our knowledge of our not so distant past. It is informative, impressive in its use of archives, convincing in its arguments, balanced in its interpretations, and well written throughout.” – Martin Zerlang, in: Connections. A Journal for Historians and Area Specialists, 02.02.2024, www.connections.clio-online.net/publicationreview/id/reb-134692.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	V
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	IX
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter 1 Conceptual Foundations and Historiographical Debates Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	29
Chapter 2 Cold War Entanglements Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	59
Chapter 3 Strategies of National Bilateral Exchange Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	83
Chapter 4 “Red” Areas and Towns: Developments, Similarities, Asymmetries Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	144
Chapter 5 Protagonists and Practices of Socialist Twinning Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	189
Chapter 6 Looking at the “Other” Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	303
Epilogue Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	364
List of Archives Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	374
List of Abbreviations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	376
List of Interviews Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	377
Biographies of Interviewees Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	378
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	380
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	409

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter Oldenbourg
Audience: Historians, Cold War historians, Urban historians
Pages
- Front matter: 10
- Main content: 415
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 3
- Tables: 2
Keywords: Cold War; town twinning; Italy; GDR

eBook

Published: December 31, 2022
ISBN: 9783110670950

Hardcover

Published: December 31, 2022
ISBN: 9783110667264