The Soviet Union and the road to communism

2006 ◽  
pp. 706-731 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars T. Lih
1995 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 155
Author(s):  
William M. Reisinger ◽  
Geoffrey Hosking ◽  
Jonathan Aves ◽  
Peter J. S. Duncan

Jimmy Reid ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 159-192
Author(s):  
W.W.J. Knox ◽  
A. McKinlay

The chapter explores his vain attempts to be elected as a full-time national official of the AEU defeated by the right-wing of the union’s leadership. It also exposes the organisational deficiencies of Reid; a man capable of motivating and inspiring workers but unable to build a mass power base within the political or industrial arenas. It also discusses critically Reid’s narrative concerning the road to leaving the CPGB as well as the reception to his decision both within the media and among the party membership. We contend that international events such as the Prague invasion were secondary influences, rather we argue it was events nearer to home that were more influential. Thus, we discuss how the rejection of the concept of the revolutionary party by the CPGB in favour of broad-based parliamentary alliances narrowed the ideological chasm between communists and the Labour left. Indeed, the only issue dividing them was the continued support by the former for the Soviet Union; something that Reid had begun to reject. The other factor was his dissatisfaction with party democracy. Reid left in 1976 and joined the Labour Party two years later. Fast tracked by the left he stood as Labour candidate in 1979 in Dundee where he suffered the same fate as in 1974.


Author(s):  
Tanel Kerikmäe ◽  
Archil Chochia ◽  
Max Atallah

Integration with the European Union has been far less distressing for the three Baltic States than for numerous other accessing countries owing to their strong societal impetus to (re)join Western political, economic, and legal culture after they regained their independence from the Soviet Union in 1990. However, the accession of these states—Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—had several distinctive features related to constitutional background and settings, which heavily influenced problem solving between government and the EU institutions. In general, the controversial issues regarding how to solve the problems with supranational power have never been dramatic with regard to the Baltic States, which leads to the assumption that often the governments have taken rather compliant positions. The latest cases, such as the European Stabilization Mechanism, indicate the change in paradigm: the three Baltic States are more aware of the margin of appreciation and actual borderlines between policy making- and decision making. Today, in setting up an EU-related agenda, more skills than previously are needed in finding allies and choosing partners. The road the Baltic States took in joining the EU was a difficult one, nor has their role in the EU been easy. Should a small state with a big initiative be allowed to mentor other member states regarding that initiative, meaning in particular Estonia and its digital development? Another peculiar aspect of the Baltic States is their (inter)relationship with Russia. Considering themselves a bridge between East and West, the Baltics have been active in Eastern Partnership and Development Aid initiatives and have also spoken out strongly against intervention in Georgia and Ukraine. This position sometimes complicates any EU attempt to achieve consensus on foreign policy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 39-63
Author(s):  
Vello Pettai

As the Baltic states commemorated the centenary of their first appearance as independent states in 2018, their celebrations were mixed with feelings of ambiguity about the road travelled since then. Although today we often see Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania as 'post-communist' countries, their experience with communism was actually much harsher than in Central Europe, since, for nearly fifty years, the three countries were forcibly a part of the Soviet Union. This has made their journey back into the European community all that more remarkable, and it has also served to keep these countries somewhat more resistant to the dangers of democratic backsliding. After all, their continued independence and well-being are intricately dependent on keeping the European liberal order intact. Nevertheless, the winds of populism have also begun to buffet these three countries, meaning that they have been struggling to keep their balancing act going. This article reviews the development of the Baltic states over the last 20 years, both in terms of domestic politics and EU accession and membership. It profiles the way in which the three countries have been trying to keep their faith in democracy and liberalism alive amidst ever more turbulent political and economic times.


Author(s):  
Richard S. Newman

Driving north on the 290 Expressway from Buffalo to Niagara Falls each day, thousands of cars race alongside the mighty Niagara River. North America's fastest-flowing body of water, the Niagara seems jet-propelled. If the Mississippi is the Father of Waters for its grand length, then the Niagara is its furious little cousin: a short but manic river that, in a span of roughly 30 miles, sprints from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, with a famous plunge of nearly 200 feet at Niagara Falls. Few visitors ever come away from a tour of Niagara unmoved. "I was in a manner stunned and unable to comprehend the vastness of the scene," Charles Dickens said of his first glimpse of the Niagara River Basin and Falls in the 1840s. "Niagara was at once stamped upon my heart, an image of Beauty; to remain there, changeless and indelible, until its pulses cease to beat, for ever." For Dickens, as for countless others, Niagara Falls exemplifies the American natural sublime. The highway chasing the Niagara River illuminates a different force cutting through Western New York: industrialization. For what was once a scenic landscape astride a beautiful waterway has long since become a poster child of mega-industrial growth. In Buffalo, where the "Niagara" section of the thruway begins, mammoth factory buildings, hulking steel mills, and a cityscape of grain elevators testify to the industrial pathway that made the region a production powerhouse. At Niagara Falls, the road rolls past majestic power canals and generating stations, illuminating the region's (and the nation's) path to hydroelectric energy. The advent of hydroelectric power, as the saying goes, turned night into day and helped fuel the American industrial dream. No wonder area nuns used to tell troublesome teens that they should pray for their souls. If the Soviet Union wanted to take out American industrial power in Cold War times, Buffalo-Niagara was a main target.


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