Robert H. McNeal, general editor. Resolutions and Decisions of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Volume 1, The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, 1898–October 1917, edited by Ralph Carter Elvvood; volume 2, The Early Soviet Period: 1917–1929, edited by Richard Gregor; volume 3, The Stalin Years: 1929–1953, edited by Robert H. McNeal.; volume 4, The Khrushchev Years, 1953–1964, edited by Grey Hodnett. Buffalo: University of Toronto Press. 1974. Pp. xxxi, 306; xi, 382; x, 280; x, 328. $75.00 the set

Author(s):  
John Cooper

This chapter reflects on Jewish communist, socialist, and maverick lawyers. Whereas many Jewish solicitors viewed their profession primarily from a business perspective—and were extremely successful in both business and professional terms—another group of solicitors from the same east European background were driven by more altruistic motives, impelled by a zealous pursuit of justice on behalf of their clients or devoted to active campaigning for specific legal reform. Some members of this latter group were communists; a larger number of the outstanding Jewish lawyers from the second generation of east European immigrants were associated with the Labour Party; still others were mavericks. Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, it has become apparent that the recruitment of Jewish lawyers into the Communist Party was a passing phase born out of the frustrations of the 1930s, and the misplaced idealism of the early 1950s. Towards the end of the century, Jewish radicalism continued in new forms.


1999 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry D. Clark ◽  
Stacy J. Holscher ◽  
Lisa A. Hyland

In the 1992 elections to the national legislature, Lithuania became the first country in Eastern Europe to return its former communist party to power. Headed by Algirdas Brazauskas, the former First Secretary who had led the party in its split from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in December 1990, the party had rejected the Soviet past and renamed itself the Lithuanian Democratic Labor Party (LDLP). Declaring itself a social-democratic party, the LDLP supported democracy and a free market “with a human face.” In the 1992 elections the LDLP campaigned as a party of experienced, competent administrators capable of managing the reforms in such a way as to lessen their social impact. As a result the party won a resounding victory in the elections of that year to the national legislature, winning 73 of the 141 seats in the Seimas.


Author(s):  
Jonathan Harris

In the winter of 1989-90 the unintended consequences of Mikhail S. Gorbachev's program of political and economic refonn had become obvious to all but his most optimistic spokesmen. The General Secretary's attempt to create a new ideology of perestroika by grafting "bourgeois" and "social democratic" concepts onto the conventional ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) had divided the party, created immense ideological confusion, and led to the formation of non-Communist and anti-Communist political organizations. The attempt to shift authority from party officials to elected soviets on the union and republican levels had led to the emergence of separatist and nationalist movements in many of the USSR's republics, including the RSFSR. The decentralization of the state's administration of the economy and the encouragement of both private and cooperative economic activity had failed to reverse the deterioration of economic conditions. As anxiety swept through the CPSU, orthodox party leaders called for the establishment of an autonomous Communist Party for the RSFSR to counter Gorbachev's policies and to "save Soviet Russia" from destruction.


2008 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 443-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry D. Clark ◽  
Jovita Pranevičciūte

The successor party to the Lithuanian Communist Party (LCP) has shown amazing adaptability in weathering the transition period to remain a major political force throughout the post-communist period. The LCP severed all formal ties with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and became the independent Lithuanian Democratic Labor Party (LDLP) in late 1989. As the LDLP, the party was the governing party from 1992 to 1996. In early 2001 it merged with the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) to become the new LSDP. The LSDP has been the major party in governing coalitions from 2001 to the present. We explore the challenges that Lithuania’s successor party has faced and the reasons for its remarkable success.


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