The Road to Post-Communism: Independent Political Movements in the Soviet Union, 1985-1991

1995 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 155
Author(s):  
William M. Reisinger ◽  
Geoffrey Hosking ◽  
Jonathan Aves ◽  
Peter J. S. Duncan
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Political Movements ◽  
The Road ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Post Communism

Leaving

Jimmy Reid ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 159-192
Author(s):  
W.W.J. Knox ◽  
A. McKinlay
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
The Political ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
The Road ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Power Base ◽  
Revolutionary Party ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Right

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.

The Baltic States in the European Union

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanel Kerikmäe ◽  
Archil Chochia ◽  
Max Atallah
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Development Aid ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Baltic States ◽  
The Road ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Digital Development ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
The Eu

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.

Aleksandras Shtromas

2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-92
Author(s):  
Leonidas Donskis ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Moral Order ◽  
Political Scientist ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
East European ◽  
American Scholar ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The World ◽  
Post Communism ◽  
Political Thinker

Aleksandras Shtromas (1931-1999), a British-American scholar, became an eminent figure in his native Lithuania, yet Westem social scientists have yet to discover this human rights activist, Soviet dissident, and political thinker. Shtromas had no doubts about the inexorable collapse of the Soviet Union, resting his analysis on the assumption that communism was unable to provide any viable social and moral order. The vast majority of the Soviet intelligentsia had become skilled at the ideological cat-and-mouse games, wrestling wth Soviet Newspeak and censorship, and employing an Aesopian language in order to survive and remain as decent as possible in a world of brainwashing and lies. A gifted prophet of post-communism, Shtromas was the only political scientist in the world who took the disintegration of the Soviet Union as early as the late 1970s as an ongoing process. This essay links Shtromas' legacy to the great East European dissenters.

Passions about Arkaim: Russian Nationalism, the Aryans, and the Politics of Archaeology

Inner Asia ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. A. Shnirelman
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Local Politics ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Southern Urals ◽  
Political Movements ◽  
The Southern Urals ◽  
Sacred Place ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Politics Of Archaeology ◽  
The City

AbstractArkaim is the name given to the site of an ancient town in the Southern Urals, dated to the 17th–16th centuries BC. Discovered in 1987, Arkaim rapidly became more than an archaeological site. It became the focus for an extraordinary congolmeration of ideas linked to ecological and political movements, in particular those of Russian nationalists. Threatened with flooding because of a dam project, Arkaim was made a ‘Museum Reserve’. Soon it became the focus for theories that this was a sacred place and furthermore the home of proto-Slavs. The break-up of the Soviet Union was followed by attempts by Russian nationalists to demonstrate the legitimacy of their domination of the former empire. The article shows how quasi historical claims expanded into myth and fantasy, linked to the emergence of new cults. Arkaim became the city not only of proto Slavs but of Zarathustra and the Aryans too. Such inventions are related to local politics and ethnic tensions as well as to wider Russian nationalism.

scholarly journals The Baltic States: Keeping the Faith in Turbulent Times

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 39-63
Author(s):  
Vello Pettai
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Baltic States ◽  
The Road ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Turbulent Times ◽  
Independent States ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Communist Countries

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.

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