Surviving the Special Period

2019 ◽  
pp. 128-150
Author(s):  
Anna Clayfield
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Special Period ◽  
Turn Of The Millennium ◽  
Official Discourse ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Revolution

This chapter focuses on the so-called Special Period in Cuba, a time of heightened instability and a profound economic crisis that, in 1991, resulted in the collapse of the country’s principal political and economic ally: The Soviet Union. It makes the case that the guerrilla code is a recourse the Cuban leadership turns to when trying to steel the population to face a series of unprecedented challenges. It also argues that, to the Cuban people, guerrillerismo was a guide for how to move the Revolution forward; evidence for this is found in this chapter’s examination of the official discourse during the “Battle of Ideas” moment at the turn of the millennium.

Institutionalizing Ideology

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle Pilar Clealand
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Racial Attitudes ◽  
Racial Ideology ◽  
Racial Democracy ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Government ◽  
Latin American Countries ◽  
The Revolution

Chapter 4 demonstrates how the unification of racial democracy and socialism creates a racial ideology in Cuba that is distinct from other Latin American countries. By supporting racial democracy at the start of the revolution and officially declaring the end of racism, the government ensured that the influence of racial democracy in Cuba is particularly strong. The initial advances that the revolution was able to make provided a formidable claim by the government that race was no longer relevant. The economic crisis that followed the fall of the Soviet Union marked the first serious challenge to racial ideology in Cuba. The chapter examines the change in rhetoric among the leadership and how ideological discourse was adjusted during this time, and outlines the various theoretical components of racial ideology. Interviews are included to show how support for the revolution is tied to racial attitudes and belief in Cuban racial democracy.

Vanguard of the Revolution

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. James McAdams
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
North Korea ◽  
Karl Marx ◽  
Modern World ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Revolution

This book is a sweeping history of one of the most significant political institutions of the modern world. The communist party was a revolutionary idea long before its supporters came to power. The book argues that the rise and fall of communism can be understood only by taking into account the origins and evolution of this compelling idea. It shows how the leaders of parties in countries as diverse as the Soviet Union, China, Germany, Yugoslavia, Cuba, and North Korea adapted the original ideas of revolutionaries like Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin to profoundly different social and cultural settings. The book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand world communism and the captivating idea that gave it life.

Ethnicity and Anthropology in the Soviet Union

1977 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernest Gellner
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Social Anthropology ◽  
The West ◽  
Academic World ◽  
Soviet Academy ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Interaction History ◽  
Academy Of Sciences ◽  
The Revolution

InThePastDecade, a minor revolution has taken place within Soviet Anthropology. ‘Ethnography’ is one of the recognised disciplines in the Soviet academic world, and corresponds roughly to what in the West is called social anthropology. This revolution has as yet been barely noticed by outside observers (1). Its leader is Yulian Bromley, a very Russian scholar with a very English surname, Director of the Institute of Ethnography of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. The revolution consists of making ethnography into the studies of ethnos-es, or, in current Western academic jargon, into the study of ethnicity—in other words the study of the phenomena of national feeling, identity, and interaction. History is about chaps, geography is about maps, and ethnography is about ethnoses. What else ? The revolution is supported by arguments weightier than mere verbal suggestiveness; but by way of persuasive consideration, etymology is also invoked.

Soviet Union: Archie Brown and Michael Kaser Eds.: The Soviet Union Since the Fall of Khrushchev, (Second edition), Macmillan, 1978, xiv, 351p., £ 4.95.

1979 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 252-255
Author(s):  
Hiren Mukerjee
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Revolution

SOVIET UNION: TARIQ ALI: Inside the Revolution: 1968 and After, Radha Krishna, 1978, xxxv, 218p., Rs. 35.

How Should One Evaluate the Soviet Revolution?

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vittorio Hösle
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Hannah Arendt ◽  
Philosophy Of History ◽  
Marxist Philosophy ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Social ◽  
Soviet Revolution ◽  
The Revolution

AbstractThe essay begins by discussing different ways of evaluating and making sense of the Soviet Revolution from Crane Brinton to Hannah Arendt. In a second part, it analyses the social, political and intellectual background of tsarist Russia that made the revolution possible. After a survey of the main changes that occurred in the Soviet Union, it appraises its ends, the means used for achieving them, and the unintended side-effects. The Marxist philosophy of history is interpreted as an ideological tool of modernization attractive to societies to which the liberal form of modernization was precluded.

Soviet-American Relations Through the Cold War

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir O. Pechatnov
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Economic Growth ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
The United States ◽  
Protracted Conflict ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Economic Stagnation ◽  
The Cold War

This chapter analyzes the dynamics of the United States–Soviet Union relations during the Cold War. It describes the evolution of the “strategic codes” on both sides, and how they perceived the nature and prospects of the conflict. The chapter suggests that this relationship can be divided into a number of distinct stages. These include the assessment of the nature and possible prospects of the protracted conflict in 1945–1953, the growing competitiveness of the Soviet Union in the mid-1950s to the late 1960s, the slackening of Soviet economic growth in the late 1970s to the early 1980s, and the economic crisis and economic stagnation of the Soviet Union in the mid-1980s to 1991.

scholarly journals Folklore and Politics in the Soviet Union

Slavic Review ◽  
1973 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix J. Oinas
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Central Committee ◽  
Literary Scholarship ◽  
Historical School ◽  
Historical Reality ◽  
Free Competition ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Revolution

The golden era of the study of folklore in the Soviet Union was the first decade after the Revolution, when the party and government, occupied with more urgent tasks, let the literary scholars and folklorists do their work relatively undisturbed. In 1925 the so-called “magna charta libertatis” for Soviet writers was issued by the Central Committee of the party, which permitted “free competition of various groups and currents.” As a result, the 1920s turned out to be rich and fruitful in literary scholarship, including folkloristics. In the study of folklore, different trends could freely coexist and thrive side by side. The most important of them were the historical school, Formalism, and the so-called Finnish school. The historical school continued the traditions of its leader Vsevolod Miller, whose first concern had been to find reflections of concrete historical reality in Russian byliny (epic songs). Thus the tendencies of the historical school are found in the commentaries to some bylina collections in 1918 and 1919, and also appeared strongly in the works of the brothers Boris and Iurii Sokolov, both of them disciples of Miller.

Gender, Work, and Family in Cuba: The Challenges of the Special Period

2002 ◽  
Vol 18 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 32-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maura I. Toro-Morn ◽  
Anne R. Roschelle ◽  
Elisa Facio
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Women Workers ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Gender Equity ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
The United States ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Special Period ◽  
Downward Mobility

It is within the context of the Special Period, the economic crisis that began in the early 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the tightening of the economic blockade by the United States, that we analyze work and family relations in Cuba. Although women made significant gains in the labor market after the Revolution, the Special Period has eroded many of these gains. Using interviews collected in Cuba, we document the struggles that women workers encountered in order to continue to support their families and stay in the labor market. The growth of jobs in the tourist sector has led to worker redistribution and occupational downward mobility, as workers moved from professional to less skilled jobs in the tourism industry with little opportunities for mobility. We also capture how the Special Period has impacted Cuban families. Despite state attempts to legislate gender equity within the family, patriarchy was never fully eradicated in the home. This failure of the revolutionary project has been exacerbated by the country’s current economic crisis. The burden of this crisis has fallen more heavily on women who continue to shoulder the responsibility for household work and childcare.

The Communist Party of the Soviet Union

1929 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 956-971 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel N. Harper
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Salient Feature ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
Bolshevik Revolution ◽  
Political Machine ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Political Center ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Revolution

A salient feature of the Soviet order set up in Russia by the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 is the provision for a single, mobilized political center, striving to organize all social processes to conform with its particular ideology and program. The Communist party is this political center of the Soviet Union, enjoying a monopoly of legality in respect of organization. Only an outline of the methods by which this political machine exercises its leadership is possible within the limits of the present note. The emphasis will be on the structure which the Communists have given to their party, in order more effectively to carry the responsibility of leadership assumed by them. The word “party” is used, but one has here an organization which differs sharply from political parties of parliamentary systems. Also in its relations to the formal governmental bodies the Communist party presents several features which differentiate it from the party systems of other countries.The special methods of organization adopted and the peculiar position enjoyed by the Communist party in the Soviet Union permit of several theoretical interpretations. One of these is that the Revolution contemplated by the Communists has three distinct stages, of which only the second has as yet been reached. There was the successful seizure of power, finally consolidated after some three years of civil war. Then came the present period of transition, the length of which will depend upon the success of the party in the exercise of its leadership. Only the successful achievement of the present party leadership will bring the final triumph of the Revolution as the third and last period.

BEYOND FEAR AND GREED?

2002 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 247-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Shearmur
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Information Transmission ◽  
Individual Motivation ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Social ◽  
Individual Ownership ◽  
Means Of Production ◽  
As If ◽  
The Revolution

Let us assume, for the sake of argument, that socialism is over. (It looks to me as if this is very much open for debate. In some respects, the collapse of the Soviet Union has given Marxist socialism a new lease on life. It is no longer stuck with the heritage of “actually existing socialism,” and can, instead, develop its more plausible, critical side and tell stories of the revolution betrayed.) Be that as it may, it is now widely accepted that socialism, understood as involving the social ownership of the means of production and the abolition of markets, faces real and perhaps insuperable difficulties. For without both markets and individual ownership, it is difficult to see how problems of individual motivation and information transmission are to be tackled—to say nothing of Ludwig von Mises's underlying concern with how to make economic (as opposed to purely technical) decisions about the utilization of resources within an economy.

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