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Copyright of Ethnologie Française is the property of Presses Universitaires de France and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Since the municipal elections of 1946 (and before in the period 1935-1939), the Communist party had held an absolute majority of seats in the city council of Finsterwolde, a small municipality in the north of the Netherlands. In 1951, the Dutch parliament adopted a custom bill to dismiss this "Little Moscow". This article reconstructs the decision-making process that preceded the bill in order to analyze the way the communist threat was framed and securitized. For the administration, legitimizing this rather unique move in Dutch history was essential in order to uphold their democratic standards. The focus of this article is therefore twofold. Both the methods the administration used to invest the communists in Finsterwolde with an aura of imminent threat and the communist reactions to these allegations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For more than eighty years, Dutch security services perceived communism as the ultimate threat to national security. From its inception, the anticommunist threat perceptions contained references to foreign, possible, potential, and ideological elements of the communist threat. This put the activities of Dutch communists in a different light. Although for a long time there were well-grounded reasons to do so, we find that there were periods when the actual threatening character of Dutch communism decreased. However, the security services did not decrease their surveillance activities vis-à-vis this 'red menace'. To account for this discrepancy, we use insights from securitization theory, organizational studies, and intelligence studies to deconstruct threat perceptions. We find that whenever actually threatening events, such as the revolutionary threat of 1918 or the World Wars, became part of a distant past, the security services emphasized the symbolic and potential nature of the communist threat. The symbolic character of the threat, institutionalized and continually reinforced by processes of cognitive bias, thus accounted for its unchanging threatening character. Only through external intervention have these perceptions changed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revue Française de Sociologie is the property of Presses de Sciences Po and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper focuses on Albanian agricultural policies during the period after the Second World War. A communist type of agrarian reform was carried out in 1945/6, based on the principle 'land belongs to those who till it.' This reform was soon followed by a collectivization process, resulting in the creation of agricultural co-operatives, the process being finished in 1960. This paper describes how the peasants gradually lost practically all rights to farm private plots. It also gives the background to the general economic and social crisis at the end of the 1980s, which resulted in the collapse of the socialist economy. Co-operatives and state farms were divided and the land distributed to the peasantry. This process of privatization is being carried out under difficult circumstances. Although the government has issued special laws, their implementation at the local level is inefficient due to a lack of co-ordination. The new class of private farmers is faced with great problems. Food production is mainly at a subsistence level, and the opportunities to improve agricultural conditions are limited by a lack of capital, the fragmentation of land and poor infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following paper looks into a heavily disputed concept within the social sciences, that of identity. The goal of the paper is to identify a morphology of identity, as a social phenomenon, by employing an analysis based on a fluid and historicist understanding of identity. The relationship and cohabitation of the ethnic groups in Romania, especially during the communist regime, serves both as example and study object of the analysis.

Copyright of Comparativ: Leipziger Beiträge zur Universalgeschichte und Vergleichenden Gesellschaftsforschung is the property of Leipziger Universitaetsverlag GmbH and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Die politische Schulung der kommunistischen Parteieliten und der Parteibürokraten durch Kaderschulen ist ein Forschungsthema, das unser Verständnis der Funktionsweise des Ostblockkommunismus und der dortigen dynamischen Beziehung zwischen Staat und Gesellschaft vertiefen kann. Ein derartiger Zugang erlaubt es Forscherinnen und Forschern, das Universum des Parteiapparats zu verstehen, ein komplexeres Profil dieser Welt zu zeichnen und die internen Mechanismen der Einparteienherrschaft zu verstehen. Aus diesen Gründen ist die Erforschung der politischen und ideologischen Ausbildung ein notwendiger Schritt hin zu einer detaillierten Geschichte des osteuropäischen Kommunismus. Die vorliegende Studie konzentriert sich auf eine Untersuchung der regionalen Parteischule von Timișoara in den Jahren von 1948 bis 1973, die Parteiaktivisten „aus der zweiten Reihe" der Partei- und Verwaltungsbürokratie politisch und ideologisch schulte. The political training of the elites of communist parties, of the party bureaucrats, through schools of cadres is a topic which may enhance our knowledge of the way in which communism worked in the Eastern Block and of the dynamic relationship between state and society. Such an approach allows the researcher to understand the universe of the party apparatus and affords the possibility to generate a more complex profile of this world and, last but not least, to comprehend the internal mechanisms of the ruling party. This is why researching the political and ideological education represents a necessary step for a detailed history of the East-European communism. The article focuses on a partial investigation of the regional Party school of Timișoara in the years 1948–1973, which trained the Party activists and administrative officers – "second-class elites" – politically and ideologically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Internal Security is the property of Police Academy in Szczytno and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This is an attempt to locate the idea of socialism and the socialist and working-class movements in history. This will here be done by relating the trajectory of socialism to capitalism, as a rival, and by highlighting the main social forces carrying the idea of socialism in the 20th century. These forces were two grand social dialectics, that of industrial capitalism and its generating working-class growth and strength; and, little studied, the dialectic of capitalist colonialism which needed and created a subordinated colonial intelligentsia, which came to organize and lead anti-colonial movements to independence, very often under a banner of socialism. Both dialectics have now largely expired. The victories of socialism were nowhere constructions of fully postcapitalist societies but vehicles of precapitalist development. Here achivements were considerable, as were socialist reforms within capitalist societies. However, catching up with its older and richer brother caitalism turned out an ever elusive goal of socialism, and the socialist horizon faded. A new postcapitalist vision is emerging with the climate crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From a Western, democratic perspective, the state socialism that existed until 1989 was criticised, not without justification, as an "evil empire" (Reagan). The Gulag, Pol Pot's mass murders or Ceaușescu's dictatorship show evident elements of evil in socialism. However, a different perspective is taken in the essay. From an internal hermeneutic perspective, it asks what forms of evil emerged within socialist thought. From a cultural-theoretical point of view, socialism is seen as a belief system and moral framework. Evil appears in this framework as (1) abstract evil, as (2) evil in others, and as (3) evil in oneself. These three figurations will be illuminated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of European Journal of Sociology is the property of Cambridge University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article covers the history of psychotherapy in the present-day Czech Republic, focusing mainly on the era of the Communist dictatorship which lasted from 1948 to 1989. However, we also investigate how psychotherapy developed before Communism and how the period of totalitarianism is reflected in the present state of psychotherapy in the Czech Republic. Apart from psychotherapy in the narrow sense, we will mention related fields such as psychohygiene, philosophy, religion, development of psychology as a scientific discipline, mental health care, consultancy, etc. In the first part, we describe the history of psychotherapy in Czechoslovakia, which we will divide into five periods: 1. before the Communist putsch in 1948; 2. from the Communist putsch to the late 1950s (severe dictatorship); 3. the 1960s (liberalisation of the regime and a development of civic society); 4. from 1968 to 1989 (a period of the so-called normalisation when the regime strengthens again in the 1970s and weakens in the 1980s); 5. the period after the so-called Velvet Revolution (1989). In the second part, we will briefly address two specifically Czech therapeutic approaches (Mr. and Mrs. Knobloch's integrated psychotherapy and the SUR training program). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung is the property of Herder Institut e.V. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Situated within the discourse of Romanian post‐Communist mentalities, this article aims to analyse Herta Müller's prose from a narratological and geocritical point of view. The works of this German‐language author are often interpreted as dissident literature and explored through the lens of narrative theory, autofiction, and her highly poetic language. Numerous Romanian authors have depicted the Communist 'still life' in their books, but Müller uses Communism as a framework and tool for metaphorising liminal and traumatic experiences. Focusing on Herta Müller's prose, this article explores three constituent layers: her poetics of fiction, the representation of imaginary spaces, and how her works are perceived in post‐Communist Romania. Müller's fictional worlds are fragmented and decentred, with a fractal configuration, as they are created by a network of transfer‐images that function in a rhizomatic manner. Communist Romania is turned into a mental space and becomes the frame for expressing different configurations of anguish. Comparing the Communist space found in Müller's writings to the actual Communist space of Romania reveals the way in which her works do not merely reflect a damaging socio‐political context, but actually expose the universal dystopia that is the consequence of any extremist ideology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Romanian Journal of Journalism & Communication / Revista Română de Jurnalism şi Comunicare- RRJC is the property of Romanian Journal of Journalism & Communication and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

‘Ein Gespenst geht um in Europa, das Gespenst des Kommunismus’ (‘A spectre is haunting Europe, the spectre of communism’): thus Marx and Engels captured the zeitgeist at the turn of the 20th century, beckoning in the process revolutionary changes and brighter tomorrows for Europe's working class. Today, it is as if those very words were being revived—adapted by numerous observers to fit the current socio-political processes in the Arab world. This time around, it's the Arab elite being haunted and the spectre is that of democracy. However, is such a depiction remotely accurate? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Modern Italy is the property of Cambridge University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the early 1970s, East Germany opened its borders to visitors from West Germany and West Berlin. Soon after, East German authorities recorded several million entries from non-socialist countries each year. This article examines the intentions and obstacles to establishing a successful tourism business across the inner-German border. The author shows that the regime's attempts to develop the GDR into an attractive travel destination were shaped by (I) poor starting conditions, which could not be overcome for financial reasons; (II) bureaucratic hurdles resulting from a mistrust of its own people as well as of West Germans; (III) inefficient structures, which could not be corrected for political reasons; (IV) the constant desire to impress West Germany; and (V) the need for foreign currency. However, while other socialist states gave priority to economic considerations, in the GDR political hopes, aspirations or concerns were uppermost in the mind of policymakers when it came to tourism from the Federal Republic. The article therefore argues that travelling from West to East Germany must be understood as 'Cold War tourism,' as the conflict greatly informed the conditions and experience of travel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Authors present the history of psychotherapy in Slovakia. The first section refers to the social requirements for psychology and psychotherapy development. The history of psychotherapy alone is analysed in three stages of development. The first stage includes the years 1918-1945, where, related to the activities of the Clinic of Psychiatry and Neurology of the Faculty of Medicine of Comenius University in Bratislava, we come across the first attempts at applying psychotherapeutic approaches in medical practice and in the training of physicians. The second developmental stage (1945-1989) introduces individuals that significantly influenced the development of psychotherapeutic theories and their application in individual fields of clinical practice. They simultaneously show the contribution of the training school SUR to the development of psychotherapy in Slovakia. The most significant changes in the aspect of domestication and development of psychotherapy in Slovakia happened in the last characterised stage, in the period following the Velvet Revolution in 1989. The previously almost unavailable psychotherapeutic literature became available and psychotherapy was gradually introduced into the undergraduate and postgraduate education of physicians and other professionals. The first Slovak Society of Psychotherapy was founded and became a common ground for professionals in this field. In the final section of this paper, the authors present current questions and problems of the development, research and application of psychotherapy in Slovakia and briefly characterise the influence of legislation changes and reforms in healthcare on the position of psychotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the usage of the German term Handelsvolk (trading-people) by Karl Marx and other Marxists in relation to Jewish history. The question is: what can we learn from the different interpretations of this term on the evolution of the relationship between Marxism and the so-called Jewish question? This exploration sheds new light on shifts in the definition of the Jews, both by Marx in the mid-19th century and by Jewish Marxists of various political parties in the mid-20th century. These shifts reflect changing social and political circumstances. In Marx's case, it was mainly his own migration that exposed him to different social environments and thus influenced his theoretical understanding. In the case of the Jewish Marxists, active during the period of the Third Reich, the term served as a means to qualify Jewish nationalism vis-à-vis the persecution and destruction of European Jewry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the religious conditions in Post-Stalinist Czechoslovakia on the example of the Pentecostal movement. It enlarges the classical research scope done on a church-state axis by focusing on a minority religious group, which is not only oppressed by the system driven by atheistic imperatives but also must compete with the rival religious organization. By using the concept of the religious field, the study argues that the state socialist system was caught between two different roles. The state tried to diminish the belief in God, but also it was supposed to operate as a guarantor of religious life. The state division of roles enabled believers to take an active part in negotiating their religious independence and even when they failed, it shows that they were not passive objects controlled by the state, but active actors with an agency of their own. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary & Nonprofit Organizations is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the mid-1990s, Klaus-Michael Mallmann published his study on 'Communists in the Weimar Republic'. His newly established social-historical approach on the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) has since been taken up by other historians. One of them is Christian Gotthardt, who recently published a book with the promising title 'The Radical Left as a Mass Movement'. Here he focuses on the regional history of the KPD in the city of Harburg-Wilhelmsburg. The great strength of his book is the detailed description of the local Communists' day-to-day work. However, when turning his attention to the turning points of KPD history, the problems associated with adopting Mallman's social-historical approach become obvious. For example this leads them both to reject the theory of 'Stalinisation'. The article shows that Gotthardt, as well as Mallmann, had come to questionable conclusions on the development of the KPD of the Weimar Republic by focusing on events outside of their context in time and space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article surveys the way in which evangelicals, through bodies such as the Evangelical Alliance, engaged in pan-European co-operation in the nineteenth century. It explores the tensions that arose in the first half of the twentieth century, but shows that since the end of the Second World War important initiatives have been taken to link evangelicals across Europe. The new situation that has been faced by evangelicals as a result of the end of communism and the enlargement of the EU is analysed. The article argues in favour of an important role for evangelicals in the new Europe since they are well equipped by virtue of their sense of common identity to reach out across traditional divides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What does 'communism' mean in Walter Benjamin's writing? It has been used in some quarters to claim that Benjamin has a quasi-Marxist theory of communist society. This paper will argue instead that Benjamin's communism is framed by his distinctive conception of experience and that it is understandable only through that conception. Benjamin's image of 'communist society' refers to a specific type of experience ('collective experience') rather than a type of social organization. The paper discusses the conceptual background of that image and also points out a number of the difficulties that Benjamin's conception of collective experience faces given its genesis in a model of individual experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beginning with an encounter between Erich Honecker and the Jewish communist Leo Zuckermann that took place in Mexico City in September 1981, this article investigates the relationship of the communist movement in the German-speaking world to the 'Jewish question' and the Holocaust. At a reception of the GDR embassy on the occasion of Honecker's state visit, the Chairman of the State Council shook hands with Zuckermann, a formerly high-ranking Socialist Unity Party of Germany functionary who had fled the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1952, and assured him that he was happy to see him again. This gesture by Honecker rehabilitated a man over whom a blanket of silence had been spread in the GDR decades earlier: during his first exile in Mexico, Zuckermann had developed positions that granted the Jewish people in light of the crimes of National Socialism the right both to restitution and to an independent state. This article offers new insights into the genesis of Zuckermann's thinking and illuminates the reactions of the party leadership, which was surprisingly not opposed to such partisanship on behalf of the Jewish collective during a short 'interim period' from 1943/4 to 1948/9. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]