marx200, revolution100

Communists and communist parties: policies, actions and debates

The conference will occur on different anniversaries that open up the opportunity for academic discussions about the notion, project and practices of communism. It is well known that anticommunism, both as discourse and as politics, presents itself as a strong hegemonic force from the very beginning of the very idea of communism.

In the last decades, after the collapse of »real socialism«, hegemonic discourses and politics almost unanimously agreed about the condemnation of communism. Anti-communist or revisionist hegemony, after two decades of communism’s absence, and after the rise of new social issues, such as social inequality or the notion of public or common good, needs to be addressed in an open academic field. Thus, even the title of the conference, Communists and Communist Parties: Policies, Actions and Debates, invites for a thorough and broad research on different aspects of the topic.

The previously mentioned anti-communist or revisionist hegemony on the concept of communism (lesser as the idea, more as the politics and practices) coexisted with the historical events of the late eighties and with the economic paradigm shift towards neo-liberalism in the late seventies. The neoliberal paradigm, in terms of politics, economic policies and theory, frames the "monolithic" relation towards communism, often seeing it as the "totalitarian evil" that caused millions of deaths in the twentieth century. This discourse is also accepted and strongly used by the nationalistic discourse, practices and politics that frame Central and Eastern European societies in the late 20th century.

It is time for an academic debate to address the causes of such shifts, from multidisciplinary and complex perspectives; the historical, political and economic causes that led to the marginalisation of communism are another, implicit topic of the conference. In this context Prof. Yurchak will have a lecture on the context of the Russian Revolution and its interpretation and historical contextualization.

Konferenz

28. September 2017
30. September 2017, Ganztägig
Juraj Dobrila University of Pula
Ivana Matetića Ronjgova 1, Pula, Kroatien
Veranstalter: 
Center for Cultural and Historical Research of Socialism, Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Belgrade Office

Registration required, entrance free
Conference will be held in English and Serbo-Croatian

Eine Veranstaltung der Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung