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A History of the People's Democracies: Eastern Europe Since Stalin
Introduction
The Events
Structures & Tendencies
Prospects
Epilogue: After Prague & Postscript on Poland
Notes
Index of Persons
General Index
The Events
Structures & Tendencies
Prospects
Epilogue: After Prague & Postscript on Poland
Notes
Index of Persons
General Index
374 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1969
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 10, 2020
I came to this book book after reading The Tailor of Ulm: A History of Communism, in which the author recommended it as his go-to critical guide to Eastern European socialism.
The book, published in 1971, covers the period from the death of Stalin in 1953 to the beginning of "normalisation" in Czechoslovakia in 1970. As such, it reads more like a study of international relations and a political analysis than a history book. The author's highly proximal position to the issues he is discussing gives the text a strange atmosphere for the modern reader. We posses the knowledge of 'how the story ends', which the author himself does not. The book has nonetheless been a better read than many modern academic works, precisely because it is not burdened with the teleology that has built up around the collapse of European state socialism.
The author himself is an émigré Hungarian intellectual, whose sympathy clearly lies with the reformist ("revisionist") socialism of figures like Imre Nagy and Alexander Dubček. He is someone who saw squandered potential in Khrushevism and nothing but a "raging barbarian bureaucrat" in Brezhnev. Fejtö is not sympathetic to Marxism-Leninism, but he understands it at the very least. Thus, this history stands out from other non-communist histories of Eastern Europe, which seek to denounce rather than explain their subjects.
This book covers the era of reform which swept over Eastern Europe from the late 1950s to the late 1960s. In this, it is useful companion to the modern school of revisionist socialist historians like Kristen Ghodsee, who seek to recover something about what normal social and economic life was like in the Eastern bloc, outside of intensely scrutinised Stalinist catastrophes and liberal revolutions.
Highly recommended for the interested student already familer with the broad outlines of the subject.
The book, published in 1971, covers the period from the death of Stalin in 1953 to the beginning of "normalisation" in Czechoslovakia in 1970. As such, it reads more like a study of international relations and a political analysis than a history book. The author's highly proximal position to the issues he is discussing gives the text a strange atmosphere for the modern reader. We posses the knowledge of 'how the story ends', which the author himself does not. The book has nonetheless been a better read than many modern academic works, precisely because it is not burdened with the teleology that has built up around the collapse of European state socialism.
The author himself is an émigré Hungarian intellectual, whose sympathy clearly lies with the reformist ("revisionist") socialism of figures like Imre Nagy and Alexander Dubček. He is someone who saw squandered potential in Khrushevism and nothing but a "raging barbarian bureaucrat" in Brezhnev. Fejtö is not sympathetic to Marxism-Leninism, but he understands it at the very least. Thus, this history stands out from other non-communist histories of Eastern Europe, which seek to denounce rather than explain their subjects.
This book covers the era of reform which swept over Eastern Europe from the late 1950s to the late 1960s. In this, it is useful companion to the modern school of revisionist socialist historians like Kristen Ghodsee, who seek to recover something about what normal social and economic life was like in the Eastern bloc, outside of intensely scrutinised Stalinist catastrophes and liberal revolutions.
Highly recommended for the interested student already familer with the broad outlines of the subject.
April 1, 2025
très très très intéressant c’est vrmt une période qui fait du bruit sur la forme et grave pas sur le fond
la fin est un peu longues mais autrement foncez c’est très très cool
la fin est un peu longues mais autrement foncez c’est très très cool
November 1, 2014
Un análisis muy certero sobre las Democracias Populares y su relación con la Unión Soviética. Una monografía imprescindible para conocer la relación del Kremlin en la Guerra Fría. Quizá la única pega resida en dejar de lado a la RDA, por lo demás, prácticamente todas las DDPP (Hungría, Checoslovaquia, Albania, etc) reciben un trato decoroso. Señalar los capítulos dedicados a las pugnas de las URSS con Yugoslavia y con la China Popular, que reciben un certero análisis y nos transmiten la tensión palpable entre Jruschov, Tito y Mao.
Una lectura que no es excesivamente científica (aunque cuenta con varios pasajes realmente arduos) y que se disfruta enormemente con algunos capítulos, sobretodo los centrados en las revueltas internas de las DDPP: Hungría del 56, Praga del 68, Polonia del 71, etc.
Una lectura obligada para todo aquel lector e investigador que esté interesado en la kremlinología.
Una lectura que no es excesivamente científica (aunque cuenta con varios pasajes realmente arduos) y que se disfruta enormemente con algunos capítulos, sobretodo los centrados en las revueltas internas de las DDPP: Hungría del 56, Praga del 68, Polonia del 71, etc.
Una lectura obligada para todo aquel lector e investigador que esté interesado en la kremlinología.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews