Description
Book SynopsisThis book is a tribute to the memory of Victor Zaslavsky (1937-2009), sociologist, emigre from the Soviet Union, Canadian citizen, public intellectual, and keen observer of Eastern Europe. In seventeen essays leading European, American and Russian scholars discuss the theory and the history of totalitarian society with a comparative approach. They revisit and reassess what Zaslavsky considered the most important project in the latter part of his life: the analysis of Eastern European - especially Soviet societies and their difficult "transition" after the fall of communism in 1989-91. The variety of the contributions reflects the diversity of specialists in the volume, but also reveals Zaslavsky's gift: he surrounded himself with talented people from many different fields and disciplines. In line with Zaslavsky's work and scholarly method, the book promotes new theoretical and methodological approaches to the concept of totalitarianism for understanding Soviet and East European societies, and the study of fascist and communist regimes in general.
Table of Contents1. T. Piffer and V. Zubok, Introduction Part I: Theory and Debate 2. Peter Baehr, Movement, Formation, and Maintenance in the Soviet Union: Victor Zaslavsky’s Challenge to the Arendtian Theory of Totalitarianism 3. Giovanni Orsina, European Liberalism in the Age of Totalitarianism 4. Vittorio Strada, Totalitarismum ante litteram 5. Vladimir Tismaneanu, Totalitarian Dictators and Ideological Hubris 6. Emilio Gentile, From Facts to Words: From the Party Militia to Fascist Totalitarianism Part II: History and Society 7. Vladimir Pechatnov, Stalin as a Statesman 8. Oleg Khlevniuk, Stalin’s Dictatorship: Priorities, Policies, and Results 9. Andrea Graziosi, The “National Question” in the Soviet Union 10. Inessa Yazhborovskaia, The Katyn Affair 11. David Holloway, Totalitarianism and Science: The Nazi and the Soviet Experience 12. Maria Teresa Giusti, From Fascism to Communism: The Conversion to Communism of a Prisoner of War in the USSR Part III: Beyond Totalitarianism 13. Veljco Vujacic, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Vasily Grossman: Slavophile and Westernizer Against the Totalitarian Soviet State 14. Antonella d’Amelia, “Without a free word, there are no free men”: Lydia Chukovskaya’s Writings on Terror and Censorship 15. Lev Gudkov, The Transition from Totalitarianism to Authoritarianism in Russia 16. Gail Lapidus, Totalitarianism, Nationalism, and Challenges for Democratic Transition 17. Mark Kramer, Public Memory and the Difficulty of Overcoming the Communist Legacy : Russia and Poland in Comparative Perspective
