Totalitarianism and Mass Politics: Comparative Perspectives on Fascism and Communism

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Level: 
Master's
CEU credits: 
4
ECTS credits: 
8
Academic year: 
2009/2010
Academic year: 
2010/2011
Semester: 
Fall
Start and end dates: 
9 Jul 2009
Co-hosting Unit(s) [if applicable]: 
Department of History
Stream/Track/Specialization/Core Area: 
Social and Political History in a Comparative Perspective
CEU Instructor(s): 
Constantin Iordachi
Additional information: 
The course consists of a combination of lectures and seminars, and is structured in introduction, two main parts, and conclusions. The introduction presents the history of the concept of “totalitarianism” and influential academic analyses of totalitarian regimes authored by Hannah Arendt, Carl J. Friedrich and Zbigniew K. Brzezinski; and briefly reviews influential social-psychological theories of collective behavior in early twentieth-century Europe. Part one provides an overview of various attempts at defining “generic” fascism put forward by prominent scholars such as Ernst Nolte, George L. Mosse, Stanley G. Payne, Roger Griffin, and Emilio Gentile. It also explores the history of inter-war fascist movements, parties, and regimes in Central and Eastern Europe. While academic research has almost unilaterally focused on the “paradigmatic” case studies of Italian fascism and German National Socialism, the course pays special attention to what has generally been called “peripheral” or “minor” fascisms in East-Central Europe, in an effort to integrate them within mainstream fascist studies. Part two (classes fifteen to twenty-two) explores the main features of Stalinism and the institutionalization of communist regimes in East-Central Europe. To this end, it delineates stages of development of Leninist regimes; critically assesses typologies of communist leadership based on various strategies of legitimization, such as charisma, control and coercion; and compare “palingenetic” political communities built on the mythical core of communist ideology. On this basis, the conclusions pursue an in-depth and informed comparison of fascist and communist regimes. The purpose of this wider comparison is to integrate the study of fascism and communism within the larger framework of mass politics in inter-war and post-1945 Europe, approached from novel theoretical and methodological perspectives.
Learning Outcomes: 
The course investigates various primary and secondary sources related to fascism and communism, mainly films, art-works, political and academic works written or made during inter-war or post-war years. It makes ample use of visual media, especially of photography, political posters and films, in an attempt to encourage students to development their interpretive skills in employing visual images in their historical research. We will watch short extracts from: Italian Il Luce newsreel-documentaries filmed between 1920 and 1940, such as La Roma di Mussolini; Romanian news documentaries from 1940-1941; extracts from representative propaganda documentaries or movies of the 1920s and 1930s, such as: Sergei Eisenstein, The Battleship Potemkin (1925); Camicia Nera (The Black Shirt) (1933) the Italian Fascism propaganda film directed by Giovacchino Forzano; Three Songs of Lenin (1934), made in commemoration of the tenth anniversary of Lenin's death, directed by Dziga Vertov; Triumph des Willens (The Triumph of the Will), the propaganda film documenting the 1934 Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg, directed by Leni Reifenstahl (1935); and from historical documentaries: Patrizia Veroli, D’Annunzio: Soggetto e Testi (2003); Harmut Kaminski, Stalin: From Revolution to Superpower (1993); and Florin Iepan, Children of the Decree (2005). In doing so, the course underscores the shifting place of images in society and politics and the increasing role played by photography, advertisement boards, posters and cinema in political propaganda. In addition, students will be given the opportunity to attend a guided tour of the “Terror House Museum” in Budapest, documenting the fascism and communist terror in Hungary. The course is mainly opened to students in history, political science and nationalism studies.
Assessment : 
Students are expected to attend all lectures and seminars, read the assigned readings and prepare to actively participate in class discussions. The requirements and grading breakdown of the seminar are as follows: - Seminar participation (25 percent), based on both the quantity and quality of the students’ contributions and involvement during discussions of readings and visual materials; - Seminar presentation (25 percent); - Final essay (50 percent): A final essay of circa 4,000 words will be due at the end of the course.
Full description: 

COURSE SCHEDULE AND READINGS

I. Introduction

 

1. “Models” of Totalitarianism: Academic Debates

2. Politics and the “Masses:” Intellectual Perspectives and Political Antecedents

 

II. Fascism

3. The Ideology of Fascism. Fascism as Totalitarianism

4. Italian Fascism

5. German National Socialism

6. Fascism in East-Central Europe (I)

7. Fascism in East-Central Europe (II)

8. “Aborted Fascism,” Military Dictatorships and Authoritarian Regimes

II.1 Major Themes in Fascist Studies:

9. The Social Basis of Fascism

10. Fascism and Political Legitimization: The Leader Cult

11. Fascism, Aesthetics and Propaganda

12. Women and Family Policy under Fascism

13. Racism, Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust

14. The Holocaust in East-Central Europe: Poland, Hungary, Romania

 

III. Communism

15. The Ideology of Communism. Communism as Totalitarianism

16. Stalinism in the Soviet Union

17. Terror as Social History: The Gulag

18. Communism and Political Legitimization: The Leader Cult

19. Stalinism in East-Central Europe, 1944-1953

20. Land Collectivization and the Institutionalization of Communist Regimes

21. “The Ethnography of the State:” Resistance and Collaboration under Communist Rule 

 

                                                IV. Conclusions

22. Comparing Fascism and Communism: Similarities and Differences

23. Fascism and Communism as Political Religions

24. Studying Comparative Political Regimes: New Social and Cultural Approaches

Readings

I. Introduction

1. The Concept of Totalitarianism: Theoretical Debates:
Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism (San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1973), pp. 389-459. [ pdf]


2. Politics and the “Masses:” Intellectual Perspectives and Political Antecedents
Simonetta Falasca-Zamponi, “Mussolini’s Aesthetic Politics,” Fascist Spectacle: The Aesthetics of Power in Mussolini's Italy (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000), pp. 15-41. [ pdf]
We will watch: Sergei Eisenstein, “The Massacre of the Odessa Steps,” The Battleship Potemkin (1925).

II. Fascism
3. The Ideology of Fascism. Fascism as Totalitarianism:
Bernt Hagtvet and Stain Larsen, “Contemporary Approaches to Fascism: A Survey of Paradigms,” Stein Ugelvik Larson, Bernt Hagtvet, and Jan Petter Myklebust, (eds.), Who were the Fascists. Social Roots of European Fascists (Bergen, Oslo and Tromso: Universitetsforlaget, 1980), pp. 26-51. [ pdf]

4. Fascism in Italy:
“Fascism in Italy,” in Roger Griffin, ed., Fascism, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), pp. 15-89. [ pdf]

5. National Socialism in Germany:
“The National Socialist Regime,” Neil Gregor, ed., Nazism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), pp. 125-182. [ pdf]

6. Fascism in East-Central Europe (I):
Roger Griffin, “Romania” and “Hungary” in Fascism, pp. 169-170, 219-226. [ pdf]
Constantin Iordachi, “Charisma, Religion, Ideology: Romania’s Interwar Legion of the Archangel Michael”, in John R. Lampe and Mark Mazower (eds.), Ideologies and National Identities: The Case of Twentieth-Century Southeastern Europe (Budapest, New York: CEU Press, 2004), p. 19-53. [ pdf]
Michael Mann, “The Hungarian Family of Authoritarians,” in Fascists (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), pp. 237-259. [ pdf]
We will watch short Romanian news-reels from 1940-1941.

7. Fascism in East-Central Europe (II):
Jelinek Zeshazahu, “Clergy and Fascism: The Hlinka Party in Slovakia and the Croatian Ustasha Movement,” in B. Hagvet and J. P. y Mzklebust, (eds.), Who were the Fascists. Social Roots of European Fascists (Bergen, Oslo and Tromso: Universitetsforlaget, 1980), pp. 367-378. [ pdf]
Sandra Prlenda, “Young, Religious and Radical: The Croat Catholic Youth Organizations, 1922-1945,” in Lampe, Mazower (eds.), Ideologies and National Identities, pp. 82-109. [ pdf]

8. “Aborted Fascisms,” Military Dictatorships and Authoritarian Regimes in inter-war Europe
Griffin, Roger. “The Palingenetic Political Community: Rethinking the Legitimization of Totalitarian Regimes in Inter-War Europe,” Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions 3 (Winter 2002) 3, p. 24-43. [ pdf]
Roger Griffin, “The Abortive Fascist Movements in Inter-war Europe,” in The Nature of Fascism (London: Pinter Publishers, 1991), pp. 116-145. [ pdf]

9. The Social Basis of Fascism:
Thomas Childers, “The Social Bases of the National Socialist Vote,” in George L. Mosse, ed., International Fascism. New Thoughts and New Approaches (London and Beverly Hills: Sage, 1979), pp. 161-188.

Friedrich Zipfel, “Gestapo and the SD: A Sociographic Profile of the Organizers of Terror” in Larson, Hagtvet, and Myklebust, eds., Who Were the Fascists, pp. 301-311. [ pdf]
De Felice, Renzo. “Italian Fascism and the Middle Classes,” in Larson, Hagtvet, and Myklebust, eds., Who Were the Fascists, pp. 312-317.[ pdf]
Passchier, 283-299. [ pdf]
Roberts, 337-347. [ pdf]


10. Fascism and Political Legitimization: The Leader Cult
Piero Melograni, “The Cult of the Duce in Mussolini’s Italy,” Journal of Contemporary History, 11 (October 1976) 4, p. 221-237. [ pdf]
Arthur Schweitzer, “Hitler’s Dictatorial Charisma,” in Swatos, Glassman, eds., Charisma, History and Social Structure, p. 147-162. [ pdf]
We will watch extracts from Camicia Nera (The Black Shirt) (1933), and Leni Reifenstahl, The Triumph of the Will (1935).

11. Fascism, Aesthetics, and Propaganda:
Joshua Hagen, and Robert Ostergren, “Spectacle, architecture and place at the Nuremberg Party Rallies: projecting a Nazi vision of past, present and future,” Cultural Geographies, 13 (Apr. 2006) 2, p. 157-181. [ pdf]
Simonetta Falasca-Zamponi, “The Politics of Symbols. From Content to Form,” in Fascist Spectacle, pp. 89-118. [ pdf]
We will watch short extracts from Il Luce documentary, La Roma di Mussolini.

12. Gender, Women and Family Policy under Fascism:
Gisela Bock, “Antinatalism, Maternity and Paternity in National Socialist Germany,” in: Gisela Bock and Pat Thane, eds., Maternity and Gender Policies. Women and the Rise of the European Welfare States, 1880s-1950s (London: Routledge, 1991), pp. 233-255. [ pdf]
Victoria de Grazia, “The Family versus the State” in How Fascism Ruled Women: Italy, 1922-1945 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), pp. 77-115. [ pdf]

13. Racism Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust:
“The Impact of National Socialism,” in Neil Gregor, ed., Nazism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), pp. 279-333. [ pdf]

14. Holocaust in East-Central Europe: Poland, Romania, Hungary:
Randolph L. Braham, “The Uniqueness of the Holocaust in Hungary” in Randolph L.Braham and Béla Vago, eds.. The Holocaust in Hungary. Forty Years Later. New York: Distributed by Columbia University Press, 1985, pp. 177-190. [ pdf]
Deletant, Dennis, “The Holocaust in Transnistria: An Overview in the Light of Recent Research”, in Rebecca Haynes, ed., Moldova Bessarabia, Transnistria,. Occasional Papers in Romanian Studies, Nr. 3, School of Slavonic and East European Studies. London: University College London, 2003, pp. 143–161. [ pdf]

III. Communism

15. The Ideology of Communism. Communism as Totalitarianism
Joseph V. Femia, “Marxism and Communism,” in Roger Eatwell and Anthony Wright, eds. Contemporary Political Ideologies (London, New York: Continuum, 1999), p. 104-130. [ pdf]
Felix Patrikeeff, “Stalinism, Totalitarian Society and the Politics of ‘Perfect Control’” Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions, Vol.4, No.1 (Summer 2003), pp. 4-31. [ pdf]

16. Stalinism in the Soviet Union
Sheila Fitzpatrick, “The Bolheviks’ Dilemma: The Class Issue in Party Politics and Culture” and “Stalin and the Making of the New Elite” in The Cultural Front: Power and Culture in Revolutionary Russia (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1992), 264 p., pp. 16-36, 149-183. [ pdf]
Sheila Fitzpatrick, “Introduction,” “Introduction to part I” and “Ascribing Class: The Construction of Social Identity in Soviet Russia” in Sheila Fitzpatrick, ed., Stalinism: New Directions (London: Routledge, 1999), pp. 1-14, 15-19, 20-46. [ pdf]
We will watch extracts from Harmut Kaminski, Stalin: From Revolution to Superpower (1993).

17. Terror as Social History: The Gulag
Lynne Viola, “The Campaign to Eliminate the Kulak as a Class, Winter 1929-1930: A Reevaluation of the Legislation,” Slavic Review, Vol. 45, No. 3. (Autumn, 1986), pp. 503-524. [ pdf]
 John L., Scherer, Michael Jakobson, “The Collectivization of Agriculture and the Soviet Prison Camp System,” Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 45, Issue 3
(1993), pp. 533-546. [ pdf]

18. Communism and Political Legitimization: The Leader Cult
Robert Tucker, “Stalin and the Lenin Cult,” and “The New Hero,” in Stalin as Revolutionary, 1879-1929. A Study in History and Personality (New York, London: W. W. Norton & Company, 1973), pp. 279-288, 462-487. [ pdf]
Benno Ennker, “The Stalin Cult, Bolshevik Rule and Kremlin Interaction in the 1930s,” in Apor, Behrends, Jones and Rees, eds., The Leader Cult in Communist Dictatorships, pp. 83-101. [ pdf]
Stanislav Stretenovic and Artan Puto, “Leader Cults in the Western Balkans (1945-1990): Josip Broz Tito and Enver Hoxha,” in Balazs Apor, Jan C. Behrends, Polly Jones and E. Arfon Rees, eds., The Leader Cult in Communist Dictatorships: Stalin and the Eastern Bloc, (Palgrave: Macmillan, 2004), pp. 208-226. [ pdf]
We will watch extracts from Dziga Vertov, Three Songs of Lenin (1934).

19. Stalinism in Eastern Europe, 1944-1953
Jan Gross, “The Social Consequences of War: Preliminaries for the Study of the Imposition of Communist Regimes in East Central Europe,” East European Politics and Societies 3 (1989), pp.  198-214. [ pdf]
R. J. Crampton, “East European Stalinism, 1948-1953,” and “The Retreat from Stalinism, 1953-1956,” in Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century, pp. 255-274. [ pdf]

20. Land Collectivization and the Institutionalization of Communist Regimes
Kestutis K. Girnius, “The Collectivisation of Lithuanian Agriculture, 1944-1950,” Soviet Studies, Vol. 40, No. 3. (1988), pp. 460-478. Rein Taagepera, "Soviet Collectivization of Estonian Agriculture: The Deportation Phase" Soviet Studies, Vol. 37, No. 3. (1980), pp. 379-397 [ pdf]
Bianca L. Adair, “The Agrarian Theses and Rapid Collectivisation: Accommodation in Hungarian Agriculture, 1956-60” Journal of Communist Studies & Transition Politics, Vol. 17, No. 2, (2001), pp. 131-148. [ pdf]
We will watch extracts from Harmut Kaminski, Stalin: From Revolution to Superpower (1993).

21. “The Ethnography of the State:” Dissent Resistance and Collaboration under the Communist Rule
Gail Kligman, The Politics of Duplicity: Controlling Reproduction in Ceausescu’s Romania (Berkeley: University of California Press 1998), pp. 1-41. [ pdf]
We will watch extracts from Florin Iepan, Children of the Decree (2005).

IV. Conclusions
22. Comparing Fascism and Communism: Similarities and Differences
Ian Kershaw, Moshe Lewin, “Introduction: The Regimes and their Dictators: Perspectives of Comparison” in Ian Kershaw, Moshe Lewin, eds. Nazism and Stalinism. Dictatorships in Comparison (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), pp. 1-25. [ pdf]
Ian Kershaw, “‘Working Towards the Führer’: Reflections on the Nature of the Hitler Dictatorship,” in Kershaw, Lewin, eds. Nazism and Stalinism, p. 88-106. [ pdf]

23. Fascism and Communism as Political Religions

Griffin, Roger, “Introduction: God's counterfeiters?  Investigating the Triad of Fascism, Totalitarianism and (political) Religion,” Totalitarian Movements & Political Religions, Vol. 5 Issue 3, (Dec. 2004), Vol. 5 Issue 3, pp. 291-326. [ pdf]
Richard Shorten, “The Enlightenment, Communism and Political Religion: Reflections on a Misleading Trajectory,” Journal of Political Ideologies, Vol. 8 Issue 1 (Feb. 2003), pp. 13-38.[ pdf]

24. Studying Political Regimes: New Social and Cultural Approaches

Griffin, Roger. “The Primacy of Culture: The Current Growth (or Manufacture) of Consensus within Fascist Studies,” The Journal of Contemporary History 37 (2002) 1, p. 21-43. [ pdf]
Viktor Zaslavsky, “The Post-Soviet Stage in the Study of Totalitarianism. New Trends and Methodological Tendencies,” Russian Social Science Review, Vol. 44, No. 5 (September-October 2003), pp. 4-31.[ pdf]