The Oxford Handbook of the History of Communism

Edited by S. A. Smith

Oxford Handbooks

Provides global coverage of the subject from a team of international scholars
Explores similarities and differences between communist states, and relates these to differences in national and historical context
Pays particular attention to the social and cultural history of Communist societies and to daily life
Draws upon sources that have only become available since the 1990s
Examines how the fortunes of international communism were shaped by the wider economic, political, and cultural forces of the capitalist world

The Oxford Handbook of the History of Communism

Edited by S. A. Smith

Description

The impact of Communism on the twentieth century was massive, equal to that of the two world wars. Until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, historians knew relatively little about the secretive world of communist states and parties. Since then, the opening of state, party, and diplomatic archives of the former Eastern Bloc has released a flood of new documentation. The thirty-five essays in this Handbook, written by an international team of scholars, draw on this new material to offer a global history of communism in the twentieth century.

In contrast to many histories that concentrate on the Soviet Union, The Oxford Handbook of the History of Communism is genuinely global in its coverage, paying particular attention to the Chinese Revolution. It is 'global', too, in the sense that the essays seek to integrate history 'from above' and 'from below', to trace the complex mediations between state and society, and to explore the social and cultural as well as the political and economic realities that shaped the lives of citizens fated to live under communist rule. The essays reflect on the similarities and differences between communist states in order to situate them in their socio-political and cultural contexts and to capture their changing nature over time. Where appropriate, they also reflect on how the fortunes of international communism were shaped by the wider economic, political, and cultural forces of the capitalist world. The Handbook provides an informative introduction for those new to the field and a comprehensive overview of the current state of scholarship for those seeking to deepen their understanding.

The Oxford Handbook of the History of Communism

Edited by S. A. Smith

Oxford Handbooks

Towards a Global History of Communism, S. A. Smith
PART I: IDEOLOGY
1. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels on Communism, Paresh Chattopadhyay
2. Lenin and Bolshevism, Lars T. Lih
3. Stalin and Stalinism, Kevin McDermott
4. Mao and Maoism, Timothy Cheek
PART 2: GLOBAL MOMENTS
5. 1919, Jean-Francois Fayet
6. 1936, Tim Rees
7. 1956, Sergei Radchenko
8. 1968, Maud Anne Bracke
9. 1989, Matthias Middell
PART 3: GLOBAL COMMUNISM
10. The Comintern, Alexander Vatlin and S. A. Smith
11. Communism in Eastern, Central, and South-Eastern Europe, Pavel Kolar
12. Communism in China, Yang Kuisong and S. A. Smith
13. Communism in Southeast Asia, Anna Belogurova
14. Communism in Latin America, Mike Gonzalez
15. Communism in the Islamic World, Anne Alexander
16. Communism in Africa, Allison Drew
PART 4: COMMUNIST POLITIES AND ECONOMIES
17. Political and Economic Relations between Communist States, Balazs Szalontai
18. Communism and the Peace Movement, Geoff Roberts
19. Rituals of Power, Daniel Leese
20. Communism and Political Terror, Julia Strauss
21. Popular Opinion under Communist Regimes, Sheila Fitzpatrick
22. Communism and Economic Modernization, Mark Harrison
23. Collectivization and Famine, Felix Wemheuer
24. Consumption in Communist Societies, Paul Betts
PART 5: COMMUNISM AND SOCIAL RELATIONS
25. The Life of a Communist Militant, Marco Albeltaro
26. Rural Lives in Communist Societies, Jeremy Brown
27. Industrial Work in Communist Societies, Tuong Vu
28. Women in Communist Societies, Donna Harsch
29. Privilege and Inequality in Communist Societies, Don Filtzer
30. Nation-Building and National Conflict in Communist Societies, Adrienne Lynn Edgar
PART 6: COMMUNISM AND CULTURE
31. Socialist Cultural Production, Richard King
32. Communism and the Artistic Intelligentsia, Mark Gamsa
33. Communism and Popular Culture, Dean Vuletic
34. Communism and Religion, Richard Madsen
35. Communism and Sport, Robert Edelman, Anke Hilbrenner, and Susan Brownell

The Oxford Handbook of the History of Communism

Edited by S. A. Smith

Oxford Handbooks

Author Information

S. A. Smith is at University of Essex. He was a graduate student at Moscow State University and Peking University in the late 1970s and early 1980s and taught for many years at the University of Essex. More recently, he was professor of comparative history at the European University Institute, Florence. He has written extensively on the Russian and Chinese Revolutions, and is currently writing a book which compares the efforts of the Soviet and Chinese Communist regimes to eliminate 'superstition' from daily life, in areas such as popular religion, calendrical and life-cycle rituals, agriculture, and folk medicine, and which explores how sections of the populace engaged the regimes through 'politics of the supernatural'.

Contributors:

Marco Albeltaro, University of Turin
Anne Alexander, University of Cambridge
Anna Belogurova, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Maud Anne Bracke, University of Glasgow
Paul Betts, St Antony's College, Oxford
Susan Brownell, University of Missouri-St Louis
Jeremy Brown, Simon Fraser University
Paresh Chattopadhyay, University of Quebec
Timothy Cheek, University of British Columbia
Allison Drew, University of York
Robert Edelman, University of California, San Diego
Adrienne Edgar, University of California, Santa Barbara
Jean-François Fayet, University of Geneva
Sheila Fitzpatrick, University of Chicago
Donald Filtzer, University of East London
Mark Gamsa, Tel Aviv University
Mike Gonzalez, Glasgow University
Mark Harrison, University of Warwick
Donna Harsch, Carnegie Mellon University
Anke Hilbrenner, University of Bonn
Richard King, University of Victoria, British Columbia
Pavel Kolár, European University Institute, Florence
Daniel Leese, Freiburg University
Lars T. Lih, McGill University
Kevin McDermott, Sheffield Hallam University
Richard Madsen, University of California, San Diego
Matthias Middell, Leipzig University
Tim Rees, University of Exeter
Sergey Radchenko, University of Nottingham, Ningbo China
Geoffrey Roberts, University College Cork
S. A. Smith, All Souls College, Oxford
Julia Strauss, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
Balázs Szalontai, Kwangwoon University, Seoul
Alexander Vatlin, Moscow State University
Tuong Vu, University of Oregon
Dean Vuletic, University of Vienna
Felix Wemheuer, University of Vienna
Yang Kuisong, East China Normal University, Shanghai

The Oxford Handbook of the History of Communism

Edited by S. A. Smith

Oxford Handbooks

Reviews and Awards

"The thirty-eight authors of individual essays are carefully chosen and have provided concise, insightful, and up-to-date studies of their topics....This volume marks a step in the direction laid out by [editor S. A.] Smith's introduction: 'Towards a Global History of Communism.'"--The Russian Review