The communist dream inspired its believers with visions of human emancipation. Yet in nearly every case, from the Soviet Union to China, Hungary, North Korea, and East Germany, it led to rise of dictatorships which violated these principles. \u00a0It also led to the \u00a0deaths of millions of people. \u00a0How can we account for this perversion of the communist dream and for the fact that many true-believers were willing to participate in these atrocities?<\/p>\n
Stalin, the Formation of the Soviet Union, and the Realization of Socialism:\u00a0 II<\/strong><\/p>\n The Roots of Terror: \u00a0Part 1<\/strong><\/p>\n We begin this section of the course be looking at the elites who were involved in sponsoring the terror, the inklings of whom you have just witnessed in Scott\u2019s book.<\/p>\n 14. Thursday, February 27<\/strong><\/p>\n Discussion<\/em>: \u00a0For today\u2019s meeting, with turn to Arthur Koestler\u2019s book Darkness at Noon, <\/em>to get a sense for the meaning of High Stalinism.\u00a0 It is a compelling novel.\u00a0 It also presents a compelling theory about Marxism’s\u00a0 and Leninism’s degeneration into terror.<\/p>\n Our goal is to understand what it means to say that someone is a Stalinist.\u00a0 Koestler\u2019s protagonist, Rubashev, is a Stalinist. \u00a0What is Rubashev like? \u00a0What drives him? Is he a nice person?<\/p>\n To understand Rubashev, how is he different from his interlocutor, Ivanov?\u00a0 What type of communist is Ivanov?<\/p>\n 15.\u00a0 Tuesday, March 3<\/strong><\/p>\n Today we will visit the Special Collections Room in the Hesburgh Library.<\/p>\n Natasha Lyandres, Director of the Collection, will share with us some of the Library\u2019s archives on Stalinism and Terror in the USSR.<\/p>\n Today, we consider the causes and consequences–the Horror!–of High Stalinism.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n THE GLOBAL COVID-19 CRISIS HITS NOTRE DAME AND AMERICA.\u00a0 ON-LINE CLASSES BEGIN:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tuesday, March 17 and Thursday, March 19:\u00a0 NO CLASSES<\/strong><\/p>\n 17. Tuesday, March 24<\/strong><\/p>\n In this session and the next two sessions, we address the theme of \u201cwhy people do bad things.\u201d<\/p>\n Maria Konnikova, \u201cThe Real Lesson of the Stanford Prison Experiment\u201d \u00a0READ<\/a><\/li>\n 18.\u00a0 Thursday, March 26<\/strong><\/p>\n Discussion: \u00a0The Authoritarian Personality. \u00a0How do charismatic dictators, like Mao Zedong and Kim Jong Il,\u00a0 manipulate those around them? \u00a0What are these leaders like as human beings? \u00a0We will consider the \u201cnarcissistic personality disorder.\u201d\u00a0 For this section, please be prepared to discuss your favorite exemplar of the NPD.\u00a0 You may choose any figure, not just those in dictatorships. Your “celebrity” can come from any profession. We may also engage in some role-playing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n NOTE: Please leave your technology at home. This includes electronic devices of any kind, such as laptops, Kindles, i-Pads, I-phones, video cameras, video games, dog fences, or other personal digital devices.<\/p>\n My class is a no-tweet zone. Some things are just not dignified!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The communist dream inspired its believers with visions of human emancipation. Yet in nearly every case, from the Soviet Union to China, Hungary, North Korea, and East Germany, it led to rise of dictatorships which violated these principles. \u00a0It also led to the \u00a0deaths of millions of people. \u00a0How can we account for this perversion … Continue reading “Revolutionary Agony”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-19","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communism-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communism-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communism-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communism-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communism-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19"}],"version-history":[{"count":45,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communism-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":419,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communism-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19\/revisions\/419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communism-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\n16. Thursday, March 5<\/strong><\/p>\n\n
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\nMID-TERM BREAK<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nThe Roots of Terror: \u00a0Part 2<\/strong><\/p>\n\n
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Your Second Essay Assignment is HERE<\/a><\/h5>\n