{"id":145,"date":"2011-01-12T21:58:29","date_gmt":"2011-01-12T21:58:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.nd.edu\/communism\/?page_id=145"},"modified":"2011-05-03T21:41:03","modified_gmt":"2011-05-03T21:41:03","slug":"losers-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communism\/?page_id=145","title":{"rendered":"LOSERS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In this concluding section of the course, we return to the debate between Cohen (individual volition) and \u2018Z\u2019 (structure).\u00a0\u00a0Should the Hungarian (1956) and Czechoslovak (1968) experiments with socialist reform have prepared us for the fact that\u00a0Gorbachev&#8217;s efforts to reform Soviet-style communism from above would fail?\u00a0 In contrast, how might the Chinese Communist Party have been trying (perversely) to learn from these lessons in 1989-91?\u00a0 One possibility is that\u00a0the different outcomes suggest that\u00a0serious reform was\u00a0merely impossible in one country (the Soviet Union)\u00a0but possible in <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.nd.edu\/communism\/files\/2011\/01\/Mao-Coke2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-383\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.nd.edu\/communism\/files\/2011\/01\/Mao-Coke2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"174\" \/><\/a>another (China)?\u00a0\u00a0Another possibility is that China&#8217;s carefully circumscribed reforms will are destined to fail as well.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>34.<\/em><\/strong><strong>\u00a0 LECTURE:\u00a0\u00a0 Wednesday, April 13<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Gorbachev&#8217;s Revolution of Reform.<\/strong>\u00a0 Mikhail Gorbachev\u2019s made a grand attemp to reform Soviet communism.\u00a0 \u00a0For several years, his\u00a0calls for \u201cperestroika\u201d (economic transformation)\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.nd.edu\/communism\/files\/2011\/01\/Gorbachev.jpg\"><\/a>and \u201cglasnost\u201d (transparency)\u00a0were a cause for\u00a0unparalleled excitement, both within the socialist bloc and\u00a0in the liberal west.\u00a0Check out\u00a0the two videos <a href=\"http:\/\/www.soviethistory.org\/bigScreenVideo.php?SubjectID=1985perestroika&amp;Year=1985&amp;navi=byYear\">here<\/a>.\u00a0 Yet despite the fact that this period looked like it might lead to a revolutionary stage of communnist development, it ultimately resulted in\u00a0revolution against the system and the death of Marxism-Leninism.\u00a0 Some observers have argued that his reforms were destined to fail due to\u00a0the manifest\u00a0shortcomings of the socialist system.\u00a0\u00a0The events in the Ukrainian city of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.soviethistory.org\/bigScreenVideo.php?SubjectID=1985chernobyl&amp;Year=1985&amp;navi=byYear\">Chernobyl<\/a> in 1985 provided ample cause for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fcdnet.org\/chernobyl\/chapter1.html\">reflection<\/a>.\u00a0 Yet other, like Malia, contend that the game was up anway, regardless of\u00a0 happened in the Soviet bloc.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div>\u00a0Mikhail Gorbachev, Report to the Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the CPSU, January 28, 1987:\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nd.edu\/~amcadams\/WC_2010\/Gorbachev_87.html\">HERE<\/a>.\u00a0 (Print)<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>\u00a0Trabant Crash Test: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=oF4phDLfGF4&amp;feature=fvwrel\">HERE<\/a><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>\u201cZ\u201d (Martin Malia), \u201cTo the Stalin Museum,\u201d <em>Daedalus<\/em>, 119, 1 (1990): \u00a0section IX.<a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.nd.edu\/communism\/files\/2011\/01\/Gorbachev1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-385\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.nd.edu\/communism\/files\/2011\/01\/Gorbachev1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"101\" height=\"101\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>&#8220;Stories and Totalitarianism,&#8221; in Vaclav Havel, <em>Open Letters<\/em>, pp. 328-50.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong><em>35.<\/em><\/strong><strong>\u00a0 DISCUSSION SECTION:<em>\u00a0 Friday, April 15<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Because you have been working on your papers, there will be no paragraph assignment.\u00a0 Instead, all of the discussion sections will watch the excellent documentary, &#8220;Journey to Russia.&#8221;\u00a0 I will need to make special room arrangements to facilitate these showings.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">ALSO:\u00a0 Please hand in your second essay to your TAs.\u00a0 Because of the special room arrangements, they will advise you about how to do this.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong><em>36.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><strong>LECTURE:\u00a0 Mon<em>day, April 18<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Violence\u00a0Amidst Reform\u00a0in China.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Since the late 1970s, scholars have debated whether China is following a special path\u00a0in the late stages of constructing socialism.\u00a0 Was\u00a0the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=LBN11-F8kh8\">army&#8217;s deployment<\/a>\u00a0against student protestors on\u00a0Tian Anmen square, as well as around Beijing and in other major\u00a0 cities,\u00a0<em>d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu<\/em> all over again?\u00a0 Or\u00a0have China&#8217;s\u00a0reforms over the past 3 decades signified something very new about world communism?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div>Deng Xiaoping&#8217;s educational policy:\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/countrystudies.us\/china\/64.htm\">HERE<\/a><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>Editorial:\u00a0 &#8220;It is necessary to take a clear stand against disturbances,&#8221; <em>People&#8217;s Daily<\/em>, April 26, 1989:\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/tsquare.tv\/chronology\/April26ed.html\">HERE<\/a>\u00a0(Print)<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>Deng Xiaoping, \u201cAddress to officers of the troops enforcing martial law in Beijing,\u201d June 9, 1989:\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nd.edu\/~amcadams\/Communism_2010\/Dengmartiallaw.html\">HERE<\/a>.\u00a0 (Print)<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div><em>Previously secret:<\/em>\u00a0CIA analysis of the speech (declassified, but it\u2019s amusing to see what\u2019s left):\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gwu.edu\/~nsarchiv\/NSAEBB\/NSAEBB47\/doc10.pdf\">HERE<\/a><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>Tiananmen Square:\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.maps-china.com\/beijing\/tiananmen-square.htm\">HERE<br \/>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>37.\u00a0\u00a0 LECTURE:\u00a0\u00a0Wednes<em>day, April 20<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Gorbachev was not alone.\u00a0<\/strong> Gorbachev wasn\u2019t the only reformer in the Soviet bloc in the 1980s.\u00a0 In fact, his policies helped to accelerate significant shifts in\u00a0domestic policies that were already underway in countries like Hungary and Poland.\u00a0\u00a0Yet when\u00a0Gorbachev\u2019s policies proved to be unworkable, these countries&#8217; governments\u00a0had to decide whether they would continue with reform or simply move on to something entirely new.\u00a0 Indeed, it&#8217;s possible that they had no\u00a0choice in accomodating themselves to a totally new political system.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div>&#8220;Z&#8221; (Martin Malia), \u201cTo the Stalin Museum,\u201d <em>Daedalus<\/em>, 119, 1 (1990): \u00a0section X.\u00a0 <em>Course Reader<\/em><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>&#8220;Meeting Gorbachev,&#8221; in Vaclav Havel, <em>Open Letters<\/em>, 351-354.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>Hungarian Border:\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nd.edu\/~amcadams\/Communism_2011\/hungarianborder.jpg\">HERE<\/a><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;padding-left: 30px\"><strong><br \/>\nThursday, April\u00a021 \u2013 Monday, April 25:\u00a0 EASTER BREAK<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong><br \/>\n38.\u00a0 LECTURE:\u00a0<em> Wednesday, April 27<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Those who refuse to learn\u00a0. . . . are punished by history.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>In this lecture, I will\u00a0address\u00a0the fall of the Berlin Wall and the ensuing collapse of communism in East Europe by <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.nd.edu\/communism\/files\/2011\/01\/BOWKKU_500x5661.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-493\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.nd.edu\/communism\/files\/2011\/01\/BOWKKU_500x5661-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>describing\u00a0my own experiences in East Germany in the late 1980s.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\">&#8220;Testing Ground,&#8221; in Vaclav Havel, <em>Open Letters<\/em>, pp. 373-376.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><em>Previously secret:\u00a0 <\/em>Record of Conversation between Mikhail Gorbachev and the politburo of the Socialist Unity Party of East Germany, October 7, 1989:\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gwu.edu\/~nsarchiv\/NSAEBB\/NSAEBB290\/doc06.pdf\">HERE<\/a><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><em>Previously secret:\u00a0 C<\/em>onversation between Vadim Medvedev and Kurt Hager\u00a0in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet union,\u00a0October 13, 1989:\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wilsoncenter.org\/cwihp\/documentreaders\/eotcw\/891013a.pdf\">HERE<\/a><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\">A. James McAdams, <em>Germany Divided:\u00a0 From the Wall to Reunification<\/em> (Princeton University Press, 1983), ch.\u00a0\u00a0 6. \u00a0Course Reader.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong><em>39.<\/em><\/strong><strong>\u00a0 DISCUSSION SECTION:<em>\u00a0 Friday, April 29<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><em>Paragraph Assignment<\/em>:\u00a0 Why didn\u2019t McAdams predict the fall of communism?\u00a0 How can he have been so daft?\u00a0 Please identify those features of late 20th-century communism that would have enabled McAdams to predict the events of 1989.\u00a0 What lessons should he learn from being so shortsided?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>40.\u00a0 LECTURE:\u00a0<em> Monday, May 2<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Yet others learn\u00a0what we don\u2019t want them to learn . . . . and somehow survive.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.nd.edu\/communism\/files\/2011\/01\/smallNK37.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-338\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.nd.edu\/communism\/files\/2011\/01\/smallNK37.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/strong> Ironically, China, North Korea, Vietnam, and Cuba learned that the\u00a0best response to popular demands for revolution was retrenchment.\u00a0 Still, &#8216;retrenchment&#8217;\u00a0meant different things to each of them.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\">An interview with Fidel Castro, \u201cBlaming Stalin for everything would be historical simplism,\u201d June 3, 1992:\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.marxists.org\/history\/cuba\/archive\/castro\/1992\/06\/03.htm\">HERE<\/a><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>Your final essay assignment\u00a0is\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nd.edu\/~amcadams\/Communism_2011\/Final Essay.html\"><strong>HERE<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>41.\u00a0 LECTURE:<em>\u00a0 Wednesday, May 4<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Concluding Reflections.<\/strong>\u00a0We go back to the beginning.\u00a0\u00a0I seek to make sense of the &#8220;long, strange trip&#8221; that was world communism.\u00a0 Some experts say that <a href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_QeEdv2l2x30\/SP2Yeib85kI\/AAAAAAAABQ8\/i9YE_nVd2CQ\/s400\/7.jpg\">Lenin is dead<\/a>. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chinadaily.com.cn\/english\/doc\/2005-01\/22\/content_411216.htm\">But maybe<\/a>\u00a0not.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em><br \/>\nThe use of electronic devices of any kind, including laptops, cell phones, video cameras,\u00a0and personal digital devices, as <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.nd.edu\/communism\/files\/2011\/01\/chairman_meow1.png\"><\/a>well as those I don&#8217;t even know about,\u00a0is prohibited in my classroom!<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.nd.edu\/communism\/?p=133\"><strong>Top of Page<\/strong><\/a><strong> \u00b7 <\/strong><a title=\"Founders\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.nd.edu\/communism\/?page_id=131\"><strong>Founders<\/strong><\/a><strong> \u00b7 <\/strong><a title=\"Competitors\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.nd.edu\/communism\/?page_id=139\"><strong>Competitors<\/strong><\/a><strong> \u00b7 <\/strong><a title=\"Defenders\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.nd.edu\/communism\/?page_id=141\"><strong>Defenders<\/strong><\/a><strong> \u00b7 <\/strong><a title=\"Reformers\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.nd.edu\/communism\/?page_id=143\"><strong>Reformers<\/strong><\/a><strong> \u00b7 <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.nd.edu\/communism\/?page_id=145\"><strong>Losers<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.nd.edu\/communism\/files\/2011\/01\/chairman_meow2.png\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this concluding section of the course, we return to the debate between Cohen (individual volition) and \u2018Z\u2019 (structure).\u00a0\u00a0Should the Hungarian (1956) and Czechoslovak (1968) experiments with socialist reform have prepared us for the fact that\u00a0Gorbachev&#8217;s efforts to reform Soviet-style communism from above would fail?\u00a0 In contrast, how might the Chinese Communist Party have been [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":50,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-145","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communism\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communism\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communism\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communism\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communism\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=145"}],"version-history":[{"count":48,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communism\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":161,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communism\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/145\/revisions\/161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communism\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}