POLI 311 Lecture 7: POLI 331 Lecture Notes
12 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
POLI 331 Lecture Notes 1/10/2018 5:31:00 PM
COURSE: POLI 331
POLITICS in EAST/CENTRAL EUROPE (+ BALKINS)
January 10th, 2018
Lecture 1—Syllabus day and Intro: What is Communism
-Prof note: Will not post lecture slides online
-Class will have map and fact quiz, midterm, conferences
(attendance/participation), final exam.
- Once conferences start, prof will end lectures by 12:20 or 12:25
What area are we talking about exactly?
• All of post-communist countries that are not and were both never
part of Soviet Union, and those that are European countries.
• Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia (→ Czech Republic, Slovakia), Albania,
Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Montenegro, Slovenia. Soviet
Bloc countries = not to be confused with soviet union→ They were
satelites to Soviet Union but not part of it.
• Yugoslavia
o Serbia
o Macedonia (FRYOM)
o Croatia
o BiH—Kosovo
• Albania was doing its own thing: it had a rift with Soviet Union early
on in Communist period.
First topic: What is communism?
• In these countries above, it’s better to asked what is socialism, b/c
none of them claimed they had reached communism as a way of
describing them. They were socialist countries, aiming to achieve
communism.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
o Ex: Putting targets: We will achieve communism by 1965→
Moved to later several times.
o So, their political system: communism as ultimate goal but in
practice was different versions of socialism of the time.
o However, in literature and what prof refers to, we will be
calling these regimes “communist”.
• On one hand, communist regimes were typical authoritarian
regimes.
o Regular elections, but not free and fair elections.
▪ You ran in election only b/c you were selected by state
to run in election. Not of your own doing/ambition. As a
result, outcomes always predetermined.
o No guarantees of freedom of speech or freedom of assembly.
▪ Variation in area and time for how much trouble you
would get it, but general point is there was no freedom
of speech guaranteed.
o Political power monopolized by one group: the Communist
Party.
▪ Sometimes known as Worker’s Party, or Socialist Party,
but same monopolizing group.
• What makes these regimes different than pure authoritarianism,
and distinguishes them from other authoritarianism?
o 1. Strong/Distinct ideological mission.
▪ Guided most decisions
▪ Known as Transformational Marxism-Lenonism (?)
▪ Goal was not just to just to establish dictatorship of
proletariat, but also aimed to transform entire state in
such a way that state would eventually cease to exist.
▪ Prepare state to whither away, no longer be needed as
institution→ people would have internalized the tenents
of Marxism/Lenonism that no need for state to guide
them.
▪ Need to transform society into a classless society.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
▪ Mission was much broader, much more ambition than
typical authoritarian regime.
▪ Profoundly atheist→ rejection of any religious principles.
Marx/ Lennon saw religion as ultimate opiate.
o 2. Fusion of Party and State.
▪ Constitutions of all of these countries said will only b
governed by the communist party. Point of constitution
is to explain how party is going to govern.
▪ Hierarchy of state institutions→ For every single state
institution, there was a counterpart to this institution in
communist party hierarchy.
Ex: Think of mayor of town, there would also be a
secretary of communism party for the town.
Direct counterpart of mayor, and on top of this
parallel hierarchy, party institutions were MORE
powerful than state institutions.
• Gen. Sec > PM
• Politbureau > Cabinet
• Central com. > Parliament
• Party Sec. of capital> mayor
▪ Goal was to achieve full state ownership: absence of
property of any kind, no real estate, collective
agriculture,
▪ Command economy rather than a market economy
The state, through central planning, would decide
every detail of how state was going to function.
• Extremely detailed-- Prof Example: 5 year
plan from 1975-1980 would tell you how
many shoes would be produced in 1976.
• Led to padding of plans, under-promised
what they could achieve in fear of being
sanctioned for not producing, etc. To be
discussed more later.
Underlying point: Command economy created a
lot of shortages.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Lecture 1 syllabus day and intro: what is communism. Prof note: will not post lecture slides online. Class will have map and fact quiz, midterm, conferences (attendance/participation), final exam. Once conferences start, prof will end lectures by 12:20 or 12:25. What area are we talking about exactly: all of post-communist countries that are not and were both never part of soviet union, and those that are european countries, yugoslavia, czechoslovakia ( czech republic, slovakia), albania, First topic: what is communism: in these countries above, it"s better to asked what is socialism, b/c none of them claimed they had reached communism as a way of describing them. They were socialist countries, aiming to achieve communism: ex: putting targets: we will achieve communism by 1965 . Party: sometimes known as worker"s party, or socialist party, but same monopolizing group, what makes these regimes different than pure authoritarianism, and distinguishes them from other authoritarianism, 1. Marx/ lennon saw religion as ultimate opiate: 2.
