Communism

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• 9/19/2021
  

  Psychologically Speaking, Who Were the Heads of the Chinese Communist Party?

  by David Shambaugh

  Sinologist David Shambaugh's new book examines the evolution of the Chinese Communist Party and the People's Republic's role in the world through a psychological history of the CCP's leaders. Excerpted here, he offers a schematic overview of the work. 

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• SOURCE: The Baffler
  8/19/2021
  

  How Empires Fall

  by Matt Wehmeier

  "Decisive political moments are rarely expected, and even more rarely planned. Governments change all the time. But every once in a while, empires fall."

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  7/25/2021
  

  Yu Ruxin is Rescuing China’s Muzzled Past, One Footnote at a Time

  “We won’t be able to truly absorb the lessons of history, and history may just repeat itself,” Mr. Yu said in an interview from Hong Kong. “It couldn’t possibly be exactly like the Cultural Revolution, but something similar can’t be ruled out.”

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  7/22/2021
  

  Cubans Took to the Streets in 1994, Too

  by Rozzmery Palenzuela Vicente

  Since the Clinton administration, decreased willingness by the US to accept Cuban migrants as political refugees has eliminated a significant safety valve against dissent on the island – encouraging Cuban dissidents to leave. This may make current protests more enduring and possibly more effective. 

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• SOURCE: Foreign Policy
  7/1/2021
  

  The Chinese Communist Party Has Followed Sun Yat-sen’s Road Map

  by Peter Zarrow

  The recent course of the Chinese Communist Party follows the vision of nationalist Sun Yat-sen more than that of Karl Marx. 

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• SOURCE: NPR
  7/5/2021
  

  Unpacking The 100-Year History Of The Chinese Communist Party

  As the Chinese Communist Party turns 100 this month, NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with historian Andy B. Liu about the mark it's made on the country.

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  7/1/2021
  

  At 100 Years Old, it's Time to Recognize the Chinese Communist Party is Here to Stay

  by Yi-Zheng Lian

  Unlike their Soviet predecessors, the Chinese Communist Party has figured out how to maintain a lasting hold on power. Western critics hoping for its demise will be disappointed. 

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• SOURCE: History.com
  4/28/2021
  

  How World War I Fueled the Russian Revolution

  Stephen Miner of Ohio University says that while the collapse of Czarist Russia was likely without the first world war, the conflict made it virtually inevitable. Lynne Hartnett of Villanova says war exposed the weaknesses of the regime. 

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• SOURCE: Woodrow Wilson Center and National History Center
  4/9/2021
  

  Washington History Seminar – Stalin: Passage to Revolution, Monday, April 12

  Ronald Grigor Suny of the University of Michigan joins the Washington History Seminar on Monday, April 12 to discuss "Stalin: Passage to Revolution" at 

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• 3/28/2021
  

  Red Flags on the Map: What Soviet Kids Learned about the United States

  by David Mould

  One of the author's souvenirs from a research trip to Asia – a Soviet-era classroom map – prompts reflection on the pervasiveness of ideological education. 

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• 2/28/2021
  

  History and Film: Reflections on Konchalovsky’s “Dear Comrades!”

  by Walter G. Moss

  Andrei Konchalovsky's film "Dear Comrades" examines the struggles of ordinary people in the Soviet Union to find truth amid ideology and fear. 

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• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  2/25/2021
  

  The Republican Party Is Now in Its End Stages

  by Tom Nichols

  "The Republican Party has become, in form if not in content, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union of the late 1970s."

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• SOURCE: Jacobin
  12/5/2020
  

  Stephen F. Cohen Helped Us Understand the Russian Revolution and Nikolai Bukharin

  by Kevin Murphy

  A fellow historian of Russia and the Soviet Union praises Stephen Cohen's scholarship and willingness to question orthodoxies in examining the internal diversity of revolutionary Communism. 

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• 10/11/2020
  

  The Lenin Plot: The Concealed History of The US-Led Effort to Overthrow the USSR

  by Barnes Carr

  "The Lenin Plot was a massive embarrassment for the Allies, and they tried to cover it up. The denial continued for years."

• 
• 9/20/2020
  

  Woody Guthrie's Communism and "This Land Is Your Land"

  by Aaron J. Leonard

  The author of a new book on the FBI's surveillance of folk musicians argues that Woody Guthrie did join the Communist Party, though he was at odds with leadership over discipline. The affiliation is reflected in the lyrics of his most famous song. 

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• SOURCE: The Guardian
  9/17/2020
  

  Richard and the Revolutionaries: Why did Lefties Love Wagner?

  "Wagner’s tale of the corrupting power of the golden Ring matches Marx’s musings on the “perverting power” of money."

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• SOURCE: Perspectives on History
  9/2/2020
  

  Looking Out For Each Other

  by Leah Valtin-Erwin

  The wrenching transitions that East Germans faced in adapting to western commercial culture after reunification offer lessons for the COVID crisis, and a warning that the burdens of managing social change and stress often fall on retail workers. 

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• SOURCE: The New Yorker
  7/27/2020
  

  Joseph McCarthy and the Force of Political Falsehoods

  McCarthy never sent a single “subversive” to jail, but, decades later, the spirit of his conspiracy-mongering endures.

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• SOURCE: The New York Times
  7/25/2020
  

  Milos Jakes, Czech Communist Leader, Is Dead at 97

  Mr. Jakes “came to be seen as the epitome of an out-of-touch Communist Party functionary,” said professor Mary Heimann.

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• SOURCE: The Intercept
  7/15/2020
  

  The Revolutionary Life of Paul Robeson: Scholar Gerald Horne on the Great Anti-Fascist Singer, Artist, and Rebel (Podcast)

  Historian and Robeson biographer Gerald Horne discusses the singer and activist's legacy and politics.