Globalization of an Educational Idea: Workers’ Faculties in Eastern Germany, Vietnam, Cuba and Mozambique PDF
Preview Globalization of an Educational Idea: Workers’ Faculties in Eastern Germany, Vietnam, Cuba and Mozambique
Ingrid Miethe, Tim Kaiser, Tobias Kriele, and Alexandra Piepiorka Globalization of an Educational Idea Rethinking the Cold War Edited by Kirsten Bönker and Jane Curry Volume 7 Ingrid Miethe, Tim Kaiser, Tobias Kriele, and Alexandra Piepiorka Globalization of an Educational Idea Workers’ Faculties in Eastern Germany, Vietnam, Cuba and Mozambique ISBN 978-3-11-060061-2 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-060187-9 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-059891-9 Library of Congress Control Number: 2019937557 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Cover image: Dikobraziy / iStock / Getty Images Plus Druck und Bindung: CPI books GmbH, Leck www.degruyter.com Preface ‘Rethinking the Cold War’ is both the guiding principle and claim of this book series meaning to paint a new and comprehensive picture of the multilateral conflict that shaped the political world in the second half of the 20th century and penetrated the life of ‘ordinary’ people in many world regions.Therefore, the volumesof the book series arenot merelystrivingto move beyondthe con- ventional framingofthe Cold War asabipolarconflict betweenthe communist bloc on the one hand and the liberal-capitalist ‘western’ bloc on the other.The series aims to broaden the original binarygeopolitical conceptualisation of the conflict by taking into account the Sino-Soviet split which turned the Cold War intoa tri-polarcontest in the late1950s.Itfurtherclaims towiden the per- spectivebeyondEuropetowardsotherworldregionsbyacknowledgingthatthe decolonisationoftheGlobalSouthmadetheso-called‘ThirdWorld’anothercru- cialarenaofColdWarrivalry.ConsideringtheEuropeanandGlobaldimensions of the Cold War across and beyond the Iron Curtain, the volumes of the series published so far have impressively demonstrated the analytical potential of ex- ploringthenon-militarysideoftheideologicalconflict.Theynotonlyhighlight- ed the relevance of soft power techniques and public and cultural diplomacy— for example in the context of international sports events, artistic interactions, song contests, tourism and international solidarity campaigns—they also gave fresh insights into the collaboration and interactions of non-official actors and intermediaryorganizationstowhichlittleattentionhasbeenpaidsofar.Further, they established that seemingly more ‘classical’ topics like economic planning and social engineering provide intriguing new arguments on Cold War rivalries assoonasthefocusisshiftedbeyondthesuperpowerstolessvisibleactorsand to circulations and exchanges of knowledge and practices.The volumes of the series make clear that regulating ideas and practices of the ‘social’ were at the core of a common project of modernity bridging the Iron Curtain. Showing how knowledge circulated globally, how it was reinterpreted and appropriated in various national and local contexts raise essentially new questions not only ontransnationalinteractionsbutalsoonthewayinwhichsuchmutualtransfer processes created specific ‘global connections’ (Christopher Bayly 2018) in the context of the Cold War as a global multilateral conflict. Hence, the previous contributions to the book series suggest complementing the important research oneconomicandpoliticalprocessesbyexaminingotherdimensionsoftheCold War globalization. Againstthisbackdrop,aninterdisciplinaryprojectontheglobalizationofan educational idea such as the global dissemination of the so-called workers’ https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110601879-001 VI Preface faculty(rabochiifakul’tetorabbreviatedrabfak)foundedin1919asasymbolof thesocio-economic,culturalandpoliticalrevolutionaftertheBolshevikOctober Coup in 1917 is highly necessary. Originally aiming to prepare the children of often hardly literate workers and peasants for higher education and concomi- tantly to equalize educational chances due to socio-economic inequalities,the workers’ faculty also propagated the idea of educating the socialist ‘New Man’. After the institutional transfer to the East European socialist states after World War II, the global dissemination of this socialist educational model be- came an integral part of Nikita Khrushchev’s strategy of increasing the global Soviet influence via tools of soft power as well. Being obviously intended to strengthentheinterdependenciesbetweenthemotherlandofrevolutionandin- ternationalism and the de-colonising Global South, the support of the struggle againstEuropeancolonialismbyexportingthemethodsofsocialistmodernisa- tion should also helptoachievethefinalvictoryof Soviet socialism over West- ern capitalism. ThecurrentvolumepresentingfourcasestudiesfocusingontheGDR,North Vietnam,CubaandMozambique constitutesan exemplary interdisciplinaryap- proachtoexamineinachallengingcomparativeperspectivethetransfer,theap- propriation, andthereinterpretation of an educational idea aswell as an insti- tutiononaglobalscale.Thus,thisbookdoesnotonlystronglycontributetoour understandingofthecirculationofideasandknowledgeacrosstheIronCurtain but also considerably enriches the interdisciplinary empirical and theoretical discussion of educational scientists and historians on educational transfer in terms of ‘glocalisation’. Kirsten Bönker Acknowledgments Aproject such as this one would have been impossible without the support of many institutions and colleagues all over the world who allowed us to benefit fromwith their expertise and their contacts. WewouldliketothankHeikeDierckx,SonjaGrabowskyundNganNguyen- Meyer,who supported us in applying for research grants. For manykinds of support in research,contactingsources,providingspace and resources, and productive discussion,we would like to thank René Barrios (Havana), Đỗ Kiên (Hanoi), Dayana Murguia (Havana), Hans Saar (Leipzig and Maputo),UtaSchöne(Berlin),InesStolpe(Bonn),JoelAlexandreTembe(Mapu- to), Matthias Tullner (Magdeburg), Phạm Hồng Tung (Hanoi), and Michael Zeuske (Cologne). WealsothankHans-GeorgesHofmann,EwaldWeiser,ChristianWenskeand UlrichvonderHeyden,whoparticipatedinaworkshopwith contemporary wit- nesses and experts on international educational cooperation the GDR held on November 24, 2015, in Berlin. Notleast,wethankallourinterviewpartnersfortheirsupportandvaluable information. We also thank the student assistants who worked on the project, Rahel Barra, Birthe Kleber, Jana Kuttner, Ada Wiedermann-Gralla,Victoria Marozova and Muyan Lin.The language skills of the latter two allowed us to extend the scope of the project to include original Chinese and Russian literature. We would also like to thank Marina Metz,who also supported us in reading litera- tureinRussian.HyoJeongChoe(Seoul)conductedtheresearchontheworkers’ faculties in North Korea, including the complete analysis of the daily Rodong. WeareespeciallyindebtedtotheGermanResearchFoundation(DFG),which supported the project “Cultural and Historic Transformation of an Educational Institutions:AComparativeAnalysisof the Workers’ Faculties in Cuba, Mozam- bique and Vietnam” (grant numbers MI 667/7–1 and MI 667/7–2), and the pre- liminaryproject“TheGreifswaldWorkers’andPeasants’Faculty:ABiographical Institutional Analysis” (MI 667/2–5) in which the research on the East German ABFs originated. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110601879-002 Contents Introduction 1 . Existing Research 4 . Outline of the Study 7 Theoretical Approaches 11 . Theoretical Approaches to the Study of Global Educational Transfer between Socialist States 11 . Socialist Globalization 17 Methodological Considerations and Available Sources 21 . Methodological Considerations 21 .. Workers’ Faculties as Case Studies 21 .. Connecting Diachronic and Synchronic Levels 23 .. Internal and External Comparison 24 .. Transfer of Institutions and/or Ideas 25 .. Use of Historic Terms 26 . Available Sources 28 .. Archivesin Germany 28 .. Archivesin Vietnam 30 .. Archivesin Cuba 31 .. Archivesin Mozambique 34 .. Interviews with Experts 35 Ingrid Miethe & Alexandra Piepiorka The Starting Point: The Rabfak in Soviet Russia 39 . Origins and Development of the Rabfak 40 .. First Period: 1919–1930 41 .. Second Period (1930–1941) 48 .. Types of Rabfaks 51 .. The Students 53 . Characteristics of the Rabfak for Comparison 58 The Global Dissemination of an Educational Idea 61 . The Dissemination of the Rabfak System in the Territory of the Soviet Union 61 .. Dissemination in the Territory of the Soviet Union 62
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