The Global Revolution: A History of International Communism 1917-1991

401 Pages·2014·3.08 MB·English

by  Silvio Pons

OXFORD STUDIES
IN MODERN EUROPEAN HISTORY
General Editors
SIMON DIXON, MARK MAZOWER,
and
JAMES RETALLACK

The Global Revolution
A History of International Communism
1917–1991
SILVIO PONS
Translated by
ALLAN CAMERON
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP,
United Kingdom
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First published in Italian as Stato e Rivoluzione © Giulio Einaudi editore s.p.a., Torino 2012.
English translation © Oxford University Press 2014
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First Edition published in 2014
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For Chiara

Contents
Abbreviations ix
Introduction xi
Prologue: War and Revolution 1
1. Time of Revolution (1917–1923) 7
Lenin, the Soviet State, and the Comintern 7
Victory in Russia, Defeat in Europe 16
The Birth of the Communist Parties 24
The End of European Revolution 35
2. Time of the State (1924–1939) 43
World Revolution and ‘Socialism in One Country’ 43
Between East and West 54
Stalin, the ‘Revolution from above’, and the Psychosis of War 65
Communists and Anti-fascism 75
The Total-Security State 86
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact 91
3. Time of War (1939–1945) 102
The Alliance with Hitler 102
The Patriotic War and the End of the Comintern 111
Spheres of Influence, National Fronts, and ‘People’s Democracy’ 124
Victory without Revolution 137
4. Time of Empire (1945–1953) 144
The Birth of the ‘External Empire’ 144
The Founding of the Cominform 155
The Break between the USSR and Yugoslavia 167
Revolution in China and War in Korea 175
The ‘Revolution from above’ in Eastern and Central Europe and the
Pacifist Mobilization 184
Communists and the Cold War 193
5. Time of Decline (1953–1968) 206
The Crisis in Central and Eastern Europe 206
The End of Communist Unity 218
Expansion in the Third World and the Rift between the Soviet Union
and China 231
The Limits upon Soviet Influence 244
viii Contents
6. Time of Crisis (1968–1991) 255
1968 and the Prague Spring 255
The Break-Up of the Movement 265
The Global Superpower 273
Eurocommunism 284
The Crisis of Legitimacy 293
Reform and Collapse 305
Epilogue: The End of Soviet and European Communism in
World History 315
References 323
Index 353
Abbreviations
ARCHIVES
APCF A rchive du Parti communiste français [Archive of the French
Communist Party]
APCI A rchivio del partito comunista italiano [Archive of the Italian
Communist Party]
AVPRF A rkhiv Vneshnei Politiki Rossiiskoy Federatsii [Foreign Policy Archive of the
Russian Federation)
RGANI Rossiiskii Gosudarstvennyi Arkhiv Noveishei Istorii [Russian State Archive of
Contemporary History]
RGASPI Rossiiskii Gosudarstvennyi Arkhiv Sotsial’no-Politicheskoy Istorii [Russian
State Archive of Social and Political History]
SAPMO Stiftung Archiv der Parteien und Massenorganisationen der DDR im
Bundesarchiv [Foundation Archives of Parties and Mass Organizations of the
GDR in the Federal Archives]
DOCUMENT COLLECTIONS
KIMR Komintern i ideya mirovoy revoliutsii: dokumenty [The Comintern and the
Idea of World Revolution: Documents], ed. J. S. Drabkin (Moscow: Nauka,
1998)
KVMV Komintern i Vtoraya Mirovaya Voyna [The Comintern and the Second World
War], ed. N. S. Lebedeva and M. M. Narinskii (2 vols, Moscow: Pamyatniki
Istoricheskoy Misly, 1994; 1998)
PBKI Politburo CK Rkp(b)–Vkp(b) i Komintern 1919–1943: dokumenty
[The Central Committee Politburo of the Rkp(b)–Vkp(b) and the
Comintern 1919–1943: documents], ed. G. M. Adibekov and K. K.
Shirinya (Moscow: Rosspen, 2004)
Prezidium Prezidium TsK KPSS 1954–1964. Chernovye protokol′nye zapisi zasedanii.
Stenogrammy. Postanovleniya [The Presidium of the Central Committee
of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 1954–1964] (3 vols,
Moscow: Rosspen, 2003–8)
SFVE Sovetskii faktor v Vostochnoy Evrope 1944–1953: dokumenty [The Soviet Factor
in Eastern Europe: Documents](2 vols, Moscow: Rosspen, 1999, 2002)
VEDRA Vostochnaya Evropa v dokumentakh rossiiskikh arkhivov 1944–1953 [Eastern
Europe in the Documents of the Russian Archives] (2 vols, Moscow/
Novosibirsk: Sibirskii Khronograf, 1997–8)