Servir la classe ouvrière – Sociabilités militantes au PCF

Servir la classe ouvrière – Sociabilités militantes au PCF – Julian Mischi
Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2010. ISBN : 978-2-7535-0984-9. 19,00 €

“Julian Mischi’s new study of the French Communist Party examines the work of the PCF in four Departments (Allier, Isère, Loire-Atlantique, Meurthe-et-Moselle). With materials drawn from internal documents and interviews, the book analyses the organisation of the PCF’s militants in the local districts, villages and factories, and their activities within the trade union and municipal networks. Challenging the typical monolithic image of the PCF, the mobilisation of communist militants within popular movement is revealed here as plural.”

International Conference: Strikes and Social Conflicts in the Twentieth Century

International Conference: Strikes and Social Conflicts in the Twentieth Century

Call for Papers International Conference – Strikes and Social Conflicts in the Twentieth Century
Lisbon, 17-19 March 2011

Organized by the Institute of Contemporary History (New University of Lisbon), International
Institute of Social History (Amsterdam), Archive Edgard Leuenroth (Campinas, Brasil), Centre for the Study of Spain under Franco and Democracy (Autonomous University of Barcelona) and Maison des Sciences de l’Homme (France).

The twentieth century has been confirmed as the century when the capital-labour conflict was most severe. The international conference on “Strikes and Social Conflicts in the Twentieth Century” will host submissions on the strikes and social conflicts in the twentieth century and works on the theoretical discussion on the role of unions and political organizations. We also invite researchers to submit papers on methodology and the historiography of labour.

We welcome submissions on labour conflicts that occurred in factories, universities or public services, on rural and urban conflicts and also on conflicts that developed into civil wars or revolutions. National and international comparisons are also welcome.

After the Russian revolution the relative strengths of capital and labour were never again the same, with a period of revolution and counter-revolution that ended with World War II.

Protagonist of the victory over fascism, the labour movement found itself neglected in the core countries under the impact of economic growth in the 1950s and the 1960s. But May 1968 quickly reversed the situation, with a following boom of labour studies during the 1970s. Nevertheless once the crisis of the 1970s was over, capital has regained the initiative, with the deterioration of labour laws, the crisis of trade unions and the subsequent despise in the academy for the study of social conflicts. The recent crisis, however, shows that workers, the ones who create value, are not obsolete. The social movements regain, in the last decade, a central role in the world.

The intensification of social conflicts in the last decade promoted a comeback to the academia of
the studies on labour and the social movements. This conference aims to be part of this process: to retrieve, promote and disseminate the history of social conflicts during the twentieth century.

Calendar:

Papers submission: January 2010 – 30 June 2010

Notification of acceptance: 30 July 2010

Papers: 15 December 2010

Conference: 17-19 March 2011

Important: The deadline for delivery of completed papers/articles is 15th December 2010. The paper should be no longer than 4.000 words (including spaces) in times new roman, 12, line space 1,5. For Registration Form see below.

Conference Languages: Portuguese, English, French and Spanish (simultaneous translation Portuguese/English)

Preliminary Program: The Conference will have sessions in the mornings and afternoons. There will be conferences of invited speakers, among others, Marcel van der Linden, Fernando Rosas, Serge Wolikow, Beverly Silver, Kevin Murphy, Ricardo Antunes, Álvaro Bianchi, Dave Lyddon, Xavier Doménech. During the conference there will be an excursion guided by Prof. Fernando Rosas (“Lisbon of the Revolutions”); a debate about cinema and labour movement and a debate about Crisis and Social Change.

Conference Fees

Fees including dinners and excursion “Lisbon of the Revolutions”: € 80,00

Fees without dinners and excursion: free

Entrance: free

Organizers:

• Instituto de História Contemporânea (Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal)
• International Institute of Social History (Amsterdam, the Netherlands)
• Maison des Sciences de L’Homme (Paris, France)
• Centre d’Estudis de l’Època Franquista i Democràtica (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain)
• Arquivo Edgard Leuenroth (Campinas, Brasil)
• Scientific Committee: Álvaro Bianchi (AEL), Raquel Varela (IHC), Sjaak van der Velden (IISH),
• Serge Wolikow (MSH), Xavier Domènech (CEDIF)

Contact:

Instituto de História Contemporânea, Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas
Universidade Nova de Lisboa
Av. de Berna, 26 C
1069-061 Lisboa, Portugal
E-Mail: ihc@fcsh.unl.pt

For further information, contact: ihc@fcsh.unl.pt

Cold War Wales: Politics, Peace and Culture

Cold War Wales: Politics, Peace and Culture
A One-Day Conference organised by the Centre for Modern and Contemporary Wales
Saturday 26 June 2010

PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME

9.30-9.35: Coffee and Welcome

9.35-10.00: Dr Hywel Francis, MP, ‘Introductory Remarks and Recollections of Cold War Wales’

(I) WALES AND THE COLD WAR WORLD

10.00-11.00: Wales, East-West Relations and the Nuclear Threat
Discussant: Howard Williamson (University of Glamorgan)

Martin Johnes (Swansea), ‘The Cold War in Welsh History’

Matthew Grant (Manchester University), ‘The Cold War and Voluntary Action in Atomic Age Wales’

(II) POLITICS AND CULTURE IN COLD WAR WALES

11.00-12.00: The Labour Party
Chair: TBC

Stefan Berger (Manchester University)1/Norry LaPorte, ‘Welsh Labour MPs and the GDR’

Robert Griffiths (Cardiff), ‘SO Davies and the Cold War in Wales’

12.00-13.00: Communism and the Cold War
Chair: Chris Williams (Swansea University)

Douglas Jones (Aberystwyth University), ‘The Communist Party, British

National Independence and the National Question in Wales’.

Kevin Morgan(Manchester University) : ‘Harry Pollitt and the Rhondda in Cold War Wales’

Lunch: 13.00-14.00

14.00-15.30: Culture and Politics in Cold War Wales
Chair: Gareth Williams (University of Glamorgan)

Chris Williams, ‘Richard Burton and the Making of “The Spy who came in from in from the Cold”’

Daniel Williams (Swansea University), ”Paul Robeson, Wales and the Cold War’

Gareth Miles (Pontypridd) , ‘Llenyddiaeth Gymraeg a’r Rhyfel Oer’ [Welsh Literature and the Cold War'] in Welsh, with simultaneous translation

15.30-15.40: Coffee

15.40-16.30: Concluding remarks and discussion
Neil Evans (Llafur) and general discussion

Ffi: Dr Norry LaPorte (nlaporte@glam.ac.uk); Dr Fiona Reid (freid1@glam.ac.uk)

Margrit Schiller – ‘Remembering the Armed Struggle’

The book launch for Margrit Schiller’s Remembering the Armed Struggle: Life in Baader-Meinhof (Zidane Press, ISBN: 978-0955485046; 0955485046) will take place Friday 6 June 2009 at the Card Room, Millbank (entrance through Chelsea College of Art and Design [near Tate Britain]), 16 John Islip Street, London SW1P 4JU.

Attendance is by invitation only, and needs to be confirmed in advance, by emailing: zidanepress@gmail.com.

Kiwi Compañeros – New Zealand and the Spanish Civil War

Mark Derby (ed.). 2009. Kiwi Compañeros: New Zealand and the Spanish Civil War. Christchurch. NZ: Canterbury University Press. Paperback, 304pp, b/w illust. & photos. ISBN: 978-1-877257-71-1. 240 x 170 mm, 765g. $45

“This book is the first-ever account of New Zealand’s role in the Spanish civil war of 1936–39, a war that became a ruthless rehearsal for World War Two.

Volunteers from more than 50 countries arrived in Spain to take sides. This book records the actions of New Zealanders involved, including those who worked for the Spanish cause at home by raising funds, lobbying politicians, writing poems and spreading propaganda.

Kiwi Compañeros includes contributions from some of New Zealand’s leading writers and historians. It draws on personal letters, recently released military documents and previously unpublished photographs to tell an all-but-forgotten story.”

Available for purchase online from Canterbury University Press.

Kiwi Compañeros - New Zealand and the Spanish Civil War

Twentieth Century Communism – issue one, May 2009

The launch issue of Twentieth Century Communism: a journal of international history is published in May 2009. The theme of issue one is ‘Communism and the leader cult’.

From Franz Borkenau’s commentaries of the 1930s, through Khrushchev’s secret speech in 1956, the cult of the leading individual provided one of the distinguishing features of the Stalinist party and an epitome of centralisation. The proliferation of such cults, however, also posed potential dilemmas: for if there was to be a cult of leadership, Stalin’s ideal of a single monolithic will implied that this too should be centred in Moscow, and on the person of Stalin himself. Ranging across several countries and different levels of communist leadership, the first issue of Twentieth Century Communism provides new insight into how and when these cults were constructed, and with what political consequences. The issue will also feature reviews, a roundtable discussion of the Italian communist leader Togliatti and an interview with the influential German historian and architect of the concept of Stalinization, Hermann Weber.

A detailed guide to the contents of issue one, and subscription information can be found on the Lawrence & Wishart web site.

Twentieth Century Communism - issue one

Conference – 1989-2009: The East European Revolutions in Perspective

1989-2009: The East European Revolutions in Perspective

Organised by: Debatte. Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe

Location and date: London, 17-18 October 2009.

Keynote speakers:

Caroline Humphrey, Boris Kagarlitsky, Gáspár Miklós Tamas, Peter Gowan, Alex Callinicos, Bernd Gehrke, Catherine Samary.

Deadline for abstracts and panel proposals: 22 June 2009.

Rationale

Debatte is marking the twentieth anniversary of the revolutionary upheavals of 1989 by inviting scholars and students of Central and Eastern Europe to reflect upon the events of that year, their causes and processes, and the ensuing transformation of the region. In line with Debatte’s credo, the conference encourages critical and inter-disciplinary contributions. Especially welcome are papers that:

• examine the part played by social movements in overthrowing regimes and bringing about democratic change
• explore the power relations involved in the post-1989 restructuring of Central and Eastern Europe
• look afresh at the seminal contributions and debates in this area of research
• investigate ways in which research on 1989 and the transition has affirmed, deconstructed or challenged dominant ideological conventions

Topics for inquiry

Promising areas for papers include:

• The dissolution of the Soviet system. The roles played by relative economic decline, military competition, social and cultural change, the Western media. Comparison with the trajectory of ‘communism’ elsewhere: China, North Korea, Cuba etc
• Revolution and social change. The question of the ‘revolutionary’ nature of the events of 1989. Comparative revolutions and pseudo-revolutions. The contribution of social movement theories to analysing processes of mobilisation etc. in 1989. The history of dissident, resistance and reform movements
• Post-1989 transitions
• Geopolitical: Russia and the West; E.U. enlargement
• Geo-economic: Central and Eastern Europe’s changing location within the global division of labour; labour migration
• Geo-ideological: what has become of the Cold War mentality?; the repositioning (‘othering’?) of Central/Eastern Europe within Western discourse
• Economic: neoliberal reform; ‘shock therapy’; comparative economic policy
• ‘Bringing labour back in’: working-class recomposition and industrial relations
• Political and social: expansion and privatisation of the public sphere; the restructuring of social power ; elite continuities and discontinuities; democratisation and ‘managed democracy’; the evolution of Communist parties and of pre-1989 currents of dissidence and resistance; changing gender roles and relations; old and new nationalisms (including the break-up of Yugoslavia); the environment, transport and climate change
• Anthropological: cultures of everyday life; the ethnography of societies in ‘transition’; new forms of division and exclusion
• Cultural: new freedom, new censorship; the changing role of the artist; developments in cinema, literature, art and music; the creation of collective memories and narratives of the pre-1989 era
• Historiography of post-1989 Central and Eastern Europe: assessing the debates and breakthroughs; identifying gaps and silences in the scholarly literature

Papers and panel proposals

Submission of a panel proposal: The proposal should be no longer than 500 words, and should include the panel convenor’s full name and e-mail address, as well names and e-mail addresses of at least two other panel participants.

Questions, as well as submissions of panel proposals and abstracts, should be directed to Gareth Dale,
For updates: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/0965156X.asp

The CPGB, AKEL and Cyprus

Nikos Christodoulides writes:

“I am doing a research on the policy of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) on Cyprus during the period, 1948-1960. As you know a lot of Cypriots based in the UK were active members of the CPGB, and Ezekias Papaioannou, the General Secretary of the Cyprus Communist Party (AKEL) from 1949, was an active member of the CPGB before returning in Cyprus.

I am trying to examine if the CPGB’s policy and stand οn Cyprus was in line with AKEL’s policy, how the party was approaching the issue of Cyprus, what was its stand on the struggle of EOKA, what was its position regarding the London and Zurich Agreements of 1959 which led to the independence of Cyprus and the establishment of the Republic of Cyprus, how it approached the attempts of the British Government from 1948 to 1960 to “solve” the issue of Cyprus, and etc.

I would appreciate it if anybody can provide me with information over the issue of my research, or advise me for any information available.

I already did a research on the archives of the party in Manchester, in the PRO, in the communist press in Cyprus and the UK, and interviewed a number of Cypriots who were active members of the CPGB.

Thank you.”

Dr Nikos Christodoulides
Post doctoral fellow
Department of History and Archaeology
University of Cyprus
email: n_christodoulides@yahoo.com

The story of Albert Fava

New publication

Jonathan Jeffries and Tom Sibley, The Shameful Deportation of a Trade Union leader: the story of Albert Fava, 64pp, TGWU Section of Unite Gibraltar

The year 2008 marked sixty years since the Gibraltarian trade union leader Albert Fava was deported by the British authorities from his homeland at less than a week’s notice. His alleged ‘crime’ was to engage in unnamed communist activities in the tiny British colony adjoining Spain which at the time was a fascist dictatorship which had assisted Hitler’s war on Britain, the Soviet Union, and the USA.

This pamphlet shows how the British authorities, in collusion with the British Trades Union Congress and local politicians, and the security were involved in securing his deportation.

Recently opened government files in London and Gibraltar show that there was in fact no evidence of Fava’s involvement in any activity prejudicing the security of the colony which at the time was a strategically important military fortress and home to extensive naval dockyards used by both the British and US fleets.

Copies available from: Tom Sibley, 156 St Stephens Rd, Hounslow TW3 2BW UK, price £3 including postage and packing. Please make cheques payable to Unite Section – Gibraltar.

Roundtable discussion on Western European Communist Leaders

Roundtable discussion on Western European Communist Leaders: John Bulaitis on Maurice Thorez; Donald Sassoon on Palmiro Togliatti; Andrew Thorpe on Harry Pollitt. Discussants: Giuseppe Vatalaro, Stephen Hopkins.

Saturday 31 January 2009
Club Room, Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London WC1; 2.00-5.00p.m.
Admission £1.50
Nearest tube: Holborn.

Organised by the Socialist History Society.