Volume 39 part 2 (1994)
Bibliography
General Issues
Continents and Countries
- Africa
South Africa | Zambia - America
Brazil | Canada | Mexico | Surinam | United States of America - Asia
China | India | The Philippines - Australia and Oceania
Australia - Europe
Belgium | Eire - Ireland | France | Germany | Great Britain | Italy | The Netherlands | Poland | Russia - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics | Spain | Yugoslavia
Book descriptions consist of: author, title, publisher, place and year of publication, number of pages, original price; followed by a brief summary of the contents.
All listed books are available in the IISH library.
General Issues
SOCIAL THEORY AND SOCIAL SCIENCE
The Althusserian Legacy. Ed. by E. Ann Kaplan and Michael Sprinker. Verso, London [etc.] 1993. viii, 245 pp. £34.95. (Paper: £11.95.)
Eleven essays in this volume originate from a conference (New York, 1988) on the intellectual legacy of the French philosopher Louis Althusser (1918-1990), including, inter alia, "The Non-Contemporaneity of Althusser" (Etienne Balibar), "What Is Living and What Is Dead in the Philosophy of Althusser" (Alex Callinicos), "Althusser's Liberation of Marxian Theory" (Stephen Resnick and Richard Wolff) and "Althusser's Marx, Althusser's Lacan" (Michèle Barrett). An interview with Althusser's long-time friend Jacques Derrida, as well as obituaries by Derrida and Gregory Elliot have been appended.
Bierhoff, Burkhard. Erich Fromm. Analytische Sozialpsychologie und visionäre Gesellschaftskritik. Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen 1993. 238 pp. DM 42.00.
This is the abridged version of a Habilitationsschrift (Dortmund, 1991), which deals with a reconstruction and discussion of the parts in the work of Erich Fromm (1900-1980) dealing with educational sociology and educational theory in relation to psycho-analytical theory. The author aims to rehabilitate Fromm's influence on the early development of the critical theory of the Frankfurter Schule; he focuses on the debate between Fromm and Herbert Marcuse on the revision of psycho-analytical theory.
Essays on Socialism. Ed. by Louis Patsouras and Jack Ray Thomas. EMText [Mellen Research University Press] San Francisco 1992. viii, 409 pp. $39.95; £19.95.
This collection of fourteen essays aims to give a general, although not exhaustive, survey of the many varieties of socialism. The contributions cover a wide range of themes, periods, persons and countries, including, inter alia, utopian and Owenite ideas on economic democracy in early nineteenth-century Ohio (Loyd D. Easton), the French anarcho-communist Jean Grave (the first editor), the leninist party (Paul LeBlanc), Léon Blum and French socialism (the first editor), the relation between christianity and socialism from the Troeltschean perspective (Michael Ray La Chat) and French liberalism and anarchism in the late nineteenth century (Boris Blick).
Habermas, Jürgen. Autonomy and Solidarity. Interviews with —. Revised Edition. Ed. and Introd. by Peter Dews. Verso, London [etc.] 1992. viii, 277 pp. £29.95. (Paper: £11.95.)
In this collection of twelve interviews - an enlarged edition of an earlier publication (London, 1986) - Jürgen Habermas recounts his intellectual and political biography, and discusses his views on contemporary social theory and social movements. In a substantive introductory essay the editor highlights a number of areas in which Habermas's thought has most frequently been subject to attack, employing Jean-François Lyotard's writings as a major point of reference.
Lefebvre, Henri. Éléments de rythmanalyse. Introduction à la connaissance des rythmes. Préface de René Lourau. Éditions Syllepse, Paris 1992. 115 pp. F.fr. 90.00.
Elaborating one of his most important works, Critique de la vie quotidienne (three volumes, 1947, 1962 and 1981), in which the contrast between linear and cyclical time is the main subject, the well-known French philosopher Henri Lefebvre (1901-1992) in this study examines all kinds of different rhythms, including human rhythms, but also the rhythms of language, of thought, of music and of the town. Thus he develops what he claims to be a new philosophical discipline: Rythmanalyse, the analysis of rhythms, in the broadest sense. A special essay on the rhythm of the mediterranean town, written together with Catherine Régulier, has been appended.
Linden, Marcel van der. Von der Oktoberrevolution zur Perestroika. Der westliche Marxismus und die Sowjetunion. Aus dem Niederländischen von Klaus Mellenthin. dipa-Verlag, Frankfurt/M. 1992. 348 pp. DM 54.00.
This is the revised German version of Het westers marxisme en de Sovjetunie (Amsterdam, 1989), which was noticed in IRSH, XXXV (1990), p. 141. In this German edition the author has added a new concluding chapter, in which he discusses the perspectives of the Soviet Union. Dr van der Linden concludes that all socialist strategies directed at national revolutions have become dubious.
Marwell, Gerald and Pamela Oliver. The Critical Mass in Collective Action. A Micro-Social Theory. [Studies in Rationality and Social Change.] Cambridge University Press, Cambridge [etc.] 1993. xii, 206 pp. £27.95; $44.95.
People who have a common interest in a collective good do not necessarily find it easy to act collectively in pursuit of that interest. This book is a formal mathematical analysis of some of the processes by which groups solve the problems of collective action. The authors emphasize the role of small subgroups of specially motivated and resourceful individuals, who form the "critical mass" that sets collective action in motion.
Old and New Methods in Historical Demography. Ed. by David S. Reher [and] Roger Schofield. [International Studies in Demography.] Clarendon Press, Oxford 1993. viii, 426 pp. £40.00.
The present volume aims to give a panoramic survey of the methodological developments in the field of historical demography. The twenty-one essays focus successively on time series analysis and other forms of population reconstruction; record linking and family reconstruction; the analytical technique of event-history analysis; microsimulation techniques to define the basic parameters of historical processes and the use of new sources and research techniques.
Social Theories of Risk. Ed. by Sheldon Krimsky and Dominic Golding. Praeger, Westport [etc.] 1992. xix, 412 pp. £53.95. (Paper: £19.95.)
This collection of fifteen essays tries to provide a comprehensive coverage of the established and emerging paradigms in risk research. In addition to studies of policy making and about the history and conceptual development of risk scholarship the book contains a number of essays that are more directly relevant to social historians, e.g., about risks as rallying points for social mobilization (Ortwin Renn) and risk management as social drama (Ingar Palmlund).
Zwischen Bewußtsein und Sein. Die Vermittlung "objektiver" Lebensbedingungen und "subjektiver" Lebensweisen. Hrsg. von Stefan Hradil. [Schriftenreihe "Sozialstrukturanalyse, Band 1.] Leske + Budrich, Opladen 1992. 294 pp. DM 48.00.
The mediation between social structure and consciousness is the main subject of this collection of twelve sociological and psychological essays. While linking up critically with the work of Ulrich Beck and Pierre Bourdieu in particular, the authors try to explore the relations between social changes and changes in habitus. Besides theoretical contributions, (German) case studies have been included, inter alia, of different life styles in Hamburg neighbourhoods, shifting mentalities, and conflicts in an East German community.
HISTORY
Seccombe, Wally. A Millennium of Family Change. Feudalism to Capitalism in Northwestern Europe. Verso, London [etc.] 1992. vii, 343 pp. £34.95.
Seccombe, Wally. Weathering the Storm. Working-Class Families from the Industrial Revolution to the Fertility Decline. Verso, London [etc.] 1993. vii, 286 pp. £34.95.
Drawing on a wide range of studies in family history, historical demography and economic history, Dr Seccombe reconstructs processes of family change from the early ages to the fertility decline in the early twentieth century. In A Millennium of Family Change the author provides an integrated survey of the long transition from feudalism to capitalism in Northwestern Europe. Starting from his working hypothesis that modes of production structure the forms of family and vice versa, Dr Seccombe takes issue with the Cambridge Group's continuity thesis and shows how the Western-European marriage system contributed to the breakthrough of industrial capitalism. In Weathering the Storm it is argued, inter alia, that the modern nuclear family only took shape relatively recently: whereas at the beginning of the nineteenth century working-class families tended to contain several earners, it was not until the First World War that the male breadwinner had become the norm.
Stearns, Peter N. The Industrial Revolution in World History. [Essays in World History.] Westview Press, Boulder [etc.] 1993. xiii, 254 pp. Ill. Maps. £8.95.
This textbook tries to give a world-wide survey of the development of the industrial revolution in its broadest sense from its starting point in Britain in the 1760s to its global distribution in the twentieth century. Although, according to the author, the concept of industrial revolution has proved to be slippery, it is still valid enough to use. Professor Stearns deals with the impact of the industrial revolution in its technical, economic and social aspects, examining both the larger power relations and the human experiences of work and family life.
COMPARATIVE HISTORY
Bargaining for Change. Union Politics in North America and Europe. Ed. by Miriam Golden and Jonas Pontusson. Cornell University Press, Ithaca [etc.] 1992. viii, 344 pp. $19.95.
The ten essays in this volume deal with union politics in North America and Western Europe in the period since the mid-1970s, exploring and comparing the ways in which unions have responded to the challenges of the coordination of wage bargaining at the national level, the restructuring of industrial sectors and changes in the organization of production at firm level. The introductory essay presents a comparative analytical framework for examining union policies. Contributors are Anthony Daley, Miriam Golden, Peggy Kahn, Richard Locke, Jeannette Money, Jonas Pontusson, Peter Swenson, Kathleen Thelen and Charlotte Yates.
Bowman, Shearer Davis. Masters & Lords. Mid-19th-Century U.S. Planters and Prussian Junkers. Oxford University Press, New York [etc.] 1993. xv, 357 pp. £37.50.
This study surveys the economic, social and political histories of two of the most important landed elites in the Western World in the mid-nineteenth century: the Southern planters in the United States and the Junkers in Prussian East Elbia. The author focuses on the Southern planters during the secession crisis of 1860-1861 and on the Junkers during the revolutionary crisis of 1848- 1849, contrasting the geography, demography and political structure of these two regional societies. Dr. Bowman concludes that the crucial distinction between the two landed elites is to be found in the Junkers' militarist and etatist monarchism versus the planters' libertarian but racist republicanism.
Creating and Transforming Households. The constraints of world-economy. Coordinated by Joan Smith [and] Immanuel Wallerstein. With Maria del Carmen Baerga, Mark Beittel, Kathie Friedman Kasaba [a.o.] [Studies in modern capitalism - Etudes sur le capitalisme moderne.] Cambridge University Press, Cambridge; Editions de la Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, Paris 1992. vii, 311 pp. £14.95; $18.95.
Drawing upon empirical data from eight local regions in three different zones - the United States, Mexico and Southern Africa - the authors of this collection of nine essays seek an explanation of the sharp discrepancy of wage levels across the world economy for work of comparable productivity. They explore the role of households as "income-pooling units", examining three key variables: location in the world-economy; periods of economic expansion or contraction; and secular transformation over time.
Ehmer, Joseph. Heiratsverhalten, Sozialstruktur, ökonomischer Wandel. England und Mitteleuropa in der Formationsperiode des Kapitalismus. [Kritische Studien zur Geschichtswissenschaft, Band 92.] Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1991. 324 pp. Maps. DM 56.00.
This monograph focuses on the question why during the industrial revolution the marrying age in England was lower than that in Central Europe. Combining theoretical and empirical analysis Dr Ehmer tries to explain these opposite social reactions to a similar type of economic process. Using the example of urban artisans, the author attempts to expose the interdependencies between marriage patterns, relations of production, social structures and cultural traditions.
Pedersen, Susan. Family, Dependence, and the Origins of the Welfare State. Britain and France, 1914-1945. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge [etc.] 1993. xv, 478 pp. £40.00; $64.95.
In this comparative study of the development of social security in Britain and France in the first half of the twentieth century the author argues that the social reformers and activists, who shaped early welfare politics, were often quite as concerned with gender relations and family maintenance as with social class. According to Professor Pedersen, the choices concerning distributive policies that were made in Britain and France were, however, very different, with important consequences for the wage system, the well-being of children and the citizenship status of men and women in the two countries.
CONTEMPORARY ISSUES
Bihr, Alain. Du "grand soir" à "l'alternative". Le mouvement ouvrier européen en crise. Préface de Pierre Fougeyrollas. ["Portes ouvertes".] Les Éditions Ouvrières, Paris 1991. 298 pp. F.fr. 135.00.
This abridged version of a doctoral thesis (Paris, 1991) analyses the crisis of the Western-European social-democratic model of socialism, which has become acute since the breakdown of the Eastern-European communist model of socialism. According to Dr Bihr, the final crisis of the present social-democratic model does not imply that socialism as such is in a final crisis. In the last part of his book he makes an inventory of ways in which to renew socialism in the light of the challenges of modern capitalism. Keywords for this are: federalism, local democracy, autonomy for specific social groups, syndicalism and a new world order.
Eder, Klaus. The New Politics of Class. Social Movements and Cultural Dynamics in Advanced Societies. [Theory, Culture & Society.] Sage Publications, London [etc.] 1993. x, 223 pp. £35.00. (Paper: £12.95.)
In this study Professor Eder aims to provide a cultural theory of class that incorporates the changing forms of collective action and the new social movements in contemporary societies. The author sees class as a social construction and states "that the mobilization of collective action is the basic mechanism that changes the boundaries between classes and shapes class relationships". The model developed re-evaluates the role of the middle classes and links class to social theories of power and cultural capital.
The Future of Labour Movements. Ed. by Marino Regini. [Sage Studies in International Sociology, Vol. 43.] Sage Publications Ltd, London 1992. xii, 275 pp. £35.00.
This collection of ten essays, originating from a conference of the International Sociological Association in 1989, deals with the traditions and future of collective workers' actions and labour movements in Western states, in the light of the challenge the neo-liberal, anti-labour policies in the 1980s posed to the labour movements. Contributions included are, inter alia: "The Strength of Union Movements in Advanced Capitalist Democracies: Social and Organizational Variations" (Jelle Visser), "Trade Unions and the Disaggregation of the Working Class" (Richard Hyman) and "Trade Unions and Decentralized Production: a Sketch of Strategic Problems in the German Labour Movement" (Horst Kern and Charles F. Sabel).
Miles, Robert. Racism after 'race relations'. Routledge, London [etc.] 1993. ix, 243 pp. £37.50. (Paper: £12.99.)
This book examines the scope of the concept of racism in the light of the problematic status of the idea of "race" and the histories of migration and racism. Dr Miles, who published a book on race-relations in Britain (see IRSH, 38 (1993), p. 282), opposes the idea that racism is always linked to colonialism and focuses on the formation of nations in Europe in relation to migration and a number of "interior racisms" that resulted from it. The author concludes with an analysis of the current relationships between, migration, nationalism and racism in the European Community today. CONTINENTS AND COUNTRIES
AFRICA
South Africa
Crush, Jonathan, Alan Jeeves, and David Yudelman. South Africa's Labor Empire. A History of Black Migrancy to the Gold Mines. Westview Press, Boulder [etc.]; David Philip, Cape Town 1991. xviii, 266 pp. Ill. £24.50.
This book provides an historical account of the growth and consolidation of black migrancy to the South-African gold mines between 1920 and 1970, paying special attention to the developments from the 1940s. The book also documents and tries to explain the changes that have occurred in the migrant-labour system since 1970 and assesses the prospects for the continuing transformation of subcontinental labour migrancy in the future.
Ramphele, Mamphela. A Bed Called Home. Life in the Migrant Labour Hostels of Cape Town. Photographs by Roger Meintjes. David Philip, Cape Town 1993; Ohio University Press, Athens; Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, in assoc. with The International African Institute. viii, 152 pp. Ill. R49.95.
This study documents the life in migrant-labour hostel dwellings of Cape Town, South Africa, which have lately drawn world-wide attention because of the frequent violence between township and hostel dwellers, and among hostel dwellers themselves. Dr Ramphele uses the concept of space, not only in the literal physical sense, but in the broader sense of political, ideological, social and economic space as well, to sketch the constraints exerted on the hostel dwellers by the very limited space they inhabit. She argues that, nonetheless, there are emancipatory possibilities in this environment.
Zambia
Moore, Henrietta L. and Megan Vaughan. Cutting Down Trees. Gender, Nutrition, and Agricultural Change in the Northern Province of Zambia 1890-1990. [Social History of Africa.] Heinemann, Portsmouth (NH); James Currey, London; University of Zambia Press, Lusaka 1994. xxvi, 278 pp. Ill. Maps. £35.00. (Paper: £12.95.)
Partly as a repeat study of Audrey Richards's classic anthropological work Labour, Land and Diet: An Economic Study of the Bemba Tribe (1939) this book deals with the problems of rural food supply, household production and gender relations in the Northern province of Zambia in the period 1890-1990. Using data from Richards's work in the 1930s and from the 1950s, the authors analyse the changes in agriculture and food supply in relation to an analysis of the changing relationship between regional and local processes, between household consumption and the wider economy, and between labour migration and the sexual division of labour.
AMERICA
Gewerkschaften und Neoliberalismus in Lateinamerika. Hrsg. von Holm-Detlev Köhler und Manfred Wannöffel. Westfälisches Dampfboot, Münster 1993. 163 pp. DM 34.00.
The ten contributions in this collection examine the reactions of trade unions in Latin America to the recent challenges of the growing dominance of neo-liberalism as the basis for the economic policies of many Latin American countries, and the changing power relations in the world market. Contributors deal with trade unions in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico and Venezuela.
Brazil
Sandoval, Salvador A.M. Social Change and Labor Unrest in Brazil Since 1945. Westview Press, Boulder [etc.] 1993. xv, 245 pp. £26.95.
This book examines the relationship between labour and the state in Brazil between 1945 and 1989, focusing on strike activity. Using statistical data, Professor Sandoval investigates the characteristics of the political participation of workers through analyses of the patterns of work stoppages and strike actions. He explores the importance of political, economic and organizational processes in generating industrial strikes. In his conclusions the author compares his findings with three important theories on strike activity: the economic interpretation, the industrial-relations approach and the political approach.
Canada
Drink in Canada. Historical Essays. Ed. by Cheryl Krasnick Warsh. McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal [etc.] 1993. vi, 272 pp. Ill. Maps. £33.95.
This collection of nine essays deals with the social history of alcohol in Canada in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Contributions included deal, inter alia, with the historiography of the social history of alcohol (the editor), with temperance movements among French-speaking catholics in the middle of the nineteenth century (Jan Noel), with drinking women (the editor), with inebriate institutions in North America, 1840-1920 (Jim Baumohl) and with the evolution of government liquor control in British Columbia, 1920-1988 (Robert A. Campbell). A bibliography (Pamela McKenzie) has been appended.
Frager, Ruth A. Sweatshop Strife. Class, Ethnicity, and Gender in the Jewish Labour Movement of Toronto 1900-1939. [Social History of Canada, 47.] University of Toronto Press, Toronto [etc.] 1992. xiii, 300 pp. Ill. C$
Focusing on the complex interaction of class, ethnic and gender interests and identities, as well as on political divisions, the author of this book examines the development of the labour movement among Jewish garment workers in Toronto from 1900 until 1939. According to the author the position of these strongly socialist orientated unions, such as the Amalgamated Clothing Workers, the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union and the International Union of Needle Trade Workers, was weakened by ethnic, gender and ideological divisions, which were manipulated by the employers.
Mexico
Carr, Barry. Marxism & Communism in Twentieth-Century Mexico. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln [etc.] 1992. xiii, 437 pp. $49.50.
This book describes the rise and final formal disappearance of the communist and marxist tradition in Mexico as represented by the Partido Comunista Mexicano (PCM) and its successors in the period 1919-1989. The book focuses on a number of episodes, which, according to the author, mark significant breaks or advances in the development of the Mexican left, or give an important insight into key processes: inter alia, the origins of the PCM and its first decade, the Browderist heresy during 1943-1945, the responses by the left to the bloody suppression of the student popular movement of 1968 and the unification of the left in the 1970s and 1980s.
Surinam
Stipriaan, Alex van. Surinaams contrast. Roofbouw en overleven in een Caraïbische plantagekolonie 1750-1863. [Caribbean Series 13.] KITLV Uitgeverij, Leiden 1993. xiii, 494 pp. Ill. D.fl. 60.00.
This doctoral thesis (Free University of Amsterdam, 1991) is an attempt at integral historiography of the Surinam plantations in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The author shows that several sectors existed in plantations - coffee, sugar, cotton - which were structurally different from each other and each were subject to their own development. Attention is paid to economic, technological, demographic and social circumstances.
United States of America
Fighting Back in Appalachia. Traditions of Resistance and Change. Ed. by Stephen L. Fisher. Temple University Press, Philadelphia 1993. x, 365 pp. Ill. $49.95. (Paper: $19.95.)
The sixteen essays in this collection examine the extent and variety of citizen resistance and struggle in the Appalachian region in the United States since 1960. According to the editor, the essays offer an opportunity to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of neo-populist theory, which from the 1980s challenges traditional Marxist notions of how radical movements originate and flourish. They do so by arguing that people are not so much moved to action by abstract principles of class consciousness as by drawing upon and defending their own traditions and culture.
Fink, Gary M. The Fulton Bag and Cotton Mills Strike of 1914-1915. Espionage, Labor Conflict, and New South Industrial Relations. [Cornell Studies in Industrial and Labor Relations, Nr 28.] ILR Press, Ithaca 1993. xii, 180 pp. Ill. $26.00.
This study gives an account of the development and the backgrounds of the large strike at the Fulton Bag and Cotton Mills, Atlanta, Georgia, which lasted for a year in 1914-1915, and drew nationwide attention. According to Professor Fink, this strike was not only an average labour-management dispute, but also involved ethnic confrontations, gender divisions, social and economic reforms, regional and sectorial differences, and a management's interpretation of new ideas about efficiency. In the author's view labour could not win the strike, given the industry's bad economic perspectives, which determined the management's inflexible attitude.
Fitrakis, Robert J. The Idea of Democratic Socialism in America and the Decline of the Socialist Party. [Modern American History.] Garland Publishing, Inc., New York [etc.] 1993. ix, 362 pp. $80.00.
This study traces the history of the Socialist Party of America from its foundation in 1901 until the collapse at the end of 1972, when the last leader, Michael Harrington, left the party to start a new organisation, the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee. According to the author, the essential relationship in the history of the Socialist Party has been that between its radical strategy and the faith its adherents placed in the party. Focusing on the three successive leaders, Eugene Debs (1855-1926), Norman Thomas (1884-1968) and Michael Harrington (1928-1989), and their varying policies, the author concludes that the Socialist Party was "peculiarly dependent upon its political activism and electoral crusades".
New Studies in the Politics and Culture of U.S. Communism. Ed. by Michael E. Brown, Randy Martin, Frank Rosengarten, and George Snedeker. Monthly Review Press, New York 1993. 330 pp. Ill. $18.00.
Ten of the eleven essays in this volume were first presented at a conference marking the seventieth anniversary of the Communist Party of the USA in 1989. Besides a general study by Michael E. Brown about "The History of the History of U.S. Communism" the collection contains, inter alia, contributions about the Popular Front period (Mark Naison, John Gerassi), the Communist influence on American Labour (Roger Keeran), Women and the CPUSA (Rosalyn Baxandall), the CPUSA and African Americans (Gerald Horne) and the New York Workers School, 1923-1944 (Marvin E. Gettleman).
Pittenger, Mark. American Socialists and Evolutionary Thought, 1870-1920. [History of American Thought and Culture.] The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison 1993. x, 310 pp. £19.95.
The aim of this study is to demonstrate how the evolutionary ideas of Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer had an important influence on the American socialist movement at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. Focusing on two distinct periods, the Gilded and the Progressive Era, Professor Pittenger describes how many socialist activists saw evolutionary science as the necessary foundation for socialist theory and practice. He concludes that this influence of evolutionism on American socialism caused a decline of the importance of Marxist revolutionary socialism and thus the merging of American socialism in a broader progressive movement.
Ralph, James R., Jr. Northern Protest. Martin Luther King, Jr., Chicago, and the Civil Rights Movement. Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Mass.) [etc.] 1993. xi, 338 pp. $27.95; £22.25.
This study deals with the campaign of Martin Luther King's Civil Rights Movement in Chicago, which became known as the Chicago Freedom Movement of 1965-1966. Professor Ralph tries to explain why, in contrast to its campaigns earlier in the 1960s in the South of the United States, King's Movement in Chicago failed to win general support from whites as well as blacks. The author concludes that the Civil Rights Movement's attempt at expanding equality of opportunity into more private realms of American life, especially into the problem of fair housing, exposed the limits of the hitherto existing consensus on civil rights.
Rydell, Robert W. World of Fairs. The Century-of-Progress Expositions. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago [etc.] 1993. x, 269 pp. Ill. $19.50; £13.50.
This study deals with the various fairs - or exhibitions -, organized in the United States between 1926 and 1940, which celebrated the "century of progress", that is the technological progress from the nineteenth century onward. Professor Rydell, who published a history of American fairs in the Victorian era in 1984, aims to discover the collective significance and cumulative impact of the fairs as ideological constructs. He concludes that the fairs provided an important means of cultural continuity in a period of severe economic crisis.
ASIA
China
Barnouin, Barbara [and] Yu Changgen. Ten Years of Turbulence. The Chinese Cultural Revolution. [Publication of the Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva.] Kegan Paul International, London [etc.] 1993. viii, 369 pp. £55.00.
See Michael Schoenhals's review in this volume, pp. 285-286.
McCord, Edward A. The Power of the Gun. the emergence of Modern Chinese Warlordism. University of California Press, Berkeley [etc.] 1993. ix, 436 pp. $45.00.
Challenging the standard interpretation of warlordism as part of a larger process of disintegrating central authority in China in the period 1911-1921, Professor McCord argues in this study that the emergence of modern China's warlords was the result of the frequent use of the military to settle disputes over the structure and allocation of political power in the early Republic by central civil authority. In a case study of the provinces of Hunan and Hubei the author aims to show the social and political context that gave rise to warlordism in this period.
India
Mallick, Ross. Development policy of a Communist government: West Bengal since 1977. [Cambridge South Asian Studies, 54.] Cambridge University Press, Cambridge [etc.] 1993. xiv, 236 pp. £30.00; $59.95.
This study gives an assessment of the development policy of the communist government of the Indian state of West Bengal, where a democratically elected Left-Front communist government has continually been in power from 1977 onward. Contrary to the commonly held view that West Bengal is one of the few positive examples of communist development policy, Dr Mallick argues that the Left Front failed in terms of redistributive reforms, not primarily because of the limitations of its power and resources, but because it did not make appropriate use of the powers and resources it had at its disposal.
The Philippines
Larkin, John A. Sugar and the Origins of Modern Philippine Society. University of California Press, Berkeley [etc.] 1993. xvi, 337 pp. Ill. Maps. $48.00.
The present monograph investigates the history of the two most important sugar-producing regions, Negros Occidental and Pampanga. Professor Larkin depicts the impact of colonial economic forces on the rise of the elite plantation-owning class, the subsequent gap that developed between the extraordinary wealthy and the impoverished, and the nation's dependence on the international market.
AUSTRALIA AND OCEANIA
Australia
Cain, Frank. The Wobblies at War: a history of the IWW and the Great War in Australia. Spectrum Publications, Melbourne 1993. viii, 300 pp. Ill. A$ 19.95.
This study examines the history of the "Industrial Workers of the World" (IWW) in Australia in the period 1907-1917. The IWW originated in the United States and was taken up by labour activists in Australia. The IWW did not really get off the ground in Australia, until it opposed Australia's participation in World War I after 1914. Because of this the IWW was banned in 1916 and eliminated one year later by deporting its leaders. According to the author the IWW aimed at a coalition of the whole working class to bring about the proletarian revolution in Marxist-Leninist style.
Frances, Raelene and Bruce Scates. Women at Work in Australia from the Gold Rushes to World War II. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge [etc.] 1993. v, 146 pp. Ill. £11.95; $21.95.
In this richly illustrated textbook attention is paid to the different forms and sectors of women's labour in Australia from the 1850s to 1940, such as domestic service, manufacturing, commerce, public administration and the professions, as well as to those on the margin of society: aboriginal women, poor white women and prostitutes. One chapter is specially devoted to women and the arts. The authors conclude that the twentieth century did not bring freedom of choice or equal opportunities for working women in Australia. Questions on the text for teaching purposes have been appended.
EUROPE
Kommunisten verfolgen Kommunisten. Stalinistischer Terror und "Säuberungen" in den kommunistischen Parteien Europas seit den dreißiger Jahren. Hrsg. von Hermann Weber und Dietrich Staritz in Verbindung mit Siegfried Bahne und Richard Lorenz. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1993. 576 pp. DM 88.00.
This collection contains 35 contributions to an international conference (Mannheim, 1992) on Stalinist terror and "purges" in the communist parties in Europe since the 1930s. The contributions are based on research in the newly opened Soviet archives and deal with, inter alia, the ideological roots of the terror, the Stalinist "purges" in the 1930s within the Comintern and the Communist Parties of the Soviet Union and a number of European countries, the example of the German Communist Party, different aspects of the political and literary coming to terms with the Moscow trials and the Stalinist "purges" in the Soviet Union and the Eastern European countries after 1945.
Locating Health. Sociological and historical explorations. Ed. by Stephen Platt, Hilary Thomas, Sue Scott [and] Gareth Williams. [Explorations in Sociology, No. 44.] Avebury, Aldershot [etc.] 1993. xxi, 253 pp. £37.50.
The contributions in this collection, revised versions of papers originally presented at the British Sociological Association's 1991 conference with the same title, discuss the divisions and inequalities of health in Britain and Europe. Contributions included are, inter alia, "The impact of income inequality on life expectancy" (Richard Wilkinson), "Gender differences in longevity and health in Eastern and Western Europe" (Sally Macintyre), "Feminism and the health consequences of women's work in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Britain" (Barbara Harrison), "How do places shape health? Rethinking locality and lifestyle in North-East England" (Peter Phillimore) and "Health and ignorance" (David Smith and Malcolm Nicolson).
Sperber, Jonathan. The European Revolutions, 1848-1851. [New Approaches to European History.] Cambridge University Press, Cambridge [etc.] 1994. xviii, 282 pp. Maps. £27.95; $49.95. (Paper: £9.95; $14.95.)
This is a textbook aiming to introduce the principal themes and problems concerning the revolutions in Europe in the period 1848-1851. Professor Sperber describes the events of the various national revolts in this period, analyzes the contrasting social and political tensions underlying their outbreak, explores the different varieties of revolutionary experience and compares the events in this period to both the previous revolutionary wave of 1789-1795 and the later revolutions in the period 1917-1923.
Von der Heimat in die Fabrik. Industrialisierung und Arbeiterschaft in Leinen- und Baumwollregionen Westeuropas während des 18. und 19. Jahrhunderts. Hrsg. von Karl Ditt und Sidney Pollard. [Forschungen zur Regionalgeschichte, Band 5.] Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 1992. xiii, 508 pp. Maps. DM 78.00.
Based on a conference in Münster in July 1991, this collection contains fifteen contributions concerning the economic and social history of the industrialization in three cotton manufacturing regions (Lancashire, East-Switzerland and Westmünsterland) and three linen working regions (Ulster, Flanders and Minden-Ravensberg) in the period between 1680 and 1914. Central question is whether interregional similarities and an economically determined basic model can be discovered in the transition from proto-industry to industrial weaving mills, or that this transition differed according to the specific political and regional conditions.
Belgium
Congés payés 36. Histoire et Idéologies. Actes du colloque organisé à Bruxelles le 29 novembre 1986, par le mouvement Culture-Tourisme- Loisirs, CTL. Coordinateur du coll. et de la réd. finale: André Hut. Editions Artel, Bruxelles 1991. 126 pp.
This publication contains papers presented at a conference on the history and ideology of the Belgian movement for paid holidays that was organized in Brussels in 1986 by the "Centre de Recherche et de Formation en Animation Touristique" (CERFAT), the research and educational centre of the movement for permanent education "Culture-Tourisme-Loisirs" (CTL). The eleven papers included deal with the practice, as well as the ideological foundations of labour movement "organized holidays".
Hilden, Patricia Penn. Women, Work, and Politics. Belgium, 1830-1914. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1993. xv, 357 pp. £40.00.
In this study of the working women of Belgium from the country's independence in 1830 until the First World War, Professor Hilden argues that the success of Belgium's industrial revolution was uniquely dependent on female labour. Women in Belgium were active in almost every industrial sector, unrestricted by the labour legislation that controlled female wage labour in other countries. According to the author, this unique deviation from the historical pattern elsewhere also had a clear influence on the emerging politics of the Belgian working class, with women participating in male-led organizations, as well as organising their own movements.
Scholliers, Peter. Arm en rijk aan tafel. Tweehonderd jaar eetcultuur in België. EPO, Berchem 1993; BRTN Educatieve Uitgaven, Brussel. 287 pp. Ill. B.fr. 995.00.
This textbook, intended for a general audience, sketches the changes in nutrition patterns and food culture in Belgium from the beginning of industrial capitalism, ca 1800, until the present day. According to the author, the inequality in nutrition between the poor and the rich increased drastically as a result of the industrialization. Dr Scholliers argues that only with the beginning of the second phase of industrialization this gap between the upper and lower classes decreased, but that to a certain degree it still exists today.
Eire - Ireland
O'Connor, Emmet. A Labour History of Ireland 1824-1960. Gill and Macmillan, Dublin 1992. xiii, 270 pp. £35.00. (Paper: £12.99.)
This comprehensive survey of Irish labour history from the revocation of the Combination Acts in 1824 to the 1960s is intended both for the general reader and as a synopsis for the specialist. Among the themes discussed are labour's marginalization during the nineteenth century, the nationalist question and the unequal power of the social democrat and the trade-union movements in the twentieth century.
Stephens, James. The Insurrection in Dublin. With an Introd. and Afterword by John A. Murphy. Colin Smythe, Gerrards Cross 1992. xxxiv, 116 pp. Ill. £4.95.
This is a reprint from the 1978 edition of this eye-witness account of the Irish Volunteers' Easter Rising in 1916, originally published in October 1916. The author was a well-known Irish literary writer and poet. The background and aftermath of the rising are dealt with in an introduction and afterword by Professor John A. Murphy.
The United Irishmen. Republicanism, Radicalism and Rebellion. Ed. by David Dickson, Dáire Keogh and Kevin Whelan. The Lilliput Press, Dublin 1993. xii, 378 pp. Ill. £25.00. (Paper: £15.00.)
These proceedings of a conference commemorating the United Irish bicentenary (Belfast and Dublin, 1991) contain twenty-two essays on Irish politics and society in the 1790s. Dealt with are, among other subjects, Presbyterian radicalism (Pieter Tesch), the Belfast middle classes (W.H. Crawford), parliamentary reform (James Kelly) and the relationships of the United Irishmen with Scottish radicalism (John Brims), freemasonry (Jim Smyth) and the Enlightenment (Kevin Whelan).
France
Aminzade, Ronald. Ballots and Barricades. Class Formation and Republican Politics in France, 1830-1871. Princeton University Press, Princeton 1993. xiv, 321 pp. Ill. $49.50; £42.50. (Paper: $18.95; £14.95.)
Using a comparative case-study design Dr Aminzade explores political activity among workers in three mid-nineteenth-century cities: Toulouse, Saint-Etienne and Rouen. The author reconstructs how the interaction between industrialization, class relations and party development fostered revolutionary communes in some cities but not in others, thus providing an explanation of the failed municipal revolutions of 1871 and the triumph of liberal-democratic institutions.
Charle, Christophe. Histoire sociale de la France au XIXe siècle. Éditions du Seuil, Paris 1991. 399 pp. Maps. F.fr. 53.00.
In this concise textbook Dr Charle deals with the social history of France in the nineteenth century, focusing on the dynamics of and the relationships between the different social groups and classes he distinguishes. Opposing the marxist current, dominant in French historiography up to the 1980s, the author distinguishes two successive models of social dominance in this period: the elite-model and a meritocratic model, which became dominant from ca 1870, and made way for the democratic model of the twentieth century.
Cohn, Samuel. When Strikes Make Sense - And Why. Lessons from Third Republic French Coal Miners. [Plenum Studies in Work and Industry.] Plenum Press, New York [etc.] 1993. xvi, 254 pp. Maps. $37.50.
In this book Professor Cohn analyses the outcomes of strikes to determine what strategies in labour conflicts are the most advantageous for union members, making use of data from a case study of French coal miners in the period 1890-1935. Focusing on the long-term implications as well as on the short-term effects, instead of only on the causes and direct outcomes of strikes, the author develops a set of models, which set bargaining at the centre of the analysis. Among other things, the author reaches the conclusion that striking is most appropriate for unions of intermediate strength.
Groux, Guy [et] René Mouriaux. La C.G.T. Crises et alternatives. [Collection La Vie Politique.] Economica, Paris 1992. 307 pp. Maps. F.fr. 150.00.
In this study of the largest labour organisation in France, the Confédération Générale du Travail (C.G.T.), in the period from its founding (1895) until now, its present crisis, in terms of following and influence, is analysed in two different ways. First, the present crisis is compared to previous crises. Second, a large enquiry among 31 different working sites is used to analyse the different causes of the present crisis at the level of the rank and file in terms of, inter alia, tensions between the syndicalism of the masses and of the classes, the relation between the leadership and the rank and file, and the relations to political parties.
Guillaume, Pierre. Histoire sociale de la France au XXe siècle. ["Un siècle d'Histoire".] Masson, Paris [etc.] 1993. xi, 242 pp. F.fr. 120.00.
In this historical survey of French society in the twentieth century Professor Guillaume has chosen for a structural approach, in which he combines traditional concepts, which analyse society in terms of class differences of social-professional categories, with a special emphasis on the margin for individuals within general social structures and on the simultaneous occurrence of social climbing and growth of wellbeing for large groups on the one hand and the reduction to a marginal existence of small groups on the other.
Les Héritages du congrès de Tours 1920-1990. Sous la dir. de Jacques Girault. Les Carrefours de la Pensée, Le Mans n.d. [1992.] 200 pp. F.fr. 100.00.
This collection contains the four introductions and subsequent discussions held at a conference in 1990, organized by an independent organization, the Carrefour de la pensée, on the occasion of the seventieth anniversary of the Congress of Tours, about the heritage of this historic congress of the French socialist party, the section française d'Internationale Ouvrière (SFIO). At this congress the schism between communists and social-democrats became definitive by the foundation, by the majority, of the section française d'Internationale Communiste, the communist party of France. According to the editor, the conference of 1990 was the first occasion on which historians from both traditions discussed the causes and effects of the schism of Tours apart from fixed party-political points of view.
Lefebvre, Denis. Guy Mollet. Le mal aimé. Plon, Paris 1992. 567 pp. Ill. F.fr. 149.00.
This is a comprehensive biography of Guy Mollet (1905-1975), one of the leading French socialists in the 1950s, prime minister at the peak of the Algerian rebellion (1956/1957), one of the architects of the European Community and founder of the Office universitaire de recherche socialiste (OURS), the scientific bureau of the French socialist party. Both in his own circle and among his political opponents Mollet obtained a bad reputation, especially as a consequence of the Algerian conflict. The author, secretary general of the OURS, aims to present a picture of Mollet's life based on the sources and not on the surfeit of negative images that exist of him.
Lewis, Gwynne. The French Revolution. Rethinking the debate. [Historical Connections.] Routledge, London [etc.] 1993. ix, 131 pp. £5.99.
In this concise textbook Professor Lewis tries to show the relations of the social, cultural and economic aspects of the French Revolution to the intellectual and political aspects of the Revolution itself and of the historiographical debate concerning its interpretation. Focusing on the controversies between marxisant and revisionist historians he concludes that, "[...] if any meeting of minds is to be achieved, marxisant historians, or, at least, some of them, need to accept a more Thompsonian, yes, a more cultural 'history-as-process' approach, whilst revisionists need to remind themselves that social history is not, of necessity, the history of structurally determined, preordained social classes."
Margadant, Ted W. Urban Rivalries in the French Revolution. Princeton University Press, Princeton 1992. xvi, 511 pp. Maps. $65.00; £47.50. (Paper: $24.95; £14.95.)
This study examines France's territorial reorganization in 1791, subsequent to the Revolution of 1789, when the whole of France was rearranged into a new hierarchy of administrative and judicial regions. After describing the institutional crisis of the old regime, which brought about the rearrangement, Professor Margadant examines the process of politicization from an urban perspective on the basis of extensive statistical analysis. He describes, how leaders of small and medium-sized towns used revolutionary slogans and tactics to challenge the position of large towns. The author concludes that this territorial reorganization generated intense urban rivalries, which deeply influenced the process of institutional reform.
Morilhat, Claude. Charles Fourier, imaginaire et critique sociale. [Coll. "Philosophie".] Méridiens Klincksieck, Paris 1991. 212 pp. F.fr. 139.00.
According to the author of this study, the ideas of Charles Fourier (1772-1837), one of the most famous utopianists, have been misinterpreted until now by his advocates in his own days as well as by modern scholars. The former did this by focusing only on his critique of capitalism's social order, thereby consciously overlooking his libertarian ideas on sexual morals, and the latter do it the other way round, by focusing on his ideas on sexual liberation. Mr Morilhat interprets Fourier's utopian world as an opera, thus doing justice to both his rationality and his more irrational fantasies.
Moulier Boutang, Yann. Louis Althusser. Une biographie. Tome 1. La formation du mythe (1918-1956). Bernard Grasset, Paris 1992. 509 pp. Ill. F.fr. 175.00.
This is the first volume of a biography of Louis Althusser (1918-1990), one of the most influential French neo-marxist philosophers, whose life as well as the causes of his influence on the generation of 1968 have largely remained an enigma, which the author aims to solve. The biography was written by an acquaintance of Althusser's in the last part of his life, on the basis of material that he hmself provided. This first volume deals with the first 38 years of his life, his catholic, royalist background, his period as a prisoner of war, his introduction to communism and to his later wife and his development as a marxist.
Papayanis, Nicholas. The Coachmen of Nineteenth-Century Paris. Service Workers and Class Consciousness. Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge [etc.] 1993. xvii, 247 pp. Ill. $45.00; £42.75.
This book presents an integral history of the coachmen and the cab trade in nineteenth-century Paris, looking at the social background of these urban service workers, their work experience and the development of social and political consciousness, as well as at the economic and structural development of the cab trade. Professor Papayanis focuses on the second half of the nineteenth century, when the coachmen's unions were established, and on two major strikes, during the Paris exhibitions in 1878 and 1889, which were the expression of a shift from corporate to revolutionary ideology among the Parisian coachmen. In this period the technological innovation of the motor cab marks the beginning of a new era.
Re-creating Authority in Revolutionary France. Ed. by Bryant T. Ragan, Jr, and Elizabeth A. Williams. With a Foreword by Lynn Hunt. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick 1992. xiii, 235 pp. Ill. $40.00. (Paper: $15.00.)
The seven essays in this collection, resulting from a conference in Oklahoma in 1989, were all written by young scholars in the field, who take the revisionist, anti-Marxist views of François Furet on the French Revolution as a starting point in their analysis of the struggle over political and cultural authority from 1789 throughout the nineteenth century. Contributions included deal with, inter alia, Jacobins' women's clubs in the French Revolution (Suzanne Desan), the creation of medical authority (the second editor), the culture of statistics and cholera in Paris, 1830-1850 (Catherine J. Kudlick) and the recycling of the Ancien Régime furniture style in the nineteenth century.
Siwek-Pouydesseau, Jeanne. Le syndicalisme des fonctionnaires jusqu'à la guerre froide 1848-1948. Presses Universitaires de Lille, n.p. [Villeneuve d'Asq] 1989. 342 pp. F.fr. 150.00.
This study examines the origins and development of the unions of civil servants in France in the period 1848-1948. According to the author, the growing unions among civil servants developed parallel to, and not in succession or in imitation of the growing labour unions in the private sector. Originating from the lower and middle echelons of the French civil service, the civil servants' syndicates succeeded in creating a codified legal possiton for civil servants in the Interbellum by means of cooperation with the parliamentary left. Attention is paid also to the consequences this syndicalism had for the bureaucratization in France.
Tixier, Pierre Eric. Mutation ou déclin du syndicalisme? Le cas de la CFDT. Préface de Jean Kaspar. [Sociologies.] Presses Universitaires de France, Paris 1992. 333 pp. F.fr. 198.00.
In this doctoral thesis (Paris, 1990) the causes of the decline in the membership of the second largest labour union in France, the Confédération française démocratique du Travail (CFDT), during the last twenty years are examined from a perspective of the sociology of organizations. On the basis of a large research project during 1981-1986, with over 400 interviews and access to internal meetings and documents, Professor Tixier concludes that an internal reorganization is necessary, which decreases the distance between the top of the organization and the rank and file that is caused by its institutionalization, and that the labour movement as such should become more independent from party politics.
Vovelle, Michel. La découverte de la politique. Géopolitique de la révolution française. Éditions La Découverte, Paris 1993. 363 pp. Maps. F.fr. 195.00.
In this study of the rise of political consciousness and the growth of a national consciousness during the French Revolution. Professor Vovelle investigates to what extent and in what way the Revolution shaped and imposed a national political culture and new political practices. In this investigation, following anthropologists like Hervé le Bras and American political scientists, he chooses a geopolitical approach, offering over 300 maps, to describe, e.g., the geographical distribution of political sentiments, the distribution of the press and the reactions towards the religious schism.
Weil, Patrick. La France et ses étrangers. L'aventure d'une politique de l'immigration 1938-1991. Calmann-Lévy, n.p. [Paris] 1991. 403 pp. F.fr. 140.00.
In this doctoral thesis (Paris, 1988) the author opposes the commonly held opinion that from the end of the 1930s until 1991 France lacked a consistent immigration policy. In the first part of this study Dr Weil sketches how the existing policy developed. In this he thoroughly deals with the period after 1974 in particular. In the second part he examines the everyday practice of the implementation of this immigration policy and concludes that, although the principles of the policy are consistent and independent from the political issues of the day, the practical application of that policy is indeed dependent upon them.
Germany
Gietinger, Klaus. Eine Leiche im Landwehrkanal. Die Ermordung der Rosa L. Decaton Verlag, Mainz 1993. 109 pp. DM 14.00.
The research for this account of the murder and the judicial investigations and trial afterwards was originally intended for a scenario for a television documentary, which was never produced. Previously published in the Internationale wissenschaftliche Korrespondenz zur Geschichte der deutschen Arbeiterbewegung (IWK), this booklet is the most detailed account available in the form of a book of the actual event, the conspiracy of the army officers of the Reichswehr who committed the crime, and the history of the attitudes of the German army and judiciary concerning the double murder on Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg.
Katholizismus und Sozialismus in Deutschland im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert. Hrsg. und erläutert von Wolfgang Ockenfels. [Beiträge zur Katholizismusforschung: Reihe A, Quellentexte zur Geschichte des Katholizismus, Band 11.] Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn [etc.] 1992. 188 pp. DM 22.80.
This is a collection of essays by German catholic writers on socialism and social democracy, and on the relation between socialism/social democracy and catholic social ideology and politics, covering the period from 1835 until 1981. In his introduction the editor sketches the development of this relationship, in which one can speak of a growing dialogue under the influence of the developments within socialism and social democracy as well as within German catholicism.
Koth, Harald. "Meine Zeit wird wieder kommen ...". Das Leben des Karl Kautsky. Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1993. 280 pp. Ill. DM 36.00.
This concise biography of Karl Kautsky (1854-1938) emphasises the sharp contrasts in the life of the once most famous Marxist theoretician. According to the author his position as a leading socialist thinker became very weak after 1914, when he, unsuccessfully, tried to play the role of a mediator between the left wing and the main stream in the SPD and subsequently joined the reformist wing.
Lepsius, M. Rainer. Demokratie in Deutschland. Soziologisch-historische Konstellationsanalysen. Ausgew. Aufsätze. [Kritische Studien zur Geschichtswissenchaft, Band 100.] Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1993. 362 pp. DM 68.00.
This is a selection of 16 essays by the well-known German sociologist, all previously published between 1966 and 1992, on central problems of the political and social development of Germany from 1871 until the present day. The essays are arranged under four themes: the democratization of Germany until 1933 and the disruption of civil society by national-socialism; the social and political development of the German Federal Republic from 1949 till the reunification in 1989; the adaptation of Germany to the development of the European Community and German citizenship and Bildungsbürgertum.
Der Nachrichtendienst der KPD 1919-1937. [Von] Bernd Kaufmann (Leitung), Eckhard Reisener, Dieter Schwips [und] Henri Walther. Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1993. 462 pp. Ill. DM 45.00.
This study sketches the development of the intelligence service of the Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (KPD), from its founding in 1917 until its abolition by Walter Ulbricht in 1937. According to the authors, the intelligence service of the KPD was not only the product and leading instrument, but also in the end the victim of the Bolshevization of the KPD. Thus, this organization played an important part in the resistance against the nazi's, but it was also used to keep an eye on party members, as well as for espionnage for the Soviet Union.
Pierson, Stanley. Marxist Intellectuals and the Working-Class Mentality in Germany, 1887-1912. Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Mass.) [etc.] 1993. x, 332 pp. $47.95; £31.95.
This study deals with the paradoxical place and role of middle-class intellectuals in the German social-democratic movement, which was predominantly working class. Focusing on the younger generation of the lesser known intellectuals (e.g. Max Schippel, Paul Kampffmeyer, Conrad Schmidt, Paul Ernst) Professor Pierson sketches two interrelated developments in the period 1887-1912: the efforts of the social-democratic intellectuals to cultivate a new socialist mentality in the working class and the controversies which the presence of these intellectuals generated within the party. He concludes that these efforts failed. "By 1912 the Marxist ideology had become little more than an apologetic for class interests".
Stöver, Bernd. Volksgemeinschaft im Dritten Reich. Die Konsensbereitschaft der Deutschen aus der Sicht sozialistischer Exilberichte. Droste Verlag, Düsseldorf 1993. 466 pp. DM 49.80.
This doctoral thesis (Bielefeld, 1991) analyses the willingness to consensus and support among the German population towards the National-socialist regime in the period 1933-1945, based on an examination of the secret reports of left-wing resistance groups to their organisations in exile, the SOPADE (the SPD in exile) and Neu Beginnen (a left-wing socialist resistance movement). On the basis of this material, which has not been used for this purpose before, the author concludes that the consensus and support were much larger than Germans are generally willing to admit.
Walter, Franz, Tobias Dürr [und] Klaus Schmidtke. Die SPD in Sachsen und Thüringen zwischen Hochburg und Diaspora. Untersuchungen auf lokaler Ebene vom Kaiserreich bis zur Gegenwart. [Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Sozialgeschichte e.V., Braunschweig, Bonn.] J.H.W. Dietz Verlag Nachf., Bonn 1993. 492 pp. DM 98.00.
In this book the authors aim to analyse the heavy loss of the following of the SPD in areas that were strongly dominated by the social democrats before 1933, as it appeared from the results of the first elections in the reunited Germany. Examining the structure and development of the following of the SPD in three traditional strongholds of the old SPD in Sachsen and Thüringen (the industrial towns of Freital, Schmölln and Nordhausen) from the last few decades of the nineteenth century up to 1933, the authors conclude that already in the 1920s the following started to crumble in those areas where political support was not assisted by the development of a specific social-democratic culture or milieu.
Great Britain
Cesarani, David. The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841-1991. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge [etc.] 1994. xiv, 329 pp. Ill. £40.00; $59.95.
This monograph deals with the 150 years' history of the Jewish Chronicle, the most important Jewish newspaper in Great Britain, which, according to the author, played a key role in the development of the identity of British Jews as citizens in the second half of the nineteenth century and in the evolution of a new international identity of the Jewish people. Dr Cesarani, who previously edited a volume on the making of modern Anglo-Jewry (see IRSH, XXXV (1990), p. 322), describes the origins and pioneers, examines the developments in editorial policy and analyses the contents throughout the years in relation to the major trends and events in the period described: anti-Semitism, immigration, Zionism, the Holocaust, the establishment and development of Israel.
Erickson, Amy Louise. Women and Property in Early Modern England. Routledge, London [etc.] 1993. xiv, 306 pp. £40.00.
This study deals with the everyday economic reality of the vast majority of women in England between the late sixteenth and early eighteenth centuries. Based on many previously unused documents, Dr Erickson reconstructs the lives of ordinary women, contrasting the theory of written law with the actual practice of people in the countryside. The author concludes that women - not only from the aristocracy, but from various social layers - owned, managed and inherited many forms of property on a scale that has not been recognized before.
Forged in Fire. The History of The Fire Brigades Union. Ed. by Victor Bailey. Lawrence & Wishart, London 1992. xxiii, 486 pp. Ill. £34.95. (Paper: £14.99.)
This book presents the history of the British Fire Brigades Union (FBU) from its founding in 1918 to the present day by way of a series of related essays by a number of contributors. The editor gives an account of the union's first thirty years. This is followed by contributions on various topics, such as the role of women in the union (David Englander), the relation with the TUC and the Labour Party (Graham Johnson) and with the Communist Party (John Saville). The last section of the book offers a number of memoirs by former leaders as well as rank-and-file members, inter alia on the National Strike of 1977-1978.
Godwin, William. Collected Novels and Memoirs of William Godwin. General Ed.: Mark Philp. Vol. 1. Autobiography; Autobiographical Fragments and Reflections; Godwin/Shelley Correspondence; Memoirs. Ed. by Mark Philp, with an Introd. by Marilyn Butler & Mark Philp. Vol. 2. Damon and Delia; Italian Letters; Imogen. Ed. by Pamela Clemit. Vol. 3. Caleb Williams. Ed. by Pamela Clemit. Vol. 4. St Leon. Ed. by Pamela Clemit. Vol. 5. Fleetwood. Ed. by Pamela Clemit. Vol. 6. Mandeville. Ed. by Pamela Clemit. Vol. 7. Cloudesley. Ed. by Maurice Hindle. Vol. 8. Deloraine. Ed. by Maurice Hindle. William Pickering, London 1992. 157 pp.; ix, 267 pp.; viii, 340 pp.; vii, 383 pp.; vii, 291 pp.; viii, 325 pp.; vii, 290 pp.; vii, 286 pp. Ill. £395.00.
William Godwin (1756-1836), rational anarchist, one of the most important radical theorists of his time, who influenced Coleridge and Shelley, is nowadays generally recognized as a thinker of the first magnitude in politics, educational theory and social thought. Godwin became well-known for his literary work just as much as for his theoretical and political writing. In this collection of eight volumes his autobiographical and literary works are brought together. His novels and plays are all literary imaginations of his political, social, educational and moral ideas. For these ideas see the annotation below on the collection of Godwin's political and philosophical writings.
Vol. 1 of this collection offers a biographical introduction by Marilyn Butler and Mark Philip, a complete bibliography of Godwin, and a previously unpublished autobiography and autobiographical fragments and reflections, the largely previously unpublished correspondence between Godwin and the poet Percey Shelley (1792-1822), the Memoirs of the author of a Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1798) and the introduction to Transfusion: by the late William Godwin Jun. with a Memoir of his Life and Writings by his Father (1835).
Godwin, son of a dissenting minister, was brought up in an atmosphere of strict Calvinism and Tory politics and served as a dissenting minister from 1778 to 1783, when he abandoned the countryside and the ministry for a literary career in London. He was influenced by political events in America, England and France and his study of the French philosophes (Rousseau, Helvetius, d'Holbach and Montesqieu), the Latin historians and English writers like Locke, Swift and Priestley. Partly under the direct influence of the French Revolution and the radical mood it brought about in England, he was converted to political libertarianism, while in religion he went from deism, via agnosticism and atheism to a vague theism.
He developed his style in three early novels, Damon and Delia: A Tale, Italian Letters: or, The History of Count de St Julian, Imogen: A Pastoral Romance. From the Ancient British, all published anonymously in 1784 (vol. 2 of this collection). His literary and philosophical career reached its climax in the first half of the 1790s, with the publication of his most famous non-literary work An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Political Justice, and Its Influence on General Virtue and Happiness (1793) (see the annotation below) and his novel Things as They Are, or the Adventures of Caleb Williams (1794). The edition in vol. 3 of this collection is based on the first original edition. In 1797 Godwin married Mary Wollstonecraft, author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792). She died that same year, after having given birth to a daughter, Mary Godwin. Godwin's Memoirs give an honest and explicit account of Wollstonecraft's life and relationships, raising a storm of moral indignation in his critics. After remarrying in 1801, Godwin became more and more isolated, socially as well as in the political and philosophical debate of his time, whereas his daily life became burdened with financial difficulties, which were only solved as late as 1833, when he was given a Government sinecure.
Godwin was an important influence on leading figures of the Georgian world, Samuel Coleridge, William Wordsworth, Charles Lamb and Percey Shelley; the last married his daughter Mary.
Godwin's later novels, St Leon: A Tale of the Sixteenth Century (1799) (vol. 4 of this collection), Fleetwood: or, The New Man of Feeling (1805), (vol. 5 of this collection), Mandeville. A Tale of the Seventeenth Century in England (1817), (vol. 6 of this collection), Cloudesley: A Tale (1830) (vol. 7 of this collection) and Deloraine (1833) (vol. 8 of this collection) never won the same critical acclaim as Caleb William, although the last two were generally relatively well received. The novels were all inspired by historical themes or events.
Godwin, William. Political and Philosophical Writings of William Godwin. General Ed.: Mark Philp. [Pickering Masters Series.] Vol. 1. Political Writings I. Ed. by Martin Fitzpatrick. With an Introd. by Mark Philp. Vol. 2. Political Writings II. Ed. by Mark Philp. Res.: Austin Gee. Vol. 3. An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice. Ed. by Mark Philp. Res.: Austin Gee. Vol. 4. An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice. Variants. Ed. by Mark Philp. Vol. 5. Educational and Literary Writings. Ed. by Pamela Clemit. Vol. 6. Essays. Ed. by Mark Philp. Res.: Austin Gee. Vol. 7. Religious Writings. With Index to the Political and Philosophical Writings of Godwin. Ed. by Mark Philp. Res.: Austin Gee. William Pickering, London 1993. 303 pp.; v, 296 pp.; 477 pp.; 424 pp.; iv, 345 pp; iv, 292 pp.; v, 334 pp. £395.00. (7 vols.)
This collection brings together the most important writings on politics and philosophy, theology and education by William Godwin (1756-1836). For biographical information on Godwin, see the annotation above on the collection of his autobiographical writings and novels. The core of Godwin's philosophy is to be found in An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Political Justice, and Its Influence on General Virtue and Happiness (1793). His utilitarian philosophy is based on the intrinsic goodness of man. He argued that the individual operated by a code of moral principles to be discovered by reason, but that political institutions and customs (government, law, private property, sentiments and promises that clouded reason, and marriage) influenced and blurred man's morality and equality. Thus each person had to be free from these adverse influences to develop and utilize his natural goodness and sincerity. Although his philosophy comprised a fully delineated programme of rational anarchism, Godwin was no revolutionary in his political views and he did not advocate the physical destruction of government. As long as inadequate reasoning and strong vices persisted, government was necessary, but with a progression of enlightenment man would free himself gradually from his social organization and from the political and social deficiencies of society. Whatever organization then would be necessary would be voluntary and on a local level. His educational principles were based on the libertarian idea that the teacher should not impose knowledge on the pupil, but should only encourage and motivate him to acquire knowledge and thus strengthen the intrinsic qualities of the mind. Godwin's radicalism became somewhat more moderate after the publication of Political Justice, especially as concerns the value of personal relations and marriage; the latter under the influence of his relation with Mary Wollstonecraft.
Vol. 1 and 2 of the collection contain political writings, previous to Political Justice, including some so far unpublished essays. These volumes enable the reader to trace the development of Godwin's ideas up to his magnum opus. Vol. 4 gives the manifold variants, published and unpublished, of Political Justice. Vol. 7 also offers a consolidated index to the vols. 1-7.
Hendrick, Harry. Child Welfare. England 1872-1989. Routledge, London [etc.] 1994. xv, 354 pp. £45.00.
The purpose of this study is to give a comprehensive history of children and social and welfare policy in England and Wales between 1872 and 1989. The author examines the consequences of the various policies for children's well-being. He also analyses to what extent ageism, understood as a prejudice against young people shared by adults, influenced the design and practice of social policy for children. Mr Hendrick concludes that, although the well-being of children, as understood by adults, was the main objective of the policies, several other objectives, such as social discipline, also played a role.
Kidd, Alan. Manchester. Ill. from the archives and with contemporary photographs by Ian Beesley. [Town and City Histories.] Ryburn Publishing (Keele University Press), Keele 1993. 251 pp. Ill. Maps. £12.95.
This is a general history of the city of Manchester from 1780 till the present day. The impact of the Industrial Revolution is described in the first part of the book (1780-1850), while the author characterizes Manchester as a commercial metropolis in the second part (1850-1914). In the third and last part the consequences of the industrial decline and life in modern Manchester are described. Written for a general public, the author deals with aspects of the social, economic and political history of the city.
Laybourn, Keith. The General Strike of 1926. [New Frontiers in History.] Manchester University Press, Manchester [etc.] 1993; distr. excl. in the USA and Canada by St Martin's Press, New York. x, 161 pp. £29.99. (Paper: £7.99.)
This concise textbook deals with one of the most important disputes in British industrial history: the General Strike of 1926, when the vast majority of the organized working class went on strike for nine days in support of the miners. The author concludes that the strike was "the product of an interplay of circumstances whereby the industrial tensions in the coal industry became inflamed at a time when both the Government and the TUC were moving on a collision course over industrial policies". A selection of original documents and a bibliographical essay have been appended.
Militant Workers. Labour and Class Conflict on the Clyde, 1900-1950. Ed. by Robert Duncan and Arthur McIvor. Essays in Honour of Harry McShane 1891-1988. John Donald Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh 1992. viii, 197 pp. Ill. £9.95.
This collection of essays focuses upon the life of Harry McShane (1891-1988), a lifelong Marxist and labour activist on the "Red" Clydeside in Glasgow. Included are a short biographical introduction, some reminiscences by his associates, a sample of his political writing and six original essays, dealing with Clydeside labour and militancy. These are by Terry Brotherstone, the Glasgow Labour History Workshop, the first editor, the second editor and Hugh Paterson, James D. Young and George Rawlinson.
Paulmann, Johannes. Staat und Arbeitsmarkt in Großbritannien. Krise, Weltkrieg, Wiederaufbau. [Veröffentlichungen des Deutschen Historischen Instituts London, Band 32.] Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen [etc.] 1993. 477 pp. DM 142.00.
In this doctoral dissertation (Munich, 1993) the development of British labour-market policy in the period between the end of the First World War and the first years after the Second World War is examined. The author sketches three phases. First, the phase of the origin, in which the government lacked an active overall labour-market policy, especially at the beginning of the crisis of the 1930s. despite the existence of regional and occasional provisions in the field of labour-market regulation from 1918. Second, the phase of labour-market policy during the Second World War, when the role of the state in regulating the labour market was very swiftly expanded under the pressures of the war. Third, the phase of consolidation of state interference alongside the extension of the welfare state.
Pearce, Robert. Britain: Industrial Relations and the Economy 1900-39. [Access to History.] Hodder & Stoughton, London [etc.] 1993. v, 138 pp. £4.99.
This very concise textbook presents a survey of the economic development as well as the industrial relations in Britain between 1900 and 1939. It puts in perspective the standard negative image of this period as a time of economic decline and poor industrial relations, by pointing out the positive developments in this period.
Racial Violence in Britain, 1840-1950. Ed. by Panikos Panayi. Leicester University Press, Leicester [etc.] 1993; distr. excl. in the USA and Canada by St. Martin's Press, New York. x, 174 pp. £37.50.
The eight essays in this volume attempt to provide the history of racial violence in Britain in the period 1840-1950. According to the editor, this history has been neglected because of the traditional view of Britain as a tolerant society. Contributions deal with anti-Irish behaviour in Britain (Alan O'Day and Donald M. MacRaild), anti-German riots during the First World War (the editor), anti-Semitism in the 1930s and 1947 (Richard Thurlow and Tony Kushner), the 1919 riots between whites and blacks in several British port towns (Jaqueline Jenkinson) and anti-Italian riots in 1940 (Lucio Sponza).
Saville, John. The Politics of Continuity. British Foreign Policy and the Labour Government, 1945-46. Verso, London [etc.] 1993. x, 293 pp. £34.95.
The present volume is an inquiry, based on new research, into some of the questions of British international relations and British foreign policy under the Labour government in 1945-1946. Professor Saville argues that, contrary to widely held views, there was a strong continuity between the foreign policy of Churchill's wartime coalition government and the Labour government, that Bevin was in fact fervently anti-Soviet, actively encouraging collaboration with the Americans and pursuing Cold War policies, and that the only divergent views concerning Britain's role in international relations originated from Clement Attlee.
Scola, Roger. Feeding the Victorian city. The food supply of Manchester, 1770-1870. Ed. by W.A. Armstrong and Pauline Scola. Manchester University Press, Manchester [etc.] 1992; distr. excl. in the USA and Canada by St.Martin's Press, New York. xx, 347 pp. Ill. Maps. £29.95.
This posthumously published study by Roger Scola (1943-1988) examines the food supply in the city of Manchester in an era of rapid urban expansion, 1770-1870. Stressing the importance of food marketing rather than food production in supporting urban growth, the author focuses on the crucial role of transportation and the distributive trades. In the concluding chapter, which was added by the first editor, an assessment is made in how far the quality of food improved and to what extent the social gains of a more assured system of supply were shared by all.
Seymour-Jones, Carole. Beatrice Webb. Woman of Conflict. Allison & Busby, London 1992. xiv, 369 pp. Ill. £17.99.
This biography of Beatrice Webb (1858-1943) focuses on her personal life rather than her work as a leading socialist and social reformer and investigator. The author tries to give an insight into the duality in Beatrice Webb's character and argues that her marriage to Sydney Webb was inspired by her strong socialist convictions rather than by love and should be interpreted as a "brave act of class rebellion", as she even felt a physical revulsion for him. Because of this she had to suppress her emotional side, which caused mental breakdowns and anorexia nervosa.
Thorpe, Andrew. Britain in the 1930s. The Deceptive Decade. [Historical Association Studies.] Blackwell, Oxford [etc.] 1992. vi, 145 pp. £6.99.
This textbook gives a survey of the politics, economy and society of Britain from the Wall Street Crash in 1929 to the outbreak of World War II in 1939. The author aims at a synthesis of the negative evaluation of government policy by historians, both contemporary and those up to the 1970s, and the revisionism of later ones, who paint a very rosy picture of this period. According to the author the economic achievements in Britain in particular were relatively good, while a large part of the policies was predictable in the given circumstances.
Weiler, Peter. Ernest Bevin. [Lives of the Left.] Manchester University Press, Manchester [etc.] 1993; distr. excl. in the USA and Canada by St. Martin's Press, New York. xi, 232 pp. £35.00.
In this concise biography of Ernest Bevin (1881-1951) the author only deals with Bevin's public life. He characterizes Bevin's career and ideological development by means of two related concepts: labourism and corporatism. Mr Weiler concentrates on Bevin as a trade-union leader (1911-1929) and Bevin as a social democrat, and concludes that, although he is generally best remembered as Foreign Secretary in the Labour government of 1945, Bevin's most lasting achievements were those in his period as a trade-union leader and as Minister of Labour in the wartime cabinet.
Italy
Hughes, Steven C. Crime, disorder and the Risorgimento. The Politics of Policing in Bologna. [Cambridge Studies in Italian History and Culture.] Cambridge University Press, Cambridge [etc.] 1994. xvi, 286 pp. £35.00; $54.95.
This study deals with the papal police system in Bologna in the period between the restoration of papal government (1815) and the Risorgimento and unification of Italy (1861). According to the author, in order to enhance its absolute power, the papal government adopted a centralized police system, which was, however, unable to deal with the prevailing problems of crime and the prevention of social disorder. Thus it discredited the papal government and mobilized Bologna's elites into self-defense organisations that had political overtones. Professor Hughes concludes that this eventually led many among the elites to joining the Risorgimento and choosing for the idea of a unified Italy.
Morris, Jonathan. The political economy of shopkeeping in Milan 1886-1922. [Past and Present Publications.] Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1993. xv, 312 pp. £37.50.
The experience of the Milanese petite bourgeoisie from the mid-1880s to the Fascist takeover is the subject of this monograph. The author analyses the trades, techniques, tax structure and topography of the retail sector, traces the history of the contest between shops and cooperatives, the changing relationship of the shopkeepers with their employees and clientèle, and the development of the shopkeeper movement.
The Netherlands
Ginkel, Rob van. Tussen Scylla en Charybdis. Een etnohistorie van Texels vissersvolk (1813-1932). Het Spinhuis, Amsterdam 1993. viii, 348 pp. Ill. D.fl. 37.50.
This doctoral dissertation (Amsterdam, 1993) is an ethno-anthropological study of the history of the fishermen of the Dutch island Texel between 1813 and 1932. The author focuses on the ways in which the fishermen coped with the changing natural and economic conditions throughout this period, how they felt about state-intervention in marine fishing and how the adaptation strategies they developed in this period influenced their mutual economic, social and cultural relations.
Janssens, Angélique. Family and social change. The household as a process in an industrializing community. [Cambridge Studies in Population, Economy and Society in Past Time, 21.] Cambridge University Press, Cambridge [etc.] 1993. xxii, 317 pp. £40.00; $64.95.
This revised doctoral thesis (Nijmegen, 1991) traces the impact of industrialization on the nature and strength of family relationships in the Dutch community of Tilburg between 1850 and 1920. Based on a quantitative study of the unusually rich source of Dutch population registers, the author concludes that, although changes in behavioural patterns did occur under the influence of changes in demographical rates, regional geographical mobility systems and local developments in the housing markets, there was a striking continuity in the strength of family relations in this period, despite the profound social changes surrounding these families.
Meyers, Jan. Domela. Een hemel op aarde. Leven en streven van Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis. Uitgeverij De Arbeiderspers, Amsterdam 1993. 438 pp. Ill. D.fl. 55.00.
See Homme Wedman's review in this volume, p. 277-279.
Sporen van pacifistisch socialisme. Bibliografie en bronnen betreffende de PSP. Paul Denekamp, Bert Freriks en Gerrit Voerman (red.). Stichting beheer IISG/DNPP, Amsterdam 1993. 231 pp. Ill. D.fl. 38.50.
The present volume offers an annotated inventory and bibliography of all the material on the Pacifistisch Socialistische Partij (PSP), the Dutch pacifist-socialist party, which was founded in 1957 and abolished in 1991, to merge into a larger progressive political organization. Included are a bibliography, a survey of biographical publications on PSP-members, a list of publications by the party, inventories of archives of the national, regional and local sections, a list of the contents of the party magazine, listings of audio-visual material and posters, as well as lists of general members' meetings and congresses and of members and electorate of the PSP.
Poland
Zuzowski, Robert. Political Dissent and Opposition in Poland. The Workers' Defense Committee "KOR". Praeger, Westport [etc.] 1992. ix, 293 pp. Ill. £58.95.
See Jörg K. Hoensch's review in this volume, pp. 287-290.
Russia - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Hamm, Michael F. Kiev. A Portrait, 1800-1917. Princeton University Press, Princeton 1993. xviii, 304 pp. Ill. $29.95; £21.95.
This book gives a survey of the history of the Ukrainian capital Kiev from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the October Revolution. In this period Kiev was transformed from a small provincial, village-like town to one of the main cities of Russia. According to the author, the spectacular economic and demographic growth was, however, not balanced by an adequate municipal policy under the late-imperial government. This prevented the development of a sense of community and of liberal values, and thus allowed for the continuation of the tradition of violence against specific segments of the population, especially the Jews.
Hedeler, Wladislaw [and] Ruth Stoljarowa. Nikolai Bucharin. Leben und Werk. Decaton Verlag, Mainz 1993. 160 pp. DM 24.00.
This concise biography of Nikolai Bukharin (1888-1938) is partly based on material that became available for the first time after 1985, as a result of Gorbatsjov's perestroika. According to the authors, it gives a new perspective, especially on the beginning and on the last period of Bucharin's career and on his character. However, only an abstract in German of Stephen Cohn's standard book Bukharin and the Bolshevik Revolution. A political Biography (1973) (IRSH, XIX (1974), p. 143) was consulted.
Hogan, Heather. Forging Revolution. Metalworkers, Managers, and the State in St. Petersburg, 1890-1914. [Indiana-Michigan Series in Russian and East European Studies.] Indiana University Press, Bloomington [etc.] 1993. xviii, 319 pp. $35.00.
This monograph examines the labour-management relations in the St. Petersburg metal industry and the development of working-class consciousness and militancy in the period 1890-1914. Focusing on the ways in which the politics of modernization of the industry influenced working-class formation and consciousness, Professor Hogan argues that it were predominently contingent factors that explain the development of workers' militancy: on the basis of their own experience with repressive policies of employers and state officials, Bolshevism was more attractive to them than the cautious trade unionism of the Mensheviks.
Memories of Revolution. Russian women remember. Ed. by Anna Horsbrugh-Porter. Interviews by Elena Snow and Frances Welch. Routledge, London [etc.] 1993. xi, 139 pp. Ill. £10.99.
This collection contains ten interviews with women from privileged White-Russian and foreign families in Russia, telling how as children they experienced the first few weeks of the Russian Revolution in October 1917. After the Revolution the families of these women, previously among the wealthiest in Russia, were all reduced to a life of poverty, persecution and exile. According to the editor, these oral histories are valuable, because the childhood memories of these women have remained very sharp as a result of the coincidence of the premature transition from childhood to maturity with the traumas of the revolution. They thus offer important records of life in Imperial and Revolutionary Russia.
Merl, Stephan. Bauern unter Stalin. Die Formierung des sowjetischen Kolchossystems 1930-1941. [Osteuropastudien der Hochschulen des Landes Hessen, Reihe I: Giessener Abhandlungen zur Agrar- und Wirtschaftsforschung des europäischen Ostens, Band 175.] Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1990. 512 pp. DM 52.00.
—. Sozialer Aufstieg im sowjetischen Kolchossystem der 30er Jahre? Über das Schicksal der bäuerlichen Parteimitglieder, Dorfsowjetvorsitzenden, Postinhaber in Kolchosen, Mechanisatoren und Stachanowleute. [Osteuropastudien der Hochschulen des Landes Hessen, Reihe I: Giessener Abhandlungen zur Agrar- und Wirtschaftsforschung des europäischen Ostens, Band 173.] Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1990. 276 pp. DM 42.00.
See Leo van Rossum's review in this volume, pp. 280-284.
Philippot, Robert. Les zemstvos. Société civile et état bureaucratique dans la Russie tsariste. [Cultures et sociétés de l'Est, 14.] Institut d'Études Slaves, Paris 1991. 200 pp. F.fr. 80.00.
The object of this study is the history of the administrative local institution that functioned in Russia between 1846 and 1917, generally known as zemstvos. Created by Tsar Alexander II, these zemstvos offer, according to the author, an interesting paradox, as they represent a form of territorial autonomy in an otherwise very centralistic, bureaucratic and autocratic system of government. The author describes the creation and development of the zemstvos from the perspective of the relationship between the state and the slowly emerging civil society in tsarist Russia.
The Stalin Phenomenon. Ed. by Alec Nove. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1993. vi, 216 pp. £25.00.
In this collection five leading specialists from Great Britain, the United States and Russia, give their evaluation of the research, interpretations and debates on Stalin and the history of Stalinism after the collapse of the Soviet system. Alec Nove deals with the different interpretations of Stalin and Stalinist terror as historical phenomena. R.W. Davies discusses the economic aspects of Stalinism. Sheila Fitzpatrick and J. Arch Getty, dealing with the changing Western and Soviet perspectives, represent a more or less revisionist view, which wants to see Stalinism more independent from the historical figure of Stalin. This view is contested by Sergo Mikoyan, historian and son of a close collaborator of Stalin.
Spain
Corbin, J.R. The Anarchist Passion. Class conflict in Southern Spain, 1810-1965. [Studies in Spanish Anthropology, 3.] Avebury, Aldershot [etc.] 1993. vii, 229 pp. £35.00.
This book is a social and anthropological study of the history of class conflict in southern Spain in the period between 1810 and 1965 and of the role played in that conflict by the anarchist movement between 1870 and 1939. Starting from an ethnographic perspective on the underlying social structure of the local communities in Andalusia, the author concludes that the "base structure" on a local level remained stable during the whole period under observation and that the anarchists could not win full popular support because they wanted to change this structure.
Yugoslavia
Markovi , Pedja J. Beograd i Evropa 1918-1941. Savremena administracija, Beograd 1992. 234 pp. Ill. Din. 20.000.
This book traces the distribution of modern life and ideas in what was essentially a traditional, backward society in Yugoslavia and its capital in the period 1918-1941. It deals with economy, technological progress, family relations, fashion, sports, extention of mass media, diet, housing, communications, education, arts and sciences. The European spirit established itself firmly in the capital of interbellum Yugoslavia, although Belgrade remained "an oasis of modernity in the desert of stagnating agrarian society".