Description
This comparative study of post-war European socialism explores the problems of socio-economic and political reconstruction across the Iron Curtain.
About the Author
Jan De Graaf is a postdoctoral researcher at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. He graduated with the highest distinction from Universiteit Utrecht in 2009 and obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Portsmouth in 2015. Since 2015, he has been working on a four-year postdoctoral project on wildcat strikes as a pan-European phenomenon, funded by the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO).
Reviews
'Jan De Graaf's book is fascinating from start to finish and its sharp reading is indispensable to any historian or anyone interested in the period.' Gilles Vergnon, translated from L'ours
'De Graaf's comparative method is effective. By the end of the book, one is largely convinced that European socialist parties did not form two separate Eastern and Western blocs in the immediate years after 1945. On several key issues (forms of local popular democracy, attitudes towards strikes and towards the urban industrial working class more generally, cooperation with communists, confidence in parliamentary democracy, the legitimacy of violence to gain political power, and relations with socialist parties abroad) the fault lines ran across East-West divisions.' Talbot Imlay, International Review of Social History
'Using a transnational focus, De Graaf restores a sense of agency to the historical actors - socialist leaders and the party rank and file - and brilliantly makes sense of their actions, dilemmas, and views against the backdrop of European reconstruction.' Kevin J. Callahan, Central European History
'... De Graaf's study will stand for a long time as a reference point for the ways post-war socialism in Europe is perceived and appreciated.' Kasper Brasken, European History Quarterly
'Socialism across the Iron Curtain is an important book.' Gerd-Rainer Horn, Jacobin
Book Information
ISBN 9781108425087
Author Jan De Graaf
Format Hardback
Page Count 332
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 600g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 157mm * 21mm