Entangled protest : transnational approaches to the history of dissent in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union

Starting in the late 1960s, a new form of political protest emerged in the Soviet Union and eastern Europe. Usually referred to as 'dissent' or 'dissidence', it was characterised by a legalist and non-ideological approach. Focused on the defense of civic and human rights, the dissidents did not seek to overthrow the communist governments, but to broaden the sphere of a free public discourse. The contributions to this book are part of a broader effort to invigorate and modernize the history of dissent. Sharing a transnational perspective on dissent, they uncover the networks, discourses and perceptions that connected the dissidents with each other and with groups of supporters in the west. Thus, they demonstrate how movements of dissent were shaped by mutual perceptions and interactions and how they partook in broader changes that transformed international politics during the 1970s and 1980s: the eclipse of Marxism, the rise of human rights or the emergence of transnational forms of activism focused on peace or the preservation of the environment. Cover Impressum Table of Contents Preface and Acknowledgements I. Theoretical Approaches, General Themes, Methodological Challenges Entangled Protest: Dissent and the Transnational History of the 1970s and 1980s Padraic Kenney Electromagnetic Forces and Radio Waves or Does Transnational History Actually Happen? II. Mutual Contacts, East-West Intermediaries, Transnational Discourses Oppositionists in the ČSSR and the GDR: Mutual Awareness, Exchanges of Ideas and Cooperation, 1968-1989 Writing the Papers: How Western Correspondents Reported the First Dissident Trials in Moscow, 1965-1972 ‘Message in a bottle’. Yugoslav Praxis Philosophy, Critical Theory of Society and the Transfer of Ideas between East and West III. Dissent, Détente and Human Rights An Escalating Problem: The People’s Republic of Poland and Human Rights in the CSCE Process, 1975-1983 Western European Social Democrats and Dissidence in the Soviet Bloc during the Cold War IV. The Transnational Politics of Solidarity and Peace The East versus The South. Belgian Solidarity Movements with Poland and Nicaragua during the early 1980s ‘Freedom and Peace Are Indivisible’: On the Czechoslovak and Polish Dissident Input to the European Peace Movement, 1985-1989 The Politics of Security Across the ‘Iron Curtain’: Peace Movements in East and West Germany in the 1980s List of Abbreviations List of Contributors Index of Persons Starting in the late 1960s, a new form of political protest emerged in the Soviet Union and eastern Europe. Usually referred to as dissent or dissidence, it was characterised by a legalist and non-ideological approach. Focused on the defense of civic and human rights, the dissidents did not seek to overthrow the communist governments, but to broaden the sphere of a free public discourse. The contributions to this book are part of a wider effort to invigorate and modernize the history of dissent. Sharing a transnational perspective on dissent, they uncover the networks, discourses and structures that connected the dissidents with each other and with groups of supporters in the west. Thus, this book demonstrates how movements of dissent were shaped by mutual perceptions and interactions and how they partook in broader processes that transformed international politics during the 1970s and 1980s: the eclipse of Marxism, the rise of human rights or the emergence of new forms of transnational activism focused on peace or or the preservation of the environment--back cover