Goodbye to All That? : The Story of Europe Since 1945

In the decade after 1945, as the Cold War freeze set in, a new Europe slowly began to emerge from the ruins of the Second World War, based on a broad rejection of the fascist past that had so scarred the continent's recent history. In the East, this new consensus was enforced by Soviet-imposed Communist regimes. In the West, the process was less coercive, amounting more to a consensus of silence. On both sides, much was deliberately forgotten or obscured. The years which followed were in many ways golden years for western Europe. Democracy became embedded in Germany, and eventually triumphed over dictatorship in Spain, Portugal, and Greece. Britain and France faced up to the necessity of decolonization. The European Economic Community was founded and went from strength to strength, as the economies of western Europe bounced back from the devastation of the war. The countries of the East lagged far behind and seemed caught in a perpetual game of catch-up, but even there conditions had improved since the end of the war, albeit at a much slower rate. Above all, throughout this period the European world continued to be sustained by the broad anti-fascist consensus that had emerged in the years after 1945. However, as Dan Stone shows in this new history of the continent since the war, this fundamental consensus began to break down in the wake of the oil shocks of the 1970s, a process which has rapidly accelerated since the end of the Cold War. Globalization, deregulation, and the erosion of social-democratic welfare capitalism in the West, and the collapse of the purported Communist alternative in the East, have all fatally undermined the post-war anti-fascist value system that predominated across Europe in the first four decades after the end of the Second World War. Ominously, this has been accompanied by a rise in right-wing populism and a widespread revision of the anti-fascist narrative on which this value system was based. The danger of this shift is now evident: financial and social crisis, an increasing inability on the part of European populations to resist historical myth-making, and the re-emergence of fascist ideas. The result, as Dan Stone warns, is socially divisive, politically dangerous, and a genuine threat to the future of a civilized Europe. The story of Europe's emergence from the catastrophe of fascism and world war - and how the broad anti-fascist consensus on which this was based has ominously unravelled in recent decades. In the decade after 1945, as the Cold War freeze set in, a new Europe slowly began to emerge from the ruins of the Second World War, based on a broad rejection of the fascist past that had so scarred the continent's recent history. In the East, this new consensus was enforced by Soviet-imposed Communist regimes. In the West, the process was less coercive, amounting more to a consensus of silence. On both sides, much was deliberately forgotten or obscured. The years which followed were in many ways golden years for western Europe. Democracy became embedded in Germany, and eventually triumphed over dictatorship in Spain, Portugal, and Greece. Britain and France faced up to the necessity of decolonization. The European Economic Community was founded and went from strength to strength, as the economies of western Europe bounced back from the devastation of the war. The countries of the East lagged far behind and seemed caught in a perpetual game ofcatch-up, but even there conditions had improved since the end of the war, albeit at a much slower rate. Above all, throughout this period the European world continued to be sustained by the broad anti-fascist consensus that had emerged in the years after 1945. However, as Dan Stone shows in this new history of the continent since the war, this fundamental consensus began to break down in the wake of the oil shocks of the 1970s, a process which has rapidly accelerated since the end of the Cold War. Globalization, deregulation, and the erosion of social-democratic welfare capitalism in the West, and the collapse of the purported Communist alternative in the East, have all fatally undermined the post-war anti-fascist value system that predominatedacross Europe in the first four decades after the end of the Second World War. Ominously, this has been accompanied by a rise in right-wing populism and a widespread revision of the anti-fascist narrative on which this value system was based. The danger of this shift is now evident: financial and social crisis, an increasing inability on the part of European populations to resist historical myth-making, and the re-emergence of fascist ideas. The result, as Dan Stone warns, is socially divisive, politically dangerous, and a genuine threat to the future of a civilizedEurope Cover GOODBYE TO ALL THAT?: THE STORY OF EUROPE SINCE 1945 Copyright Dedication Preface Acknowledgements Contents List of Figures and Maps Figures Maps Abbreviations Chronology of Political Events Introduction: The Postwar Aberration PART I: The Rise of the Postwar Consensus 1: Consensus Enforced: Eastern Europe, 1944–1953 Paths not taken? Sovietization Stalinism as a civilization 2: Consensus of Silence: Western Europe, 1945–1953 Liberation and its aftermath The conservative reassertion The unfolding of the Cold War in Europe The shadow war PART II: Boom to Bust 3: Golden Years? Western Europe, 1953–1975 Introduction Integration The height of the Cold War Decolonization Southern Europe 1968 The end of the boom 4: Catching Up?: Eastern Europe, 1953–1975 De-Stalinization and its consequences From the ‘thaw’ to neo-Stalinism The Cold War after Stalin’s death Everyday life under communism PART III: Shock Treatment 5: Neo-Liberalism: Western Europe, 1975–1989 The crisis of social democracy From Eurosclerosis to European Union After détente The turn The culture of the turn 6: Gerontocracy: Eastern Europe, 1975–1989 The end of the Brezhnev Doctrine Late communism From reform to collapse PART IV: The Fall of the Postwar Consensus 7: Consensus Shattered From Eastern Europe to the Soviet Union Post-communism The GDR minus communism = The Federal Republic The Yugoslav exception A sterile promontory 8: Memory Wars Out of the Cold War freezer West European populism Anti-antifascism in Eastern Europe Russia: the antifascist caricature The international context Memory ‘peace’? Conclusion: The Dead Season of Our Fortunes Notes INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER 3 CHAPTER 4 CHAPTER 5 CHAPTER 6 CHAPTER 7 CHAPTER 8 CONCLUSION Picture Acknowledgements Index Shows How The Anti-fascist Consensus Prevalent Throughout Europe Following World War Ii Has Been Crumbling Since The 1970s And How Globalization, Deregulation, The Erosion Of Social-democratic Welfare Capitalism In The West, And The Collapse Of The Communist Alternative In The East Are Leading To A Social Divisive, Politically Dangerous Rise Of Fascism That Could Threaten The Peace Of Europe. Introduction : The Postwar Aberration -- The Rise Of The Postwar Consensus. Consensus Enforced : Eastern Europe, 1944-1953 ; Consensus Of Silence : Western Europe, 1945-1953 -- Boom To Bust. Golden Years? : Western Europe, 1953-1975 ; Catching Up? : Eastern Europe, 1953-1975 -- Shock Treatment. Neo-liberalism : Western Europe, 1975-1989 ; Gerontocracy : Eastern Europe, 1975-1989 -- The Fall Of The Postwar Consensus. Consensus Shattered ; Memory Wars -- Conclusion : The Dead Season Of Our Fortunes. Dan Stone. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.