This thesis explores the tensions present in left-wing projects of renewal in the 1970s and 1980s by examining the activism of one city; Sheffield. It finds that behind the 'Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire' lay a more complex set of relationships between activists from different movements, strands of activism, and local government. It sets out Sheffield City Council's attempt at a new left-wing politics, its form of 'local socialism,' and explores how the city's wider activism of trade unionism, women's groups, peace, environmentalism, anti-apartheid, anti-racism, and lesbian and gay politics was embraced, supported, restricted or ignored by the local authority. Despite deindustrialisation and contemporary discussions of the decline of class politics, there was a persistence of class and a dominance of the labour movement in Sheffield. Unsurprisingly archival evidence, oral histories, and photographs point to tensions between class and identity politics. Yet, the focus of this thesis on how a number of new social movements and identity-based groups operated in one place, and its detailed analysis of the sites, methods, and relationships of activism has revealed the extent to which tensions existed, not only between class and identity, but between the different subjectivities represented in new social movements and identity politics. In this way, Sheffield's activism sheds light on the wider British left, showing the resilience of class-based politics and how popular notions of renewal were limited by conventions of solidarity.

This dissertation challenges the view that Lev Kamenev lacked a clear socialist vision and had no discernible objectives. It contends that Kamenev had an ideological line and political goals shaped by Ferdinand Lassalle. Kamenev adopted Lassalle’s desire for a democratic socialist republic and his method to achieve end aims. Through dialogical discourse Kamenev aimed to gain allies by overcoming differences by focusing on points of agreement. This was his ‘Bolshevik Centrism’. Ideologically, Kamenev absorbed Lassalle’s concept of the ‘Fourth Estate’, which mandated proletarian culture first predominate in society before revolution could occur. This helps explain his opposition to revolution in 1905 and 1917, and sheds light on his assessment in the early 1920s that the Bolsheviks had not founded the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’, but the ‘dictatorship of the party’. In trying to overcome this reality he adapted Lassalle’s vision for an all-encompassing selfless state and endeavoured to merge the party, the state, and the masses into one. His aspiration to win over peasants and workers placed him in a centrist position, whereby he used his authority to challenge Trotsky and Bukharin’s leftist and rightist policies. However, under the one-party dictatorship his actions directly contributed to the rise of Stalin.

This dissertation examines the lives and experiences of former political violent activists in Portugal, who acted in three distinct periods surrounding the Carnation Revolution of April 25th (1974), which overthrew Estado Novo’s dictatorship and established democracy: a pre-revolution period (1964-1974), a counter-revolution period (1975-1976) and a post-revolution period (1980-1987). This research aims to explore the dynamics of engagement with, life within, and disengagement from, a political violent organisation from the point of view of the actors of the violence themselves, whose voices are traditionally silenced. This study is theoretically framed by the research produced by Critical Terrorism Studies’ scholars and underpinned by narrative inquiry as the paradigm that guides the entire research process. This is, thus, the first in-depth qualitative investigation of the phenomenon in Portugal, which employed life history interviews to collect first-hand accounts about their subjective experiences, meanings and perspectives. The findings suggest that there are robust connections between the stories people tell about their lives and the social, cultural, political, historical and human contexts that frame these same stories. The showcase of the empirical, theoretical and methodological implications of the research concludes this thesis, emphasizing what this study adds to knowledge in the field of political violence.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T19:30:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 David Rodrigues Silva Neves.pdf: 3754731 bytes, checksum: 7ea402decd41a1fcd0b07874216fe280 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-06-07 / The Court of National Security was created in September11, 1936. This court was able to judge the communists that uprising against Vargas Govern in 1935. After Estado Novo Dictatorship beginning in November 11, 1937 this court gained authority of an Military justice also judging offense contrary the popular economy, sabotage, specially on period the Second World War and others against the National Security Affairs. Beyond of communists court national security condemned the Integralistas that participated of putsch in 1938. This research analyzes this Court by two cases: Nestor Contreiras Rodrigues, Integralista, arrested in 1938 by keeping war weapons in at farm near Rezende in Rio de Janeiro state and José Monte Junior, indicted to make communist publicity in São Paulo. Both as been condemned to one year in prison existed between them a predominant factor. The communist were treated with more severity than the Integralistas. However, we should to understand that Court National of Security was tied the repression structure of that historical period. As judging as condemned these instrument coercion were very important to maintenance of order / O Tribunal de Segurança Nacional foi um órgão de exceção, criado em setembro de 1936, para julgar os dissidentes envolvidos nas revoltas comunistas de 1935. De inicio o TSN ficou atrelado a Justiça Militar, tendo o suas sentenças atenuadas e mesmo anuladas pelo Supremo Tribunal Militar, que as julgava em segunda instância. Somente após o golpe que instituiu o Estado Novo, em novembro de 1937, é que o Tribunal de Segurança passa a gozar de autonomia para definir suas penas em consonância com as ideias do grupo situacionista, representado na figura de Getúlio Vargas. Como havia ganhado terreno, o TSN passou a julgar também os crimes contra a economia popular, os integralistas que participaram do putsch de 1938 e outros delitos ligados a sabotagem, espionagem e propaganda, sendo esses últimos já dentro do período da Segunda Guerra Mundial (1939-1945). Nesta pesquisa, analisamos como se deu o tratamento, por parte do TSN, para com os comunistas, envolvidos nos levantes de novembro de 1935 e os integralistas que se rebelaram contra o governo em maio de 1938, a partir de dois processos: o de José Monte Júnior, condenado por propaganda extremista, e Nestor Contreiras Rodrigues, integralista, que mantinha armamentos de guerra em sua Fazenda em Rezende, Rio de Janeiro. A comparação entre esses dos personagens nos levou a evidenciar a diferença coercitiva judicial que existira sobre esses dois grupos ideológicos adversos. Mas o fato é que, apesar de tais atenuações repressivas, o Tribunal de Segurança Nacional era mais uma engrenagem, dentro da máquina de coerção do Estado, tanto no período democrático, como, principalmente no Estado Novo. Portanto, apesar das especificidades, é necessário que entendamos o TSN como mais um tentáculo repressor dentro de uma estrutura que visava combater os recalcitrantes e manter intacto, tanto a legitimidade quanto o poder emanado pelos governantes

A presente pesquisa trata das relações entre trabalhadores, militantes ligados ao Partido Comunista do Brasil (PCB) e a comunidade fronteiriça de Santana do Livramento e Rivera, a partir da instalação na região do Frigorífico Armour, e especialmente durante o período de redemocratização da sociedade brasileira que se seguiu ao final do Estado Novo, em um recorte que compreende o período de 1945 a 1954. Tem por objetivo revelar as articulações políticas e lutas operárias que tiveram como protagonistas os militantes ligados ao PCB e a sociedade fronteiriça no período em que o partido viveu um breve momento de legalidade, que por fim iria desaguar em forte repressão e na chacina ocorrida em 24 de setembro de 1950, na linha divisória entre Brasil e Uruguai. Dividida em quatro capítulos, busca historicizar a trajetória de homens e mulheres que tomaram parte dessa busca por direitos e justiça social em uma sociedade que tinha na grande fábrica multinacional o motor de desenvolvimento e também de concentração de poderes. Para tanto utiliza um conjunto de fontes composto por entrevistas, periódicos, acervos particulares, Anais da Assembleia Nacional Constituinte de 1946 e da Câmara de Vereadores de Santana do Livramento, textos literários e manuscritos. / This tesis concerns about the relations between workers, militants linked to the Communist Party of Brazil (PCB) and the border community of Santana do Livramento and Rivera, since the installation in the region of the Armour meat packers company, and especially during the period of redemocratization of Brazilian society which followed the end of ―Estado Novo‖, in a cut that covers the period from 1945 to 1954. The objective is to reveal the political articulations and workers' struggles that had as protagonists the militants linked to the PCB and the border society in the period in which the party Lived a brief moment of legality, which would eventually lead to strong repression and the slaughter that occurred on September 24, 1950, on the dividing line between Brazil and Uruguay. Divided into four chapters, it seeks to historicize the trajectory of men and women who took part in this search for rights and social justice in a society that had in the great multinational factory the motor of development and also concentration of powers. In order to do so, it uses a set of sources composed of interviews, periodicals, private collections, Annals of the Constituent Assembly of 1946 and the Council of Councilors of Santana do Livramento, literary texts and manuscripts.

Cette étude retrace, à partir des archives des danseurs et chorégraphes ainsi que des institutions culturelles et politiques, l’évolution de l’espace de la danse en roumanie dès sa création dans les années 1920 jusqu’à la chute du régime communiste en 1989 et interroge, à travers une approche socio-historique, le lien complexe entre danse et politique qui caractérise la configuration du champ chorégraphique roumain au vingtième siècle. / Starting from archives of dancers, choreographers, cultural and political institutions, this study shapes the history of the romanian field of dance since its creation in the early 1920s until the end of the communist regime in 1989. its main focus is an analysis of the complex connection between dance and politics that defines the romanian world of dance during the twentieth century.

This thesis considers the role of the Zhenotdel (Woman's Bureau) of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in Soviet Central Asia through a close reading of its activist journal Kommunistka from 1920-1930. This research seeks to address conflicting narratives within academic literature concerning the Zhenotdel's status within the CPSU, and in particular between accounts of its role in Central Asia rather than in European parts of the Soviet Union. Historians who have written on a campaign, known as the Hujum, launched by the CPSU in a direct attack on indigenous society in Central Asia in 1927, have tended to view the Zhenotdel as a compliant part of the Party apparatus. This interpretation contrasts with accounts of the Zhenotdel's far more problematic relationship with the Party outside of Central Asia during the same period. A close reading of Kommunistka throughout the entire period of the Zhenotdel's work in Central Asia has not previously been undertaken, although the journal has been relied on along with other source materials by various historians. Therefore, this study brings new and original material and analysis to further our understanding of the Zhenotdel's activities in Central Asia. It provides a close examination of the views of activists and leaders, and a better understanding of the Zhenotdel project on its own terms, as opposed to the goals of the CPSU. The shifts within Zhenotdel policy over the decade can also be situated within the changing conditions of the 1920s within Soviet Central Asia, and the discussions within its ranks. This thesis analyses the opinions expressed by Zhenotdel activists about indigenous women, along with the methods employed to interact with these women. It gives a detailed account of the Zhenotdel's social, economic and legal strategy and contrasts it with that of the CPSU. This thesis also considers the relationship of the Zhenotdel to the CPSU in the context of Central Asia. It shows how the tensions and conflicts within that relationship, already discussed through research focusing on the experience in the RSFSR and other European Republics, expressed themselves in the specific conditions of Central Asia. This research throws new light on many of the assumptions made about the Zhenotdel's programme in Central Asia and shows how this programme actually diverged very significantly from that of the Party leadership. A revaluation of the role of the Zhenotdel in the Hujum has been possible, based on this study. It shows that the involvement of the Zhenotdel in the Hujum and all other aspects of its activity in Central Asia has to be understood on the terms of an organisation which was committed to a woman-centred socialism. Ultimately this research shows the Zhenotdel in a struggle to make progress for its own programme while at the same time seeking to establish itself as a core part of the Soviet strategy in Central Asia.

This dissertation seeks to offer the first extensive account of Raymond Aron's critical interactions with major US academics and intellectuals during the Cold War. In doing so it demonstrates that Aron regularly criticized the liberal ideology of his American Cold War allies using language remarkably similar to his much more famous critiques of French Marxism. It demonstrates this by looking at Aron's thinking on neoliberalism, theories of global development and international relations realism. It also offers an alternative interpretation of Aron's role in the so-called French liberal revival of the 1970s.

This thesis asks why some centre-right formations have been more successful than others in the new democracies of Central and Eastern Europe. It does so by examining a single centre-right formation – the Romanian Democratic Convention. It adds to an existing body of literature that covers the development of political parties in post-Communist Central and Eastern Europe and to the small number of studies focusing on centre-right parties in the region. Specifically it adds to the literature on party success and failure and to that on Romanian party and electoral politics. The Romanian Democratic Convention is chosen to add new insights: it is unusual because it is a study of organisational failure and because there is a geographical imbalance in the published studies of the politics of the region towards the Visegrad states. The thesis acknowledges existing academic debate about the competing influences of historical legacies, agency and structural factors in relation to post-Communist democratisation. It aims to identify what led the Convention to first establish itself but then fail to consolidate and eventually to collapse. It draws on a range of sources: semi-structured interviews; contemporaneous newspaper reports; published diaries and autobiographies and a number of secondary sources. The thesis is structured thematically, examining the role of legacies and critical events in shaping long term behaviour by politicians (chapters three and four); organisational factors and the influence of operational objectives (chapter five); the search for a broad and integrative ideology (chapter six). The conclusions in chapter seven suggest that successfully crafting a new, broad political formation requires a degree of pragmatism, directive leadership and political entrepreneurship that was missing from the Democratic Convention because it was shaped by Romania's transition from Communism, by its organisational structure and by differences within its leadership elite so that competing operational objectives could not be reconciled when the formation entered government.

This thesis addresses the paradox of capitalist market reform being introduced by a politically undefeated communist state in China. It does so by developing an historical account of the Chinese polity's relationship with the modern world. Chapter one offers a critique of existing explanations; these tend to focus narrowly on the immediate circumstances surrounding the decision to reform and thereby eschew analysis of the specific dynamics of the Chinese Revolution. In so doing, they also ignore its origins within the welter of contradictions arising from the process of capitalist internationalization, giving no causal efficacy to ‘the international' in explaining this dramatic social transformation. In response to this neglect, chapter two invokes Leon Trotsky's ‘theory of uneven and combined development' as an alternative approach to the study of social contradictions within and amongst societies across the longue durée. This approach is then applied to the Chinese case in three steps, which consider, successively, the impact of British colonialism on the Qing dynasty, the emergence of a Chinese nationalism, and the specificities of Maoism. Chapter three shows how British imperialism integrated Qing China into the capitalist world by revolutionising global finance and imposing ‘free trade' through military force. This capitalist penetration of a tributary state created a unique amalgam of social relations that inhibited China's ability to ‘catch up' with the advancedcapitalist powers. Focusing on how these processes and pressures fostered a transformation in social consciousness, chapter four then outlines the emergence of a 'national imagination' amongst a new stratum of intellectuals outside of the traditional scholar-gentry ruling class. These layers turned to anti-imperialism, but also found their own country deficient in the face of colonialism and longed for a mythical restoration of ‘lost' Chinese power. The Russian Revolution dramatically raised the horizons of these new, modern Chinese, but also exposed a deep tension between internationalist and nationalist responses to the crisis of colonial capitalism. Chapter five outlines the role of national patriotism in the authoritarian decay of the communist project, arguing that Maoism represented a complementary amalgam of Soviet Stalinism with Chinese nationalism. This nationalism, however, resulted in tense relations with the Soviet Union after 1949 as China's elite rejected its tutelage. Chinese communists desired ‘national salvation' and, once Soviet-style planning failed to achieve it, they took the ‘capitalist road' to build a strong nation-state. Existing explanations of Chinese economic reform overlook this concatenation of local and global processes across the longue durée. The thesis shows, however, that this ‘methodological nationalism' results in a failure to give sufficient weight to the real-world political nationalism that underpinned market reform. The theory of uneven and combined development answers this absence by placing Chinese development in the global setting. Its dialectical account of history rejects the view that sees ‘cultural analysis' as an alternative to class based explanation, but rather treats nation, culture, ideology and class as essential moments in the uneven and combined reproduction of the world system.