General Issues

Continents and Countries

Congo

Renton, David, DavidSeddon, and LeoZeilig. The Congo. Plunder and Resistance. Zed Books, London [etc.] 2007. 243 pp. £16.99.

In six chronologically ordered chapters, from the acquisition of the colony by King Leopold II of the Belgians until the rise to power of Joseph Kabila, this book offers a compact review of Congo’s unfortunate history. The authors attribute the poverty and violence primarily to Western capitalist looting of Congo’s raw materials. They observe a transition from large and state capital, based on copper, to private capital, based on extraction of diamonds and coltan. According to the authors, Congo is, in effect, subject to the direct rule of private capital. Only in 1959–1960 and 1990–1994 did a broad popular movement rise up in protest, albeit in vain.

Guinea

Schmidt, Elizabeth. Cold War and Decolonization in Guinea, 1946–1958. [Western African Studies.] Ohio University Press, Athens 2007. xiv, 310 pp. Ill. Maps. £36.95.

France’s African empire played a major role in restoring this ravaged motherland to its status as a world power, with pressure from the United States to fight communism achieving an impact there as well. In 1956 the break of the Rassemblement Démocratique Africaine (RDA) with the PCF put RDA executives in a very strong position in local administration. Pressured increasingly by the grass roots, however, Guinea voted overwhelmingly in favour of independence in the 1958 referendum. France’s sabotage of independent Guinea to avenge this act of disobedience drove the country into the arms of the eastern bloc. The author asserts that this only partially explains the demise of democracy. See IRSH, 52 (2007), pp. 173f. for a previous study by this author on mid-twentieth century Guinea.

Kenya

Alam, S.M. Shamsul. Rethinking Mau Mau in Colonial Kenya. Palgrave Macmillan, New York [etc.] 2007. xiii, 249 pp. £42.50.

This study reviews the Mau Mau uprising (1952–1960) from a postcolonial analytical perspective. Using Gramsci’s theoretical framework regarding hegemony and autonomy, the author examines the Mau Mau in seven thematic chapters, consecutively addressing: criticism of writings about the Mau Mau; the biography of the leader of the uprising, Dedan Kimathi; the status of women; the ambivalence and suspicion toward the nationalism of Kenyatta; the works of Ngugi wa Thiong’o about this subject; three authors (Leakey, Corfield, and Carothers) as representatives of the colonial discourse; and finally three personal documents from Mau Mau commanders.

Namibia

Aitken, Robbie. Exclusion and Inclusion. Gradations of Whiteness and Socio-Economic Engineering in German Southwest Africa, 1884–1914. [Cultural Identity Studies.] Peter Lang, Oxford [etc.] 2007. 265 pp. € 48.20.

This study, based on a doctoral thesis (University of Liverpool, 2002), examines the construction, social make up, and representation of the colonial settler society in German South West Africa, present-day Namibia, from the beginning of German colonization in 1884 to World War I. Drawing on postcolonial studies and whiteness studies, Dr Aitken explores how through socio-economic engineering a hierarchical social order was constructed that included the creation of categories of race and a concept of whiteness that privileged not only white settlers over the indigenous black population but also distinguished between white settlers who were deemed more desirable and those who were considered undesirable.

Nigeria

Uchendu, Egodi. Women and Conflict in the Nigerian Civil War. Africa World Press, Inc. [etc.], Trenton, NJ [etc.] 2007. xviii, 307 pp. $24.95.

This study is about the history of women from the Anioma region during the Biafra War (1967–1970) and the years of restoration that followed. Though located west of the river Niger, Anioma is a largely Igbo area and was controlled only briefly by Biafra, with which it sympathized. After troops from the federation reconquered these areas, Anioma fell under military control. Some inhabitants fled to Biafra. A small group of women fought actively on the Biafran side. The majority stayed behind in Anioma and suffered oppression and sexual violence for years. The investigation relies in part on interviews.

South Africa

Lessons from the 1970s' Struggles and Strikes in East London. Ed. by South African Labour History Archive Project [and] Labour Research Service, Cape Town [s.a.] CD-Rom. (Incl. Booklet 12 pp.). No price.

This CD-Rom offers an overview of the history of the wave of strikes and community boycotts and actions that emerged in 1973 in the South African city of East London and continued into 1976. The authors of the CD-Rom, intended for trade-union training purposes and for a general readership, place the strike wave in the larger context of economic crises, the struggle against the apartheid regime, and the Bantustan system. In addition to an historical overview, the CD-Rom features images of newspaper articles on the strikes and interviews with activists involved at the time.

Tanzania

Deutsch, Jan-Georg. Emancipation without Abolition in German East Africa c.1884–1914. [Eastern African Studies.] James Currey [etc.], Oxford [etc.] 2006. viii, 276 pp. Maps. £55.00. (Paper; £17.95.)

Unlike other colonial powers in Africa, Germany did not officially abolish slavery in its colonial territories in the nineteenth century. In this study of the German East African colony Tanganyika in the period 1890–1914, Professor Deutsch aims to show how the persistent efforts by slaves to gain greater control over their own lives were more effective than change in colonial policy in bringing slavery as an institution to an end, despite the German colonial objectives.

Eckert, Andreas. Herrschen und Verwalten. Afrikanische Bürokraten, staatliche Ordnung und Politik in Tanzania, 1920–1970. [Studien zur Internationalen Geschichte.] R. Oldenbourg Verlag, München 2007. vii, 313 pp. € 49.80.

In this political history of Tanzania in the long process of decolonization from the 1920s to 1970, Professor Eckert focuses on the African state officials who were trained and worked as civil servants in the late colonial period. These functionaries were subsequently pivotal in the constitution of the postcolonial state and its administration. The author aims to show how these African civil servants unintentionally became central in the prolongation of colonial relations in the postcolonial state. See also the review by Ulrich van der Heyden in this volume, pp. 125–127.

America

Mesa-Lago, Carmelo. Reassembling Social Security. A Survey of Pensions and Health Care Reforms in Latin America. Oxford University Press, Oxford [etc.] 2008. xxvi, 453 pp. £75.00.

In Latin America social security programmes were introduced between 1910 and 1920. Reforms introducing privatization started in Chile in 1981. This study features a systematic comparison of these pension and healthcare reforms in twenty countries, assessed according to ILO criteria: (a) universal coverage; (b) equal treatment; (c) solidarity; (d) comprehensiveness, sufficiency, and quality; (e) unity, state responsibility and efficiency; and (f) financial sustainability. The reforms are in part a response to the ageing population and rising healthcare costs. The study is divided into four parts: social security prior to the reforms; pension reforms; healthcare reforms; and policy recommendations.

Bolivia

Hylton, Forrest and Thomson, Sinclair. Revolutionary Horizons. Past and Present in Bolivian Politics. With a Prologue by Adolfo Gilly. Verso, London [etc.] 2007. xxiv, 177 pp. Ill. Maps. $22.95; £12.99.

The authors have provided a user-friendly overview of Bolivian history from the perspective of the masses. From approximately 1985 to 2000, Bolivia was a neo-liberal showcase. This started to change in 2000 with the resistance in Cochabamba to privatization of the water supply. The subsequent course of events culminating in Morales’ election in December 2005 is pivotal in this book. The main difference in respect to previous revolutionary movements in Bolivia was the convergence this time of the two large, omnipresent traditions, i.e. indigenous resistance and the national-popular opposition supported by some mestizo and Creole groups.

Canada

Johnston, Faith. A Great Restlessness. The Life and Politics of Dorise Nielsen. University of Manitoba Press, Winnipeg 2006. 361 pp. $24.95

This is a biography of the Canadian feminist and radical politician, Dorise Nielsen (1902–1980), who in 1940 was the first communist and the second woman ever elected to Canada’s House of Commons. Mrs Johnston describes Nielsen’s family background and radicalization in the 1930s, her short-lived political career in the Communist Party, and her move to China in 1957 to dedicate her life to Mao’s communist revolution. The author stresses the difficulties Nielsen experienced in combining family life with a revolutionary political career.

Chile

Stern, SteveJ. Remembering Pinochet’s Chile. On the Eve of London 1998. Book One of the Trilogy: The Memory Box of Pinochet’s Chile. [Latin America Otherwise. Languages, Empires, Nations.] Duke University Press, Durham [etc.] 2006. xxxi, 247 pp. Maps. £12.99.

Stern, SteveJ. Battling for Hearts and Minds. Memory Struggles in Pinochet’s Chile, 1973–1988. Book Two of the Trilogy: The Memory Box of Pinochet’s Chile. [Latin America Otherwise. Languages, Empires, Nations.] Duke University Press, Durham [etc.] 2006. xxxi, 538 pp. Ill. £17.99.

These are the first two volumes in the projected trilogy The Memory Box of Pinochet’s Chile, which deals with the impact that the Pinochet dictatorship (1973–1990) had, and continues to have, on Chileans and Chilean society, and investigates the form and meaning of memories of a period marked by state-sponsored atrocities. In the first volume, Remembering Pinochet’s Chile, Professor Stern introduces key themes of the complex role of memory in overcoming and giving meaning to a troubled period in recent history and sketches the historical context of the 1973 coup against Salvador Allende’s government and the military dictatorship based on the stories and recollections of individual Chileans, both victims and those who welcomed military rule. In the second volume, the author analyses the conflicting interpretations of the events in Chile’s political history of the period, based on various official sources, as well as on personal testimonies and memoires. He identifies four distinct perspectives on life and events under the Pinochet dictatorship: the military regime as salvation from ruin by the leftists; as a wound repeatedly reopened by the state; as an experience of persecution and awakening; and as a past to be buried and forgotten.

Cuba

Montaner, CarlosAlberto. Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution. Age, Position, Character, Destiny, Personality, and Ambition. Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick 2008. xiv, 210 pp. £17.69.

The author, director of the Firmas Press agency in Madrid, fled Cuba in 1961. This book is an edited version of the original, published in Spanish in 1976 as Informe secreto sobre la revolucion Cubana and revised and translated into English in 1989. Unfortunately, the changes over the past two decades are not addressed in this new edition. As the author asserts, the book is an “essay in historical interpretation”, not an academic monograph. The book consists of short sections, featuring Fidel Castro as the central figure in each analysis.

Moore, RobinD. Music and Revolution. Cultural Change in Socialist Cuba. [Music of the African Diaspora.] University of California Press [etc.], Berkeley [etc.] 2006. xvi, 350 pp. £38.95.

This study gives a chronological overview of the role and development of popular music in Cuba in the first decades after the Cuban Revolution, focusing on the close links between political and cultural activity. Tracing the development of dance and music styles, religious traditions, and other forms of popular culture, Professor Moore explores the effect of tense international relations on Cuban culture and analyses how Cubans responded to the priorities of the revolution while creating spaces for their individual concerns, and how the arts have become a point of negotiation between individuals and the state.

Mexico

Acuña, RodolfoF. Corridors of Migration. The Odyssey of Mexican Laborers, 1600–1933. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 2007. xvii, 408 pp. Ill. Maps. $49.95.

This book traces Mexican labour migration via Chihuhua and El Paso to the south-west of the United States, where Mexicans worked in the mines of Arizona and New Mexico. During the hard times immediately after World War I, many travelled further west, ending up in the massive California agricultural industry. At all places en route the author examines how the Mexican workers struggled against exploitation, disadvantage and racism, addressing the Clifton-Morenci strike of 1903 and the Cananea strikes of 1906. The San Joaquin Valley cotton strike of 1933 is the terminus of this history. Violence is a constant throughout these events.

EstradeSaavedra, Marco. La comunidad armada rebelde y el EZLN. Un estudio histórico y sociológico sobre las bases de apoyo zapatistas en las cañadas tojolabales de la selva lacandona (1930–2005). El colegio de México, México 2007. 625 pp. Maps. $28.00.

In this detailed study the author examines why certain groups within the Maya tribe of the Tojolabales supported the EZLN, while others did not, invoking elements from sociology, political science, and history, and identifying several stages. Until the 1930s indigenous people were basically forced to work on the estates of religious orders. In the second stage, society was organized according to the ejido system, and the Selva Lacandona rainforest started to be developed. Between 1960 and 1974 liberation theology was very influential. From the 1970s society became politicized, after which the comunidad armada rebelde [armed rebel community] emerged in 1988. In addition to a vast quantity of written sources, the author interviewed eighty-five key figures from the region.

United States of America

Barry, Kathleen. Femininity in Flight. A History of Flight Attendants. Duke University Press, Durham [etc.] 2007. Ill. xv, 304 pp. £13.99.

In this labour history of flight attendants in the American airline industry, Dr Barry argues that the actual work flight attendants performed was supposed to appear effortless and was from the outset influenced by both cultural mystification and economic devaluation of a gendered profession. She traces the labour activism and unionization from the late 1940s and 1950s and shows how flight attendants in the 1960s and 1970s became one of the first groups to benefit from new laws prohibiting sexual discrimination.

Kessler-Harris, Alice. Gendering Labor History. [The Working Class in American History.] University of Illinois Press, Urbana [etc.] 2007. 374 pp. Ill. £14.99.

Professor Kessler-Harris has brought together in this volume seventeen essays, published previously between 1975 and 2004, that deal with a variety of themes revolving around her central project: to show gender’s fundamental importance to US labour and working-class history. Organized in four sections, the volume considers the role of women in organized labour; the gendering of male as well as female workers, and how gender operates with and within class; gender and US social policy; and new perspectives derived from the question of economic citizenship and the global perspective on wage labour. See also Francisca de Haan’s review in this volume, pp. 111–113.

Young, CynthiaA. Soul Power. Culture, Radicalism, and the Making of a US Third World Left. Duke University Press, Durham [etc.] 2006. xv, 307 pp. Ill. £14.99.

During the 1960s, a growing number of African-American activists looked to the Third World anti-colonial struggles and the wave of decolonization for theoretical and strategic inspiration in their fight for social and economic justice in the United States. Professor Young offers in this study a cultural history of these activists of colour, whom she labels as “US Third World Leftists”, by examining how these transnational influences gave rise to a new discourse about several cultural and political objectives and by focusing on the rise of a documentary film movement among these activists.

Young, MichaelP. Bearing Witness against Sin. The Evangelical Birth of the American Social Movement. University of Chicago Press, Chicago [etc.] 2006. xi, 256 pp. $55.00; £35.00. (Paper: $22.00; £14.00.)

The wave of movements for social change concerning issues such as temperance, the abolition of slavery and anti-vice activism, which emerged in the United States in the 1830s, represents a new style of mobilization, argues Professor Young in this study. It is characterized by the challenge it posed to antebellum Americans to take personal and moral responsibility for reforming social problems and by its religious inspiration. The author argues that in many ways this social reformism prefigured contemporary forms of social protest.

Asia

Belgium

Rouge metal. 100 ans d’histoire des métallos liégeois de la FGTB. Red. Institut d’histoire ouvriére, économique et sociale. Institut d’histoire ouvriére, économique et sociale, Seraing 2006. 255 pp. Ill. € 60.00.

Published in honour of the centenary of the Fédération syndicale des Métallurgistes de la province de Liège, the metalworkers’ trade-union federation in the Belgian province of Liège, this expansive, richly illustrated volume, intended for a general readership, offers a historical overview of this organization and its central role in both Walloon trade unionism and socialist politics. One chapter deals with the trade-union federation’s position on the political progression towards Belgian federalism.

Eire – Ireland

Rodgers, Nini. Ireland, Slavery and Anti-Slavery: 1612–1865. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke [etc.] 2007. v, 403 pp. £60.00.

In this study of the relationship between Ireland and black slavery, Dr Rodgers examines the involvement of the Irish in the transatlantic slave trade, the influence of the slave plantation economy on the economic, social, and political development of Ireland in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the various ways in which the anti-slavery movement manifested in nineteenth-century Ireland. In the latter part, the author examines the links between Catholic Irish emancipation and slave emancipation, the influence of Frederick Douglass’s visit to Ireland (1845) on the Irish abolition movement, and the position of Irish immigrants in the American Civil War.

Finland

Krekola, Joni. Stalinismin lyhyt kurssi. Suomalaised Moskovan Lenin-koulussa 1926–1938. [Bibliotheca Historica, 105.] Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, Helsinki 2006. 445 pp. € 29.00.

During its existence from 1926 until 1938, some 150 Finns attended or worked at the International Lenin School (ILS) in Moscow. This study aims to explore how the Finns experienced and interpreted their schooling at the ILS and to elucidate the fate of the Finn at the ILS who fell victim to the Great Terror in 1938. The majority of the Finns at the ILS attended brief courses lasting six to nine months, after which most returned to Finland to work illegally for the Communist Party of Finland. Although he argues that party education in the Soviet Union constituted a decisive move in their careers as professional revolutionaries, Dr Krekola characterizes their history as one of losers.

France

Duclert, Vincent. Dreyfus est innocent! Histoire d’une affaire d’Etat. Larousse, Paris 2006. 239 pp. Ill. € 35.00.

In this richly illustrated, large-size book, intended for a general readership, Professor Duclert gives a comprehensive overview of the most renowned political affair in modern French history, the Dreyfus affair. In chronologically ordered sections, the author sketches the general political and ideological background to the actual arrest and trial of the French army captain, the link with French anti-Semitism, the origins and development of the movement in Dreyfus’s defence, including the role of Émile Zola, and the enormous impact of the affair on the Third Republic political ambience and French political culture in the twentieth century.

Gratien, JeanPierre. Marius Moutet. Un socialiste à l’outre-mer. [Logiques historiques.] L’Harmattan, Paris [etc.] 2006. 384 pp. € 31.00.

This doctoral thesis (Université Paris I, 2004) is a biographical study of Marius Moutet (1876–1968), a French socialist who played a major role in French politics as the first socialist minister for the colonies and as an advocate for more democratic policies towards and in the French colonies. By sketching Moutet’s political career and the resistance he encountered, Dr Gratien aims to elucidate the difficult trajectory of French decolonization.

Guide des sources de l’histoire du féminisme de la Révolution française à nos jours. Sous la dir. de Christine Bard, Annie Metz et Valérie Neveu. Coord. par Véronique Fau-Vincenti. [Archives du féminisme.] Presses Universitaires de Rennes, Rennes 2006. Ill. 442 pp. € 22.00.

This volume offers a comprehensive guide to the sources on the history of feminism in France from the period of the French Revolution to the present. Starting from a general definition of feminism as women’s emancipation, the guide offers information about the broad variety of collections in public and private archives, documentation centres, and libraries (including dedicated centres such as the Bibliothèque Marguerite Durand and the Centre des Archives du feminism) that may serve as sources on the history of French feminism, as it emerged in political, trade-union, and other social and cultural associations.

Histoire documentaire du Parti Socialiste. Tome 2. La Maison socialiste 1921–1940. Textes réunis et prés. par V. Chambarlhac, M. Dury, T. Hohl et J. Malois. Editions Universitaires de Dijon, Dijon 2005. 386 pp. Ill. Maps. € 22.00.

Histoire documentaire du Parti Socialiste. Tome 3. Les Centres socialistes 1940–1969. Textes réunis et prés. par V. Chambarlhac, M. Dury, T. Hohl et J. Malois. Editions Universitaires de Dijon, Dijon 2006. 345 pp. Ill. Maps. € 22.00.

These two volumes are sequels to the documentary history of the French socialist party, published in 2005 in recognition of its centenary (see IRSH, 58 (2008), p. 169). Volume 2 covers the interwar years, characterized by the SFIO’s efforts to maintain the traditional home of socialism against opposition from the left by the communists and from the right by the emergence of fascism. Volume 3 deals with the end of the old SFIO after World War II, the difficult years of the Cold War, the Algerian War, and the restructuring of French socialism in the new Parti socialiste (PS) under François Mitterrand. As in Volume 1, the editors have brought together a broad variety of selections from primary sources, which are placed in context through short historical introductions. The annexes include biographical annotations of the main personalities in the movement and a cartography of French socialism through the twentieth century.

Legendre, Tony. Expériences de vie communautaire anarchiste en France. Le milieu libre de Vaux (Aisne) 1902–1907 et La colonie naturiste et végétalienne de Bascon (Aisne) 1911–1951. Les Éditions libertaires, Saint-Georges-d’Oléron 2006. 165 pp. Ill. € 15.00.

In 1902, a small group of libertarian anarchist peasants and workers founded the first of a series of colonies libertaires, or communes, in Vaux, department of Aisne, in the north of France. After its demise in 1907, members of this first experiment started a new colony, which became a naturist and vegetarian commune in Bascon, Aisne. This book offers a concise overview of the history and development of this colony, which lasted until 1951, and in the annexes features a wide variety of newspaper articles and essays by authors from within the colony and others on the libertarian anarchist and naturist and vegetarian movements.

Marec, Yannick. Pauvreté et protection sociale aux XIXe et XXe siècles. Des expériences rouennaises aux politiques nationales. [Collection Carnot.] Presses Universitaires de Rennes, Rennes 2006. 404 pp. Ill. € 22.00.

Professor Marec, a well-known French specialist on the history of poverty and social security (see IRSH, 49 (2004), p. 559, and 53 (2008), p. 154), has brought together in this volume some thirty previously published essays that have been revised and adapted for this general overview of the history of poverty, poverty relief and its institutional development, and the development of national social security in nineteenth- and twentieth-century France. He bases his explorations on his earlier research of community-based public assistance for the poor, as developed in the city of Rouen, which became known as the “système rouennais”.

Margairaz, Michel, DanielleTartakowsky and DanielLefeuvre. “L’avenir nous appartient!” Une histoire du Front populaire. Larousse, 2006. 239 pp. € 35.00.

This large-size book offers an overview of the history of the French Popular Front for a general readership. Richly illustrated, partly in full colour, the contributors not only deal with the historical context and the political aspects of the Popular Front during its historical existence, such as the role of the various political parties on the Left, the role of the trade unions and the international dimensions, but also address the cultural legacy and the historical representation of the Popular Front.

Le monde perdu de Maurice Lachâtre (1814–1900). Sous la dir. de François Gaudin. Contrib. de Denis Delaplace, Francis Demier, Bernard Desmars [e.a.]. [Colloques, congrès et conferences. Science du Langage, no 4.] Honoré Champion Éditeur, Paris 2006. 286 pp. € 50.00.

The thirteen contributions to this volume evaluate the significance of the life, work, and legacy of the French author, publisher, editor, and progressive militant, Maurice Lachâtre (1814–1900). Now primarily known as the editor of the first French edition of Marx’s Capital, Lachâtre played a central role in the radical, utopian, and socialist movement of nineteenth-century France. The authors of the contributions to this volume focus on his work as author and editor of five dictionaries, his role in the history of political ideas, and the various social and political circles and milieus in which he participated.

Naissance d’un syndicalisme étudiant. Coord. Robi Morder. GERME [s.l.] 2006. 328 pp. Ill. € 24.00.

The re-establishment of the Union Nationale des Étudiants de France (UNEF), the National Union of Students of France after World War II, was marked by the adoption of the Charter of Grenoble, in which students were defined as “young intellectual workers”, and UNEF regarded as part of the labour movement. The sixteen contributions to this collection cover three defining periods in the development of the French student movement: the re-establishment in 1946; UNEF’s central role in the opposition to the Algerian war and French colonialism; and 1968 and its aftermath. Testimonies from participants and a selection of relevant documents are included for each of these sections.

Le pain, la paix, la liberté. Expériences et territoires du Front Populaire. Sous la dir. de Xavier Vigna, Jean Vigreux [et] Serge Wolikow. [Histoire.] Éditions sociales, Paris 2006. Ill. 367 pp. € 26.00.

The twenty-five contributions to this volume are the proceedings of a colloquium organized at the Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, in June 2006, addressing the historical significance and memory of the French Popular Front, in particular as a formative period and point of reference for a generation of trade-union and political militants on the left. Contributions deal with the Popular Front’s historiography; the various fields in which it has manifested its lasting influence; the prominent role of intellectuals in the period; the international dimensions of the Popular Front; and later usages of its historical memory.

Les politiques du Travail (1906–2006). Acteurs, institutions, réseaux. Sous la dir. de Alain Chatriot, Odile Join-Lambert et Vincent Viet. [Pour une histoire du travail.] Presses Universitaires de Rennes, Rennes 2006. 518 pp. € 28.00.

These are the proceedings of an international colloquium, organized in May 2006 in Paris in recognition of the centenary of the French Ministry of Labour. The twenty-seven contributions deal with a variety of themes within the broad field of labour politics elaborated and operationalized by the Ministry of Labour in the past century. The themes covered include: regional labour politics; the organizational structure and development of the ministry; the development of employment policy; relations with other governmental and international labour organizations; social policy after World War II; and relations with employers and trade-union organizations.

Sagnes, Jean. Les racines du socialisme de Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte. Le paupérisme des années 1840. [Collection Histoire.] Éditions Privat, Toulouse 2006. 246 pp. € 19.00.

Although Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte’s ideological stance has traditionally been associated with the ideas of François Guizot and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, his affinity toward socialist ideas was at least as strong, according to Professor Sagnes in this book. Including the full text of Bonaparte’s early pamphlet “Extinction du paupérisme” (1844), published here for the first time, this study aims to analyse Bonaparte’s relation to socialist views current in the 1840s and to assess which elements in his policy as Napoleon III appear to derive from his socialist roots.

Santamaria, Yves. Le parti de l’ennemi? Le Parti communiste français dans la lutte pour la paix, 1947–1958. Armand Colin, Paris 2006. 373 pp. € 26.50.

This study deals with the heyday of the Cold War and is a sequel to the study of the views about the pacifism of the PCF, the French communist party, in the period 1917–1947, published in 2002 (IRSH, 49 (2004), p. 561). Dr Santamaria, who recently also published a general history of French pacifism (IRSH, 53 (2008), p. 356), explores the complex position of the PCF amidst sharply rising tensions between the Western allies, including France and the Soviet Union, against the historical background of the party’s heroic reputation in the resistance movement during World War II.

Schill, Pierre. 1936. Visages et figures du Front Populaire en Moselle. Editions Serpenoise, Metz 2006. 102 pp. Ill. € 19.00.

This expansive volume offers an illustrated history for a general readership about how the 1936 victory of the Popular Front was experienced in the eastern French department, Moselle. Despite its large working-class population, and because of a history of annexations by Germany, Moselle was known as politically conservative and patriotic. According to Professor Schill, the generally favourable disposition towards the Popular Front was influenced by a number of leading trade-union militants, whose views reflected their experiences with life under German annexation.

Tirand, Paul. Emile Digeon 1822–1894. L’itinéraire singulier d’un communard. [Logiques historiques.] L’Harmattan, Paris [etc.] 2006. 238 pp. € 22.00.

This is a biographical study of the French socialist and anarchist militant, Emile Digeon (1822–1894), who has become known primarily as the leader of the commune of Narbonne in March 1871. Mr Tirand describes an eventful life characterized by two exiles, and aims to show that before becoming a relentless advocate of revolutionary socialist unity Digeon was a successful banker and investor in the Suez Canal project.

Vidal, Georges. La Grande Illusion? Le Parti communiste français et la Défense nationale à l’époque du Front populaire (1934–1939). Presses Universitaires de Lyon, Lyon 2006. 484 pp. € 22.00.

The French communist party, the PCF, adopted an ambivalent attitude toward the issue of national defence and the armed forces in the 1930s. This study explores changing views and policies in this field within the PCF in light of Germany’s rearmament under Hitler, and shows how, from the onset of the Popular Front, the party abandoned its original anti-militaristic stance and, influenced by the rapprochement between France and the Soviet Union, became more favourably disposed toward national defence and the armed forces. Dr Vidal also explores how within leading circles of the armed forces, the PCF nevertheless continued to be regarded as the internal enemy.

Vindt, Gérard. Les hommes de l’aluminium. Histoire sociale de Pechiney 1921–1973. [Collection Mouvement Social.] Les Editions de l’Atelier, Institut pour l’histoire de l’aluminium, Paris 2006. 254 pp. € 27.00.

Pechiney was the leading French aluminium producer until it was acquired by an international conglomerate in 2003. This study offers a chronologically ordered social history of the company, which in 1921 became the leading aluminium producer following a series of mergers and in 1948 was officially named Pechiney SA. The author focuses on the labour relations and social security policies of the company, and on the role of the trade unions. In the final chapter, Mr Vindt deals with the major long-lasting strike in the plant at Noguères in 1973 which ended the extended period of social calm.

Germany

Joho, Michael. “Dies Haus soll unsere geistige Waffenschmiede sein” (August Bebel). 100 Jahre Hamburger Gewerkschaftshaus 1906–2006. Hrsg. Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund Hamburg. VSA, Hamburg 2006. 239 pp. Ill. € 22.80.

In recognition of its hundredth anniversary, this expansive volume for a general readership relates the history of the trade-union house in Hamburg. Mr Joho provides an overview of the background, origins, and development of this seminal symbol of the German trade-union movement and the labour movement in one of its main strongholds. An extensive selection of original source documents, including speeches, newspaper articles, memoirs, and official documents, is contextualized by short historical introductions and illustrated by a rich selection of photographs, partly in colour.

Kay, AlexJ. Exploitation, Resettlement, Mass Murder. Political and Economic Planning for German Occupation Policy in the Soviet Union, 1940–1941. [Studies on War and Genocide, Vol. 10.] Berghahn Books, New York [ etc]. 2006. xiii, 242 pp. $75.00.

In the twelve months preceding the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, high-ranking officials devised an occupation policy that envisaged radical political, economic, and racial reorganization of the occupied Soviet territories, which would bring about the deaths of millions of people through a Hungerpolitik, a deliberate policy of starvation. This study explores the course of these plans and the concomitant power struggles and inter-agency competition with the Nazi bureaucracy.

Ein Koloss auf tönernen Füssen. Das Gutachten des Wirtschaftsprüfers Karl Eicke über die Deutsche Arbeitsfront vom 31. Juli 1936. Hrsg. und eingel. von Rüdiger Hachtmann. [Forschungen zur deutschen Sozialgeschichte, Band 9.] R. Oldenbourg Verlag, München 2006. 389 pp. € 49.80.

This source publication offers an edited selection from the report that economic researcher and rationalization expert, Karl Eicke, presented in 1936 about the complex organizational structure of the Deutsche Arbeitsfront (DAF), the German Labour Front. With 25 million members, the DAF was by far the largest organization within the Third Reich. Based on this report, a selection of additional documents and an extensive historical introduction by the editor, the extent to which the organization increasingly penetrated German society becomes clear.

Konsum. Konsumgenossenschaften in der DDR. Hrsg. v. Dokumentationszentrum Alltagskultur der DDR. Böhlau, Köln [etc.] 2006. Ill. 204 pp. € 19.90; S.fr. 34.90.

This richly illustrated book offers a general history of the KONSUM, the major organization of shops in the GDR. The German consumer cooperatives in the Soviet Occupation Zone became the main outlet for daily requirements and after 1949 remained the major organization for distributing and producing of a wide range of products, from food items and other daily necessities to luxury goods and services. The authors review the history of the KONSUM organization, labour conditions in the shops and factories, and the way KONSUM defined the image of everyday culture in the GDR.

Mertens, Lothar. Priester der Klio oder Hofchronisten der Partei? Kollektivbiographische Analysen zur DDR-Historikerschaft. [Berichte und Studien, Nr. 52.] V&R unipress, Göttingen 2006. 179 pp. € 22.90.

Based on the recently published Lexikon der DDR-Historiker (2006), which offers biographical and bibliographical annotations of academic historians from the GDR era, this study aims to offer a collective biography, as well as a differentiated picture of the various career paths of East German historians. Including both SED party members and non-members and historians from all major specializations, Professor Mertens aims to show the major differences between those who sought a non-political scholarly career and those whose activities in the field were dedicated primarily to propagandistic, ideological objectives at the service of the SED central committee.

Ritter, GerhardA. Der Preis der deutschen Einheit. Die Wiedervereinigung und die Krise des Sozialstaats. Verlag C.H. Beck, München 2006. 540 pp.

In this study of the consequences of the German reunification for the German welfare state, Professor Ritter, a leading German social historian, explores the international and national political, economic, and social circumstances of this process and takes issue with the enormous pressures that the transfer of the West German system of social security, labour law, and labour relations imposed on the German social and political system. He argues that the fixation of German politics and politicians on reunification problems jeopardized the necessary reforms in the German welfare state, which were already in progress before 1989.

Schevardo, Jennifer. Vom Wert des Notwendigen. Preispolitik und Lebensstandard in der DDR der fünfziger Jahre. [Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte: Beihefte, Nr. 185.] Franz Steiner Verlag, München 2006. 320 pp. € 62.00.

This dissertation (University of Potsdam, 2004) explores the system used to set prices in the planned economy of the GDR in the 1950s. Dr Schevardo explores the economic and ideological principles on which prices were based. According to the GDP leadership, the planned economy would enable cost-effective production at prices affordable to consumers. The author aims to show the unforeseen side effects for both production and consumption and argues that actual price levels differed from those listed in contemporary official statistics.

Streubel, Christiane. Radikale Nationalistinnen. Agitation und Programmatik rechter Frauen in der Weimarer Republik. [Geschichte und Geschlechter, Band 55.] Campus Verlag, Frankfurt [etc.] 2006. 444 pp. € 45.00; S.fr. 78.00.

In the strong current of radical nationalism that emerged in Weimar Germany from 1918 onward, not only male ideologues but also female writers produced publications to propagate the ideals of radical nationalism from a right-wing feminist perspective. Dr Streubel explores these women’s fascination with German nationalist ideology and aims to demonstrate their struggle to make their distinct female perspective heard in the political and ideological debates of the time.

Tham, Imke. Der Anspruch auf das Glück des Tüchtigen. Beruf, Organisation und Selbstverständnis der Bankangestellten in der Weimarer Republik. [Beiträge zur Unternehmensgeschichte, Band 24.] Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2006. 298 pp. € 59.00.

This dissertation (Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Bonn, 2006) examines the professional status and organization, social status, and self-perception of bank employees in the Weimar Republic. Dr Thamm describes how from the end of the nineteenth century bank employees were generally regarded as the elite of white-collar workers, but also how the economic problems of the Weimar era, including rampant inflation and economic depression, greatly challenged the occupational prestige of bank employees. The history of this group therefore reflects the struggle to retain professional status amidst structural changes within the financial sector.

Vogt, Stefan. Nationaler Sozialismus und Soziale Demokratie. Die sozialdemokratische Junge Rechte 1918–1945. [Politik und Gesellschaftsgeschichte, Band 70.] Dietz, Bonn 2006. 502 pp. Ill. € 48.00.

This dissertation (Freie Universität Berlin, 2004) explores the ideological and organizational origins of the nationalist current that emerged in the mid-1920s within German social democracy and is generally labelled as the “young right”. Dr Vogt focuses on the intellectual and ideological background of this movement, which in its radical nationalist views resembled National Socialism to a certain degree but also influenced the ideological renewal of the postwar SPD.

Werner, Constanze. Kriegswirtschaft und Zwangsarbeit bei BMW. Im Auftrag von MTU Aero Engines und BMW Group. [Perspektiven. Schriftenreihe der BMW Group – Konzernarchiv, Band 1.] R. Oldenbourg Verlag, München 2006. x, 447 pp. Ill. € 39.80.

The Bayerischen Motorenwerke (BMW) played an important role in the Nazi armament and war economy. This study explores the history of BMW’s entanglement in the Nazi regime from 1936 onward, when all the resources of the company were dedicated to producing airplane engines. Dr Werner examines the increasing employment of forced labour, including workers from concentration camps, and aims to show how this entanglement with the Nazi regime transformed the entire company, including management. Included are four extended interviews with former forced labourers.

Wilke, Manfred. Der SED-Staat. Geschichte und Nachwirkungen. Gesammelte Schriften. Zu seinem 65. Geburtstag zusammengest. u. hrsg. von Hans-Joachim Veen, Böhlau Köln [etc]. 2006. ix, 339 pp. € 39.90; S.fr. 69.40.

On the occasion of his sixty-fifth birthday, this volume brings together eighteen essays by Professor Wilke, a leading German expert on the history of the division and reunification of Germany. Written between 1991 and 2006, fifteen of these essays were previously published. Themes covered include the early beginnings of the GDR and SED policy towards eastern European democratization movements. An interview with the author by Hannes Schwenger and an essay on Professor Wilke’s research group at the Freie Universität Berlin are appended.

Great Britain

August, Andrew. The British Working Class, 1832–1940. Pearson Longman, Harlow [etc.] 2007. ix, 286 pp. £40.95; € 31.95.

This study aims to offer a general overview of British working-class life during the period from the Great Reform Act of 1832 to World War II. Professor August aims in his analytical approach to transcend both the traditional economic determinism and party political perspectives and the revisionism of cultural turn historiography. Organized in three chronological sections, with breaks in 1870 and 1914, each section encompasses four thematic chapters, addressing community and family, work, leisure and politics and identity for each period.

French, H.R. The Middle Sort of People in Provincial England 1600–1750. Oxford University Press, Oxford [etc.] 2007. xii, 305 pp. £55.00.

Through case studies of the middle class in the provinces of East Anglia, Lancashire, and Dorset in the period 1600–1750, Dr French aims to offer a comparative analysis of the nature of social identity in early modern provincial England. Examining the “middle sort’s” social position in parish life and government and the material position of these people, and explaining how they described their own status, the author concludes that a division existed between a group of self-proclaimed parish rulers, who increasingly strove to transcend the social confines of their parish, and a wider body of modestly prosperous householders, content with the social prospects within their localities.

Knox, WilliamW.J. Lives of Scottish Women. Women and Scottish Society, 1800–1980. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 2006. 234 pp. Ill. £50.00. (Paper: £15.99.)

Dr Knox has brought together in this study biographical portraits of ten Scottish women, who each in their own very different roles, qualities, and positions have figured prominently in women’s economic, social, and political emancipation in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Avoiding the most obvious choices, the author has included biographies of women from a wide variety of social, political, and cultural backgrounds and presents a general impression of the broader concerns of political freedom, sexuality, war, and opportunities in education and the workplace that these women represented.

Koven, Seth. Slumming. Sexual and Social Politics in Victorian London. Princeton University Press, Princeton [etc.]. 2006. xvii, 399 pp. Ill. £12.95.

Between 1860 and 1890, a growing number of elite men and women started visiting the east London slums to observe the everyday life of and reach out to the Victorian London poor. In this study, Professor Koven explores the circumstances and analyses the various and often complex motives of this “slumming”. He does this first by looking at a number of men and women who became famous by infiltrating the lives of the poor and publishing studies about them, and then by exploring broader attempts to build relationships across class divisions, including the settlement house movement.

Marsh, Arthur and JohnB. Smethurst. Historical Directory of Trade Unions. Foreword by Lord Asa Briggs. Vol. 5 including unions in Printing and Publishing, Local Government, Retail and Distribution, Domestic Services, General Employment, Financial Services, Agriculture. Ashgate, Aldershot [etc.] 2006. xvi, 586 pp. £80.00.

This is the fifth volume in a series, which was started in 1980 (see IRSH, 40, pp. 173f.). This volume addresses unions in printing and publishing, various services, agriculture and, as residual category, “general employment”. Covering over 1,700 unions, the short descriptions once again contain information on dates of establishment, membership profiles, leadership, policy, defining events, and membership numbers. A sixth volume is planned to cover governmental departments, mining, and metal trades.

Medical Records for the South Wales Coalfield, c.1890–1948. An Annotated Guide to the South Wales Coalfield Collection. Ed. by Anne Borsay and Sara Knight. University of Wales Press, Cardiff 2007. xiv, 416 pp. £60.00.

This source guide catalogues the records relating to occupational and community health in the South Wales Coalfield Collection (SWCC), held at the University of Wales Swansea. The annotated references to the sources are organized in thematic chapters, each prefaced by a short account of the relevant medical history. The general introduction explains the origins of the SWCC, gives an overview of the relevant historiography and advises how to use this guide.

Prochaska, FrankK. Christianity and Social Service in Modern Britain. The Disinherited Spirit. Oxford University Press, Oxford [etc.] 2006. ix, 216 pp. £35.00.

This study reviews the history of social service in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Britain and relates it to Christian charity, religious decline and democratic traditions. Professor Prochaska examines the role of Christianity, in particular Protestantism, in political and social behaviour in the field of philanthropy and social provisions in the nineteenth century. He argues that the waning of religion and the rise of regulations governing social provision were closely intertwined in the twentieth century. He also argues that associational citizenship connected with Christian voluntarism was at the same time pivotal in the development of democratic traditions in Britain.

Welshman, John. Underclass. A History of the Excluded, 1880–2000. Hambledon Continuum, London 2006. xxix, 271 pp. $60.00.

This study aims to explore the history of the concept of the underclass in Britain in the period 1880–2000. Dr Welshman argues that in this history the concept has been repeatedly re-invented in various guises, from the “social-residuum” notion of the 1880s, through the idea of the unemployable in the 1900s, the social-problem-group idea in the 1930s, the culture-of-poverty thesis in the 1960s up to the underclass debate since the 1980s. Mapping their origins and development, the author argues that these various concepts, in addition to marked differences, reflect striking continuities.

Zakreski, Patricia. Representing Female Artistic Labour, 1848–1890. Refining Work for the Middle-Class Woman. Ashgate, Aldershot [etc.] 2006. 219 pp. Ill. £50.00.

Drawing on fiction, prose, painting and the periodical press, Dr Zakreski examines in this study the representation of artistic female labour in Britain during the Victorian period. Focusing specifically on professions within sewing, art, writing, and acting, she aims to show that the boundaries between public and private were, in fact, more porous than the idea of separate spheres suggests. The author argues that as these professions were increasingly defined as “artistic”, they were also deemed suitable for middle-class women, enabling paid work to be transformed from a supposedly degrading activity into a refining experience for women.

Hungary

Lendvai, Paul. One Day That Shook the Communist World. The 1956 Hungarian Uprising and Its Legacy. Princeton University Press, Princeton [etc.] 2008. 297 pp. Ill. £16.95.

This study of the history of the uprising against the Soviet Union in Hungary in 1956 and its repercussions for Hungary and neighbouring eastern bloc countries is the English translation of the German original Der Ungarnaufstand 1956. Die Revolution und ihre Folgen (2006) and is written by a leading European journalist, who was a young reporter covering politics in Hungary when the uprising broke out. Weaving together his own eye-witness experiences with an in-depth examination of recently uncovered sources and interviews, Mr Lendvai aims to show how the uprising, despite it tragic end, signified an important blow to Soviet communism that ultimately helped bring about its demise. See also Mark Pittaway’s review in this volume, pp. 123–125.

Italy

Assassinations and Murder in Modern Italy. Transformations in Society and Culture. Ed. by Stephen Gundle and Lucia Rinaldi. [Italian and Italian American Studies.] Palgrave Macmillan, New York [ etc.] 2007. viii, 246 pp. £42.50.

Twentieth-century Italian history has seen an extraordinary number of murders and political assassinations. The seventeen essays in this volume explore some of the best-known cases, which have, according to the editors, constituted pivotal watersheds in contemporary Italian history. Analysing connections between them and examining their place in public opinion and their treatment in literature, art and film, the contributors deal with famous cases connected to fascism and anti-fascism, killings by the state, the Aldo Moro affair (1978), Mafia murders, notorious “true” (non-political) murder crimes, and anarchist assassinations.

Braga, Antonella. Un federalista giacobino. Ernesto Rossi pioniere degli Stati Uniti d’Europa. [Collana del Centro di ricerca sull’integrazione europea.] Società Editrice Il Mulino, Bologna 2007. 676 pp. Ill. € 46.00.

In this revision of a doctoral thesis (University of Pavia, 1996) the author traces the course of the federalist ideas of Ernesto Rossi (1897–1967), a leading anti-fascist and member of the Giustizia e Libertà movement. This federalist ideal is rooted during his formative years, influenced by Salvemini and Einaudi. During Rossi’s imprisonment and subsequent exile in Switzerland (1930–1945) he elaborated these ideas, thanks in part to his meeting with Altiero Spinelli while the two were in prison. This culminated in the establishment of the Movimento Federalista Europeo. The sources used by the author include the Rossi family archive.

Esposto, Attilio. Lotte sociali e innovazioni socio-politiche nelle campagne italiane (1948–1997). [Libri grigi.] Robin Edizioni, Roma 2007. 1131 pp. (in 3 vols) € 45.00.

This collection comprising three volumes features contributions to colloquiums, articles in books and journals, and congress documents about the postwar communist farmers’ movement. The congress documents relate primarily to congresses of the Alleanza Nazionale dei Contadini (National Farmers’ Alliance). This farmers’ organization (1955–1977) was affiliated with the Italian Communist Party and the CGIL trade union. Other documents concern the merge with other farmers’ organizations in 1977. The editor was a communist Member of Parliament and chairman of the Alleanza.

Losurdo, Domenico. Antonio Gramsci, du libéralisme au “communisme critique”. Trad. de l’italien par Jean-Michel Goux. [Mille marxismes.] Éditions Syllepse, Paris 2006. 237 pp. € 22.00.

This is the French translation of an intellectual biography of Gramsci that was originally published in Italian in 1997; see IRSH, 43 (1998), p. 528.

Nubili e celibi tra scelta e costrizione (secoli XVI–XX). A cura di Margareth Lanzinger e Raffaella Sarti SIDeS [s.l.] 2006. 319 pp. € 26.00.

This anthology comprises seven essays with case studies about unmarried men and women, plus a concluding essay by Professor Sarti, who places these essays in the context of research on the unmarried. One essay is about unmarried men: barber-surgeons in Turin in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; four are about women: nuns, Ursuline sisters (1500–1700), and unmarried mothers in Florence (eighteenth and nineteenth centuries); and two are about unmarried people in two communities in north and south Italy (eighteenth and nineteenth centuries). The anthology aims to improve understanding about living conditions among the unmarried, with respect to both common aspects and differences between men and women.

The Netherlands

Kempton, Richard. Provo. Amsterdam’s Anarchist Revolt. Autonomedia, Brooklyn, NY 2007. 158 pp. Ill. $14.95.

In this study, Professor Kempton offers an overview of the Dutch Provo movement that stirred the political and cultural situation in Amsterdam and, to a lesser degree, the rest of the Netherlands between 1962 and 1967. The author contextualizes the Provo movement as an anarchist movement comparable to the Dada and Situationist movements and focuses in particular on the movement’s origins and the role of the “Happener-magician” Robert-Jasper Grootveld and his activities in Amsterdam in the period 1962–1965. In his concluding chapter, Professor Kempton offers an existentialist critique of 1960s anarchist movements.

Swart, Erik. Krijgsvolk. Militaire professionalisering en het ontstaan van het Staatse leger, 1568–1590. [Amsterdamse Gouden eeuw reeks.] Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam 2006. 272 pp. Ill. € 29.50.

This dissertation (University of Amsterdam, 2006) explores the professionalization of the rebel troops in the revolt of the Dutch provinces in the Habsburg Empire during the sixteenth century. Contrary to traditional historiography, Dr Swart argues that the role of William of Orange as a military strategist was important and innovative. In particular, his reorganization of the so-called Landsknecht institutions of the Dutch infantry and the institutionalization of regular payments by the local population to finance warfare greatly promoted the success of the rebel troops up to 1590. See also the author’s article in IRSH, 51 (2006), pp. 75–92.

Poland

Kemp-Welch, A. Poland under Communism. A Cold War History. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge [etc.] 2008. xii, 444 pp. £50.00; $99.00. (Paper: £19.99; $39.99.)

In this comprehensive history of Poland from World War II until the fall of communism in 1989, Dr Kemp-Welch combines the history of diplomacy and international relations during the Cold War with a review of domestic opposition and social movements. Key issues covered include the Polish Communist Party and its relation with the Soviet Union and the position of Poland in the East–West context. In the concluding sections, he focuses on how Solidarity formed the first post-communist government in 1989, after successfully overcoming apparently insurmountable geopolitical obstacles. See also Padraic Kenney’s review in this volume, pp. 121–123.

Russia – Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

Goldman, WendyZ. Terror and Democracy in the Age of Stalin. The Social Dynamics of Repression. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge [etc.] 2007. x, 274 pp. £40.00; $75.00.

Most historiography of Stalin’s “Great Terror” considers only the machinations and struggle for power among the top party leaders. This study focuses on popular participation in the unprecedented wave of repression that engulfed Soviet society in the 1930s. Professor Goldman aims to show how repression in unions and factories was accompanied and justified by a mass campaign for democracy, in which ordinary workers, shop foremen and rank-and-file party and union members were urged to criticize and remove corrupt or negligent officials and used repression, often against each other, to redress longstanding grievances and advance personal agendas. See also Elena Osokina’s review in this volume, pp. 116–118.

Hedda, Jennifer. His Kingdom Come. Orthodox Pastorship and Social Activism in Revolutionary Russia. Northern Illinois University Press, DeKalb 2008. ix, 297 pp. $43.00.

This study addresses the functioning of the Russian Orthodox Church in late imperial Russian society, analysing relations between religion, society, and politics, focusing on the social activities of the parish clergy of St Petersburg from the mid-nineteenth century to the beginning of World War I, by addressing charitable work and the establishment of church-based temperance societies in the 1880s and 1890s and the responses from clergymen, including Father Gapon, to the revolutionary upsurge in the early twentieth century.

Heretz, Leonid. Russia on the Eve of Modernity. Popular Religion and Traditional Culture under the Last Tsars. [New Studies in European History.] Cambridge University Press, Cambridge [etc.] 2008. ix, 268 pp. £55.00; $99.00.

This monograph is about the traditional worldview of the Russian people, and in particular the peasantry. It presents religion as the key to understanding this worldview and devotes ample attention to Old Believers, sectarians, and folk eschatology. It analyses how these people perceived the world and the main events of the final decades of the Old Regime: the assassination of Alexander II in 1881, the year of famine and cholera (1891–1892), the Japanese war, and the 1905 revolution. The author concludes that in many cases literacy, rather than opening peasants’ minds to the values of positivism or Marxism, reinforced the values of traditional culture and religion.

Leete, Art. La guerre du Kazym. Les peuples de Sibérie occidentale contre le pouvoir soviétique (1933–1934). Trad. de l’estonien par Eva Vingiano de Pina Martins. [Bibliothèque finno-ougrienne, 16.] L’Harmattan [etc.], Paris 2007. 318 pp. € 27.00.

This study analyses the anti-Soviet revolt of the indigenous people of the Khanty and Nenets in the Kazym river region in western Siberia in the early 1930s. The author places this revolt, the most important armed action of the northern peoples in the first decades of Soviet power, in the perspective of the social, cultural, and political transformations imposed by the Soviet power, which destroyed their traditional nomadic ways of life as hunters, fishermen, and reindeer breeders.

Manchester, Laurie. Holy Fathers, Secular Sons. Clergy, Intelligentsia, and the Modern Self in Revolutionary Russia. Northern Illinois University Press, DeKalb 2008. xiv, 288 pp. Ill. $43.00.

After the Great Reforms of the 1860s the popovichi, the sons of Orthodox clergymen, were allowed to leave their clerical estate and take up other professions. Many entered the secular milieu of the intelligentsia. This study examines the influence on Russian society of the attitudes and values they retained from their religious upbringing. Among the sources the author uses are over 200 autobiographical texts of clergymen’s sons.

Pirani, Simon. The Russian Revolution in Retreat, 1920–24. Soviet workers and the new communist elite. [BASEES/RoutledgeCurzon Series on Russian and East European Studies, Vol. 45.] Routledge, London [etc.] 2008. xiv, 289 pp. $160.00.

Focusing on the period 1920–1924, after the end of the civil war and the beginning of the New Economic Policy, this study examines the relationship between the Communist Party and the Russian working class from the perspective of the diversion of the original aims of the revolution. Exploring the actions and reactions of the party leadership and ranks and of trade-union activists and ordinary factory workers, Dr Pirani argues that the Russian working class was politically expropriated in this period by the Bolshevik party, as soviets and factory committees were deprived of decision-making power. See also Page Herrlinger’s review in this volume, pp. 118–121.

Siegelbaum, LewisH. Cars for Comrades. The Life of the Soviet Automobile. Cornell University Press, Ithaca [etc.] 2008. xiv, 309 pp. Ill. $39.95; £20.50.

This study is about the history of the Soviet automobile in the broader context of the history and fate of the Soviet Union. Professor Siegelbaum reviews in detail the construction of the huge automobile plants, from AMO in Moscow, founded just before the revolution, to GAZ in Nizhni Novgorod (Gor’kii) in the 1930s and VAZ in Togliatti in the late 1960s. The role of cars and road infrastructure (as well as the lack of both) in Soviet social and cultural life is analysed, based on sources ranging from state archives to cartoons, popular magazines and films.

Turton, Katy. Forgotten Lives. The Role of Lenin’s Sisters in the Russian Revolution, 1864–1937. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke [etc.] 2007. ix, 257 pp. £50.00.

This study of Lenin’s sisters Anna (1864–1935), Olga (1871–1891), and Mariia (1878–1937) aims to disentangle their lives and work from their portrayal and to view them not just as the sisters of Lenin but as revolutionaries and political figures in their own right as well. It also covers the gender issues the sisters had to negotiate during their lives and the ways in which gender expectations have influenced their portrayal in history. The book is based on primary, archival research, mainly of the sisters’ personal papers in RGASPI.

Volksaufstände in Russland. Von der Zeit der Wirren bis zur “Grünen Revolution” gegen die Sowjetherherrschaft. Hrsg. von Heinz-Dietrich Löwe. [Forschungen zur osteuropäischen Geschichte, Band 65.] Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2006. vi, 563 pp. € 98.00.

This volume comprises sixteen case studies of uprisings, revolts, riots, and popular unrest in Russia from the Time of Troubles in the seventeenth century to the peasant revolt in the Tambov province in 1920/1921. In his introductory essay to the volume, Professor Löwe offers a comparative interpretation indicating continuities as well as fault lines in the history and development of revolts and riots. Chronologically ordered, the case studies deal with the Muscovite uprising of 1648, the Pugachev Insurrection 1773/1774, and the peasant uprising and petitions in the 1905 Revolution.

Spain

García-SanzMarcotegui, Angel. Diccionario biográfico del socialismo histórico navarro (I). [Colección Historia, 21.] Universidad Pública de Navarra, Pamplona 2007. 526 pp. € 18.00.

The first of three projected volumes, this one comprises entries for names starting with the letters A through F in 220 biographies, from Bernardino Aguado Antón to Máximo Fuertes Ezquer. Although as the home of Carlism, Navarra was traditionally sympathetic to the right – a UGT newspaper stated in March 1936 that “it is more difficult to be a liberal in Navarra than an anarchist in Madrid” – socialism received more support than is generally acknowledged. This dictionary concentrates on those whose political activity, often in leading positions, predated the Civil War. The author, whose biography of Gregorio Angulo was annotated in IRSH, 46 (2001) p. 517, characterizes his work as “halfway between biography and prosopography”; whenever possible, he quotes at length from articles written by his subjects.

Manzanera, Elías. The Iron Column. Testament of a Revolutionary. With a profile by Ramón Liarte and an intr. by the Kate Sharpley Library. Transl. by Paul Sharkey. Kate Sharpley Library, London 2006. ii, 30 pp. £3.00.

This booklet offers the English translation of the memoirs, originally published in Spanish in 1981, of Elías Manzanera, a Valencian anarchist who was one of the founders of the Iron Column, an anarchist militia unit that figured prominently in the struggle against the Francoist nationalist revolt, which unleashed the Spanish Civil War. A short introduction places Manzanera and the Iron Column in their historical context.

Maurice, Jacques. El anarquismo andaluz, una vez más. Universidad de Granada, Granada 2007. 302 pp. € 17.00.

The author, known from El anarquismo andaluz: campesinos y sindicalistas, 1868–1936 (1990), brings together thirteen articles written from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s. Twelve were published previously but are not easily accessible in all cases and are often only in French. Starting with an overall interpretation and a note on the Barcelona workers’ congress in 1870, they cover various aspects of Andalusian anarchism from the 1880s through the 1930s. Jerez, Seville, and Castro del Rio (Cordoba) receive special attention, as do the writers Azorín and Vicente Ballester, a regional secretary of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT). Other articles address the attitude of the CNT towards politics and salaries and its Federación Nacional de Campesinos.

Oyón, JoséLuis. La quiebra de la ciudad popular. Espacio urbano, inmigración y anarquismo en la Barcelona de entreguerras, 1914–1936. [La estrella polar, 51.] Ediciones del Serbal, Barcelona 2008. 542 pp. € 30.00.

Between the beginning of World War I and the outbreak of the Civil War, Barcelona’s economy diversified considerably, and its population almost doubled, largely as a result of immigration from Catalonia and the south-eastern regions of Murcia and Almería. Based on extensive micro-level data, the author reconstructs how this development affected urban space, and how housing conditions in turn related to the political views of the inhabitants. He finds that militant anarchism was particularly widespread among the non-Catalan unskilled workers who populated the poorly equipped new suburbs, and whose social advancement was minimal throughout the period. These were the people who, in July 1936, staged a revolution, which they lost in May 1937 by fighting in the streets against fellow workers from other neighbourhoods.

Serrallonga, Joan. Pablo Iglesias. Socialista, obrero y español. Edhasa, Barcelona [etc.] 2007. 860 pp. € 36.50.

This is a full-fledged new biography of Pablo Iglesias Posse (1850–1925), the founder and long-time leader of the Partido Socialista Obrero Español and the Unión General de Trabajadores. From his difficult youth – he could easily have figured in a novel by Pérez Galdós, as José Luis Martín Ramos remarks in a brief preface – until his final years as a deputy, re-elected even at age seventy-two, Iglesias embodied the heroic socialist worker from the days of the Second International. Solidly based on all available evidence, this study will no doubt be a leading reference work for a long time to come.

Switzerland

Vom Wert der Arbeit. Schweizer Gewerkschaften. Geschichte und Geschichten. Hrsg. v. Valérie Boillat, Bernard Degen, Elisabeth Joris [u.a.]. Rotpunktverlag, Zürich 2006. 367 pp. Ill. S.fr. 45; € 28.00.

Published in recognition of the 125th anniversary of the Schweizerische Gewerkschaftsbund (SGB), the Swiss trade union central, this richly illustrated volume aims to give in six chronologically ordered chapters a critical overview of Swiss trade-union history from its earliest beginnings to the present. Every chapter starts with a general overview of the period concerned by Bernard Degen; the remaining thirty-two contributions by several authors deal with a variety of themes, issues, and events that exemplify the union’s struggle to improve working conditions and social justice. In an appendix, Markus Bürgi has compiled an overview of all SGB presidents.