David Wingeate Pike

The politics of culture in Soviet-occupied Germany, 1945-1949

Preface Part I. Doctrinal Adjustments and Cultural Corollaries (1945-1946): 1. Sovietization or democracy? 2. organization and bureaucracy 3. Seizing the initiative 4. Theory and practice 5. The origins of socialist realism Part II. Two Camps (1947): 6. Ideological offensives 7. SED and intelligentsia 8. Censorship and controversy Part III. Ideological Reversion and Cultural Conformity (1948): 9. Nationalist deviations 10. Cultural coordination 11. According to plan Part IV. Stalin and the Fate of the Nation (1949): 12. Theories of dictatorship 13. Privileges and perquisites 14. Norms and forms Translations and abbreviations Bibliography Index.

Franco and the Axis Stigma

To exactly what degree was Spain implicated in the Axis cause? The matter will be endlessly contested until the Spanish government finally opens all its archives to the public. Then, perhaps, we will know what happened even during the visit to Madrid, on 19 October 1940, of the Reichsfuhrer SS Heinrich Himmler. At present, the argument against collusion rests on the assumption that Franco was deceiving the Axis powers by seeming to comply with their wishes while in fact he was playing for time. Supporters of this argument naturally belittle the value of correspondence exchanged between Franco and the Axis leaders, insisting that on Francos side it was insincere. This correspondence, however, together with Axis documents, makes for an interesting comparison with viewpoints expressed in the controlled Franco press and with the memoires of Francos officials.

Lukács and Brecht

David Pike traces the evolution of interrelated political and literary theoretical currents in the Soviet Union from the early 1930s to the late 1940s and places the writings of Georg Lukacs and Bertolt Brecht within that context. Lukacs ideas are examined in order to define the derivative nature of his political stance and to ascertain its influence upon the formation of his aesthetic. Pike then explores the cause of Brechts clash with German and Soviet Stalinists over their decreed aesthetic principles before dealing with his political outlook and its correspondence with standard Soviet assumptions.The link between the two men lies in their practice of viewing reality through the prism of a rigid political dogma. This persistent inclination led to theorietical rationalizations that were incapable of acknowledging the evolving pattern of Stalinist atrocities or that classified these atrocities as historical necessity, and it likewise distorted each mans view of fascism.An additional dimension to this fascination with an exclusive political dogma is that Brechts tendency to indulge in the Stalinist mystique was not tempered in the least by his Western European or American experience. In fact, his perceptions of Western democracy only drove him further away from any acceptance or appreciation of traditional democratic values. Lukacs, by contrast, chose Soviet exile. There he had little chance to pursue insights into political or aesthetic theory which were meaningfully independent of the dogmas emerging around him. Ironically, Lukacs drifted so far in the opposite direction that he helped work out doctrinal ideas characteristic of fully developed Stalinism. Pike examines another set of parallels and divergences in the realm of aesthetic theory. Whereas Lukacs literary ideas were never incompatible with the political dogma of Stalinism, the political orthodoxy that Brecht shared with Lukacs contributed to an entirely different aesthetic theory and literary practice, one differing radically from Lukacs views and from the socialist realism of the Soviet cultural establishment.Originally published in 1985.A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

Cultural Politics in Soviet-Occupied Germany 1945-46

a single article rule out a meticulous correlation, and one would be virtually impossible anyway without access to Soviet and East German archives. But the point may still be made, and the available facts bear it out, that Soviet policy-making with respect to Germany generally and the Eastern Zone specifically combined with the worsening of tensions internationally to influence the direction of cultural-political and political development in the zone. This article necessarily concentrates, however, on the more specific characteristics of the Communist Party’s local acquisition of power in the realm of cultural affairs.