Papers by fiona haig
XIII Festival internazionale della Storia Gorizia 25 -28 maggio 2017, 2017
AULA MAGNA
Polo universitario Santa Chiara
via Santa Chiara 1
____
Gli eretici goriziani del ... more AULA MAGNA
Polo universitario Santa Chiara
via Santa Chiara 1
____
Gli eretici goriziani del 1956
Un ricordo della critica rivoluzionaria
espressa dalla Federazione del Partito Comunista Italiano di Gorizia sull’intervento
sovietico nella rivoluzione ungherese del
1956. La presa di posizione goriziana fu
l’unica in Italia ad assumere posizioni politiche senza alcun ricorso alla gerarchia
del Pci.
Togliatti fu quindi preso in contropiede da
un lontano comitato federale: a partire da
nuovi studi, uno sguardo rinnovato sulla
coerenza ideologica, politica e organizzativa del comunismo italiano nel periodo
postbellico.
Intervengono
Fiona Haig
Flavio Poletto
Interviene e coordina
Dario Mattiussi
Communist and Post Communist Studies., 2020
Democratic centralism was the Leninist-Bolshevik pyramidal model of internal organization in oper... more Democratic centralism was the Leninist-Bolshevik pyramidal model of internal organization in operation in all communist parties for most of the 20th century. Thus far, the question of whether it functioned consistently across the non-ruling parties has not been addressed explicitly or systematically. This article examines the implementation of this essential internal dynamic in a French and an Italian communist party federation in the early postwar period. Drawing on new personal testimonies from more than 50 informants, and inedita archival evidence, this analysis reveals not only similarities but also clear functional disparities between the two cases.
1956 was punctuated by a series of events that shook the world, and is seen as having been not on... more 1956 was punctuated by a series of events that shook the world, and is seen as having been not only a watershed for the international communist movement but also a turning point in the Cold War. This thesis is an in-depth study of a specific and under-researched aspect of French and Italian communism i.e. the responses of ordinary Communist Party members of what were the two largest and most important non-ruling Communist Parties to these historic events. Its aim has been to recover thoughts, feelings and responses of those 'on the ground' to these events via a series of personal interviews supported by national, regional and local archive evidence in a multiple case study. The regional nature of the study reveals variations between responses at local and at national levels; and the cross-cultural, transnational perspective highlights the role of historical experience and other factors in explaining variations in the responses in the two locations. It looks at the way in which the Soviet interventions were handled by the Federations of Var and Gorizia e.g. by their
initiating, facilitating or closing debate in cells, sections and Federation Committees.It reveals extents to which local and regional factors, perspectives and contexts affected the responses to this crisis on the part of the rank and file, mid-level cadres and the regional Party leaderships. It looks at Party cultures and at levels of critical awareness within the regional Party membership bodies as indicated by their willingness to question Soviet actions and the official ‘Party line’. In so doing it identifies differences in understandings of ‘communist militancy’ per se at this conjuncture, despite the international communist movement’s being, in principle, a coherent ideological and political entity. This study reveals clear convergences in responses across the multiple case-study, but it also reveals distinct and indeed astonishing divergences, dispelling in the process any myth that post-war Western European communism was a ‘one size fits all’ phenomenon.
Journal of Cold War Studies, 2016
The International History Review, 2017
Much is known about the early post-war history of the Italian Communist Party (PCI). However, con... more Much is known about the early post-war history of the Italian Communist Party (PCI). However, considerably less attention has been directed to its later affiliations; those in regions at the time contested in terms of their national sovereignty and which were consequently integrated to the PCI national party structure at different stages over the course of the late 1940s and 1950s. They include the communist organisations in the former Venezia-Giulia region or the Julian March, on Italy's north-eastern border with Yugoslavia. Drawing on new empirical evidence, this paper looks at the singularly pragmatic nature of the contemporary communist movement in the Gorizian Province, as illustrated in its responses to a series of testing situations and paradigm-shifting developments. It examines these comrades' trajectory from revolutionary pro-secessionists intent on annexing their region to the new People's Republic of Yugoslavia, to ‘Italian’ communists' intent on superseding the majority Christian Democrats in the immediate context. Themes addressed in this analysis include those of agency, geopolitics, political and national identity.
Specialist Group of the Political Studies Association, 2012
This thesis is an in-depth study of a specific and previously ignored aspect of French and Italia... more This thesis is an in-depth study of a specific and previously ignored aspect of French and Italian communism, that is to say, the impact of the Soviet actions in the Hungarian Revolution on the French and Italian Communist parties and their respective memberships at regional and local levels. It concerns itself with the lives and political engagement of comrades in these settings rather than with those of social, political and geographical elites, of which much is already known. Its objective has been to determine the extents to which the ensuing turmoil, dissent and / or audible silences at national levels were replicated in these regional party strongholds and local communist communities. It can consequently be seen as a social as well as political project that has sought to make a pivotal contribution to the debates surrounding communist reactions to these landmark events and by extension to communist history per se in providing deeper, more faceted and more complete understandings of the issues involved. The unique synthesis of methodologies used for this research that includes oral history, micro history and the comparative, transnational approach, has allowed a number of firm conclusions to be drawn regarding a) reactions in our communities to the Soviet interventions in Budapest that year and b) the significance of these reactions as regards existing attitudes towards the Soviet Union amongst Western communists; the levels of faith within these communities in its raison d’être, policies, macro strategies; and inasmuch, the commitment of these ordinary communists to and objectivity vis-à-vis the state of the international communism at this critical conjuncture; and c) what this tells us about the movement as a whole.
The International History Review, 2018
Taking as cases in point a French and an Italian communist party federation in the early post-war... more Taking as cases in point a French and an Italian communist party federation in the early post-war period, this paper considers the role and relevance of intellectuals vis-à-vis ‘the party’ from the perspectives of ordinary communists in regional contexts. New empirical evidence suggests that beneath surface parallels there were key differences in that respect, which apart from anything else, resulted in some very different responses to the macro political events of 1956. It appears that those differences related to core communist principles; interpretations of communist militancy; the nature and functioning of democratic centralism in the organisations in question; and matters of human agency. This paper examines the nature and extent of those constants and variables, accounts for them in their immediate and wider contexts, and evaluates what all of that can tell us about coherence and cohesion of French and Italian communism, and by extension that of the international communist movement, at that time.
Modern History Review, Hodder Education Magazines for A Level, University of Warwick , 2021
Modern & Contemporary France, Aug 27, 2015
ASMCF Blog, 2017
This article focuses on the crucial post war period in which the non-ruling parties were attempti... more This article focuses on the crucial post war period in which the non-ruling parties were attempting to establish themselves vis-à-vis their respective political systems, within a developing cold war context. It looks at the system of internal organisation in operation all communist parties at this time; democratic centralism. It was predicated on the Leninist-Bolshevik model of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and its purpose was to maintain a ‘one party line.’ It represented a party culture that to a large extent dictated its fortunes. Although it was officially abandoned by the PCF in 1994, it lives on in the party as an exemplar of a consensus making mechanism against which other systems and practices are compared, and not always positively. In examining this key indicator of party culture as it functioned in a regional party federation, and from the perspectives of party members who at the time were active at all levels of that regional party structure, the article adds to understandings of the PCF’s post war trajectory, and also therefore, to its current role within French politics.
Modern & Contemporary France , 2016
Abstract
Drawing for the first time on personal interviews with over 25 informants and new docume... more Abstract
Drawing for the first time on personal interviews with over 25 informants and new documentary evidence, this article looks at an under-researched area of enquiry: political spaces and dynamics within Communist Party organisations that existed in parallel and functioned concurrently to the democratic centralist system. Taking as a case study a representative sample of the regional party membership of the French Communist Party Var Federation in 1956, it considers contemporary perspectives, interests, contradictions and tensions in everyday politics at this level which, whilst not representing internecine conflict as such, constituted nevertheless distinct articulations of communist identity and militancy. However, the objective of this article is not simply to measure the extent of adherence to a regulatory system within a political entity, although it inevitably does that. This is a qualitative study that examines in detail and explains in context power relations within a micro-political environment, within a wider political structure, within a world movement, at an important conjuncture in post-war history. In so doing, it sheds new light on the orientation, nature and practices of the Parti Communiste Français as a national party at this time. It also, automatically, addresses questions of human agency.
RÉSUMÉ
En exploitant pour la première fois les témoignages de 25 informateurs et de nouvelles preuves écrites, cet article aborde un sujet qui a été négligé jusqu'ici: les espaces politiques et les dynamiques à l'intérieur des organisations des partis communistes, qui existaient en parallèle et qui fonctionnaient en même temps que le centralisme démocratique. En prenant comme étude de cas un échantillon représentatif des membres de la Fédération du PCF du Var en 1956, il prend en considération les perspectives de l'époque, les intérêts, les contradictions et les tensions dans la politique au quotidien à ce niveau qui, bien que non représentatifs du conflit interne en soi, constituaient néanmoins des éléments marquants de l'identité et du militantisme communistes. Toutefois, l'objectif de cet article - même s'il y sacrifie inévitablement - n'est pas simplement de mesurer l'ampleur de l'adhésion à la discipline intérieure d'une entité politique. Etude qualitative, il vise surtout à examiner en détail et à expliquer dans leur contexte les relations de pouvoir au sein d'un environnent micro-politique, dans une plus large structure politique, dans un mouvement mondial, à un moment important de l'histoire d'après guerre. De cette manière, il apporte un nouvel éclairage sur l'orientation, la nature et les pratiques du PCF en tant que parti national en cette période. Il aborde aussi, automatiquement, les questions relevant de l'intervention humaine.
Modern & Contemporary France (Published online: 27 Aug 2015), 2016
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Twentieth Century Communism, (doi.org/10.3898/175864316815923515), 2015
Drawing on new empirical evidence, this article looks at the Italian Communist Party Federation o... more Drawing on new empirical evidence, this article looks at the Italian Communist Party Federation of Gorizia’s ground-breaking critique of the Soviet interventions in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Its stance went directly counter to that of the national party, and was the only one of its kind in the country. It therefore constitutes a much neglected history in the national and international contexts. Togliatti’s ‘new party’ was effectively being out-flanked on its progressive left by its most junior, most far-flung and apparently most wayward federation committees. The regional grassroots focus of this study sheds new light on the ideological, political and organisational coherence of Italian communism in the post-war period, informing in the process the internationalist vs. national-societal debates regarding the orientation and strategies of what was the largest non-ruling communist party.
Key words: regional, grassroots, de-stalinisation, Stalinism, XXth Congress, Togliatti, Tito-Stalin Split
Modern & Contemporary France,, 2015
The XXth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in February 1956 was one of the most... more The XXth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in February 1956 was one of the most extraordinary events in the history of the communist movement, taking the world by surprise by its ‘revolutionary’ content and non-confrontational overtones. The occasion served as a platform for Nikita Khrushchev's de-Stalinisation programme, which was to underpin fundamental reforms in Soviet domestic and foreign policy. Reactions to the Congress on the part of communists in the West have hitherto been analysed at macro levels, with focus on the strategic responses of political and geographical elites, whereas those of the largely ‘Stalinist’ party-base have been for all intents and purposes ignored. This article draws for the first time on the testimonies of 25 informants active in 1956 at all levels of the French Communist Party Var Federation to provide a grassroots perspective on the issues. It allows us to consider key questions from new angles and, as a result, to reconsider our overall interpretation of the ways in which ordinary communists responded to this pivotal event.
Le XX Congrès du Parti communiste de l'Union soviétique en février 1956 fut l'un des événements les plus extraordinaires de l'historie du mouvement communiste, en prenant le monde au dépourvu par son contenu ‘révolutionnaire’ et ses accents non conflictuels. L'occasion servit de tremplin pour le programme de déstalinisation de Nikita Khrouchtchev, une démarche qui devait étayer des reformes fondamentales dans la politique intérieure et étrangère de l'URSS. Les réactions au Congres de la part de communistes en dehors du bloc soviétique ont été analysées jusqu'à présent au niveau macro, en focalisant sur les réponses stratégiques des élites politiques et géographiques, tandis que celles de la base « stalinienne » du parti ont été pratiquement ignorées. Cet article exploite pour la première fois les témoignages de 25 informateurs actifs en 1956 à tous les niveaux de la Fédération du PCF du Var, pour en tirer une perspective de base sur les problématiques. L'article nous permet d'examiner les questions clés sous de nouveaux angles et, par conséquent, de revoir notre interprétation globale de la façon dont les communistes ordinaires ont répondu à cet événement-charnière.
Twentieth Century Communism, 2015
Twentieth Century Communism Issue 8 Review of Giulia Strippoli's 'Il partito e il movement; commu... more Twentieth Century Communism Issue 8 Review of Giulia Strippoli's 'Il partito e il movement; communisti europei all prova del sessantotto', Roma, Carocci editori, 2013, ISBN 9788843068302.
Conference Presentations by fiona haig
Un ricordo della critica rivoluzionaria espressa dalla
Federazione del Partito Comunista Italiano... more Un ricordo della critica rivoluzionaria espressa dalla
Federazione del Partito Comunista Italiano di Gorizia
sull’intervento sovietico nella rivoluzione ungherese del
1956. La presa di posizione goriziana fu l’unica in Italia ad
assumere posizioni politiche senza alcun ricorso alla
gerarchia del Pci.
Togliatti fu quindi preso in contropiede da un lontano
comitato federale: a partire da nuovi studi, uno sguardo
rinnovato sulla coerenza ideologica, politica e organizzativa
del comunismo italiano nel periodo postbellico.Un ricordo della critica rivoluzionaria espressa dalla
Federazione del Partito Comunista Italiano di Gorizia
sull’intervento sovietico nella rivoluzione ungherese del
1956. La presa di posizione goriziana fu l’unica in Italia ad
assumere posizioni politiche senza alcun ricorso alla
gerarchia del Pci.
Togliatti fu quindi preso in contropiede da un lontano
comitato federale: a partire da nuovi studi, uno sguardo
rinnovato sulla coerenza ideologica, politica e organizzativa
del comunismo italiano nel periodo postbellico.
Un ricordo della critica rivoluzionaria espressa dalla
Federazione del Partito Comunista Italiano di Gorizia
sull’intervento sovietico nella rivoluzione ungherese del
1956. La presa di posizione goriziana fu l’unica in Italia ad
assumere posizioni politiche senza alcun ricorso alla
gerarchia del Pci.
Togliatti fu quindi preso in contropiede da un lontano
comitato federale: a partire da nuovi studi, uno sguardo
rinnovato sulla coerenza ideologica, politica e organizzativa
del comunismo italiano nel periodo postbellico.
L'evento è organizzato da Flavio Poletto, dall'ANPI (Associazione Nazionale Partigiani d'Italia),... more L'evento è organizzato da Flavio Poletto, dall'ANPI (Associazione Nazionale Partigiani d'Italia), dal Kulturni Dom (casa della cultura slovena) con il patrocinio del Centro Culturale Leopoldo Gasparini (Dott. Dario Mattiussi), il patrocinio della Provincia di Gorizia, della Biblioteca Statale Isontina e della Cooperative Operaie. Presente anche Dott. Alberto Mauchigna, consulente storico.
This presentation looks at two of the key themes that have emerged during the course of this rese... more This presentation looks at two of the key themes that have emerged during the course of this research project examining: Reactions to the Soviet interventions in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, amongst French and Italian Communist Party members in the shipbuilding towns of La Seyne and Monfalcone. Themes considered here reflect ways in which prevailing conditions and circumstances in each of the two locations at the time, together with the role of national and regional historical experience, influenced reactions to the events in question.
The memory of Resistance and the concept of the ‘Party’ were fundamental reference points in the collective psyche of both communities, to which other issues and concerns were associated in 1956. Although common to both case-communities these two themes differ in terms of significance and influence in each case-context. They are linked to the theoretical positions, to Party cultures and to the nature of commitment on the part of political and social actors at all levels of the regional Party structures in question.
Paper presented at The Oral History Workshop, British Academy UK- Africa Academic Partnership, University of Portsmouth, 16th – 17th April, 2010.
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Papers by fiona haig
Polo universitario Santa Chiara
via Santa Chiara 1
____
Gli eretici goriziani del 1956
Un ricordo della critica rivoluzionaria
espressa dalla Federazione del Partito Comunista Italiano di Gorizia sull’intervento
sovietico nella rivoluzione ungherese del
1956. La presa di posizione goriziana fu
l’unica in Italia ad assumere posizioni politiche senza alcun ricorso alla gerarchia
del Pci.
Togliatti fu quindi preso in contropiede da
un lontano comitato federale: a partire da
nuovi studi, uno sguardo rinnovato sulla
coerenza ideologica, politica e organizzativa del comunismo italiano nel periodo
postbellico.
Intervengono
Fiona Haig
Flavio Poletto
Interviene e coordina
Dario Mattiussi
initiating, facilitating or closing debate in cells, sections and Federation Committees.It reveals extents to which local and regional factors, perspectives and contexts affected the responses to this crisis on the part of the rank and file, mid-level cadres and the regional Party leaderships. It looks at Party cultures and at levels of critical awareness within the regional Party membership bodies as indicated by their willingness to question Soviet actions and the official ‘Party line’. In so doing it identifies differences in understandings of ‘communist militancy’ per se at this conjuncture, despite the international communist movement’s being, in principle, a coherent ideological and political entity. This study reveals clear convergences in responses across the multiple case-study, but it also reveals distinct and indeed astonishing divergences, dispelling in the process any myth that post-war Western European communism was a ‘one size fits all’ phenomenon.
Drawing for the first time on personal interviews with over 25 informants and new documentary evidence, this article looks at an under-researched area of enquiry: political spaces and dynamics within Communist Party organisations that existed in parallel and functioned concurrently to the democratic centralist system. Taking as a case study a representative sample of the regional party membership of the French Communist Party Var Federation in 1956, it considers contemporary perspectives, interests, contradictions and tensions in everyday politics at this level which, whilst not representing internecine conflict as such, constituted nevertheless distinct articulations of communist identity and militancy. However, the objective of this article is not simply to measure the extent of adherence to a regulatory system within a political entity, although it inevitably does that. This is a qualitative study that examines in detail and explains in context power relations within a micro-political environment, within a wider political structure, within a world movement, at an important conjuncture in post-war history. In so doing, it sheds new light on the orientation, nature and practices of the Parti Communiste Français as a national party at this time. It also, automatically, addresses questions of human agency.
RÉSUMÉ
En exploitant pour la première fois les témoignages de 25 informateurs et de nouvelles preuves écrites, cet article aborde un sujet qui a été négligé jusqu'ici: les espaces politiques et les dynamiques à l'intérieur des organisations des partis communistes, qui existaient en parallèle et qui fonctionnaient en même temps que le centralisme démocratique. En prenant comme étude de cas un échantillon représentatif des membres de la Fédération du PCF du Var en 1956, il prend en considération les perspectives de l'époque, les intérêts, les contradictions et les tensions dans la politique au quotidien à ce niveau qui, bien que non représentatifs du conflit interne en soi, constituaient néanmoins des éléments marquants de l'identité et du militantisme communistes. Toutefois, l'objectif de cet article - même s'il y sacrifie inévitablement - n'est pas simplement de mesurer l'ampleur de l'adhésion à la discipline intérieure d'une entité politique. Etude qualitative, il vise surtout à examiner en détail et à expliquer dans leur contexte les relations de pouvoir au sein d'un environnent micro-politique, dans une plus large structure politique, dans un mouvement mondial, à un moment important de l'histoire d'après guerre. De cette manière, il apporte un nouvel éclairage sur l'orientation, la nature et les pratiques du PCF en tant que parti national en cette période. Il aborde aussi, automatiquement, les questions relevant de l'intervention humaine.
Key words: regional, grassroots, de-stalinisation, Stalinism, XXth Congress, Togliatti, Tito-Stalin Split
Le XX Congrès du Parti communiste de l'Union soviétique en février 1956 fut l'un des événements les plus extraordinaires de l'historie du mouvement communiste, en prenant le monde au dépourvu par son contenu ‘révolutionnaire’ et ses accents non conflictuels. L'occasion servit de tremplin pour le programme de déstalinisation de Nikita Khrouchtchev, une démarche qui devait étayer des reformes fondamentales dans la politique intérieure et étrangère de l'URSS. Les réactions au Congres de la part de communistes en dehors du bloc soviétique ont été analysées jusqu'à présent au niveau macro, en focalisant sur les réponses stratégiques des élites politiques et géographiques, tandis que celles de la base « stalinienne » du parti ont été pratiquement ignorées. Cet article exploite pour la première fois les témoignages de 25 informateurs actifs en 1956 à tous les niveaux de la Fédération du PCF du Var, pour en tirer une perspective de base sur les problématiques. L'article nous permet d'examiner les questions clés sous de nouveaux angles et, par conséquent, de revoir notre interprétation globale de la façon dont les communistes ordinaires ont répondu à cet événement-charnière.
Conference Presentations by fiona haig
Federazione del Partito Comunista Italiano di Gorizia
sull’intervento sovietico nella rivoluzione ungherese del
1956. La presa di posizione goriziana fu l’unica in Italia ad
assumere posizioni politiche senza alcun ricorso alla
gerarchia del Pci.
Togliatti fu quindi preso in contropiede da un lontano
comitato federale: a partire da nuovi studi, uno sguardo
rinnovato sulla coerenza ideologica, politica e organizzativa
del comunismo italiano nel periodo postbellico.Un ricordo della critica rivoluzionaria espressa dalla
Federazione del Partito Comunista Italiano di Gorizia
sull’intervento sovietico nella rivoluzione ungherese del
1956. La presa di posizione goriziana fu l’unica in Italia ad
assumere posizioni politiche senza alcun ricorso alla
gerarchia del Pci.
Togliatti fu quindi preso in contropiede da un lontano
comitato federale: a partire da nuovi studi, uno sguardo
rinnovato sulla coerenza ideologica, politica e organizzativa
del comunismo italiano nel periodo postbellico.
Un ricordo della critica rivoluzionaria espressa dalla
Federazione del Partito Comunista Italiano di Gorizia
sull’intervento sovietico nella rivoluzione ungherese del
1956. La presa di posizione goriziana fu l’unica in Italia ad
assumere posizioni politiche senza alcun ricorso alla
gerarchia del Pci.
Togliatti fu quindi preso in contropiede da un lontano
comitato federale: a partire da nuovi studi, uno sguardo
rinnovato sulla coerenza ideologica, politica e organizzativa
del comunismo italiano nel periodo postbellico.
The memory of Resistance and the concept of the ‘Party’ were fundamental reference points in the collective psyche of both communities, to which other issues and concerns were associated in 1956. Although common to both case-communities these two themes differ in terms of significance and influence in each case-context. They are linked to the theoretical positions, to Party cultures and to the nature of commitment on the part of political and social actors at all levels of the regional Party structures in question.
Polo universitario Santa Chiara
via Santa Chiara 1
____
Gli eretici goriziani del 1956
Un ricordo della critica rivoluzionaria
espressa dalla Federazione del Partito Comunista Italiano di Gorizia sull’intervento
sovietico nella rivoluzione ungherese del
1956. La presa di posizione goriziana fu
l’unica in Italia ad assumere posizioni politiche senza alcun ricorso alla gerarchia
del Pci.
Togliatti fu quindi preso in contropiede da
un lontano comitato federale: a partire da
nuovi studi, uno sguardo rinnovato sulla
coerenza ideologica, politica e organizzativa del comunismo italiano nel periodo
postbellico.
Intervengono
Fiona Haig
Flavio Poletto
Interviene e coordina
Dario Mattiussi
initiating, facilitating or closing debate in cells, sections and Federation Committees.It reveals extents to which local and regional factors, perspectives and contexts affected the responses to this crisis on the part of the rank and file, mid-level cadres and the regional Party leaderships. It looks at Party cultures and at levels of critical awareness within the regional Party membership bodies as indicated by their willingness to question Soviet actions and the official ‘Party line’. In so doing it identifies differences in understandings of ‘communist militancy’ per se at this conjuncture, despite the international communist movement’s being, in principle, a coherent ideological and political entity. This study reveals clear convergences in responses across the multiple case-study, but it also reveals distinct and indeed astonishing divergences, dispelling in the process any myth that post-war Western European communism was a ‘one size fits all’ phenomenon.
Drawing for the first time on personal interviews with over 25 informants and new documentary evidence, this article looks at an under-researched area of enquiry: political spaces and dynamics within Communist Party organisations that existed in parallel and functioned concurrently to the democratic centralist system. Taking as a case study a representative sample of the regional party membership of the French Communist Party Var Federation in 1956, it considers contemporary perspectives, interests, contradictions and tensions in everyday politics at this level which, whilst not representing internecine conflict as such, constituted nevertheless distinct articulations of communist identity and militancy. However, the objective of this article is not simply to measure the extent of adherence to a regulatory system within a political entity, although it inevitably does that. This is a qualitative study that examines in detail and explains in context power relations within a micro-political environment, within a wider political structure, within a world movement, at an important conjuncture in post-war history. In so doing, it sheds new light on the orientation, nature and practices of the Parti Communiste Français as a national party at this time. It also, automatically, addresses questions of human agency.
RÉSUMÉ
En exploitant pour la première fois les témoignages de 25 informateurs et de nouvelles preuves écrites, cet article aborde un sujet qui a été négligé jusqu'ici: les espaces politiques et les dynamiques à l'intérieur des organisations des partis communistes, qui existaient en parallèle et qui fonctionnaient en même temps que le centralisme démocratique. En prenant comme étude de cas un échantillon représentatif des membres de la Fédération du PCF du Var en 1956, il prend en considération les perspectives de l'époque, les intérêts, les contradictions et les tensions dans la politique au quotidien à ce niveau qui, bien que non représentatifs du conflit interne en soi, constituaient néanmoins des éléments marquants de l'identité et du militantisme communistes. Toutefois, l'objectif de cet article - même s'il y sacrifie inévitablement - n'est pas simplement de mesurer l'ampleur de l'adhésion à la discipline intérieure d'une entité politique. Etude qualitative, il vise surtout à examiner en détail et à expliquer dans leur contexte les relations de pouvoir au sein d'un environnent micro-politique, dans une plus large structure politique, dans un mouvement mondial, à un moment important de l'histoire d'après guerre. De cette manière, il apporte un nouvel éclairage sur l'orientation, la nature et les pratiques du PCF en tant que parti national en cette période. Il aborde aussi, automatiquement, les questions relevant de l'intervention humaine.
Key words: regional, grassroots, de-stalinisation, Stalinism, XXth Congress, Togliatti, Tito-Stalin Split
Le XX Congrès du Parti communiste de l'Union soviétique en février 1956 fut l'un des événements les plus extraordinaires de l'historie du mouvement communiste, en prenant le monde au dépourvu par son contenu ‘révolutionnaire’ et ses accents non conflictuels. L'occasion servit de tremplin pour le programme de déstalinisation de Nikita Khrouchtchev, une démarche qui devait étayer des reformes fondamentales dans la politique intérieure et étrangère de l'URSS. Les réactions au Congres de la part de communistes en dehors du bloc soviétique ont été analysées jusqu'à présent au niveau macro, en focalisant sur les réponses stratégiques des élites politiques et géographiques, tandis que celles de la base « stalinienne » du parti ont été pratiquement ignorées. Cet article exploite pour la première fois les témoignages de 25 informateurs actifs en 1956 à tous les niveaux de la Fédération du PCF du Var, pour en tirer une perspective de base sur les problématiques. L'article nous permet d'examiner les questions clés sous de nouveaux angles et, par conséquent, de revoir notre interprétation globale de la façon dont les communistes ordinaires ont répondu à cet événement-charnière.
Federazione del Partito Comunista Italiano di Gorizia
sull’intervento sovietico nella rivoluzione ungherese del
1956. La presa di posizione goriziana fu l’unica in Italia ad
assumere posizioni politiche senza alcun ricorso alla
gerarchia del Pci.
Togliatti fu quindi preso in contropiede da un lontano
comitato federale: a partire da nuovi studi, uno sguardo
rinnovato sulla coerenza ideologica, politica e organizzativa
del comunismo italiano nel periodo postbellico.Un ricordo della critica rivoluzionaria espressa dalla
Federazione del Partito Comunista Italiano di Gorizia
sull’intervento sovietico nella rivoluzione ungherese del
1956. La presa di posizione goriziana fu l’unica in Italia ad
assumere posizioni politiche senza alcun ricorso alla
gerarchia del Pci.
Togliatti fu quindi preso in contropiede da un lontano
comitato federale: a partire da nuovi studi, uno sguardo
rinnovato sulla coerenza ideologica, politica e organizzativa
del comunismo italiano nel periodo postbellico.
Un ricordo della critica rivoluzionaria espressa dalla
Federazione del Partito Comunista Italiano di Gorizia
sull’intervento sovietico nella rivoluzione ungherese del
1956. La presa di posizione goriziana fu l’unica in Italia ad
assumere posizioni politiche senza alcun ricorso alla
gerarchia del Pci.
Togliatti fu quindi preso in contropiede da un lontano
comitato federale: a partire da nuovi studi, uno sguardo
rinnovato sulla coerenza ideologica, politica e organizzativa
del comunismo italiano nel periodo postbellico.
The memory of Resistance and the concept of the ‘Party’ were fundamental reference points in the collective psyche of both communities, to which other issues and concerns were associated in 1956. Although common to both case-communities these two themes differ in terms of significance and influence in each case-context. They are linked to the theoretical positions, to Party cultures and to the nature of commitment on the part of political and social actors at all levels of the regional Party structures in question.