Cold War Culture

An Avant-Garde Architecture for an Avant-Garde Socialism: Yugoslavia at EXPO ’58

by Vladimir Kulić

Journal of Contemporary History January 2012 47: 161-184.

The Pavilion of Yugoslavia at EXPO ’58 in Brussels was an attempt to internationally showcase the specific brand of... more The Pavilion of Yugoslavia at EXPO ’58 in Brussels was an attempt to internationally showcase the specific brand of socialism developed in that country since its break from the Soviet bloc ten years prior. That goal was best achieved through the pavilion building, an inspired piece of modern architecture designed by the Croatian architect Vjenceslav Richter, which attracted much positive attention. In most other respects, the presentation was a relative disappointment, failing to engage the visitors in an attractive and well-rounded experience. This article provides an analysis of the conceptualization, development, and reception of the pavilion based on the abundant material from the Archive of Yugoslavia in Belgrade. It argues that Richter’s avant-garde design resonated with the self-proclaimed avant-garde status of Yugoslav socialism, but that its complex connotations, when seen through the lens of the Cold War, were reduced to a mere index of Yugoslavia’s break from the Soviet bloc.

Jean-Paul Sartre en colère

by Yan Hamel

Dans PIERSSENS, Michel et Jean-Jacques LEFRÈRE (dir.). Querelles et invectives. Dixième Colloque des Invalides (décembre 2006), Tusson, Éditions Du Lérot, 2007, p. 95-100.

George Bernard Shaw - under fire from right and left "Superman in the Phone Booth" by Rosemarie Rowley

by Rosemarie Rowley

Was George Bernard Shaw one of the first victims of the soundbite?
Shaw was writing his plays at a time of... more Was George Bernard Shaw one of the first victims of the soundbite?
Shaw was writing his plays at a time of international conflict, especially in the 1930s as Europe prepared for war and the right and left became polarised.
His reputation has suffered down to this day, because although irony was intended, his audience saw political polemic at a dangerous time for the world.
Even today this has consequences on the way his work is perceived and received

Happiness as a Subversive Activity: An Interview with Ivan Szendro on Commedia Dell'Arte as Healing & Resistance in Communist Hungary

by Ronald L. Boyer

This is a recent interview conducted on the theme of "polis as Muse" for an academic journal.

This interview with Hungarian actor and shaman Ivan Szendro examines the role of folk theatre performance art in the... more This interview with Hungarian actor and shaman Ivan Szendro examines the role of folk theatre performance art in the tradition of commedia dell'arte as a vital form of creative self-healing and political resistance in Hungary during the Soviet Occupation.

The Blank Paper: Reflections on McCarthyism and National Identity

by James Eric (Jay) Black

McCarthyism is a logical but extreme product of the political machinery and national identity, grounded in attitudes,... more McCarthyism is a logical but extreme product of the political machinery and national identity, grounded in attitudes, assumptions and judgments with deep roots in American history. From the Alien and Sedition acts, the Palmer raids and Sacco and Vansetti through immigration laws and the Cold War, America has long feared radicalism. Society can be swept up in the fear that its way of life or even existence can be threatened. During these times traditional patterns of behavior and institutions are swept aside as well. Outbreaks of intolerance reveal as much about a national identity as it does about the dangers to society, whether real or imagined. During the New  Deal, most Americans favored denying freedom of speech, press and assembly to native Communists. To complicate matters, the anti-Communist persuasion often found expression in the mindless identification of all social  change in domestic affairs with communism.This persuasion became the savage “other” in which McCarthy and his ilk needed to form their national identity. Although Joe McCarthy never proved one person to be a Soviet sympathizer, he never had to.  His torch and burn rhetoric of unsubstantiated accusations was enough to ruin the reputation of anyone who stumbled in his way.  The question presents itself; if McCarthy was unsuccessful in rooting out Communists, were Communists  the real enemy to those who followed his Anti-Communist persuasion? This essay will focus on the concept that the Anti-Communist crusader McCarthy had less to say about real Soviet infiltrators  than  he did about those who questioned his power and glory.  These so called Communists and Communist sympathizers by name only tended to be the educated elite and a power structure than  hampered his reign of demagoguery. Lessons can be learned form this time to  identify and understand similar accusations aimed at educators today.

Adrian Boult, Thomas Russell, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra Communist Witch-Hunt of 1952.

by Richard Witts

Paper given at one of the Music in British Society seminars at the Institute of British History, Senate House, London, 2003, chaired by Cyril Ehrlich..

In 1952 the London Philharmonic Orchestra sacked its highly admired and successful orchestra manager, Thomas Russell,... more In 1952 the London Philharmonic Orchestra sacked its highly admired and successful orchestra manager, Thomas Russell, because of his openly communist connections. Boult's role in this scandal is examined, using public documents together with an aural account made by Frederick Riddle, principal viola and deputy chairman of the orchestra at the time.

History on Trial: The Rosenberg Case In EL Doctorow's The Book of Daniel

by Santiago Juan-Navarro

Published in The Grove: Working Papers on English Studies, 6 (1999): 79-92.

In The Book of Daniel (1972), E.L. Doctorow explores one of the darkest periods of US political history: Cold War... more In The Book of Daniel (1972), E.L. Doctorow explores one of the darkest periods of US political history: Cold War anticommunist hysteria during the nineteen fifties. The trial and execution of the Rosenbergs (the Isaacsons in the novel) is reconstructed amid the ideological turmoil of the late nineteen sixties by Daniel, one of their children. While writing his Ph.D. dissertation, Daniel seeks to explain the mystery surrounding his parents’ trial. Daniel’s book-both his dissertation and the novel we are reading-reaches beyond the character’s biographical reconstruction and examines the limitations of language and memory in the representation of historical reality. As in many of his other novels, Doctorow reflects on the intellectual’s ethical commitment within a climate
of political change and epistemological skepticism.