Solidarity and Voluntarism in State-Socialist Societies

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Solidarity and Voluntarism in State-Socialist Societies

Organizer
Ana Kladnik (University of Graz), George Bodie (Goldsmiths, University of London) (University of Graz)
Host
University of Graz
ZIP
8010
Location
Graz
Country
Austria
Takes place
In Attendance
From - Until
12.09.2023 - 13.09.2023
By
George Bodie

This conference, taking place at the University of Graz between 12 and 13 September, will build upon recent advances in the field to explore iterations of solidarity and voluntarism in the socialist world during the Cold War, making a vital contribution to the social history of state-socialism.

Solidarity and Voluntarism in State-Socialist Societies

Recent advances in the field have illuminated the extent and depth to which practices of solidarity defined everyday life in state-socialist societies. Perhaps most clearly, this has emerged in the recent growth of literature which explores practices of socialist internationalism, which carried with them a conception of international solidarity that was distinctly embedded in everyday life. But as the literature on state-socialism continues to develop beyond theories of totalitarianism and simplistic accounts of societies dominated or entirely subsumed by the state, solidarity—whether directed within or beyond national borders—is increasingly becoming a worthwhile object of study as a generalised practice or concept.

A key (and still to this day largely unexplored) element of this focus on solidarity is voluntarism and voluntary organisations. Such organisations have often been dismissed as fronts, existing solely to mobilise populations or serving as disseminators of propaganda. In many cases, these assertions carry some weight. Yet the story of how the concept of solidarity was contested, and how socialist citizens found meaning in it must also involve serious exploration of practices of voluntarism. The existence of voluntary organisations and voluntarism remind us that the relationship between state and society in state-socialism cannot be reduced to a simplistic oppositional binary, but was rather one that was fluid, multidimensional and often ambivalent. Socialist citizens practiced solidarity via voluntarist organisations through a mixture of coercion (and much more rarely, compulsion), genuine enthusiasm and many other forms of motivation in-between. Exploring the multifaceted nature of these motivations, this conference will make an important contribution to our understanding of the social history of state socialism.

Programm

TUESDAY, 12 September 2023

13:30 Opening remarks

13:45 – 15:15

PANEL 1: BLURRING LINES BETWEEN STATE AND CIVIL SOCIETY

Chair: Florian Bieber

Siobhán Hearne, Socialist Solidarities and the Soviet Red Cross in the Post-Stalin USSR

Henrike Rudolph, Voluntarism in China´s United Front Framework since 1949

Jelena Đureinović, The Anti-Colonial Moment: Practices and Socio-Political Ecosystems of International Solidarity in Yugoslavia

Coffee break

15:45 – 17:15

PANEL 2: NON-IDEOLOGICAL VOLUNTEERING?

Chair: Heidrun Zettelbauer

Ana Kladnik, Solidarity Contested? Women in Volunteer Fire Departments in Central Europe after
1945

Pavle Antonijević, The Socialist Concept of Solidarity: the Case of the Red Cross in Yugoslavia during
the 1960s and 1970s

Ciprian Nitu, Mountaineering as Liberty and Solidarity. Mountain Volunteering Associations and Movements in Socialist Romania

Coffee break

17:45 – 19:15

PANEL 3: Socialist Humanitarianism and Medical Internationalism

Chair: Maximilian Lakitsch

Severyan Dyakonov, Socialist Humanitarianism: the Soviet Red Cross in India in the 1960s

Helen Yaffe, Cuban Medical Internationalism

Dora Tot, Between Propaganda and Solidarity: Yugoslav Humanitarian Assistance to the Algerian National Liberation Front (1958 – 1962)

20:00 Dinner

WEDNESDAY, 13 September 2023

9:00 – 10:30

PANEL 4: MUNICIPAL AND COMMUNITY VOLUNTARISM

Chair: Katharina Scherke

Kathrin Meiβner, With or Without you? Looking for Solidarity within Everyday Voluntarism in Solving Local Housing Problems in GDR Socialism

Maja Kaninska, The Jewish Municipality of Belgrade, Joint Activities in Socialist Yugoslavia

Kathy Dodworth, Community Health: From Socialist Utopia to Neoliberal Governmentality

Coffee break

11:00 – 12:30

PANEL 5: MOBILISING SOCIALIST CITIZENS: TRADE UNIONS AND COOPERATIVES

Chair: Nina Vodopivec

Carolyn Taratko, Voluntary Self-Mobilization in the Cooperative Movement in Ghana, 1957-1966

George Bodie, Arisen from Ruins: Exploring the Roots of the GDR’s International Solidarity Movement

Elena Kiesel, „Der Mangel hat uns geeint“ – Voluntarinees and Solidarity in the GDR´s Neuererbewegung as Reflected in Interviews with Contemporaries

12:30 – 13:00 Concluding remarks

Contact (announcement)

g.bodie@gold.ac.uk

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