Everyday Life in State-Socialist Societies

Until a few years ago, historians had paid little attention to the working and living conditions present under ‘state socialism’ in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Not only were those countries associated with Moscow somewhat neglected, the same was also true of Yugoslavia and Albania.

The collapse of state socialisms initially prepared the ground for political-science questions, albeit to differing degrees in different regions. The opening up of previously inaccessible archival collections foregrounded at first a necessary reappraisal of Stalinist crimes, but this was done not infrequently with a strong emphasis on separate nation states.

Recently, however, historians — especially younger ones — have in many places emancipated themselves from these political-science concepts, researching and publishing on topics inspired by questions, concepts, and methods of a culturally expanded social historiography. A series of important monographs have been published over the last decade, as have a fairly large number of academic articles.

This conference aims to promote and strengthen scholarly debates on the social history of state socialism, which may also lead to new joint research and publication projects. Although not open to the public, keynotes will be streamed via the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation’s Facebook page.

Everyday Life in State-Socialist Societies is organized by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation Southeast Europe, Belgrade (Serbia), and the Centre for Cultural and Historical Research of Socialism, Pula (Croatia).