What is understood by the term 'The Balkans' and why is this categorisation occasionally disputed? Which countries, peoples and states belong to the Balkans? What do they have in common, and where do they differ? What was Balkan Socialism (ca. 1890-1914) and what were its intellectual and organisational ties to the Second International? Who were its leading thinkers and how does their theoretical output highlight a distinct, although largely forgotten, Balkan Marxism? What were the two 'Balkan Wars' that are often seen as a precursor to World War I? And why did the anti-imperialist Rosa Luxemburg actually support the first of these conflicts?
In this fascinating podcast discussion, I had the pleasure of interviewing the historian Stefan Gužvica and exploring some of these questions - and many more. Stefan is based in Serbia and is currently editing his PhD dissertation into a book provisionally entitled Sickle without a Hammer: Revolution and Nation-Building in the Balkans, 1900s-1930s. We had actually planned to talk more about the 1920s and 1930s, but there was so much material that we did not really get beyond 1914. Hopefully we can do so in the near future, perhaps in the form of an All-Patron meeting.
If you are interested in Stefan's brilliant research then you can reach out to him via his website: https://stefanguzvica.su/
Significant Figures of Balkan Socialism mentioned in the pod:
Filip Filipović
Triša Kaclerović
Dragiša Lapčević
Dimitrije Tucović
Dimitar Blagoev
Vasil Glavinov
Jeno Rozvany
Jozsef Pogany/John Pepper
Kamilo Horvatin
Milan Gorkić
Josip Broz Tito
Simo Miljuš
Gavrilo Princip
Christian Rakovsky
Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea
Further Reading:
Georges Haupt, "Model Party: The Role and Influence of German Social Democracy in South-East Europe,” in Aspects of International Socialism, 1871-1914
https://www.cambridge.org/vi/academic/subjects/history/twentieth-century-european-history/aspects-international-socialism-18711914-essays-georges-haupt?format=PB
Pavlos Hatzopoulos, The Balkans Beyond Nationalism and Identity: International Relations and Ideology
https://library.memoryoftheworld.org/#/book/b1be1dd9-63e7-49f9-b8ca-a8529f1ea039
George D. Jackson, Comintern and Peasant in East Europe, 1919–1930
https://library.memoryoftheworld.org/#/book/767a7352-2d0f-48fc-affa-631d7db51194
Maria Todorova, The Lost World of Socialists at Europe’s Margins: Imagining Utopia, 1870s - 1920s
https://libgen.is/book/index.php?md5=812A461F10D86338C4944FDDCAB19362
Hilde Haug, Creating a Socialist Yugoslavia: Tito, Communist Leadership and the National Question
https://library.memoryoftheworld.org/#/book/8a66922f-5688-4414-8a43-7df0ac65a3a0
Dragan Plavšić and Andreja Živković, The Balkan Socialist Tradition and the Balkan Federation 1871-1915
https://library.memoryoftheworld.org/#/book/eff13395-e17a-4017-8845-d78f5bae59b1
Mark Mazower, The Balkans: A Short History
https://libgen.is/book/index.php?md5=33F5DA02E6DFA677AF05155B0262D7B6
31 Jul 2022
The Second International (1889-1914) with Mike Taber
The Second International (1889-1914) with Mike Taber
4 Jul 2022
Framing 'Equality': Initial Thoughts on Clara Zetkin's 'Die Gleichheit' (1892-1917)
Some initial thoughts on the origins, nature and development of the German-language Marxist fortnightly magazine 'For the Interests of Female Workers'. To help podcast become more regular, please consider becoming a Patron at www.patreon.com/marxismtranslated. The original talk was given at an Online Communist Forum on Zoom and can be accessed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2Bg6Cy0slg. The slides for the talk are attached.
7 Mar 2022
August Bebel - The Social Position of Women Today (1891)
What is more, to the extent that they are excluded from having an influence on either of these things by our public institutions, women must encourage the men to get involved. For their part, the men must understand what an enormous power factor the women’s support for their efforts represents. The Catholic church understood this better than anybody else: it always sought to achieve its main influence through women. In future, the movement behind which the women stand will be the victorious one.
3 Mar 2022
Episode 4: Rosa Luxemburg on Republicanism
Episode 4: Rosa Luxemburg on Republicanism
3 Mar 2022
Episode 3: Translating Rosa Luxemburg in the 21st Century, with Rida Vaquas
Episode 3: Translating Rosa Luxemburg in the 21st Century, with Rida Vaquas
3 Mar 2022
Episode 2: Parvus, Zetkin and Social Democracy (with Lars T. Lih)
The Patrons of Marxism Translated are joined by Lars T Lih and other guests to discuss the significance of Clara Zetkin's obituary of the 'Merchant of Revolution', Alexander Parvus.
3 Mar 2022
Episode 1: Martov and the Mass Strike
I outline my motivations behind translating Martov's 1910 polemic against Rosa Luxemburg in the pages of Karl Kautsky's weekly theoretical 'Die Neue Zeit' in 1910.
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