From Stalinism to Neoliberalism: Comparative Approach at Two Revolutions

• In Event: Developing Liberty: Dimensions of East Central Europe's Transformations in the 20th and 21st Centuries

Abstract

The forced transformation of socio-political reality imposed on Central Europe by the Soviet Union after WW2 could be treated as the (Stalinist) revolution, and so is the case of the post-communist transformation that took form of the (neoliberal) revolution, imposing the power of global markets and institution and putting an end to economic autarky and non-liberal democratic socio-political system. To what extent the comparison between the two cases (both of which could be labelled as the revolution from abroad) is legitimate and what are the possible fields of actual comparison? The paper is a result of an ongoing project on the post-communist transition in Poland and Hungary.

Author

• Michal Przeperski, Polish History Museum (Poland)