Forging Democracy The History of the Left in Europe, 1850-2000

by Eley, Geoff

• ISBN13: 9780195044799
• ISBN10: 0195044797
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-04-11
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Democracy in Europe has been a recent phenomenon. Only in the wake of World War II were democratic frameworks secured, and, even then, it was decades before democracy truly blanketed the continent. Neither given nor granted, democracy requires conflict, often violent confrontations, and challenges to the established political order. In Europe, Geoff Eley convincingly shows, democracy did not evolve organically out of a natural consensus, the achievement of prosperity, or the negative cementof the Cold War. Rather, it was painstakingly crafted, continually expanded, and doggedly defended by varying constellations of socialist, feminist, Communist, and other radical movements that originally blossomed in the later nineteenth century. Parties of the Left championed democracy in therevolutionary crisis after World War I, salvaged it against the threat of fascism, and renewed its growth after 1945. They organized civil societies rooted in egalitarian ideals which came to form the very fiber of Europe's current democratic traditions. The trajectories of European democracy andthe history of the European Left are thus inextricably bound together. Geoff Eley has given us the first truly comprehensive history of the European Left--its successes and failures; its high watermarks and its low tides; its accomplishments, insufficiencies, and excesses; and, most importantly, its formative, lasting influence on the European political landscape. Ata time when the Left's influence and legitimacy are frequently called into question, Forging Democracy passionately upholds its vital contribution.

Author Biography

Geoff Eley is Professor of History at the University of Michigan. He is the author and editor of many books on British and German history, including Reshaping the German Right: Radical Nationalism and Political Change after Bismarck.

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations
Introduction: Democracy in Europe
Making Democracy Social
Defining the Left: Socialism, Democracy, and the People	p. 17
Marxism and the Left: Laying the Foundations	p. 33
Industrialization and the Making of the Working Class	p. 47
The Rise of Labor Movements: History's Forward March	p. 62
Challenges beyond Socialism: Other Fronts of Democracy	p. 85
The Permanence of Capitalism?	p. 109
War and Revolution, 1914-1923
The Rupture of War: Crisis and Reconstruction of the Left, 1914-1917	p. 123
The Russian Revolution	p. 139
Breaking the Mold of Socialism: Left-Wing Communism, 1917-1923	p. 152
Germany and Italy: Two Cases	p. 165
Remolding Militancy: The Foundation of Communist Parties	p. 176
The Politics of Gender: Women and the Left	p. 185
Living the Future: The Left in Culture	p. 201
Broadening the Boundaries of Democracy	p. 220
Stabilization and the "War of Position"
Capitalist Stabilities: Future Deferred	p. 235
Stalinism and Western Marxism: Socialism in One Country	p. 249
Fascism and Popular Front: The Politics of Retreat, 1930-1938	p. 261
People's War and People's Peace: Remarking the Nation, 1939-1947	p. 278
Closure: Stalinism, Welfare Capitalism, and Cold War, 1945-1956	p. 299
1956	p. 329
Future Imperfect
1968: It Moves After All	p. 341
Feminism: Regendering the Left	p. 366
Class and the Politics of Labor	p. 384
New Politics, New Times: Remaking Socialism and Democracy	p. 405
Gorbachev, the End of Communism, and the 1989 Revolutions	p. 429
New Social Movements: Politics Out of Doors	p. 457
The Center and the Margins: Decline or Renewal?	p. 470
Conclusion	p. 491
Notes	p. 505
Bibliography	p. 593
Index	p. 687
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