Pre-1945 Eastern Europe History

[bailey_187]

Could anyone post some recomendations for general overviews of Eastern European history from say the late middle ages (before would be ok if you have something good) to the early 20th century? Preferably from a Marxist/historical materialist point of view.

IIRC there is a debate about whether Eastern Europe (Poland?), while it exported food to the capitalist countries in Western Europe in the 19th(?) century, while keeping Fuedal relations of production, can be classed as capitalist? Is there any reading on this anyone could suggest, or elaborate on the issue so i know more please?

thanks

[Blake's Baby]

No I don't, but please do let the rest of us know if anything comes up. Interesting question certainly, and one I'd certainly like to know more about.

[ComradeOm]

IIRC there is a debate about whether Eastern Europe (Poland?), while it exported food to the capitalist countries in Western Europe in the 19th(?) century, while keeping Fuedal relations of production, can be classed as capitalist? Is there any reading on this anyone could suggest, or elaborate on the issue so i know more please?I'm not aware of specific works relating to this but Poland is usually held up as a typical example of a trade dependency loop. To quote from a previous post of mine:

"On the whole [Eastern European] nations were net exporters of agricultural produce which they exchanged for manufactured goods from Western nations. Its the classic trade dependency loop - they sell cheap grain and receive cheap goods. This simultaneously benefits the farmers while undermining domestic industry, who simply can't compete with cheap competition from overseas. As such the nation gets pulled into a sort of neo-colonial arrangement"

Similar occurrences took place in Portugal (in which the native textile industry was destroyed by cheaper British imports) and Hungary is generally perceived as being in a similar relationship with Austria, within the Austrian (and Austro-Hungarian) Empire. Sked has a chapter on the latter in The Decline and Fall of the Habsburg Empire. I've not read them myself but Norman Davies' Europe and God's Playground are supposed to be good general histories that do not ignore Easter Europe, as so many Western accounts do. Definitely not Marxist though. Not sure if you're interested in Russia as well, if so could recommend a few works

[bailey_187]

Yes, please recommend some books on Russian history from the same time period please.

Are there any economic histories of Eastern Europe you could recommend, if there are no Marxist ones please?
Are there any "official histories" from of Eastern Europe from the Communist times?

In the footnotes of Alex Callinicoses "Imperialism and Global Political Economy" book, which breifly covers the debate i posted about above, it cites W.Kula's "An Economic theory of Feudalism", saying it is a good history of early modern Poland surrounding this issue.

[pranabjyoti]

I think the articles and books of Lenin before 1917 is good enough to have a proper picture of Russia before 1917.

[ComradeOm]

I think the articles and books of Lenin before 1917 is good enough to have a proper picture of Russia before 1917.I wish I could slap you right now. Lenin was a revolutionary, and one who spent a good deal of time in exile, not an historian arduously documenting Russian life or charting its development. If all you read are Collected Works then you are going to get a very narrow perspective. A broad reading base is vital if you are to understand a historical period

As it happens Lenin's Development of Capitalism in Russia is a basic text in charting the economic evolution of Russia. It does however contain major flaws that undermine its usefulness as a historical study. These include the failure to contrast the statistics produced with pre-1860s date; the lack of distinction between commodity production and subsistence farming; the surprising lack of detail on foreign investment; and, most importantly, the near-complete absence of the principal agricultural economic unit – the commune

Other than that its a good read. This in no way detracts from my previous point

As for other works about pre-Revolutionary Russia, I'd recommend Waldron's The End of Imperial Russia as a good introduction to the last decades of the Tsardom; while Russia in the Age of Reaction and Reform (Saunders) is a detailed political history of the 19th century - particularly useful for the background to the great reforms but not an introductory work. With regards the immediate pre-Revolution period, any good book on the Revolution should give an overview; see my sig for a list. With regards economic works, both Nove (Economic History of the USSR) and Davies (The Economic Transformation of the USSR) devote early chapters to the late Tsarist economy


Are there any "official histories" from of Eastern Europe from the Communist times?I'm sure there are, perhaps not in English, but I'd avoid. The attitude of the official CPs to history, and this includes party histories, was hagiographic in the extreme. If you do find one then pay close attention as to when it was written and who the author was. I know that some CPs, the PCF spring to mind, were in the habit of rewriting their history every decade or two and airbrushing out figures or entire movements. In short, revising history to suit the political needs of the present

[MarxSchmarx]

If it is areas under the Russian empire specifically you are thinking about, I would recommend "LOrd and Peasant in Russia" by Jerome Blum, it has been in publication from like the 70s.

Also, Norman Davies's "Gods Playground a history of poland" has a really interesting discussion of the Marxist historiography of poland. The author basically credits marxist-leninist ideology with providing the first unified coherent framework in which to interpret the events of polish history, however crude they were. It is available on google books.