Course work

[Invader Zim]

Today I have been told that for my history course work I can do anything I want as long as it is contraversial and after 800 AD. I am tempoted to do the Battle of Waterloo. However as I have this excelent recource available to me in the shape of hugly knowlagable Che-Lives members I am thinking of doing some socialist History, can any one suggest a good essay title which relates to a contraversial moment in socialist history.

A few of my own are things like: -

Were Stalins five year plans economically viable/ justified?

Was the actions of the Russian Tsar directly responsable for the Revolution.

Etc.

Can anyone show give me a good title, or historicaly reliable sources which give differing opinions on the above questions.

[Reuben]

hmmm the second title looks interesting you cold get into the whole structuralist vs non-structuralist debate, ie was his downfall due to his personality or was it inevitable due to economic ideological and political developements in Russia. Perhaps you could make it more open ended, for example asking Why did The Tsar fall from power in 1917?

[Invader Zim]

Quote: from Reuben on 3:38 pm on June 16, 2003
hmmm the second title looks interesting you cold get into the whole structuralist vs non-structuralist debate, ie was his downfall due to his personality or was it inevitable due to economic ideological and political developements in Russia. Perhaps you could make it more open ended, for example asking Why did The Tsar fall from power in 1917?



Yes I rather like you alteration to the question.

[Socialsmo o Muerte]

What about something a bit more worldwide?

i) Were Stalin's actions in Eastern Europe the main influence in the break up of the post-war alliance with the USA?

ii) Were American attitudes towards Stalin and the Soviet Union the main cause for the break up of the wartime alliance?

iii) Was Stalin's death the main cause of the "thawing out" of the Cold War?

[Socialsmo o Muerte]

Something a bit more worldwide?

i) Were Stalin's actions in Eastern Europe the main cause fo the break up of the wartime alliance?

ii) Was Stalin's death the main cause of the Cold War "thaw"?

they are interesting ones.

[Invader Zim]

Quote: from Socialsmo o Muerte on 6:34 pm on June 16, 2003
Something a bit more worldwide?

i) Were Stalin's actions in Eastern Europe the main cause fo the break up of the wartime alliance?

ii) Was Stalin's death the main cause of the Cold War "thaw"?

they are interesting ones.

They are interesting, I do however want to avoid the USA vs USSR debates as they tend to get the writter bogged down in the international relations and petty politics, Cuba however is an excelent example of excaptions to this Rule. However these debates do have the excelent advantage of being very well documented by contemporarys and historians, making it easy to find sources. I would prefer to say away from the 20th Century post war international relations and politics, simply as you easily get bogged down and write pages and pages, which is not good as there is a word limit of 3000. It would be difficult not to exceed that.

However thanks for the input, if you could think of a slightly less wide ranging question I would be grateful.

[Socialsmo o Muerte]

I see you are doing the same assignment which I did last year for my A Level coursework. I decided to do:

"The threat of Bolshevism was the main cause of the rise of Mussolini and Fascism in Italy in the early 1900's"
Assess the claim etc.

I did it in 3090 words which is acceptable apparently. It was very interesting, however not the socialist history you want to study. Although Mussolini was originally a Socialist and incorporated socialist policies. And a large chunk of the investigation is about the threat of socialism in Italy. so maybe it isnt all that non-Socialist.

[Pete]

Controversial topics I have done papers one.

-Was the CCCP really the aggressor in the Cold War, or did America under tone her plots in order to gain moral superiority?

-Is Canada truly democratic?

-Is regionalism born out of the nationalism that tries to destroy it?

They are mostly Canadian issues. Another was on the future of Canadian politics, the system I mean not the people. Or then there was the one on the Middle East, another talking about music in America. Probaly not good for you though.

[Pete]

Here is a good statement: Israel is following the path of South Africa and becoming an apartheid state.

[Socialsmo o Muerte]

You're meant to do things in th epast for the investigation.

That's also more of a Sociological question. It's not really History.

[Pete]

Ahh. Then only the Cold War one really suffices.

[Uhuru na Umoja]

First of all I would suggest that you stick to the Battle of Waterloo as your topic. Although many people on this site have a in depth knowledge of socialist history, we are all - due to our political inclinations - highly biased on such issues. You are more likely to write an good piece of history on the Napoleonic Wars.

Having said that I did my coursework on the break between Stalin and Tito, which I found very interesting. Along the same lines it might be interesting to look at other divisions within the socialist world, such as the Sino-Soviet split. Within this you could look at the role of Stalin's death, Kruschev's actions, Mao's actions, and events outside either the USSR or the PRC's control.

[lenin25]

AK47- You can 'borrow' a few of my courseworks if you want I could e-mail you them. Their all on Russia. Stuff such as why did Stalin not Trotsky succeed Lenin.