Abstract
In: Jahrbuch für Historische Kommunismusforschung 2017. Berlin: Metropol Verlag, pp. 217–232.
Most research on ‘Euro-communism’ begins with the repercussions of the events of 1968 on West European communist parties and tends to ignore its roots in the various forms of reform-communisms after 1956. Existing research also tends to omit treatment of growing interaction between Western parties and their interplay with East-bloc communist parties, which began in the 1950s. The experience of the Austrian Communist Party within the wider context of reform communism in the period 1963 until 1968 brings out this largely overlooked pan-European dimension. Firstly, the transnational responses of Western parties to developments in East-bloc cultural policy show that ‘Euro-communism’ was already present by the early 1960s. Second, the influence of the Italian party on Austrian Euro-communism show the attempt to provide a European dimension to these debates – which were, however, ahead of their time. Finally, these themes are best illustrated by assessing the Western European conferences of communist parties in the 1965 and 1966, which details how and why they failed to unite in the aftermath of the crushing of ‘Prague Spring’. Thus, this research also points ahead to the origins of the failure of ‘Euro-communism’ which were evident by the end of the 1970s.
Über den Autor
Maximilian Graf, Dr. phil., geb. 1984 in Wien. 2004 bis 2012 Studium der Geschichte an der Universität Wien. 2010 bis 2015 wiss. Mitarbeiter des Instituts für Neuzeit- und Zeitgeschichtsforschung der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (vormals Historische Kommission). Seit April 2015 Projektmitarbeiter am Institut für Zeitgeschichte der Universität Wien. Veröffentlichungen u. a.: Österreich und die DDR 1949–1990. Politik und Wirtschaft im Schatten der deutschen Teilung, Wien 2016; Mithg.: Österreich im Kalten Krieg. Neue Forschungen im internationalen Kontext, Wien 2016, »An Austrian Mediation in Vietnam? The Superpowers, Neutrality, and Kurt Waldheim’s Good Offices« (mit Wolfgang Mueller), in: Sandra Bott/Jussi Hanhimaki/Janick Schaufelbuehl/Marco Wyss (Hg.): Neutrality and Neutralism in the Global Cold War. Between or within the blocs?, London 2016, S. 127–143. Karl von Vogelsang-Staatspreis für Geschichte der Gesellschaftswissenschaften (Förderpreis) 2014; Dr.-Alois-Mock-Wissenschaftspreis 2015.