Lewis H. Siegelbaum (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801449918
- eISBN:
- 9780801463211
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801449918.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Russian and Former Soviet Union History
Across the Soviet Bloc, from the 1960s until the collapse of communism, the automobile exemplified the tension between the ideological imperatives of political authorities and the aspirations of ...
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Across the Soviet Bloc, from the 1960s until the collapse of communism, the automobile exemplified the tension between the ideological imperatives of political authorities and the aspirations of ordinary citizens. For the latter, the automobile was the ticket to personal freedom and a piece of the imagined consumer paradise of the West. For the authorities, the personal car was a private, mobile space that challenged the most basic assumptions of the collectivity. The “Socialist Car”—and the car culture that built up around it—was the result of an always unstable compromise between official ideology, available resources, and the desires of an increasingly restless citizenry. This book explores the interface between the motor car and the state socialist countries of Eastern Europe, including the USSR. In addition to the metal, glass, upholstery, and plastic from which the Ladas, Dacias, Trabants, and other still extant but aging models were fabricated, the Socialist Car embodied East Europeans’ longings and compromises, hopes and disappointments. The Socialist Car represented both aspirations of overcoming the technological gap between the capitalist first and socialist second worlds and dreams of enhancing personal mobility and status. Certain features of automobility—shortages and privileges, waiting lists and lack of readily available credit, the inadequacy of streets and highways—prevailed across the Soviet Bloc. This collective history puts aside both ridicule and nostalgia in the interest of trying to understand the Socialist Car in its own context.Less
Across the Soviet Bloc, from the 1960s until the collapse of communism, the automobile exemplified the tension between the ideological imperatives of political authorities and the aspirations of ordinary citizens. For the latter, the automobile was the ticket to personal freedom and a piece of the imagined consumer paradise of the West. For the authorities, the personal car was a private, mobile space that challenged the most basic assumptions of the collectivity. The “Socialist Car”—and the car culture that built up around it—was the result of an always unstable compromise between official ideology, available resources, and the desires of an increasingly restless citizenry. This book explores the interface between the motor car and the state socialist countries of Eastern Europe, including the USSR. In addition to the metal, glass, upholstery, and plastic from which the Ladas, Dacias, Trabants, and other still extant but aging models were fabricated, the Socialist Car embodied East Europeans’ longings and compromises, hopes and disappointments. The Socialist Car represented both aspirations of overcoming the technological gap between the capitalist first and socialist second worlds and dreams of enhancing personal mobility and status. Certain features of automobility—shortages and privileges, waiting lists and lack of readily available credit, the inadequacy of streets and highways—prevailed across the Soviet Bloc. This collective history puts aside both ridicule and nostalgia in the interest of trying to understand the Socialist Car in its own context.
Nicholas J. Schlosser
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252039690
- eISBN:
- 9780252097782
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252039690.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Radio
Founded as a counterweight to the Communist broadcasters in East Germany, Radio in the American Sector (RIAS) became one of the most successful public information operations conducted against the ...
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Founded as a counterweight to the Communist broadcasters in East Germany, Radio in the American Sector (RIAS) became one of the most successful public information operations conducted against the Soviet Bloc. This book examines the Berlin-based organization's history and influence on the political worldview of the people—and government—on the other side of the Iron Curtain. The book draws on broadcast transcripts, internal memoranda, listener letters, and surveys by the U.S. Information Agency to profile RIAS. Its mission: to undermine the German Democratic Republic (GDR) with propaganda that, ironically, gained in potency by obeying the rules of objective journalism. Throughout, the book examines the friction inherent in such a contradictory project and propaganda's role in shaping political culture. It also portrays how RIAS's primarily German staff influenced its outlook and how the organization both competed against its rivals in the GDR and pushed communist officials to alter their methods in order to keep listeners. From the occupation of Berlin through the airlift to the construction of the Berlin Wall, this book offers an absorbing view of how public diplomacy played out at a flashpoint of East–West tension.Less
Founded as a counterweight to the Communist broadcasters in East Germany, Radio in the American Sector (RIAS) became one of the most successful public information operations conducted against the Soviet Bloc. This book examines the Berlin-based organization's history and influence on the political worldview of the people—and government—on the other side of the Iron Curtain. The book draws on broadcast transcripts, internal memoranda, listener letters, and surveys by the U.S. Information Agency to profile RIAS. Its mission: to undermine the German Democratic Republic (GDR) with propaganda that, ironically, gained in potency by obeying the rules of objective journalism. Throughout, the book examines the friction inherent in such a contradictory project and propaganda's role in shaping political culture. It also portrays how RIAS's primarily German staff influenced its outlook and how the organization both competed against its rivals in the GDR and pushed communist officials to alter their methods in order to keep listeners. From the occupation of Berlin through the airlift to the construction of the Berlin Wall, this book offers an absorbing view of how public diplomacy played out at a flashpoint of East–West tension.
