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SoSe 21: Socialist Internationalism in History

Timothy Nunan

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Talk of “socialism” is everywhere these days, between a democratic socialist revival in the United States and United Kingdom and the right-wing fixation on Venezuela as a bugaboo for socialism. These discussions tend to overlook, however, the powerful impact that Marxist- Leninist regimes had on the making of the modern world. The Soviet Union may be long gone, but socialist internationalism spread Soviet-style single-party states around the world from Cuba to China. Visions of socialist internationalism also helped prompt Soviet and Chinese interventions in civil wars during the Cold War, leaving lasting legacies in countries like Afghanistan, Angola and North Korea today. In short, socialism constituted its own kind of globalization, an understanding of which is essential to understanding the world today. In this course, we will examine how socialist states such as the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China contributed to the ideological and material spread of communism around the world in the twentieth century. The course will include both thematic sessions as well as case studies of particular countries and regions. Along the way, the course will explore themes such as planned economies’ place in the international political economy; socialist regimes' attempts to reshape gender roles; and socialist culture and the intelligentsia. This seminar will also engage with new modes of producing digital historical scholarship. In lieu of a traditional final paper, students who wish to take this course for written credit will write a produce a short podcast drawing on primary sources related to the history of socialist internationalism. Several methodological sessions throughout the seminar will provide guidance on storytelling, scriptwriting, obtaining copyright-safe sources, and producing history podcasts. close