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Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: September 5, 2020 at 11:44:05 AM EDT > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Russia]: Petrov on Applebaum, 'Empire of Friends: > Soviet Power and Socialist Internationalism in Cold War Czechoslovakia' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Rachel Applebaum. Empire of Friends: Soviet Power and Socialist > Internationalism in Cold War Czechoslovakia. Ithaca Cornell > University Press, 2019. 294 pp. Ill. $49.95 (cloth), ISBN > 978-1-5017-3557-8. > > Reviewed by Victor Petrov (University of Tennessee, Knoxville) > Published on H-Russia (September, 2020) > Commissioned by Oleksa Drachewych > > Within the context of the Soviet empire in Eastern Europe, > Czechoslovakia occupied a special place: betrayed by the West in > 1938, a victim of Nazi Germany rather than an ally, possessing a > sizeable proletariat and domestic communist base, somewhat prone to > pan-Slavic and pro-Soviet ideas, developed and industrialized. The > Red Army rolled into the country twice--once as liberators and then > as occupiers--and thus it is a unique place through which to view how > Soviet power functioned as a regime of both oppression and > utopianism. This is what Rachel Applebaum makes very explicit and > clear right from the beginning of this outstanding book on > Czechoslovakia's relation to the USSR and the wider project of > constructing communism. > > The book adds to the burgeoning literature on the Eastern bloc as a > space of construction rather than just destruction. Applebaum > situates her work in relation to such classic texts as those of > Connelly and Naimark, which show how the USSR allowed local > satellites to pursue their own goals and policies as well as using > culture alongside the bayonet in the advancement in its ideas.[1] > More so, she engages also with the excellent works that have come out > more recently, such as that of Mehilli, which treat the Second World > as a space of exchange, mutually shared and negotiated projects, and > an actual lived experience where everyday interactions wove a real > interconnectedness quite apart from the lofty language of high > politics.[2] As Applebaum argues from the outset, it was in fact > these everyday links below the level of official desires that might > actually have contributed to the failure of the project of creating > the Eastern bloc--Soviet and Czechoslovak friends forged real > friendships, communicated and argued, and compared their ways of > living against each other. The titular empire of friends, Applebaum > demonstrates, operated on two different levels: the political project > of friendship between the USSR and Czechoslovakia in the pursuit of > Cold War victory, and the personal project of people who married, > chased down wartime friendships, remembered, forgot, and traded. The > author's argument is thus also a part of the wider thrust to show > that soft power is not a term applicable only to the liberal project > of American foreign policy, but operated also within the context of > totalitarianism. While never forgetting coercion, Applebaum admirably > shows that friendship and interchange were also important in forging > a common world that stretched from Berlin to Vladivostok (or Prague > and Moscow, in this case). Even with 1968 looming in the chronology > as a watershed moment, the book shows how in surprising ways this > moment in fact opened up new avenues of, if not friendship exactly, > then at least exchange and interaction between Soviets and > Czechoslovaks. > > Starting in 1945 with the liberation of Czechoslovakia by the Red > Army, the first chapter traces the early years of Soviet power and > the first watershed moment--the February 1948 coup. Before this date, > Soviet cultural products swamped the country but were in more or less > free competition with Western art, films, and literature. The best of > Soviet culture was used by locals as also a nationalist project--both > to show the genius of a Slavdom reborn from the ashes of total war > and to demonstrate how despite their victory and slogans, the Soviets > were still less advanced than the Czechoslovaks. After 1948, however, > Applebaum shows how culture was no longer negotiable--fealty trumped > discussion; the USSR was a blueprint to be followed rather than a > model to be adapted locally. > > The next chapter follows the stories of students within the USSR as > Czechoslovakia became a part of the Eastern bloc, uncovering > fascinating and deeply personal stories. Young people forged > friendships and fell in love in the years of high Stalinism, when > marriages to foreigners were forbidden for Soviet citizens. > Czechoslovak students struggled with these personal links as well as > the problem of how the Soviets could be both friend and model, > especially as postwar Soviet xenophobia was directed not just at the > West but the nascent People's Democracies. Applebaum deftly > demonstrates, however, how even the repressive years of the early > 1950s became a school of acculturation--Czechoslovak students in the > USSR were caught up in the swirl of denunciations around the 1952 > Slansky trials. In effect, the students "learned to speak Bolshevik" > by practicing and living Stalinist repression. > > Chapter 3 is an excellently executed juxtaposition between the > official and unofficial memorialization of the Second World War, the > _stunde null _of Soviet-Czech relations and mythologies. Applebaum > draws our attention to how it was in Eastern Europe rather than the > USSR where the Red Army was first memorialized in heroic monuments > and statues, while Stalin preferred to keep the soldiers and generals > as far away as official memory as possible. But the chapter really > comes into its own when the author traces the post-Stalinist > flourishing of personal memories: Czechoslovaks and Soviets get in > touch with each other, trying to rekindle wartime friendships. > Touching anecdotes abound, such as the Soviet soldier who was > sheltered by a local family even though they risked Nazi reprisals, > who struggles with feelings of shame and guilt alongside his > gratitude. The darkest moments of Soviet conduct are also present > here--in their absence. As Applebaum states, the violence--especially > its sexual dimension--remained taboo even in personal correspondence. > But as the author points out, while we must not forget the Red Army's > numerous crimes in Eastern Europe, the local context matters. Due to > its position within the Nazi-Soviet struggle, Czechoslovakia often > became a space of exploration and construction of personal > narratives: Czech cemeteries, for instance, became places of > pilgrimage for Soviet mothers. > > The next two chapters show the expansion of Soviet soft power up to > 1968, arguing against the usual view that relations with the local > satellites were always in crisis. Czechoslovakia became a glossy > window to the West, a halfway house between Soviet communism and the > promise of consumerist plenty. As trade in goods and flows of people > increased after Stalin's death, Czechoslovaks increasingly stopped > seeing the USSR as a paradigm of socialism--it was obvious that their > own socialism was doing it better! In effect, official friendship > created the space and means to compare oneself against the imperial > center and find it wanting. Applebaum points out that the officially > sanctioned tourist visits and literary exchanges often stopped short > of true human contact. Soviet citizens were taken to Lenin statues > rather than medieval castles, and could not invite their Czech > friends back to the USSR easily. Yet, surprisingly, it was the moment > of 1968-69 and the Warsaw Pact invasion that opened up the space for > _true _friendship. The author's argument might seem surprising and > counterintuitive at first, taking you aback, but it is beautifully > woven. First, the Prague Spring created the space to try out all > sorts of opinions on socialism's models, and then it brought about > the biggest influx of tourists ever: those in the tanks. As soldiers > and Czechoslovaks interacted, guides became more vocal and Soviets > found themselves having to defend their actions in bars and tourist > sites. Some commented that despite arguing with their local > Czechoslovak friends until the early hours and coming to no > agreement, they still came away as friends. Applebaum, through the > voice of her actors, reminds us that true human friendship is born > also in the ability to disagree--often loudly and over > alcohol--rather than just through pleasantries and learned phrases. > > As the book closes with the normalization after 1968, Applebaum > brings us back to another of her key arguments: normalization was > about geopolitical power, as was this project at all times. > Czechoslovakia and its "friendship" always operated in the shadow of > US-Soviet competition, where zero-sum games abounded on both sides. > Czechoslovakia must be a Soviet friend, because otherwise it would be > an enemy--there was no in-between state possible, at least in Eastern > Europe. The Soviets needed the Czechoslovaks to overcome 1968 much > like a trauma victim does with the help of the (Moscow) psychiatrist: > by constructing a new narrative. Applebaum's metaphor thus is the > base of the last chapter, which shows the massive quantity of > contacts after 1968--friendship by overwhelming numbers. > > The book is based on a wide variety of archives as well as > periodicals, which are very deftly analyzed and used to show what > pictures emerged of the countries among their respective "friends." > Personal correspondence or official reports of trips are also used to > great benefit. Applebaum is upfront about the limitations of her > source base when it becomes apparent, such as the lack of access to > the archives and reports of the Czechoslovak tourism company, which > means we get more of a glimpse of the Soviet tourist experience than > the Czech one. However, that is the nature of archival work, and it > is offset by the generally very equitable distribution of voices. For > every Soviet tourist in Brno we get the voice of a Czechoslovak > student in Moscow in a different chapter. The book does cover the > post-1968 moment rather more brusquely, in a single chapter, making > the periodization feel uneven at first glance, but that would be a > pedantic nitpick. After all, Applebaum's argument is to show how > noncoercion played an important role and created space for different > negotiations of socialism and transnationalist friendship. The Warsaw > Pact invasion closed that space and returned cultural interactions > somewhat to a more traditional project of implied Soviet primacy. It > is thus obvious that the period of soft power up to and including > 1968 is most interesting and novel. Even then, as the book closes, > Applebaum shows how the project was successful, through the travails > of invasion and oppression--as communism fell, Czech veterans of the > Second World War were still identifying the bodies of Soviet soldiers > buried near their village, communicating with their friends and > colleagues in the crumbling USSR. Friendship existed, and while > fostered by the project of building communism, it persisted beyond it > and existed despite it too. Thus Applebaum's book is indispensable > not only to students of Czechoslovakia, Soviet power, or Eastern > Europe more generally, but to anyone who wants to trace how ordinary > men and women interacted and overcame the traumas of the twentieth > century in the name of one of the most human things: friendship. > > Notes > > [1]. John Connelly, The Captive University: _The Sovietization of > East German, Czech and Polish Higher Education 1945-1956 _(Chapel > Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2000); Norman Naimark, _The > Russians in Germany: A History of the Soviet Zone of Occupation > 1945-1949_ (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995). > > [2]. Elidor Mehilli, _From Stalin to Mao: Albania and the Socialist > World _(Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2017). > > Citation: Victor Petrov. Review of Applebaum, Rachel, _Empire of > Friends: Soviet Power and Socialist Internationalism in Cold War > Czechoslovakia_. H-Russia, H-Net Reviews. September, 2020. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=54016 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. 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