What is it about?
This paper looks at the information context/s of the day, and at the historical context, both of which shaped the opinions of communists and non-communists. It examines the way in which the Stalinist perspective, diffuse in the party at the time, did not in fact cause the comrades to question a party line that 'recast' Khrushchev's departures. Counter-intuitively, it informed it.
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Why is it important?
This paper supports the theory that the PCF was a highly centralised entity that imposed ideological, political and organisational coherence across its national structure. It stands testimony to the comrades' trust in the party system. However it also highlights these highly politicised actors' conscious and 'informed' commitment to the cause.
Perspectives
Writing this paper allowed me to delve into the empirical evidence in order to attempt to convey a sense of an earlier party culture, but also to address non-linear concepts such as strongly held convictions, loyalties, complexities, ambiguities and stark political choices. The research was partly ethnographical, and it was a great pleasure and privilege for me to uncover a communist past from this close a perspective. I hope that readers will enjoy 'entering' that context along with the informants.
Dr Fiona Haig
University of Portsmouth
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: De-Stalinisation? Grassroots Responses to the XXth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in France's ‘Var rouge’, Modern & Contemporary France, January 2015, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/09639489.2014.987224.
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