The Institutional Framework around Successful Art Forms in Communist Czechoslovakia

Mr. Michl posed the question of how the institutional framework that the former communist regime set up around art production contributed to the success of Czech applied arts. In his theoretical review of the question he discussed the reasons for the lack of success of socialist industrial design as opposed to what he terms pre-industrial arts (such as art glass), and also for the current lack of interest into art institutions of the past regime. His findings in the second, historical section of his work were based largely on interviews with artists and other insiders, as an initial attempt to use questionnaires was unsuccessful. His original assumption that the institutional framework was imposed on artists against their will in fact proved mistaken, as it turned out to have been proposed by the artists themselves. The basic blueprint for communist art institutions was the Memorandum document published on behalf of Czechoslovak visual artists in March 1947, i.e. before the communist coup of February 1948. Thus, while the communist state provided a beneficial institutional framework for artists' work, it was the artists themselves who designed this framework. Mr. Michl concludes that the text of the memorandum appealed to the general left-wing and anti-market sentiments of the immediate post-war period and by this and by later working through the administrative channels of the new state, the artists succeeded in gaining all of their demands over the next 15 years. The one exception was artistic freedom, although this they came to enjoy, if only by default and for a short time, during the ideological thaw of the 1960s. Mr. Michl also examined the art-related legislative framework in detail and looked at the main features of key art institutions in the field, such as the Czech Fund for Visual Arts and the 1960s art export enterprise Art Centrum, which opened the doors into foreign markets for artists.

The Hungarian Economic Elite After the Political Transition

Erzsebet Szalai (Hungary). The Hungarian Economic Elite after the Political Transition. Ms. Szalai is a research fellow in the Institute of Political Sciences in Budapest and worked on this project from July 1996 to June 1998. In the period following the political changes of 1989, the leading forces of the economic elite have gained increasing superiority over the political and cultural elites, with the clear ambition of putting the latter to their service. The power relations within the economic elite were characterised by "a war of all against all". The desire to gain precedence over others became an openly declared value. The formation of estates and the intensification of competition became embodied in a multitude of lobbies which cropped up to assert short-term interests. After the state socialist period, possession of at least two of the social, economic and cultural forms of capital is necessary to join one of the three segments of the elite: political, cultural or economic. What defines the ability of the members of the three elite groups to assert their interests is their ability to convert any of the three types of capital into another. That is to say, the basis on which they can retain and extend their position is "symbolic capital" as interpreted by Bourdieu. The concept of symbolic capital is useful for describing the power relations following the collapse of state socialist systems and societies. In the state-socialist system, the political, economic and cultural spheres are tightly interwoven, and this interpenetration slackens only slowly after the system's disintegration. A close institutional relationship between the three spheres continues to make it easier for power actors to convert social, economic and cultural capital from one type to another. Symbolic capital, or the easy transfer between the three spheres, in turn reproduces the institutional relationship, or more precisely, complicates the separation of the three spheres after the fall of state socialism.

Radical Verses: Aku Päiviö's Literary Influence on the Finnish Working-Class

Aku Päiviö was one of the most influential voices of the Finnish labor movement in North America—a poet who also wrote plays and novels, and an editor who worked for a variety of newspapers across the United States and Canada. During the height of the Finnish socialist movement from around 1904-1916, Päiviö published a number of poems that identified with the actions and ideologies of the working-class. He also edited for newspapers such as Kansan Lehti and Raivaaja, further extending his literary reach. Despite his prodigious publications and influence, however, little of Päiviö’s writing has been translated into English. This paper celebrates Päiviö’s legacy with some English translations of his poems, specifically those commemorating the 1913-14 Michigan Copper Strike, and illuminates how various thematic and structural relationships in these poems relate to the ideologies and movements of the time.

Building the New Society in the Shell of the Old: Finnish-Canadian Hall Socialism and the Canadian Industrial Unionist Support League

The literature on Finnish immigrant working-class movements in North America frequently makes reference to the phenomenon of "hall socialism," so-called because of the central position that the socialist or labor hall occupied in the political, associational, and cultural life of many Finnish communities throughout the twentieth-century. In the 1930s, over 80 such Finnish halls were spread across Canada, and many people associated with these halls vigorously supported the mission of organized labor. This paper will examine the history, ideas, and practices of the Industrial Workers of the World-influenced Canadan Teollisuusunionistien Kannatus Liitto (CTKL; Canadian Industrial Unionist Support League), and its connections to Finnish Canadian hall socialism. The paper will consider the role of the CTKL in supporting workers' struggles, the significance of the hall as a part of the infrastructural bedrock that sustained this support, and the broader interaction between social and radical organizing commitments.

Lessons Learned from 'Hall of Socialism': Juxtaposing Finnish-American Radicalism with Today's Protest Movements

Historical accounts of revolutionary movements oftentimes occlude the pleasures of countering hegemony or criticize the “frivolity” of what is perceived to be non-political activities. However, turn of the century Finnish-American socialist theater clubs and early twentieth century Finnish-American communist halls and their uncounted social groups and activities prove to be a rich resource in reconsidering the importance of acknowledging and understanding the role that pleasure has played and should play in political protest. Finnish-American radical activities, especially those condemned already at the time as hall socialism, are important historical precedents to today’s alter-globalization student festivals and protest concerts, midnight raves

“Beneath the Starry Flag”: the Flags and Songs of the 1913-14 Michigan Copper Strike as Image-making in the American Labor Movement

The 1913-14 Michigan copper strike is unlike many American labor actions of the period in that it did not include red flags or socialist anthems. Many of the most familiar photographs of the strike involve American flags, not red ones. Similarly, the songs mentioned in journalistic accounts of the strikers are American Civil War songs, not popular labor songs of the period. The few newly-written songs about the strike, published in the local newspapers, seem cautiously polite and espouse values such as patriotism, liberty and human rights. During a time when sections of the "friendly" press were concerned with labor presenting the correct image and avoiding unfavorable associations, the Copper Country strikers, and the W.F.M., seem to have been attempting to create a fresh narrative regarding what this strike was (and what it was not). This paper will consider elements of the Copper Country strike in the light of media coverage, prior to July 1913, of several American labor topics that might have influenced the way the strike was presented. Particular attention will be given to photographs, songs, and accounts from the 1912 Lawrence textile strike, as well as contemporaneous critiques of labor song lyrics. Most of this commentary will be drawn from the labor and socialist press, demonstrating that the 1913-14 Michigan copper strike occurred during a period in which the labor movement was struggling to craft and image that would display it as it wished to be seen. This paper has not yet been submitted.

Finnish Fighting Words: Printing the Työmies Translation Project

The Työmies translation project involves the translation of that newspaper’s accounts of significant events from Michigan’s 1913-1914 Copper Strike. Työmies was a Finnish-language newspaper, published in Hancock, Michigan, whose socialist-unionist perspective on the strike differed markedly from that of the local English-language newspapers. This project is the first time significant portions of Työmies have been translated into English. In June of 2013, the presenter printed the translation of the Työmies account of the strike’s first day on a hand-operated Chandler & Price platen press. Thus, the presentation describes this unique project: the translation itself, the presenter’s search for necessary type and equipment, and the printing of the broadsides. The presentation will include a history of Työmies and the Strike, with an emphasis on ways in which human culture and language is reflected in the material culture of printing.

Traditionen, Utopien, Dekonstruktionen - die Sozialstaatskonzepte des 'Ostblocks' (1945-1990)

The welfare state concepts in Eastern Europe under state socialism (1945-1990) were based on the conviction that only the state was responsible for solving all social problems. The 'bourgeois' manners of individual care were substituted by general measures in the field of labour- and family politics, as well as urban development. The experience showed however that this way of substitution was an illusion, because certain target groups were still in need of help (for example ill or handicapped children and adults, elderly people etc). Nevertheless, most of the Eastern European countries - with the exception of Yugoslavia - decided to abolish the existing forms of professional social work and the training for social workers. Instead, they invented 'surrogate structures' to manage the care for the 'needy': Various institutions and occupational groups (schools, hospitals and ambulances, employees groups etc.) took over the tasks of social workers and were trained to fulfil this as a kind of 'social practice'. Therefore, it is wrong to claim that social work was completely abolished under state socialism, But: as social work 'as such' did not exist any longer, it is more reasonable to speak of welfare state concepts, including social policy on one hand, and non- or paraprofessional social practice on the other. To characterize the effect of these welfare state concepts three parameter of interpretation seem to be useful: 'traditions', 'visions', and 'deconstructions' - embedded in a system of repression as well as incentives. Traditions: The huge 'social laboratory' that was installed was not a totally new one - it still carried on the heritage of the bygone: some bourgeois traces as well as elements out of the fascist heritage and -last but not least - the traditions of their own socialist movement. Visions: The socialist traditions included visions of social justice, the creation of a 'new mankind', a classless society, the end of exploitation and a peaceful living together of all people. Although the 'real existing socialism' has destroyed most of these visions, the power of these utopian ideas has outshined a lot of the every day’s misfortune and injustice for quite a long time. Deconstructions: The term of 'deconstruction' has a threefold meaning: the deconstruction of professional welfare, the deconstruction - in the sense of reinterpretation - of the socialist ideals such as social justice and social security, making an instrument of inclusion and exclusion out of it. And the deconstruction that is necessary to free the history of social work under state socialism from the prejudices and distorting practices, from both sides, the east and the west. In the contribution these three parameter of interpretation are applied on the following issues: The gaps in the 'overall system' of social security; working morale and education for work; mass organisations as an instrument of egalitarianism and general prevention; de-professionalisation by 'surrogating' social work; the 'transparent client'; church as refuge or 'state organ'; women’s politics as bio-politics.

Poverty in Israel

The paper deals with poverty within Israel. Against the background of the history of pre-state Israel and the developments after the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 the historical roots of Israeli poverty are analyzed. Thus the ‘socialist’-Zionist project, ethnic exclusion, religious and intra-Jewish ethnic lines of conflict as well as the Bedouins, Druzes and Israeli Arabs as ‘specific’ Israeli citizen are discussed. Despite the economic growth in Israel since 2003 ‘the majority of Israeli wage earners (over 60percent) earned less than $1,450 a month last year’ (Goldstein 2007, p. 1). In 2004 1.3 million Israelis lived below the poverty line, a number which in 2005 increased to more than 1.5 million Israelis. In spite of growing economic prosperity the proportion of families belonging to the working-poor, i.e. families with at least one family member in paid employment, increased from 11.4 percent in 2004 to 12.2 percent in 2005. The percentage of poor families in the working population increased from 40.6 percent to 43.1 percent. Nearly 60 percent of the ‘working-poor’ were working fulltime (Sinai 2006a, Shaoul 2006). 42 percent of Israeli Arab families are living below the poverty line. The average wages are less than half the wages of Ashkenazi Jews. Every second Israeli Arab child lives in poverty. When in 1996 to 2001 the unemployment rate of the Jewish Israelis increased by about 53 percent, the unemployment rate of the Arab Israelis increased by 126 percent (cf. Shaoul 2006). 80 percent of Israelis regard themselves as poor. 23 percent of the pensioners are living below the poverty line. Poverty among children increased in 1988 to 2005 by about 50 percent. Approximately one fifth of all under-age children (714.000) in Israel are suffering from hunger (cf. Shaoul 2006). 75 percent of the poor families cannot afford medicine and 70 percent are dependant on food donations (cf. Sinai 2005b). Nearly one third of the Holocaust survivors are living in poverty. Some of the Holocaust survivors get $ 600,- per month from the German government, whilst other Holocaust survivors receive only $ 350,- per month from the Israeli Ministry of Finance and the Holocaust survivors that immigrated to Israel after 1953 (who amount to 70 percent of the Holocaust survivors in Israel) only receive the general national pension. Nearly 20 percent of the Holocaust survivors are at the present time 86 years and older, 70 percent are older than 76 years. (cf. Medina 2007, p. 1) They are not entitled to a supplementary payment or to compensation. But the problematic economic situation of the Holocaust survivors is neither new information nor an unknown fact. As a result of the precarious situation several are in need of the help of welfare organizations, because they cannot afford to some degree their necessary medicine.

Language in Political Economy and Market Economy: A Case Study of India

The political philosophy underpinning the Indian Constitution is socialist economy in a multilingual political landscape. The Constitution grants some fundamental rights to all citizens regarding language and to linguistic and other minorities regarding education. It also obligates states to use many languages in school education. Restructuring the economy with free market as its pivot and the growing dominance of English in the information driven global economy give rise to policy changes in language use in education, which undermine the Constitutional provisions relating to language, though these changes reflect the manufactured consent of the citizens. This is made possible by the way the Constitution is interpreted by courts with regard to the fundamental rights of equality and non-discrimination when they apply to language. The unique property of language that it can be acquired, unlike other primordial attributes such as ethnicity or caste, comes into play in this interpretation. The result is that the law of the market takes over the law of the land.

Socialism and intrafirm asset allocation

We rely on a survey of Swiss firms to document deviation from first-best for reasons of internal 'fairness' when allicating resources. This 'socialist' practice is more widespread in smaller than in larger firms. It ignores the reputation and past performance of the managers who apply for dunding, but takes into account their hierarchical position and their past use of resources. Socialism is only partially explained by concerns about empire building and managerial optimism, and it is not meant to benefit shareholders.