Location: 1203 Van Munching Hall
Communism
and Fascism represent revolutionary projects, inherently and
irredeemably hostile to liberal values. Both have used manipulative
methods to arouse, to galvanize mass movements committed to an
apocalyptic break with an execrated status quo. Both are secular
religions obsessed with transcending the existing human condition in
favor an anthropological revolution. Both are millenarianisms announcing
the advent of the New Man. A comparison between Communism and Fascism
helps us understand better the nature, goals, and consequences of such
movements. They should be regarded as parts of an unfinished century of
revolutionary hubris.
Vladimir
Tismaneanu is a Professor of Politics at the University of Maryland,
College Park, and author of numerous books, including Stalinism for All Seasons: A History of Romanian Communism (University of California Press,), Fantasies of Salvation: Democracy, Nationalism and Myth in Post-Communist Europe (Princeton University Press), and Reinventing Politics: Eastern Europe from Stalin to Havel (Free
Press). In 2006 he chaired the Presidential Commission for the Analysis
of the Communist Dictatorship in Romania. His new book is The Devil in History: Communism, Fascism, and Some Lessons of the Twentieth Century. Published by University of California Press in 2012, the book was reviewed in Wall Street Journal, Times Literary Supplement, Times Higher Education, Daily Beast, Foreign Affairs, and the New York Review of Books.
About the speaker
Vladimir
Tismaneanu is a Professor of Politics at the University of Maryland,
College Park, and author of numerous books, including Stalinism for All Seasons: A History of Romanian Communism (University of California Press,), Fantasies of Salvation: Democracy, Nationalism and Myth in Post-Communist Europe (Princeton University Press), and Reinventing Politics: Eastern Europe from Stalin to Havel (Free
Press). In 2006 he chaired the Presidential Commission for the Analysis
of the Communist Dictatorship in Romania. His new book is The Devil in History: Communism, Fascism, and Some Lessons of the Twentieth Century. Published by University of California Press in 2012, the book was reviewed in Wall Street Journal, Times Literary Supplement, Times Higher Education, Daily Beast, Foreign Affairs, and the New York Review of Books.
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