#birkbeckvoices

As part of a workshop hosted by the Reluctant Internationalists research group on ‘Debating the Cold War’, Sandrine Kott (Geneva), Dean Vuletic (EUI), Kristy Ironside (Manchester), Bela Tomka (Szeged) and Peter Romijn (Amsterdam) address the question: was there a welfare state in the East as well as the West? The panel, chaired by Johanna Conterio (Birkbeck), explores the thesis, proposed by Jan Gross, Timothy Garton Ash and others, that Communism was based predominantly on repression, the abuse of political power, and a lack of popular legitimacy and ‘freedom’. The discussants examine potential points of comparisons between Western and Eastern states and their responsibilities for their citizens, including interpretations of social security, education, welfare, health care, social mobility, and taxation, and ask about effects and consequences of similarities and differences. As part of this comparative perspective, the panel looks at how Communism was experienced and lived in Eastern Europe, and explore qu