Reimagining Soviet Georgia

On today's episode we welcome architect and researcher Levan Asabashvili to discuss the emergence and development of public housing in the Georgian SSR and what happened to Georgia's housing stock after the collapse of the Soviet Union. We also explore how Soviet-wide architectural trends in different periods (early Soviet, Stalinist, post-World War 2) manifested in the Georgian SSR and how architecture aligned with ideology, economics and nationhood, with special attention to housing in the Georgian case. We also discuss the role housing played in the emergence of the Soviet middle classes in the late Soviet period and the implications this had for the Soviet Union's collapse. Throughout the discussion, references are made to images of buildings, all of which can be found here:https://georgiaphotophiles.wordpress.com/2013/01/26/tbilisi-public-architecture-timeline/Levan Asabashvili is an architect and researcher based in Tbilisi. He studied architecture at the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts and later at Delft University of Technology. Levan is a co-founder of Urban Reactor, a collective focused on exploring the built environment, and has been involved in establishing the Georgian branch of do.co.mo.mo, an international organization dedicated to documenting and preserving modernist architecture. He also works with Architecture Workshop on design projects and is currently pursuing a PhD at Georgian Technical University, where his research focuses on Soviet architecture and the social, political, and economic factors that have shaped architectural movements.Read Levan's article "AT THE ROOTS OF POST-SOVIET ARCHITECTURE" here: https://danarti.org/en/article/at-the-roots-of-post-soviet-architecture---levan-asabashvili/10

On today's episode we examine how broader shifts in the global order, globalization and geopolitical trends since the end of the Cold War led to the current European security crisis and political context for the Russo-Ukraine War. We also explore how this context shapes Georgia's geopolitical and security environment, and is sowing the seeds for more open discussions about what geopolitical neutrality and explicit multi-vectorism could mean for Georgia. With guest co-host Beka Natsvlishvili, we welcome Richard Sakwa on to Reimagining Soviet Georgia. Richard Sakwa is Emeritus Professor of Politics at the University of Kent, U.K. His research interests include: political developments in Russia, international politics and the Second Cold War, multipolarity and global realignments, prospects for socialism, problems of European and global order, the English School and international systems. A description of Sakwa's recent book The Lost Peace: How the West Failed to Prevent a Second Cold War (2023, Yale University Press) below:The end of the Cold War was an opportunity—our inability to seize it has led to today’s renewed era of great power competition The year 1989 heralded a unique prospect for an enduring global peace as harsh ideological divisions and conflicts began to be resolved. Now, three decades on, that peace has been lost. With war in Ukraine and increasing tensions between China, Russia, and the West, great power politics once again dominates the world stage. But could it have been different? Richard Sakwa shows how the years before the first mass invasion of Ukraine represented a hiatus in conflict rather than a lasting accord—and how, since then, we have been in a “Second Cold War.” Tracing the mistakes on both sides that led to the current crisis, Sakwa considers the resurgence of China and Russia and the disruptions and ambitions of the liberal order that opened up catastrophic new lines of conflict. This is a vital, strongly argued account of how the world lost its chance at peace, and instead saw the return of war in Europe, global rivalries, and nuclear brinksmanship.

Since the 1970s, historian Sheila Fitzpatrick has made invaluable contributions to our understanding of the Soviet Union. As a key figure in the "revisionist school" of Soviet history, Fitzpatrick along with other historians opposed entrenched Cold War era narratives about the USSR including (but not limited to) the "totalitarian thesis". Fitzpatrick in particular added texture and complexity in her studies of the Soviet Union by focusing on social history, perspectives "from below" and daily life as well as social and economic advancement & upward mobility during Stalinism. On today's episode, we welcome Sheila Fitzpatrick on as a guest to reflect on the development of Soviet history since the 1970s, her work and what the Soviet past looks like today. Sheila Fitzpatrick is a historian of the Soviet Union and modern Russia. Her books The Cultural Revolution in Russia, 1928-31 (1978), Education and Social Mobility in the Soviet Union, 1921-34 (1979) and The Russian Revolution (1982) were foundational to the field of Soviet social history. She taught for many years at the University of Chicago, before returning to Australia, the country of her birth. Her book, White Russians, Red Peril: A Cold War History of Migration was published by Black, Inc., Melbourne, in 2021; followed by The Shortest History of the Soviet Union in 2022. She is currently working on a monograph, Displacement: Repatriation and Resettlement of Russian and Soviet Displaced Persons after the Second World War, and a biography of Lenin’s wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya, under contract to Princeton University Press. She is currently a professor at the Australian Catholic University.

On today's episode we discuss the book Blue Collar Empire: The Untold Story of US Labor's Global Anticommunist Crusade with author Jeff Schuhrke. Blue-Collar Empire explores how the CIA used American unions to undermine workers at home and subvert democracy abroad through the shocking story of the AFL-CIO’s global anticommunist crusade—and its devastating consequences for workers around the world.Unions have the power not only to secure pay raises and employee benefits but to bring economies to a screeching halt and overthrow governments. Recognizing this, in the late twentieth century, the US government sought to control labor movements abroad as part of the Cold War contest for worldwide supremacy. In this work, Washington found an enthusiastic partner in the AFL-CIO’s anticommunist officials, who, in a shocking betrayal, for decades expended their energies to block revolutionary ideologies and militant class consciousness from taking hold in the workers’ movements of Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia.Jeff Schuhrke is a labor historian, journalist, union activist, and assistant professor at the Harry Van Arsdale Jr. School of Labor Studies, SUNY Empire State University in New York City. He is a frequent contributor to In These Times and Jacobin, and his scholarship has been published at Diplomatic History and Labor: Studies in Working-Class History.Episode image: President Richard Nixon gestures toward labor leader George Meany during a speech at the 1971 AFL-CIO convention. (Wally McNamee / Corbis via Getty Images)

Stefan Gužvica, an assistant professor at the Higher School of Economics in Saint Petersburg, dives into the contentious history of communism and anti-communism. He critiques the ‘Black Book of Communism’, revealing its historical inaccuracies and the impact of anti-communist narratives on scholarship. The conversation also explores the complexities of historical memory in Europe, the legacy of Bolshevik movements, and how these themes shape contemporary leftist politics. Gužvica advocates for a nuanced understanding of these narratives for a more informed discourse.

After World War 2, during the period of developed socialism, a rich ecosystem of Marxist intellectuals and academics emerged in the Georgian SSR. Universities and scientific institutes in Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Telavi, and Batumi were home to sociologists, philosophers, anthropologists, historians and other academics who took part in Soviet wide and international discussions and debates on different aspects of Marxist theory or Marxist inspired academic research. Since the collapse of the USSR in 1991, this "lost pantheon" of Georgian Marxism has been politically undermined, intellectually marginalized and socially forgotten. But who were these Soviet Georgian Marxists? What were their ideas? What were they writing about and researching in the period of developed socialism, the late USSR? And how did Soviet Georgian Marxists fit into Soviet-wide and broader international academic networks and debates? And why is reclaiming and reengaging with Soviet Georgian Marxists important today? On today's episode we welcome Bakar Berekashvili to begin this discussion on Marxism in Soviet Georgia, what it tells us about Georgia's Soviet experience and how it relates to academia, politics and more in Georgia since 1991. In the coming weeks we will be releasing a series of shorter episodes on individual Soviet Georgian Marxists....stay tuned! Bakar Berekashvili is Professor of Political Science and Sociology at the Georgian American University in Tbilisi. He has been a Visiting Scholar at the University of Iceland in Reykjavik, at the Institute of Contemporary History in Ljubljana, at the Masaryk University in Brno and at the Spanish National Research Council in Madrid. His research and teaching interests include qualitative research, critical sociology, Marxist thought in Soviet Union, Soviet Union (life and social order), post-socialist politics and society, ruling class, problems of democracy, social & political theory, political sociology, power and ideology.

On October 20th 2024, Moldova held a presidential election and a referendum, supposedly on the question of integration into the EU. The referendum passed with a slight majority – 50.35% vs 49.65%. Two rounds of a presidential election were also held in the country, with the EU favored candidate Maia Sandu winning. While many observers have interpreted the results as indicative of the country being divided between a pro-EU and pro-Russian faction and Russia’s meddling in the elections, the situation is far more complex. Vitalie Sprînceană is a sociologist, journalist and urban activist based in Chisinau. Moldova. He is also a co-editor at PLATZFORMA.MD, a web platform for social, economic and political criticism. He is interested in and argues for inclusive democratic public spaces, social justice, free knowledge, plurality of worldviews and practices. His research interests are: sociology, globalization, history of ideas, literary and cultural criticism, history of Soviet Moldova. Read his recent article on the EU Referendum in Moldova here: https://transform-network.net/blog/commentary/moldovas-referendum-on-what/ Check out the Moldova based web platform Platzforma here: https://platzforma.md/

Since the collapse of the USSR and Georgia's independence in 1991, anti-soviet memory politics have played an intractable role in Georgian politics. On the one hand, they are a rhetorical allegory without limits - nearly anything and everything negative can be associated with the soviet past. Yet on the other hand, they also played a crucial role in nation building, becoming especially institutionalized after the 2003 Rose Revolution. In the lead up to the parliamentary elections on October 26th 2024, politicians still make regular reference to the USSR. But where do anti-soviet memory politics in Georgia come from? Why do they persist? How exactly are they reproduced? And for what? Is the USSR simply a metaphor for Russia? Or a means to demonize socialism and reinforce market orthodoxy? Or both? To discuss all this and more, we sat down with frequent co-host and guest, Beka Natsvlishvili. Beka Natsvlishvili is a director of the Institute for a Fair Economy. He is also the Georgian team lead for a platform economy research project in collaboration with the University of Oxford. His teaching experience includes lectures on political economy, globalization, and political sociology at the Georgian-American University, and previous engagements at Caucasus University and the University of Georgia. Beka previously served as a Member of Parliament and Deputy Chair of the Committee for European Integration, and as a Member of the Tbilisi Municipal Council, where he chaired the land legalization commission. With over two decades of academic and professional experience, he holds a Master of Arts (Magister Artium) from Wilhelm University of Münster and has extensive expertise in political economy, trade unions, and social research.

Georgia’s trade dynamics with the EU have not improved, even though it signed a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) in 2014. The Georgian export basket deteriorated qualitatively since that time. Specifically, Georgia’s export basket sophistication has decreased, and the share of low-tech and resource-based products has increased. Moreover, Georgia’s exports to the EU have become more concentrated. Georgia's economy is marked by jobless growth, deindustrialization and other unyielding structural weaknesses. How and why did Georgia find itself in this "neoliberal lock in"? And what does the DCFTA have to do with it? On today's episode, we discuss EU-Georgia trade ties, how a peculiar form of neoliberalism developed in the country since 1992 and the political implications of it all with political economist Tato Khundadze. Check out the study "Neoliberal lock-in: Why Georgia-EU free trade does not work" co-authored by Tato Khundadze and Salome Topuria: https://southcaucasus.fes.de/news-list/e/neoliberal-lock-in-why-georgia-eu-free-trade-does-not-work.html Tato Khundadze is a PhD candidate at the New School for Social Research in New York, where he also teaches multiple courses and works as a research assistant. He received his MA in Economics from the New School for Social Research. He has extensive research experience in public policy and economic development. He was the head of the Analytical Division at the Georgian Public Broadcaster and a research fellow at the Centre for Social Studies of Georgia. His research interests include economic development, statistical learning, and economic growth models. His latest publications refer to the potential of introducing progressive taxation, Georgia’s history of industrial development, and public debt sustainability. (episode photo courtesy of: https://www.creativeboom.com/inspiration/photographs-of-abandoned-factories-and-industry-in-the-former-soviet-state-of-georgia/)

On today's episode we discuss how Ukraine's market oriented war economy is affecting the population, war time class divisions, post-Soviet Ukraine's economic development and how History and memory politics fit into the picture. Our guest to discuss all this and more is Peter Korotaev. Peter Korotaev is a researcher who has worked on class dynamics and war for Jacobin, Arena and The Canada Files. He writes regularly at Events in Ukraine. https://eventsinukraine.substack.com/