Abstract

The lecture investigates the question of why the newly formed, skilled industrial “elite” workforce is attracted by right-wing, populist ideologies and political forces, and what factors can be identified that account for the decreasing – or even diminishing – appeal of the “old left” in this stratum of the workers. The research takes a special account of the legacy of socialism, and it analyzes the causes of the loss of the collective memory of the working class of the failed “workers’ state”.

Short Bio

Eszter Bartha is a habilitated Associate Professor at the Department of Eastern and Central European History and Historical Russistics at Eötvös Loránd University of Budapest. She has published extensively on labor history under state socialism and beyond, including her book Alienating Labour: Workers on the Road from Socialism to Capitalism in East Germany and Hungary. In 2023, she co-edited a volume State Socialism in Eastern Europe: History, Theory, Anti-capitalist Alternatives. Her current project focuses on labor market transformations in East-Central Europe and their impact on the social and political opinions of the new working class.

What is an AIAS Seminar?

The AIAS Seminar Series is a session of seminars held by the AIAS fellows, AIAS Visiting or Tandem Fellows or by other speakers proposed by the fellows. In each seminar, a fellow will present and discuss her/his current research and work-in-progress to an interdisciplinary audience for 30 minutes, closing off with 30 minutes for questions, comments and discussion.

All seminars are in-person and held in English. To attend online, please contact Sofia Bentsen at sofia@aias.au.dk by 9:00am on the day of the semimar as the latest to request a link.