The Left Transformed in Post-Communist Societies. The Cases from East-Central Europe, Russia and Ukraine ed. by Jane Leftwich Curry, Joan Barth Urban (review)

606 Рецензии/Reviews идентификационных поисках, в том числе и исключительно лич- ного свойства (С. 7). В самом деле, насколько его “украинская идентичность” тождественна идентичности украинца в Укра- ине, аналогична ли идентич- ность представителей той или иной диаспоры идентичности жителя метрополии? Одним словом, вопросов при чтении этой книги возникает очень много, на некоторые из них от- вета пока нет. Вместе с тем, нам кажется очень важным и существенным ключевой вывод, сформулиро- ванный Когутом: “В последнее время, изучая украинские корни общерусской идентичности, я убедился, что в Украине сосу- ществовали, да и сейчас сосуще- ствуют разные уровни идентич- ности, по-разному соотносясь и развиваясь в зависимости от политических обстоятельств” (С. 8). Magdalena ŻÓŁKOŚ Jane Leftwich Curry and Joan Barth Urban (Eds.), The Left Transformed in Post-Communist Societies. The Cases from East-Central Europe, Russia and Ukraine (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2003). 284 pp. Bibliography, Index. ISBN: 0-7425-2664-X (paperback). Since the end of the Cold War, political scientists and journalists have expended copious amounts of ink tracing the trajectories of the successors of the former ruling communist parties in east central Europe and the former Soviet Union. Their organizational and ideational transformations, as well as adaptive aptitudes, have become particularly intriguing in the context of their successful reappearance in the arena of democratic politics. At the same time, the widespread tendency has been to approach this problem through the juxtaposition of intrinsically similar cases, i.e., conducting separate analyses within the clusters of east central European countries, the Baltic States, and the Commonwealth of Independent States. In this context, the book edited by Jane Leftwich Curry and Joan Barth Urban offers a valuable opportunity to study the former communist parties across a number of (rather dissimilar ) cases through an extended period (from 1989/1991 to 2002). 607 Ab Imperio, 3/2005 Their only (though major) commonality was the “shared communist legacy, [which] affected them in vital and often similar ways” (P. 245). This book has therefore a twofold goal: (i) to describe different development trajectories of these successor organizations , with a particular emphasis on their ability to adjust to the democratic “rules of the game,” and (ii) to propose an explanatory framework for the existence of profound differences between, on the one hand, east central European successor parties , and, on the other, Russian and Ukrainian ones. In this sense it is “a work of contemporary history rather than theory construction,” intended for professionals working in the area, university students, and political scientists ” (P. 2). The opening thesis is that whereas the successor parties in east central Europe (Poland, Hungary, and Lithuania) illustrate a radical break with the communist past, a dynamic social-democratic evolution, and a successful adjustment to the precepts of democracy, the parties in Russia and Ukraine have persistently related to their communist ideological legacy and developed into neo-Leninist, anti-Western, and anti-system political entities. The sixth successor party they analyze, the German PDS (the Party of Democratic Socialism), is regarded as an intermediate case displaying features characteristic of both types. The study of each case is preceded by a short historical outline of the national practice of communism . The main emphasis is placed on the role of the leading party within the larger political context, its internal developments and relation to different forms of societal organization, and, finally, its reaction to the activities of the domestic opposition. Additionally, each case includes a thorough description of the dynamics and mode of transition to democracy in 1989-1991. These two elements provide an important contextualization for the study of the successor parties in the sense that the established national position and potency of the party and the type of transition constitute a part of the explanatory framework for their different postcommunist trajectories . The subsequent examination concentrates on the organizational, tactical, personal, and ideational transformations of the former communist parties, taking as a reference point the electoral sequences of their subsequent participation in government and in opposition. In Curry and Urban’s book, the Democratic Left Alliance in Poland, the Hungarian Socialist Party, and the Lithuanian Democratic Labor Party (as allegedly the only Baltic re-tooled former communist party) exemplify an impressive transition from defeated tyrants into legitimate political actors. In this context, the 608 Рецензии/Reviews authors emphasize the significance of the parties’ transformatory period until their first victorious elections (in 1993, 1994, and 1992, respectively ). Being in opposition to the governing anti-communist coalitions motivated them to implement critical internal reforms, such as structural democratization (for instance , decentralization and outreach to the local electorate), programmatic restructuring (move towards social-democratic ideology, as well as commitment to market reform) and personnel reorganization (new recruitment to the leadership). Nevertheless, the authors do not recognize their increase in popularity as directly proportional to their transformations, but as at least partly a product of...