‘We Are with You, Vietnam’: Transnational Solidarities in Socialist Hungary, Poland and Yugoslavia

Abstract

Global solidarity with anti-imperialist struggles -which state socialist regimes in eastern Europe sought to inculcate in their populations from the 1950s onwards -constitutes a little studied form of modern transnational political socialization. This article explores this theme by analysing how three socialist countries -Hungary, Poland and Yugoslaviaattempted to build mass solidarity with the Vietnamese in the 1960s and 1970s. First, the article examines the political uses of transnationalism for socialist regimes in the 1960s, as the struggle for socialism in the so-called 'Third World', and support for such struggles in the West, allowed the socialist East to construct powerful images of a world turning towards its own political and moral values. Second, it explores how socialist citizens themselves reinterpreted transnational solidarity for their own ends, turning its language into a criticism of foreign policy, or state socialism at home; or using the opportunities it provided to challenge the state's right to control the public sphere. In doing so, the article suggests that we cannot understand such solidarity movements simply as top-down impositions from Moscow or national capitals; rather, they also reveal important aspects of state-society relations.

Greece in the Third World

“…Solidarity was orchestrated and supported by the regimes rather than led 'from below', as was usually the case with grassroots activists in the West. 32 Although the implementation of solidarity varied in each socialist state, its manifestations were 'inseparable' from the 'political, ideological, material and financial interests' of the state. 33 Broadly speaking, histories of socialist solidarity have been at best ignored and largely erased.…”

Connecting the East to the South. Eastern European Dissidents and Third World Activism during the 1970s

“…67 Communist parties in the West and governments in Eastern Europe established solidarity committees on behalf of Vietnam, staging humanitarian campaigns and including a variety of non-communist groups and activists. 68 Publications of Soviet-sponsored international organizations -next to the World Peace Council also the World Federation of Trade Unions and the World Federation of Democratic Youthdevoted a substantial amount of attention to issues in the Third World. In the early 1970s, they organized an almost innumerable number of international conferences in Western and Eastern European locales on anti-imperialism and anti-fascism, linking protest against the Vietnam War and solidarity with antiimperialist struggles -in Chile, the Arab world, or Southern Africa -to the need of peace and cooperation in Europe.…”

Solidarność a Trzeci Świat. Część I. Chrześcijańsko-demokratyczna droga do Ameryki Łacińskiej

“…Ich celem jest pokazanie bardziej złożonego obrazu, który wyłania się z nowo odkrywanych powiązań, które poprzez solidarność z Trzecim Światem tworzyły grunt dla starań po stronie sił opozycyjnych i rządowych do reformowania socjalizmu państwowego. Ukazują one, w jaki sposób propaganda państwowa oraz relacje z krajami rozwijającymi się powodowały niezamierzone i wieloznaczne skutki 15 . Koncentrują się one jednak raczej na powiązaniach o charakterze abstrakcyjnym, ideologicznym i wyobrażonym.…”