Bryan Gigantino

(episode image is a French anti-communist poster circa 1950/51 "Caucasian Dance" made by the movement "Peace and Freedom". In the background, accompanying Stalin on balalaikas, are the leaders of the French Communist Party at the time: Marcel Cachin, Jacques Duclos, André Marty, and Maurice Thorez)

He is currently working on a book based off his doctoral dissertation defended at the University of Regensburg in 2022, titled "Sickle without a Hammer: Revolution and Nation-Building in the Balkans, 1900s–1930s."

Stefan Gužvica is assistant professor at the Department of History of the Higher School of Economics in Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation. He is the author of Before Tito: The Communist Party of Yugoslavia during the Great Purge, 1936–1940.

On today's episode we discuss all this and more with Stefan Gužvica, using his recent article in Jacobin on the notorious "Black Book of Communism" as a starting point. You can read the article here:

⁠⁠https://jacobin.com/2025/01/black-book-communism-courtois-history⁠⁠

So how should we assess and understand "anti-communism" and its relationship with History? And how do popular memory politics, nationalist imaginations, global political shifts, archival access and academic trends play into it? And what does all this mean for the left and socialist politics today?

While many historians have directly opposed anti-communist History writing, and successfully shaped and contributed to academic and popular discussions, anti-communism persists in the academy and popular discourses globally.

On the other hand, and far more consequential, Cold War-era anti-communism (and the collapse of the Soviet Union that followed) engendered generations of historians - both professional and not - with an implicit hostility to communism as an intellectual starting point.

Writing histories of communism & "really existing socialism" have been fraught with political tension for decades. On the one hand, sectarian debates in the global left too often overlooked nuances of really existing socialism & academic research to align with specific ideological orientations.

We have many new episodes of Reimagining Soviet Georgia in the works - and today we’re happy to release one of them!

Episode 49: History and Anti-Communism with Stefan Gužvica

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/r...

muse.jhu.edu/issue/53729

If you missed it before, check out my review article in Kritika Journal - “Sabchota Sakartvelo: Entitled Nationhood, History and Memory in Soviet and Post-Soviet Georgia”

‘’Baron helmsmen, don’t spread lies’’: A miners’ strike brings attention to Armenia’s industrial exploitation problem - Lefteast From January 31st to February 10th, workers at the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine (ZCMC) in southern Armenia, the country’s largest mining company and its biggest taxpayer, went on a wildcat strik...

Great article on the recent wildcat strike at the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine in Armenia, and what it can tell us about the country’s political economy and working class politics.

lefteast.org/baron-helmsm...

Western-Backed NGOs: A Hollow Version of Civil Society Donald Trump’s moves to dismantle USAID clearly aren’t driven by fears of infringing on other nations’ sovereignty. Still, we should recognize that Global South NGOs’ reliance on Western donors hinder...

Great stuff by @almutrochowanski.bsky.social on @jacobinmagazin.bsky.social about foreign funding, NGOs and civil society

jacobin.com/2025/02/west...

Episode Description here:

After a two month winter break, an new episode of Reimagining Soviet Georgia is up and ready!

Episode 48: Marxism and Academia in Soviet Georgia with Bakar Berekashvili

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/r...

Had the pleasure of meeting Henri at his apartment in Paris one year ago, he gave me some books from his personal library and told me some stories. RIP.

საგარეო საქმეთა სამინისტროს განცხადება

Here is the official line from the Georgian MFA

mfa.gov.ge/statements-b...

My guess is they already knew there would be no serious movement on candidacy until 2028/2030 and this announcement doesn’t change that, it was more a domestic concern - they wanted to remove accession from public discussion to the degree possible while still pursuing eventual EU membership

“Colonizers, get out!”
Georgian SSR, 1960
By Giorgi Firtskhalava

The new issue of Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian is out featuring articles by Lewis Siegelbaum, Ann Komaromi; @faithhillis.bsky.social and @vhtroyansky.bsky.social; reviews by @bryangigantino.bsky.social and others. muse.jhu.edu/issue/53729

My review article “Sabchota Sakartvelo: Entitled Nationhood, History and Memory in Soviet and Post-Soviet Georgia” is now out in Kritika - Fall 2024, Volume 25 Number 4

Radio War Nerd EP #483 — Georgia Elections & Precarious Neutrality, feat. Sopo Japaridze | Radio War Nerd Get more from Radio War Nerd on Patreon

Radio War Nerd EP #483 — Georgia Elections & Precarious Neutrality, feat. Sopo Japaridze
www.patreon.com/posts/radio-...

Radio War Nerd EP #483 — Georgia Elections & Precarious Neutrality, feat. Sopo Japaridze | Radio War Nerd Get more from Radio War Nerd on Patreon

🚨🚨NEW Radio War Nerd up! We talk to Sopo Japaridze about Georgia's elections & endless political precarity in a targeted country amid US imperial decline.
www.patreon.com/posts/radio-...

Meet this week’s guest! 🌟
@bryangigantino.bsky.social is a historian of the South Caucasus and Eurasia, who co-hosts 'Reimagining Soviet Georgia,' a podcast with the aim of recontextualizing Georgian history.
Welcome to the Eurasian Knot, Bryan!
patreon.com/posts/georgia-in-116245715

What is the context for the recent crisis in Georgia?
This week, we turned to @bryangigantino.bsky.social, co-host of podcast 'Reimagining Soviet Georgia,' to explain the complex issues that are shaping the country's social, political, and economic fate.
patreon.com/posts/georgia-in-116245715

Georgia in Crisis | The Eurasian Knot Get more from The Eurasian Knot on Patreon

New episode with @bryangigantino.bsky.social on the political crisis in Georgia. In it we talk about his excellent Jacobin article "In Georgia, a National Election Is a Geopolitical Struggle" jacobin.com/2024/10/geor...

Listen! nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...

Here’s my interview with Artemy about the wonderful book euraknot.org/2018/10/13/d...

Since I'm new here, can I re-up a project of which I am v proud? It's the complete Eric Hobsbawm Bibliography - a fully searchable database of all his published & unpublished works + a set of curated thematic lists to introduce select topics. It was a labour of love. Link: hobsbawm.shca.ed.ac.uk

The uprising against the dictatorship in Greece took place between the 15th and 17th of November 1973. 50+1 years later to the day, a three-part exploration of the most important events will be published on my Substack. This is the first instalment. pavlosroufos.substack.com/p/the-1973-u...

FT coverage of the EU’s seppuku continues. I’m sure this has happened before, but I note that today this point shifted from the opinion page to the news page.