We hereby invite You to deliver papers for the Second International Conference on the Series: “Revolution accomplished. Communists in power”, which will take place at the Office of the Committee of National Remembrance in Budapest, Hungary.

By 1948/49 all communist parties in the East-Central European countries being in the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union seized absolute power. The communist dictatorships following the Stalinist model set up the institutions of power. The party took total control over economy and society by destroying and annihilating traditional structures. State security organizations in the service of the communist power had leading role in this process.

In the middle of the Cold War such international organizations as the Cominform (1948), the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (1949) and the military block led by the Soviet Union as well as the establishment of the Warsaw Pact (1955) or the direct supervision and intervention through counsellors served to maintain Soviet influence.

During the conference, we would like to scrutinise the similarities and differences between the communist dictatorships in East-Central European countries regarding the implementation of Stalinism. We would like to describe the fields of life the dictatorship set under its control. Our special interest shall be inner-political changes and rearrangements of power. We also would like to consider how the remembrance of these issues is being shaped.

Conference topics:

1. Creating the autocracy of communist parties, displacing political opponents

2. Introducing a system of centrally planned economies, similarities and differences

3. Sovietization of the society

4. Institutionalized prosecution against churches

5. Armed forces (army, state security, police etc.) serving the interests of the party

6. Exclusiveness of the Soviet pattern – expectation or follow-up?

7. Show trials as the means for communists to maintain power

8. Cold War block logic – relations between East and West

9. Attempts of correcting the system after Stalin’s death, the 20^th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

10. Social resistance: (1953, 1956 etc.)

    Conference-language is English.

    The conference is organized by The Institute of National Remembrance (Poland), The Committee of National Remembrance (Hungary), The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes (Czech Republic) and The Nation’s Memory Institute (Slovakia).

    Accommodations and meals will be covered for presenters. The conference will also contribute to travel expenses upon application.

    The deadline for paper proposals is July 15, 2019. The submission should include: An abstract of 300–500 words in English and a biographical note listing major professional accomplishments (150 words, in English). The Conference Program Committee will notify selected speakers by July 25, 2019.