Silence Is Golden
Modern Theory and Communism
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Sociology, whose job it is to examine modern societies, has almost completely excluded Soviet-style communism from modern theory. The reasons for this are a longing for theoretical coherence as well as ideological positions. However, the historical kinship of West and East European societies is obvious: technicisation, scientification, social disciplining, mass society, secularisation, demystification of the world, environmental degradation all belong to Soviet and Western modernity. To determine the peculiarities of Soviet modernity, it is first of all necessary to disengage from the language of Western modern theory and to generate new terms. Second, the subject of such a discussion must be the entire history of the Soviet Union and not only Stalinism. This is the only possible way to integrate Communism into modern theory.
(Osteuropa 5-6/2013, pp. 65–78)