Distributed for Campus Verlag
Voting for Hitler and Stalin
Elections under 20th Century Dictatorships
Dictatorships throughout the twentieth century—including Mussolini’s Italy, the Third Reich, the Soviet Union, Poland, and East Germany—held elections. But were they more than rituals of participation without the slightest effect on the distribution of power? Why did political regimes radically opposed to liberal democracy feel the need to imitate their enemies? Offering significant insights into absolutist state governance, Voting for Hitler and Stalin thoroughly investigates the remarkable, paradoxical phenomenon of dictatorial elections, revealing the many ways they transcended mere propaganda.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Non-Competitive Elections in 20th Century Dictatorships: Some Questions and General Considerations
Ralph Jessen and Hedwig Richter
I. Legitimacy
The Self-Staging of a Plebiscitary Dictatorship: The NS-Regime Between "Uniformed Reichstag", Referendum and Reichsparteitag
Markus Urban
Popular Sovereignty and Constitutional Rights in the USSR’s Supreme Soviet Elections of February 1946
Mark B. Smith
Integration, Celebration, and Challenge: Soviet Youth and Elections, 1953–1968
Gleb Tsipursky
Mass Obedience: Practices and Functions of Elections in the German Democratic Republic
Hedwig Richter
Elections in Modern Dictatorships: Some Analytical Considerations
Werner J. Patzelt
II. Discipline
The Great Soviet Paradox: Elections and Terror in the Unions, 1937–1938
Wendy Z. Goldman
Plebiscites in Fascist Italy: National Unity and the Importance of the Appearance of Unity
Paul Corner
Works Council Elections in Czechoslovakia, 1948-1968
Peter Heumos
Faking It: Neo-Soviet Electoral Politics in Central Asia
Donnacha Ó Beacháin
III. Dissent and Loyalty
Elections, Plebiscitary Elections, and Plebiscites in Fascist Italy and Nazi-Germany: Comparative Perspectives
Enzo Fimiani
"Germany Totally National Socialist"—National Socialist Reichstag Elections and Plebiscites, 1933–1938: The Example of Schleswig-Holstein
Frank Omland
Elections in the Soviet Union, 1937–1989: A View into a Paternalistic World from Below
Stephan Merl
"The People’s Voice": The Elections to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in 1958 in the Belarusian Capital Minsk
Thomas M. Bohn
Contributors
Index
Ralph Jessen and Hedwig Richter
I. Legitimacy
The Self-Staging of a Plebiscitary Dictatorship: The NS-Regime Between "Uniformed Reichstag", Referendum and Reichsparteitag
Markus Urban
Popular Sovereignty and Constitutional Rights in the USSR’s Supreme Soviet Elections of February 1946
Mark B. Smith
Integration, Celebration, and Challenge: Soviet Youth and Elections, 1953–1968
Gleb Tsipursky
Mass Obedience: Practices and Functions of Elections in the German Democratic Republic
Hedwig Richter
Elections in Modern Dictatorships: Some Analytical Considerations
Werner J. Patzelt
II. Discipline
The Great Soviet Paradox: Elections and Terror in the Unions, 1937–1938
Wendy Z. Goldman
Plebiscites in Fascist Italy: National Unity and the Importance of the Appearance of Unity
Paul Corner
Works Council Elections in Czechoslovakia, 1948-1968
Peter Heumos
Faking It: Neo-Soviet Electoral Politics in Central Asia
Donnacha Ó Beacháin
III. Dissent and Loyalty
Elections, Plebiscitary Elections, and Plebiscites in Fascist Italy and Nazi-Germany: Comparative Perspectives
Enzo Fimiani
"Germany Totally National Socialist"—National Socialist Reichstag Elections and Plebiscites, 1933–1938: The Example of Schleswig-Holstein
Frank Omland
Elections in the Soviet Union, 1937–1989: A View into a Paternalistic World from Below
Stephan Merl
"The People’s Voice": The Elections to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in 1958 in the Belarusian Capital Minsk
Thomas M. Bohn
Contributors
Index