Faculty

Zenon Wasyliw  » 
Zenon Wasyliw

Zenon Wasyliw

Professor and Chair

History
School of Humanities and Sciences
Department of Education
Graduate Study in Education

Global Revolutions

 

TWENTIETH-CENTURY GLOBAL REVOLUTIONS

HIST-27300-01 – Fall 2009

Zenon V. Wasyliw

Ithaca College Department of History

Muller 427

wasyliw@ithaca.edu, 274-1587                                               

http://faculty.ithaca.edu/wasyliw                                      

Office Hours: MWF 2:00-3:00 other times and TTh by appointment

 

Introduction

Twentieth-Century Global Revolutions offers a comparative study of twentieth century world history through a thematic assessment of revolutions and revolutionary movements. The course begins with a brief overview of pre-twentieth century revolutions, revolutionary theories and transformations within a global historical context. This course focuses upon specific revolutions and revolutionary movements of the twentieth-century with an eye towards comparative evaluations and the search for global connectivity.  This comparative study reviews revolutionary movements beyond the western European and United States core to include the cultures and civilizations of East Central Europe, Eurasia, South and Southeast Asia, the Far East, Middle East, Africa and the Americas. The course concludes with possible revolutionary interpretations and responses to post-modern issues related to globalization, civil society, trans-nationalism, civilizational divisions and other relevant global transformations of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. 

 

The TOPICS section of this syllabus offers, on a weekly basis, specific subjects and themes under study. After first analyzing the underlying causes, theories and models of revolutions, we shall then evaluate specific revolutions and revolutionary movements. European and North American liberal democratic revolutionary ideologies preface a closer analysis of revisionist Marxist frameworks implemented by Lenin through the Russian/Soviet revolutions concluding with the Stalinist revolution and its impact on the state and the world. The Chinese Revolution is evaluated within the context of a further evolving revolutionary model implemented and modified by Mao, with a special emphasis placed upon evaluating the Maoist Chinese Cultural Revolution. Two autobiographical works will enhance comprehension of the human toll of both the Stalinist and Maoist revolutions as comparatively examined through the prism of their respective cultural revolutions.  We shall also comparatively assess the communist revolutions in Cuba and Vietnam.

 

Other revolutionary movements under study include Gandhi’s unique anti-modernist and nonviolent path of civil disobedience and passive resistance to gain Indian independence and battle British colonialism. We shall evaluate the value of Gandhi's model and judge its specific implementation by Martin Luther King in the United States and later globally through an appraisal of recent “colored” revolutions through their implementation of Gene Sharp’s applied model of peaceful revolution found in his From Dictatorship to Democracy.

 

We shall continue with an overview of conditions on the African continent and then specifically appraise Nelson Mandela and the South African revolutionary struggle. An evaluation of Latin American revolutions will review the Mexican Revolution with an eye to other twentieth century revolutions throughout the region. 

 

A comparative study of 1968 global revolutions offers the context and results of this revolutionary year that foreshadowed and represented important global transformations.  The Middle East (or South West Asia) provides examples of a new revolutionary paradigm based upon religion and anti-modernist values. The Iranian Revolution of 1979 serves as a focal point for studying the rise and expansion of an Islamic fundamentalist revolutionary path.  The course concludes with an appraisal the most recent revolutions in Eastern and Central Europe and reflections on current and future revolutions and revolutionary trends and movements, mentioned in the first paragraph, that often transcend state borders, politics and conventional wisdom.

 

Books and Readings

The following books are required for this course and may be purchased at the college bookstore.

 

Meridian. Sources in World History - A collection of primary source documents. Only available at the Ithaca College Bookstore

DEFRONZO, James. Revolutions and Revolutionary Movements.

GINZBURG, Eugenia.  Journey into the Whirlwind.

HUNTINGTON, Samuel, et. al. The Clash of Civilizations? The Debate.

KAPUSCINSKI, Ryszard. Shah of Shahs.

SHARP, Gene. From Dictatorship to Democracy. A Conceptual Framework for Liberation.

Found on-line at – http://www.aeinstein.org/organizations98ce.html

SURI, Jeremi. The Global Revolutions of 1968.

ZHENHUA, Zhai Red Flower of China.

 

Recommended:

BENJAMIN, Jules. A Student’s Guide to History.

The Guide is also found online:

http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/history/benjamin

Also see “How to Write History Essays”

http://legacy.ncsu.edu/classes/hi300001/write.htm

 

Additional articles and primary sources will be distributed throughout the semester. Please refer to the list of internet linked sites. The sites provide valuable historical backgrounds and contexts for the specific topics under study.  Please refer to my homepage course syllabus for easy access to these relevant sites. http://www.ithaca.edu/faculty/wasyliw 

 

Communications

1. Scheduled office hours are set for Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 2:00-3:00 and by appointment those same days and Tuesdays and Thursdays. Please arrange appointments through e-mail: wasyliw@ithaca.edu.  My office is in Muller 427. Please stop by to discuss course material or life in general.

 

Requirements

1. “Students at Ithaca College are expected to attend all classes, and they are responsible for work missed during any absence from class.” (Ithaca College Undergraduate Catalog) Absences adversely affect the comprehension of course material and one's grade. Students are expected to read the assigned readings and participate in class discussion.

 

2. Each student must complete one interpretive essay examinations and a final comprehensive essay examination. The essays are conceptual in nature and test the students' comprehension and analysis of the material covered in class and the readings. 

 

3. A comparative book critique is another course requirement. The critique will compare the Ginzburg and Zhenhua books. The following book critique guideline will be followed.

 

The book critique will consist of four sections:

 

a. Introduce the author's main thesis. Include a brief summary of the critique’s contents.

b. Provide a brief comparative historical background on the Stalinist policies of the 1930s and Mao’s Cultural Revolution policies of the 1960s, 

c. Compare and contrast the experiences of Eugenia Ginzburg and Zhai Zhenhua in terms of their dedication to Marxist ideology and their life experiences.

d. Provide a critique of both works strong and weak historical and stylistic points. Decide how the books relate to the Global Revolutions course and recommend an appropriate readership.

 

4. Cooperative learning project. The course of the Chinese Cultural Revolution is assessed by group presentations and Maoist critiques of Red Flower of China. Appointed student communes will accomplish this task with the appropriate revolutionary zeal. A concise communal written report will also be required. More specific instructions will be forthcoming. 

 

5. The Global Revolutions of 1968 is a collection of primary source documents. This era will be recreated and analyzed through collaborative interpretations of these primary sources. Groups and individuals will construct competing historical narratives, conceptual frameworks and reach conclusions regarding the revolutionary nature of the varied revolutions presented. 

 

6. The writing of essays, critiques and papers follows specific criteria and all sources must be properly documented. Carefully read the sections of the hard copy syllabus dealing with plagiarism and writing papers. A Student’s Guide to History offers excellent information in this area. Please note Ithaca College policies regarding Standards of Academic Conduct –

http://www.ithaca.edu/attorney/policies/vol7/Volume_7-70104.htm

 

7. The syllabus outline and assignments are subject to change

 

8. In compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act, reasonable accommodation will be provided to students with documented disabilities on a case by case basis. Students must register with the Office of Academic Support Services and provide appropriate documentation to the college before any academic adjustment will be provided.

 

Grading:

All work must be completed to earn a passing grade!

 

One comparative book critique                 25%

Midterm examination                              20%

Final examination essays                         30%

Qualitative class and group

Participation, Red Flower and

1968 Revolutions                                    25%

                                                           100%

 

 

INTERNET LINKS

 

General Sites:

http://worldhistoryconnected.org

http://vlib.iue.it/history/index.html

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/global/globalsbook.html

http://www.rulers.org

http://marxists.org

http://www.womeninworldhistory.com 

http://www.besthistorysites.net

 

Social Studies Teaching Sites

http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/nchs

http://www.socialstudies.org

http://www.nyscss.org

http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ciai/social.html

 

World System Theory

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/wallerstein.html

 

Globalization Theories

http://www.sociology.emory.edu/globalization/theories.html

 

World War One

http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/

 

Russian Revolution and the USSR

http://www.soviethistory.org

http://www.infoukes.com/history/famine

http://www.osa.ceu.hu/gulag/

 

Europe and the Holocaust

http://eudocs.lib.byu.ed

http://remember.org

http://www.ushmm.org

 

Chinese Revolution

http://www.iisg.nl/exhibitions/chairman/chnintro.php

http://sun.sino.uni-heidelberg.de/igcs

 

General sites on Asia

http://coombs.anu.edu.au/WWWVL-AsianStudies.html

 

India and Pakistan

http://www.vl-site.org/india/index.html

http://www.southasianist.info/pakistan/index.html

 

U.S. Civil Rights

http://afroamhistory.about.com/cs/civilrights

http://www.historymatters.gmu.edu

 

Africa

http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African_Studies/Home_Page/Country.html

http://igcs.binghamton.edu

 

Latin America

http://www.oberlin.edu/faculty/svolk/latinam.htm

 

Middle East and Iran

http://link.lanic.utexas.edu/menic

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/mideast/cuvlm/Iran.html

 

Global Issues

http://www.aeinstein.org

http://eng.maidanua.org

http://www.ithaca.edu/sustainability

http://www.globalizationguide.org

http://news.bbc.co.uk

http://www.ruckus.org

http://civnet.org

http://hrw.org

http://amnesty.org

http://www.opendemocracy.net

 

 

WEEK/DATE    TOPICS AND ASSIGNMENTS

 

Week 1 - 24 August First class on Wednesday 26 August

Introduction and expectations.

What is a revolution: definitions, theories and examples.

Meridian, pages 1- 99, 296-323, 331-349 for discussion the next two weeks and

DeFronzo, Revolutions and Revolutionary Movements, Chapter 1

Begin reading Journey into the Whirlwind

 

2. 31 August The World-System, Industrial Revolution and revolutionary ideologies in response to a “modernizing” world.  The World-System of Development, imperialism, colonialism and global cultural revolution. Discussion of Meridian documents.

 

3. 7 Sept. Labor Day – No Classes on Monday

World War I – Liberal democracy, Marxist revolution and the status of women.

Meridian, pages 100-136 for discussion this week and next

DeFronzo, Chapter 2 for next week and beyond

Read Journey into the Whirlwind, begin reading Red Flower of China

 

4. 14 Sept. Adaptation of the Marxist revolutionary model by Lenin through the October Russian Revolution of 1917 and the Stalinist Revolution of “Socialism in One Country” through industrialization, agricultural collectivization and cultural sovietization of the Five Year Plan – a revolutionary path toward a communist industrial utopia for emulation or human tragedy: the Ukrainian famine, purges and the Gulag.

Revolution betrayed or accomplished: an appraisal of the Stalinist revolution.

Finish reading Journey into the Whirlwind

Continue reading Red Flower of China

 

5. 21 Sept. Discussion of Journey into the Whirlwind.

Revolutionary loyalty betrayed?

Inter-war Europe in an age of uncertainty, and the rise of totalitarianism.                                                

Fascism, Hitler's Germany and the racial revolution: the Holocaust and its legacy.

DeFronzo, Chapter 3 for next two weeks

Meridian, pp.137-160 for the next two weeks

 

 

6. 28 Sept. World War Two and a new world order. Revolutionary transformation in East Asia: Japan and the West 

The origins of the Chinese Revolution 

The course of the Chinese Revolution and Communal Organization

Finish Reading Red Flower of China

Comparative Book Critique is Due 19 October

 

7. 5 Oct. Communal Presentations and a Critical Evaluation of Red Flower of China. An analysis of Mao and Maoism, the Great Chinese Cultural Revolution and the post-Mao years

Western colonialism and the periphery: Revolutionary paths towards political and cultural independence

DeFronzo, Chapter 4 for next week                                                  

Midterm Examination is due 9 October     

 

8. 12 Oct. The Vietnamese Revolution and Southeast Asia

Fall Break 15-16 October

Meridian, pages 161-190, 252-289, 350-367 for next week

Comparative Book Critique is Due 19 October

 

9. 19 Oct. Are Gandhi and non-violent civil disobedience revolutionary?

India: colonialism and the struggle for independence

Gandhi and the establishment of India and Pakistan 

Martin Luther King: non-violence, the U.S. Civil Rights movement and the American cultural revolution of the nineteen sixties: issues of race, class, ethnicity and sexual orientation        

Meridian, pages 198-220, 236-251 for next week

DeFronzo, Chapter 9 for next week

 

10. 26 Oct.  African revolutions and revolutionary movements

Western colonialism in Africa and internal African revolutions: in search of stability. 

Long Walk to Freedom and the revolution in South Africa 

DeFronzo, Chapters 5 and 6 for next week

Meridian, pages 191-197, 368-387

Begin reading The Global Revolutions of 1968

 

11. 2 Nov. Revolutions in Latin America, Past and Present: The Mexican, Nicaraguan and Cuban Revolutions as Context for Contemporary Populist Revolutionary Movements

Finish reading The Global Revolutions of 1968 for next week

 

12. 9 Nov. The Global Revolutions of 1968: a classroom project in developing a historical narrative and competing historical interpretations through primary source historical documents

Meridian, pages 221-235 for next week

DeFronzo Chapter 7 and 8 for next week

Read Shah of Shahs for after Thanksgiving

 

13. 16 Nov.  Completion of the 1968 global revolutions project

Islamic fundamentalism as a revolutionary model: The Iranian Islamic Revolution of 1979 and Islamic revolutionary movements

Finish reading Shah of Shahs

Begin reading From Dictatorship to Democracy

 

14. Thanksgiving Vacation 23-27 November.  Finish reading Shah of Shahs and read Huntington’s The Clash of Civilizations? The Debate.

 

15. 30 Nov. Discussion of Shah of Shahs and the current situation in Iran.

The revolutions of 1989-1991 in Eastern and Central Europe: The end of ideology? The end of history?  New revolutionary movements? 

Discussion of The Clash of Civilizations, The Debate

Finish reading From Dictatorship to Democracy

Read DeFronzo Chapter 10

 

16. 7 Dec. Recent and future revolutions

A post-modern, post-industrial world in search of revolutionary ideals and models

Discussion and application of Gene Sharp’s non-violent revolutionary model – From Dictatorship to Democracy 

From G-7 to G-20: globalization, anti-globalization, sustainability, trans-nationalism and the future of revolutions

Anticipating future global revolutions and revolutionary movements: can we learn from and use history?

14 December Final Examination Week