R-3 Repository :: Browsing by Author "Stokes, Gale"

Browsing by Author "Stokes, Gale"

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A union in disarray: Romanian nation building under Astra in late-nineteenth-century rural Transylvania and Hungary
(2002) Dunlap, Tanya Keller; Stokes, Gale
Scholarly studies of the nation as a socially constructed community, while accurate, do not explain how individuals in a predominantly agricultural society build and mobilize a national community outside of traditional political arenas and without the resources of a bureaucratic nation-state. This investigation of late-nineteenth-century Romanian nation building under the Transylvanian Association for Romanian Literature and the Culture of the Romanian People, or Astra, examines the educational and cultural activities Astra used to communicate nationalist messages to Romanian villagers and the responses of those villagers who funded and participated in Astra's movement. I argue that thousands of villagers participated in Astra events because Astra created a forum that addressed their needs and interests and raised their social status. Villagers never achieved equality with their social superiors in Astra, but villagers became more equal to them as Romanians than they had been as mere villagers. It was not easy to incorporate villagers into the association. As this dissertation shows, nation building is a contentious undertaking subject to diverse social pressures and full of internal conflicts and contradictions. Astra leaders hoped to build a unified and prosperous national community, but their initial attempts to transform peasants into rational and efficient farmers with academic programs mostly appealed to Romanian intellectuals. In order to retain their educated members and to attract peasants to the association, Astra leaders legitimized two competing images of the Romanian national community, one based on the values of educated Romanian professionals and one based on traditional peasant culture. The dual representations of the nation both created the impression that a unified national community existed and underscored the divisions in the community, making it possible to think of the nation as a homogeneous community while simultaneously contesting its boundaries. Resulting contestation, I argue, enabled rural Romanians to challenge Astra's professionals for more influence over the national movement and forced intellectuals to address rural interests. Although this study examines the specifics of Astra's national movement, it also offers a potentially fruitful approach for understanding nation building among other marginal groups in search of greater power and autonomy over their own lives.
An "anarchist rabbi": The life and teachings of Rudolf Rocker
(1989) Graur, Mina; Stokes, Gale
Rudolf Rocker was born in 1873 in Mainz, Germany, and died in 1958 in New York. During his life, Rocker witnessed a rapidly changing world, and he extensively documented these changes. In a microcosm, Rocker's life reflects the development of the various trends within the anarchist movement, of which he was a prominent member. He joined the anarchist ranks at an early age, and to his last breath he remained an ardent believer in the goals and principles of anarchism. Rocker's main philosophical concern had been personal freedoms and the ability of society to protect these freedoms by non-coercive means. Rocker rejected the morality of all forms of authority, whether state, party or privileged minority. The only form of organization condoned by him was that of workers' federations or syndicates. In Rocker's vision, these federations would serve as the basis for creating a federated Europe, and ultimately a federated world order. A disciple of Peter Kropotkin, Rocker established his prominence in anarchist philosophy as the ideologue of anarchosyndicalism, his main contribution being the combination of theoretical anarchist theses with a practical syndicalist platform of action. Rocker's most important contribution to political philosophy, Nationalism and Culture, contains both a comprehensive analysis of the rise of national sentiments, and a theoretical attempt to refute the morality of the state. Rocker left his mark on anarchist history not only as a theoretician, but also as a practitioner. He was particularly active among the Jewish immigrants in London's East End, where he organized a cohesive and militant anarchist group. He led the local workers in industrial struggles against the "sweating system," and for two decades Rocker, a gentile with no knowledge of Yiddish, edited the Jewish anarchist organ, the Arbeter Fraint. In 1923, Rocker became known internationally due to his role in founding the Syndicalist International, the aim of which was to halt the growing influence of the Comintern. Despite his political activities and writings, Rocker's life remained a neglected chapter in the history of anarchism. Drawing extensively on Yiddish sources, this work attempts to save Rocker from his undeserved oblivion.
Between Churchill and Stalin: the Cripps Mission and its aftermath
(1984) Miner, Steven Merritt (b. 1956); Stokes, Gale; Gruber, Ira D.; Loewenheim, Francis
Sir Stafford Cripps was sent to Moscow in 194 to secure an Anglo-Soviet trade agreement, Cripps believed he, as a socialist, could induce the Soviets to cooperate with Britain. His persistent efforts remained fruitless. Frustrated, he argued that Britain should recognize Soviet territorial gains of 1939-4» thereby winning Stalin's trust. Stalin ignored British approaches, preferring partnership with Hitler until the latter attacked Russia. Even then, Anglo-Soviet relations remained poor. Gradually, Anthony Eden was persuaded by Cripps, and by Soviet chilliness, to recognize Soviet sovereignty over the Baltic States, and he in turn convinced a divided British Cabinet. But Stalin took no notice of unilateral British sacrifices; close friendship with the Soviet Union, as envisioned by the British, was impossible, and misguided efforts to win Stalin's trust were foredoomed. The episode needlessly strained Anglo-American relations and weakened the Western position in Eastern Europe.
False Start: The Economic Enterprise at Topcider
(Rice University, 1972-10) Stokes, Gale; Electronic version made possible with funding from the Rice Historical Society and Thomas R. Williams, Ph.D., class of 2000.
The development of the Mexican petroleum industry to 1914
(1979) Ryan, Vincent R.; Vandiver, Frank E.; Drew, Katherine F.; Stokes, Gale
In the first third of the twentieth century Mexico played a significant role in the history of oil. Large amounts of commercially profitable oil were first produced in Mexico in 191 and by 1921 Mexico was the second leading world producer of petroleum, surpassed only by the United States. This rapid development was primarily accomplished by American and British entrepeneurs operating in a favorable economic and political climate until 1914 when revolutionary forces triumphed in Mexico and established new laws which the foreign dominated oil companies viewed as discriminatory and confiscatory. Two men dominated the development of the Mexican oil industry from 19 to 1914, Edward Doheny and Weetman Pearson. Doheny was an Irish-American and Pearson became an English lord but both realized the vast potential of Mexico's oil and overcame many obstacles to successfully exploit it. During a tumultuous time of political and social upheaval, the foreign oil companies created an extensive industrial complex in Mexico centered in the Tampico region. Despite the Revolution which began in 191, Mexico was on the verge of being one of the world's major producers by 1914.
The evolution of Soviet Muslim policy, 1917-1921
(1990) Roberts, Glenn L.; Stokes, Gale
During the revolutionary period the Soviets came into political and cultural conflict with Russia's Muslims. Despite indications that the majority of Muslims desired political unification based on their Islamic heritage, the Party divided them into separate "nationalities" along narrow ethnic lines, incorporated most into the RSFSR, and attempted to uproot traditional Islamic institutions and customs under the aegis of class war. Resistance took the form of pan-Muslim nationalism, a reformist political conception with roots in the Near East. This conflict not only aborted the export of revolution to the Islamic world, contributing to the passing of the revolutionary era in Russia, but aided Stalin's rise to power. Soviet policy succeeded politically, defining the terms of interaction between Russians and Soviet Muslims for the next 70 years, but failed culturally in 1921-22, when the Party was forced to suspend its "war on Islam" as the price of political control.
Yugoslav-United States relations, 1946-1947, stemming from the shooting of U. S. planes over Yugoslavia, August 9 and 19, 1946
(1971) Wooldridge, Dorothy Elizabeth; Stokes, Gale
From 1945 to 1950, the era of the early cold war, most of the nations of the world were in one of two political groups: the pro-West headed by the United States, or the pro-East, headed by Soviet Union. One country which did not fall into this pattern, however, was Yugoslavia. She wanted to break completely with Moscow and to establish her own brand of national. Communism, thus enabling her leaders to steer an individualist course in world affairs. Yugoslavia sought not only to free herself from Soviet domination but also to show her total opposition to the Western Allies, especially the United States. The latter part of this objective became a unique area of conflict in the cold war. In 1945 Yugoslavia offered stiff opposition to Italian boundary settlements proposed by the Council of Foreign Ministers. Yugoslavia claimed the area of the Istrian peninsula, including the city of Trieste, as rightfully hers. While the diplomats discussed potential settlements, Yugoslav and Allied troops coexisted uneasily on the peninsula. Tension between the U.S. and Yugoslavia rapidly reached a breaking point. Early in 1946 disputes between the two countries became more bitter. Tito claimed that-scores of unauthorized Allied flights violated Yugoslav airspace daily. Although he protested, nothing was done. He retaliated by forcing the closing of commercial air service to American government representatives in Yugoslavia. In August, 1946, the crisis was reached. The Yugoslavs forced down two U.S. aircraft over Yugoslavia within a space of ten days. The passengers and crew of the first plane were secretly interned by the Yugoslav government. The second plane and its crew were a total loss. The U.S. was outraged and sent an ultimatum to the Yugoslav government, demanding the release of the Americans in custody, U.S. access to the downed planes, and full investigation of the incidents. Before the 48-hour deadline was reached, the Yugoslavs had fulfilled all the requests. Each country blamed the other for the incidents, and each had its own accounts of the action. From that time the U.S. and the Yugoslav governments were in opposition until 1949. Tito continued his anti-U.S. campaign, accusing U.S. Embassy employees of spying and then ordering the closing of the USIS reading room. The United States likewise continued on its anti-Yugoslav course, spurred along by the realization of the fact that the nation to which it contributed 75% of UNRRA aid had, for no apparent reason, shot down two American craft and killed American crewmen. After much arguing, the issue was finally terminated, neither side gaining a clear victory. The incidents were important for what each country had learned. Bipolarity, the Soviet-U.S. dominated framework for international relations, would have to be altered to accommodate third powers. This small incident in the cold war had brought three nations to the brink of hostilities and back to the reality that the uneasy peace, of the post war world had to be maintained regardless of wounded national pride and prestige.

Browsing by Author "Stokes, Gale"

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