Vokietijos istorijos instituto Varšuvoje padalinys Vilniuje bendradarbiaudamas su Vilniaus Universiteto Istorijos fakultetu, gegužės 19 d. maloniai kviečia Jus į Dr. Bethan Winter paskaitą On Great Men and Geniuses: Between Exceptionalism and Egalitarianism in Marxist Thought and Socialist Policies in 20th Century Europe
Paskaitą moderuos Dr. Povilas Dikavičius.
Paskaita vyks Vilniaus universiteto Istorijos fakulteto 211 auditorijoje.
Pradžia - 17 val.
Paskaita vyks anglų kalba.
Daugiau apie paskaitą:
This talk examines the persistent tension in socialist and Marxist thought between the collectivist foundations of historical materialism and the enduring cultural fascination with individual heroes and geniuses. Tracing the conceptual evolution from early modern thinkers (Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau) through Enlightenment and Romantic notions of genius (Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche), the study reveals how Marxist thinkers, including Marx, Engels, Plekhanov, Lenin, Trotsky, Lukács, and Zilsel, confronted and critiqued the "Great Man" theory and the bourgeois "geniereligion." Despite explicit warnings by theorists, such as Zilsel, against hero worship and the elevation of individuals above the collective, socialist states systematically developed their own secular pantheons of revolutionary leaders, artists, scientists, and exemplary workers, paradoxically echoing the bourgeois hero cults they sought to rival or supplant. Through examining initiatives such as Lenin’s Monumental Propaganda and state-driven hero worship (Stakhanovites, Lenin and Stalin cults, commemorations of Goethe and Bach in the GDR), the study demonstrates how Marxist thought justified celebrating historic individuals as embodiments of collective aspirations, even as it risked replicating the ideological contradictions inherent in elevating individuals within ostensibly egalitarian frameworks. The study thus provides an exploration of the dialectical relationship between individual agency and collective determinism in socialist historiography and cultural policy.
Biographical note:
Dr Bethan Winter is a social and cultural historian of the Cold War, with particular expertise in the German Democratic Republic and its international relations. Her research explores the role of cultural and musical diplomacy in East German foreign policy, examining how the GDR reinterpreted its musical heritage to promote a socialist narrative, attract international visitors, and forge relationships with countries otherwise unreachable due to West Germany’s Hallstein Doctrine.
Her current project builds on this research to examine the socialist construction of “genius” through the rewriting of cultural and historical figures. Focusing on the GDR, Poland, and the USSR, she explores how state-sanctioned biographies and commemorative narratives recast individuals to align with ideological priorities, offering new insight into the cultural politics of reputation and legacy in the socialist world.
She is currently a Postdoctoral Associate Member of the Faculty of History at the University of Oxford and a Mieroszewski Scholar based in Warsaw. She completed her doctorate at Oxford as a Hanseatic Scholar, and has previously held lectureships in both History and Music at Magdalen College, Oxford.