Political closure in the West masked persisting revolutionary energies globally

Evidence

Yet the outward appearance of a complete closure of political horizons in the West was still, for a whole period, deceptive. In continental Europe, mass Communist parties in France and Italy — and undergrounds in Spain, Portugal and Greece — remained unreconciled to the existing order; no matter how moderate their tactics, their very existence acting as ‘a mnemonic device, as it were, holding the place in the pages of history’ for the revival of more radical aspirations. In the USSR, the passing of Stalin unleashed processes of reform that seemed in the era of Khrushchev to be moving towards a less repressive and more internationalist Soviet model — one committed to assisting rather than frustrating insurgent movements abroad. In the Third World, decolonization was shaking loose major bastions of imperial rule, in a series of revolutionary upheavals — Indochina, Egypt, Algeria, Cuba, Angola — that brought independence to much wider areas. In China, the established bureaucracy became the target of a movement orchestrated by Mao, invoking the ideals of the Paris Commune. — Perry Anderson, The Origins of Postmodernity, 232

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘mnemonic device holding the place in history’ directly echoes Jameson’s concept of the Utopian impulse held in reserve — central to the debate this book frames. — connects to: The Soviet collapse bred a Western belief that democracy would spread worldwide — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 514; Modern moral progress may be a Western artifact that reverses as Western power fades — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 900; The late 1970s and early 1980s saw a global wave of revolution (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• The Soviet collapse bred a Western belief that democracy would spread worldwide #exemplifies (0.82) — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 514
• The late 1970s and early 1980s saw a global wave of revolution #complicates (0.78)
• Modern moral progress may be a Western artifact that reverses as Western power fades #qualifies (0.72) — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 900