Red unions and bourgeois democracy: A quantitative-historical analysis of worker militancy and socialist electoral power

This paper investigates how workers’ “economic struggle” determines the “democratic class struggle,” and extends socialist electoral constituency. This paper argues that political outcomes, namely, electoral behavior, may not be understood independently of the labor process, especially its most militant manifestation, strikes. Rather than follow the customary conceptual dichotomy between the sphere of production and the political sphere, it is suggested that both strike activity and electoral participation are compatible political strategies that, under specific historical circumstances, may jointly determine the fate of the Socialist party. The leading question is how did the wave of strikes in post World War I Italy affect the electoral power of the Italian Socialist party, in comparison with another mass party, the Popular Catholic Party. Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) is employed to analyze census, strike, and electoral data. It is found that strike activity and electoral democracy increased the electoral power of the Socialist party, whereas they had little effect on the power of the Catholic party. It is suggested that this was due to the Catholic non-revolutionary program which was ambivalent about the political role of strikes. It is concluded that the socialists’ political success was determined by their dual political strategy in both spheres, electoral participation, and organizing strikes.     

Translating culture: missionaries and linguists in contemporary Yunnan Province

In an attempt to emulate early modern missionaries to Yunnan who engaged in the invention of writing systems for various ethnic groups, contemporary evangelical missionaries in Yunnan have become heavily involved in the realm of linguistics, focused on the preservation of endangered languages. While such activity may potentially be perceived as a challenge to the state-Chinese linguistic hegemony, I argue that the presence of missionary linguists is acceptable to the Chinese authorities as it does not threaten the paramount position of Putonghua but rather serves to integrate minority people into the state system. In addition, based on interviews conducted with a missionary working to produce texts for Kunming’s Buoyi population in their language, I aim to demonstrate how missionary linguists attempt to remold local culture by attempting to reconstruct ethnic identity around a language core. The article is based on fieldwork conducted in Yunnan in 2009–2010 and 2012.     

"Engines Of Acculturation": The Last Political Generation of Jewish Women in Interwar East Europe

This study explores the formation of a political generation of Jewish women in interwar East Europe. Based on questionnaire data obtained from the Survivors of the Ravensbrueck Concentration Camp for Women and on secondary historical materials, it applied Mannheim's theory of political generations and the conditions for the formation of "generational units" under the impression of "fresh contact" in order to examine the role of class, education, and religiosity in the formation of political generations. Under the specific socio–historical circumstances analyzed, it is argued that Jewish women who came of age in interwar East Europe formed, perhaps for the first time a distinct political generation, as evidenced by high rates of political participation and assimilation into the thriving secular nationalistic culture of their time.     

Late‐Life Migration,Work Status,and Survival: The Case of Older Immigrants from the Former Soviet Union in Israel

This analysis examined mortality among late‐life Soviet Jewish immigrants in Israel, and the contribution of post‐migration work status to their survival. The study linked 1997 survey data to mortality records, seven years hence. The results revealed that mortality was associated with older age, male gender, morbidity, and having less resourceful social networks. More importantly, after controlling for these background variables work status remained a significant correlate. Late‐life immigrants who had never worked in the host country had a significantly greater risk of death than their immigrant counterparts who had ever worked (or were still working).     

Electoral democracy, revolutionary politics and political violence: the emergence of Fascism in Italy, 1920-21

This study examines the determination of the Italian Fascists' extra‐parliamentary, para‐military, violent strategy. What were the effects of the socialists' political strategy, relying on electoral democracy, on the creation and strategy of the Fascist Action Squads? A comparison among Italy's 69 provinces, based on quantitative and qualitative historical evidence reveals a distinct pattern in the Fascists' violence. They attacked mainly provinces where the Socialists enjoyed the greatest electoral support. This pattern was a product of two historical processes: (a) the threat of the Socialist party to the landlords' economic and political hegemony, and (b) the landlords' tradition of militant anti‐worker organization which culminated in their alliance with the Fascists. The Fascists' struggle for, and takeover of, political power was not an immanent historical necessity. It was first and foremost an anti‐socialist reaction. It was shaped both ‘from below’, by the political power and radicalism of the PSI and the para‐military capacity of the Fascist Squads; and ‘from above’, by the active support the Fascists received from the landlords and the state. Supported by organized landlords and blessed with the authorities' benevolence, the Squads were able to destroy – physically and politically – the legitimately constituted provincial governments of the Socialists. The alliance with the landlords determined the Squads' almost exclusive attacks on Socialist provincial strongholds that constituted the greatest threat to the landlords' interests, while provinces dominated by the ruling Liberal party were excluded from the Squads' path of ‘punitive expeditions’.     

A test of distance-learning technology: an assessment study of the Open University Russia Project

Technological developments have created a revolution that challenges teaching in general, and in higher education in particular calls for a re-assessment of traditional teaching methodologies and their effectiveness. The article is an empirical study of the outcomes of a distance-learning project conducted by the Open University of Israel in states of the former Soviet Union (FSU). In 2008, over 5000 students from 11 FSU states participated in the Open University Russia Project. This study explores the characteristics of the participants, their reasons for participation and their expectations, their satisfaction with the project, the project's contribution to participants' knowledge and its impact on their ties to Judaism and Israel, their intention to emigrate to Israel and their desire to attend a higher education institution in Israel. Findings show that the distance-learning courses developed by the Open University and the learning method developed by the Open University made a significant contribution to the target population's knowledge in topics related to Judaism, the Jewish people and the State of Israel, and enhanced their desire to study in higher education programmes in Israel and to emigrate to Israel.