The Failure of the Socialist Declaration of Human Rights
Ideology, Legitimacy, and Elite Defection at the End of State Socialism
In: East Central EuropeSearch for other papers by Ned Richardson-Little in
Current site
Google Scholar
In the mid-1980s, the Eastern Bloc faced increased pressure on the issue of human rights from western governments, ngos, and indigenous dissident. Although the Socialist Bloc had claimed to represent the ideals of human rights throughout the Cold War, by 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev called on the leaders of the Eastern Bloc to work together on a coordinated response to this threat and in response East Germany proposed the creation of an international declaration based on the principles of socialist—rather than bourgeois—human rights. Within a few years, however, the project collapsed in ignominious failure as it provided a vehicle for reformers to challenge the status quo in the name of human rights by demanding greater democratization. Although the project was originally devised to refute the human rights claims of the West, it instead acted to spur on the intellectual collapse of the Eastern Bloc’s ideological unity at its time of greatest crisis.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
-
German Federal Archives—Bundesarchiv (BArch).
-
BArch-1 DY 30/24979 Süß to Sorgenicht (28.10.1981).
-
BArch-2 DY 30/24979 Entwurf einer Menschenrechtsdeklaration der sozialistischen Staaten. (1981).
-
BArch-3 DY 30/IV 2/1/630 Rede auf dem Treffen der Sekretäre für Ideologie und Propaganda der Zentralkomitees der Bruderparteien soz. Länder.
-
BArch-4 DP 1/21482 Neugebauer to Kern (02.12.1985).
-
BArch-5 DY 30/11887 Rede Simjanin.
-
BArch-6 DY 30/11887 Rede Pacoste.
-
BArch-7 DY 30/11887 Rede Berecz.
-
BArch-8 DY 30/11887 Rede Soto.
-
BArch-9 DY 30/11887 Rede Czyrek.
-
BArch-10 DY 30/11887 Auszug aus dem Referat des Genossen Kurt Hager auf der Beratung der Sekretäre für internationale und ideologische Fragen der Zentralkomitees der Bruderparteien sozialistischer Länder in Bukarest (Dezember 1985).
-
BArch-11 DY 30/J iv 2/2/2148 Protokollniederschrift: Beratung der Sekretäre für internationale und ideologische Fragen der Zentralkomitees von Bruderparteien sozialistischer Länder Bukarest 19./20. Dezember 1985 (07.01.1986).
-
BArch-12 DY 30/11891 Information der sed über die Tätigkeit in Verwirklichung der Vereinbarungen der Bukarester Beratung der Sekretäre für internationale und ideologische Fragen der Zentralkomitees von Bruderparteien sozialistischer Länder (05.11.1986).
-
BArch-13 N 2535/2 Vorlage für die Leitungssitzung am 21.1.87 (30.12.1986).
-
BArch-14 DY 30/7470 Bericht über die Beratung von Vertretern der Außenministerien der Warschauer Vertragsstaaten zur Ausarbeitung einer sozialistischen Menschenrechtsdeklaration (15.10.1986).
-
BArch-15 DY 30/7470 “Freiheit und Menschenrechte im Sozialismus.”
-
BArch-16 DY 30/7495 Bericht über das Treffen der stellvertretenden Abteilungsleiter der Zentralkomitees der Parteien der sozialistischen Länder zu Fragen der Menschenrechte am 26. und 27. März 1987 in Berlin.
-
BArch-17 DP 1/21481 “Freiheit und Menschenrechte im Sozialismus: Deklaration” (05.06.1987).
-
BArch-18 DP 1/21481 Bericht über die 2.Runde der Beratung von Vertretern der Außenministerien der Warschauer Vertragsstaaten zur Ausarbeitung einer sozialistischen Menschenrechtsdeklaration (30.06.1987).
-
BArch-19 DY 30/ J iv 2/9.08/12 Bericht Wissenschaftlicher Problemrat Menschenrechte (Sept. 1987).
-
BArch-20 N 2535/ 2 Vorlage für die Leitungssitzung am 8. Januar 1988 (15.12.1987).
-
BArch-21 N 2535/ 2 Malter, Graefrath, and Thun to Sieber (20.12.1988).
-
Archive of Democratic Socialism: Archiv demokratischer Sozialismus—Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung (AdS).
-
AdS-1 Bestand Reißig Berg: Band 1. Multilateraler Wissenschaftlicher Problemrat von Bruderparteien sozialistischer Länder zu Fragen der Menschenrechte: Konzeptionelle Grundlagen der gegenwärtigen Politik der Bruderparteien sozialistischer Länder auf dem Gebiet der Menschenrechte (April 1989).
-
Stasi Archives (BStU).
-
BStU-1 HA vii 508 Neugebauer to Süß.
-
Author Interviews and Correspondence
-
Reissig 2015—Author interview with Rolf Reissig (07.12.2015).
-
Simonyi 2016—Author correspondence with András Simonyi (29.08.2016).
-
Altshuler Stuart . 2005. From Exodus to Freedom: A History of the Soviet Jewry Movement. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
-
Baker Keith Michael . 1997. “The Idea of a Declaration of Rights.” In The French Revolution: Recent Debates and New Controversies, edited by Gary Kates, 91–142. London: Routledge.
-
Berg Frank . 1990. Menschenrechte: der Autor im Gespräch mit Jürgen Weidlich. Berlin: Dietz.
-
Berg Frank , and Reissig Rolf . 1988. “Menschenrechte in der Politik des Sozialismus.” Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie 36, no. 7: 599–609.
-
Blokker Paul . 2015. “The (Re-)Emergence of Constitutionalism in East-Central Europe.” In Thinking Through Transition: Liberal Democracy, Authoritarian Pasts, and Intellectual History in East Central Europe After 1989, edited by Kopeček Michal and Wciślik Piotr , 139–170. New York: Central European University Press.
-
Burke Roland . 2010. Decolonization and the Evolution of International Human Rights. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
-
Chernyaev Anatoly S. 2006. The Diary of Anatoly S. Chernyaev, 1985. Washington, D.C.: National Security Archive. Accessed on 12 June 2019. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/anatoly-chernyaev-diary.
-
Donnelly Jack . 1982. “Human Rights and Human Dignity: An Analytic Critique of Non-Western Conceptions of Human Rights,” The American Political Science Review 76, no. 2: 303–316.
-
Duranti Marco . 2017. The Conservative Human Rights Revolution: European Identity, Transnational Politics, and the Origins of the European Convention. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
-
Stiftung Naumann . 1990. East Meets West on Human Rights in a New Climate of International Co-Operation: Proceedings of an International Conference in Sintra, Portugal, October 29-November 1, 1989. Sankt Augustin: COMDOK-Verlagsabteilung.
-
Eckel Jan , and Moyn Samuel . 2014. The Breakthrough: Human Rights in the 1970s. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
-
Eide Asbjörn . 1968. International Protection of Human Rights: Proceedings of the 7. Nobel Symposium, Oslo, 25–27.9.1967. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell.
-
Forberger Siegfried . 2000. Das ddr-Komitee für Menschenrechte: Erinnerungen an den Sozialismus-Versuch im 20. Jahrhundert; Einsichten und Irrtümer des Siegfried Forberger, Sekretär des ddr-Komitees für Menschenrechte von 1959 bis 1989. Berlin: Self-Published.
-
Getachew Adom . 2019. Worldmaking After Empire: The Rise and Fall of Self-Determination. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
-
Gilligan Emma . 2004. Defending Human Rights in Russia: Sergei Kovalyov, Dissident and Human Rights Commissioner, 1969–2003. London: Routledge.
-
Greenfield Richard . 1981. “The Human Rights Literature of Eastern Europe.” Human Rights Quarterly 3, no. 2: 136–148.
-
Harre Elke , and Möller Bärbel , eds. 1988. Die Politik des Sozialismus zur Verwirklichung der Menschenrechte und der Kampf um Frieden und sozialen Fortschritt: Materialien der wissenschaftlichen Konferenz des Multilateralen Wissenschaftlichen Problemrates “Menschenrechte” am 22. und 23. März 1988 in Berlin. Berlin: Akademie für Gesellschaftswissenschaften beim ZK der SED.
-
Hazewinkel Harm J. 1995. “Ottawa 1985—The Half-Way Meeting Recollections of a Participant.” osce odhr Bulletin 3, no. 3: 40–46.
-
Honecker Erich . 1989. Erich Honecker Defends the Achievements of Socialism on the 40th Anniversary of the gdr . Accessed on 10 May 2019. http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/docpage.cfm?docpage_id=2039.
-
“Human Rights Experts from Socialist Countries Meet at International Conference,” 1987. Human Rights: Yearbook no. 5.
-
Hunt Lynn . 2008. Inventing Human Rights: A History London: W.W. Norton.
-
International Commission of Jurists. 1986. Human and Peoples’ Rights in Africa and The African Charter: Report of a Conference Held in Nairobi from 2 to 4 December 1985. Geneva: International Commission of Jurists.
-
Jensen Steven L.B. 2016. The Making of International Human Rights: The 1960s, Decolonization, and the Reconstruction of Global Values. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
-
Juviler Peter , Gross Bertram , Kartashkin Vladimir , Lukasheva Elena , and Katz Stanley . 1993. Human Rights for the 21st Century: Foundation for Responsible Hope: Foundation for Responsible Hope. New York: Routledge.
-
Kartashkin Vladimir A. 1989. Human Rights, What We Argue About. Moscow: Progress Publishers.
-
Kędzia Zdzisław . 1988. “Interpretation and Protection of the Constitutional Rights and Freedoms in Poland.” Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights 6, no. 1: 38–58.
-
Kerley Elizabeth . 2016. “The Contest for Human Rights: Soviet Soft Power through Détente, Reform, and Collapse, 1973–1991.” PhD dissertation, Harvard University.
-
Klenner Hermann . 1964. Studien über die Grundrechte. Berlin: Staatsverlag der DDR.
-
Lukina Anna . 2017. The Soviet Union and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Max Planck Institute for European Legal History Research Paper Series No. 2017-01.
-
Markovits Inga . 1989. “Law and Glasnost’: Some Thoughts about the Future of Judicial Review under Socialism.” Law & Society Review 23, no. 3: 399–447.
-
Mayer Ann . 1990. “Current Muslim Thinking on Human Rights.” In Human Rights in Africa: Cross-Cultural Perspectives, edited by An-naim Abdullahi and Deng Francis M. , 133–156. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press.
-
Mertens Lothar . 2004. Rote Denkfabrik?: die Akademie für Gesellschaftswissenschaften beim ZK der SED. Münster: LIT.
-
Mihr Anja . 2002. Amnesty International in der ddr: der Einsatz für Menschenrechte im Visier der Stasi. Berlin: Ch. Links.
-
Morsink Johannes . 1999. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Origins, Drafting, and Intent. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
-
Moyn Samuel . 2010. Last Utopia: Human Rights in History. Cambridge: Belknap.
-
Opp Karl-Dieter . 1995. Origins of a Spontaneous Revolution: East Germany, 1989. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
-
Reissig Rolf . 2002. Dialog durch die Mauer: die umstrittene Annäherung von spd und sed . Frankfurt: Campus Verlag.
-
Richardson-Little Ned . 2020. The Human Rights Dictatorship: Socialism, Global Solidarity and Revolution in East Germany. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
-
Sajó Andras . 1990. “New Legalism in East Central Europe: Law as an Instrument of Social Transformation.” Journal of Law and Society 17, no. 3: 329–344.
-
Snyder Sarah . 2011. Human Rights Activism and the End of the Cold War: A Transnational History of the Helsinki Network. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
-
Süss Walter . 1999. Staatssicherheit am Ende: warum es den Mächtigen nicht gelang, 1989 eine Revolution zu verhindern. Berlin: Ch. Links.
-
Szabó Imre . 1966. Socialist Concept of Human Rights. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó.
-
Thomas Daniel C. 2005. “Human Rights Ideas, the Demise of Communism, and the End of the Cold War.” Journal of Cold War Studies 7, no. 2: 110–141.
-
Wieruszewski Roman . 1988. “The Evolution of the Socialist Concept of Human Rights.” Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights 6, no. 1 ( sim Newsletter 1/1988): 27–37.
-
Wieruszewski Roman . 1990. “The Principle of Interrelation Between Human Rights and Duties.” In Revolution and Human Rights: Proceeding of the 14th ivr World Congress in Edinburgh, August 1989, edited by Maihofer Werner and Sprenger Gerhard , 209–214. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 1515 | 260 | 54 |
| Full Text Views | 151 | 7 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 272 | 13 | 0 |
The Failure of the Socialist Declaration of Human Rights
Ideology, Legitimacy, and Elite Defection at the End of State Socialism
In: East Central EuropeSearch for other papers by Ned Richardson-Little in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
In the mid-1980s, the Eastern Bloc faced increased pressure on the issue of human rights from western governments, ngos, and indigenous dissident. Although the Socialist Bloc had claimed to represent the ideals of human rights throughout the Cold War, by 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev called on the leaders of the Eastern Bloc to work together on a coordinated response to this threat and in response East Germany proposed the creation of an international declaration based on the principles of socialist—rather than bourgeois—human rights. Within a few years, however, the project collapsed in ignominious failure as it provided a vehicle for reformers to challenge the status quo in the name of human rights by demanding greater democratization. Although the project was originally devised to refute the human rights claims of the West, it instead acted to spur on the intellectual collapse of the Eastern Bloc’s ideological unity at its time of greatest crisis.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 1515 | 260 | 54 |
| Full Text Views | 151 | 7 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 272 | 13 | 0 |