The term "internationalism" denotes a variety of impulses and initiatives that favoured and facilitated cooperation between individuals, groups, organisations or governments. The multifarious nature of internationalism meant that it manifested itself in different places and manifold ways. Rather than being informed by a coherent political or social agenda, internationalism was deployed by a wide array of political, social and cultural actors. This essay highlights such diversity and therefore approaches internationalism from several angles: as an idea, a narrative, a set of practices and a quest for international organisation.
The article examines radical cultural politics by focusing on the West German initiative of Rock gegen Rechts ('Rock Against the Right'). This campaign involved concerts, publications and demonstrations, most notably the staging of two large-scale festivals in Frankfurt/Main in 1979 and 1980. Rock Against Racism – launched in Britain in 1976 – served as a model for the activists. Yet Rock gegen Rechts differed from its British counterpart in significant ways, both in terms of the political and musical currents that sustained the campaign and with regard to the object of protest. Through the prism of Rock gegen Rechts, the article shows how campaigners debated the nature of 'the right' – an important subject in a country whose fascist past figured prominently in public debate. The campaign occurred at a critical juncture of the German left, as the latter underwent seemingly contradictory processes of fragmentation and coalition-building during the late 1970s. The article explores a left-wing milieu that was associated with music and alternative lifestyles, but also with a nascent green movement. Moreover, the example of Rock gegen Rechts sheds fresh light on the interaction between music and politics on the one side, and between music, commerce and consumption on the other.
The aftermath of the First World War saw manifold efforts to (re-)construct an international community. One striking development of this development was the foundation of various international student organisations. This article analyses the largest of these bodies – namely the International Confederation of Students (Confédération internationale des Étudiants, CIE). The CIE forms the prism through which the article investigates four major aspects of interwar internationalism: nationalism, intellectual cooperation, mobility and radicalism. The CIE brought together the representatives of different national unions of students and thus involved activists that could cast themselves as future leaders. It portrayed its activities as 'apolitical', embracing an internationalism that sought to consolidate, rather than overthrow, the international order. To this end, the organisation cooperated with the League of Nations, particularly in the realm of student travel. Yet, despite its discourse of peace and non-partisanship, the CIE suffered from manifold national divisions and maintained an uneasy relationship with the political developments of the period. In this context, the article shows how, rather than being the domain of impractical idealists, internationalism provided an arena for the pursuit of competing national and political agendas.
Actes du Séminaire doctoral du laboratoire ICT - EA 337 ; National audience ; L'exemple de la Belgique, avant et pendant la Première guerre mondiale, qu'analyse Daniel LAQUA, offre un terreau fertile à l'épanouissement d'un pacifisme internationaliste. En effet, pendant les années qui précédèrent la Grande guerre, la Belgique, malgré un nationalisme croissant, fut un carrefour international. Elle abrita des expositions universelles, de nombreux congrès de mouvements politiques internationalistes, et fut le lieu de fructueux échanges intellectuels et artistiques avec les pays voisins. Daniel LAQUA étudie comment cette coopération internationaliste s'est trouvée durement mise à l'épreuve par l'agression subie par la Belgique et les violences de l'occupation allemande. L'auteur répond à ces questions en prenant l'exemple de trois figures de pacifistes. D'abord celle de Henri La Fontaine (1854-1943), co-fondateur de la Société Belge de l'Arbitrage et de la Paix en 1889, représentant du Parti Ouvrier Belge au Sénat à partir de 1895, président du Bureau International pour la Paix de 1907 à sa mort, et lauréat du Prix Nobel de la paix en 1913. Le second personnage est Camille Huysmans (1871-1968), socialiste et secrétaire de la Deuxième Internationale. La troisième est Eugénie Hamer (1865-?), membre du cercle des dames de la Croix Rouge, activiste de l'Alliance belge pour la paix par l'éducation (ABPE), une suffragette qui entretenait des relations suivies avec les mouvements de femmes des pays voisins.
This article examines a transformative moment in the history of British higher education. After the First World War, student numbers were boosted by the arrival of large numbers of ex-servicemen. Their access to university was facilitated by the government-funded Scheme for the Higher Education of Ex-Service Students, which provided grants to nearly 27,000 students between 1918 and 1923. The article offers the first sustained historical analysis of the workings and impact of this programme, which constituted a major development in state support for individual students. Our study contextualizes these measures by showing how the war was memorialized at universities and by tracing the changing nature of student life – covering themes such as gender relations and the activities of student societies. Material from case-study institutions in London and the North East of England is used to add specific depth to discussions of the national picture. As a whole, the article makes an original contribution to the wider literature on the First World War's impact on British society.
This article examines a transformative moment in the history of British higher education. After the First World War, student numbers were boosted by the arrival of large numbers of ex‐servicemen. Their access to university was facilitated by the government‐funded Scheme for the Higher Education of Ex‐Service Students, which provided grants to nearly 28,000 students between 1918 and 1923. The article offers the first sustained historical analysis of the workings and impact of this programme, which constituted a major development in state support for individual students. Our study contextualizes these measures by showing how the war was memorialized at universities and by tracing the changing nature of student life – covering themes such as gender relations and the activities of student societies. Material from case‐study institutions in London and the North East of England is used to add specific depth to discussions of the national picture. As a whole, the article makes an original contribution to the wider literature on the First World War's impact on British society.
