School of Social & Political Sciences

The Comintern's Textbook of Breaking Through. Romania as a Study Case

Drawing on recently unearthed documents, this project examines the role played by the Comintern, an organization entirely under Soviet control, in creating the premises for the Communist takeover in Central and Eastern Europe after the World War II. It focuses on two main topics. First, the project explores the creation of the Communist Party in Romania and its missions throughout the Comintern’s existence between 1919 and 1943. Second, it analyses how members of the Communist movement in Romania had been selected by the Comintern to contribute to the Communist takeover as future leaders of the Romanian Workers Party. A study of how Soviet policies helped the Communist takeover in the region will lead to a better understanding of problems that are still on the agenda of Western scholars and policymakers today whether in Ukraine or Moldova. In addition of having policy significance, the findings will be relevant to academic debates seeking to determine whether cultural affinities, state structures or political leaders are most important in shaping the “taking over” process, regardless the regimes in power. The findings will be published in a monograph.

Duration: 5^th May 2025 - 30^th April 2027 

Funder: The British Academy

Partners: Leverhulme Trust