The novelty of this conference, dedicated to the fiftieth anniversary of the events of 1956, lies in establishing links between what took place in the Soviet bloc (erosion of the regime) and the effects in the rest of Europe, with particular regard to its effect on political parties, foreign policy and shifts in public opinion.

Fifty years ago the two Europes, from East to West, were convulsed by a great shock. The events of the era (the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and Nikita Khrushchev's speech, the workers' uprising in Poznan, the Polish October and the Soviet intervention in Hungary have been frequently analysed and commemorated as the first schism within the Soviet totalitarian system. There have been few discussions, however, on the links at the European level between the evolution of communism and the political evolution of western democracies. It is certain that there was a link between the Suez crisis and the crushing of the Hungarian insurrection, but the "snowball" effect and the decomposition of communism were less perceptible. The iron curtain of the cold war also cut in two the research and analyses of 1956.

Thus the novelty of this conference, dedicated to the fiftieth anniversary of the events of 1956, lies in establishing links between what took place in the Soviet bloc (erosion of the regime) and the effects in the rest of Europe, with particular regard to its effect on political parties, foreign policy and shifts in public opinion.

1956 is therefore a date to be marked as essential in order to see European history in its entirety, and as a result it belongs to its common heritage.

Historical Background

After the death of Stalin on 4 March, 1953, a struggle for succession took place in the USSR, which in turn was imitated by its "fraternal allies". At this moment, communism entered a profound crisis. From 14 to 25 February 1956, the 20th Congress of the CPSU took place in Moscow. Nikita Khrushchev's "secret speech" on the night of 24 to 25 February denounced the personality cult, Stalinist repressions (the Gulag, the elimination of "opponents", notably the communist leadership) and Stalinist theory of the aggravation of class struggle along with building communism. During these debates, the idea of different paths towards socialism was accepted. Retrospectively, another interpretation can be drawn. The role of the Congress has an importance beyond the power struggle that made it possible: using a routine conference as a means, it was necessary to take steps to adapt a system which was suffocating as a result of its contradictions. The impact of this Congress was enormous for the central and eastern European countries. The Poles and the Yugoslavs made the speech public immediately; the leaderships of the Czechoslovak, East German, Hungarian, Romanian, Bulgarian and Albanian communist parties tried to keep it secret, whist in China it was contested. In Western Europe, the path which Khrushchev's speech travelled marked future changes in other political areas.

1956 is one of the fundamental dates for political parties' geopolitical reconfiguration after the Second World War. In this sense, the condemnation of the "crimes of the communist regimes" voted in the Council of Europe after a heated debate on 25 January, 2006, opened a new discussion 50 years on.

Objectives

The aim of this conference is a faithful reconstruction of the events of this period through new research, the testimony of last witnesses and other main actors. In the writing of European historical research we are looking to examine the importance of 1956 for the Europe of today.

Organisers and Partners

The project takes the form of a series of intellectual events, co-organised by Science-Po, the Polish Institute in Paris and the Polish Historical and Literary Society (the Polish Library of Paris) together with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, the Franco-Russian Centre for Social and Human Sciences of Moscow (French Ministry of Foreign Affairs), the 1956 Institute of Budapest, the "Karta" Centre in Warsaw, the Hungarian Institute in Paris, the Institute of Social and Political Sciences - ISP (CNRS) - and under the patronage and with the support of the Polish and Hungarian embassies.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Thursday, 23 November 2006
First day of the Conference "1956: a European Date" at Sciences Po (auditorium, 56, rue Jacob).

Friday, 24 November 2006
Second Day of the Conference "1956: a Pivotal Year", at the Bibliotheque polonaise de Paris (6, quai d'Orléans).

Saturday, 25 November and Sunday, 26 November 2006
Newsreels and film footage from 1956 and other films on the "thaw" of 1956 at the Institut polonais (31, rue Jean Goujon).

Thursday, 30 November and Friday, 1 December 2006
Colloquium in Moscow with the "Memorial Centre" the Franco-Russian Centre for Social and Human Sciences of Moscow "The 20th Congress of the CPSU in the History of the Soviet Union", organised under the initiative of Professor Alexis Berelowitch.

CONFERENCE PROGRAMME

Thursday 23 November 2006 - First Day: Sciences Po
"1956 - A EUROPEAN DATE"

9.00 - 9.30: Opening. René Rémond of the Académie française, President of the FNSP (Fondation nationale des sciences politiques), professor emeritus.

Great Witness and Guest of honour: François Fejtö.

9.30 - 11.00: Round table no. 1 - The Forerunners of the Geopolitical Recomposition (doctrines, relations between forces, 20th Congress of the CPSU, etc.).

Alexis Berelowitch, Professor at the Université Paris IV; Dominique Colas, Professor at the Institut d'études politiques de Paris (chair); Antoine Marès, President of the Institute of Slavonic Studies in Paris; Stefan Meller, former Polish minister of foreign affairs; and Nicolas Werth, Professor at CNRS (Institute of Contemporary History, IHTP).

11.00 - 11.15: Break

11.15 - 12.45: Round table no. 2 - Central Europe and the Differentiation of Communism.

Nicolas Bauquet, PhD student, Sciences Po; Paulina Codogni, researcher at the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences (ISP PAN), teacher at Collegium Civitas (Warsaw); Pierre Kende, member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, President of the Institute for the History of the 1956 Uprising; Georges Mink, Professor at the CNRS (Institute of Social and Political Science - ISP) (chair); Jacques Rupnik, Institut d'études politiques de Paris (CERI).

12.45 - 14.30: Lunch break

14.30 - 16.00: Round table no. 3 - Echoes in Public Opinion, the Political and Intellectual Consequences of 1956 in Western Europe.

Gérard Grunberg, Academic Director Sciences Po, Professor at CNRS (chair); Marc Lazar, Professor at the Institut d'études politiques de Paris, Director of the Doctoral Progamme at Sciences Po; Thomas Schreiber, journalist, diplomatic correspondent for Radio France Internationale (RFI); Jean-François Sirinelli, Professor at the Institut d'études politiques de Paris, Director of the History Centre at Sciences Po.

"Great Witness": Pierre Daix, writer

16.00 - 16.30: Break

16.30 - 18.30: round table no. 4 - From 1956 to European Unity.

President: Bronislaw Geremek, MEP, Professor at the Collège of Europe (Bruges-Natolin), former Polish minister of foreign affairs.
Jean-Louis Bourlanges, MEP, Associate Professor at Sciences Po; Pierre Kende, member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, President of the Institute for the History of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956; Marc Lazar Professor at the Institut d'études politiques de Paris, Director of the Doctoral Progamme at Sciences Po (chair); Adam Michnik, writer, founder and editor-in-chief of "Gazeta Wyborcza" and Sergei Kovaliov, Russian parliamentarian and President of the Russian Institute for the Human Rights.

Closing Remarks: Marc Lazar.

Friday, 24 November 2006 - Second Day: Bibliotheque polonaise de Paris
"1956 - PIVOTAL YEAR"

9.30 Opening. C. Pierre Zaleski, President of the Polish Historical and Literary Society.

9.45 - 11.15: First session - 1956 in Poland. New interpretations.

Chair: Alain Touraine, Director of Studies at the Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS).
Speakers: Andrzej Paczkowski, Professor at the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences (ISP PAN, Warsaw) - "Poland after the 20th Congress of the CPSU"; Konrad Bialecki, Research Fellow at the University of Poznan and at the Institute of National Memory of Poznan, (in collaboration with Professor Stanislaw Jankowiak) - "The Workers' Revolt in Poznan: June 1956"; Pawel Machcewicz, Professor at the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences (ISP PAN, Warsaw) and at the Copernicus University in Torun - "The Polish October of 1956: a Political Crisis or Social Upheaval?"

11.00 Questions

11.15 - 11.45 Break

11.45 - 13.15 Second session - 1956 in Hungary

Chair: René Rémond of the Académie française, President of the FNSP (Fondation nationale des sciences politiques), professor emeritus.
Speakers: Thomas Schreiber, journalist, diplomatic correspondent, Radio France Internationale (RFI) - "A New Image of Hungary. Perceptions of the Hungarian Revolution in the West."; Gusztáv D. Kecskés, Research Fellow at the Institute of History of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences - "Western Democracies Attitude towards the Hungarian Revolution: the Evidence of the NATO Archives"; George Gömöri, Professor emeritus of the University of Cambridge - "The Two Different Octobers: Poland and Hungary. A Comparative Perspective - Divergences and Convergences"

13.00 - 13.15 Questions

13.15 - 15.30 Lunch Break

15.30 - 18.40 Round Table: 1956 and its Consequences

Chair: Hélene Carrere d'Encausse, Secretary of the Académie française.

Guest of Honour Elena Bonner of the Memorial Association, the Andrei Sakharov's widow, a Human Rights activist.

16.00 - 17.20 Introductory Presentations:
Speakers: Maurice Aymard, Professor at the Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS, Paris); Alain Besançon, Professor of History, member of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, member of the editorial board of "Cahiers du monde russe"; Norman Davies, Professor of History, professor emeritus of the University College of London: the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES); Arpad Fasang, former ambassador, permanent Hungarian delegate to UNESCO; Marcin Frybes, Research Fellow at the Centre d'analyse et d'intervention sociologiques - CADIS (EHESS-CNRS), teacher at Collegium Civitas (Warsaw); Agnieszka Grudzinska, Professor at the University Paris IV; Leszek Kolakowski, philosopher, professor emeritus of the University of Oxford; Antonin Liehm, founder and editor-in-chief of "Literární Noviny" (Prague), a weekly playing an important role during the Prague Spring in 1968 and of "Lettre internationale" (Paris); Georges Nivat, Professor at the University of Geneva.

17.20 - 18.20 Plenary debate

18.20 Conclusions: Bronislaw Geremek, MEP, Professor at the College of Europe (Bruges-Natolin), former Polish minister of foreign affairs.

PROGRAMME OF THE POLISH INSTITUTE
Documentary Films and News Reels from 1956

Saturday, 25 November at 18:30
Documentary Films and News Reels from 1956:

• the film of Marcel Lozinski "Pologne jamais vue a l'Ouest" ("Poland Never Seen by the West")
• French, Polish, Hungarian, Czech and Soviet newsreels from 1956

Introduction and commentary: Leopold Unger ("Le Soir", Brussels) and Marcel Lozinski (film maker)

Sunday 26 November at 16:00 and at 18:30
Retrospective of Polish and Hungarian documentary films from 1956.

"The Year 1956" - main page

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