Reinterpreting Socialist Symbols | Reinterpreting Socialist Symbols

Author: Silviu Aldea

Bilingual Romanian-English edition

Tact Publishing House, Cluj-Napoca, 2015

Silviu Aldea, architect and assistant professor at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, studies the "role, meaning and messages of the material legacy of socialism" in post-1989 Central and Eastern Europe, with examples mainly from Romania, Bulgaria, Germany and Poland. Reinterpreting Socialist Symbols is a complex and comparative analysis of the historical memory of the socialist heritage in the former communist states, emphasizing in particular the architecture and monuments of the communist past. The author attempts to understand contemporary attitudes towards socialist architecture by focusing on the impact of globalization phenomena, such as extreme consumerism and phenomena specific to post-socialist states, such as the need to forget or revenge, which are the main forces of pressure and reasons for change in architecture and the built environment (p. 46). He argues that the paradigm of socialist architecture is mainly negative, pointing out that, in general, "architecture has always been associated in one way or another with power, inheriting the glory, celebrity or guilt of its creators" (p. 107).

The book Reinterpreting Socialist Symbols is thematically organized into sections devoted to the contemporary socialist city, the pressures on the post-socialist city, and new post-socialist roles, with a very well-organized and detailed concluding chapter. The author brings the socialist past to the forefront of his arguments. Silviu Aldea emphasizes its role in shaping post-1989 society, this is not only a matter of intellectual debate or shaping and dictating the development of the new built environment, but the communist past is also part of everyday culture, integrated into everyday life, through various acts of consumerism, such as the transformation of former buildings into shopping malls or the revitalization and success of former successful communist brands (Rom, Polar, Pegas, Kofola, Tisa) or acts of culture, such as the representations of the socialist past in museums or cinema, encompassed in the phenomenon of "ostalgie". Moreover, he does not miss the opportunity to show the continuities between former communist and current political regimes in Eastern Europe, the arbitrariness or irony of situations, through a parallel between the demolition of the Mausoleum of Georgy Dimitrov in post-socialist Bulgaria and the demolition of the Paulinierkircke in the German Democratic Republic. Challenging the past is part of the legitimizing process of any new regime. A particular strength of his analysis lies in his exploration of creative interventions and acts of interpretation by young artists, such as the Paintbrush Factory in Cluj-Napoca or the former Electroputere Club in Craiova, whose spaces are used for contemporary art and culture events, exhibitions, debates, etc. In this context, he argues that these spaces act against the gentrification of art, as opposed to the lack of 'innovation of museums' or the 'overly pronounced commercial character of art galleries' (pp. 176-178).

Reinterpreting socialist symbols revisits in different instances the role of consumer culture and consumerism in changing the built environment. He argues that communist regimes did not give enough importance to consumption, thus "consumerism and leisure, in this logic, are merely means of securing food, clothing or rest for the ultimate goal of industrial advancement and overcoming the five-year plans (p. 75)". Although, until recently, scholars in the field have characterized consumerism in Eastern Europe during communist regimes as non-existent or that the collapse of communist regimes was also a result of the inability of socialist states to provide consumer goods, recent studies (Susan E. Reid, Mark Landsam, Katy Pence, Ina Merkel, Małgorzata Mazurek, Mary Neuberger, etc.) have shown that consumerism played a role in a deficient society and communist states were more responsive than previously thought to consumer demands and also recognized the importance of consumption. By the 1960s-1970s, the culture of consumerism and mass consumption became a reality in Eastern Europe. Drawing on Mariusz Czepczynski's study, Cultural Landscapes of Post-Socialist Cities: Representations of Power and Need, Silviu Aldea suggests that socialist symbols are often used to fuel mass consumption, either by transforming them from "circuses of hunger" into "cathedrals of consumerism" (using George Ritzer's terminology) or through the cultural/economic consumerism that museums engage in. His interpretation can also be seen as an example of a common debate and dilemma in architecture: 'how to practice within a consumer culture with which one is not entirely comfortable', which began as soon as the first department stores were built in the second half of the 19th century.

Silviu Aldea's book places post-socialist architecture and architectural debates in a broader perspective, while showing the links between Eastern European countries as well as between Eastern and Western Europe. The author constantly refers to similar cases from former socialist countries in Central and Eastern Europe, such as the National Socialist Palace in Sofia, the People's House in Bucharest, Augustus Platz in Leipzig. Based mainly on secondary sources, covering much of the region, the author also puts aspects of post-socialist Romania in a new light. Reinterinterpreting Socialist Symbols is a valuable contribution for architects, historians, students of Architecture and History, but also for readers in general. In conclusion, the book is a compelling argument for understanding the multiple representations and interpretations of the past and their role in politicizing the present.