Preliminary Programme

According to Serge Berstein (1999), political cultures are formed by a group of individuals who partake in a system of representations based on a shared worldview –of their past, present, and future they intend to build together. In the case of the PCE, said system contributed to create a feeling of belonging among the party’s militants that transcended their political activism, shaping every aspect of their lives. Therefore, I would argue that in order to fully understand the depth of this commitment it is necessary to understand this political party as a differentiated emotional community, in the words of Barbara Rosenwein (2006). In this view, the Spanish communists would distinguish themselves from the rest of society by cherishing a series of values and morals opposed to those promoted by the Francoist regime. In doing so, they would be not only acting, but also feeling in a communist manner.
The “cult of the past” shared by all communist parties was of uppermost importance in the Spanish context –almost epic– because of the experience of the Civil War (1936-1939). The memory of the war was truly shaped by the emotions that were linked to it: going from hope and hate to despair. During the analysed period, a lot of the communists who fought in the war died. I would argue that their homages and death notices were used as part of the party’s propaganda machine. In said homages, apart from trying to legitimize their status as “the antifrancoist party”, they would honour a series of values and virtues supposedly shared by these militants, such as their discipline, moral integrity, self-sacrifice and a profound sense of justice. In doing so, they would try to create that sense of belonging that was necessary for their political commitment to the Party. (Show less)

The labour movement in Finland utilized oral agitation widely as a means of propagating socialist ideology in the early 20th-century. The Social Democratic Party had dozens of speakers traveling across the country. Socialist agitators traveled from village to village and gave speeches in private houses and social evenings. Oral agitation was a powerful way to influence people's opinions and reach those who did not read newspapers. A strong emotional charge was often an important part of an agitation performance.

This paper explores the opportunities to study emotions in the past by utilizing viewpoints of performance studies. I will utilize the concept of emotive by anthropologist William M. Reddy. Emotive is a public expression of emotion that is capable to influence people (Reddy 2001). What kind of emotions were performed in the early 20th-century agitation? What emotives were applied to influence people's opinions? The variety of emotions in political agitation has been ignored in Finnish historical research. Hatred, anger and revenge have been emphasized over other strong emotives such as love and comradeship, hope and enthusiasm. The paper focuses on the uses and manifestations of diverse emotions in political agitation. Research material of the paper consists of published and unpublished descriptions of agitation by the speakers and their audiences. (Show less)

The Nordic world underwent substantial changes in the course of the early modern period. As formerly insignificant peripheral countries became the new actors on Europe’s political stage, others lost their hegemonic influence. The 17th century certainly marked the era of the implementation of state formations, but simultaneously, revolts challenged the legitimacy of the early modern state elites all over Europe, constantly fueling their fear of unrest (e.g. the significant revolts in Naples, 1648, and in Portugal, 1640).
As the Swedish empire rose to a European great power with unique might and geographical circumference, inner stability became a matter of utmost importance for the state elite. In the 16th century, Sweden had had her share of peasant unrest, e.g. the infamous Dacke uprising (Dackefejden, 1542–1543) in the Western part of the empire, today's Sweden, and the Club War (Nuijasota/Klubbekriget, 1595–1597) in the Eastern part, today's Finland. Those significant events lived on in the minds of the elite as well as the peasants and were eagerly instrumentalized rhetorically by both parties, leading to a precariously strained situation between elite and subjects in the first half of the 17th century. Due to Sweden’s military involvement in numerous wars, the Swedish people suffered tremendous burdens in form of high taxes and constant conscription. Nevertheless, in spite of smaller tumults that occurred in different parts of the empire in this period, there were no uprisings comparable to those of the previous century. However, the escalation of tension between state power and subjects was perceived as imminent.
In my opinion, the Swedish elite’s fear of peasant unrest was omnipresent in the first part of the 17th century and I consider the uniquely tense situation the starting point for my presentation. This fear becomes evident in the national and transnational revolt communication. Nationally, it can be traced in the discussions of the royal council, the royal correspondence, the correspondence of Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna and the propositions for the Diet. Transnationally, the poignant anxiety with which the Swedish elite observed revolts and unrest abroad can be followed through diplomatic sources. I believe that the metaphorical manner in which diplomats reported about revolts ignited the elite’s fear of unrest in Sweden. Revolts were frequently depicted as ‘storms’, ‘fires’, or ‘diseases’ and as such they gained an incontrollable and, most importantly, border-crossing quality which implied that the powerful revolts on the European continent potentially could spread to Sweden and entrain the common men.
Another indicator for the government’s fear were the measures taken by the monarch in order to prevent rebellions, as these were closely linked to reports on revolts abroad. In my presentation, I aim to combine political history and research on revolts with diplomatic history as history of emotions. (Show less)

In a more traditional view, politics is not supposed to be related to emotions, and research into political history as a rule concentrates on power, parties, elections, the state, legislation and statesmen. However, research into for instance the origins of the welfare state demonstrates that in the process of public and political agenda setting as well as in political debates on early social legislation, morality and emotions played a substantial role.
To put social issues on the agenda, to reveal the problems and consequences, and to persuade the public and politicians to intervene, reformers published many accounts and reports with not only rational and economic arguments, but also with a profound emotional tone. As a result, humanitarian narratives were constructed that would become emotional iconic images: Honest country girls involuntarily becoming fallen women; deceased children who could not be buried because of a lack of money; unemployed fathers who could not support their families, forced to live of crime.
By linking these publications full of fear and empathy to social-economic problems and by formulating political answers, these reformers not only defined public and political agendas and debates, they were able to influence regulation and legislation as well. Consequently, arguments to intervene were often based on emotional accounts, making these humanitarian narratives a defining element in ‘rational’ politics.
This significance of humanitarian narratives in political history around 1900 was not only related to the social question: it seems to have been of a guiding influence in political decisions towards all ‘weak’ groups such as workers, women, children, animals, the sick and disabled or inhabitants of the colonies. During this period, the setting of political agenda and its subsequent debates and interventions with regard to the ‘weak other’ appeared to be constantly endorsed by emotional arguments and humanitarian narratives. Leading question in this paper is if emotions, and in particular humanitarian narratives in their role of indictments and moral compasses, can indeed be labelled as a guiding influence when conducting research into political history. (Show less)