Back to the Future: What vision of the future did people have during perestroika?
In many Central and Eastern European countries, a period of greater openness emerged in the late 1980s. How did this affect the future perspective of residents? And can we learn anything from this period for our current times? University lecturer Dorine Schellens delves into the literature to investigate this.
At the end of the last century, various Central and Eastern European countries underwent profound social transformations that led to the downfall of communism as the dominant ideology in the region. 'We often tend to give the history of perestroika clear start and end dates,' says Schellens, 'but the outcome of these developments was uncertain at the time. You can therefore also see this period as a starting point for reflections on something new. Over the past three decades, these former communist countries, as well as the West, have had to redefine themselves.'
However, reflection on the events between 1989 and 1991 too often takes a Western perspective, Schellens believes. 'We rarely ask what visions of the future emerged in these countries themselves. As a result, we don't properly understand certain developments in the present or are caught off guard by them. Just think of voting for far-right parties like the AfD in East Germany. I think we need to go back to the period of the 1980s and 1990s to look for explanations,' says Schellens. 'People had all sorts of ideas about where society should be heading. When one of these visions of the future emerges now, it may seem sudden to us, but actually, they've often been simmering beneath the surface for a long time.'
Simmering beneath the surface
Literature is one of the places in society where reflection on the future is offered. 'I want to know what happens when a major ideology like communism is suddenly no longer the only possible future scenario,' says Schellens. 'The East German writer Christa Wolf, for example, was still convinced of socialism as a better form of society during the fall of the Wall. For her, the continued existence of the GDR was logical – but in a democratic form. It's very interesting to investigate where such perspectives come from. But it can also offer openness. We're currently stuck in all kinds of crises, from climate to war, without knowing how we could shape our future differently. Sometimes it almost seems as if we think it's already predetermined. Then it can help to see that visions of the future are historically changeable and that we play a role in that ourselves.'
Different conceptual framework
In her project, Schellens makes a comparison between East German and Russian literature and non-fiction. 'With the GDR, you have a country on the border between the former West and East, while Russia is different in terms of its size and influence within the region.' By comparing these two different cases, she wants to gain insight into the diversity of futures in the former communist region. 'In both countries, writers had a very important voice. On the one hand, literature was seen as a socialist instrument to educate citizens; on the other hand, it could be an instrument of criticism, albeit disguised.'
Schellens focuses on the visions of the future that become visible in the literature, essays, and cultural theory of this period. 'I want to know what the bandwidth of future visions is and what concepts and theories were used to respond to the transformations in society in essays or cultural theory. We still too often look at other parts of the world through an American or Western European conceptual framework. It would be good to modify that somewhat.'