Democratic Memory

“Let’s make a clean slate of the past”, La Internacional cries out. And it hammers home the point: “We are nothing, now let’s be all”. It has been a hundred years since the verses to the workers’ anthem came to life and the socialist Social Revolution broke out in Russia. And everything changed. A series of talks focusing on the phenomenon that shaped, in Eric Hobsbawm’s words, the short twentieth century, from the present, past, literature, political activism, art and journalism.

The Revolution appeals to today’s revolutions. The myth of Sovietism will extend around the world, stirring revolutionary yearnings and determining repressive and reformist policies in the capitalist world. Memories of the Revolution will flood literature and become its central feature, as in the case of Doktor Zivago and the Cold War. Beyond the USSR, the political activism of the communists will become one of the most important factors in the struggle for freedom and equality in the 20th century. And a provocative artistic angle and, ultimately, from post-Soviet Russia, goes without saying.

The Revolution today

26/10/2017, 7 pm – 9 pm

The revolution is not a thing of the past but of a present marked by the havoc of the economic crisis, increased social inequalities and the democratic loss of our capacity to decide our lives and the common good. To this end, it seemed appropriate to start with this question and, certainly, the wide variety of responses, a hundred years later, the October Revolution continues to appeal to today’s revolutionaries.

With Esther Vivas, Odei Etxearte, Guillem Martínez, Roger Palà and

Olga Rodríguez. Moderated by: Paola lo Cascio.

The century of the Revolution

02/11/2017, 7 pm – 9 pm

The Russian Revolution left a deep mark on the 20th century’s history. For some, it was the hope of social change and, while not sympathising with its lack of freedoms, they defended it as a model for equality. For others it was a fear that had to be fought against on all fronts, especially in one’s own country, and by any means, even if the price to be paid was a loss of freedoms. All in all, a journey through paradise and hell guided by master historian, Josep Fontana, the most influential living Catalan historian on Spanish historiography.

With Andreu Mayayo and Josep Fontana.

The Zhivago affair: a publishing-house story from the Cold War

02/11/2017, 7 pm – 9 pm

Quite apart from the quality of Doctor Zhivago , which earned Boris Pasternack the Nobel Prize for Literature, the vicissitudes of its publication by the Feltrinelli publishing house in 1957 and its first edition in Russian by the CIA the following year, are fascinating Cold War stories in themselves, as reconstructed in a couple of recent books by Paolo Mancosu, who will be accompanied by the publisher’s son and together discuss and comment on documents never seen by the public before and only recently declassified.

With Jorge Herralde, Carlo Feltrinelli and Paolo Mancosu.

The red son of activism

02/11/2017, 7 pm – 9 pm

Converting politics into a religion was one of the main contributions made by the Communist International. Communist parties became a church (with the Kremlin playing the role of the Vatican) and its activists, priests and crusaders of the Good News with an absolute faith and relentless passion. Luciana Castellina and Eulàlia Vintró are two exceptional women, with a long history of activism behind them and an enviable political task in democratic institutions, from the European Parliament to Barcelona City Council.

With Eulàlia Vintró and Luciana Castellina.

The Revolution that came the day after its arrival

02/11/2017, 7 pm – 9 pm

The Revolution changed everything and provided the impetus for new artistic and cultural trends, from the visual arts to literature, not to mention constructivism in architecture and poster art using photomontages. Not only did form have to be destroyed, as was the case under cubism, but a commitment had to be made too, for the benefit of essence and supremacy of pure feeling, through infinite electric and geometric movement and through colour. Taking Kafka as the source of inspiration for a title, Hito Steyerl questions art and revolution through images.

With Carles Guerra and Hito Steyerl.

The USSR’s implosion

02/11/2017, 7 pm – 9 pm

Over Christmas 1991, the USSR became a thing of the past. Mikhaïl Gorbachev’s reformist project, known as Perestroika, failed in the face of separatism, the relentless advance of the market economy and rejection from conservative members of the CPSU, who ultimately accelerated the disintegration process with a failed coup d’état. A correspondent from La Vanguardia, Raphael Loch, made a chronicle of post-Soviet Russian for more than 20 years and told his story in a splendid book.

With Anton Segura and Raphael Loch de Feliu.

Free admission.