The volume draws attention to the unknown and unexplored areas, trends and ways of thinking under the communist regime. It demonstrates how various bodies of knowledge (philosophical, social, political, aesthetic, even theological) were produced, disseminated and used for a wide variety of purposes: from openly justifying dominant political views to framing oppositional and non-official discourses and practices.

Edited by Costica Bradatan and Serguei Oushakine - Contributions by Clemena Antonova; Aurelian Craiutu; Mikhail Epstein; Elena Gapova; Letitia Guran; Ivars Ijabs; Natasa Kovacevic; Jeffrey Murer; Veronika Tuckerova; Vladimir Tismaneanu and Maria Todorova

Chapter 1 Introduction Part 2 I. The Sickle, the Hammer and the Typewriter Chapter 3 1) Ideas against Ideocracy: The Platonic Drama of Russian Thought Chapter 4 2) Asking for More: Finding Utopia in the Critical Sociology of the Budapest School and the Praxis Movement Chapter 5 3) Aesthetics: a Modus Vivendi in East Central Europe? Chapter 6 4) Changing Perceptions of Pavel Florensky in Russian and Soviet Scholarship Part 7 II. Heretics Chapter 8 5) The Totalitarian Languages of Utopia and Dystopia: Fidelius and Havel Chapter 9 6) Martyrdom and Philosophy. The Case of Jan Patocka Chapter 10 7) Anti-Communist Orientalism: Shifting Boundaries of Europe in Dissident Writing Part 11 III. In Search of a (New) Mission Chapter 12 8) Vitality Rediscovered: Theorizing Post-Soviet Ethnicity in Russia Chapter 13 9) Balkanism and postcolonilaism or on the Beauty of the Airplane View Chapter 14 10) Anxious Intellectuals: Framing the Nation as a class in Belarus Part 15 IV. Reinventing Hope Chapter 16 11) The Demise of Leninism and the Future of Liberal Values Chapter 17 12) "Politics of Authenticity" and/or Civil Society Chapter 18 13) Mihai Sora: A Philosopher of Dialogue and Hope