ABSTRACT
The communist episode, central to the historical experience of the twentieth century but brought to an abrupt end by unforeseen developments, is widely dismissed as a failed revolt against modernity. But approaches to Communism as a modern phenomenon depend on basic assumptions about ways and means to theorize modernity as such, and rival frameworks of interpretation are bound to be reflected in equally diverse accounts of the case. The chapter considers the question of distinctive crisis dynamics inherent in—or generated by—the Communist version of modernity. Attempts to redirect or accelerate development within Communist regimes were often linked to preferences for a particular sphere as the most promising starting point for broader structural change. But in more general terms, the search for remedies was a recurrent and more or less articulate response to the crisis symptoms, and it could be pursued along reformist or revolutionary lines.
