Feudalism in Modern Eastern Europe

Foreign occupation in Eastern Europe during and after 1939 has entailed widespread administrative reorganizations and replacement of previously-established national elites by arbitrary leadership exercising abusive force and dictatorship, at odds with self-asserted “popular power” and “people’s democracy”. One may argue that the mechanisms whereby these societies functioned de facto are in fact very close to feudal systems. Recognition of this state of things may simplify our approach to the “communist” era and perhaps aid in understanding the relevance of labels in today’s political movements.