dr. Erik van Ree
Gastonderzoeker
Erik van Ree (MA sociology; PhD 1988) is a research associate at the Duitsland Instituut Amsterdam of the University of Amsterdam. Until 2020, Erik worked as an assistant professor at the UvA Faculty of Humanities, first at the Eastern Europe Institute, then at the department of European Studies. In retirement he continues to work as a researcher. Over the years, his research interests focused on Marxism and communism, and, more widely, on extremist philosophies and politics. Undoubtedly, these research interests have something to do with the fact that, from 1973 to 1981, Erik was a member of several Maoist groups.
For many years, Erik’s research was focused on the political thought of Joseph Stalin, as well as on Stalin’s career as a revolutionary prior to 1917. Erik published widely on doctrinal problems of “socialism in one country” and notions of “permanent revolution” in the works of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Karl Kautsky, and V.I. Lenin. In 2025, he published his sociological study of the phenomenon of The Revolutionary Organisation, explored in its three dimensions of apparatus, emotional community, and instrument of physical force.
Erik’s new research project concerns today’s extreme right in Germany and the United States, and has a political-philosophy angle. Extreme rightists aggressively and gladly offer their views on many issues, such as race, migration, international law, climate change, and gender and sexuality. But when it comes to outlining their alternative for parliamentary democracy they tend to be reticent. Establishing what kind of alternative state order they have in mind, and what kind of threat to democracy emerges from this, is the focus of Erik’s present research. Authoritarianism, underpinned by notions of dictatorship and emergency rule, and the ethnostate are two main elements. The extreme right draws on various traditions of thought, such as the German “Conservative Revolution”, Protestant fundamentalism, Roman Catholic integralism, and libertarianism and techno-utopianism, articulated in very different ways in Germany and the US.
Books (Selection)
The Revolutionary Organisation. Armed Struggle from the Late 18th Century to the Present (Brill/Leiden, Boston), 2025
Boundaries of Utopia – Imagining Communism from Plato to Stalin (Routledge/London, New York), 2015
Wereldrevolutie. De Communistische Beweging van Marx tot Kim Jong Il. (Mets & Schilt, Standaard Uitgeverij/Amsterdam, Antwerpen), 2005
The Political Thought of Joseph Stalin. A Study in Twentieth-Century Revolutionary Patriotism (RoutledgeCurzon/London, New York), 2002
Socialism in One Zone. Stalin's Policy in Korea, 1945-1947 (Berg Publishers/ Oxford), 1989
Löwenhardt, John, James R. Ozinga, Erik van Ree, The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Politburo (St. Martin's Press/ New York; University College London Press/ London; Jan Mets/ Amsterdam), 1992
Jansen, Marc, Erik van Ree (red.), Russische Schurken (De Arbeiderspers/ Amsterdam), 1992
Articles (Selection)
2025
“Uiterst rechts en de democratie: wat te doen?”, in: Socialisme & Democratie, no.2 (2025) [https://wbs.nl/publicaties/wat-te-doen-met-de-democratie]
“The ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’ revisited: Marx, Engels and popular sovereignty”, in: History of Political Thought, vol.46, no.3 (2025): 527-52
2024
“Opnieuw een machteloze reactie op uiterst rechts”, in: NRC, 28 juni 2024
2023
“‘Standing against a State Requires the State’. Exploring Revolutionary Etatization”, in: Journal of Political & Military Sociology, vol.50, no.1 (2023): 1-31
Review of: Steve Paxton, Unlearning Marx. Why the Soviet Failure was a Triumph for Marx (Zed Books/Winchester, Washington), 2021; in: Studies in Marxism, vol.16 (2023): 174-9
2022
“The rise of the party in arms. Revolutionary organizations and modernization”, in: Journal of Political & Military Sociology, vol.49, no.1 (2022): 58-86
“‘The day the dragon licks its flank, you’ll find us at your side’. Self-heroization and revolutionary organisation”, in: Politics, Religion & Ideology, vol.23, no.3 (2022): 265-86
2021
“Karl Marx's posthumous success”, in: Ideology Theory Practice (2 August 2021)
[https://www.ideology-theory-practice.org/blog/karl-marxs-posthumous-success]
2020
“Dictatorship Unlimited: Lenin on the State, March-November 1917”, in: Douds, Lara, James Harris, Peter Whitewood (eds.), The Fate of the Bolshevik Revolution. Illiberal Liberation, 1917-41 (Bloomsbury Academic/London etc.) 2020: 17-29, 257-62
“Productive forces, the passions and natural philosophy: Karl Marx, 1841-1846”, in: Journal of Political Ideologies, vol.25, no.3 (2020): 274-93
2019
“Marx and Engels’ Theory of History: Making Sense of the Race Factor”, in: Journal of Political Ideologies, vol.24, no.1 (2019): 54-73
“A dream come true: eyewitnesses of the October Revolution”, in: Chatterjee, Choi, Steven G. Marks, Mary Neuburger, Steven Sabol (eds.), The Global Impacts of Russia’s Great War and Revolution, Book 2, The Wider Arc of Revolution. Part 1 (Slavica Publishers/Bloomington), 2019: 83-104
2017
“Stalin, Joseph”, in: Daniel, U., P. Gatrell, O. Janz, H. Jones, J. Keene, A. Kramer, B. Nasson (eds.), 1914-1918 Online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War (Freie Universität Berlin/Berlin), 2017 [https://hdl.handle.net/11245.1/1f3284d4-2d9e-4b44-b3ca-df6ff8cfadb6]
2016
“Lenin (1870-1924), Stalin (1878-1953), and nationalism”, in: Stone, John, Rutledge M. Dennis, Polly S. Rizova, Anthony D. Smith, Xiaoshu Hou (eds.), The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Nationalism, 2016, 4 pages [http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/book/10.1002/9781118663202]
“Stalinist ritual and belief system. Reflections on ‘political religion’”, in: Politics, Religion & Ideology, vol.17, nos.2-3, 2016: 143-61
2013
“Problems of communism. Gulag authorities and gulag victims”, review essay, in: International Review of Social History, vol.58, 2013, no.1: 107-19
“Georgii Plekhanov and the Communist Manifesto: the proletarian revolution revisited”, in: Revolutionary Russia, 2013, no.1: 32-51
“Marxism as permanent revolution”, in: History of Political Thought, Autumn 2013, vol.34, no.3: 540-63
2012
“German Marxism and the decline of the permanent revolution, 1870-1909”, in: History of European Ideas, vol.38, no.4, december 2012: 570-589
“Actualiteit van het communisme: voor herhaling vatbaar?”, in: Internationale Spectator, vol.66, nr.1, januari 2012: 7-9
2010
“The Stalinist self: the case of Ioseb Jughashvili (1898-1907)”, in: Kritika, vol.11, no.2, Spring 2010: 257-82
“Socialism in one country” before Stalin: German origins”, in: Journal of Political Ideologies, June 2010, vol.15, no.2: 143-59
“Lenin’s Conception of Socialism in One Country: 1915-1917”, in: Revolutionary Russia, vol.23, no.2, December 2010: 159-81
“Machtspolitieke en ideologische motieven in een twintigste-eeuwse dictatuur: Josef Stalin”, in: Van Heerikhuizen, Annemarie, Irene de Jong, Manet van Montfrans (eds.), Tweede Levens. Over Personen en Personages in de Geschiedschrijving en de Literatuur (Amsterdam University Press/Amsterdam), 2010: 137-51
2008
“Reluctant Terrorists? Transcaucasian Social-Democracy, 1901-9”, in: Europe-Asia Studies, vol.60, no.1, January 2008: 127-54
“Heroes and Merchants. Joseph Stalin and the Nations of Europe”, in: Wintle, Michael (ed.), Imagining Europe. Europe and European Civilisation as Seen from its Margins and by the Rest of the World, in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (P.I.E. Peter Lang/Brussel etc.), 2008: 51-72
2007
“Heroes and Merchants. Stalin’s Understanding of National Character”, in: Kritika, vol.8, no.1, Winter 2007: 41-65
2005
“Stalin as Marxist. The Western roots of Stalin’s russification of Marxism”, in: Davies, Sarah, James Harris (eds.), Stalin. A New History (Cambridge University Press/Cambridge etc.), 2005: 159-80
2002
“Stalin as Writer and Thinker”, in: Kritika, vol.3, nr.4, Fall 2002: 699-714
2001
‘The concept of “national bolshevism”: an interpretative essay’, in: Journal of Political Ideologies, vol.6, no.3, October 2001: 289-307
‘”Lenin’s last struggle” revisited’, in: Revolutionary Russia, December 2001, vol.14, no.2: 85-122
‘Zin en onzin van het totalitarisme-model’, in: André Gerrits (red.), Een bizar experiment. De lange schaduw van de Sovjet-Unie (1917-1991) (Amsterdam University Press/Amsterdam), 2001: 61-74
‘Stalinistische propaganda: theorie, praktijk, resultaten’, in: Leidschrift, jrg.16, nr.3, december 2001: 7-25
2000
‘Stalin’s bolshevism: the year of the revolution’, in: Revolutionary Russia, vol. 13, no.1, June 2000: 29-54
‘Stalin as a Marxist Philosopher’, in: Studies in East-European Thought, vol.52, no.4, December 2000: 259-308
“Nationalist elements in the work of Marx and Engels: a critical survey”, in: MEGA-Studien, Heft 2000, no.1: 25-49
‘Jozef Stalin. Educatie en eruditie van een dictator’, in: Kunst en wetenschap, 9e jaargang, nr.1, voorjaar 2000: 29-30
1999
‘The Russian tsars through Stalin’s eyes’, Theoretische geschiedenis, 1999, jrg.26, nr.4: 501-19
1998
‘Socialism in One Country: A Reassessment’, in: Studies in East-European Thought, vol.50, nr.2, June 1998: 77-117
1997
‘Stalin and Marxism: a Research Note’, in: Studies in East-European Thought, vol.49, no.1, March 1997: 23-33
1996
‘Tolerantie: het “Osmaanse” versus het moderne model’, in: Koch, Koen, Paul Scheffer, Het nut van Nederland. Opstellen over souvereiniteit en identiteit (Uitgeverij Bert Bakker/Amsterdam), 1996: 85-101
1994
‘Stalin and the National Question’, in: Revolutionary Russia, vol.7, nr.2, December 1994: 214-238
‘Stalin's Bolshevism: The First Decade’, in: The International Review of Social History, vol.39, nr.3, December 1994: 361-81
1993
‘Stalin’s Organic Theory of the Party’, in: The Russian Review, vol.52, nr.1, January 1993: 43-57
1992
‘Stalins monster: Lavrenti Beria’, in: Jansen/Van Ree, 1992: 203-24
‘De Stalin-cultus: een elite organiseert haar eigen mythe’, in Theoretische Geschiedenis, Jrg.19, nr.4, 1992: 414-22
1991
‘De muis die brulde’, in: Arnold Koper, Constant Vecht, Max van Wezel, Alles moest anders. Het onvervuld verlangen van een linkse generatie (Nijgh & Van Ditmar/Amsterdam), 1991: 37-47
1989
‘The Limits of Juche: North Korea’s Dependence on Soviet Industrial Aid, 1953-76’ in: The Journal of Communist Studies, Vol.5, nr.1, March 1989: 50-73
1988
‘The quest for purity in Communism’, in: Van Beek, Walter E.A. (ed.), The Quest for Purity. Dynamics of Puritan Movements (Mouton de Gruyter/ Berlin etc.), 1988: 245-62
1984
Hak, Han, Erik van Ree, ‘Was the older Mao still a Maoist?’, in: Journal of Contemporary Asia, Vol.14, nr.1, 1984: 82-93
‘De tweede revolutie’, in: Sociologische Gids, jrg.XXXI, nr.6, 1984: 474-486
1982
‘Waarom het maoïstisch experiment vroegtijdig beëindigd werd’, in: Cahiers voor politieke en sociale wetenschappen, jrg.5. nr.1, april 1982: 7-24
‘Het secret policemen’s ball van Mao Zedong. Culturele Revolutie, veiligheidsdiensten en Mao's tweede machtsgreep’, in: Cahiers voor politieke en sociale wetenschappen, jrg.5, nr.3, oktober 1982: 71-89