Henri H. Stahl (1901–1991): some features of intellectual biography and an outline of historical sociology

ABSTRACT

The article seeks to clarify some aspects of works, ideas and professional activities of the prominent Romanian sociologist Henri H. Stahl. The article consists of four sections: a biographical profile, an outline of Stahl’s historical sociology, international discourses, critique and flaws. Although Stahl was a prolific author and his texts covered a wide spectrum of topics, the main field of his interest and expertise during his long professional career remained peasant studies. Stahl’s historical sociology is indistinguishable from the Marxist historical sociology. He was imbued by Marxist ideas from his youth and as a mature scholar he have been involved in various important Marxist debates which took place in Western academia during the 1960s–1970s. The most original part of Stahl’s historical sociology was his theory of tributarism which he had elaborated in the context of pre-modern Romanian social history. From the liberalization of the Romanian communist regime in the mid-1960s Stahl ceased to be isolated and entered into interaction with Western colleagues (despite the reluctance of the regime). Stahl’s output of academic texts in foreign languages and published abroad was significant, and his summarizing book about traditional Romanian village communities became a kind of academic bestseller.

KEYWORDS:

• Historical sociology
• tributarism
• structural Marxism
• peasants
• peasant communities

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my gratitude to the Romanian sociologists Prof. Zoltán Rostás, Alina Juravle, Dr. Ștefan Guga, and Dr. Antonio Momoc whose consultations and technical support providing relevant literature helped me a lot during the process of writing and revising my current contribution. However, it is only my responsibility if there are any mistakes or misinterpretations left.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 In 1961 Gusti’s widow Elena Gusti and Gusti’s disciple Paul H. Stahl (a son of Henri H. Stahl) attempted (although unsuccessfully) to rehabilitate Dimitrie Gusti on the occasion of the silver anniversary celebration of the Village Museum in Bucharest. They wrote a letter to the Party Central Committee asking to add Gusti’sname to the Village Museum. Nevertheless, their request was ignored.

2 Although the first original German edition of that manuscript was published in Moscow in 1939–1941 (only 3,000 copies) it remained obscure for Western scholars (Musto, 2008a, p. 181; Hobsbawm, 1964, pp. 9–10). The part of the German original text about the Forms Which Precede Capitalist Production was republished in Eastern Berlin in 1952 and the whole Grundrisse – in 1953, Italian version – in 1954 and in 1968–1970 respectively, English – in 1964 and in 1973 respectively, Spanish – in 1966 and in 1970–1971 respectively, French – in 1970 and in 1967–1968 respectively (Musto, 2008b, pp. 198–199, 227–228, 234, 238, 255).

3 The Hungarian version of a part of Marx’s Grundrisse concerning ‘Forms Which Precede Capitalist Production’ was published in 1953 (Musto, 2008b, p. 245).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nerijus Babinskas

Nerijus Babinskas, Assistant professor at Vilnius university. The doctoral thesis ‘Moldova XIV a. viduryje – XVI a. viduryje kaip socialinės struktūros tipologijos problema (Moldova in the mid-fourteenth–mid-sixteenth centuries as a problem of typology of social structure)' was defended in 2010 at Vilnius university. Fellowships: the Swedish Institute postdoctoral (2016, Lund), the Romanian Cultural Institute for foreign scholars (2009, Iași).