Abstract
Socialism, whenever it was declared victorious, was presented as a vision of a radically improved future. The strong prominence of able-bodiedness in visions of futurity, and the ways in which they focus on everyone's productive role in building a socialist society, raise the question as to how such emphases on the ability to work and fitness could be made compatible with socialist visions of a universal happiness and humanity that would also include people that did not fulfil the norm of ablebodied- (and ableminded)ness.
To put it more pointedly, how did societies that proclaimed to be built on the principles of socialist humanism advocating all-encompassing visions of justice and social equality while making work a moral imperative deal with physical and mental difference? How did disability arrest, transform, or tax the promises of a perfect society? And, finally, how did disability register and reveal the frustrations of such utopian visions and building socialist societies? The direct yet complex relationship between disability and socialist utopian aspirations offers exciting opportunities for innovative historical research and for a new critical perspective on both state socialism and disability. This text reflects on the utopian ambition of socialism, its limitations, internal conflicts, and paradoxes.
Spotlighting the analytical potential of disability history and historical scholarship focused on disability,