Prague Spring Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

JUDr. Gustáv Husák, CSc. (1913 –1991) was involved in the Czech-Slovak public space for sixty years with a significant footprint even today. The book discusses his public activities, thoughts and political life. It’s based on a thorough research and is chronologically structured, intertwined with thematic areas, however an analytical approach prevails.
The first chapter focuses on Husák’s youth, the factors that led him to the communist movement, and his early activism. This is followed by a portrayal of the Husák’s activities during the Second World War, his role in the resistance, participation in a propaganda trip to the Nazi conquered Ukraine, and his vision of Slovakia as a republic of the Soviet Union. His later involvement in the Slovak National Uprising provided the legitimacy of his later political career in the postwar era, when he successfully led the struggle for the communist monopoly of political power in Czechoslovakia and attempts to present the Communist Party
of Slovakia as a national party. Next two chapters show the origins of Slovak bourgeois nationalism and the way Husák was incorporated with in, criminalized and eventually absolved. Further, the difficulties with Husák’s return to politics are highlighted, which brought him for the time being to the field of historical science and opposition activities. The public support and activism during the Prague Spring helped Husák to become a vice-chairman of the Czechoslovak government and a leading position in the formation of federalization of Czechoslovakia. Although the image of Husák as a reformer was so strengthened, he remained convinced of the necessity of a communist power monopoly and
a strong alliance with the Soviet Union as the guarantor of national independence and post-war socialism. After the entry of Warsaw Pact troops into Czechoslovakia, this with his agility sufficiently convinced Moscow and cemented his position as the leader of the Communist Party for the next two decades. The final chapters present Husák as a skilled tactician and political practitioner who, after tragic death of his second wife, suffered from apathy that accompanied his gradual departure from public life. The final part of the book focuses on historical sources and historiography. Referencing specific examples it portrays in detail relations between historians and Gustáv Husák and, moreover, it presents a typology of possible historical narratives about him.
The text consistently stresses the fundamental interdependence of domestic events and international factors, whilst shedding light on personal relationships between Husák and other major figures. A thematic analysis is framed to a greater extent in connection with the Czech-Slovak relations, in which Husák played a significant role. His background in Slovak nationalism, and identity of a nationally oriented Slovak Communist, punitively criminalised him and still yet earned a large recognition of the Slovak public, who rightly assumed him as
the father of the Czecho-Slovak federation whose foundation he actually built. However, he always prioritised party discipline over national interest. In this context, we can perceive Gustáv Husák paradoxically both as a destructor and an architect of Slovak statehood upon which the foundation of today’s Slovakia is built. In this respect, the intention of the text purposefully transcends the biographical motif.

This article presents an analysis of Czechoslovak political history of the first half of the 1970s and the question of who would succeed General Ludvík Svoboda (1895–1979) as Czechoslovak President. The emphasis is on the role of Gustáv Husák (1913–1991), who emerged from the political crisis of 1968–69 as the most powerful actor, and was, at the 14th Congress of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, confi rmed as General Secretary of the Party. Using Soviet archives, the author points to differences between the individual members of the Party leadership, and particularly to the lack of unity amongst the so-called ‘healthy forces’. According to him, it is fair to talk about the disintegration of this bloc, which had been formed during the Prague Spring, into several smaller groups. The secretary of the Central Committee of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, Vasil Biľak (1917–2014), was, in consequence of this and Soviet pressure, forced to abandon any ambitions to stand at the head of the Party, and had to be satisfi ed, instead, with the position of Number Two in the Party. The Soviet leadership derived social stability in Czechoslovakia from the fi rmness of the Czechoslovak Communist Party leadership, and in particular counted on the collaboration of Husák and Biľak, and it made this clear to both men. Svoboda’s failing health prevented him from properly discharging his duties as President of Czechoslovakia, but he did not even try to hold on to the presidency, even though, in the interest of political stability, he was confi rmed in offi ce in March 1973, and remained something of a temporary solution. The article does not seek to challenge or confi rm the hypothesis that he was forced to step down in May 1975; although, in any event, Svoboda was in no condition to have taken this step himself. Husák’s efforts to become President kept running up against the question of the accumulation of offi ces and also the Czech-Slovak national factor, even though, thanks to centrist Czechoslovak policy and support from Moscow, he succeeded in achieving a ‘peculiar unity’ over this question in the CPCz leadership, so that on 29 May 1975 he became the fi rst, and also the last, Czechoslovak President who was a Slovak. In Czech eyes, however, he remained a Slovak who had, after August 1968, considerably participated in the unfortunate re-imposition of hard-line Communism known as ‘normalization’, whereas for the Slovak nation he increasingly became a turncoat, a ‘Prague Slovak’.

The study is focused on events in the year 1968, when Luigi Longo, the main representative of Italian Communists visited Prague in May. In his interviews with Dubček, Lenárt and Husák they exchanged opinions on the reform process. The Italian party clearly agreed with the regime liberalisation, even in church and political issues. Negative attitude of party leaders of Italian Communists on military intervention remained unchanged until the fall of Communist regimes and it permanently disrupted the relation to the Soviet leadership. Traditionally intensive contacts of party representatives in Czechoslovakia with one of the most significant West European Communist parties survived till half of 1970s, and it is necessary to say that after establishing federative Czechoslovakia also the Slovak dimension started to play its role. After
1973, the Italian Communist leadership started to implement new political orientation through which it was coming closer to the programme of social democracy. That new orientation and growing lack of interest of the Soviet leadership in the international Communist movement contributed to gradual weakening of mutual relations of the Czechoslovak Communist Party (KSČ), Communist Party of Slovakia (KSS) and Italian Communist Party (PCI), and at the beginning
of 1980s it led to an open conflict between Moscow and the Italian Communist Party, which had negative impact also on Czechoslovak - Italian relations.

In: Peter Ruggenthaler, u.a. (Hrsg.): Prag 1968. Das internationale Krisenjahr. Graz 2008, Pp. 204-217 Error in footnotes: 6, 8, 10, 13, 16, 23, 29, 36, 38, Correct reference: Danmark under den Kolde Krig, Kopenhagen 2005. - Government... more

In: Peter Ruggenthaler, u.a. (Hrsg.): Prag 1968. Das internationale Krisenjahr. Graz 2008, Pp. 204-217
Error in footnotes: 6, 8, 10, 13, 16, 23, 29, 36, 38,
Correct reference: Danmark under den Kolde Krig, Kopenhagen 2005. - Government report (multiple authors)

- by Thomas Wegener Friis
- •
- Military Intelligence, Cold War history, Danish History, Communist Parties

For nearly fifty years after the end of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in an ideological standoff that at times seemed to threaten the very future of the planet. This volume not only looks at the political and military strategies used by both sides during this lengthy confrontation but also at the after-effects that these strategies had on the culture of the world as a whole.

- by Derek C. Maus
- •
- Soviet History, U.S. history, Cold War and Culture, Nuclear Weapons

Το 1968 επρόκειτο να αποτελέσει για την Τσεχοσλοβακία μια χρονιά η οποία χαρακτηρίστηκε από πυκνά γεγονότα που οδήγησαν σε θυελλώδεις ανατροπές προσθέτοντας έτσι άλλο ένα «οχτάρι» στους μέχρι τότε ιστορικούς σταθμούς της χώρας: 1648 υποταγή της χώρας στους Αψβούργους, 1918 ανεξαρτησία της Τσεχοσλοβακίας, 1938 υπογραφή του συμφώνου του Μονάχου, 1948 έναρξη της μονοπωλιακής άσκησης της εξουσίας από το Κομμουνιστικό Κόμμα Τσεχοσλοβακίας. Η Άνοιξη της Πράγας, ή κατά την κομμουνιστική ορολογία της εποχής, το αναγεννησιακό προτσές προέκυψε μεν απρόσμενα, αποτελεί όμως αναμφίβολα καρπό της γενικότερης χαλάρωσης του ψυχροπολεμικού κλίμακος που συνοδεύτηκε από μια χωρίς προηγούμενο φιλελευθεροποίηση της κοινωνίας, τόσο στη Δύση όσο και στην Ανατολή. Στην περίπτωση της Τσεχοσλοβακίας αυτή η φιλελευθεροποίηση εκφράστηκε κυρίως στον τομέα της τέχνης, με την εμφάνιση λογοτεχνικών βιβλίων και κινηματογραφικών ταινιών που άσκησαν άμεσα ή έμμεσα κριτική στο καθεστώς, αλλά και στην καθημερινότητα των Τσεχοσλοβάκων πολιτών. Είναι η εποχή που το καθεστώς αποκαθιστά εν ζωή ή μετά θάνατο ορισμένα από τα θύματα – στην πλειονότητά τους «αιρετικούς» κομμουνιστές – της «αμαρτωλής» δεκαετίας του ΄50. Η άκαμπτη λογοκρισία χαλαρώνει και επιτρέπεται η κυκλοφορία βιβλίων, η προβολή ταινιών, ντόπιων και ξένων, που νωρίτερα είχαν απαγορευτεί. Άρθρο στο ιστορικό περιοδικό Clio Turbata / 19. 08. 2018

- by Kostas Tsivos
- •
- Modern History, History of Communism, Prague Spring

Estudio sobre las relaciones entre la Nová Vlna, o Nueva Ola de cine Checoslovaco y la sociedad de la época, especialmente en las derivaciones que dieron paso a la Primavera de Praga. La intención es encontrar qué patrones sociológicos dan pie al nacimiento de este movimiento considerado dentro de los Nuevos Cines, y cómo estos se imbrican en los modos de construcción del discurso de los autores y autoras esenciales para comprender la Nová Vlna entre 1963 y 1969.

- by Luis E. Froiz Casal
- •
- Film Studies, European Cinema, Czech History, Film History
- by Ateş Uslu
- •
- Marxism, Dialectic, Prague Spring, Karel Kosík

In the end of October 1967, a spontaneous demonstrations of students protesting against poor living conditions in Prague´s Strahov Dormitory, was quashed with force. The author asks a question why something seemingly as trivial as a power blackout in a student dormitory resulted, at the end of the day, in the disintegration of structures of the Czechoslovak Union of Youth at universities. In doing so, he follows the grammar of the social conflict through a prism of social movement formation and of the so-called politics of the street. The author describes a shift in the attitude of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia toward students in the 1960s, as the latter started assigning greater importance to intelligentsia than before, embarking upon the so-called policy of trust toward students, its aim being to make them more involved in solutions of university and social problems. The author also notes a step-by-step emancipation of students and the emergence of an idea of self-governing students´ bodies, independent on official structures which were criticized as non-functional. In this respect, the author analyses conflicts with security forces during youth and students´ festivities in Prague (such as May Day gatherings in the Petřín Park and later during Majáles (“Coming of May festivities”) processions, ultimately ending in punishments of students labelled as “rioters”. He states that the confrontations taught students to adopt strategies helping them avoid repressions (such as avoiding any “disorderly conduct”, not criticizing the ruling party and the Soviet Union directly, having their own stewards to maintain order); on the other hand, the security machine learnt to respect the students´ authority and to behave with restraint. The result was a consensus on how to manage the social conflict and keep it non-violent. The tacit agreement of university students, police, and leaders of the Czechoslovak Union of Youth collapsed when policemen intervened with force against an unplanned and peaceful demonstration of students from the Strahov Dormitory, who had long been trying in vain to resolve their accommodation problems. After two months of investigations, none of the protesters or the intervening policemen were punished; however, requirements of students, such as the right to similar protests or inviolability of the academic soil, were not granted as well. Students blamed the leadership of the Czechoslovak Union of Youth for the unsatisfactory outcome, and started to leave its structures en masse. In 1968, they founded their own self-governing organization, independent on both the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and the Czechoslovak Union of Youth.

- by Michael Polák
- •
- Social Movements, Violence, Self-Organization, Communism

In der Nacht vom 20. auf den 21. August 1968 setzt der Einmarsch der Truppen des Warschauer Pakts dem Prager Frühling gewaltsam ein Ende. Damit kündigt sich auch das Ende für eine Entwicklung im tschechischen Kino an, die seit Beginn der sechziger Jahre national wie international für Aufsehen gesorgt hatte, und die als das „tschechische Filmwunder“ oder etwas bescheidener als die tschechische „Neue Welle“ bekannt geworden war.
Mit dem Ende der Ära Dubček im April 1969 kehrt Ernüchterung ein. Gerade die Intellektuellen trifft die nun beginnende, bis weit ins Privatleben reichende Verfolgung hart, waren sie doch federführend bei der ideellen Ausgestaltung des Projekts eines „Sozialismus mit menschlichem Antlitz“ oder wurden jedenfalls dafür von den Hardlinern verantwortlich gemacht. Einige Filmemacher emigrieren früh, die meisten anderen werden nach Erstellung von entsprechenden schwarzen Listen mit Berufsverbot belegt, das für einige lebenslang gilt. Andere dürfen nach einigen Jahren wieder drehen, wenn auch unter scharfer Beobachtung und schikaniert durch eine mißgünstige Bürokratie. Die inkriminierten Filme verschwinden in den Tresoren und kommen teilweise erst nach der „Samtenen Revolution“ 1989 (wieder) ans Licht der Öffentlichkeit. Die letzten Ausläufer der Neuen Welle meint man bis in die siebziger Jahre beobachten zu können. Spätestens jetzt hat die „Normalisierung“ endgültig alle Lebensbereiche erfaßt.
Ein Gebiet, das den unliebsam gewordenen Filmemachern offensteht, ist neben dem Refugium des Kurzfilms der von den verantwortlichen Stellen offenbar ebenfalls als politisch weniger sensibel erachtete Kinderfilm, unter den auch der Märchenfilm fiel. Dies sind in aller Kürze die Voraussetzungen dafür, daß in den siebziger Jahren namhafte Künstler der Neuen Welle Märchenfilme drehen. Doch schon sehr bald nach dem Ende des Prager Frühlings läßt sich eine Tendenz hin zu märchenhaften Formen auch in einigen Filmen erkennen, die üblicherweise noch zum Kanon der Neuen Welle gerechnet werden. All diesen Filmen ist gemein, daß sie sich zwar auf Formeln und Strukturen des „Kinder-Märchenfilms“ beziehen lassen, diese jedoch in einer Weise reflektieren, überdehnen und brechen, die sie außergewöhnlich macht. Die vorliegende Arbeit hat den Zweck, die betreffenden Verfahren zu beschreiben, um schließlich zu einer poetischen Logik zu gelangen, die diese Filme in ein Verhältnis zum zeitgenössischen Märchenfilm und schließlich zu ihren politisch-historischen Zeitumständen setzt.

The dissertation thesis discusses public activities, thoughts and the political life of JUDr. Gustáv Husák, CSc. (1913–1991), who was involved in the Czech-Slovak public space for sixty years with a significant footprint even today. The text is based on a thorough research and is chronologically structured, intertwined with thematic areas, however an analytical approach prevails. The first chapter focuses on Husák's youth, the factors that led him to the communist movement, and his early activism. This is followed by a portrayal of the Husák's activities during the Second World War, his role in the resistance, participation in a propaganda trip to the Nazi conquered Ukraine, and his vision of Slovakia as a republic of the Soviet Union. His later involvement in the Slovak National Uprising provided the legitimacy of his later political career in the post-war era, when he successfully led the struggle for the communistmonopoly of political power in Czechoslovakia and attempts to present the Communist Party of Slovakia as a national party. Next two chapters show the origins of Slovak bourgeois nationalism and the way Husák was incorporated with in, criminalized and eventually absolved. Further, the difficulties with Husák's return to politics are highlighted, which brought him for the time being to the field of historical science and opposition activities. The public support and activism during the Prague Spring helped Husák to become a vice-chairman of the Czechoslovak government and a leading position in the formation of federalization of Czechoslovakia. Although the image of Husák as a reformer was so strengthened, he remained convinced of the necessity of a communist power monopoly and a strong alliance with the Soviet Union as the guarantor of national independence and post-war socialism. After the entry of Warsaw Pact troops into Czechoslovakia, this with his agility sufficiently convinced Moscow and cemented his position as the leader of the Communist Party for the next two decades. The final chapters present Husák as a skilled tactician and political practitioner who, after tragic death of his second wife, suffered from apathy that accompanied his gradual departure from public life. The text consistently stresses the fundamental interdependence of domestic events and international factors, whilst shedding light on personal relationships between Husák and other major figures. A thematic analysis is framed to a greater extent in connection with the Czech-Slovak relations, in which Husák played a significant role. His background in Slovak nationalism, and identity of a nationally oriented Slovak Communist, punitively criminalised him and still yet earned a large recognition of the Slovak public, who rightly assumed him as the father of the Czech-Slovak federation whose foundation he actually built. However, he always prioritised party discipline over national interest. In this context, we can perceive Gustáv Husák paradoxically both as a destructor and an architect of Slovak statehood upon which the foundation of today's Slovakia is built. In this respect, the intention of the dissertation purposefully transcends the biographical motif.

Bu yazıda “Prag Baharı”nın ve onu önceleyen yirmi yıllık sürecin siyasi ve toplumsal boyutlarının genel hatlarıyla tasvir edilmesi amaçlanmaktadır. Bu doğrultuda ilk bölümde İkinci Dünya Savaşı’nın bitiminden 1967’ye uzanan dönem incelenecektir. Tarihçi Antoine Marès’in “çok uzun bir Stalinizm” olarak adlandırdığı bu dönemin Çekoslovakya’sı, diğer Orta Avrupa ülkelerinden farklı olarak, Stalinizmin mirasıyla 1953 ya da 1956 yıllarında hesaplaşmaması, dolayısıyla “destalinizasyon”u benzerlerine kıyasla geç bir tarihte yaşamasıyla dikkat çekmektedir. İkinci bölüm, 1968 başında Dubček’in komünist parti birinci sekreteri olarak atanmasını izleyen ve Ağustos 1968’e kadar yayılan reformlar dönemine ayrılmıştır. Son bölümde ise 20 Ağustos 1968 tarihli Varşova Paktı müdahalesi sonrasına değinilecektir.

- by Ateş Uslu
- •
- Cold War, Communism, History of Czechoslovakia, Prague Spring

This text started life as one of several short essays written for my forthcoming history-cum-travel guide Prague: Crossroads of Europe (London: Reaktion, October 2018), but it was eventually omitted for lack of space. It argues that while "Magic Prague is a figment of the nineteenth-century romantic imagination, surrealist Prague is an authentically twentieth-century black comedy." I am grateful to Benjamin Tallis for giving me the opportunity to publish it as a "Cultural Cut" in New Perspectives.

- by Derek Sayer
- •
- Surrealism, Walter Benjamin, André Breton, Prague

This work will attempt to answer to two main research questions; The first is about the size of the influence that Kundera had on the development of the Prague Spring Movement in 1968 through his literary work as well as his interventions with speeches and actions. The second one, and most difficult to answer surely, is whether potential links of Kundera to exile organizations, such as the Assembly of Captive European Nations, Radio Free Europe and Council of Free Czechoslovakia, and its prominent members, like Petr Zenkl or Pavel Tigrid, exist. There will also be an in-between part to cover an ambiguous accusation by the historian Adam Hradilek of Kundera having performed the act of denunciation of a western agent to the communist police back in the 1950s to shed light on the communist past of the author and strengthen or weaken several points of this research.

Monografia predstavuje výsledky výskumu, ktorý prebiehal v rokoch 2014 – 2018 s cieľom doplniť obraz o vydavateľskej činnosti na území Slovenska v sledovanom období 1968 – 1989. Výskumným zámerom bolo zistiť, ako pracovali ideologické... more

- by Marianna Bachledova
- •
- English Literature, Censorship, Translation Studies, Ideology
- by Michael Polák
- •
- Protest, Socialism, Students, Infrastructure

After the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, which ended up Prague spring in August 1968, thousands of Czech (and Slovak) citizens went into exile. Out of estimated 162,000 people, who came to Austria within the next few weeks, some 12,000 refugees decided to stay there. The majority of them chose Vienna to be their new home. My paper deals with this group of the Czech refugees and analyses a process of their integration into the Austrian majority. The key question was how the process, which they had to undergo, changed their national identity. In the paper, which is based on various archive materials and my field research among Czechs in Vienna, I also deal with different concepts of national identity and integration. I applied Cooper´s and Brubaker’s concepts of ‘identification’ and ‘self-understanding’ to analyse the various contexts of Czech refugees’ behaviour. Why was more difficult for Czech refugees to integrate into the existing Czech minority associations in Austria than into the Austrian majority itself? The paper brings the answer.

- by Ondrej Havac
- •
- Oral history, National Identity, Integration, History of Czechoslovakia
- by Francesco Tava
- •
- Critical Theory, Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Ethics

Tato kniha je autorskou adaptací z francouzského originálu, který jsem původně napsal na výzvu jednoho belgického nakladatelství a i když jsem samozřejmě pro naše čtenáře českou verzi upravil, nese přece jen stále ještě stopy francouzského originálu. Je proto pochopitelné, že velkou pozornost věnuji otázce, jak se na pražské jaro (a zvláště pak na sovětskou invazi) pohlíželo « ze zahraničí ». Z téhož důvodu jsem ke konci připojil kapitolu « Neobnovuje se půlstoletí po pražském jaru rozdělení mezi Východem a Západem ? ». Západní čtenář by jinak mou knihu chápal jako úzce historicky zaměřenou a neaktuální. Domnívám se však, že český čtenář si tu kapitolu přečte s nemenším prospěchem.
Belgická nakladatelka vyžadovala, aby kniha nebyla moc « akademická », ale naopak přístupná širší kultivované veřejnosti. Vyšel jsem tomu vstříc mezi jiným tím, že se snažím, aby můj výklad byl pokud možno srozumitelný, aktéry a události takřka systematicky zasazuji do místního a dobového kontextu, abych usnadnil jejich porozumění. Nazývám kromě toho věci pravými jmény a neberu si zbytečné servítky. Ale ani v této publikaci se univerzitní profesor nezapře. Cílem mi bylo klást především relevantní otázky, což by mělo vyhovovat inteligentním čtenářkám a čtenářům.

- by Miroslav NOVAK
- •
- Marxism, Political Science, Communism, Václav Havel
- by Angel Zlatkov
- •
- Soviet History, Bulgarian history, Prague Spring
- by Jan Gerber
- •
- Jewish Studies, Czech History, German Language, Jewish History

El filósofo checo Karel Kosík (1926-2003) desempeñó un rol prominente en el seno del movimiento de oposición a los regímenes de Novotný y Husák, contribuyendo tanto a la gestación como a la pervivencia de los anhelos expresados por la población checoslovaca du-rante la Primavera de Praga. Junto a la contextualización histórica de su obra, se pone también de manifiesto cómo Marx y Heidegger incidieron con igual relevancia en la conformación de su pensamiento. La filosofía de Kosík reviste por ello una singularidad propia que la aleja de las versiones tradicionales del humanismo marxista predominantes a mediados del siglo pasado en el bloque oriental y occidental.

- by Jordi Magnet Colomer
- •
- Marxist humanism, Marxismo, Prague Spring, Marxismo Occidental

This essay analyses the uses of the terms "fascism" and "Nazism" in Russian political discourse in the context of the invasion of Ukraine. Calling someone a "fascist" means branding them as an enemy of Russia, whereas the "Nazi" label refers to a supposed lack of political autonomy. It is implicitly a reference to postwar Central European uprisings against Soviet control rather than the Second World War. Historical references surrounding the 2022 war conjure echoes of the crushing of the Prague Spring more than the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45.

- by Mischa Gabowitsch
- •
- War Studies, Memory Studies, Second World War, Russia

Coordonator: Ileana Burnichioiu,
Editura Mega, 2015, pp. 145-167

- by Alexandru Groza
- •
- Totalitarianism, History of Communism, Prague Spring, 1968 in Europe

This article draws on original Czech archival research and is complemented by reference to secondary sources. It deals with the thawing of Czechoslovak – Chinese relations in 1968, the year of the Prague Spring, in particular with the Chinese reaction to the invasion and the ramifications it had for Chinese foreign policy decisions in the following years and decades, particularly on the improvement in US–Chinese relations. The author thoroughly documents the course of 1968, during which both parties had very timidly, slowly, yet consistently, worked at improving the already stalled relationship. The abrupt end to such an endeavor, brought about by The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia on the 20th and 21st August is also recorded. Specifically, the article deals with both the rhetoric and the objectives that lay behind the Chinese reaction to the invasion. In conclusion, it is argued that the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia was the final event that triggered the break-up of the homogenous socialist camp and, as such, it was a Pyrrhic victory for the Soviets, already foreshadowing their eventual demise. already foreshadowing its eventual demise.

- by Ngoc Quyen Ha
- •
- History of Czechoslovakia, Prague Spring, Dubcek, Eastern Bloc

Also after 1969 the Communist Regime tried to reduce the question of national minorities only to the field of culture and school education. Therefore, most goals defined by the representatives of the Polish minority in the Czech part of the Těšín region couldn’t have been implemented. On the other hand, the initiatives of the year 1968 gave a new shape to the policy of the national minorities in ČSR. Besides the fact that the rights of the national minorities were codified in the constitution, their leaders showed a lot of activity in that period of time. Also it could be added that the summer of 1968 was the only moment in the history of Czechoslovakia when the national minorities took common actions and were often successful. At that time the concept of national minority self-government occurred, which did not represent a model of territory autonomy and integrated various state and non-state minority institutions. The events in the Těšín region confirm that reminiscences from the past play an important role in the national minorities’ policy. It was discussion about history accompanying emancipation efforts by the Polish minority that confirmed an important role of symbols and historical memory in politics. However, the events in the Těšín region also prove that national minorities are not homogeneous, but internally differentiated. On the one hand, the normalization political purges were managed also by some Polish leaders in the case of Polish minority. On the other hand, the national claims proved as an important integration factor, which considerably inhibited the process of natural political differentiation within the national minority which was weakened by assimilation and the low quantity of members. On the one hand it could be said that Polish minority was very active in the process of democratisation in 1968 and it took democratic approaches and loyalty to Czechoslovakia during the turning points of Soviet occupation. On the other hand many national claims did not succeed not only for the drop in the number of Polish people in proportion to total population of Czechoslovakia or more precisely the territory of Těšín region and the North Moravia, but also for the national indifference and for the advanced stage in assimilation of the major part of members of Polish ethnic group. This phenomenon weakened the legitimacy of the leaders of Polish minorities to a large extent.

- by Juraj Marušiak
- •
- Ethnic Studies, Border Studies, Central Europe, Central European history

Utilizing recently-declassified documents, period newspapers and eye-witness interviews this article exposes the untold story of how Czechoslovakia’s Prague Spring reform era (commemorating its 50th anniversary in 2018) and ensuing Soviet invasion occurred distinctly in Slovakia’s second city of Košice and its surrounding region. Košice was the fastest-growing urban center in Czechoslovakia from 1961-1967, its population tripling from 1950 to 1961 primarily due to the migration of individuals employed at the steel mill, which was teeming with over 17,000 workers by 1968. By examining labor reactions at the Eastern Slovak Steelworks both before and after the invasion, this piece illuminates the impact that blue-collar citizens on the country’s periphery made during this seminal moment in Cold War history.

After August 1968 the political leadership was bound due to the so called „Moscow record of proceedings“(Moskevský protokol) to get the media under supervision. The leadership removed the directors of TV and radio stations from their offices and on 30 April re-established the censorship institution named „The Office for Press and Information“(Úřad pro tisk a informace), where Josef Vohnout was appointed a director. As the communist party failed to get this institution running owing to the lack of staff the communist leaders demanded the journalist to become censors themselves but they refused. The restoration of censorship was legislatively protected by the law No 127/1968 from 13 September 1968. On 12 September 1968 there was founded „The Government committee for Press and Information“(Vládní výbor pro tisk a informace) as another new constituent for media administration, but it came to an end soon. Since the beginning of January 1969 the Censorship Office according to the federal system of government split into „The Czech Office for Press and Information“(Český úřad pro tisk a informace) and „The Slovak Office for Press and Information“ (Slovenský úrad pre tlač a informácie). The censorship institution didn’t meet the demands in autumn 1968 and didn’t work as a tool for media pacifying as the „Moscow record of proceedings“ ordered. The other institutional and legislative modifications failed either. The communist leaders didn’t succeed in getting the media under supervision until they increased the individual economical pressure on each journalist – individual purges started in spring 1969.

- by Jakub Koncelik
- •
- Censorship, Prague Spring, Year 1968, Úřad Pro Tisk a Informace

In the symposium devoted to the Prague Spring of 1968, 14 sociologists and political scientists recall how they experienced the Prague Spring and reflect on the significance of the Czechoslovak reform movement for the present day.
The symposium includes contributions from Johann P. Arnason (Iceland/Czech Republic), Richard Flacks (USA), John A. Hall (Canada), Ágnes Heller (Hungary), Hans Joas (Germany), György Lengyel (Hungary), William Outhwaite (UK), Jacques Rupnik (France/Czech Republic), Ilja Šrubař (Germany/Czech Republic), Vladimir Tismaneanu and Marius Stan (USA/Romania), Stephen Turner (USA), Jerzy J. Wiatr (Poland). The editor was Marek Skovajsa (SČ/CSR).
The updated file contains an additional contribution by Claus Offe (Germany) published in 2019.

- by Marek Skovajsa and +4
- •
- Social Theory, Czech History, Cold War, Eastern European history

One of the pivotal issues in the thought of Karel Kosík is that of praxis. Although various interpreters have recognised the centrality of this notion and identified its affinity with other theories of praxis drawn from the traditions of Marxism and Critical Theory, an examination of the overall meaning of praxis in Kosík’s output is still missing. This chapter aims at filling this gap by looking at three different stages of Kosík’s reflection. First, I will clarify the meaning and function of the idea of praxis, as well as its relationship with the concepts of theory and labour, in Dialectics of the Concrete (1963). I will then address Kosík’s subsequent works until the failure of the Prague Spring (1964–69), in order to understand how his interpretation of praxis evolved throughout these crucial years of intellectual and political turmoil. I will conclude with an analysis of Kosík’s late output (post-1989) that will reveal both the elements of continuity and the radical transformations that his reflection underwent.

- by Francesco Tava
- •
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Marxism, Praxis
- by Juraj Marušiak
- •
- Eastern European Studies, Democratization, State Formation, Central Europe

in: Unsettled 1968 in the Troubled Present: Revisiting the 50 Years of Discussions from East and Central Europe. Ed. by A. Konarzewska, A. Nakai, M. Przeperski. Series: ‘Routledge Studies in Modern History’, vol. 60. Routledge. London, p.... more

- by Aleksandra Konarzewska and +1
- •
- Global History, 20th century (History), May 1968, Prague Spring

Als Juraj Herz im August 1968 seinen Film "spalovač mrtvol" - im Folgenden "der leichenverbrenner" - drehte, marschierten die Truppen des Warschauer Pakts in der damaligen Tschechoslowakei ein; ein Ereignis, das die Dreharbeiten unterbrach: viele Innenaufnahmen waren noch nicht fertiggestellt und der Hauptdarsteller, Rudolf Hrušínský, tauchte für einige Zeit unter. Der Einmarsch war auch ein Ereignis, das Herz in seinen Film integrieren wollte, obwohl dessen Plot 30 Jahre früher angesiedelt ist. Es drängt sich die Frage auf: Welcher Art ist die Verbindung des Films zur Geschichte, dass es möglich schien, semi-dokumentarische Bilder in seine doch vermeintlich klar als fiktional erkennbare Welt einzufügen? Diese Frage möchte ich zum Anlass für einige Erörterungen nehmen, die das Verhältnis zwischen historischer und ästhetischer Erfahrung betreffen. Ich glaube, dass eine Einsicht in dieses Verhältnis hilfreich sein kann, um die aktuelle Relevanz der poetischen und politischen Umwälzungen von 1968 einzuschätzen. Meine Erörterungen werden sich einerseits um die Frage drehen, ob sich dieses Verhältnis mit Hilfe zweier Begriffe denken lässt: nämlich mit dem Begriff der Banalität, wie er durch Hannah Arendt in ihrem 1964 auf Deutsch erschienenen Buch Eichmann in Jerusalem geprägt worden ist, und mit Bachtins Begriff des Grotesken. Andererseits und etwas konkreter wird es um das Problem gehen, wie das eine - die historische Erfahrung - ins andere - die ästhetische Erfahrung - übergehen kann.

- by Hauke Lehmann
- •
- Hannah Arendt, Czech New Wave, Aesthetic Experience, Eichmann trial

21 august 1968: tancurile sovietice şi ale altor state membre ale Pactului de la Varşovia invadau Cehoslovacia cu scopul de a pune capăt unei scurte perioade de liberalizare şi reforme. Deşi înfrântă cu tancuri sovietice, Primăvara de la Praga era un alt semn al slăbiciunii blocului comunist. Sfârşitul Războiului Rece a avut loc, însă, 20 de ani mai târziu şi a însemnat inclusiv speranţa schimbărilor în Orientul Mijlociu şi Africa de Nord. Abia în 2010 Primăvara Arabă punea capăt unor regimuri nedemocratice în regiune.

- by Gajdo Ana
- •
- Arab Spring (Arab Revolts), Prague Spring

In: Pravda. - vol. XXVII., nr. 162 (15.07.2017), pp. 20-21

- by Juraj Marušiak
- •
- Censorship, Central Europe, Central European history, Communism

Focusing on André Breton's tortured love affair with what he called "the magic capital of Old Europe," this article maps the complex and shifting relations between the Paris and Prague surrealist groups in the interwar period, the Stalinist years after WW2, and in the "Prague Spring" 1968. I conclude that "In this case, it would appear, surrealists cannot bear too much surreality."

- by Derek Sayer
- •
- Czech History, Surrealism, Prague, Czech Surrealism
- by Steven Schroeder
- •
- Ethics, Václav Havel, Social and Political Philosophy, Jan Patocka