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For about eight months in 1968 Czechoslovakia underwent rapid and radical changes that were unparalleled in the history of communist reform; in the eight months that followed, those changes were dramatically reversed. H. Gordon Skilling provides a comprehensive analysis of the events of 1968, assessing their significance both for Czechoslovakia and for communism generally. The author's account is based on all available written sources, including unpublished Communist Party documents and interviews conducted in Czechoslovakia in 1967, 1968, and 1969. He examines the historical background, the main reforms and political forces of 1968, international reactions, the Soviet intervention, and the ...
The book examines the history of Czechoslovakia in the seventy years since its founding by T.G.Masaryk. It analyses the profound changes which took place during the First Republic, the Nazi occupation, postwar liberation and communist rule, including both the Stalinist years, the Prague Spring of 1968 and the subsequent period of normalization to 1988.
In nine studies which make up this book Professor Skilling analyses the development of the communist systems in the various countries of Eastern Europe, with special emphasis on developments following the 22nd Congress in 1961. His conclusion is that the future of communism is, to a large extent, not only out of the control of the West, but out of the control of the Communist leaders as well. For Western policy he advocates a subtle and restrained approach, avoiding both the extreme attitude of regarding communism as a monolithic enemy bloc, and that of seeking openly to divide and separate the communist states from one another. The most likely trend, he predicts, will be evolution within co...
This volume contains essays on Dobrovský, the pioneer of Czech language studies, and on Palacký, the author of the first great national history, as well as on other facets of literary history which have influenced national feeling.
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How is it that Czechoslovakia's separation into two countries in 1993 was accomplished so peacefully -- especially when compared with the experiences of its neighbors Russia and Yugoslavia? This book provides a sociological answer to this question -- and an empirical explanation for the breakup of Czechoslovakia -- by tracing the political processes begun in the Prague Spring of 1968. Gil Eyal's main argument is that Czechoslovakia's breakup was caused by a struggle between two fractions of what sociologists call the "new class," which consisted primarily of intellectuals and technocrats. Focusing on the process of polarization that created these two distinct political elites, Eyal shows how...