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 Mass and Elite Atittudes during the Prague Spring Era: Importance and Legacy |
| Pat Lyons |
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This monograph explores public and elite opinion toward events associated with the Prague Spring of 1968 in Czechoslovakia. This investigation is based on analyses of a unique collection of aggregate and individual level survey datasets. Much of this data has effectively been lost to scholars for four decades and has to date never been analysed within a common framework. In sum, the research presented in this volume is based on examinations of four main sources of survey data.
First, aggregated opinion statistics are derived primarily from a series of almost forty mass surveys many of which were undertaken by the Institute of Public Opinion Research (ÚVVM) between January 1968 and June 1969. This aggregated survey data facilitates comparison of opinions across subgroups (age, sex, education, occupation, area of residence) and membership of political parties (KSČ, ČSL and ČSS). Second, young citizens’ perceptions of the future are examined in a unique cross-national survey fielded in Czechoslovakia in June 1967 on the eve of the Prague Spring era. This individual level survey data allows exploration of the important question of Czechoslovak citizens’ predisposition toward embracing the Prague Spring reforms through comparison with respondents in other communist states and liberal democracies. Third, a single national representative survey of political attitudes fielded in May 1968 facilitates exploring key features of citizenship and representative democracy during the reform process. A replication survey implementing many of the original questions was undertaken in May 2008 thereby facilitating an investigation of opinion differences across time. Fourth, elite opinion is explored using a unique survey of political, mass media, and intellectual ‘opinion makers.’ This research was fielded in the first half of 1969 during the very final stages of the Prague Spring era. In addition, there is some aggregated attitudinal data for delegates at communist party conferences held during the summer of 1968.
The central goal of this study is to illustrate how the survey evidence from the 1967 to 1969 period may increase understanding of the Prague Spring era. More specifically this study integrates theories associated with the Prague Spring era and public support for the various reforms proposed. In addition, there is a comparison of political attitudes expressed by Czech citizens towards the communist regime of 1968 and the liberal democratic system of governance present in 2008. This comparison of political attitudes across time provides an invaluable opportunity to study the stability of values associated with democracy.
Content
Abstract .................................................................................................................. 9
Keywords ............................................................................................................. 10
Acknowledgements ............................................................................................ 11
Acronyms and Key Terms ................................................................................... 12
State Surveying Organisations
in Czechoslovakia, 1945– .................................................................................... 15
List of Figures ...................................................................................................... 16
List of Tables ........................................................................................................ 18
Introduction ......................................................................................................... 21
1. Proposals for Reforming Czechoslovakia:
The Prague Spring Movement of 1968 .......................................................... 49
2. Conceptions of Democracy, Public Opinion and Opinion Polling ............... 77
3. The Prague Spring Generation: Public Opinion on the Eve of Reform .... 111
4. Mapping Czechoslovak Citizens’ Political Values and Preferences in 1968
and 2008 ......................................................................................................... 145
5. The Structure of Czechoslovak Elites
at the End of the Prague Spring Era ............................................................ 171
6. The Preferences and Values of Czechoslovak Elites .................................. 201
7. Popular Support for Democratic Values across the Generations in the
Czech Republic ............................................................................................... 229
Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 253
References .......................................................................................................... 275
Appendices ......................................................................................................... 295
Index ................................................................................................................... 361
About the Author .............................................................................................. 362
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Sociologický ústav AV ČR, v.v.i.
