No. IV.
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Antoine Mares
Détente Remains Our Chief Aim: France and Czechoslovakia, 1961-68
H. Gordon Skilling
1968 – Interrupted Revolution?
František Kautman
Reflections on Masaryk´s Speeches from the Years 1929-37
Memoirs
Vilém Prečan
Testimony to the Breakup of the Socialist Commonwealth:
From the Memoirs of Mikhail Gorbachev, Vadim Medvedev and Valerii Musatov
Reviews
Michal Reiman
A History of Power in Postwar USSR
Zdeněk Sládek
Disintegration of an Empire
Stanislav Sikora
A Successful Synthesis
Vlastimil Hála
The Second Republic:
An Unfinished Revolution?
Chronicle
Vilém Prečan
In Memory of Jindřich Pecka
Annotations
Bibliography of Contemporary History
Monographs, volumes of essays, articles (including polemics) published abroad in the years 1996-98
Summaries
France and Czechoslovakia, 1961-68
Antoine Mares
This article on Czechoslovak-French dipomatic relations in the 1960s is based on records from the French and Czechoslovak foreign ministeries. French foreign policy in the 1960s was focused on relations with the USSR and West Cermany. The first cautious Czechoslovak-French contacts were made in 1962, but were brought to a standstill by the Franco-German agreement. Dependent on contacts between Paris and Moscow, the French relationship towards Czechoslovakia also changed. On his visit to Prague in 1966 for talks with the Czechoslovaks, French Foreign Minister Maurice Couve de Murville focused on European security and Germany. Though both sides were in agreement on matters related to this topic, no treaty was planned.
The author states that the West remained cautious, while closely observing liberalization in Czechoslovakia and the reaction of Moscow. French diplomatic reports from the period point out the possibility of military intervention in Czechoslovakia as the occupation of Czechoslovakia, French Foreign Minister Debre stated that the Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia was a serious obstacle to normal international relations, but it could not stop France from pressing for further detente. President de Gaulle, too, sought harmony. The author concludes that maintaining relations with Moscow was of primary importance for the West, and, conseqently, the Czechoslovak crisis had no impact on diplomatic talks between the Great Powers.
1968 – An Interrupted Revolution?
H. Gordon Skilling
The author sees the Czechoslovak events of 1968 as a link in a chain of clear discontinuities which Czechs and Slovaks have experienced since the end of World War I (namely, the creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918, the end of the First Republic following the Munich Agreement of 1938 and the German occupation beginning in 1939, the liberation of 1945, the Communist takeover of 1948, democratization and its suppression in 1968–69, ‘the Velvet Revolution’ of 1989, and the partition of the federation in 1992). In a discussion about terminology, namely whether in 1968 it was a matter of revolution or reform, Skilling prefers the first term, because the changes that took place reached clearly into a variety of areas of society, and, though they were ultimately thwarted, their potential was more radical than at first appeared. With the ‘Velvet Revolution’ of 1989 some of the illusions of 1968 were finally laid to rest, though some of the hopes of that year were fulfilled, and in that sense it linked up with the ‘interrupted revolution’ of twenty years before.
Skilling goes on to compare the milestones of Czech and Slovak history from the point of view of whether they were determined more by external or internal factors, whether they were initiated from above or below, whether they meant radical innovation or a return to the previously abandoned status quo, and whether they brought greater democracy or less. He also points out that a perspective based on these violent breaks, affecting every generation, ‘contrasts sharply with the usual idea of a relatively stable society and state in which democracy, though occasionally interrupted, always triumphs in the end’.
Reflections on Masaryk’s Speeches from the Years 1929–37
František Kautman
The author analyzes the recent publication of Vol. 36 of the collected works of T. G. Masaryk, Cesta demokracie IV, which contains Masaryk’s articles and speeches from the last period of his life (1929–37). Masaryk’s public appearances as President in this period, despite his old age, demonstrate a lively interest in the important issues of the day, whether related to questions of internal politics, Czechoslovak Europeanism, relations with Germany, Russia, the USA, or the education of the nation in the spirit of democracy. Masaryk understood that Czechoslovakia as a state was not yet sufficiently stabilized, but despite the dangers that were beginning to make themselves visible, he believed that in the near future there would not be another world war. True, he was wrong on some issues, but his speeches are evidence that not even in the President’s late years did he cease to exert an influence on the home and foreign policy of the country, while many of his views remain valid even today, in political situations that are at times analogical.
Testimony to the Breakup of the ‘Socialist Commonwealth’:
From the Memoirs of Mikhail Gorbachev, Vadim Medvedev and Valerii Musatov
Vilém Prečan
These excerpts from the memoirs of three Soviet politicians have been selected, introduced, and provided with footnotes by Vilém Prečan. In his introduction, Prečan states that his intention here is to make more Czechs than just the small number of historians and political scientists aware of the documentary value of these memoirs by Soviet politicians. Despite a certain degree of self-stylization, typical of this kind of literature, these works represent important personal testimony by leading actors in important historical events, valuable historical sources that are often still the sole source of information on events of extraordinary importance. There is, therefore, a danger that the interpretation of events related to Czechoslovakia in these memoirs might be unquestioningly accepted by others, and it behooves those best equipped to comment on them, namely Czech and Slovak historians, not to remain silent.
The second impulse for translating and publishing these excerpts was the deficient state of Czech research on the last phase of the Soviet era (1985–91), which is connected chiefly with the name Mikhail Gorbachev. The dissolution of the outer areas of the Soviet empire and the collapse of the Communist régimes throughout Europe were part of the events in Czech society at the time and of the history of the Czechoslovak state. Prečan states that reasons why this topic is studied so little in the Czech Republic are to be found less in historiography than in the current state of Czech society. This, however, does not relieve historians of their professional duty, particularly on the eve of the tenth anniversary of the ‘annus mirabilis’, when the topic is about to become the point of interest for political commentary and politically-charged interpretation. Without knowledge of the contemporaneous international context one cannot satisfactorily explain the entire complex of factors influencing the democratic revolution in Czechoslovakia and many other key events during it, nor can one properly participate in the current international professional discourse on the final stage of the Cold War.
Three excerpts have been chosen here from Gorbachev’s Zhizn i reformy [Life and reforms]. The chapter titled ‘The End of the "Brezhnev Doctrine"’ describes how leaders in the East bloc countries reacted to perestroika; the chapter ‘Czechoslovakia: The ‘68 Syndrome’ provides us with Gorbachev’s view of political developments within Czechoslovakia from the mid-1980s on, including his view of some Czechoslovak politicians such as Gustáv Husák, Václav Havel and Alexander Dubček; the last excerpt contains Gorbachev’s analysis of the disintegration of the ‘socialist commonwealth’. The chapter ‘The ‘68 Syndrome’, from Vadim Medvedev’s Raspad: Kak on nazreval v ‘mirovoy sisteme socializma’[The break-up: How it developed in the ‘international system of socialism’] mainly discusses the constellation of forces and the power struggles in the leadership of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, and captures the atmosphere during Gorbachev’s visit to Prague in April 1987. The excerpt from the Valerii Musatov’s Predvestniki buri: Politicheskiye krizisy v Vostochnoi Yevrope (1956–1981) [Forecasters of the storm: Political crises in Eastern Europe, 1956 mission to Prague in late November 1989]. All three authors are in agreement on one thing, namely that the USSR during the Gorbachev era consistently implemented its policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of its allies, including Czechoslovakia. In addition to the memoir material, there is also an excerpt from talks between Gorbachev and Miloš Jakeš, held in Moscow on 11 January 1988.
A History of Power in Postwar USSR
Michal Reiman
Rudolf Pikhoya, Sovetskii Soyuz: Istoriya vlasti, 1945–1991. Moscow: Izd. Akademii gosudarstvennoy služby, 1998, 736 pp.
Pikhoya’s most recent work is distinguished by the use of a great number of records from the principal Russian archives, many of which he (among others) has used elsewhere. Of particular importance here is the depiction of the ‘Abakumov case’of 1951 and its connection with the attempt by Stalin (and Malenkov) to change the composition of the top-level Soviet organs in late 1952 and early 1953. Pikhoya also undertakes an evaluation of the Khrushchev reforms, and describes the circumstances around Khrushchev’s deposition from the top job in the state in 1964. The second half of the book, the reviewer notes, is marked by a rawness and by the author’s own political leanings, which results in the book sometimes ceasing to be historiography. On the whole, however, it is a work that contributes considerably to our understanding of the area.
Zdeněk Sládek
Karel Durman, Útěk od praporů: Kreml a krize impéria 1964–1991 [Abandoning the banners: The Kremlin and the Crises of the Empire, 1964–91]. Prague: Karolinum 1998, 531 pp.
Durman’s Útěk od praporů is based on an exceptionally large amount of published sources. It covers the last thirty years in the life of the Soviet empire, particularly in the years of Gorbachev’s perestroika. Durman sees the roots of the decay as lying in Soviet policy, which had tried to make the Soviet Union a superpower and to keep her there. It was not strong enough for these tasks, however, particularly when headed by a group of geriatrics who feared any change. Only with Gorbachev’s accession to power did Soviet policy become imbued with the courage for revision. But even that did not suffice for tasks that were difficult for many reasons, including an expensive armaments programme, the costs of war in Afghanistan, support for the proxies of Soviet great-power policy, and bureaucratic control of the economy. Gorbachev, moreover, ran up against both the growing resistance of the nomenklatura and his own illusions about the possibilities for a revival of socialism.
Gorbachev’s policies faced resistance also from Soviet satellites in Europe. The Communist leaders there observed with growing skepticism the reductions of fuel supplies from the USSR, and, on the other hand, Gorbachev’s attempts to democratize relations with the Soviet Union and to continue to reduce international tensions. Gorbachev believed that these old holders of power could be replaced with proponents of his policies and that he could thereby save the socialist system in those countries. As it turned out, this view was illusory, because the leaders in the satellites were without sufficient support, and one after the other they collapsed. Gorbachev was helpless when faced with the disintegration of the European part of the Soviet empire.
It is much to Durman’s credit that he has followed this process as a superbly informed and erudite analyst who has no time for legends and myths about the actors in the events of those times on either side of the bipolar world. He describes their shortcomings, errors, stupidity, and mainly illusions, factors which could have plunged the world into disaster. By taking some politicians at the word, however, particularly concerning the events of 1989, Durman has not avoided misjudgments of his own. The author claims, for instance, that Gorbachev let the events in the satellite countries run their own course, yet he himself describes the influence Soviet measures had on élites in the satellites. The reviewer agrees with Durman that research on this period is far from complete, and that the definitive conclusions are yet to come. Durman’s book is nevertheless a noteworthy contribution to our understanding the causes of the breakup of the Soviet empire. It is, moreover, also well written, and will find readers even beyond the circles of professional historians and political scientists.
Stanislav Sikora
Jan Pešek, Odvrátená tvár totality: Politické perzekúcie na Slovensku v rokoch 1948–1953 [The other side of totalitarianism: Political persecution in Slovakia, 1948–53], Bratislava: Historický ústav SAV and Nadácia Milana Šimečku, 1998, 384 pp.
Jan Pešek, the reviewer writes, has successfully created a synthesis of historical research on the period 1948–53, when the Communist régime in Czechoslovakia was first establishing its power (the so-called ‘foundation period’), and particularly on developments in Slovakia. Odvrátená tvár has three parts. In the first, called ‘Initiators and Executors of Persecution’ the author describes political persecution as a salient characteristic of this period, and examines the role of the institutions involved in this activity, particularly the CPCz, the StB, legislators, and the judiciary.
Part Two, called the ‘Forms and Manifestations of Persecution’, is concerned with the actual course of political persecution – purges, show trials, persecution of the Church, the forced relocation of ‘undesirable elements’, forced labour camps, and the PTP (labour camps connected with military service), political pressure in the collectivization of agriculture and the nationalization of business or its incorporation into cooperatives.
The last part contains a selection of the most important documents on the topic, English and German summaries, a list of sources used, a select bibliography, and indexes of persons and places.
The Second Republic:
An Unfinished Revolution?
Vlastimil Hála
Jan Rataj, O autoritativní národní stát: Ideologické proměny české politiky v druhé republice 1938–1939 [The authoritarian nation-state: Ideological changes in Czech politics during the Second Republic, 1938–39], Prague: Karolinum, 1997, 251 pp.
The main contribution of Rataj’s work, the reviewer says, is its evaluation of the internal factors in the development of the ‘Second Republic’. Rataj highlights the radicalization of conservative forces-in particular the militantly Roman Catholic forces-the nationalistic, antisemitic, and provincial tendencies of the early development in a fascist-like spirit, which was projected into the programmes not only of open advocates of the authoritarian régime but also (admittedly in a milder form) into the programmes and political attitudes of the representative structures of the ‘Second Republic’ (the Party of National Unity and President Hácha, for instance).
The reviewer pays special attention to Rataj’s analysis of the seriously antidemocratic statements of the radically Roman-Catholic orientated intelligentsia (including Jaroslav Durych and Jan Zahradníček). He also considers Rataj’s factual questioning of legends, some of which arose as late as the 1990s, for example the uncritical adoration of the Protectorate policies of Emil Hácha, the roots of which reach back to the ‘Second Republic’. Most inspirational, the reviewer believes, is the question Rataj raises concerning the connection between the concept of the authoritarian nation-state and the limited democracy of the years 1945–48.
Vilém Prečan
In this article the author remembers Jindřich Pecka (1936–1998), who died on 31 December after a serious illness. Pecka was an historian, teacher, archivist, ethnographer, sociologist, and musicologist, as well as a kind and good man. In September 1970, at the age of 34, Pecka, at the time a lecturer in history, was prevented from working further in his profession. For the next little while he was able to find employment in the South Bohemian Museum. In September 1970 he began work as a labourer at the Škoda plant in south Bohemia, and two years later began doing the similar work in the Motorlet plant in Prague, till he joined the recently founded Institute of Contemporary History in late February 1990.
During the sixteen and a half years out of his profession, however, Pecka continued to work on history topics in his spare time. In 1978 he anonymously sent an extensive manuscript to Prečan, who was in exile in Germany, on the Prague Spring of 1968 as it had taken place in south Bohemia. It was twelve years before Prečan learnt that the author of that work was Pecka. In 1984 Pecka began publishing in the samizdat journal Historické studie, and throughout the years he published extensively.
In his seven years at the Institute of Contemporary History, before he fell ill, he managed to achieve a tremendous amount, including a dissertation to qualify him to teach, his habilitation, and his qualification for a professorship, and a prize from the Academy of Sciences for outstanding research. He was the guiding spirit and driving force of two extensive research projects, which resulted in three dozen publications. His work as compiler and editor includes Spontánní projevy pražského jara, 1968–1969 (Brno, 1993), Sovětská armada v Československu 1968–1991 [The Soviet armed forces in Czechoslovakia, 1989–91] (Prague, 1996), Odsun sovětských vojsk z Československa 1989–1991 [The Soviet withdrawal from Czechoslovakia, 1989–91] (Prague, 1996), and (with Josef Belda and Jiří Hoppe) Občanská společnost 1967–1970 [Civil Society, 1967–70] 2 vols (Prague and Brno, 1995 and 1998), and as author of Váleční zajatci na území Protektorátu Čechy a Morava [Prisoners of War in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia] (Prague, 1995) and Na demarkační čáře: Americká armáda v Čechách v roce 1945 [On the demarcation line: The US Army in Bohemia, 1945] (1995). Much of his work is pioneering, particularly in the area of social history. And one should not overlook his work in helping to prepare radio and television documentaries, putting other people’s manuscripts into shape for publication, sitting on advisory boards, and acting as associate editor to journals (including Soudobé dějiny), and as Assistant Director of the Institute of Contemporary History. Jindřich Pecka will be sorely missed.
Contributors
Vlastimil Hála (1951) is a researcher at the Institute of Philosophy, Academy of Sciences, Prague. His principal area of interest is ethics in the history of philosophy. He is author of the monograph Impulsy Kantovy etiky [Impulses of Kant's ethics] and a number of articles (inclusding the topics Bolzano, Brentano, Hoesle, and Habermas).
František Kautman (1927) is a literary historian and author, and is concerned with the theory and interpretation of the literary work, as well as comparative work on Czech, Russian, and German literatures. His publications includes Svět Franze Kafky [The world of Franz Kafka] (1991), Dostojevskij, věčný problém člověka [Dostoevsky: The eternal problem of man] (1992), K typologii literární kritiky a literární vědy [A typology of literary criticism and scholarship] (1996).
Antoine Mares (1950) lectures on central European, Czech, and Slovak history at the Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales and other French universities. He is director of the Centre d’Etude de l’Europe mediane, and currently heads CEFRES in Prague. He is the author of Histoire des pays tcheques et slovaques and principal co-author of a number of other publications.
Vilém Prečan (1933) is Docent of History at Charles University. He was pivotal in founding the Institute of Contemporary History, Prague, and was its first Director. His chief area of interest is Czechoslovak history in the context of Europe, from the Munich Agreement, 1938, to the present.
Michal Reiman (1930) is Professor emeritus of Political Sciense and Modern East European History at the Freie Universitaet, Berlin. He is now at the Institute of International Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, and spicializes in world history.
Stanislav Sikora (1949) is a researcher at the Historical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, in the Department of Contemporary Slovak history. He is concerned with the political history of Czechoslovakia, focusing on developments in Slovakia in the 1950s and 1960s ane the history of the Social Democratic movement in Slovakia.
H. Gordon Skilling (1912) is Professor emeritus of Political Science at the University of Toronto. He is editor and author of countless articles and books ranging in subject matter from the Czech National Awakening to the Czechoslovak and Soviet Communist systems.
Zdeněk Sládek (1926) was till 1968 a researcher in the Institute of East European History, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. Not till after 1989 was he able to work again as a professional historian. He is concerned primarily with economic relations between Czechoslovakia and here neighbours, as well as with the history of Russia in the period between the two world wars. He is author of Hospodářské vztahy ČSR a SSSR 1918-1938 [Economic relations between Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union] (1971) and co-author of Dějiny Ruska [A history of Russia] (1995).
