Communist Czechoslovakia, 1945-89
Subtitle: a political and social History
By: Kevin McDermott
Series: European history in perspective; European history in perspective (Palgrave (Firm))
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 252
ISBN-13: 9780230217140; 9780230217157
Subjects: Politics and government; Political culture; Communism; Komunistická strana Československa; Social conditions; History; Social classes
Description: "Few Europeans in the twentieth century have been subject to the repeated buffetings by foreign powers, ideologically driven transformations and internal upheaval of the Czechs and the Slovaks. The period of Communist rule was complex, and those who gleefully overthrew the regime in 1989 were the very grandchildren of those who had voted for Communism with hope in the free elections of 1946. This concise account includes both political and social history, analysing half a century of Communism from at all strata of society. Kevin McDermott is equally intrigued by those in power and ordinary citizens, asking what motivates a young Czech worker-believer to join the Communist Party in the early 1950s, enroll in the People's Militia and remain in the party during the dark years of 'normalisation, ' yet end up welcoming the tearing down of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Using Czech and Slovak archival sources and the most recent historiography, McDermott challenges the still dominant 'totalitarian' paradigm and argues that the forty year communist experience in Czechoslovakia cannot simply be dismissed as a Soviet-imposed aberration"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 228-245) and index.
Table of contents: title: Abbreviations and Glossary of Terms; title: Glossary of Leading Figures; title: Timeline : 1918-93; title: A Note on Czech Pronunciation; title: Introduction: Communist Czechoslovakia in Historical Perspective; title: 1. Communism on the Road to Power, 1945-48; title: 2. Stalinism Reigns, 1948-53; title: 3. Social Crisis and the Limits of Reform, 1953-67; title: 4. Czechoslovak Spring, 1968-69; title: 5. Everyday Normalisation, 1969-88; title: 6. 1989: The Demise of Communism; title: Conclusion: Into the Dustbin of History?