The Genesis of Political Distrust Towards the “Sixty-Eighters” in Czech Politics Over the Course of 1989

Kristina Andělová

doi:10.31577/forhist.2021.15.2.7

Abstract

The Genesis of Political Distrust Towards the “Sixty-Eighters” in Czech Politics Over the Course of 1989

Highlights

In a situation where Marxism and socialism had completely lost political power and much of society rejected the socialist left as a dangerous remnant of the communist dictatorship, the advocates of post-communist democratic socialism found themselves on the margins of political discourse
Krapfl points out that a key political concept related to the forming of civic society was that of democratic socialism, which is instinctively connected with the year 1968
Though for many involved, the idea of a return to the time of the Prague Spring might have been perceived as hope for a democratic future, if we look at the life stories of the people who are linked with reform communism, the so-called sixty-eighters,[2] it is clear that after 1989, a large portion of them were left

Summary

Introduction

2 The term “sixty-eighter” is somewhat problematic, because there is no clear definition of who exactly falls into this category and who does not, yet the term is used quite commonly in Czech historiography and journalism, especially as a label for a group of politically active individuals who vigorously supported reform communist efforts in the 1960s, as well as Dubček and the Action Programme during the Prague Spring (many of them took part in its creation). They were a part of the post-war generation, which was united by notably similar, frequently shared life experiences. He rejected the idea that party dictatorship would be replaced by market dictatorship[5] and on the contrary, accused left-wing intellectuals with an emphasis on politics of echoing the call for strong authority by saying that they “despair of being left without a master”.6 In Bělohradský’s opinion, the market was supposed to be liberating from any oppression or power, “the market economy [...] was an opportunity for culture to be one of the areas of free private enterprise, and to be without a master.”[7]

Objectives

Conclusion