Czechoslovakia, 1918–92

Krejčí, Jaroslav; Machonin, Pavel

doi:10.1057/9780230377219

Cited by 38 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…In addition to political purges of members of rival parties, there was a mass vetting of the Communist Party itself. Fear and intimidation associated with state-sponsored terror characterized the country between 1948 and 1954 (Hodos 1987; Krejčí and Machonin 1996; Paul 1981; Pelikán 1971). Citizens lived in constant fear of persecution, and very few spoke out against the regime.…”

Section: Contextualizing the 1953 Plzeň Uprisingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Once in power, the KSČ set out to nationalize and restructure the economy around heavy industry, including the production of armaments and machinery for export to other state socialist countries (Krejčí and Machonin 1996). Plzeň was home to several manufacturing facilities, but the industrial centerpiece was the massive Škoda Works factory that employed more than 25,000 workers.…”

Section: Contextualizing the 1953 Plzeň Uprisingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mobilizing Grievances in an Authoritarian Setting: Threat and Emotion in the 1953 Plzeň Uprising

Bray

Shriver

Adams

2018

Sociological Perspectives

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Material and physical threat can play a crucial role in the emergence of protest, yet few studies have explored the micro-level mechanisms that transform threat into collective action under repressive conditions. We address this gap by connecting the mobilizing power of grievances to the emotional dynamics of collective action in the context of a 1953 uprising in Communist Czechoslovakia. Following economic reforms that wiped out citizens' savings, several thousand workers in the industrial city of Plzeň took to the streets in protest. Drawing on data from in-depth interviews, our analysis shows how structural and incidental grievances can become a mobilizing force for high-risk activism. We find that the class position of protesters influenced their preexisting affective state and reactive response to the reform. As a result, class background helped to shape protesters' motivations, actions, and goals. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for future research.

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Section: Contextualizing the 1953 Plzeň Uprisingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Contextualizing the 1953 Plzeň Uprisingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mobilizing Grievances in an Authoritarian Setting: Threat and Emotion in the 1953 Plzeň Uprising

Bray

Shriver

Adams

2018

Sociological Perspectives

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“…The 1948 coup d’état brought the Soviet-backed Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( Komunistická strana Československa , KSČ) to political power. The KSČ immediately began transforming the economy by nationalizing businesses, forcing farmers to join state-run collectives, and restructuring production around heavy industry (Krejčí and Machonin 1996; Mikuš 1963). In the political sphere, the party launched an aggressive campaign to eliminate opposition and solidify their base of support among the country’s working class.…”

Section: Case Context: Repression and Human Rights In Czechoslovakiamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The KSČ’s authoritarian rule took on its most violent form during the Stalinist era, between 1948 and the mid-1960s. During this time, fear permeated the country and power was consolidated through widespread political repression (Krejčí and Machonin 1996; Pelikán 1971). The new political and economic structures were upheld ideologically through Soviet edicts of class warfare.…”

Section: Case Context: Repression and Human Rights In Czechoslovakiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Elite Cultural Work and Discursive Obstruction of Human Rights Activism

2019

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When challenged, states frequently respond with discursive campaigns meant to undercut the legitimacy of social movements. However, we know little about how the social and cultural status of challengers affects the state’s discursive response. We address this gap by analyzing an important historical case of human rights activism in Communist Czechoslovakia. Despite its long history of violence and repression, Czechoslovakia signed several international human rights covenants during the 1970s to improve its reputation. A group of citizens that included well-known political, social, and cultural figures soon formed a domestic movement for human rights known as Charter 77. Drawing on state media articles, we analyze the state’s public response to Charter 77. Results highlight four discursive strategies through which the state sought to undermine the cultural legitimacy of the movement: vilification through character assaults, message distortion that constructed activists as enemies of socialism, symbolic amplification of socialist values, and the co-optation of culturally valued identities to speak as state proxies. By further developing the concept of discursive obstruction, we show how the state navigated the complex cultural field in its effort to suppress high-profile human rights activists.

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“…7 Modernizers, headed by Peter Weiss, took over the leadership of the party in December 1989, and they sought a fast-track transformation of the KSS into a non-communist party. In the elections of June 1990 the party polled 13.3 per cent of the vote and became the fourth strongest in parliament.…”

Section: Post-communist Transformation and Political Opportunitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Between emulation and adjustment: External influences on programmatic change in the Slovak SDL

Handl

Leška

2005

Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics

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Certain processes of transformation have underpinned the programmatic development of the Slovak communist successor, the Party of the Democratic Left (SDL), most notably policy transfer from Western social-democratic parties. New young, dynamic leaders assumed the role of modernizers in the party in the first half of the 1990s, but a group of more conservative socialists took over in 1996. The two streams developed mutually incompatible attitudes not just to policy transfer, but to policy development in general. In the process of transformation, fast-track programmatic modernization and the internal divisions within the party were directly influenced by policy transfer from Western social-democratic parties and had a clear effect on the party's eventual implosion.

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Czechoslovakia, 1918–92

Cited by 38 publications

References 0 publications

Mobilizing Grievances in an Authoritarian Setting: Threat and Emotion in the 1953 Plzeň Uprising

Mobilizing Grievances in an Authoritarian Setting: Threat and Emotion in the 1953 Plzeň Uprising

Elite Cultural Work and Discursive Obstruction of Human Rights Activism

Between emulation and adjustment: External influences on programmatic change in the Slovak SDL

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