Description
Communist Czechoslovakia, 1945-89, 1st ed. 2015
A Political and Social History
European History in Perspective Series
Author: McDermott Kevin
Language: EnglishSubject for Communist Czechoslovakia, 1945-89:
Keywords
1989; communism; Europe; history; political history; reform; social history
272 p. · 15.5x23.5 cm · Paperback
Withdrawn from sale
Description
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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, enrol 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.
Acknowledgements.- Abbreviations and Glossary of Terms.- Glossary of Leading Figures.- Presidents of the Czechoslovak Republic, 1945-89.- Timeline 1945-89.- A Note on Czech Pronunciation.- Introduction: Communist Czechoslovakia in Historical Perspective.- 1. Communism on the Road to Power, 1945-482.- Stalinism Reigns, 1948-533.- Social Crisis and the Limits of Reform, 1953-674.- Czechoslovak Spring, 1968-695.- Everyday Normalisation, 1969-886.- 1989: The Demise of Communism.- Conclusion: Into the Dustbin of History?.- Notes.- Bibliography.- Index.
- Incorporates the most up-to-date English, Czech and Slovak sources, as well as Czech and Slovak archival material
- Challenges the general view of the regime as totalitarian and a foreign imposition
- Analyses both social and political history