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The Conflicts over the Czechoslovak Ownership Transformation in the 1990's
Rameš, Václav ; Kopeček, Michal (advisor) ; Suk, Jiří (referee) ; Myant, Martin (referee)
The presented dissertation focuses on the large-scale privatization in Czechoslovakia in the early 1990's, on how it was pushed through and why. It analyses the political conflicts over its eventual form and means of realization, and reconstructs the contemporary expectations concerning the future development. It also pays attention to the roots of the 1990's conflicts in the relevant economic disputes of the previous decades. The dissertation identifies an establishment of a new type of liberal political language as a key moment for the implementation of a large-scale privatization. For the new political language, which can be labelled as "market without adjectives" (or "attributes"), the privatization was a flagship policy and it encompassed its key ideas. The language of market without adjectives was defined in a strong opposition to the principles of the so-called "economic democracy", which had been popular among the members of the Czechoslovak dissent, the numerous supporters of workers' self- governing bodies and some economic experts. The attempts to implement the principles of market without adjectives occurred during several political conflicts the dissertation tries to analyse. The delimitation of space for democratic decision making was one of them, with the liberal economists arguing...
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Status and Activities of the Official and the Underground Church in Czechoslovakia in the 1968-1989 Period
Dušková, Denisa ; Rychlík, Jan (advisor) ; Kopeček, Michal (referee)
(in English): The goal of this thesis is to examine post-war development of undercover and official church in Czechoslovakia, specifically between years 198-1989. This thesis is focused mainly on activity and status of Roman Catholic Church and its relation to the state governed by communism. Thesis deals mostly with unofficial ecclesiastical activities and underground groups, in particular with Koinótés community led by key figure of secret church, Felix M. Davídek. The main source is a set of interrogation protocols made by State Security police dealing with the secret ecclesiastical acitivites of the community formed around Bishop Fridolin Zahradnik.
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The University of 17th November (1961-1974) and its position in Czechoslovakian educational system and society
Holečková, Marta Edith ; Cuhra, Jaroslav (advisor) ; Kopeček, Michal (referee) ; Pažout, Jaroslav (referee)
The orientation of Czechoslovakian foreign policy on Africa, Asia and Latin America took various forms after the World War II. Apart from economic and military cooperation, rising numbers of university scholarships offered to students from developing countries coming to Czechoslovakia are worth our attention. This resulted, together with increasing accent on support of emerging new states, in establishing of The University of 17th November in 1961 - a new university for foreign students. Due to the University, the Czechoslovakian society was for the first time confronted with growing numbers of ethnically and culturally different people. Along with the history of educational institution, this study focuses on the mutual coexistence of foreign students and broader society and on the general reception of the school. Founding of the University was also a Czechoslovak response to a trend developing at the time in some states of the Western European as well as in the Soviet Union where The Patrice Lumumba Friendship University was opened in 1960 in Moscow. The trend was based on a rather optimistic assumption that present-day students later become a part of newly arising elites and occupy important and powerful positions in the decolonized world. The Soviet Union and its satellites (not only...
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Vaclav Dobias (1909-1978), between music and politics
Jiráček, Jiří ; Randák, Jan (advisor) ; Kopeček, Michal (referee)
The presented thesis deals with the topic of Czechoslovak cultural politics in music during the Socialist Realist era. The author based the study on the personal history of Václav Dobiáš, a prominent composer, cultural organiser and a pedago- gue, who serves as a typical representation of an artist, who bestowed all his artistic talents to the cause of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. The first chapter briefly describes Socialist Realism as a movement in music in the Soviet Union, the place of its origin. The main emphasis is put on the introduction to Zhdanov's po- litical speech, which consequently became the mandatory norm in the countries of the Eastern bloc. The next chapter is focused on Czechoslovak reflexion of Socialist Realism and its reception. This chronological development aims to expose the spe- cifics of each periods' reception of this artistic movement. Following chapters are dedicated to Václav Dobiáš. The first chapter of this part of the thesis deals with the beginning of the artist's journey which was strongly influenced by the avantgarde movement of 1930's. Next chapters depict his adoption of communist ideology in 1945, explore the motives behind this ideological conversion and characterize his po- litically-engaged work. This part is followed by a portrayal of Dobiáš as a...
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Miloslav Chlupáč and the Marxist Theory of Propaganda in the 1960s and the 1970s Czechoslovakia
Poliačik, Cyril ; Kopeček, Michal (advisor) ; Pullmann, Michal (referee)
This Master thesis contributes to the history of science in the period of the Czechoslovak communist regime. The thesis deals with the attempts to create a scientific theory of propaganda as an independent branch of science. The main goal of this thesis is to present what led to the formation of the Marxist theory of propaganda, describe its development and potential changes in the approach to propaganda during the reference period. Further goals are to describe the sources of the theory of propaganda, the concern of the official institutions and the people who dealt with propaganda. The research is based on the archive materials from the National Archives of the Czech republic and the Slovak National Archives, and on the works about the theory of propaganda. The central figure of this thesis is Miloslav Chlupáč, who dealt with the theory of propaganda in the whole reference period and who was influential to the most phases of the development of the theory of propaganda. The reference period begins with the changes in the society after the year of 1948, with the main concern being science, education and propaganda; and first contributions to the theory of propaganda, which were based on the socio-political situation in the 1950s. Following important phase in the development of the theory of propaganda were...
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20th-Century History. Czech, Czechoslovak or Böhmisch?
Kopeček, Michal
This study explores the possibility of alternative approaches to the history of contemporary states formed on national principles. The author assesses the positive and negative aspects of transnational and entangled history and the possible application of such an approach to Czech history, working with the concepts "Czech", "Czechoslovak" and "Böhmisch".
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Thinking Transformation Over.Transformational Policy of KSČM and ČSL as Two Critiques of Czechoslovak Economical Reform in 1990 - 1992
Rameš, Václav ; Pullmann, Michal (advisor) ; Kopeček, Michal (referee)
This thesis focuses mainly on transformation policy of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM) and the Czechoslovak People's Party (ČSL) between 1990 and 1992, in the times of ongoing public discussions on Czechoslovakia abandoning the socialist command economy. It sums up the political development of both parties (focusing on changes in their ideology) and then concentrates on the way each of them attempted to form its own project of economic transformation. These alternative projects are analyzed through the underlying ideological concepts that reflect the values with which both parties associated the transformation process. For each of these concepts, the political and ideological struggles between party's fractions that affected its final form are examined. This method is loosely inspired by the so-called conceptual history (Begriffsgeschichte), as it was used in Geschichtliche Grundbegriffe (written by Reinhart Koselleck et al.), while paying attention to certain limitations of applicability of this approach in the field of contemporary history. The thesis is based on analyses of the parties' political texts, of both public and internal character, and of various other archive materials. The political texts and programmes are regarded as a space in which the ideas compete wtih each...
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The Academic Milieu in Times of Communist Vetting - Higher Education in 1948-1956. Post-war Reform of Czech Higher Education and Is Origins
Jareš, Jakub ; Kopeček, Michal (advisor) ; Petráň, Josef (referee) ; Šima, Karel (referee)
This thesis deals with a reform of Czech higher education after the Second World War. While traditional treatments follow the communist experiment from its beginnings until its 'inevitable' downfall in 1989, this work focuses on its roots and end with the adoption of the new Higher Education Act in 1950. This reversal of perspective reveals similarities between the communist reform and modernisation trends which influenced the development of higher education also in the West. We follow the discussion about the future of higher education, which went on in 1930s-1950s, try to see how universities tried to approach the tension between their freedoms and demands for serving the public, and analyse the way in which the communist reform responded to this issue. Czech higher education was formed by Humboldtian principles, which were partly implemented in mid-19th century. During the interwar period, this framework basically remained in place: higher education developed in terms of quantity rather than quality but certain problems with demanded attention also started coming to the fore. Attempts by the Ministry of Education to implement partial reforms met with resistance from the academic institutions and many academics focused on passionately defending the autonomy of universities. During the wartime, the...
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Ladislav Helge: Caught between film and politics
Rousek, Jan ; Kopeček, Michal (advisor) ; Koura, Petr (referee)
The aim of the thesis is to map political activities of Ladislav Helge, a film director. Due to his social sensitivity and sympathies for the Red army as a liberator of Czechoslovkaia, he favored left-wing politics. At the beginning of his career he was not involved in politics and instead immersed himself fully in his profession of a film director. His first initiation to the world of politics came with the shooting of Frona. This film represents a turning point in both his artistic and political activities. Gradual de-Stalinization across the 1950s happened alongside Helge's first independent film project and his deliberate joining of KSC. The political intervention of the communist party into the liberal functioning of Czechoslovak film during the Banska Bystrica film festival determined his political activism that was to follow. In the mid 1960s Helge, as a leader of a professional film organization FITES, stood up to the attempts of the communist functionaries to curtail the artistic freedom of filmmakers belonging to the New Wave movement. Between 1968 and 1969 he led the Coordinating committee of creative associations and defended the freedoms gained during the Prague Spring. Soon after, his employment at Barrandov studios was terminated. In 1977 he signed the Anti-Charter. The last chapter...
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Exile magazine Sunday Herald at the turn of 1989/1990
Brichta, Miloslav ; Kopeček, Michal (advisor) ; Rychlík, Jan (referee)
Sunday Herald is the date of its establishment, the year 1891, the oldest expatriate general periodical. It represents an interesting probe into the way of thinking expatriate community over time, due to historicals events in Europe is also becoming a journal created by exiles. Reflection on the events of 1989 shows the wiewpoint of its creators, for the most part voluntary contributors evaluation evolution from a distance and taking into account their own life experiences and ideas. Texts excel straightforward rawness, linguistic style and emphasis on the Czech national tradition reminiscent of the world thought the first half of the twentieth century. The reason is the mix of authors and contributors, there are basically two groups, the first, settlers living in the United States for many generations are taking linguistic composition of the czech language and intellectual world of his parents and grandparents, second, post ,,February,, and a smaller part, post ,,August,, exiles to bring the picture of home in form, it would be remembered at the time of their escape. In the political orientation of articles and news commentaries outweighs consistent anticommunism with certain elements of Christian conservatism. There are also anti-Semitism, a racist subtext include articles from South African...
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