THE CZECHOSLOVAK EXPERIMENT

by Ivan Svitak ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1970

Polemical essays by a Czech philosopher: some written in Czechoslovakia in the spring of 1968, the others from exile in Vienna and the U.S. Svitak's introduction retracts the heroic mantle draped on Cernik and Dubcek by some reporters, describing the Liberal Communists as only one element in the democratization process. The intelligentsia and students constituted more significant tendencies, working unofficially and separately to build ""socialist democracy"" and increasingly ""Functioning rightly as the spokesmen of the nation."" Svitak's spring '68 writings (which appeared in two Czech magazines) bear the mark of intense intellectual ferment: attacking the bureaucrats and technocrats, he declares Czechoslovakia to have a surpassingly conservative regime, a totally uncontrollable system led by self-righteous fanatics (""Metternich, Caesar or the tsar were much more humane""). In Further writings Svitak exhorts the workers to ""become the party themselves."" A commemoration of Marx's 150th birthday views him as ""a European humanist"" rather than a socialist intellectual Speeches and writings composed after Svitak was forced into exile are largely repetitive while lacking the passion of battle. He maintains that the Czech experience demonstrates the need to mobilize the whole population behind democratization; he opposed Dubcek's call for passive calm and advocated opposition to the Russian troops; in ""Ten Commandments For A Rock-Bottom Intellectual"" he insists that ""rebellion is the destiny of man."" The essays may seem hortatory to the casual reader, but they make an essential representation of one of the fundamental vectors in Eastern European developments.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1970

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1970

Categories: NONFICTION