The Little Czech and the Great
Czech Nation
Chapter 1: Nation Against State
Nick Fundytus
The Public and Private Spheres
 Czechoslovakia
is unique among the Eastern Bloc
countries in that it voted in the Communists freely
and by a majority. Its last free elections were in
1946, and the communist coup d’etat occurred in
1948.
 Because of state ownership of production, Public
life became anything to do with work or the state,
while private was home and family.
“Anyone who doesn’t steal. . .
 Czechs,
like Westerners, generally made friends
outside of work.
 Czechs were not known for their friendliness to
foreigners or people they did not know personally.
. . . is robbing his family”
 Czechs
saw lying to the state as expected to
maneuver within the socialist system, in private
life it was unforgivable.
 One popular practice was to pilfer state goods to
supplement income.
 Thus a popular saying in Czechoslovakia arose:
“Anyone who does not steal is robbing his family”
Opposition to the Communist Regime
Prague Spring or “Prager
Spring,” 1968. A shortlived period of increased
openness in C.S.
 Public demonstrations in
Prague in 1988-9, led to
the fall of Communism in
Czechoslovakia.

Dubcek
A Problem of Legitimacy
 Despite
regular elections and state-sponsored
demonstrations such as the May Day parade, the
Communist government did not have legitimate
support from the masses.
 An attempt to rectify this and discourage resistance
to the state was to make material wealth the
“meaning of life” within the state.
State vs. Nation
Communist Party
 Political aims
 Interests tie in with Soviet
policies
 Defined material wellbeing as a symbol of
success

Dissident Groups
 Idealistic aims
 Diverse bases and interests
 Defined morality as a goal
(this stance was
undermined by the
communist stance)

National Symbols: Prague and St
Wenceslas
Prague
 Capital of Czechoslovakia
 Idea of “Mother Prague”
was important to Czechs
 Dubcek exploited this
symbol upon his rise to
power in 1968.

St Wenceslas Square
 Heart of Prague, and thus
the real heart of the nation.
 St. Wenceslas was a
martyr in the Czech
church, and one of its
most enduring symbols
against oppression.

AUGUST 21, 1968
Warsaw Pact Troops
descend upon St.
Wenceslas Square and
crush unarmed opposition
to the communist regime
Timing of Resistance
 In
1988-9, demonstrations occurred on days that
were specifically important to the nationalist cause
 October 28- Anniversary of the independent C.S.
state in 1918
 August 21- End of the Prague Spring in 1968
 January 19- Death of Jan Palach in 1969
 November 17, Closing of Czech Universities by
the Nazis in 1939
Well, maybe it’s funnier in Czech?
Of Socialism: The first peculiarity is that everybody is
employed and nobody works. The Second is that nobody
works and the plan gets filled 100%. The third is that the
plan is filled and there is nothing in the shops. The fourth:
There is nothing to be had in the shops and people have
everything.The fifth is that people have everything and
everybody still grumbles. The sixth is that we grumble
about the regime and then we all go vote for it.
 Popular Czech Joke in the 1970’s

Two Types of Nationalism: Friedrich
Meinecke
State Nation
 Describes post-revolution
France
 Political ties
 In Czechoslovakia,
described the “official”
nationalism of the
communist Party

Cultural Nation
 Describes Germany in
opposition to Napoleonic
France
 Cultural and Language
Ties
 In Czechoslovakia,
described the Czechs

Summary
 Though
Czechoslovakia entered into communism
Willingly, so did it leave it by its own will. The
Adoption and manipulation of national symbols by
both government and dissidents in 1968 and 1988
defined the struggle of Nation against State.
 Eventually it was the state that would fall to the
Czech Nation, and her vague notion of what it
meant to be “free.”
“Show the world that we are not
monkeys!”