State and Society in Communist Czechoslovakia: Transforming the Everyday from WWII to the Fall of the Berlin Wall
Bloomsbury Academic
ISBN13:
9780755600137
$51.66
Across central and eastern Europe after World War II, the newly established communist regimes promised a drastic social revolution that would transform the world at great pace and pave the way to a socialist future. Although many aspects of this utopian project are well known - such as fast-paced industrialisation, collectivisation and urbanisation - the regimes even sought to transform the ways in which their citizens interacted with each other and the world around them. Using a unique analytical model based on an amalgam of anthropology, sociology, history and extensive archival research, award-winning scholar Roman Krakovsky here considers the Czechoslovakian attempt to 'reinvent the world' - 'time' and 'space' included - in this all-encompassing way. Ranging from WWII to the fall of the Berlin Wall, his innovative analysis variously considers the impact of Stakhanovism, the impossible-to-achieve production targets intended to assert socialism's future potential; the attempt to replace Sunday's Christian attributes with socialist ones; and the profound changes brought about to the public and private spheres, including the culture of informing and the ways this was circumvented. Across a wide range of case studies Krakovsky demonstrates both the far-reaching extent of the communist vision and the inherent flaws and contradictions that gradually destabilised it. This in-depth perspective is vital reading for all scholars of twentieth century history and politics.
- | Author: Roman Krakovsky
- | Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
- | Publication Date: February 20, 2020
- | Number of Pages: 352 pages
- | Language: English
- | Binding: Paperback
- | ISBN-10: 0755600134
- | ISBN-13: 9780755600137
- Author:
- Roman Krakovsky
- Publisher:
- Bloomsbury Academic
- Publication Date:
- February 20, 2020
- Number of pages:
- 352 pages
- Language:
- English
- Binding:
- Paperback
- ISBN-10:
- 0755600134
- ISBN-13:
- 9780755600137