CERGE-EI and the Faculty of Humanities (FHS) at Charles University The Dynamics of Communism: Analyzing and Understanding the Communist System in former Czechoslovakia Lecturer: Professor Steven Saxonberg, Ph.D. Contact email: ssa@du.se Course Description The objective of this course is to help students understand how the communist system in Czechoslovakia functioned in practice and to explain why the system eventually collapsed. This course emphasizes the need for having a theoretical rather than purely empirical approach to the question, so that students gain a deeper understanding of the dynamics of what happened. This course takes up some issues that are rarely discussed in such a course, such as what role the official mass organizations played in bringing down the regime, or how the regime developed a specific type of legitimacy that in some ways was historically unique; yet, this specific type of legitimacy had its own dynamics that contributed to the fall of the regime. This course emphasizes student participation, so each lecture will be followed by a discussion. To facilitate the discussions, each student will have to participate in one group presentation on a topic from the course based on the previous week s reading. However, the presentation will be short and limited to 15 minutes. Assessment and Grading Students final grades will be composed as follows: 1. Class participation 15% 2. Group Presentation 15% 3. Midterm 30% 4. Research paper 40% 1
The midterm take-home exam takes places in week 7. Rather than a final exam, each student will write a research paper, which is due the final week. The paper can be on a topic of your choice, but must be based on one of the topics from the course. It must be 4,000-8,000 words. Cumulative percentage points will be converted into grades. Attendance Policy Students are expected to attend every class and they have to comply with the attendance policy of the UPCES program. One excused nonattendance is tolerated; more than one has significant consequences for your grade. Students are responsible for catching up with the material they have missed. Academic Honesty Needless to say, plagiarism and other forms of cheating are not tolerated. Course Outline and Reading Assignments Week 1 UPCES Orientation Lecture Series - Lectures and site visits on subjects of history, culture, politics, and the economies of the Czech Republic and Central Europe in order to establish a common interdisciplinary background and vocabulary for all courses. Week 2 Introduction Overview of the course. Course requirements. Information on assignments. Introductory lecture and discussion: Why was the communist party so popular after World War II? What made them attractive to Czech and Slovak voters? (Optional) Korbel, Josef. The Communist Subversion of Czechoslovakia 1938-1948. The Failure of Coexistence. New Jersey, Princeton University Press, 1959. Week 3 Marxism and Marxist-Leninism: Democratic and Totalitarian Interpretations What did Marx mean by dictatorship of the proletariat and how was this concept further developed by Lenin and Stalin? How is it possible that Marx could both inspire totalitarian communist movements and democratic socialist/social democratic movements? The Czechoslovak Communist Party runs into problems with the Comintern for its democratic leanings. 2
Marx, Karl. "The Civil War in France" short essay available in many versions, including on-line. Lenin, Vladimir, The State and Social Revolution, chapters 1-3, available in many versions, including on-line. Stalin, Josef, The Foundations of Leninism, chapter 4 The dictatorship of the Proletariat, available in many versions, including on-line. Berman, Sheri. Social Democracy and the Making of Europe's Twentieth Century. Cambridge University Press, 2006. Bernstein, Eduard. The Preconditions of Socialism, available in many editions. Harrington, Michael. Socialism: Past and Future. Reprint edition of original published in 1989. New York, New York, USA: Arcade Publishing, 2011. Week 4 The Political Power Structure under Communist Rule: How was the communist system organized? What was the role of the Communist Party, the support parties and the state? How did the Party control the state? This week we take a close look at how the political system worked in practice. Saxonberg, Steven. The Fall: A Comparative Study of the End of Communism in Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary and Poland. Abingdon: Routledge, 2001, pp. 100-125. Wolchik, Sharon. Czechoslovakia in Transition: Politics, Economics and Society, Pinter Pub Ltd, July 1993, chapter to be named later. Hough, Jeffry, How the Soviet Union is Governed. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1979, 3 rd edition, Chapters 11 and 12 3
Week 5 Analyzing the Communist System: totalitarian or pluralist? Throughout the period of communist rule, there was an on-going debate about the nature of the communist system was it totalitarian, or did it allow for some king of pluralism within bounds? It is interesting to look back at this debate in light of the new evidence we have after the collapse of the system in Europe. Kirkpatrick, Jeane, "Dictatorships and Double Standards," Commentary 68 (November 1979), pp. 34-45. Linz, Juan J. & Stepan, Alfred (1996) Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America, and Post-Communist Europe (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press), chapter 3. Skilling, Gordon. Interest Groups and Communist Politics Revisited, World Politics, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Oct., 1983), pp. 1-27. Lowenthal, Richard. "Beyond Totalitarianism?" in Irving Howe ed., 1984 Revisited, New York et al., Perennial Library, 1983. Saxonberg, Steven. Transitions and Non-Transitions from Communism: Regime Survival in China, Cuba, North Korea, and Vietnam. Cambridge University Press, 2013. Week 6 The Communist Economic Model This week we discuss how the communist economic system functioned in practice. How was the economy organized, and what were its main problems? Since economic problems played a major role in the downfall of the system, it is important to understand the systemic problems with the system in order to understand, first, why the regime made attempts at reforming the economy and then why the failure of these reforms helped pave the way for its collapse. S ik, Ota, Czechoslovakia : the bureaucratic economy. White Plains, N.Y.: International Arts and Sciences Press, 1972. Selected chapters to be named later. Nove, Alex, The Soviet Economic System. Routledge; 3rd Revised edition 1987. 4
Week 7 Midterm Take-home exam. Week 8 Reforming Communism: Why Did Reforms Fail? This week we discuss the Prague Spring economic reforms and other attempts at reforms and discuss what problems they faced. If the communist regimes had succeeded in reforming their economies, then they might have stayed in power, as the Chinese and Vietnamese cases show. Thus, it is important to understand the reasons for this failure if one is to understand the dynamics of the system and the reasons for its eventual fall. Kornai, János, The Soft Budget Restraint, KYKLOS, Vol. 39, 1986, pp. 3-30. Saxonberg, Steven, The Fall, chapter 4 repeat. Selucky, Czechoslovakia: the plan that failed. Nelson, 1970, chapter to be named later. Golan, Galia. Reform Rule in Czechoslovakia. The Dub ek Era 1968-1969, Cambridge, Cambridge U University Press, 1973. Week 9 The Warsaw Pact Invasion and Normalization The Prague Spring represented the most daring attempt at reforming the system among the European communist regimes. The question, therefore, arises as to why the Soviet Union did not allow this experiment to continue, as well as why the Czechoslovak leadership caved in to Soviet pressure and eventually accepted the occupation. This week we will also discuss the process of normalization, that took place after the invasion and what it meant for the development of the country. Brown, Archie, The Rise & Fall of Communism, London: Bodley Head, 2011, chapter 19. Holesovsky, Vaclav [1980] "Czechoslovakia: Economic Reforms," pp. 51-71 in Economic Reforms in Eastern Europe and Prospects for the 1980's, Colloquium in Brussels, April 16-18, 1980, 5
Oxford et al., Pergamon Press. Kusin, Vladimir V. From Dubcek to Charter 77: Czechoslovakia 1968-78, Edinburgh: Q Press, 1978. Szulc, Tad (1971) Czechoslovakia Since World War II, New York: Viking Press. Mlynář, Zdeněk, Night Frost in Prague. London: Hurst, 1978. Week 10 The Loss of Legitimacy Some observers argue that the communist regimes never had any legitimacy at all, while others have argued that it was precisely the loss of legitimacy in the 1970s and 1980s that led to the downfall of the system. This week we discuss whether these two positions can be reconciled and we discuss what types of legitimacies can exist and which kind possibly existed under communist rule. Saxonberg, Steven, The Fall, Chapters 5 and 6. Di Palma, Guiseppe. "Legitimation from the Top to Civil Society," World Politics, no. 1, (1991), pp. 49-79. Gill, Graeme (1982) "Personal Dominance and the Collective Principle: Individual Legitimacy in Marxist-Leninist Systems," pp. 94-110 in T. H. Rigby & Ference Fehér eds., Political Legitimation in Communist States, London & Basingstoke: The Macmillian Press LTD. Heller, Agnes (1982) "Phases of Legitimation in Soviet-Type Societies," pp. 45-63 in T. H. Rigby & Ference Fehér eds., Political Legitimation in Communist States, London & Basingstoke: The Macmillian Press LTD. Rigby, T. H. & Ference Fehér eds., Political Legitimation in Communist States, London & Basingstoke: The Macmillian Press LTD. Saxonberg, Steven. Transitions and Non-Transitions from Communism Week 11 Civil society and semi-civil society What did civil society look like under communist rule? What role did it play in bringing down the system? Has its role been exaggerated? Is it possible that scholars have concentrated too much on the illegal organizations comprising civil society, while neglecting the role of legal mass organizations comprising semi-civil society? Saxonberg, Steven. Transitions and Non-Transitions from Communism 153-156, 179-206 Arato, Andrew (1991) "Social Theory, Civil Society, and the Transformatoin of Authoritarian Socialism," pp. 1-26 in Ferenc Fehér & Andrew Arato eds., Crisis and Reform in Eastern Europe, New Brunswick & London: Transaction Publishers. 6
Lewis, Paul G., ed. Democracy and Civil Society in Eastern Europe, Hampshire & London: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Saxonberg, Steven The Fall, Ch. 7. Weigle, Marcia A & Butterfield, Jim (1992) "Civil Society in Reforming Communist Regimes: The Logic of Emergence," Comparative Politics, 1:1-24. Week 12 Perestroika light: the Jakes period and the demise of the system This week we will discuss how the Czechoslovak regime performed in the 1980s, including how it reacted to Gorbachev s coming to power and why the regime eventually lost power. Saxonberg, Steven, The Fall, pp. 167-170, 195-202, 316-356. Ash, Timothy Garton. "The Revolution of the Magic Lantern," The New York Review, 1990, January 18:42-51. Ash, Timothy Garton. We The People: The Revolution of '89 Witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin & Prague, London, Granta Books, 1990. Batt, Judy. East Central Europe from Reform to Transformation, London: Pinter, 1990. Batt, Judy. "The End of Communist Rule in East-Central Europe: A Four-Country Comparison," Government and Opposition, 1990, no. 3, pp. 369-390. Ekiert, Grzegorz. "Democratization Processes in East Central Europe: A Theoretical Reconsideratin," British Journal of Political Science, 1991, vol. 21, pp. 285-313. Karklins, Rasma & Petersen, Roger. "Decision Calculus of Protesters and Regimes: Eastern Europe 1989," The Journal of Politics, 1993, no. 3, pp. :588-614. Linz, Juan J. & Stepan, Alfred Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Przeworksi, Adam. Democracy and the Market: Political and Economic Reforms in Eastern Europe and Latin America, Cambridge et al.: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Saxonberg, Steven, Transitions and Non-Transitions, Ch. 5. Schöpflin, George. Politics in Eastern Europe, Oxford UK & Cambridge USA: Blackwell, 1993/1994. Wheaton, Bernard & Kavan, Zdeněk. The Velvet Revolution: Czechoslovakia, 1988-1991, Boulder, San Francisco & Oxford: Westview Press, 1992. 7
Week 13 RESEARCH PAPER DUE We will have a discussion on the collapse of the system and a general discussion about the topics of the course. All the texts cited in this syllabus are available from UPCES course materials and the reader, available to all students free of charge. Additional literature: Many other readings on various course topics can be downloaded from UPCES online course materials or found in the CERGE-EI Library. The instructor reserves the right to alter the syllabus during the course of the semester if necessary. 8