National Communism as intellectual tradition and political program in Czechoslovakia

Project Information

NATCOM

Grant agreement ID: 101038067

DOI

10.3030/101038067

Project closed

EC signature date 2 June 2021

Start date 1 March 2022

End date 29 February 2024

Funded under

• SPREADING EXCELLENCE AND WIDENING PARTICIPATION

Total cost

€ 144 980,64

EU contribution

€ 144 980,64

Coordinated by

USTAV PRO SOUDOBE DEJINY AV CR V.V.I
Czechia

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - NATCOM (National Communism as intellectual tradition and political program in Czechoslovakia)

Reporting period: 2022-03-01 to 2024-02-29

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The project "National Communism as Intellectual Tradition and Political Program in Czechoslovakia" (NATCOM) aimed to explore the complex and changing relationship between communist ideology and nationalism in Czechoslovakia during the 20th century. Despite the internationalist nature of Marxism, a significant part of the communist leadership in Czechoslovakia, even before the Second World War, viewed nationalism as an essential component of their ideological identity. For them, the Communist Party's program represented the culmination of the national liberation efforts that had already started in the 19th century.
NATCOM paid attention to the development in the Slovak part of the Czechoslovak Republic for three main reasons. Firstly, the national question in the Slovak communist movement has been crucial since its beginnings in the early 1920s. Secondly, Slovak national communism had extremely diverse positions in Party politics between the 1920s and 1989. Finally, the re-modeled national communist narrative and its authors played a significant role in Czechoslovakia's post-communist transformation and dissolution.
The project's analytical framework challenges the "refrigerator theory," which argues that during the communist period, the existing national problems were "frozen" only to be melted again after the fall of the socialist dictatorships. It also questions the narrative about nationalism being merely a useful tool in the hands of the communist regimes, which utilized it for pragmatic reasons. NATCOM objective was to study how communist regimes inadvertently strengthened national sentiments and had to adapt their politics and ideology accordingly.
After the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia, there were noticeable connections between Slovak national communism and post-1989 nationalism and ethno-populism. Therefore, the investigation focused on how the modified Slovak national communist program played a role in the dissolution of Czechoslovakia and led to the establishment and legitimization of the first "illiberal democracy" in Central Eastern Europe (CEE).
The main objectives of the analysis were:
1, To create a conceptual model for analyzing national communism and its place in the broader, comparative framework encompassing other East Central European socialist dictatorships. Studying national communism in its long-time development is essential for understanding the profound impact the interconnection of nationalism and communism had on the ECE development in the "short 20th century".
2, The research examines the similarities between national communism and the post-1989 "national populism" in the 1990s. The main question is to investigate how the Slovak national communist program influenced the direction and structure of the Czechoslovak and Slovak transformation during the early 1990s and beyond.
The main goals of the project have been achieved. It provided new insights into the relationship between communist ideology and nationalism. It has pointed to the continuities in the nationalist and illiberal aspects of post-communist transformation. The project highlights the difficulty of controlling nationalist tendencies once they are unleashed. This line of research remains interesting in the context of future developments in Europe. The project has a significant networking potential and a perspective for follow-up projects related to continuities with post-1989 developments. The Action has significantly promoted the development of the Fellow through training, networking, and building his expertise.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The project had several key objectives. The first was to produce scholarly publications. As a result, two journal articles and two book chapters have been published. One journal article and one book chapter are in print and scheduled to be published in May and June 2024.
The second goal included organizing a workshop. The Fellow co-organized a workshop, "Politicization of Public Spaces (1989-2022)," in 2022 and was the main organizer of a second one, "National Communism in Socialist Federations," in 2023.
The Fellow's research proposals were accepted by the three most prestigious congresses in his field of research - BASEES, ASEEES, and ANS. He also presented his research at five individual presentations. In a display of solidarity with fellow researchers in Ukraine, he co-organized a one-week visit for a Ukrainian colleague which included two presentations in Prague.
The project's third goal focused on popularization and dissemination. The Fellow delivered lectures to undergraduate and graduate students in the Czech Republic, France, and Slovakia. Additionally, he appeared on three television programs that discussed his research topic and was a guest speaker on two podcasts that explored the subject of national communism. The dissemination activities included seven publications (one yet to be published) in newspapers, journals, and a book of essays.
The essential objective involved preparing a book proposal on Slovak national communism and finding a publisher. The Fellow was invited to publish his monograph in the Lexington publishing house, which he accepted.
The project's findings have been published or are forthcoming in various studies and book chapters related to national communism in Czechoslovakia and the Central Eastern European region from 1918 to 1993. The research primarily focuses on this phenomenon's key aspects, including its intellectual roots, leading figures, political influence and relevance, public perception, and existence after 1989. The collected data from the fellowship will be used to produce a forthcoming monograph that will present the complete results of the research.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The NATCOM Action has provided new insights into the evolving relationship between communist ideology and nationalism in CEE. The progress beyond the current state of research is evident in two key areas. Firstly, the research analyses how the intellectual foundation of national communism adapted to and shaped the changing reality. By eliminating the chronological gaps, it presents how significantly the national communist ideas influenced the development of the Czechoslovak Communist Party and its regime in the 20th century.
The second area of innovative research focuses on the impact of national communism during the post-communist transition period. The Action proved that the remodeled Slovak national communist program played a significant role in establishing and legitimizing the first "illiberal democracy" in CEE. Today, it is evident that Slovakia's development was not as unique as it appeared to scholars in the 1990s and "illiberal democracy" has become one of the bywords of the region.
The activities of the Action have brought attention to the topic of national communism and its significant impact on the development of Czechoslovakia before and after 1989. It was the first time that this topic had been popularized and disseminated in this way. The planned monograph has the potential to initiate a similar process in the scholarly community. NATCOM uses the Slovak case study to identify developmental traits common in many other former socialist dictatorships in Central and Eastern Europe. The results of the MSCA will focus more attention on the continuities in the nationalist and illiberal aspects of the post-communist transformation in the region and beyond.

Poster for the presentation of Tetiana Kovenko in the Polish Institute in Prague

Adam Hudek, presentation at the workshop regarding the politization of public spaces

Program of the workshop "National Communism in Socialist Federations"

BASEEES 2022 Roundtable on Czechoslovakism with the Action supervisor Michal Kopeček (left)

Presentation at the seminar of the Institute for Contemporary History of Czech Academy of Sciences

Shooting the TV programme on the Politization of History for the Slovak Television

Adam Hudek, presentation at the workshop "National Communism in Socialist Federations"

Program of the workshop "Instrumentalization of History and Politicization of Public Spaces"