This collection systematically approaches the concept of Czechoslovakism and its historical progression, covering the time span from the mid-nineteenth century to Czechoslovakia’s dissolution in 1992/1993, while also providing the most recent research on the subject.
"Czechoslovakism" was a foundational concept of the interwar Czechoslovak Republic and it remained an important ideological, political and cultural phenomenon throughout the twentieth century. As such, it is one of the most controversial terms in Czech, Slovak and Central European history. While Czechoslovakism was perceived by some as an effort to assert Czech domination in Slovakia, for others it represented a symbol of the struggle for the Republic’s survival during the interwar and Second World War periods. The authors take care to analyze Czechoslovakism’s various emotional connotations, however their primary objective is to consider Czechoslovakism as an important historical concept and follow its changes through the various cultural-political contexts spanning from the mid-nineteenth century to the breakup of Czechoslovakia in 1993.
Including the work of many of the most eminent Czech and Slovak historians, this volume is an insightful study for academic and postgraduate student audiences interested in the modern history of Central and Eastern Europe, nationality studies, as well as intellectual history, political science and sociology.
Introduction
Czechoslovakism: The Concept’s Blurry History
Michal Kopeček
Part I. Czechoslovakism before Czechoslovakia
1. Latent Czechoslovakism: A Topic of Politicization for Nineteenth-Century Liberal Elites
Vratislav Doubek
2. Czechoslovakist Arguments at the Turn of the Twentieth Century
Karol Hollý
3. Hungarian Governments, Authorities of Control and Supervision, and the Czechoslovakist Movement in1895–1914: Surveillance, Misinterpretations and Countermeasures
Ladislav Vörös
4. "Jews are the misfortune of Slovakia": Czechoslovakism and Antisemitism at the End of the Nineteenth and in the First Half of the Twentieth Century
Miloslav Szabó
Part II. Czechoslovakism in the Time of "Nation State" Building
5. Conceptions of Czechoslovakism among Czech Politicians in Government Inauguration Debates 1918–1938
Elisabeth Bakke
6. Czechoslovakism in the first half of the Czechoslovak Republic: State-Building Concept or Hackneyed Old Phrase?
Milan Ducháček
7. The Positions of Major Slovak Political Movements on the Concept of Czechoslovakism during the Interwar Period
Róbert Arpáš and Matej Hanula
8. The Failure of Czechoslovakism as a State-Civic Concept: National Minorities in the Army, 1918-1945
Zdenko Maršálek
9. State Celebrations and the Construction of a Czechoslovak National Community during the First Republic
Miroslav Michela
10. The Idea of Czechoslovakism in Czech History Textbooks and Civic Education Textbooks Published Between 1918–1938
Dana Šmajstrlová
11. Czechoslovak Visual Arts
Milena Bartlová
Part III. Czechoslovakism during the Communist Dictatorship and Democratic Transformation
12. Slovak Communists and the Ideology of Czechoslovakism
Juraj Benko and Adam Hudek
13. Czechoslovakism and Ludakness in the 1960s Reform Period
Zdeněk Doskočil
14. Czechoslovakism and the Party Theory of the "Nationality Question"
Jan Mervart
15. Debates on Czechoslovakism and Czechoslovak Identity in the Closing Years of the Federation, 1989-1992
Tomáš Zahradníček
16. The Problem of Czechoslovakism in Post-1989 Slovakia
Norbert Kmeť
17. Yugoslavism Throughout the Twentieth Century: Developments and Tendencies
Ondřej Vojtěchovský – Boris Mosković – Jan Pelikán
Biography
Adam Hudek is a senior researcher at the Institute of History of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. His research concentration is the intellectual history of socialist Czechoslovakia. He is the editor in chief and coauthor of the work Overcoming the Old Borders. Beyond the Paradigm of Slovak National History (2013).
Michal Kopeček is a researcher at the Institute of Contemporary History of the Czech Academy of Sciences and co-director of Imre Kertész Kolleg in Jena. His work focuses on comparative history of political and social thought in East Central Europe. He is the co-author of the two-volume A History of Modern Political Thought in East Central Europe (2018).
Jan Mervart is a researcher at the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences. He specializes in the intellectual and cultural history of socialist Czechoslovakia. He is the coauthor of Karel Kosík and Dialectics of the Concrete (2021).
