Social inequality in Czechoslovak public debates in the 1960s: among the official ideology, renewed sociology and common discontent

Stanislav Holubec, Czech Academy of Sciences

Czechoslovak sociology was revived in the early 1960s after almost a decade of prohibition under Stalinism. According to Stalinist theory, this "bourgeois science" was unnecessary at a time when social classes and inequalities had been eliminated and classless socialist society was emerging. However, along with political liberalisation and the opening up to the West, the existence of inequality and poverty began to be acknowledged, although the question of political power and party elites remained taboo for sociology. The paper will attempt to answer the question to what extent were social inequalities perceived as a fundamental problem during the Prague Spring in the discourse of party documents, in the liberalised press and in the sociological writings? By comparing these three discourses, I will try to answer the question what was the role of journalists, sociologists and political elites in public debates? In particular, to what extent the "artificial levelling" of the Stalinist era was criticized primarily by privileging the working classes and under-rewarding the intelligentsia, and to what extent, on the contrary, the privileges of the ruling elite or corporate management were criticized? Furthermore, I will attempt to reconstruct how these discourses were transformed after the invasion of the Warsaw Pact troops during the so-called normalization (neo-Stalinist) period? Finally, we will ask to what extent the historical sources can be trusted? In the first place, whose voices could not be heard in these debates, and whether there are any alternative sources allowing partial reconstruction of the opinion of ordinary people. Secondly, to what extent self-censorship was also evident during the Prague Spring, especially in the fear of being accused of Stalinism. Third, what other inequalities were systematically glossed over by both the regime and its critics - gender inequality, homosexuality, the question of the Roma minority?

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 127. Class Inequality and Politics