title: The Prague Spring of 1968 and its impact on religious life and statechurch relations in Czechoslovakia
metadata.name: dc.contributor.author
metadata.value: Moravcíkova, Michaela
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.date.accessioned
metadata.value: 2019-08-28T18:57:10Z
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.date.available
metadata.value: 2019-08-28T18:57:10Z
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.date.issued
metadata.value: 2019-06
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.identifier.citation
metadata.value: Moravcíkova M. The Prague Spring of 1968 and its impact on religious life and statechurch relations in Czechoslovakia. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Philosophy and Conflict Studies, 2019, vol. 35, issue 2, pp. 378–389.
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.identifier.other
metadata.value: https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu17.2019.213
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.identifier.uri
metadata.value: http://hdl.handle.net/11701/16202
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.description.abstract
metadata.value: The oncoming of communism in Czechoslovakia in 1948 meant for churches and religious communities the “nationalization” of church property and the implementation of supervision through the State Office for Church Affairs. The communist state never thought about the separation of church and state, but rather assumed such a step would be in given historical conditions an increase in the social impact of churches. The consequence of the delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church in Czechoslovakia was a fusion of the Uniate Church in Slovakia with the Orthodox Church. The pressure on the church caused various illegal activities that became the target of persecution by state security forces. The Prague Spring was the culmination of attempts at social reform in Czechoslovakia that were intensively conducted after January 1968. The weakened grip on power and the overall trend of democratization led to a significant recovery in activities of churches, until they were suppressed in August 1968 by Warsaw Pact troops. The paper is an attempt to analyze the most significant reversal in church policy of Czechoslovakia in connection with the democratization of socialism under the influence of Alexander Dubček’s reformism. It follows this development through the prism of Soviet Union concerns about the weak position of the Soviet bloc, as well as the suppression of reforms, and the subsequent establishment of the Slovak Republic in the framework of a socialist federation. It notes the role of civil society activists and Catholic dissidents who developed vastly different level of activity in both parts of the federation. Finally, it aims at the synthesis of knowledge of the interactions of religious institutions and elites and the communist government and political elites in the period around 1968.
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.description.sponsorship
metadata.value: This research was undertaken under the auspices of a grant from the VEGA Grant Agency, contract no. 1/0172/17 “Associations as an element of democracy and the expression of freedom of association in public relations and private law.”
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.language.iso
metadata.value: en
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.publisher
metadata.value: St Petersburg State University
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.relation.ispartofseries
metadata.value: Vestnik of St Petersburg University. Philosophy and Conflict Studies;Volume 35; Issue 2
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: Czechoslovakia
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: Church-state relations
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: Prague Spring
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.title
metadata.value: The Prague Spring of 1968 and its impact on religious life and statechurch relations in Czechoslovakia
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.type
metadata.value: Article
metadata.lang: en_GB
resources.filename: 378-389.pdf
resources.url: https://dspace.spbu.ru/bitstream/11701/16202/1/378-389.pdf
resources.format: Adobe PDF
resources.size: 618,45 kB