TY - JOUR
TI - Prague discussion on Machiavellianism as criticism of USSR policy
AU - Jiroušek, Bohumil
AU - Halamová, Martina
TI - Prague discussion on Machiavellianism as criticism of USSR policy
AB - The Czech history of the second half of the 20th century is marked by a number of historical twists which suppressed the public discussion of past history; however, the discussion was sometimes possible in the form of allusions. This essay focuses on one of those discussions; i.e. the one organized by Plamen magazine in 1969. The participants knew that they could not openly express their opinions on the invasion of the Warsaw Pact armies in August 1968. Thus, they used the 500th anniversary of Niccolo Machiavelli´s birth (1469–1527) to both recollect his personality and his work and to discuss the question of whether small countries were allowed to defend themselves against big ones. The message and topicality of the discussion constituted an unambiguous criticism of the Soviet Union, which claimed supremacy over its neighbors: its bloc.
VL - 2013
IS - Volume 6, Issue 3
PY - 2014
SN - 2084-4115
C1 - 2084-4131
SP - 277
EP - 284
DO - 10.4467/20844131KS.13.017.1611
UR - https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/kshpp/article/die-prager-diskussion-uber-den-machiavellismus-als-kritik-der-politik-der-udssr
KW - Machiavellianism
KW - Prague Spring
KW - Czech society of 1969
KW - discussion
KW - Soviet Union
KW - Niccolò Machiavelli