Historical Bloc and Revolution: The Radical Democratic Interpretation of the Prague Spring of 1968

0504425 - FLÚ 2020 RIV DE eng C - Conference Paper (international conference)
Landa, Ivan
Historical Bloc and Revolution: The Radical Democratic Interpretation of the Prague Spring of 1968.
The Prague Spring as a Laboratory: Proceedings of the Annual Conference of Collegium Carolinum. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2019 - (Schulze Wessel, M.), s. 117-141. Bad Wiesser Tagungen des Collegium Carolinum, 40. ISBN 978-3-525-35598-5.
[Eine Gesellschaft im Umbruch: Der Prager Frühling und seine Akteure. Bad Wiessee (DE), 26.10.2017-29.10.2017]
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA16-26686S
Institutional support: RVO:67985955
Keywords : 1968 * radical democracy * social revolution * historical bloc * Kosík * Gramsci
OECD category: History (history of science and technology to be 6.3, history of specific sciences to be under the respective headings)

This chapter explores a question, as to whether Prague Spring of 1968 constituted a revolt, a reform, a revolution, or even a counterrevolution. First, the term “radical democracy” is clarified, in order to elucidate what exactly radical democratic interpretation of the Prague Spring could mean. Then, focusing on Karel Kosík’s particular version of such interpretation, it deals with a question: What types of events can be regarded as “social revolutions”? Third, Kosík’s theory of revolution as well as his phenomenology of revolutionary consciousness is briefly outlined, in order to answer the question: How did revolt from below took shape during the Prague Spring? According to Kosík’s diagnosis the events exposed a political crisis, manifesting—in turn—a much deeper crisis, namely the crisis of politics as such. As a follow-up, I argue that for Kosík this double crisis sparked the politicization of the common citizens and contributed to isolated social groupings gradually growing closer to each other. This was the critical moment in forming a new alliance—a historical bloc—and a new collective subject.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0297006