Institute of Contemporary History

The book Perestrojka v Šamotce [Perestroika in Šamotka] deals with the dynamics of the non-democratic regime in Czechoslovakia in the period between 1985 and 1989. It provides a micro-historical analysis of the implementation of the Law on State Enterprise. The story of Czechoslovak perestroika takes place in Šamotka – a production plant of Rakovnické keramické závody (RKZ) in Rakovník, central Bohemia. Since 1883, this company and its brand RAKO has been well-known for its world-famous ceramic tiles. The RKZ was nationalized in 1946. After the communist coup d’état in 1948 it became – similarly to all other factories in Czechoslovakia – an integral part of the political system. While under state control the factory not only fulfilled economic plans, but it also provided its capacities for political institutions of the regime. Not only the headquarters of the firm reside on the site of the factory but so did the Communist Party organs, the trade union, Socialist Youth union and other political institutions. The aim of this book is twofold: First, the author tentatively describes the institutional network of the regime: He analyses the bidirectional flow of demands from the government through the VHJs – production-economic units (i.e. the connecting bureaucratic link between the ministry and the company) to individual enterprise and its factories. Likewise, the author explores the logic of the top-down political process inside the structures of the Communist party of Czechoslovakia – the decision-making process of the Central Committee and its impact at the level of regions (kraj, okres) and enterprise. Based on the intensive research of archival documents (central and regional), this book explores conflicts between the state (ministry, production-economic unit and the director of the enterprise) and the Party at all levels. The second aim of this book is to demonstrate that the impulses of the Soviet perestroika (and the Czechoslovak version of the reform) after 1987 challenged the stable patterns of behaviour inside the complex institutional structure. The analysis came up with the following findings: First, it illustrates the dynamics of relations between state and party organs before 1989. Based on the empirical research, the author documents that personal traits of officials, cunningness and political connections determined the way socialist managers coexisted with Party apparatchiki. This book depicts several forms of coexistence. Arbitrariness of the relations had not been officially desired, but they were a common practice. Second, both the archival resources and memories of witnesses evidence the fact that leading political elites (despite their dismissiveness toward the reform) did not presuppose any kind of standardized implementation of the Law on State Enterprise. Thus, individual industrial sectors, companies and plants could (and were supposed to) create their own strategies for the first time since 1968–1969. Even though this book presents the story of a single company, the author argues that Czechoslovak perestroika gave rise to the strengthening of state institutions at the expense of the Party.

ŠTEFEK, Martin. Perestrojka v Šamotce. Proměny vedoucí úlohy KSČ z perspektivy jednoho podniku. Praha: Argo; Ústav pro soudobé dějiny AV ČR, v.v.i., 2024. 232 s. Historické myšlení. ISBN 978-80-257-4405-5.