Institute of Contemporary History

The book represents the final result of a several-year research project supported by the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic, which focused on the analysis of the transformation of borders of the Communist dictatorship in Czechoslovakia in the light of complaints and anonymous letters between 1948 and 1989. Each year, tens of thousands of “workers’ letters” filled an imaginary well of information from which the party, the state and security authorities could draw important insights into the moods and expressions of discontent among the Czechoslovak population. The writers threw their wishes, requests and critical comments into it, hoping that in this way they would get their dream apartment, scarce goods or draw attention to various social ills. While the official media repeatedly presented the complaints as a “mirror of the people’s sentiments”, party and state leaders did not seem to be too enthusiastic about what they saw in it. The book not only analyses in detail the development of the right to complain between 1948 and 1989, but also presents the causes, limits and solutions to the key problems most frequently raised by the writers.

VILÍMEK, Tomáš – PAŽOUT, Jaroslav. Pohyblivé hranice diktatury ve světle stížností a anonymů československých občanů (1948–1989). Praha: Ústav pro soudobé dějiny AV ČR, v.v.i., 2023. 560 s. ISBN 978-80-7285-288-8.