Communist Nostalgia in the Czech Republic?
CVVM’s survey from the end of 2015 shows that 20% of Czech population consider life before 1989 to be better.
- 49% thinks that there are less job opportunities these days.
- 53% considers themselves physically less secure.
- 61% liked security of social contributions in the old system more than the current one.
According to survey by Sanep.cz in June 2016, 14.2% of Czech people would vote for the communist party nowadays.
Jan Čulík, an independent Czech journalist and academic, explains that while he was teaching a seminar on Czech dissident literature of the 1970s to a class of some twenty 23-year-old students at Ostrava University, Czech Republic, he had them to prepare presentations on what life was like in Czechoslovakia in the 1970s. „Go and ask your parents,“ he said.
The students did not want to do so. They said that:
- Their parents refuse to talk to them about what life was like under communism,
- All of them without exception are of the opinion that life under communism was much better than now.
“They did not mind that there was censorship; they did not miss an open, intellectual discourse and did not mind that the public arena was clogged by communist ideology.”
According to Čulík, the result of the research of his students was: Their parents, reluctantly, told them: “They had not experienced any political oppression under communism. They did not mind that there was censorship; they did not miss an open, intellectual discourse and did not mind that the public arena was clogged by communist ideology. Unlike today, they had security of employment and enough money. The only thing they did not like was that they could not travel abroad under communism – they had to apply for permission to communist officials and it was usually denied. But they cannot travel abroad now anyway because they do not have enough money to do so.”
Inflation Slows to Zero, Impacts Czech Job Market
As a result of the divergence of inflation from the central bank’s target rate, Czech currency is expected to depreciate.
At the same time, job market has begun reaching its limit because of a strong rebound over the last two years.
Slowing economy and negative future expectations have been cutting down demand for new employees.
Seasonally-adjusted percentage of the unemployed reached 5.65% in June – a new post-2009 (time of crises in CR) low, noted Societe Generale in a recent research report.
Sources:
Econotimes 2016: http://www.econotimes.com/Czech-Republics-inflation-likely-to-have-slowed-to-zero-in-June-233976
CVVM 2015: http://cvvm.soc.cas.cz/en/media/com_form2content/documents/c1/a7225/f3/pd151116.pdf
CVVM 2015: http://cvvm.soc.cas.cz/vztahy-a-zivotni-postoje/duvody-hrdosti-a-studu-na-ceske-obcanstvi-rijen-2015
BListy: http://blisty.cz/video/Slavonic/Czechoslovakia%20under%20Communism.htm