This article examines a shift in Czech socialist workers’ political
rhetoric in the first decade of the twentieth century from the sense that workers were excluded outsiders from the ethnic nation to the idea that they would rightfully redefine and lead the ethnic nation. Social Democracy’s preoccupation from 1907 on with national concerns led directly to the splitting of Austrian Social Democracy along ethno-national lines several years before the outbreak of World War One. Because this rhetorical and social-psychological shift coincided with a major extension of voting rights in Habsburg Austria (in which Social Democratic mobilizations played a key role), this paper argues that democratization played an important, unappreciated, role in the rise of nationalism in the east central European workers’ movement. It also highlights the role of Czech socialist leader, František Soukup, in facilitating and articulating Czech workers’ new stance. and Článek zahrnuje poznámkový aparát pod čarou
Czechoslovakia of the mid-1950s was a culturally isolated country where the Western gains were regarded suspiciously, to say the least. The regime’s attitude toward jazz was softening very slowly, and many jazz activities bordered on illegality. In this situation, Herbert Ward came to Prague (1954), one of a few American Communists, who asked for political asylum in Czechoslovakia and became involved in the local music scene. Although an almost unknown jazz bassist to the general public (though he played with Sidney Bechet, Willie ''Lion'' Smith, Bud Freeman, etc.), in the late 1950s, however, he contributed signifi cantly to the rehabilitation of jazz in communist Czechoslovakia. Ward became an invaluable asset for Czech jazz fans, and one of their tools in negotiating the position of their favourite genre with respect to the doctrine of Socialist Realism. Herbert Ward was not a part of the well-known cultural diplomacy projects arranged by the US Department of State (described by Von Eschen, 2004). His political activities were monitored by the FBI and, as a political refugee, he naturally took part in Czechoslovakia’s communist propaganda. As a ''jazz curiosity,'' however, he became part of the 1960s popular culture and the living myth of Czech jazz fans and musicians. Reconstructed from previously unknown archival records (FBI, State Security Archives), my paper portrays Ward’s political activities and his ambiguous identity of a jazz musician and a young American communist. and Přeložil: Jiří Mareš
Devátý ročník tradiční české street party se konal v Bruselu 12. června 2015. Akce, kterou každoročně organizují zástupci regionů a měst ČR ve spolupráci s českými organizacemi zastoupenými v Bruselu, představila historii, tradice a kulturu České republiky; těšila se nejen velké návštěvnosti, ale i dobrému počasí. and Kateřina Slavíková.