Přelom epoch, mýtus zlatého věku a chvála starých dobrých časů
The turning point of epochs, the myth of the golden age, and praise of good old times

On the concept of time and nostalgic aspects of post-Stalin Communism

Summary/Abstract: In his interpretatively conceived essay, the author attempts to elaborate on existing studies of the Communist notion of time, using Czechoslovak, East German, and Polish source to examine how the Communist concept of time changed during the period of de-Stalinization. In doing so, he assumes that the critical year of 1956 cannot be viewed only as the beginning of the downfall of the Communist system, but also as the birth of a new epoch with its own specific concept of time. The settling of accounts with Stalinism started by Nikita Chrushchev shook the concept of “iron laws of historical evolution” and strengthened the notion of randomness and irregularity of history. This in turn reinforced the authenticity of various historical players who no longer had to act in accordance with the “great history”. In his analysis, the author distinguishes between two levels of Communist language: binding ideological texts and statements of leaders, as well as texts of party propaganda and historiography, and their modifications in the everyday ideological language practiced, in particular, at meetings of regional, district, and company-level part organizations. Using this material, the author presents several hypotheses concerning the notion of “post-Stalinism”, to be used as a potential starting point of new thinking about the continuity and turning points in the history of Communism. The first of them is a disintegration of the notion of linear time and a strengthening of cyclic elements, which the author calls a “hybridization of time”. The second one is a restitution of the “authentic party” by a revitalization of local memory concentrated on everyday life, as represented by systematically captured memories of pre-war party members. The second hypothesis is related to the third one, namely that of the production and dissemination of nostalgic images of pre-Stalin Communist parties as an alleged original homeland of genuine comradeship. The last hypothesis of the author concerns a deceleration of history and a blurring of the notion of revolution during the post-Stalinism period.

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