Word: czech
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...member of the so-called "New Left," I am dismayed and severely stunned by its failure to speak out against the Soviet bloc during the Czech crisis. Despite their loud and somewhat successful denunciation and protest against the Vietnamese war, the vast majority of the members of the Democratic left maintained a stony silence in the aftermath of the tragedy in Prague. A truly democratic left should bring its weight to bear equally against the wrongs of the right and the extreme left. Perhaps it is surprising to learn that the Soviet Union, which represents itself as free, can commit...
...spired by mass communications, tutored by the pioneering young, millions want more-and feel more frustrated when affluence, equality and education are too slowly achieved. In this heated situation, old institutions are too often archaic and unresponsive to change. Instead of plunging forward with history, the Kremlin fears the Czech disease of freedom. The Vatican is impelled to ban the pill. Congress rejects effective gun regulation. Whatever the issue or nation, something loosely called the "establishment" resists aspiration and innovation. The global result is growing impatience with old political processes; a desire for direct action is inflaming minds and causing...
...streets, conversation between the people and the troops suddenly ceased. Free radio broadcasts and leaf lets advised that the Soviet press was printing photos of Czechoslovaks and Russians talking in Prague as proof that a warm reception was being given the troops. Any Czech caught speaking to the soldiers, these messages said, would be branded a traitor. Though the people had little notion of the progress of the Moscow negotiations, they knew that their fate hung on them. Nearly 15,000 of them lined the route from Ruzyne airport to the city, waiting in vain some four hours to welcome...
...burned at the stake as a heretic. Taking the chalice as their symbol, his followers founded the Hussite sect, which was based on secular religion and nationalism. In 1618, after Emperor Matthias tried to check the growth of Protestantism, Czech patriots in Prague tossed two imperial officials from the windows of Hradcany Castle. In retaliation, the Habsburg armies crushed the Hussites, executed their leaders, burned Czech Bibles and outlawed the language. Though overwhelmed, the Czechs and Slovaks waged a passive resistance. As Friedrich Schiller later reflected...
...Habsburg domination. In hope of quelling the country's continuous unrest, Joseph II in 1781 granted an Edict of Toleration, an agreement that gave the people the right to speak their language and to have a measure of autonomy under Bohemian kings. A flowering of art and literature followed. Czech national feelings reached a high pitch in the 19th century, encouraged by a historian named Frantisek Palacky, who emphasized his people's identity by writing about their long struggle for freedom. "The Hussite war," Palacky wrote, "is the first war in history that was fought not for material interests...