late socialism

Adam Havlík - Adored by Some, Condemned by Others. Foreign Trade Enterprise Tuzex and its Role in Socialist Czechoslovakia
Abstract

This paper describes a special case of so‑called Tuzex trades in socialist Czechoslovakia. Tuzex stores were opened to sell luxury foreign and selected domestic “export” products. Only hard currency or special vouchers (Tuzex Crowns – TK, “bon/bony”) were accepted as means of payment. Tuzex stores were originally intended for customers such as foreigners or Czechoslovak citizens, who had official access to foreign currency (specialists working abroad, etc.). Eventually, however, a huge black market with foreign currency and Tuzex vouchers was emerged, allowing “ordinary people” to buy the desired foreign electronics, clothes, food, cars, etc. at Tuzex stores. The aim of the study is to analyse the causes of the establishment Tuzex in the late 1950s and its development and significance for the Czechoslovak centrally planned economy. From humble beginnings, the number of Tuzex stores, as well as foreign money revenues, grew until the late 1980s. In addition to the economic principles of Tuzex, the range of goods sold or its structure and staff, the text also focuses on undesirable but partially tolerated forms of crime that are related to the existence of Tuzex.

Jan Pelikán, Ondřej Vojtěchovský - In Anticipation of Fading: Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia in the Initial Months of the Normalisation Era
Abstract

The study maps the period from the spring of 1969 to the early 1970 as Husák’s suite established itself at the helm of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) and the state. Its stance towards Yugoslavia was ambiguous. The conservative and dogmatist members of the new regime considered the Yugoslav “revisionists” to be the inspiration for and the supporters of the Prague Spring. A part of the normalisation suite including Gustáv Husák himself wished to renew good relations with Belgrade and obtain a gesture of recognition from it to boost its own legitimacy. The Yugoslav leaders insisted on condemning the Soviet invasion in August 1968 while accepting the new status quo. They tried to avoid accusations of actively interfering with Czechoslovakia’s internal matters since Yugoslavia’s own foreign policy strategy was based on the principle of non‑interference. Czechoslovak‑Yugoslav relations were influenced by the Soviet Union, which normalised its relations with Yugoslavia for pragmatic reasons again after a brief period of deterioration. However, both Soviets and Yugoslavs used the Czechoslovak platform to present more critical and offensive stances than they would show to each other. In effect, Czechoslovak‑Yugoslav relations remained markedly more reserved than Soviet‑Yugoslav relations of the period. The arrival of new power structures in Prague did not affect the practical level of the relations, in particular in economic terms, since both sides were extremely interested in cooperation. The study also analyses the Slovak aspect of relations to Yugoslavia and the impact of political matters on social phenomena such as tourism and travel.