Chapter 34, Sections 3(cont.),4. Revolution in Eastern Europe And Literature and the Arts

Prague Spring- In 1968 reformers won control in Czechoslovakia. Alexander Dubchek wanted to blend democracy and socialism. He eased central planning, ended censorship and put limits on the secret police. In August 1968, Soviet troops occupied the nation and ended reforms, returning to a communist dictatorship.

In 1980 Polish shipyard workers formed a union called Solidarity (to combat price increases and food shortages), led by Lech Walesa. The government cracked down and imprisoned leaders, but they returned after the economy collapsed and in 1989 won some elections.

Unemployment rose and output fell as hardline governments melted away. Change was slow. Frustrated people voted for communists sometimes. Ethnic tensions rose. Czechoslovakia split in two. Anti- Semitism became more common.

Bosnian Serbs fought Croats and Muslims. All sides committed atrocities. In 1995 NATO launched air strikes to stop fighting. The Dayton Accords set a framework for peace and NATO peacekeepers came to Bosnia to monitor the accords.

In Kosovo, Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic was oppressing the Muslim Kosovars, forcing them to flee their homes. Milosevic was engaged in ethnic cleansing. NATO used air strikes against Serbia to stop the fighting. Serbia was forced to withdrawal from Kosovo, and NATO and Russian peacekeepers moved in.

The most honored Russian writer is Alexander Pushkin. His poems, including “Eugene Onegin” are considered masterpieces. Pushkin was a noble, but the government exiled him to a province, and he died in a duel at age 40.

Realism- in the 1800’s Feodor Dostoevsky and Leo Tolstoy emerged as giants of realism. Dostoevsky wrote Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, and The Brothers Karamazov exploring universal themes such as struggle between good and evil and greed.

Socialist realism emerged: literature as revolutionary propaganda. It glorified socialism and Marxist-Leninist ideas. Under Stalin all writers were forced to join the Union of Soviet Writers if they wanted to be published.

Samizdat Those who criticized the government published their work in secret, circulated it themselves, and smuggled it out of the country.