Socialism with a Human Face

1968 marked a global revolution led by young people against social and political systems they considered authoritarian. This historical account of the events of 1968 in Eastern Europe, combining eyewitness accounts and academic essays, focuses on the reform efforts launched by the Prague Spring to build a democratic and humane socialism. We now understand that what happened directly in Czechoslovakia, and to a lesser extent in Poland and Yugoslavia, resonated widely throughout the "free world" and by no means ended with military repression by the Warsaw Pact countries—1968 was a pivotal year on the path to the subsequent disintegration of the Cold War blocs.

In the West, the movement was directed against consumerism, formal democracy, imperialism, and neo-colonial dependency under late capitalism; in the East, against the harsh structural repression of monopoly bureaucracy. 1968 witnessed the culmination of numerous national movements, each with its own history spanning several years. However, while Western movements, particularly student movements, have been extensively studied, the events in Czechoslovakia, their underlying conditions, and their long-term consequences have not received the attention and recognition they deserve. This book aims to change that.