Ready for unity at last?

“Det omaka paret: Tjeckernas och slovakernas historia” by Ingmar Karlsson is a recently published book in Swedish on a somewhat obscure topic (at least if you´re Swedish). Yes, it actually deals with the history of the Czechs and the Slovaks, two Slav peoples in Central Europe with a somewhat complex relation to each other. The author has previously published books on Turks, Kurds, Assyrians and European minority peoples (as in the Sorbs or the Ladino). I sure wondered why on earth he decided to tackle Czechs and Slovaks next! It turns out that Karlsson was Swedish ambassador to *both* the Czech Republic and Slovakia during the 1990´s. His wife is Slovak and his mother-in-law Czech (or perhaps Silesian Austrian). Karlsson met both Vaclav Klaus and Vladimir Meciar, the controversial top dogs on, respectively, the Czech and Slovak sides back in the days. Apparently, the meetings were pretty tense! 

As for myself, I have both Moravian, Slovak and Hungarian affinities, and therefore read “Det omaka paret” with great interest. I did manage to find perhaps four or five factual errors (some of them strange), but overall, I have to say that Karlsson knows his Czecho-Slovak history in and out, so much in fact, that I wouldn´t be surprised if he can read Czech and Slovak himself. In the end, even I learned a few things from Karlsson´s book, and I *do* read both languages, thank you.

Karlsson´s main point, which unfortunately is mostly true, is that Czechs and Slovaks (despite speaking mutually understandable languages) really have very little in common. The Czech lands, Bohemia in particular, were once the near-literal center of Europe, both politically and culturally. Prague was an important metropolis for centuries, from the 14^th century to the 17^th ditto. Bohemia experienced a “Protestant” Reformation a century before Martin Luther burst onto the scene in Germany. The Bohemian king was an elector of the “Holy Roman Empire”. Later, when the Czechs had been suppressed by the Germans, their lands were nevertheless industrialized, giving them an advantage over many other parts of Austria-Hungary when that empire came crushing down after World War I. By contrast, Slovakia was for almost 1000 years a Hungarian-controlled territory, simply known as Felvidék (“the Upper Lands” i.e. northern Hungary). For most of its history, it was strongly Catholic. It was also mostly populated by peasants, often impoverished smallholders.

When Czechoslovakia was formed in 1918, the Slovaks were actually fewer in number than the Germans, the most visible national minority in the new Czech-dominated republic. The Czech leadership declared Slovaks to be part of a united “Czechoslovak” nationality, an artificial creation supposed to boost the Czech numbers at the expense of Germans, Hungarians and other national minorities. While some Czechoslovakist Slovaks did exist, most Slovaks soon threw their support behind the Catholic nationalist Slovak People´s Party, which opposed the central government in Prague. Since this party eventually collaborated with the Nazis, they were banned after World War II. Still, the differences between the two brother peoples persisted. In Bohemia and Moravia, the Communist Party became the single largest party in the post-war elections. In Slovakia, most voters preferred the Democratic Party, the only viable non-Communist party. (This was before the Prague coup in 1948, when the Communists took over completely.) 

Under Communism, Prague centralism was (of course) the order of the day, something which benefitted ethnic Czechs (or at least ethnic Czechs who were Communists!), although *some* positive things did happen in Slovakia - Karlsson believes that the industrialization of this previous rural backwater was a good thing, despite being carried out by an authoritarian regime. The supposed "federation" between the Czech and Slovak "socialist republics" created in 1969 was mostly a sham reform. 

Flash forward to 1989, and the usual pattern reemerges. Immediately after the fall of Communism, political developments took a different course in Bohemia-Moravia compared to Slovakia. In the Czech lands, a mimic of the Western party system emerged, with conservative, liberal and Social Democratic parties. In Slovakia, the political field (after a Catholic Christian Democratic interlude) became dominated by nationalist populist formations with nebulous platforms and strongman leaders. One of the main political issues was the constant conflict with the Hungarian minority. (The German minority was forced to leave the Czech lands after World War II, making Bohemia and Moravia more ethnically homogenous.) While few people *really* wanted to dissolve Czechoslovakia, the inability of the Czech and Slovak politicians to create a federation that would satisfy both sides eventually set the stage for the country´s partition into two independent states, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Thankfully, the divorce was peaceful. And inevitable, if Karlsson is right (and I think he is).

The last chapter deals with recent events in the two nations. One thing that struck me recently is that the Czech Republic and Slovakia has become *more* similar the last 20 years or so, not less, which was the tendency immediately after independence. Slovak politics are still dominated by a nationalist populist party, albeit a different one than during the 1990´s. Vladimir Meciar´s Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) has been replaced by Robert Fico´s Smer. Critics charge the dominant political factions with rampant corruption, xenophobia and pro-Russian leanings. But the Czech Republic has *also* become anti-globalist, tacitly anti-EU and pro-Russian, even electing a Slovak populist billionaire named Andrej Babis Prime Minister! (Yes, the Czechs have elected a *Slovak* Prime Minister.) This tendency started already during the time of Vaclav Klaus, whose reputation as an orthodox neo-liberal Friedmanite seems to be overblown, to say the least. In reality, most of the Czech economy was subsidized by the government of this supposed market reformer, who opposed Czech EU membership and wrote positively about Vladimir Putin.

It´s almost as if Czechs and Slovaks have finally become ready to create that united nation-state which has proved so elusive throughout history.

The irony!