International Viewpoint - online socialist magazine

In the name of the communist ideal

Catherine Samary — 2020-06-15T15:40:13Z

One of the received ideas that became a ‘truth' after the fall of the Berlin Wall was that the Soviet bloc's populations cursed communism, yet obeyed it slavishly. In fact, many social movements within the Eastern bloc had long aspired to genuine socialism.

- IV545 - June 2020 / Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Eastern Europe, Historical events and figures

Slovakia: panic and discipline at the edge of the EU

Mark Johnson — 2020-04-18T17:05:32Z

With only 11 deaths for 5.45 million inhabitants, and only 10 Covid-19 victims in intensive care, Slovakia has been much more successful than West European countries in containing the pandemic. Citizens ask themselves how long a landlocked country can resist the pandemic. Economically, the country is vulnerable. The export-oriented economy is heading into deep recession, including the auto industry that dominates industrial production. Shops are closed except for food and pharmacies. Schools won't reopen until September. Slovaks working in Western Europe are flocking home jobless.

- IV543 - April 2020 / Slovakia, Covid-19 Pandemic

Eastern Europe: revisiting the ambiguous revolutions of 1989

Catherine Samary — 2019-11-27T20:29:10Z

The year 1989 saw a profound upheaval in the geopolitical order established after the Second World War symbolised by the fall of the Berlin wall on 9 November 1989. This essay examines the effects, implications and context in Eastern Europe.

- IV538 - November 2019 / Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Eastern Europe, Ex-Yugoslavia, Romania

Apathy and confusion

Mark Johnson — 2004-10-01T00:00:00Z

Less than one in five Slovaks participated in the European Parliament elections in June. A succession of demagogic and dishonest governments have created a culture of apathy and lack of interest, where neither social democratic nor anti-capitalist currents seem able to take root.

- IV360/1 - Autumn 2004 / Slovakia