The Communist Side of Things

The Communist Side of Things

When strolling through the outer parts of the town, it is very often very easy to believe that the Velvet Revolution of 1989 never happened. Despite efforts to remove the imprint of fifty-years of communism, the socialist order seems to pop out of the city with surprising frequency and strength. Beginning at the Prague airport where passengers were divided into lines by country of origin and then passed through a listless row of police officers who looked as if stamping passports was their punishment in life. Confused and lost, I genuinely felt that none of the Czech people I stopped for directions either wanted me in their country or cared if I got home. It seemed as if the communist veil of oppression was still choking the people of Prague.

But, not only the people seemed still affected by communism, the rows of crumbling, cheap apartment buildings that marked our passage into the city all looked to be made with heartless communist efficiency. But, these roads connecting to the heart of town, with worn-down stone facades were much more than an enlarged slum. This worn-down part was almost all of Prague, and it lacked signs of life, noise from children and couples chatting, gardens and plants lining each crumbling facade. I felt almost like screaming much of the time I walked these roads to break the silence of the people, and to end the cold concentration on their face. Yet, still I felt hated as an outsider; my scream would only be detested and ignored.

Unfortunately, I lacked the reference from which to compare my experience. I did not know how these stone-faced people acted only 12 years ago, when a communist regime was still firmly footed at the seat of government. Yet, there were signs that the coldness of communism was fading. Probably more than anywhere else in the city, the part to have been marked most by communism was an eastern section called Zizkov, or Red Zizkov as it is often called. The statues to the right show some of the only communist memorabilia that has remained in the city. The first statue idealizes the family, showing a father with hand raised and a comforting woman holding a baby. The statue is meant to symbolize the importance of the family in a socialist system. The second statue depicts a soldier holding a flag and a wounded comrade. The flag fares the familiar soviet sickle, and this monument is meant to symbolize the loyalty and perseverance of the communist system in times of war. The monuments stand atop of Zizkov hill, across from a larger monument of General Zizkov, a one-eyed general of the 14th century who bravely defeated an army attacking Prague. The superstructure places General Zizkov at the rear of the monument symbolically looking back at the past, and the two communist-style statues at the frot symbolically looking forward. "Onward, never one step back!" the rallying cry of communist Prague.

One of the only communist-specific works of acheivment in Prague was the much heralded Zizkov TV tower. Czech leaders decided on the constuction of the futuristic tower in 1978 to replace the dated Petrin transmitter. As capitalistic propaganda from Germany flooded Czech airways, communist leaders decided for the creation of a high-power transmitter to jam German signals and propagate a pro-communist message. The tower was placed in the highly prominent Mahler gardens on top of an old Jewish cemetary. The tower can be seen from most of the city, its futuristic design documents another instance of the communist mantra "Onward, never one step back!" Yet, ironically, the Zizkov TV tower did not become opperational until the 1990s, after the end of the communist era.

Another ironic change in the last 12 years concerns the old communist congress building, the Kongresove Centrum located in the southern part of the city. The congress building for years served as the seat of the communist government. Yet, in September 2000, when Prague became the site of the IMF talks, the Kongresove Centrum became the metapyhsical center of Prague. The IMF talks incited protests throughout the city, centering on the Kongresove Centrum where the talks were held. Ironically, the new citizens of the Czech Republic were protesting what they say was the deepest manifestation of capitalism and globalization: the IMF. Yet, the protest was more significant because protests had been forbidden during communism, happening few and far between. One of the last major protests was during the Velvet Revolution of 1989 which saw the peaceful end of communism in Prague.

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