Abstract
The chapter focuses on how the legacy of dissident antipolitics operates in the context of post-Communist Slovakia, and in particular in the context of the long predominance of the centrist nationalism of Vladimir Mečiar and the social nationalism of Robert Fico. While in Poland and Hungary the anti-communist legacy was used by conservatives in order to fight culture wars against liberals, in the Czech Republic and Slovakia this legacy served to create an alliance of conservatives and liberals in the struggle against “populism” and the “legacy of communism,” supporting a depoliticized struggle for “decent politics,” diverting attention from socio-economic issues. Thus, post-dissident framings can be used also for discourse policing to conceal a race to the bottom in social policy. This discourse is characterized by an accent on the image of a “decent” and “cultivated” civil society struggling against the state, which further strengthens the apolitical character of post-dissident opposition. At the same time, the chapter also shows how opposition to this post-dissident narrative can lead the left into the same political corner as national conservatives. In the conclusion, the author proposes a dialectical reaction to post-dissident rhetoric—to formulate a new dissident position adequate for the situation of real capitalism.
This paper was written under the auspices of the project Media of the Cultural Opposition in Czechoslovakia, LTC18040, supported by the INTER-EXCELLENCE program of the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports of the Czech Republic.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Becker, J., & Lesay, I. (2019). Slovakia’s development model: Contours, vulnerabilities and strategic alternatives. Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe, 27(2–3), 139–154. https://doi.org/10.1080/25739638.2019.1692521
Blaha, Ľ. (2016, July 6). Ľavica sa musí vrátiť späť k pracujúcim ľuďom! Vaše Věc. http://vasevec.parlamentnilisty.cz/vip-blogy/lubos-blaha-postmaterialisticka-priepast-lavica-sa-musi-vratit-spat-k-pracujucimludom. Accessed 15 February 2021.
Blaha, Ľ. (2018). Antiglobalista. Veda.
Bolton, J. (2012). Worlds of dissent: Charter 77, the plastic people of the universe, and Czech culture under communism. Harvard University Press.
Feinberg, J. G. (2008). The unfinished story of Central European dissidence. Telos, 145, 47–66.
Feinberg, J. G. (2020). 1989: The triumph of truth and the burial of philosophy. In J. N. Beránková, M. Hauser, & N. Nesbitt (Eds.), Revolutions for the future: May ’68 and the Prague spring (pp. 300–317). Suture.
Gould, J. A. (2013). Vladimír Mečiar and the politics of privatization in Slovakia, 1992–1998. Slovakia, 61(76–77), 102–144.
Havel, V. (1988). Anti-political politics, Trans. E. Kohák, & R. Scruton. In J. Keane (Ed.), Civil society and the state (pp. 381–398). Verso.
Kobová, Ľ. (2020, March 2). Neobyčejní reakcionáři v novém slovenském parlamentu. A2larm. https://a2larm.cz/2020/03/neobycejni-reakcionari-v-novem-slovenskem-parlamentu/. Accessed 15 February 2021.
Konrád, G. (1984). Antipolitics: An essay, Trans. R. E. Allen. Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich.
Parlamentní listy staff. (2019, March 17). Ľuboš Blaha, největší čert fanoušků Čaputové: Bojíte se pravdy o vaší favoritce, ale ona stejně vypluje na povrch. A bude velmi bolavá. Parlamentní Listy. https://www.parlamentnilisty.cz/arena/monitor/Lubos-Blaha-nejvetsi-cert-fanousku-Caputove-Bojite-se-pravdy-o-vasi-favoritce-ale-ona-stejne-vypluje-na-povrch-A-bude-velmi-bolava-574300. Accessed 15 February 2021.
Polák, M. (2004). Slovakia: From “national capitalism” to EU liberalism (and beyond?). Kurswechsel, 1, 70–78.
Progresívne Slovensko. (n.d.-a). Move on. https://www.progresivne.sk/en/move-on/. Accessed 13 March 2020.
Progresívne Slovensko. (n.d.-b). Our values. https://www.progresivne.sk/en/our-values/. Accessed 13 March 2020.
Progresívne Slovensko. (n.d.-c). The vision for the country. https://www.progresivne.sk/en/the-vision-for-the-country/. Accessed 13 March 2020.
RTPS staff. (2017, September 14). Prečo chce EÚ odzbrojiť slušných občanov v čase, keď sa zvyšuje hrozba terorizmu? Aby sa pred teroristami nemali čím brániť? RTPS.Sk—Robíme to Pre Slovensko. http://www.rtps.sk/preco-chce-eu-odzbrojit-slusnych-obcanov-v-case-ked-sa-zvysuje-hrozba-terorizmu-aby-sa-pred-teroristami-nemali-cim-branit/. Accessed 15 February 2021.
Slovak Spectator staff. (2018, January 22). Newly launched Progressive Slovakia aims for 20 percent of the vote in the next election. Slovak Spectator. https://spectator.sme.sk/c/20743889/newly-launchedprogressive-slovakia-aims-for-20-percent-of-the-vote-in-the-next-election.html. Accessed 15 February 2021.
Webnoviny staff. (2012, September 11). SDKÚ chce chrániť slušných občanov v spravodlivom štáte. Webnoviny. https://www.webnoviny.sk/sdku-chce-chranit-slusnych-obcanov-v-spravodlivom-state/. Accessed 15 February 2021.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Feinberg, J.G. (2022). Post-dissent and the New Right: Problems and Potential of post-Communist Dissent in Slovakia and Beyond. In: Gagyi, A., Slačálek, O. (eds) The Political Economy of Eastern Europe 30 years into the ‘Transition’. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78915-2_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78915-2_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-78914-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-78915-2
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)