Prague Perch Ponderings:
Ponderings of an American Educator
on Culture and Business in the Czech Republic
Bill Weldon, Ph.D.
Charles University
There is rarely a time that one does not ponder when
in a foreign land, if I had been born here how would I think differently?
I am no different. I ponder.
I have lived in Prague, The Czech Republic (CR), for
over two years now and I begin my third year here with some reflections on
Czech culture and business. I am
a visiting professor at the faculty of pedagogy of Charles University.
Charles University, founded in 1348, has been producing scholars for
many, many years. The quick math
lets you see that the University was begun 144 years before Columbus sailed on
his now historic voyage to the Americas.
It would be easy to say that some of the same faculty teaches here now
as at the beginning or that at least the same teaching techniques still are
being used. You could not believe
that and rightly so for just in the past 15 years the CR has been born.
Just 100 years ago the Czech lands were a part of the
Hapsburg dynasty of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire. In 1918 they became the
free state of Czechoslovakia and flourished under the capable leadership and
presidency of T.G. Masaryk. The
dream of a Czech free state came to an abrupt end when the advancing boots of
the German swastika crushed it in the late 1930’s.
At the end of World War II, the Czech people looked to return to the
years of progress with the memories of Masaryk not so far removed from their
minds.
Yet,
as we know soon after WWII, history dealt them another crushing defeat when
the Iron Curtain descended to their west and south and the darkness of
Communism permeated their society. While
there were glimpses of light over the next decades, the sun would not shine
upon a free Czechoslovakia until the Velvet Revolution of 1989.
It would not shine on a free Czech Republic until the Velvet Divorce
with Slovakia in 1993. The view from the perch has to be condensed to suit the
reader and as such I have produced a bird’s-eye view of monumental
simplicity; Czech history in the 20th Century.
An
Oppressed People – A Little Background
In the 1,000-year history of the Czech peoples, they
have only been free for about 50 of those years. All 50 have been in the 20th Century with 30 years
having been between 1918 and 1938 and 13 being since the 1989.
There have been a few post war years that can be counted as free but it
depends on which lens of historical interpretation that you use to view
history as to the exact number. Think
about it, 950 years as a people group in which you are integrated into other
cultures.
In
a very real sense, the people of the CR do not yet know how to be free.
How could they? A point to note is that in 1990, the
CR did not become a democracy; it became a post-communist society.
While one should never confuse freedom as being synonymous with
democracy, I understand the Czech Republic’s democratic style of government
was founded with the help of Harvard University scholars (is that an asset or
a liability?) and it has had as its only president a poet/playwright.
While I do not wish to draw comparisons (Masaryk was a philosophical
pedagogue) and the presidency here is for influence and not for empowerment, I
do think the essence of democracy will not
truly be felt here for another 20 years minimum.
It is true that freedom is a “heady” drink and only the Czech
intelligentsia have drunk deeply from its well.
The people on the street seem to be more enamored with the concept of
freedom from than freedom to.
In the recent national elections here over 18% of the population voted
for the Communist Party. Why do
the words of the philosopher George Santayana come ringing in my ear, “Those
who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
[1]
Alas,
it is infinitely more difficult to be “for” something than it is to be
against something. Being “for”
something requires the higher order thinking skill and critical thinking
conceptualizations of synthesis which finds a receptiveness in the minds of
thinkers but is rarely found in the hearts of the people on the street.
A much simpler path for the people is knowledge. “I know this because
I experience it,” they say, therefore they will be for something or against
it on the basis of experience rather than a derived, reasoned argument for
that something which is as elusive a concept as “freedom” or “democracy.”
“ How will it benefit me” is a reasoned argument in which some seem to
believe.
My
perception of Communism and its effects on the Czech work ethic today is that
Communism was a warm, woolen mitten in which a person was comfortable but now
people find they have to work in a way that they are not use to working; that
is, thinking through decisions is required rather than merely following
mandates within the Communist work ethic. This is not a condemnatory statement
towards Czechs but an observation of a stranger in a foreign land. The Czechs have never seemed to express a real desire for a
democracy but rather only for freedom. If
you know the Czech culture it should come as no surprise when I say that the
Czechs believe that whatever they create will be better than anything else on
earth. Perhaps they are able to
do just that. Time will be the
judge.
Learning
How To Be Free – The Now
Being free does not mean an embracing of democracy or
an embracing of democratic principles. It
does, however, preclude a commitment to, support of, or a belief in a
totalitarian form of government. The
Czech people have yet to realize what it means to be free in a Czech sense.
That definition is a work in progress being hewn from the milieu of
internal political intricacies and honed by massive external political
pressures such as the decision concerning the European Union membership.
The day-to-day politics of the CR, while interesting, are merely a
political game being played on a field that has been selected and cultivated
by others. It is like a game
played by athletes with the real power and real money going to the owners of
the clubs (political machinery). In
a poignant piece of poetry, the American songwriter Pete Seeger wrote these
lines five decades ago during a tumultuous period in American history, “Oh
when will they ever learn, oh when will they ever learn.”2
Reticent to quote
Shakespeare, I refrain from saying that all men are like poor players…
This is not nihilism although it must sound like it
to some. It is, you see, the
highly improbable concept that freedom is believing you are responsible to “no
one” whether that be God, the State or anything else that would impose upon
you a set of rules. Freedom is a
state that can only be maintained by the responsibility of a fully
knowledgeable electorate that understand that freedom isn’t free; it is seen
in the blood of martyrs, the power of the ballot box, the icons of culture or
the faces of people freed from oppression such as those who survived the likes
of Terezin (Terezin was the Nazi Concentration Camp that was built in the CR
just north of Prague).
The Czechs have yet to work out in their lives the
concept of what freedom requires. I
think of this every time I pass the little stone plaque in the dark arcade
that marks the spot where the young patriots faced down the Communist guns in
1989 and set a people free. I
believe it should be the biggest monument in town and that every time a Czech
child asks, what is that, it can be said from here a fire was lit that took us
from darkness into light and today we are free because of that spark.
I believe the President of the CR places a wreath on the spot once each
year. Sad that he has to go into
the shadows to place a wreath at a spot that speaks of light and freedom.
The dilemma of freedom from something to be
free for something seems almost irresolvable at times but in time it
will be resolved with a unique Czech “twist” no doubt.
There are two notable challenges to overcome in the Czech mindset that
are deeply impregnated in their cultural ethos.
One is described in Ladislav Holy’s book, The Little Czech and the
Great Czech Nation where he tells a common Czech parable that has multiple
ways of expression. He says,
quoting the Czech press, “Skvorecky once explained some of the least
pleasant traits of the Czech nature to me in the following way; when a Czech
has a goat, his neighbor does not want to have one as well but rather wishes
his neighbor’s goat to die. (Nedelni Lidove noviny, 11 January 1992:3).”3
Holy notes this negative characteristic as envy. The other area to overcome I
see is xenophobia. I have lived
in three different European countries and traveled around the world.
I have yet to see a people as xenophobic as the Czechs.
Whether this is a result of Communism, the 950 years of not being free
or just Czech ethnocentrism, I do not know.
I just have observed that to Czechs no one seems to be trusted and it
is assumed that if you are not Czech then you are here with a subversive,
ulterior motive. I remind you here that this is not a characteristic of the
Czech intelligentsia, which is quite refined, cultural, and of good taste but
rather of the Czech cultural ethos in general.
Freedom isn’t free. In the next few years it is likely that the CR will become a
part of the EU. Being free is a
common trait of the EU nations and as such there will be an expected
reciprocity from the CR. The work
in progress needs to be well completed as soon
as possible to ensure a smooth transition from a past of totalitarianism to a
free nation who will be an equal partner to the democracies of Western Europe
and the EU. Perhaps one day the Czechs can say as Martin Luther King, Jr.
said, "Free at last! Free at
last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
Notes:
[1]
The Columbia Dictionary of
Quotations is licensed from Columbia University Press.
Copyright © 1993 by Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
2
Where Have All The Flowers Gone, a
song, by Pete Seeger and Joe Hickson, 1956-1960.
3
The Little Czech and The Great Czech Nation: National Identity and the
Post-Communist Transformation of Society, by Ladislav Holy, Cambridge
University Press, 1996, page 75.
From
Velvet to Velcro
Out
of the moroseness of the second half of the 20th
Century, the Czech Republic transitioned through a time known as The Velvet
Revolution because of its lack of bloodshed in changing its governmental form.
This change would, as one might expect, dramatically influence business
as its normal means of commerce. This
might be seen to be insurmountable in moving with any haste from a
government-based economy to a market based economy.
As Machiavelli said in The Prince, “And it ought to be remembered
that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to
conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the
introduction of a new order of things. Because the innovator has for enemies
all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders
in those who may do well under the new.”1 It has now been
thirteen years since the change took place.
Where is the Czech Republic commercially?
As Machiavelli said a new system presents many new dilemmas and it is
certainly true here. The CR has not changed in many ways over the last decade.
Communist ideology did not disappear over night nor has it dissipated
over time. The wheels of commerce
grind slowly for you are not a Communist on Monday and a Capitalist on Friday.
I cast not a seasoned eye at commerce but rather view from a layman’s
eye the day-to-day of living in a vortex of change.
It seems to me there are three Czech Republics; the old CR, the new CR
and the Communist CR.
Here
in the CR there seems to be an air of non-consumerism and anti-materialism, as
well as the temptation to have a lazy work ethic although most Czechs appear
to be quite industrious. After
1989, a typical Czech worker moved from being paid a guaranteed wage for doing
very little to having to work for pay or be fired. There seems to be a residual effect on the streets, an air of
defiance to having to work hard for others.
While a
small, ever so slight change can be noted, as an overall evaluation the Czechs
do not seem to understand consumerism. Here
are a few lay observations from a week as a consumer.
I have entered restaurants here with my wife and friends on more than
one occasion for dinner. Let’s say it is six o’clock in the evening and we want an
early meal. When we have entered
restaurants we have seen reservation signs on the tables.
When we have asked if we could be seated we have been told “no” as
the restaurant is booked. When I
have inquired about all the empty tables I have been told that they are booked
for later in the evening. It has
taken a lot of convincing and promising to leave the table on time, but on
occasion I have secured a table after much cajoling and then with almost a
fear on their part that we would not leave in the next two hours!
On
other occasions, I have faced many non-interested sales assistants in
department stores like Tesco. I
do not understand why they are hired to be sales assistants if they are
offended if you ask for assistance! Please
tell me why it is imperative that the stores be stocked while one is shopping?
Why are aisles blocked by carts full of to-be-shelved merchandise that
blocks the consumer from getting to the merchandise to consumer it? A classic
case for me was when I went to buy the new Nokia 6610 mobile phone in the
Nokia store in central Prague. Now
these phones are not inexpensive so a sale would have been a profitable one.
Yet, not one salesperson in the store even asked me if I needed help
although they were standing in a small area talking. I eventually went to the center of the store and just stood
there to see if anyone would at least ask me if I might be dying or lost.
No, no one seemed to care. I
still don’t have a 6610 or any Nokia phone!
There
seems to be an attitude of rich vs. poor.
This is no doubt attributable to the lack of a strong identifiable
middle class. I think, however,
that it should be some money vs. little money rather than rich
vs. poor. Perhaps they wish for
all to become poor rather than some being rich.
It certainly seems like it. I
have traveled in many countries
where
this attitude exists. While it
often appears to have its roots in Communism, I doubt that this could be
substantiated. It also seems to
relate to the Czech cultural characteristics as described earlier by the Czech
and his neighbor’s goat. Maybe
it is a combination of the two or maybe it is something all together
different.
The
concept of work is perceived differently when fed from the source of one’s
cultural roots. I saw this once
at Arizona State University with a visiting professor. This professor was from a heavily socialistic state with a
strong social welfare attitude program (not the Czech Republic in this
instance). He could not conceive
that I would rather work hard with the potential for making a lot of money
instead of running the risk of making a lot less money for doing a minimum
amount of work, as mandated by the State.
He would have me give acceptance to doing with less and then trying to
beat the governmental system to get more.
Perhaps that is why I have heard the Czechs say concerning the years of
Communism here in the CR the same thing that I heard on a plane flying from
Riga, Latvia to Moscow in November of 1989. In Soviet life, “there's no unemployment, but no one works; no one works, but
productivity goes up; productivity goes up but there's nothing in the stores;
there's nothing in the stores, but at home there's everything; at home there's
everything, but no one is satisfied; no one is satisfied, but everyone votes
yes.”2 As long as you can figure out ways to beat the system, why
not live and have everything but yet have not your freedom? While the
young Czechs do not hold this attitude, it will take a generation for them to
marry, have children and pass a new attitude on to a new Czech generation.
Soon we will know if the Czech Republic will join the
European Union in 2004. This is
not a question of if they will join the EU, only when, for joining is
inevitable. In their recent
national elections they put forth the candidate they wanted to lead them into
this new alignment although this was not the most viable candidate to do so.
Yet, most people on the street seemed not to want to be in the EU for
fear of losing their national identity. To
the Czechs the loss of any national identity is paramount to the loss of life
itself. Progress does demand some concession although perhaps not as
much as perceived. Still, I have
not lived in the shadow of stronger nations who impose their will and culture
on me. With membership in the EU,
the Czech culture will change and probably not for the better in the
beginning. To a certain degree
the cost of living will rise and the rich will get richer while the poor will
stay where they are; an idea that as has been noted which does not set well
with Czechs. A certain element of
that is seen in daily Czech life today since 1989 as their standard of living
has gone up substantially. Many Czechs have cars nowadays and there
are more cellular phones attached to the ears of the young than there are cars
beneath their feet or seat. I am often moved with wonder when I see an
older Czech, say my age of 60 or a few years younger, returning from work
with a cell phone attached to his work coveralls.
A simple fact remains; most Czechs still
live in Russian tombstone like high-rises unable to buy a home of their own.
This will not change soon, even with entry into the EU.
Notes
1The
Prince, by Niccolo
Machiavelli, Chapter
6
2 The Six Paradoxes of Soviet Life, personal
conversation with a émigré on a flight from Riga, Latvia to Moscow, Russia,
November, 1989.
Culture and business are two strands in the same
rope. They are so intricately
woven that they cannot be separated without damaging the rope. Change commerce and you change culture. Change culture and you change commerce. I have come to believe that change must take place top down
in order to move at an accelerated pace.
This cannot be done without discomfort and inconvenience to many
people. Yet, it would only be for
a season. Since governments run
top down, it would require governmental intervention.
The people now elect the government here. However, the people tend to
vote for political parties that offer them a world of little discomfort and
little inconvenience. Yet no
country can continue in the vacuum that is often created by rapid change, for
it will languish between the Scylla and the Charybdis as polarized
governmental extremes until wrecked by one or the other.
The
CR needs to move forward by electing forward thinking people who know what it
means to be Czech in the 21st Century, and while appreciating the
past, seek to define the new Czech culture and business in light of the future
and not the darkness of the past. Commerce
will flourish when the Czechs join the EU but not without a cost.
Culture will change with entrance into the EU for Central Europe will
be joining Western Europe and this will produce cultures in conflict.
Determine what is worthy for keeping, that which is uniquely Czech and
what is worth assimilating. Then,
proceed with cautious optimism.