An extraordinary contribution to the historical and economic problems of our modern history was published in Prague these days. The publication presented by these lines was published by Jaskmanický Publishing House under the title History is written by the winners. The book is literally packed with facts and two hundred pages written in the form of a question and answer from the pen of the authors, top experts in macroeconomics and economics Jaroslav Šulc and Jaroslav Ungerman.
Although the authors warn their readers in the introduction that they do not feel they are historians as economists, they do not avoid this attribute. Indeed, it is impossible to separate the two, especially in their demanding work. It is not for nothing, therefore, that the subtitle of the book says What was it like back then and why?
Wide coverage, wealth of verified data
This, so to speak, unconventional history of economics has its limits, marked by the years 1948 - 1968. As it is written in the so-called Abstract, which precedes the classic introduction of the book, the text of the book in its first part, in the form of a dialogue, is devoted to Mr. Šulc and Mr. Ungerman's own interpretation of the presentation of the key stages of the post-war social and economic development of the Czechoslovak Republic.
In the second part of the manuscript - the Epilogue - the authors take an unconventional and critical look at the behaviour of the Czechoslovak ruling elites in three very important periods of our state. First of all, in the late 1930s, during the Munich Conference "about us without us", then thirty years later, during the Prague Spring of 1968, and as a bonus, during the two subsequent decades of normalization, ending with the events of November 1989. It should be stressed that the authorial interpretations of both Yards are very far from the current mainstream. Their strength lies not only in the published figures and facts, but also in the fact that both authors worked from personal knowledge and experience. With the idea that the older ones who lived through it remember it more or less, but the younger ones will certainly open up new perspectives on the past of their native country, often very different from what they currently read or hear from biased or biased media and social networks, where one can literally spout anything that comes to mind.
Overwriting history after mode changes
This has been happening and has been happening since ancient Egypt. It is no different in the interpretation of the history of our republic. Who would have thought that since 1918 the state or regime has changed eight times in total. And so, too, has the description of events and personalities from the past alternated - on both sides. Both the glorification of people previously overlooked, and the ostracisation and vilification of people somehow active in the past, now "despicable" regime, see the latest fad, the proposal to cut pensions for selected communist officials. In the same way, economic results are suppressed or, on the contrary, praised. Just as the title of the publication says - History is written by the winners.
That is why the authors adhere to the principle of the language of numbers in their unique and objective work. At their advanced age of over seventy years, both enjoy two exceptionalities. First, they have been relatively close to the places where decisions were made, or "just" prepared the basis for decisions, all their active lives. Both combined their professional development at the University of Economics with work experience in federal central bodies, including the Federal Statistical Office, and especially in middle management positions at the State Planning Commission. It is to their professional credit, then, that they do not paint anything pink, let alone stoop to purposeful denigration of one or the other, as the expert explanations on almost every page of the dense text show.
Question and Answer System
As we have already indicated above, the authors deliberately chose the dialogue form in their work, as it is easier to describe the whole development of this economic history. The accuracy of the manuscript is evident from the impressive list of literature and other sources used and cited. But let us return to the content. Simple questions, often complex answers. But the truth is highlighted by figures and various sources. There are seven chapters in all. The titles alone suggest something:
The past can be graded in different ways, but the language of statistics is clear, What are you after after the war was over, it was time to build? Currency and price issues, The starting points were in nationalisation and management cadres, The undeniable advantages of planned management, Sustained effort improve the planning management system, a Not only to extend the planning horizon and modernise the management system, but also to capture integration trends.
The interest of the whole manuscript can be seen in selected passages, such as the question, for example, whether it is possible to say that in November '89 this republic was debt-free, where a detailed and insightful answer begins with the word YES, or the following passage about the fact that, "For almost three and a half decades, various government coalitions - but no longer any National Front - have been holding "free elections"! - sometimes regularly, sometimes prematurely - have handed over the Czech economy mostly in worse shape than they took it over and than it was in many parameters at the end of the 1980s..."
It will be literally overwhelming even for the non-believing Thomas to list the significant investments made at the end of the 1980s, including the completion of a modern high-voltage power transmission system and the mastery of its own nuclear power engineering, thanks to which the former Czechoslovakia entered the elite club of countries capable of manufacturing equipment for nuclear power plants and building and safely operating nuclear power plants. Where are the snows of last year, aren't they, Mr. Fiala and Mr. Stanjuro? That's not disinformation we read, but the bare facts, like everything else we've been told in our thorough work History is written by the winners the authors present.
It is not for nothing that their book begins with the observation that the past can be graded in different ways, but the language of statistics is clear. How, who and when had access to the necessary numbers is another matter. Thus we read in a footnote that it was not until 1990, after the repeal of the law on the protection of state secrets, that the then Federal Statistical Office published a total of 43 tables containing data that had not been published until then. Thereafter, this information was routinely included in the yearbooks that had been published continuously for many years.
What we can look forward to next
This extraordinary publication is illustrated with contemporary photographs by the legendary Prague photographer František Dostál (1938 - 2022).
The conclusion of the book, entitled Epilogue to the failure of the elites deals with the situation after August 1968, including the international and domestic political context and the beginning of the collapse of Czechoslovakia, including the final commentary, where we do not read that the Jaskmanický Publishing House is currently preparing for printing the second volume of this economic history, describing the topic in the following years up to the present.
But that will be the subject of another article. What is certain, however, is that this extraordinary contribution to our modern history should not be missing from the library of any journalist, economist or political scientist, or young people studying these subjects.
gnews.cz - Ivan Černý
PHOTO - archive of Jaskmanický Publishing House
