1968: The Prague Spring

1968 was a year marked by mass protests, mainly of young people, in several countries across Europe. In 2018, fifty years later, May 1968 is in the spotlight. We have chosen to turn our attention to the Prague Spring instead, and to talk about the ideas, expectations and disappointments it generated. Undoubtedly, the Prague Spring influenced not only Czechoslovakia, but also the whole of Europe. It affected every political discussion at the time and posed hard questions to the western communist parties. These questions may be reduced to one: is Communism compatible with Democracy? The Prague Spring and its bloody repression had also an impact on Greece during the dictatorship of 1967-1974, seeing that they were among the main factors that led to the breaking up of the Greek Communist Party.

SPEAKERS
Thanassis Yalketsis, Journalist/Writer
The Blooming of a Spring Followed by a Long Winter

Yannis Balabanidis, Political Scientist
The Impact of the Prague Spring on the Communist Parties of Western Europe

Yannis Voulgaris, Panteion University
The Venture of an Impossible Reform?

CHAIR
Stavros Zoumboulakis, President of the Supervisory Council of the National Library of Greece