21 - Slovakia under communism, 1948–1989: controversial developments in the economy, society and culture

Summary

Forty years of communism have had a controversial influence on the Slovak economy and society. On one hand, the industrialisation of the country after 1948 changed the Slovak economy from an agrarian into a quasi-industrial one. Before 1948, the majority of the population worked in agriculture, but by the end of the Communist period only 13 per cent of all employees continued to do so. New employment opportunities were created, and the country was rapidly urbanised. That having been said, industrialisation was oriented towards the common market of the countries of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON); large industrial works were constructed, often to the detriment of the local environment. The Communist regime provided people with basic social security and a low, but nevertheless quite tolerable standard of living.

However, levels of development were limited; the economy was not capable of further natural growth and fell behind the dynamically developing economies of the Western world. The standard of living of the population also lagged behind those enjoyed to the west of the Iron Curtain. The Communist regime invested significant resources in science, education and culture, but the controlling power of the Communist Party was consistently manifested across the intellectual sphere. Science and culture, as represented by the leading figures in the field, gradually came into opposition with the Communist dictatorship, the so-called Marxist-Leninist ideology applied by it and the narrow understanding of art imposed through socialist realism, the only form of artistic expression that the regime permitted.