WEEK THIRTEEN: Revolution and Repression

All students should prepare answers to these questions. Students whose last names begin with I-Q must submit written answers to these questions at the beginning of their discussion class on 15-16 April. (Other students may submit written answers for extra credit.) Written answers should be 1.5-2 pages single spaced (3-4 pages, double spaced) in an 11- or 12-point font, with standard sized margins. Written answers will be returned in the following week's discussion class. No written work will be accepted after a student's discussion class (no exceptions will be made to this rule).

Alexander Dubcek, Hope Dies Last. ABOUT the AUTHOR: Most of what you need to know is included in his autobiography!! During World War Two, he belonged to the Communist Party of Slovakia and was part of the insurgency against the pro-German Slovak government then in power. After the Communists (with substantial Soviet support) took control in 1948, he remained involved in political life and in January 1968 became First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Czechoslovak Communist Party. In the "Prague Spring" of 1968, he encouraged a series of reform measures that increased civil freedoms; this period of reforms was abruptly brought to a close by a Soviet invasion in August 1968.
1a. The first section of Dubcek's autobiography deals with his childhood, a period we have previously covered in this course. How does his account of that era resonate with themes and topics we have discussed? What new insights does it give you on that era?
1b. (pp. 128-136) What do you think Dubcek wants his reader to think about his actions during the "Prague Spring"? What were the greatest impediments to reform?
1c. Until his death (in a 1992 car accident), Dubcek remained committed to what he called "humanistic socialism"--what sense do you get of how his version of "socialism" differed from the "communism" to be found in the Soviet Union?

Gisele Halimi and Simone de Beauvoir, Djamila Boupacha ABOUT the AUTHORS: Gisele Halimi (1927-) was born in Tunisia, which was then a French protectorate. Her mother was Jewish and her father, Moslem. Educated in French-language schools, she qualified as a lawyer in 1948 and often defended women charged with political crimes. Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) was a novelist and philosopher, probably the best known female intellectual of 1950s-1960s France. A well known writer in her own right, she was also the lifetime companion of the existentialist philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre.
2a. (de Beauvoir's introduction) What, for de Beauvoir, is the real scandal of this case? What does she suggest it tells us about Europe and Europeans?
2b. Throughout the text, it is clear that Boupacha is guilty of planting a bomb in a university restaurant. How important, if at all, is her guilt to the story that is being told here? Does it affect how you read this account?
2c. "In 1943, any girl of 20 thought she was Joan of Arc"--to what does this refer? What is being implied by this comparison between Algeria in 1960 and France in 1943?