Dětské organizace v českých zemích v letech 1968-1970
Children Organisations in Bohemian Lands in 1968–1970

Summary/Abstract: The paper is focused on the development of the children organisations, Pionýr [Pioneer] and Junák [Czech Scouting], in the period from the Prague Spring to the beginning of the Normalisation era when, under the political pressure, the unified and state-wide Pioneer Organisation of the Socialist Youth Union was re-established. The paper does not intend to present a detailed explanation of the development of both youth organisations; it rather tries to show key moments and changing dynamics of the process from the point of view of the central political organs that never gave up their claim to control the course of the history. The Pioneer movement was thus, after the dissolution of the Czechoslovak Youth Union, given the opportunity to put into practise its ideas about the reform of the children organisation that crystallised from the mid-1960s. They pertained mostly to efforts to liberate the Pioneer movement from the close link to the school, to retain exclusivity of the reformed organisation in organising the extra-school activities and methods of work with the youngest generation of Czech children. The reform was taken up by the Czech Board of the Pioneer headed by Oldřich Kryštofek. In the spring 1968, the Czech Scouting movement (Junák) was spontaneously re-established; its rapid restoration was favoured by the fact that it was never legally dissolved. The head of the new leadership was Rudolf Plajner, elected already in 1946. Especially in March and April 1968, most of the old Scouting groups renewed their activities and new groups started to appear around them – often composed of children that had left the Pioneer organisation. The relation between the Pioneer organisation and the re-emerging Scouting movement went through an interesting development. While the Scouts were favoured by the public and media, the Pioneer was often depicted as a liquidator of the Scouting. It is necessary to mention that both organisations demonstrated many signals proving their interest in a peaceful cooperation for the benefit of the children. After the reversal of the political situation in Czechoslovakia in autumn 1968, the Party leadership exercised a concentrated pressure aimed at liquidation of independent children and youth organisations. Gradually, the administrative pressure managed to change the leadership figures in these organisations and to create suitable conditions for restoration of the state-wide organisation, i. e. Socialist Youth Union including its Pioneer Organization.

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