Education, Science, and Research under the Technocratic and Ideological Prism: A View through the Lens of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia’s Conceptual Documents during the Two “Normalisation” Decades

Abstract

The study explores how the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (CPC) conceptualised education, science, and research during the two decades of the so-called “normalisation” period, drawing from internal records of the key Commissions of the CPC Central Committee (CC). Using archival sources from Commissions dealing with science, technology, ideology, and economic affairs, the research reveals a complex dynamic in which technocratic and ideological perspectives were repeatedly merged, though mostly unsuccessfully. While documents from the early 1970s acknowledged the expansion of secondary and tertiary education and identified inefficiencies in the system, they were also characterised by the rigid adherence to class-based selection criteria of education and political loyalty. Despite technocratic recommendations to modernise the economy and workforce through enhanced technical education, documents consistently fell back on the ideological frameworks, particularly emphasising the role of the working class and the CPC’s leadership. The study proves that throughout the period, the CPC’s documents alternated between pragmatic observations (such as the low research output efficiency, shortage of qualified personnel in science, or misalignment between the needs of education and the labour market) and vague or inflated projections (like the unrealistic target to achieve 60 % secondary education by 1985). Persistent calls for modernisation clashed with outdated structural preferences, especially the regime’s continued prioritisation of heavy industry over knowledge-driven sectors. By the late 1980s, however, the onset of perestroika forced a more open critique of the previous policy failures. A significant shift appeared in the “Comprehensive Forecast” document, prepared at the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, which stressed the need for systemic reform, academic freedom, and more flexible educational pathways. Even so, the CPC Commissions remained constrained by ideological remnants and systemic inertia. Finally, the study highlights how blending the technocratic goals with ideological orthodoxy hindered Czechoslovakia’s ability to close the developmental gap with the West or at least reduce the expansion of that gap.