"Building socialism" on the airwaves up to 1968
Today we look at the roles of some of those who believed in the Czech branch of socialism, announcers at Radio Prague during the 50s and 60s. We'll find out what inspired them to leave their homes in Canada and the U.S. to make a new start in Prague - to help build socialism in former Czechoslovakia - a very unusual fate.
"My parents lived in Chicago, that's where I was born, that's where I went to school, and I met my husband where Czechs and Slovaks got together, which was several organisations and youth groups. We got married in '44 and then we decided to go back to Prague, and we came in 1950 and I started working in 1951."
Marta Hubscherova is a tall, strong-minded woman now in her mid-80s, an American of Slovak descent who came to Czechoslovakia at a time when the country was descending into darkness. At the time, she - like many - did not foresee how grim the situation here would become. The political show-trials, imprisonment, gross injustice; anyone who believed in socialism - and for that matter even those who didn't - could only hope the situation would improve.
"A good part of all of what was going on was unbelievable to us, or we couldn't understand why it was going on. Most of the people who worked [at the station] were progressive-minded and felt the experiment in Czechoslovakia was going toward a good direction. When these things started happening everybody was shocked. But, there was nothing much people could do at that time."
In an interview from 2001, author Arnost Lustig - who also worked for Czech Radio in the 50s - shed light on the nature of socialist euphoria. Following the horrors of World War II and the betrayal at Munich, he suggests many communists like himself felt - quite simply - they had inherited the Earth, and were consequently blind to the crimes of their own system and the misery it caused.
"We were even grateful to the political establishment, because they gave us jobs, and they said 'Do it, Comrades!' And we did it. We believed it, we believed it. It took ten years to find out that the things which happened were not "just", that revolution is not always spectacularly just. But, it was our world. We thought we were at the right place at the right time. We were not, but we didn't know it! It was our State, our Communist Party, and our Revolution. We were wrong."
Perhaps because of the euphoria Arnost Lustig describes, many former announcers at Radio Prague still count their years at the station as the best in their lives. They too, must have felt they had their finger on the pulse of history and were there to make a difference in those early years.
Darin Lash, a Czech-Canadian who now lives in Montreal, was just 19 when she began broadcasting in Czechoslovakia for the very first time.
"As a matter-of-fact we were all amateurs then, none of us had any radio experience at that time! But, we gradually developed and we were a very successful radio broadcasting group!"
Darin Lash, who's broadcasting name was Jean Novakova, notes that during the 50s and 60s short-wave broadcasting - from socialist countries or otherwise - had an allure far exceeding its attraction today.
"We had a very friendly attitude to our listeners and our listenership grew very quickly. Fortunately our broadcasts were heard almost throughout the world. In fact we even had listeners on the South Pole at that time! I still have stamps that were sent to me from there. Of course, North America was our main target but also Japan, really all over the world. And they were fantastically responsive to our programmes. They took them very personally. We became sort of friends on the air."
Marta Hubscherova agrees: she knows of listeners who have still kept in touch, forty years down the line. And it seems listeners tuned in then less to hear about particular ideology, but just to hear what life was like 'elsewhere'.
During the period of the Prague Spring, when censorship lessened and Czechoslovaks began to breathe more freely, it might have felt that socialism was fulfilling its promise at last. But, for those who supported the system, the dream soon collapsed. Marta Hubscherova and her husband were at their cottage in north Bohemia when the Russian tanks rolled in, August 21st.
Here is how Darin Lash saw those dramatic days:
"Ah, it was a feeling of real betrayal, because we did believe in Czechoslovakia that the Soviet Union was our friend. And here they were invading us."
As always in such circumstances, the radio station became a magnet for defence as fighting ensued outside. Before being taken over by Warsaw Pact troops, Czech Radio, along with Radio Prague, broadcast news of the invasion to the world.
Then, in the days and months that followed announcers like Marta Hubscherova would be asked whether they had supported the invasion. Marta Hubscherova once more:
Lash:
"I can't really explain it, I've always had such faith in socialism, I've always believed in it and I felt that Czechoslovakia was on the right road."
Darin Lash says she partially agreed with the invasion in the end. Why? There are probably no easy answers: perhaps it was simply unimaginable for her to break with her ideal of socialism, no matter how far removed from reality it had become.
"I stayed on at the radio because I did say I agree with the invasion, which to a certain extent I basically did. A little difficult because I really felt strongly, very warmly towards Czechoslovakia, which I do to this day."
Hubscherova:
From one perspective one could expect a certain measure of bitterness but there is not all that much - at least not on the surface. Marta Hubscherova and her colleague Darin Lash gave up great portions of their lives working for a system that ultimately failed.
But once again, ideological discussion pales when put on a human scale, and perhaps all dreams of socialism were for nought when Marta Hubscherova was separated from her son in 1968, when he decided to stay in London.
A fate that affected many families throughout the nation regardless of whether they had been "for" the communist regime or "against".
