First foreign edition of American author's chronicle of Socialism's rise and fall released in Prague

Champagne splattered all over the panelists' clothing as Senator Michal Zantovsky "baptised" his Czech translation of American writer Joshua Muravchik's detailed account of the history of Socialism, titled Heaven on Earth. Political analyst Jiri Pehe, who also took part in the Monday presentation at a Prague bookstore, didn't have a chance to defend capitalism against another invited guest, Miloslav Ransdorf, the vice-chairman of the Czech Communist Party, as the Communist representative proved a no-show. During the discussion Muravchik talked about the phenomenon of socialism through the ages. He also pointed out that by the late 1970s more than 60 percent of the people on the planet were living under some sort of socialist government while in another ten years Socialism in Europe collapsed. One idea with which he grappled during the writing of this work involved how socialism was so attractive to people and yet so harmful at the same time. Tracy Burns asked what inspired him to write such a mammoth study of the movement...

First foreign edition of American author's chronicle of Socialism's rise and fall released in Prague

Joshua Muravchik, photo: CTK

"Well, I was raised in a socialist family, my parents, their grandparents, devoted their lives to Socialism, and I myself was a socialist and a leader of a socialist organisation in the US, when I was a youngster. And, when Communism collapsed in 1989, and all of the other forms of socialism really did similar things, nullifying their core of their ideology, I spent a long time thinking about this powerful idea that had such a big impact on the history of the 20th century, and on my own family and background, and I wanted to try and come to terms with it."

For political analyst Jiri Pehe it is Muravchik's presentation of socialism as a sort of religion that is most impressive:

"Well, I think this book offers a very unconventional look at the history of Socialism. You know, we have seen, we have read many, many books on Socialism, on Communism, many of them were written from the sort of scientific approach - I think Muravchik is different. He, basically, looks at sociologist ideology from the religious point of view. He says after the great rational revolutions of the 18th, 19th centuries that there was a need for some kind of new religion and certainly the socialist idea, as proposed by Marx and Engels seemed the 'right thing at the right time'. Unfortunately, in the end it caused tremendous suffering for many, many people."

Meanwhile, Senator Zantovsky explained why he considered this book to be an important one in Czech bookstores today:

"For the past ten years very little was said or published or discussed in the Czech Republic about Socialism. For understandable reasons we were 'overburdened' by 50 years before that. But, it's still one of the important, if not the most important, political ideas of the 20th century, the repercussions and consequences of it are with us till this day. So, I think it's important to learn about the history of the movement, its leading figures, its contradictions, its rise, and its fall."