A History of the Czechoslovak Ocean Shipping Company, 1948–1989 : How a Small, Landlocked Country Ran Maritime Business During the Cold War / Lenka Kratka, Andreas Umland

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kratka, Lenka, Author.

Contributor:

Umland, Andreas, Editor.

Series:

Soviet and post-Soviet politics and society ; 146.

Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society 146

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

history.

seafaring.

Czechoslovakia.

Ocean Shipping Company.

20th century.

Cold War.

maritime business.

economy.

communism.

Soviet Union.

policy.

planned economy.

capitalism.

memory.

Local Subjects:

history.

seafaring.

Czechoslovakia.

Ocean Shipping Company.

20th century.

Cold War.

maritime business.

economy.

communism.

Soviet Union.

policy.

planned economy.

capitalism.

memory.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (294 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Hannover ibidem 2015

Language Note:

Summary in Czech.

Biography/History:

Lenka Krátká is a researcher at the Centre of Oral History at the Czech Academy of Sciences. She is part of the funded project group Czech Society during the Normalization and Transformation Period: Biographical Narratives. She lectures at the Oral and Contemporary History Department of the Faculty of Humanities at Charles University in Prague.

Summary:

This book offers a comprehensive history of the Czechoslovak Ocean Shipping Company (C. O. S.) from its beginning in the late 1940s until the fall of communism. Owned by the Czechoslovak state, C. O. S.'s activities were shaped by Soviet standards. This unique study is structured according to the different phases of the Cold War and highlights the political aspects that determined C. O. S.'s fate. Lenka Kratka focuses on two contradictory economic dimensions that C. O. S. had to engage with. Being part of the planned economy of a socialist state, it also dealt with companies in the capitalist West. Another paradoxical aspect of C. O. S. emerges from the memories of former Czechoslovak seamen, who experienced relative freedom when being aboard and strict communist regime control while at home with their families. Kratka's book offers fascinating insights into a neglected topic, using thus far untapped sources and building on primary research in oral history and personal memory.

Contents:

Contents; Acknowledgements; 1 Introduction: Maritime business in landlocked Czechoslovakia as a research topic; 1.1 This book's dockyard: a brief account of the information sources; 2 Prologue: First attempts to run the maritime business after World War I; 3 1950s: From the foundation of the People's Republic of China to the foundation of the Czechoslovak Ocean Shipping company; 3.1 The economic Cold War and its impacts on Czechoslovakia; 3.2 The People's Republic of China comes into play; 3.3 The first ""independent"" attempts to establish a Czechoslovak merchant fleet

3.9 Financial results in the 1950s4 1960s: From the Caribbean Crisis to the mutiny on the ship Kladno; 4.1 Czechoslovaks need more ships; 4.2 The People's Republic of China does not need more ships; 4.2.1 Covering of passengers ships for Indonesian-Chinese immigrants; 4.3 ""Why do you yield to US imperialism?"" (end of cooperation with the PRC); 4.4 The last third of the 1960s-the development of an exclusively Czechoslovak shipping; 4.5 Financial results in the 1960s; 4.6 1968: ""We dreaded that they would requisition our ships""; 4.6.1 Mutiny on the ship Kladno

5 1970s: The transition from ideological tasks to business tasks5.1 Détente in abroad, ""normalization"" at home; 5.1.1 The ""normalization"" process in the Czechoslovak Ocean Shipping company; 5.2 The company's performance after the suppression of the Prague Spring; 5.2.1 The COS operation within global maritime market conditions; 5.3 Financial results in the 1970s; 6 1980s: From a drop in earnings to fleet renewal; 6.1 The company as an object of counterintelligence interests; 6.2 Problems in the Soviet bloc, problems in the COS

6.2.1 The early 1980s-the worst performance in the history of the COS6.2.2 The mid-1980s-a time of slight optimism; 6.3 Perestroika and the first (un)successful business attempts in shipping; 6.3.1 Revival of cooperation with the People's Republic of China; 6.3.2 Facing the realities of the late 1980s; 6.4 Financial results in the 1980s; 7 Epilogue: Czechoslovak and Czech maritime business after the Velvet Revolution; 8 Seafarers' lives and memories; 8.1 ""Work on the sea is simply different"" (an overview of seafarers' professions); 8.1.1 Seafarers working on the deck

8.1.2 Seafarers working in the engine room

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 251-267).

ISBN:

3-8382-6716-8

Publisher Number:

9783838267166