ABSTRACT
In the present chapter we seek to identify cultural and discursive links between political authoritarianism and public expression in 20th-and 21st-century Central Eastern Europe (CEE), particularly in the so-called Visegrad countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia) and Romania. Due to a shared historical experience, citizens of these nations are acutely aware that language use is not simply a transfer of information but rather a social phenomenon often endowed with destructive and oppressive force. In most countries of the region extreme rightwing, fascistic regimes rose to power for a brief period of time during the 20th century. These regimes were replaced with Communist dictatorships for decades after the drop of the Iron Curtain. As a result of life under authoritarian rule, a number of successive generations were forced to accept that public expression became a mechanism of tyranny. Citizens of CEE nations gradually came to terms with public expression serving the ends of intimidation, the silencing of dissent, and the abuse of rights. Political discourse became inextricably bound to practices of oppression and violence. Later, during the post-Stalin period commonly known as “the thaw,” the softening grip of state socialism resulted in the emergence of sanitized forms of communication in formal, official discourse. Such discourse engendered deep suspicion in the population towards public discourse, and alienation from public life on a massive scale.
