ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book. This book, a survey of the state of the Czechoslovak economy, was delivered verbatim in a series of television talks shortly before the occupation of the country. For years people had been observing the contrast between official propaganda, with its boasts about economic successes, and their own day-to-day experience, which told them something quite different. The facts about the economy had to be revealed frankly through the mass medium of television, not merely to provide people with information, but also to enable them to understand that various measures would have to be taken, at times involving some "unpopular" steps. The longer the economy of the centralistic-bureaucratic system lags behind the capitalist economies in its development, the greater will be the shock of awakening for the people of Czechoslovakia.
