SNAHY O JAZYKOVÉ OVLÁDNUTIE STREDOEURÓPSKEJ KRAJINY – POČIATKY ĽUDOVÝCH KURZOV RUŠTINY V ČESKOSLOVENSKU

The paper focuses on the period of the late 1940s, and partly the early 1950s. It focuses on the founding period of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia. The article analyses in more detail Moscow’s efforts, interpreted and organized by the domestic state party, to spread the Russian language among the broad strata of Czechoslovak society. This phenomenon of evening courses for adults, working citizens – the so-called people´s Russian courses –, examines in relation to the coming Sovietization of Czechoslovakia as a part of the countries of the Eastern bloc during the Cold War. It focuses on the beginnings of the event, the way it was presented and its organizational problems. He also researches if and why it was, or could have been successful and, conversely, what obstacles prevented its success.