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Thousands of monuments in the Czech Republic fell into ruin during the five decades of Communist rule. Many of them were left abandoned, deteriorating beyond repair, while others were simply razed to the ground.

Although the devastation of historical monuments was mapped quite thoroughly in the past, comprehensive research focusing on Communist-era heritage conservation was never carried out.

Historians from the Academy of Sciences and other institutions, including the Institute for the Study of the Totalitarian Regimes, have now started to examine the topic in greater detail. The first step in their research was a conference, which took place in Prague this week.

Kristina Uhlkov from the Academys Institute of Art History, one of the co-organizers of the conference, says the devastation of historical monuments was a result of several factors. One of the main ones was the nationalization of private-owned property shortly after the end of the Second World War:

Uherice chateau|Photo: Podzemnik, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported

The state wanted to look after the monuments, at least to some extent. But the task was too much to handle, especially for a centrally managed economy.

Only in Bohemia, there were over a thousand castles and chateaux, mostly private-owned, and suddenly, within just five years, they were taken over by the state, which was supposed to look after them.

Another problem was that there were not enough skilled people to look after the monuments, says Professor Milena Hauserov, who teaches heritage conservation at Czech Technical Universitys Faculty of Architecture:

Shortly after the war, even before the 1950s, the regime started to promote industrialization of the construction sector. As a result, private artisans started to be eliminated.

Many professions, that were common until then, ceased to exist. All the capacity went into construction of prefabricated buildings and many bricklayers no longer even knew what a brick was.

The neglected monuments reflected negatively on the Communist regime. Since the authorities had no means or will to preserve them, they were ordered to be torn down, says Mrs Hauserov:

There was a strong tendency to destroy the dilapidated monuments. Thats why so many abandoned churches and castles were blown up, so that they wouldnt be seen. Many of them could have been saved and could have served some purpose. But the feeling of failure played a significant role.

Mrs Hauserov points out that ideology also played a significant role on monument preservation during Communism. For instance, greater care was given to the preservation of Hussite monuments. Historic sites from the Baroque period were often neglected, since they presented what the Communist regime regarded as a dark era in the countrys history.

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Communist-era heritage conservation focus of new research - Radio Prague

WATCH:How To Use The Terms "Socialism" vs. "Communism" Previous Next What is socialism?

Socialismhas three main meanings:

1. a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.

2. procedure or practice in accordance with this theory.

3. (in Marxist theory) the stage following capitalism in the transition of a society to communism, characterized by the imperfect implementation of collectivist principles.

Socialism is a social theory makes sense. It theorizes that a collective cooperation of citizens will make all governmental institutions public. For example, no one will receive a healthcare bill when going to the doctor because they, and everyone else, have paid a hefty amount in government taxes. Thats where the collective cooperation comes in.

Communism, on the other hand, is a branch of socialism. Its similar in that its still founded on the idea of collective cooperation, but differs in that communists believe that cooperation should be run by a totalitarian government made up of one and only one government.

Russia gave communism a bad name when it reigned as the USSR. It was here that thousands who were seen as threats to the stateartists, authors, intellectuals, even those who practiced religionwere sent to be slaughtered or exiled uh, yikes. I guess you could call it socialism gone bad.

Although the USSR fell way back when, Russia is still very communist culturally, though economically theyre a capitalistic system. Countries like the Peoples Republic of China are certainly more communist than Russia, where all things are nationalized up to the point that citizens cant even make full use of the internet due to the governments fear of free thought.

So, although communism is a form of socialism its definitely the rotten egg of the two.

Democracy is a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system. The Greek demokratia is derived from demos, common people, and kratos, strength.

Basically, in a democracy, the head of state is usually a president, and the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote (which is then exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them).Capitalismis part of democracies (not communist or socialist countries). The community as a whole does not own all of the property and wealth in a democracy.

Our modern ideas of socialism and communism tend to come from what Karl Marx outlined inThe Communist Manifestoand what was later implemented in Russia by Vladimir Lenin and his followers (theBolsheviks). Marxs manifesto called for a complete overhaul of capitalist systems of the time. It advocated for the working class(theproletariat) to uprise against the aristocracy and other elites (thebourgeoisie), followed by the implementation of a new society where everyone was equal. That sounds great on paper, but the way it played out in Russia was a bloody revolution (including the arrest and execution of Czar Nicholas II and his family). In the 1920s, Joseph Stalin took over, and he established a completely totalitarian regime. Stalins government was marked by widespread famine, poverty, and death.

Modern-day Russia is neither socialist, nor communist. That ended in 1991. However, today, North Korea self-identifies as socialist, and it operates in a very similar way to Stalins USSR. China went through a Communist revolution not long after Russia did, and today they self-identify as socialist with Chinese characteristics.

Its not all doom and gloom, though. Many Nordic countries operate associal democracies. This means they blend a lot of socialist policies (like providing state healthcare, social security, and workers compensation) with certain capitalist features (like private property and the democratic process).

To read more about other government words, take a look at our slideshow!

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Socialism vs Communism: Do you know the difference ...

Manila, Philippines Julie Ann de Leon is homeless and jobless. At 52, she also has four children to feed. She used to make up to $15 per day helping drivers of jeepneys, the Philippines' version of mini-bus taxis, find passengers in Manila. But coronavirus lockdowns have upended the public transport sector, and De Leon is lucky now to bring home 75 cents in a day.

When she learned that food aid was being distributed by private citizens to help other members of the community get through the pandemic downturn, she wasted no time. On Friday she walked three miles to get to the community pantry in the Maginhawa neighborhood of Quezon City, a suburb of the capital, where she spent four hours in line.

"I'd be thankful for whatever is given. If it's food that's enough only for a day, that's still a huge help for us," she told CBS News.

The community pantry idea started in Maginhawa, with a single wooden cart of fresh food and essential goods being left out in the middle of April. But with so many in need, the idea quickly caught on and spread like wildfire across the Philippines. Just a couple weeks later, there are around 400 "pantries" operating around the country.

The idea is to donate only what you can and take only what you need, according to Ana Patricia Non, the young woman who set up the Maginhawa Community Pantry.

"I thought this might just be a small step, but we need to take action, because government aid has not been enough," Non said on Saturday in an interview with Manila-based online media platform, "Now You Know."

The Philippines now has to the fastest-growing COVID-19 outbreak in Southeast Asia. On Monday, the country's health department reported 8,929 new cases, bringing the total to over 1 million. There were 70 more deaths blamed on the disease on Monday.

The virus has forced the government to impose protracted lockdowns, which have pushed the economy to fall into its worst recession since World War II. More than 4 million Filipinos were unemployed in February, according to government data.

"We have a small neighborhood store but people are jobless, so our sales have also suffered. We never needed help like this," said Manila resident Maria Luisa Baradicho.

Despite the apparent spirit of goodwill behind the pantries, however, some government officials have cast doubts over the intentions of organizers.

"Why are these community pantries sprouting all over all of a sudden? Why do they have a single theme?" Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade, spokesperson of the government's anti-communist task force, said in an interview with local cable news network, One News.

He then compared Ana Patricia Non to Satan.

"Patricia is one person, right? Same with Satan. Satan gave Eve an apple. That's how it all started."

Non closed her shop for a day out of fear for her own safety and the safety of the volunteers who work with her.

"Police officers repeatedly asked for my contact number. I also learned that they kept asking for my address from my volunteers," she told CBS News.

The clincher was a post on Facebook by a local police office, accusing Patricia and other community pantry proponents of being fronts for the armed faction of the Communist Party of the Philippines.

The practice of labeling people communists, known in the Philippines as "red-tagging," has increased under hardline President Rodrigo Duterte. Blamed for the killing of several activists, the movement has clear parallels with the Cold War-era "Red Scare" in the U.S. and the anti-communist crusading of Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

The mayor of Quezon City, where Non's community pantry is located, quickly stepped in. The Facebook post was taken down and the office of the city's police chief issued an apology.

Parlade and another spokesperson for the government's anti-communist task force, Lorraine Badoy, have been barred from publicly commenting on the community pantries.

"Kindness is everyone's color. Whatever your beliefs are, as long as you are helping wholeheartedly, you can be assured of our support," Delfin Lorezana, the country's national defense secretary, said in a statement.

Teddy Casio, a former left-leaning lawmaker and a community pantry organizer himself, said he didn't expect the red-tagging.

"I was taken aback, because it's so clear that there's nothing sinister about this thing. What's sad is that those who were harassed had to stop, and those who may have been thinking about putting up pantries, didn't anymore."

At the end of the day, Non said the community pantries aren't meant to be a permanent solution.

"Eventually donations will die down. Donors will get tired. And that's okay; Community pantries are not meant to solve poverty and hunger; it's just meant to get us through one day at a time."

CBS News' Barnaby Lo in Manila hosts the current affairs program "Viewpoint" on the "Now You Know" online civic media platform.

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COVID food pantry operators draw accusations of communism in the Philippines - CBS News

OXFORD, England (CNS) Polish Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, scheduled to be beatified Sept. 12, was ready to seek agreements in a Christian spirit, but also firmly believed certain boundaries could not be crossed, said a leading theologian and political scientist.

Father Piotr Mazurkiewicz, former secretary-general of the Brussels-based Commission of the Bishops Conferences of the European Union, COMECE, told Catholic News Service April 27 the beatification would remind Catholics everywhere of the churchs challenges under communist rule in Eastern Europe.

In an age when its generally assumed any leadership role requires a compromise of conscience, he showed, like the English St. Thomas More, this wasnt so, the theologian said.

Beatification is a step toward sainthood, and Polands Catholic information agency, KAI, said 37 volumes on the cardinals sanctity had been amassed during his 1989-2001 diocesan process for canonization.

In October 2019, the Vatican Congregation for Saints Causes said the inexplicable recovery of a dying 19-year-old cancer patient from the Szczecin-Kamien Archdiocese in 1988 had been confirmed as a miracle attributed to Cardinal Wyszynskis intercession. His beatification, originally scheduled for 2020, was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mother Elisabeth Rosa Czacka, who founded the Franciscan Sister Servants of the Cross in 1918 and a pioneering center for blind children, will be beatified alongside Cardinal Wyszynski. She died in Poland in 1961.

The late Catholic historian Andrzej Micewski told Catholic News Service in 2001 that Cardinal Wyszynskis leadership had resulted in a victory that was not only political, but also had taught important lessons about securing church freedoms under hostile conditions.

Wyszynski criticized the communist state, but also compelled communist rulers to deal with him, in this way ensuring his church became Eastern Europes strongest, Micewski said.

Born in Zuzela, Poland, Aug. 3, 1901, Stefan Wyszynski was ordained at Wloclawek in 1924, later serving as a chaplain to Polands underground home army under wartime German occupation.

Pope Pius XII named him bishop of Lublin in 1946 and archbishop of Warsaw-Gniezno two years later. In 1950, despite Vatican misgivings, then-Archbishop Wyszynski signed the first church accord with a communist government, which promised the church institutional protection in return for encouraging respect for state authorities.

The deal was swiftly violated by the communist side, and Cardinal Wyszynski was arrested with hundreds of priests in September 1953. He was held until October 1956, when a new communist leader, Wladyslaw Gomulka, sought his help in calming industrial unrest.

When he was arrested, he didnt know what awaited him although it turned out to be three years detention, it could just as easily have been a show trial and death sentence, Father Mazurkiewicz told CNS.

When we read his detailed notes today, its striking how the communist rulers also treated Cardinal Wyszynski as an authority and felt morally inferior beside him, as they tried to present their own perspectives and interests, he said.

Having reached a new deal with Gomulka to allow freer church appointments, some religious teaching and 10 Catholic seats in Polands State Assembly, Cardinal Wyszynski headed the Archdiocese of Warsaw-Gniezno until his death May 28, 1981.

Among his proteges was the future St. John Paul II. When then-Father Karol Wojtyla was appointed auxiliary bishop of Krakow in 1958, the cardinal presented him to a group of priests, saying Habemus papam (We have a pope).

Father Mazurkiewicz told CNS Cardinal Wyszynskis beatification would be a form of penance against recent church scandals by recalling good and saintly aspects of Christian life. He also said the cardinals role in rebuilding ties Polish with Germany, through a reconciliatory letter to German bishops during the 1962-65 Second Vatican Council, had been important for post-war Europe.

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Theologian: Polish cardinal's beatification reminder of tests of communism - The Catholic Sun

The FBI wants to hear from Hasidim, or ultra-Orthodox Jews. The Hate Crimes Unit said as much when it issued announcements in both Yiddish and Hebrew asking Jews to report antisemitic incidents in an outreach campaign launched in April 2021.

The campaign follows highly visible antisemitic incidents in the U.S. in recent years, including the 2018 shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, which left 11 people dead.

Hasidic Jews make up the overwhelming majority of Yiddish speakers in the U.S. They number about 320,000 adults, according to Matt Williams, director of the Orthodox Union for Communal Research. Outreach to this community poses distinctive challenges because Hasidic communities can be insular, often seeking to address issues from education to sexual assault without involving outsiders.

As someone who has written about Jews and the FBI, I am not surprised that the FBI now wants to address antisemitism. But the FBI has a complicated history with Jews. It is a past that suggests the FBI has loved the idea of Judaism as a religion, but not necessarily American Jews themselves.

Officially founded in 1935, the FBI was designed to take on domestic crime and surveillance. By the late 1940s, driven by Cold War ideals, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover bolstered an image of the U.S. as religious and moral as opposed to its enemy an atheistic, immoral Soviet Union. Embracing Judaism as good, lawful and American was strategic.

During his prepared remarks at a 1947 House Un-American Activities Committee hearing, Hoover called communism an evil work and a cause that is alien to the religion of Christ and Judaism. He believed that the U.S. had a superior moral foundation a religious one and that communism was built on nothing but human iniquity.

Claiming for the U.S. a Judeo-Christian heritage, as became popular in the 1950s, supported the Cold War cause in another way too. It subtly referred to both God and democracy, and implied that both were on the side of Americans.

Instead of merely emphasizing Christianity, the phrase also allowed Hoover and others to tout what they perceived as the U.S.s religious tolerance and inclusiveness. Since many Christians imagined Judaism as a precursor to Christianity, Judaism could signal diversity and democracy without seeming foreign. In practice, this meant that references to Judaism were not about anything distinctively Jewish but rather about what people thought it shared with Christianity, like the Ten Commandments.

But there was a complication to the FBIs embrace of Judaism. By the 1950s, U.S. Jews had a long history with the political left, including support of the Socialist and Communist parties, which the FBI saw as threats.

Communists have been, still are, and always will be a menace to freedom, to democratic ideals, to the worship of God and to the American way of life, Hoover told the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947.

FBI officials and records associated Jews with communism. An American Jewish Committee document from this period reported that the FBI estimated that 50% to 60% of U.S. communists were Jews.

These accusations and investigations had sometimes devastating effects. The Jewish actor Philip Loeb died by suicide after he was blacklisted from Hollywood and investigated by the FBI and could no longer work to support his disabled son. He overdosed on barbiturates in a New York hotel room. Days later, the FBI cleared him of being a member of the Communist Party.

Internal FBI workings also demonstrated assumptions about Jews and communism as well as strategic sympathy to anti-Jewish prejudice. When an informant told agent Jack Levine that all Jews were communists, Levine was instructed to keep it out of his written report so that the bias could not discredit the informant. It did not appear to concern the FBI that the bias meant the informant might not be truthful.

The FBI today is hardly the same organization that it was during the Cold War, but its sympathies for Judaism do have historical resonance. In 1958, bombers dynamited The Temple, the synagogue of the oldest Jewish congregation in Atlanta. The blast killed no one but caused at least US$100,000 in damage. President Eisenhower told Hoover to send the FBI to investigate, and Hoover quickly complied, even though it may not have been under the FBIs jurisdiction. Hoover saw the bombing as an attack on religion, and so it was an attack on the country.

With this history in mind, Yiddish and Hebrew announcements soliciting information from Jewish religious communities should come as no surprise especially because some antisemitic attacks in the U.S. have taken place in religious spaces. For many, the mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh looks like an attack on America because it is an attack on Judaism, even on religion. Outreach to Hasidim the American Jews who look the most religious has become one way the FBI wants to stop those attacks.

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FBI reaches out to Hasidic Jews to fight antisemitism but bureau has fraught history with Judaism - The Conversation US