885096442

JPRS-EER-91-053 25 April 1991

POLITICAL

It got to be 1968 and the academy began bcing criticized from various sides. The social scientists were com-plaining of oppression, the technocrat Sorm was accused of being conservative, the advanced schools criticized the academy for its priority position, although they thcmselves were at a generally lower level as a result of political incursions, Radio Prague saw the academy as an interesting object of criticism.... But then came August and both the presidium and also the institutes unequiv-ocally opposed the invasion. Sorm’s speech before the international scientific public strengthencd the position of occupied Czechoslovakia.

However, the punishment was not long in coming. The presidium of the academy was restructured, Kozesnik was placed at its head (he had not participated in the August session of the presidium, but was “reereating” at the academy’s chalet at Bechyne). The time-limited contracts with scientific employees were now legalized; anyone who had done anything wrong during the “crisis years” was given a contract shorter than five years (I personally never had a contract which ran that long). This was true of the natural Sciences where forced departures were relatively rare (a number of outstanding scientists, however, did go abroad), whercas in the social science institutes there were mass dismissals. A number of standardized rectors and deans were appointed to the presidium of the academy—all were Central Committee Secretary J. Havlin’s people—who nimbly saw to it that they got the plum jobs as directors of institutes. The foremost scientific workers were deprived of the leading functions in institutes, resources for research were cur-tailed, new members of the academy were only appointed or elected (both were possible) on scientific merits in a minority of cases and, mainly: the scientific climate in the institutes deteriorated. Typical proof of this was the interview given to the editor of RUDE PRAVO by chairman Kozesnik in 1978, “We Shall No Longer Cultivate Science” (that is to say, science will not be treated with consideration, but must turn its face to practical applications in a disciplined manner). This tendency continued even morę expressly under the next chairman of the academy, B. Kvasil, who defended the principle that a scientific employee should not be eval-uated in accordance with the international echo of his work, but in accordance with how he assists practice. The product of this pretentious orientation was, for example, the origin of the engineering institute of the academy (the Institute for the Technology and Reli-ability of Engineering Design at Plzen, about which evil tongues claimed that its principal task was to promote secondary ties with managers of the Skoda Plant). Nev-ertheless, a large number of scientists with international reputations managed to stay employed by the academy. Even the reeruitment of the rising young scientific gen-eration was subject to fewer political incursions than those afflicting the advanced schools so that anyone wishing to work in the natural Sciences was generally able to do so. The voices which fundamentally cast doubt on the authority of the actual scientific elite (which are mostly different from the set of members of the academy) are definitely not justified....

It became November 1989, but the academy joined the revolution late as a result of the indecision of its chairman, J. Riman (an important biochemist, but an excessively careful individual), and as a result of the composition of its presidium. In the institutes, however, things were bubbling and so, in December, the so-called elected representatives of work sites were elected according to a formula of one reprcsentative for every 50 employees. And so, both representatives of outstanding as well as average institutes managed to get into the “chamber,” just like representatives of nonscientific units. The scientific employees in the chamber include important scientists, as well as scicntifically average individuals. While this organ was adequate for the implementation of revolutionary measures, that is to say, the remova! of represcntatives of totalitarianism from the leadership of work sites and the entire academy, in view of its composition, it is unsuitable to master the principal task—that of improving the structurc by selecting those institutes suitable for basie research and their personnel, which would also be a sensiblc reaction to the current and frequently justified budgetary pres-sures.

At the beginning of the 1990's, there was the complete reconstruction of the academy’s presidium. The outstanding scientist, Professor O. Wichterlc, a personality known from the year 1968, was elected to be the new chairman. Members of the presidium were both some existing members of the academy as well as representa-tives of the “chamber,” important and unimportant scientific employees. And it was precisely the latter who obtained key functions, among others the function of deputy chairman of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, who chairs the committee for managing work sites, and the function of scientific secretary. According to an old principle, former revolutionaries rapidly became new privy counselors and it is precisely they who are moving the academy (frequently evcn without the knowledge of the academy chairman), they issue direc-tives to institute directors—simply like things were under Kozesnik.

The current leadership sees the salvation of the academy in the so-called system of grants (financial support pro-vided for research projects following a competition). For purposes of these support payments, approximately 15 percent of the nonpersonnel budgetary resources of the academy are allocated—in other words, a relatively smali portion. Victory in a competition is supposed to be a certain mark of quality of the research team. The grant system was thought up by theoretical physicist B. Velicky. Theoretical physicists seek original Solutions for their problems, but in solving the problcms of the academy, originality is not exactly appropriate, but rather proven and tested expcriencc (much the same as in economics). In West Europę, the grant system is utilized to provide additional support for research at advanced schools because their actual research resources