Two extremely interesting publications of the so-called economic history were published in a short time. The first of them, the title History is written by the winners from the pen of leading Czech macroeconomists and economists Šulc and Ungerman, was published in March by Jaskmanický Publishing House, the second, large-format publication by Zdeněk Kalkus MADE IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA or I worked in Škodaexport was presented to curious readers at this time by the Olympia in Prague. Although these books were published independently of each other, they complement each other perfectly and are a great testament to the former glory of our economy and industry, which, until the "Velvet Revolution" in 1989 and the subsequent, mostly unpublicized privatization, dominated many of the territories that the rest of the world is pushing into today.
Kalkus's encyclopedic book is also a reminder that although today the ordinary citizen of the younger generations has a distorted view of the economy in Czechoslovakia under the previous regime, thanks to the long-term political pressure from the right after the change of regimes in the 1980s, our industry at that time experienced an extraordinary boom and ranked the Czechoslovakia among the leading exporters of technology and investment units around the world. But it is also a sad memento of the fact that, as part of the privatisation process, many state-owned companies and enterprises were forcibly dismantled, sold off, stolen and closed down. And our hitherto prosperous coordinated foreign trade, which was eventually taken over by the Japanese, Americans, Chinese and other big players of the global world, suffered so much in the transformation of our economy and industry that we have moved from the top ranks to many rungs down in the global ladder, and that while in the past we were able to equip 90% of any operation with products from our own enterprises, today the reverse is the case...
Honour to whom honour is due
Zdeněk Kalkus, a proven author of numerous publications who worked for several decades at ŠKODAEXPORT, is a most erudite witness to the fact that Czech products - from simple screws to complex power and heating plant systems of all kinds, production lines, rolling mills, railway sidings, and so on - have had an extraordinary resonance and sound in the world. Czechoslovak enterprises and with them their experts of many professions gained a reputation based on reliability, and Czechoslovak products were renowned in the world not only for their long service life, but also for their ease of operation and maintenance. As the author describes in the book presented in these lines, this was one of the greatest assets of Czechoslovak production facilities, especially in the countries of South America, Africa and Asia, where the technical level of local employees was at a lower level.
Three hundred pages of text, rich photo documentation
The richness and breadth of the author's scope is evidenced by the content of the thirty-chapter publication. We select from the first half of the publication: the beginnings of industry in the Czech lands, the Preamble, the History of Škodaexport, the importance and financing of investment units, Foreign Trade, the Rise and Fall of a Global Player, Foreign Travel, Selected Foreign Trade Enterprises and Equity Participations Abroad.
In the second part, the reader is introduced in detail to Škodaexport's activities around the world - Asia, Australia and Africa, including Europe. It concludes with the chapters "A few extra facts", "Pearls" and "Summary". There is also a Bibliography.
Kalkusova History of Czechoslovak export of investment units, as its subtitle reads, is an important contribution to the mapping of our recent economic history, now so rewritten and denounced. It should not be missing from the library of any student of economics, and it revives the nation's cry for a government of experts, which the Czech Republic has long lacked.
Curriculum vitae
Ing. Zdeněk Kalkus (born 30.5.1951) graduated from the University of Economics, majoring in foreign trade. He worked for thirty years at Škodaexport (construction and export of energy investment units), and therefore spent many years abroad, especially in Latin America. These included Argentina, Peru, Cuba, Spain and Iran. He was involved in various ways in the contracting and construction of power plants in Cuba, Peru, Argentina, Vietnam, Cambodia and even India. He has also been involved in the procurement and supply of boilers for Norilsk in Russia and a ball oil storage tank in Costa Rica.
Kalkus is a connoisseur of Latin American realities and history. He has written, for example The Secret History of the Discovery of America, his books were published by Olympia Publishing House Cuba - the hidden pearl of the Caribbean a Three halves of Peru.
gnews.cz - Ivan Černý
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