”The moral and psychological atmosphere” in the student environment during the germination phase of the national renaissance Movement in the MSSR

Abstract

The context created by the premises and evolution of the national revival Movement and the delayed restructuring of the Soviet higher education stimulated the civic activism and the involvement of the „easily inflammable collective” of students in the events taking place in the MSSR in the second half of the 80s. Students from higher education institutions of the MSSR initiated actions consistent with the general objectives of perestroika, glasnost and national reawakening even before 1988, only that their actions were small, often singular, and the most resonant were identified and promptly penalized by the “competent bodies”, who monitored the mood of the academic collectives with particular attention. Although they had a complex network of methods and instruments for monitoring the „moral atmosphere and psychology” of the students, towards the end of 1988, the party authorities lost control and the battle for the minds and spirits of the students, they demonstrating civic and political maturity in the events of November 1988.