At the 40th anniversary of the 1968 events, the aftermath of the reforms launched by the Prague Spring and consequences of the Soviet intervention were discussed rightly in detail. The study presents a less frequently examined field: the reaction of West-European – mainly French and Italian – communist parties, the road of their gradual disaffection with the Soviet Union. The program and politics of the Czechoslovak Communist Party lead by Dubcek announcing "socialism with a human face" feed the hope of Western comrades that the "Eastern Block" can be changed.

Visiting museums is trendy again. The number of visitors is growing even though it seems surprising in the age of being 'uncultured'. Museums on the one hand are part of the cultural industry but on the other hand – by images, theatricality and entertainment in focus – they are getting closer to their audience who are now not passive visitors any more as they used to be.

The article describes the historical and theoretical grounds of the concept, mostly based on Russian experience and literature. Actual forms of corruption are grabbed in the frame of the systemic change and its consequences, regarding corruption the immanent character of the capitalist world economy, which cannot be eliminated. During the era of the systemic change, the Russian state was itself the main vehicle of corruption, aiming the private acquisition of state property. The author also depicts the apathy of the present Russian society towards corruption

While modernity theory promised a break-out from poverty, dependency theories described the history of polarisations. The semi-periphery concept of the world systems analysis has been established as partial denial of both, characterising areas of labour division in between the capital and labour intense regions. According to the author, the world systems analysis is underestimating the importance of class struggle in production. Socialists are unable to step up with a feasible alternative to capitalism, because they have accepted that politics and the state exist separately from the material existence of the society. Critical analysis should focus on class struggle, and have to leave the illusion that relationships between the centre and periphery are determining the fundamental dynamism of global capitalism.