Miroslav Hroch. Is Nation a Product of Social Communication

General factors making national movements successful are analyzed in the article. The attention is mainly paid to the problem of social communication which hasn’t been studied well enough yet. In the result of comparative study of the periods of national agitation in early nineteenth century Czech and early twentieth century Belarus the author comes to a conclusion that intensity of social communication in similar situations in Czech was considerably higher than in Belarus (i.e. personal relationship; church services; relations with administration; military service; literacy; frequency of visiting of local markets; self-supporting business activities; development of publishing activities; availability of higher education; participation in public life).

In closing, the place of social communication among the other factors and premises of national movements’ success has been evaluated.