Konflikty českého trampingu

This paper the summarizes history of Czech subcultural movement named “tramping”, especially its conflicts with mainstream culture during 20th century. Tramping, as an unorganized informal youth escapist movement that combines outdoor recreation with hiking, social activities and ostensive mimicking of idealised American Wild West, was often claimed to be undecent and disturbing by the 1918–1938’s Czechoslovak republic authorities. Another reason for increasing tension between “tramps” and authorities was related to the fact that tramping was originally mostly a blue-collar movement and was influenced by political left. Attempts to control it were, however, mostly unsuccessful. This pressure has increased after 1948, as the communist regime perceived “tramps” as corrupted youth and used violence and other forms of persecution to break their gatherings. The movement, now mostly apolitical, has dwindled in numbers in 1950s, but was again massively revived in 1960’s, while keeping its role of an accessible, non-radical but slightly alternative free time activity. The years of “normalization” between 1968 and 1989 were marked by an increase in persecution, but the regime also attempted to manage the movement using various state-organized cultural events and press. Numbers of tramps have decreased after 1989, most of today’s conlifcts are related to interference between specific way of hiking popular among “tramps” and interests of state organizations in the field of nature protection.