The Canadian political scientist who chronicled the Prague Spring
He named the Prague Spring an “interrupted revolution,” leaving the possibility of reform as a historical question.
Gordon Skilling was a Canadian political scientist and a leading scholar of Czechoslovak modern history and politics. In Czechoslovakia's Interrupted Revolution, he interpreted the Prague Spring as a reforming revolution cut short by outside intervention rather than a doomed experiment, offering a durable framework for debate about the potential of reform communism. At the University of Toronto he helped build an institutional base for East European studies while combining scholarship with solidarity for Czechoslovak democratic forces.
Career Timeline
- 1937First visited Czechoslovakia for doctoral research from the University of London
- 1938–1939Worked in Prague broadcasting and on news for NBC and CBS
- 1959Joined the University of Toronto as a political science professor
- 1960–1974Founded and directed the Centre for Russian and East European Studies
- 1976Published Czechoslovakia's Interrupted Revolution
- 1981Received the Royal Society of Canada's Innis-Gérin Medal
- 1992Received Czechoslovakia's Order of the White Lion from Václav Havel