Dal diario di una piccola comunista. Ricostruzione della vicenda umana nella Cecoslovacchia di Husak

This article aims to present Dal diario di una piccola comunista (From the diary of a young communist girl), the first novel by the Slovak writer Michaela Sebokova. Through the main character's voice, the eleven-yearold Alzbeta, Sebokova portrays Czechoslovakian society in the years of "normalization" and also offers a deeper understanding of children's ideological manipulation under the regime of Gustav Husak through to the Young Pioneers Organization. Growing up as a member of this organization, Alzbeta, initially driven by strong Communist ideals, ends up realizing the undeniable contradiction between Communist rhetoric and its actual behaviour. She will reach awareness that lies and pretence are the only values underpinning the communist system of those years. Keywords: autofiction, everyday life, Gustav Husak, normalization, pioneers