Con tricks, Hustle and the Tuzex Girls. Selected Urban Subcultures in Socialist Czechoslovakia. Con tricks, Hustle and the Tuzex Girls. Selected Urban Subcultures in Socialist Czechoslovakia
2015
Abstract
The paper deals with some of the unique urban subcultures the late socialist Czechoslovakia. Prague and another big cities in Czech lands served as worklpaces for various confidence trick artists, hard currency hustlers or the so called "tuzex girls".
Their victims (or business partners) were the locals but also people coming from the rural areas. The goal of this paper is not only to explain the lifestyle and daily practice of such groups , but it also puts these subcultures into a wider historical context and examines their relationship with the state authorities and the ordinary citizens.