Transformation according to Podzemák: Politics of Nitra’s punks

This article aims to provide an account of the development of the political positions among the Slovak punks in the early 1990s. More specifically, it applies the intellectual history methodology to a local zine called Podzemák that was published in the city of Nitra between 1992 and 1994. It posits that during the studied period, Podzemák transformed its stances from those that could be understood as anti-political and influenced by the close association of the punk scene with the local non-conformist groups that existed during the state socialist regime into much more articulated anarchist, antifascist and environmentally minded positions. This transformation also happened concurrently with the establishment and development of the wider punk networks in the region. When it comes to the structure of the article, it starts with some methodological considerations, then continues with the earliest development of the punk and youth music scene in Nitra during the late state-socialist period, before engaging in the analysis of the zine itself. This analysis is then divided into two parts; the first part covers text published in the earlier issues of Podzemák and focuses on its anti-political elements, while the second part covers the later, more anarchist-leaning period.