[A reminder of the legacy of Sigmund Freud]

In September 1989 fifty years elapsed since the death of Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis. The authors recall selected topical ideas from the work of Freud. At the same time they draw attention to the importance of his studies for the left-wing student movement in Czechoslovakia between the two world wars. Initial attempts of a close association of psychology with the nervous substrate did not succeed but led later to the original explanation of converse mechanisms. In his own way Freud anticipated contemporary bio-psycho-social concepts. Gradually subconsciousness was conceived as Freud's most important discovery. Energy for mental life was sought in the sphere of instincts, in particular the sexual instinct, Freud extrapolated his reflections into the social sphere and elaborated his understanding of group psychology, using mechanisms of the individual psychic make-up. From this he derived regulatory mechanisms of civilization. Freud believed in reason represented to him by science. He considered religion illusionary happiness and warned also against the so-called chemical path. He denounced war unequivocally and had his own ideas how to reduce its probability.