History of Czechoslovakia (1948–1989)
Nevertheless, elections were held on 30 May, and voters were presented with a single list from the National Front, the former governing coalition which was now a broad patriotic organisation under Communist control.Czechoslovakia became a satellite state of the Soviet Union; it was a founding member of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon) in 1949 and of the Warsaw Pact in 1955.After consolidating power, Klement Gottwald began a series of mass purges against both political opponents and fellow Communists, numbering in the tens of thousands.Many Communists with an "international" background, i.e., those with a wartime connection with the West, veterans of the Spanish Civil War, Jews, and Slovak "bourgeois nationalists", were arrested and executed in show trials (e.g., Heliodor Píka, Milada Horáková).The ambiguous precept of "democratic centralism" – power emanating from the people but bound by the authority of higher organs – was made a formal part of constitutional law.The judiciary was combined with the prosecuting branch; all judges were committed to the protection of the socialist state and the education of citizens in loyalty to the cause of socialism.The Fourth Writers' Congress adopted a resolution calling for rehabilitation of the Czechoslovak literary tradition and the establishment of free contact with Western culture.At the 30–31 October 1967 meeting of the KSČ Central Committee, Alexander Dubček, a Slovak reformer who had studied in the Soviet Union, challenged Novotný and was accused of nationalism.On 8 December, Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev arrived in Prague but did not support Novotný, giving a speech to the inner circle of the Communist Party in which he stated: "I did not come to take part in the solution of your problems... ...you will surely manage to solve them on your own."In April the KSČ Presidium adopted the Action Programme that had been drafted by a coalition headed by Dubček and made up of reformers, moderates, centrists, and conservatives.Radical elements found expression: anti-Soviet polemics appeared in the press; the Social Democrats began to form a separate party; new unaffiliated political clubs were created.The congress would incorporate the Action Program into the party statutes, draft a federalization law, and elect a new (presumably more liberal) Central Committee.On 27 June, Ludvík Vaculík, a lifelong communist and a candidate member of the Central Committee, published a manifesto entitled the "Two Thousand Words".The KSČ delegates reaffirmed their loyalty to the Warsaw Pact and promised to curb "antisocialist" tendencies, prevent the revival of the Czechoslovak Social Democratic Party, and control the press more effectively.The Soviet Union expressed its intention to intervene in a Warsaw Pact country if a "bourgeois" system—a pluralist system of several political parties—was ever established.Kolder and Indra viewed the Kašpar Report with alarm and, some observers think, communicated their conclusions to the Soviet ambassador, Stepan Chervonenko.As the KSČ Presidium convened on 20 August, the anti-reformists planned to make a bid for power, pointing to the imminent danger of counterrevolution.A KSČ party congress, convened secretly on 22 August, passed a resolution affirming its loyalty to Dubček's Action Program and denouncing the Soviet aggression.In compliance with Svoboda's caution against acts that might provoke violence, they avoided mass demonstrations and strikes but observed a symbolic one-hour general work stoppage on 23 August.Normalization entailed thoroughgoing political repression and the return to ideological conformity One of the few changes proposed by the Action Programme during the Prague Spring that was actually achieved was the federalization of the country.The Gustáv Husák regime amended the law in January 1971 so that, while federalism was retained in form, central authority was effectively restored.Husák's policy was to maintain a rigid status quo; for the next fifteen years, key personnel of the party and government remained the same.The award of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1984 to Jaroslav Seifert—a poet identified with reformism and not favored by the Husák regime—was a bright spot in an otherwise bleak cultural scene.The government encouraged consumerism and materialism and took a tolerant attitude toward a slack work ethic and a growing black market second economy: Another feature of Husák's rule was a continued dependence on the Soviet Union.[citation needed] There were constant exhortations about further cooperation and integration between the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia in industry, science, technology, consumer goods, and agriculture.Through the 1970s and 1980s, the government's emphasis on obedience, conformity, and the preservation of the status quo was challenged by individuals and organized groups aspiring to independent thinking and activity.Although only a few such activities could be deemed political by Western standards, the state viewed any independent action, no matter how innocuous, as a defiance of the party's control over all aspects of Czechoslovak life.At Velehrad (allegedly the site of Methodius's tomb) more than 150,000 pilgrims attended a commemorative mass, and another 100,000 came to a ceremony at Levoca (in eastern Slovakia).The selection of Mikhail Gorbachev as general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on 11 March 1985, presented the Husák regime with a new and unexpected challenge to the status quo.Soon after assuming office, Gorbachev began a policy of perestroika ("restructuring") the Soviet economy and advocated glasnost ("openness") in the discussion of economic, social, and, to some extent, political questions.
History of CzechoslovakiaOrigins of CzechoslovakiaWashington DeclarationFirst Czechoslovak RepublicMunich AgreementSecond Czechoslovak RepublicGerman occupationBohemia and MoraviaSlovak RepublicCzechoslovak government-in-exileThird Czechoslovak RepublicCoup d'étatCzechoslovak Socialist RepublicPrague SpringInvasionVelvet RevolutionPost-revolutionFederative RepublicDissolution of Czechoslovakiacoup d'état in February 1948CzechoslovakiaCommunist Party of CzechoslovakiaEastern BlocWarsaw PactComeconera of Communist Party ruleIron CurtainAct on Lawlessness of the Communist Regime and on Resistance Against Itcriminal organisationCzechoslovak border to West Germany and AustriaEdvard BenešKlement Gottwaldfellow travelerspeople's republicsocialismdictatorship of the proletariatNinth-of-May ConstitutionNational FrontMarxism-Leninismplanned economysatellite stateSoviet UnionCouncil for Mutual Economic Assistancerubber stampWest GermanyAustriasyphilisaortic aneurysmMoscowAntonín ZápotockýAntonín NovotnýJoseph Stalinrootless cosmopolitansconspiracy theoryDoctors' plotbourgeois nationalistsshow trialsHeliodor PíkaMilada HorákováSlánský trialRudolf Slánskýexecutedlife imprisonmentnationalisationpetite bourgeoisiemetallurgyheavy machinerycoal miningproduction quotaswhite-collar workerspenal labourCooperativeskulaks1960 Constitution of Czechoslovakiademocratic centralismSlovak National CouncilSpartakiadNikita Khrushchev20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Unionpolitical repressionPragueBratislavaneo-StalinismHungarian Revolution of October 1956StalinismEconomy of CzechoslovakiaconformityJozef LenartViliam ŠirokýOta ŠikAlexander DubčekLeonid BrezhnevLudvík SvobodaAction ProgrammeLudvík VaculíkTwo Thousand WordsUkrainianBelarusWalter UlbrichtWładysław GomułkaCierna nad TisouOldřich ČerníkFrantišek KriegelAlois IndraStepan ChervonenkoWarsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakianonviolent resistancecivil resistanceJan Palachset himselfWenceslas SquareNormalization (Czechoslovakia)Anti-Soviet demonstrationsWorld Ice Hockey ChampionshipsPresidiumGustáv HusákcentristcentristshardlinersVasil BilaknormalizationfederalizationConstitutionalFederal AssemblyCzech National CouncilParty Congress