Prague Spring

I

Introduction

Prague Spring, movement to reform the Communist system in Czechoslovakia that took place between January and August 1968. Initiated by Communist Party leaders with the support of intellectuals, artists, and other cultural figures, it represented an attempt to create a political and economic system that would be better suited to Czechoslovakia—an economically developed, Western-influenced country—than the one in place at the time. The reformers who launched the movement came to refer to it as “socialism with a human face”. It represented the most far-reaching effort to reform a Communist system from within prior to that of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in the mid-1980s.

II

Background

The Prague Spring grew out of the work of intellectuals affiliated with the Communist Party in Czechoslovakia during the mid- to late 1960s. Among these intellectuals were economists whom the Communist Party had commissioned to resolve the severe economic crisis that Czechoslovakia was then experiencing. After experimenting with partial reforms, these experts, led by economist Ota Šik, realized that meaningful economic reform would not be possible without political reform. Other intellectuals began rethinking the basis of Czechoslovakia’s social and political systems. They argued that because the country’s inhabitants continued to have different interests, even under the collectivist Communist system, different groups should be given a role in the political process in order to represent those interests. Writers and other cultural figures also contributed to the growing push for change. At the 1967 Writers’ Congress in Prague, writers called for less state interference in culture. Artists, including film-makers who were part of the Czech New Wave, began producing works expressing social and political themes that gained worldwide attention. Meanwhile, Slovaks disappointed with their political and economic status relative to the country’s Czech majority called for the creation of a federal, rather than unitary, system of government.

In the late 1960s these calls for change found support among members of the Communist Party leadership. When Alexander Dubček, a pro-reform Communist leader from Slovakia, replaced the Stalinist hardliner Antonín Novotný as First Secretary of Czechoslovakia’s Communist Party in January 1968, the reform movement moved into the open. In March the party leadership eased its censorship of the mass media, and Czechoslovakia developed what was in essence a free press. The involvement of ordinary citizens in the reform movement increased as many began reading newspapers and discussing public affairs.

III

A Programme for Reform

In April the party leadership adopted an Action Programme that clearly articulated its plans for reform. One of the most radical proposals of the Dubček leadership involved a change in its strategy of rule. Rather than relying on economic incentives (such as wage increases and improvements in the standard of living) or coercion, as did most Communist leaders of the time, Dubček and his colleagues tried to create legitimacy for the Communist system by increasing opportunities for citizens and non-party groups to participate in politics. By the summer of 1968 a number of new political groupings had formed in Czechoslovakia. The Action Programme also called for various economic reforms, including some degree of free enterprise; greater respect for political and civil liberties; more autonomy for Slovaks through a federal form of government; and the political rehabilitation of individuals persecuted under the hardline Communist regime of Klement Gottwald.

The Action Programme did not call for Czechoslovakia to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact; nor did party leaders envision the establishment of a true opposition or a multi-party system. As a result, the programme failed to satisfy some radical intellectuals outside the party leadership, who began calling for more drastic reforms. The Dubček leadership was faced with a dilemma. On the one hand, it needed to respond to the demands of these citizens in order to maintain the support of the population. On the other hand, it faced increasing disapproval from Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and his Communist Central and Eastern European allies, who were afraid that the reforms would spill over into their countries. The Soviets and their allies made known their displeasure with the events taking place in Czechoslovakia in a series of meetings held during the summer of 1968. In these meetings, the Dubček leadership pledged to maintain the leading role of the Communist Party in Czechoslovakia and to continue the country’s alliance with the Soviet Union and the other Warsaw Pact states. However, the Czechoslovak leaders were either unable or unwilling to appease their critics by restoring tight political control in Czechoslovakia.

IV

Invasion and Resistance

On the night of August 20, 1968, Warsaw Pact troops under Soviet leadership invaded Czechoslovakia. Dubček and other government leaders were taken to Moscow, where they were forced to sign a treaty allowing for Soviet troops to be stationed in Czechoslovakia indefinitely. Resistance to the invasion and occupation among Czech and Slovak citizens was largely non-violent. Citizens changed street signs to confuse the troops, and workers at the Czechoslovak state radio station began broadcasting secretly after the station was shut down. On August 27, supporters of the reform movement held the Extraordinary 14th Party Congress in secret at a factory in Prague. Among other actions, the congress rejected the intervention as an illegal act, called on Communist parties throughout the world to support the Czechoslovak reform movement, and elected a new government consisting only of pro-reform Communists and headed again by Dubček.

Dubček returned to Czechoslovakia at the end of the month and vowed to continue the reforms. His pledges were echoed by supporters outside the party leadership, and sporadic protests continued against the Soviet occupation. Although the country remained officially one of the USSR’s most loyal allies, the invasion and the stationing of Soviet troops in Czechoslovakia turned many citizens against the Soviet Union. In January 1969 a Czech student named Jan Palach burned himself to death to protest against the invasion. In February, riots broke out after a Soviet-Czechoslovak ice hockey game, providing further evidence of anti-Soviet feeling.

In April 1969, Dubček was replaced as leader of the Communist Party by Gustav Husák, another Slovak. Many of Dubček’s supporters in the government and in cultural and educational institutions also lost their positions. The personnel purge took place throughout 1969 and involved about 400,000 people. It was more severe in the Czech lands, where most people who supported the reforms were interested in democratization, than in Slovakia, where supporters were mostly concerned with Slovak national issues. Husák also initiated so-called normalization, an effort to reverse all of the policies begun by the Dubček government. The federalization of the country, adopted in October 1968 and put into effect in January 1969, was one of the few reforms that survived.

Czechoslovakia stagnated culturally and politically after the Soviet-led invasion. Under Husák’s leadership, the country became once again a tightly controlled Communist state. The legacy of the Prague Spring prevented serious discussion of reform, as political leaders feared that any step towards change would lead to a repetition of the events of 1968. Czech and Slovak citizens staged early protests but then largely withdrew from politics, demonstrating little opposition to the new regime.

In the 1970s an opposition movement began to develop. In 1977 Czech and Slovak intellectuals founded the human rights movement known as Charter 77, which became one of Central and Eastern Europe’s most important opposition groups. In the 1980s, reforms implemented by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, combined with the weakening of Communism in some other Central and Eastern European countries, led to increased calls for change in Czechoslovakia. In late 1989 Czechs and Slovaks mounted mass demonstrations against the Communist government. Less than one month later the government resigned, and non-Communists, led by Dubček and Václav Havel took control of Czechoslovakia in what became known as the Velvet Revolution.