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Prague Spring

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This article is about the Czechoslovak period of history. For the music festival, see Prague Spring International Music Festival.

The Prague Spring (Czech: Pražské jaro, Slovak: Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia. It began on January 5 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček came to power, and continued until August 21 of the same year, when the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies invaded the country to halt the reforms. A partial withdrawal took place on October 16 1968,[1] but some Warsaw Pact troops would remain in the country and along its borders until mid-1987.[2]

The Prague Spring reforms were an attempt by Dubček to grant additional rights to the citizens in an act of partial democratization.[3] This was not taken well by the Soviets who (after failed negotiations) intervened by sending thousands of Warsaw Pact troops to occupy the country.[1] Afterwards Czechoslovakia entered an era of normalization: later leaders attempted to restore the political and economic values that had prevailed before Dubček gained control of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ).[4]

The term "Prague Spring" was coined by the Western media after the event became known worldwide, and it was eventually adopted in Czechoslovakia itself. It makes reference to the Spring of Nations, a lyrical title given to the Revolutions of 1848.[5]

Contents

Background

Image:Dubcek.jpg
Alexander Dubček

Alexander Dubček became a member of the federal assembly in 1951 and served on the Slovak National Council from 1964. He was first secretary of the regional Communist Party of Slovakia and in 1968 held the same position for the national Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.

In the early 1960s, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (ČSSR) underwent an economic downturn.[6] In 1967 president Antonín Novotný was losing support and, at a central committee meeting, was challenged by Dubček and Ota Šik.[7] Dubček invited Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev to Prague in December 1967.[8] Brezhnev was surprised at the extent of the opposition to Novotný and supported his removal as Czechoslovakia's leader. Dubček was thus appointed first secretary on January 5 1968.[9] On March 22 1968, Novotný also resigned as president, to be replaced by Ludvik Svoboda, who later gave consent to the reforms.[10]

Liberalization and reform

In April, Dubček launched an "Action Program" of liberalizations, which included increasing freedom of the press, freedom of speech and freedom of movement, with economic emphasis on consumer goods, and the possibility of a multi-party government. The program planned to limit the power of the secret police,[11] and also planned the federalization of the ČSSR into two equal nations.[12] The Program's plans for Czech foreign policies were to maintain good relations with western countries and cooperate with the Soviet Union and other communist nations.[13]

Although the Action Program stipulated that reform must proceed under KSČ direction, popular pressure mounted to implement reforms immediately.[14] Radical elements became more vocal: anti-Soviet polemics appeared in the press, the Social Democrats began to form a separate party, and new unaffiliated political clubs were created. Party conservatives urged repressive measures, but Dubček counseled moderation and reemphasized KSČ leadership.[15] At the Presidium of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in April, Dubček announced a political program of "socialism with a human face".[16] In May, he announced that the Fourteenth Party Congress would convene in an early session on September 9. The congress would incorporate the Action Program into the party statutes, draft a federalization law, and elect a new Central Committee.[17]

Dubček's reforms guaranteed freedom of press and political commentary was allowed for the first time in mainstream media.[18] At the time of the Prague Spring, Czechoslovak exports were declining in competitiveness and Dubček's reforms planned to solve these troubles by mixing planned and market economies. Within the party, there were varying opinions on how this should proceed, certain economists wished for a more mixed economy while others wanted the economy to remain mostly socialist. Dubček continued to stress the importance of economic reform proceeding under Communist rule.[19]

On June 27, Ludvík Vaculík, a leading author and journalist, published a manifesto titled The Two Thousand Words. It expressed concern about conservative elements within the KSČ and so-called "foreign" forces. Vaculík called on the "people" to take the initiative in implementing the reform program.[20] Dubček, the party Presidium, the National Front, and the cabinet denounced the manifesto.[21]

Soviet intervention

Main article: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia
Image:Brezhnev 1973.jpg
Leonid Brezhnev

Leonid Brezhnev and the leadership of the Warsaw Pact countries were concerned about Dubček's reforms, which they feared weakened the position of the Communist Bloc during the Cold War.[22] The Soviet leadership at first tried to stop or limit the changes in the ČSSR through a series of negotiations. The Soviet Union agreed to bilateral talks with Czechoslovakia in July at Čierna nad Tisou, near the Slovak-Soviet border. At the meeting, Dubček defended the program of the reformist wing of the KSČ while pledging commitment to the Warsaw Pact and Comecon.[23] The KSČ leadership, however, was divided between vigorous reformers (Josef Smrkovský, Oldřich Černík, and František Kriegel) who supported Dubček, and conservatives (Vasil Biľak, Drahomír Kolder, and Oldřich Švestka) who adopted an anti-reformist stance. Brezhnev decided on compromise. The KSČ delegates reaffirmed their loyalty to the Warsaw Pact and promised to curb "anti-socialist" tendencies, prevent the revival of the Czechoslovak Social Democratic Party, and control the press more effectively. The Soviets agreed to withdraw their troops (still in Czechoslovakia after maneuvers back in June) and permit the September 9 party congress.[24]

Image:Radnice Liberec pamatnik 1968.jpg
Memorial to the victims of the invasion, located in Liberec

On August 3, representatives from the Soviet Union, East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Czechoslovakia met in Bratislava and signed the Bratislava Declaration. The declaration affirmed unshakable fidelity to Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism and declared an implacable struggle against "bourgeois" ideology and all "anti-socialist" forces.[25] The Soviet Union expressed its intention to intervene in a Warsaw Pact country if a "bourgeois" system—a pluralist system of several political parties representing different factions of the capitalist class—was ever established. After the Bratislava conference, Soviet troops left Czechoslovak territory but remained along its borders.[26]

As these talks proved unsatisfactory, the Soviets began to consider a military alternative. The Soviet Union's policy of compelling the socialist governments of its satellite states to subordinate their national interests to those of the "Eastern Bloc" (through military force if needed) became known as the Brezhnev Doctrine.[27] On the night of August 20–21, 1968, Eastern Bloc armies from five Warsaw Pact countries—the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, and East Germany—invaded the ČSSR.[28] That night, 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 2,000 tanks entered the country.[29]

Image:August 68.jpg
The memorial plate in Košice, Slovakia

Neither Romania nor Albania took part in the invasion, and the latter withdrew from the pact over the matter.[30] During the attack of the Warsaw Pact armies, 72 Czechs and Slovaks were killed (19 of those in Slovakia)[2] and hundreds were wounded. Alexander Dubček called upon his people not to resist. He was arrested and taken to Moscow along with several of his colleagues.

Although on the night of the invasion, the Czechoslovak Presidium declared that Warsaw Pact troops had crossed the border without knowledge of the ČSSR government, the Soviet Press printed an unsigned request, allegedly by Czechoslovak party and state leaders, for "immediate assistance, including assistance with armed forces."[31] At the 14th KSČ Party Congress (conducted secretly, immediately following the intervention), it was emphasized that no member of the leadership had invited the intervention.[32] More recent evidence suggests that certain conversative KSČ members (including Biľak, Švestka, Kolder, Indra, and Kapek) did send a request for intervention to the Soviets.[33] It claimed that “right-wing” media were “fomenting a wave of nationalism and chauvinism, and are provoking an anti-communist and anti-Soviet psychosis.” It formally asked the Soviets to “lend support and assistance with all means at your disposal” to save the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic “from the imminent danger of counterrevolution.”[34]

The invasion was followed by a wave of emigration, unseen before and stopped shortly after. An estimated 70,000 fled immediately, and the total eventually reached 300,000.[35] Most emigrants were highly qualified. Western countries allowed these people to stay and work without complications.[36]


Reactions

In Czechoslovakia, popular opposition was expressed in numerous spontaneous acts of nonviolent resistance. On January 19, 1969, student Jan Palach set himself on fire in Prague's Wenceslas Square to protest the renewed suppression of free speech.[37] The generalized resistance caused the Soviet Union to abandon its original plan to oust the First Secretary. Dubček, who had been arrested on the night of August 20, was taken to Moscow for negotiations. It was agreed that Dubček would remain in office and that a program of moderate reform would continue.

Image:Za vashu i nashu svobodu.jpg
One of the protester's banners

On August 25, citizens of the Soviet Union who did not approve of the invasion protested on the Red Square, 8 protesters opened banners with anti-invasion slogans. The demonstrators were arrested and later punished; as the protest was dubbed "anti-soviet".[38][39]

A more pronounced effect took place in Communist Romania, where leader Nicolae Ceauşescu, already a staunch opponent of Soviet influences and declared himself on Dubček's side, held a public speech in Bucharest on the day of the invasion, depicting Soviet policies in harsh terms.[30] In Finland, a country under huge Soviet political influence at that time, the occupation caused a major scandal. Like the Italian and French[40] Communist Parties, the Communist Party of Finland denounced the occupation. Nonetheless, Finnish president Urho Kekkonen was the very first Western politician to officially visit Czechoslovakia after August 1968; he received the highest Czechoslovakian honors from the hands of president Ludvík Svoboda, on October 4, 1969. The Portuguese communist secretary-general Álvaro Cunhal is believed to have been the only political leader from western Europe to have supported the invasion for being counterrevolutionary, along with the Luxembourgian Communist Party.

The western countries offered only vocal criticism following the invasion. The United States government sent Shirley Temple Black, the famous child movie star, who became a diplomat in later life, to Prague in August 1968 to prepare to become the first United States Ambassador to free Czechoslovakia. Two decades later, when Czechoslovakia became independent, Mrs. Black was the first United States ambassador to the country. [41]

Aftermath

Main article: Normalization (Czechoslovakia)
Image:Czechoslovakia COA small 2.svg
This article is part of the series
History of Czechoslovakia
Origins
(to 1918)
First Republic
(1918–1938)
Second Republic and World War II
(1938–1945)
Third Republic
(1945–1948)
Communist Era
(1948–1989)
Velvet Revolution and Democracy
(1989–1992)
Dissolution of Czechoslovakia
January 1, 1993

In April 1969, Dubček was replaced as first secretary by Gustáv Husák, and a period of "normalization" began.[2] Dubček was expelled from the KSČ and given a job as a forestry official.[3]

Husák reversed Dubček's reforms, purged the party of its liberal members, and dismissed from public office professional and intellectual elites who openly expressed disagreement with the political transformation. Husák worked to reinstate the power of the police authorities and strengthen ties with other socialist nations. He also sought to re-centralize the economy, as a considerable amount of freedom had been granted to industries during the Prague Spring.[4] Commentary on politics was disallowed again in mainstream media and political statements by anyone who was not considered to have "full political trust" were also banned.[18] The only significant change which survived was the federalization of the country, which created the Czech Socialist Republic and the Slovak Socialist Republic in 1969.

In 1987 the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev acknowledged that his liberalizing policies of glasnost and perestroika owed a great deal to Dubček's socialism with a human face. When asked what the difference was between the Prague Spring and his own reforms, Gorbachev replied, "Nineteen years."[42] With the fall of socialism in 1989, Dubček became chairman of the federal assembly under the Havel administration.[43]

Cultural Impact

The Prague Spring deepened the disillusion of many Western leftists with Marxist-Leninist views. It contributed to the growth of Eurocommunist ideas in Western communist parties, which sought greater distance from the Soviet Union, and eventually led to the dissolution of many of these groups.[44] A decade later, the Prague Spring lent its name to an analogous period of Chinese political liberalization known as the Beijing Spring.[45] It also partly influenced the Croatian Spring in Yugoslavia.[46]

The aftermath has been referenced in popular music, including the music of Karel Kryl, Luboš Fišer's Requiem,[47] and Karel Husa's Music for Prague 1968.[48] The Takarazuka musical The Prague Spring is an example of international influence.[49] They Can't Stop The Spring, a song by Irish maverick journalist and songwriter John Waters, represented Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2007. Waters has described it as "a kind of Celtic celebration of the Eastern European revolutions and their eventual outcome", quoting Dubček's alleged comment: "They may crush the flowers, but they can't stop the Spring."[50]

The Prague Spring has also appeared in literature. Milan Kundera set his novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being during the Prague Spring. It follows the repercussions of increased Soviet presence and the dictatorial police control of the population.[51] A film version was released in 1988.[52] The Liberators, by Viktor Suvorov, is an eyewitness description of the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia, from the point of view of a Soviet tank commander.[53] Rock N Roll, a play by award-winning playwright Tom Stoppard, references the Prague Spring, as well as the 1989 Velvet Revolution.[54] [55]

The number 68 has become iconic in the former Czechoslovakia. Jaromír Jágr, who now plays for the New York Rangers, wears the number because of the importance of the year in Czechoslovak history.[56][57] 68 Publishers, a former publishing house based in Toronto that published books by exiled Czech and Slovak authors, also took its name from the event.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia. Military. GlobalSecurity.org (27-04-2005). Retrieved on 2007-01-19.
  2. ^ a b c Springtime for Prague. Prague Life. Lifeboat Limited. Retrieved on 2006-04-30.
  3. ^ a b Alexander Dubcek. Spartacus Educational. Retrieved on 2008-01-25.
  4. ^ a b Goertz, Gary (1995-01-27). Contexts of International Politics. Cambridge University Press, 154-157. ISBN 0521469724. 
  5. ^ Gessner, Peter (June 8, 1998). Info on 1848 Revolutions. General Józef Bem: Polish and Hungarian Leader. Retrieved on 2008-01-20.
  6. ^ Photius.com, (info from CIA world Factbook). Retrieved on 2008-01-20.
  7. ^ Basgen, Brian; Blunden, Andy. Marxist Encyclopedia, Ota Šik. Marxist Internet Archive. Retrieved on 2008-01-25.
  8. ^ Navrátil, Jaromír (April, 2006). The Prague Spring 1968: A National Security Archive Document Reader (National Security Archive Cold War Readers). Central European University Press, 18-20. ISBN 9637326677. 
  9. ^ Navazelskis, Ina (August 1990). Alexander Dubcek. Chelsea House Publications; Library Binding edition. ISBN 1555468314. 
  10. ^ Antonin Novotny Biography. Libri publishing house. Retrieved on 2007-01-20.
  11. ^ Von Geldern, James. The Soviet-led Intervention in Czechoslovakia. Soviethistory.org. Retrieved on 2008-03-07.
  12. ^ Dubček, Alexander; Jiří Hochman (January 1993). Hope Dies Last: The Autobiography of Alexander Dubcek. Kodansha International. ISBN 1568360002. 
  13. ^ Dubček, Alexander; Mark Kramer, Joy Moss and Ruth Tosek (translation). "Akční program Komunistické strany Československa", Action Program, Rudé právo, 1968-04-10, pp. 1-6. Retrieved on 2008-02-21. (Czech) 
  14. ^ Derasadurain, Beatrice. Prague Spring. Retrieved on 2008-01-23.
  15. ^ Kusin, Vladimir (July 18 2002). The Intellectual Origins of the Prague Spring: The Development of Reformist Ideas in Czechoslovakia 1956-1967. Cambridge University Press, 107-122. ISBN 0521526523. 
  16. ^ The Prague Spring, 1968. Library of Congress (>1985). Retrieved on 5 January, 2008.
  17. ^ Williams, Kieran (1997). The Prague Spring and its Aftermath: Czechoslovak Politics, 1968-1970. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521588030. 
  18. ^ a b Williams, Kieran (1997). The Prague Spring and its Aftermath: Czechoslovak Politics, 1968-1970. Cambridge University Press, 164. ISBN 0521588030. 
  19. ^ Williams, Kieran (1997). The Prague Spring and its Aftermath: Czechoslovak Politics, 1968-1970. Cambridge University Press, 18-22. ISBN 0521588030. 
  20. ^ Vaculík, Ludvík. "Two Thousand Words", Literarni Listy, June 27 1968. 
  21. ^ Mastalir, Linda (2006-07-25). Radio CZ article about Vaculik. Retrieved on 2008-01-23.
  22. ^ Document #81: Transcript of Leonid Brezhnev's Telephone Conversation with Alexander Dubček, August 13, 1968. The Prague Spring '68. The Prague Spring Foundation (1998). Retrieved on 2008-01-23.
  23. ^ Focus task: the rebellion in Hungary 1956 and the rebellion in Czechoslovakia 1968. Retrieved on 2008-01-23.
  24. ^ Navrátil, Jaromír (April, 2006). The Prague Spring 1968: A National Security Archive Document Reader (National Security Archive Cold War Readers). Central European University Press, 448-479. ISBN 9637326677. 
  25. ^ The Bratislava Declaration, August 3, 1968. Library.thinkquest.org. Retrieved on 2008-01-21.
  26. ^ Navrátil, Jaromír (April, 2006). The Prague Spring 1968: A National Security Archive Document Reader (National Security Archive Cold War Readers). Central European University Press, 326-327. ISBN 9637326677. 
  27. ^ Chafetz, Glenn (30 April 1993). Gorbachev, Reform, and the Brezhnev Doctrine: Soviet Policy Toward Eastern Europe, 1985-1990. Praeger Publishers. ISBN 0275944840. 
  28. ^ *Ouimet, Matthew: The Rise and Fall of the Brezhnev Doctrine in Soviet Foreign Policy. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill and London. 2003.
  29. ^ Washington Post, (Final Edition), August 21, 1998, (Page A11)
  30. ^ a b Curtis, Glenn E.. The Warsaw Pact. Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress. Retrieved on 2008-02-19.
  31. ^ H. Gordon Skilling, “Czechoslovakia’s Interrupted Revolution,” (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1976)
  32. ^ Navrátil, Jaromír (April, 2006). The Prague Spring 1968: A National Security Archive Document Reader (National Security Archive Cold War Readers). Central European University Press, xviii. ISBN 9637326677. 
  33. ^ Fowkes, Ben (200-08-29). Eastern Europe 1945-1969: From Stalinism to Stagnation. Longman, 64-85. ISBN 0582326931. 
  34. ^ Kieran Williams, “The Prague Spring and its aftermath: Czechoslovak politics 1968-1970,” (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997).
  35. ^ Den, kdy tanky zlikvidovaly české sny Pražského jara. Britské Listy. Retrieved on 2008-01-23.
  36. ^ Mrácek, Jaroslav (2007). Canadian Encyclopedia, Prague Spring emigration. Historica Foundation of Canada. Retrieved on 2008-01-22.
  37. ^ Jan Palach. Radio Prague. Retrieved on 2008-02-19.
  38. ^ Vladimir, Yuri (1968-09-05). Letter to Yuri Andropov from the Central Committee about the demonstration. Retrieved on 2008-02-20.
  39. ^ Andropov to the Central Committee. The Demonstration in Red Square Against the Warsaw Pact Invasion of Czechoslovakia. September 20, 1968, at Andrei Sakharov's archive, in Russian and translated into English
  40. ^ Devlin, Kevin. Western CPs Condemn Invasion, Hail Prague Spring. Open Society Archives. Retrieved on 2008-02-20.
  41. ^ Joseph, Lawrence E.. International; Prague's Spring Into Capitalism. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-02-20.
  42. ^ Gorbachev, Mikhail (2003-10-08). Conversations with Gorbachev: On Perestroika, the Prague Spring, and the Crossroads of Socialism. Columbia University Press.
  43. ^ Cook, Bernard (January 10 2001). Europe Since 1945: An Encyclopedia. Routledge, 320-321. ISBN 0815313365. 
  44. ^ Aspaturian, Vernon; Jiri Valenta, David P. Burke (April, 1980). Eurocommunism Between East and West. Indiana Univ Pr, 174. ISBN 0253202485. 
  45. ^ Beijing Spring. Spiritus-Temporis.com (2005). Retrieved on 2008-01-22.
  46. ^ Despalatović, Elinor. Neighbors at War: Anthropological Perspectives on Yugoslav Ethnicity, 90-92. ISBN 0271019794. 
  47. ^ Luboš Fišer (2005-02-05). Retrieved on 2008-01-23.
  48. ^ Duffie, Bruce (December 2001). Karel Husa, The Composer in Conversation with Bruce Duffie. Retrieved on 2008-01-23.
  49. ^ Review of the musical, The Prague Spring. Six Apart Ltd (March 13 2006). Retrieved on 2008-01-23.
  50. ^ John Waters, The Events That Transpired it. Spring: The Events that Transpired it (2007-02-11). Retrieved on 2008-01-21.
  51. ^ Stragow, Michael. The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Retrieved on 2008-01-23.
  52. ^ The Unbearable Lightness of Being at the Internet Movie Database
  53. ^ Suvorov, Viktor (1983). The Liberators. London, Hamilton: New English Library, Sevenoaks. ISBN 0450055469. 
  54. ^ Mastalir, Linda (June 28, 2006). Tom Stoppard's "Rock 'n' Roll". Radio Prague. Retrieved on 2008-01-23.
  55. ^ Sandall, Roger (January, 1995). Tom Stoppard's Progress. Retrieved on 2008-01-23.
  56. ^ Morrison, Scott; Don Cherry (November 27, 2006). Hockey Night In Canada: By The Numbers: From 00 to 99. Key Porter Books, 158-159. ISBN 1552639843. 
  57. ^ Legends of Hockey, Jaromír Jágr. Hockey Hall of Fame and Museum. Retrieved on 2008-01-23.


Further reading

External links


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