Prague+Revolution+1968


 * [[image:ww3.jpg width="374" height="312"]][[image:350px-Koudelka-prague1968.jpg width="378" height="310"]]

Background to the Prague Spring revolution of 1968** The process of destalinization (the process of eliminating the cult of personality and Stalinism political system created by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin) in Czechoslovakia had begun under Antonín Novotný in the early 1960s, but had progressed slower than in most other socialist states of the Eastern Bloc. In June 1967, a small fraction of the Czech writer's union sympathized with radical socialists, specifically Ludvík Vaculík, Milan Kundera, Jan Procházka, Antonín Jaroslav Liehm, Pavel Kohout and Ivan Klíma. A few months later, at a party meeting, it was decided that administrative actions against the writers who openly expressed support of reformation would be taken. Since only a small part of the union held these beliefs, the remaining members were relied upon to discipline their colleagues. Control over //Literární noviny// and several other publishing houses was transferred to the ministry of culture, and even members of the party who later became major reformers—including Dubček—endorsed these moves.




 * Alexander Dubček** a key figure of the Prague spring revolution 1968. The Imre Nagy of the Czech 1968 Spring was Alexander Dubcek. He was a Slovak who had replaced Novotny when the increasingly irritable dictator insulted the Slovaks (whom many Czechs regarded as their cultural inferiors) after a visit to their national museum. Dubcek's credentials looked impeccable to Moscow; he had been a faithful apparatchik for many years, never disobeying orders or questioning a policy. He had welcomed the coup of 1948, helped with collectivization and nationalization, and accepted the 1950-1954 witch hunts without a murmur. He had spent three years at Moscow attending the Higher Party school (1955-1958). While he was there, the Khrushchev speech threw the school into confusion, and the invasion of Hungary upset him. But in general Dubcek looked like a party hack if ever there was one.

His transformation into the democratic hero of the 1968 freedom movement was a major surprise. a certain simplicity of mind and character made this genuine proletarian really believe in communism's promises to lead to a free society. "It is not possible for a small minority to introduce and maintain socialism," Dubcek had come to believe. Under his guidance, or perhaps because he simply followed the public lead, rampant democracy broke out in Czechoslovakia, as it had in Hungary twelve years before. But there was no violence, as there had been in the Hungarian revolution. Press censorship was ended, and the newspapers celebrated their independence by indulging in all kinds of criticism, even of the USSR.

This and support of the Sik economic reforms were the chief Czech sins. It seemed possible that opposition parties might be permitted. The reforms were all quite legally handled and supported by the vast majority of public opinion. They aimed at curing the economic blight by making party officials responsible to the public - "democratic socialism." The Prague paper Red Truth declared that the party should not rule in the name of the workers but must be held accountable to them.



For Russia, the example of the Prague Spring represented a threat to its Eastern European empire. The Moscow government issued an ultimatum, threatening intervention if "counterrevolutionary" forces weren't dealt with. Dubcek was unable to comply, and so, on the night of August 20, Russian-led forces invaded Czechoslovakia to put down the Prague Spring. Dubcek and other government ministers were taken to Moscow as prisoners. As resistance to the invasion developed, around 100 Czech civilians were killed.By the end of October, mass spontaneous protests erupted against the occupation. Students organized a three-day strike in November. Workers continued to elect their own councils in the factories, and the main engineering union threatened a general strike after one of the most outspoken of the reform-oriented party leaders, Josef Smrkovsky, was forced out (typically, Smrkovsky himself asked the union not to take action). In January 1969, a student, Jan Palach, set himself on fire to protest the Communist Party's abandonment of reforms, and tens of thousands of people came into the streets in an outpouring of solidarity.
 * How ordinary people were affected** **and how they reacted**
 * Here are some links to more in depth reviews, interviews and facts about the Prague revolution 1968:**

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-PragueSpring.html

http://library.thinkquest.org/C001155/

http://www.prague-life.com/prague/prague-spring