Presidents and Russia: The Prague Spring
As the United States was fighting to stop the spread of Communism in southeast Asia, a struggle between democracy and Communism was occurring in another part of the world, in the eastern bloc nation of Czechoslovakia. As other nations in the region were going through a process of known as "de-Stalinization" (the process of political reform that involved removing many of the institutions put in place by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin), reforms in Czechoslovakia were proceeding more slowly than in most other states of the Eastern Bloc. In the early 1960s, Czechoslovakia had experienced an economic downturn which many believed was the result of the Soviet model of industrialization, which was not working in Czechoslovakia. Czech leader Anton Novotný attempted to restructure the Czech economy, which in turn increased public demand for political reform.
As the Novotny regime began to ease its tight grip on public censorship, the Union of Czechoslovak Writers began to air discontent. In the union's gazette, Literární Noviny, writers suggested that literature should be free of Communist Party doctrine. In June 1967, a small section of the Czech writer's union publicly expressed sympathy for a group of radical socialists opposed to tight Communist controls. A few months later, at a Communist Party meeting, it was decided that administrative actions against those writers who openly expressed support of reformation would be taken. Control over Literární noviny and several other publishing houses was transferred to the Ministry of Culture.
President Antonín Novotný was losing public support. Alexander Dubček, First Secretary of the regional Communist Party of Slovakia, challenged his leadership at a meeting of the Central Committee. Novotný then invited the secretary-general of the Communist Party of Soviet Union, Leonid Brezhnev, to Prague that December, seeking his support, but Brezhnev assessed the extent of the opposition to Novotný and supported his removal as Czechoslovakia's leader. Dubček replaced Novotný as First Secretary on January 5, 1968. On 22 March 1968, Novotný resigned his presidency and was replaced by Ludvík Svoboda. Svoboda was a reformer, who favored greater reform regarding freedom of expression.
After Dubček assumed power, scholar Eduard Goldstücker became chairman of the Union of Czechoslovak Writers and editor-in-chief of the previously hard-line communist weekly Literární noviny. Goldstucker decided to test the boundaries of Dubček’s promise of greater freedom of the press. On February 4, 1968, he appeared on a nationally televised news program and criticized Novotny, exposing all of Novotny’s previously unreported policies and claiming how they were preventing progress in Czechoslovakia.
The official government statement had allowed for freedom of the press, but this was the first test of whether or not Dubček was serious about reforms. Goldstucker suffered no repercussions, and Dubček built a sense of trust among the media, and the Czech people. On February 29, 1968, the Writers’ Union published the first copy of the censor-free Literární listy. By August 1968, Literární listy had a circulation of 300,000, making it the most published periodical in Europe.
Dubček delivered a speech explaining the need for change. He conceded that the Communist Party had often made heavy-handed rulings on trivial issues. Dubček declared the party's mission was "to build an advanced socialist society on sound economic foundations. On March 4, for the first time in Czech history, state censorship was abolished. The periodical which had once been the instrument of Party's propaganda media now became an instrument of criticism of the regime. In April, Dubček launched an "Action Programme" 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 multiparty government. His reformed limited the power of the secret police and allowed for the federalization of the Czech Republic into two equal nations. The programme also covered foreign policy, including both the maintenance of good relations with Western countries and cooperation with the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc nations. It spoke of a ten-year transition through which democratic elections would be made possible and a new form of democratic socialism would replace the status quo.
Radical elements became more vocal and anti-Soviet rhetoric increased in the press on June 26, 1968. Social Democrats began to form a separate party, and new unaffiliated political clubs were created. Party conservatives called for repressive measures, but Dubček urged that moderation be applied. At the Presidium of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in April, Dubček announced a political programme of "socialism with a human face". Dubček's reforms guaranteed freedom of the press, and political commentary was allowed for the first time in mainstream media. Dubček’s relaxation of censorship ushered in a brief period of freedom of speech and the press.
Freedom of the press also opened the door for the first honest look at Czechoslovakia’s past by the Czech people, especially during Joseph Stalin's regime. In another television appearance, Goldstucker presented both doctored and undoctored photographs of former communist leaders who had been purged, imprisoned, or executed and thus erased from communist history. The Writer’s Union also formed a committee in April 1968, headed by the poet Jaroslav Seifert, to investigate the persecution of writers after the Communist takeover in February 1948. The press, radio and television broadcast meetings between former political prisoners and the communist leaders from the secret police or prisons where they were held.
In Moscow, Leonid Brezhnev and others grew concerned about Dubček's reforms. They feared that this liberalization might weaken the position of the Communist Bloc during the Cold War. The Soviet leadership tried to stop, or limit, the changes, at first 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. The Soviet leadership attended the meeting, including Brezhnev, Alexei Kosygin, and Nikolai Podgorny. At the meeting Dubček defended the proposals for reform while pledging commitment to the Warsaw Pact.
On August 3, representatives from the "Warsaw Five" and Czechoslovakia met in Bratislava and signed the Bratislava Declaration. The declaration affirmed Czechoslovakia's fidelity to Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism and declared an implacable struggle against "bourgeois" ideology and all "anti-socialist" forces. After the Bratislava conference, the Soviet Army left Czechoslovak territory but remained along its borders. But ultimately, the talks proved unsatisfactory to the Soviets.
On the night of August 20, 1968, Eastern Bloc armies from four Warsaw Pact countries – the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Poland and Hungary—invaded Czechoslovakia. That night, 200,000 troops and 2,000 tanks entered the country. They occupied the Ruzyně International Airport, where air deployment of more troops was arranged. The Czechoslovak forces were confined to their barracks. By the morning of August 21, Czechoslovakia was occupied.
During the invasion, 72 Czechs and Slovaks were killed (19 of those in Slovakia), 266 severely wounded and another 436 slightly injured. Dubček called upon his people not to resist, but there was some scattered resistance in the streets. Although the invasion occurred without the knowledge of the Czech government, the Soviet Press reported that Czechoslovak party and state leaders had requested "immediate assistance, including assistance with armed forces".
In Czechoslovakia, public opposition to the invasion was expressed in numerous spontaneous acts of nonviolent resistance. Dubček had been arrested on the night of August 20. He was taken to Moscow for negotiations. There, he and several other leaders signed the Moscow Protocol, under considerable duress. It was agreed that Dubček would remain in office and a programme of moderate reform would continue. On August 25, citizens of the Soviet Union who did not approve of the invasion protested in Red Square. The demonstrators were arrested and punished. In Romania, Nicolae Ceaușescu gave a public speech in Bucharest on the day of the invasion, depicting Soviet policies in harsh terms.
Most countries offered only vocal criticism following the invasion. The night of the invasion, the United States, Canada, Denmark, France, Paraguay, and the United Kingdom requested a meeting of the United Nations Security Council At the meeting, the Czechoslovak ambassador Jan Muzik denounced the invasion, while the Soviet ambassador Jacob Malik insisted the Warsaw Pact actions were "fraternal assistance" against "antisocial forces". The next day, several countries suggested a resolution condemning the intervention and calling for immediate withdrawal. Eventually, a vote was taken with ten members supporting the motion Algeria, India, and Pakistan abstained. The USSR (with veto power) and Hungary opposed. Canadian delegates immediately introduced another motion asking for a UN representative to travel to Prague and work toward the release of the imprisoned Czechoslovak leaders.
President Lyndon Johnson publicly criticized the invasion. He cancelled a planned nuclear disarmament summit between the United States and the Soviet Union. Johnson and Republican candidate Richard Nixon discussed the invasion in a telephone conversation on the night of August 20th. Johnson told Nixon:
"What are they going to put in there about Russian tanks? What are these goddamn pink sympathizers going to say about these goddamn troops that are crossing the borders? Have they got a plank on that? And what are they recommending there? And I think that your position is just as sound as mine was when I said politics stops at the water's edge."
Former child film star Shirley Temple Black visited Prague in August 1968. She became part of a U.S. Embassy-organized convoy of vehicles that evacuated U.S. citizens from the country. Twenty-one years later, in August 1989, she returned to Prague as U.S. Ambassador, three months before the Velvet Revolution that ended 41 years of Communist rule.
As the Novotny regime began to ease its tight grip on public censorship, the Union of Czechoslovak Writers began to air discontent. In the union's gazette, Literární Noviny, writers suggested that literature should be free of Communist Party doctrine. In June 1967, a small section of the Czech writer's union publicly expressed sympathy for a group of radical socialists opposed to tight Communist controls. A few months later, at a Communist Party meeting, it was decided that administrative actions against those writers who openly expressed support of reformation would be taken. Control over Literární noviny and several other publishing houses was transferred to the Ministry of Culture.
President Antonín Novotný was losing public support. Alexander Dubček, First Secretary of the regional Communist Party of Slovakia, challenged his leadership at a meeting of the Central Committee. Novotný then invited the secretary-general of the Communist Party of Soviet Union, Leonid Brezhnev, to Prague that December, seeking his support, but Brezhnev assessed the extent of the opposition to Novotný and supported his removal as Czechoslovakia's leader. Dubček replaced Novotný as First Secretary on January 5, 1968. On 22 March 1968, Novotný resigned his presidency and was replaced by Ludvík Svoboda. Svoboda was a reformer, who favored greater reform regarding freedom of expression.
After Dubček assumed power, scholar Eduard Goldstücker became chairman of the Union of Czechoslovak Writers and editor-in-chief of the previously hard-line communist weekly Literární noviny. Goldstucker decided to test the boundaries of Dubček’s promise of greater freedom of the press. On February 4, 1968, he appeared on a nationally televised news program and criticized Novotny, exposing all of Novotny’s previously unreported policies and claiming how they were preventing progress in Czechoslovakia.
The official government statement had allowed for freedom of the press, but this was the first test of whether or not Dubček was serious about reforms. Goldstucker suffered no repercussions, and Dubček built a sense of trust among the media, and the Czech people. On February 29, 1968, the Writers’ Union published the first copy of the censor-free Literární listy. By August 1968, Literární listy had a circulation of 300,000, making it the most published periodical in Europe.
Dubček delivered a speech explaining the need for change. He conceded that the Communist Party had often made heavy-handed rulings on trivial issues. Dubček declared the party's mission was "to build an advanced socialist society on sound economic foundations. On March 4, for the first time in Czech history, state censorship was abolished. The periodical which had once been the instrument of Party's propaganda media now became an instrument of criticism of the regime. In April, Dubček launched an "Action Programme" 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 multiparty government. His reformed limited the power of the secret police and allowed for the federalization of the Czech Republic into two equal nations. The programme also covered foreign policy, including both the maintenance of good relations with Western countries and cooperation with the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc nations. It spoke of a ten-year transition through which democratic elections would be made possible and a new form of democratic socialism would replace the status quo.
Radical elements became more vocal and anti-Soviet rhetoric increased in the press on June 26, 1968. Social Democrats began to form a separate party, and new unaffiliated political clubs were created. Party conservatives called for repressive measures, but Dubček urged that moderation be applied. At the Presidium of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in April, Dubček announced a political programme of "socialism with a human face". Dubček's reforms guaranteed freedom of the press, and political commentary was allowed for the first time in mainstream media. Dubček’s relaxation of censorship ushered in a brief period of freedom of speech and the press.
Freedom of the press also opened the door for the first honest look at Czechoslovakia’s past by the Czech people, especially during Joseph Stalin's regime. In another television appearance, Goldstucker presented both doctored and undoctored photographs of former communist leaders who had been purged, imprisoned, or executed and thus erased from communist history. The Writer’s Union also formed a committee in April 1968, headed by the poet Jaroslav Seifert, to investigate the persecution of writers after the Communist takeover in February 1948. The press, radio and television broadcast meetings between former political prisoners and the communist leaders from the secret police or prisons where they were held.
In Moscow, Leonid Brezhnev and others grew concerned about Dubček's reforms. They feared that this liberalization might weaken the position of the Communist Bloc during the Cold War. The Soviet leadership tried to stop, or limit, the changes, at first 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. The Soviet leadership attended the meeting, including Brezhnev, Alexei Kosygin, and Nikolai Podgorny. At the meeting Dubček defended the proposals for reform while pledging commitment to the Warsaw Pact.
On August 3, representatives from the "Warsaw Five" and Czechoslovakia met in Bratislava and signed the Bratislava Declaration. The declaration affirmed Czechoslovakia's fidelity to Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism and declared an implacable struggle against "bourgeois" ideology and all "anti-socialist" forces. After the Bratislava conference, the Soviet Army left Czechoslovak territory but remained along its borders. But ultimately, the talks proved unsatisfactory to the Soviets.
On the night of August 20, 1968, Eastern Bloc armies from four Warsaw Pact countries – the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Poland and Hungary—invaded Czechoslovakia. That night, 200,000 troops and 2,000 tanks entered the country. They occupied the Ruzyně International Airport, where air deployment of more troops was arranged. The Czechoslovak forces were confined to their barracks. By the morning of August 21, Czechoslovakia was occupied.
During the invasion, 72 Czechs and Slovaks were killed (19 of those in Slovakia), 266 severely wounded and another 436 slightly injured. Dubček called upon his people not to resist, but there was some scattered resistance in the streets. Although the invasion occurred without the knowledge of the Czech government, the Soviet Press reported that Czechoslovak party and state leaders had requested "immediate assistance, including assistance with armed forces".
In Czechoslovakia, public opposition to the invasion was expressed in numerous spontaneous acts of nonviolent resistance. Dubček had been arrested on the night of August 20. He was taken to Moscow for negotiations. There, he and several other leaders signed the Moscow Protocol, under considerable duress. It was agreed that Dubček would remain in office and a programme of moderate reform would continue. On August 25, citizens of the Soviet Union who did not approve of the invasion protested in Red Square. The demonstrators were arrested and punished. In Romania, Nicolae Ceaușescu gave a public speech in Bucharest on the day of the invasion, depicting Soviet policies in harsh terms.
Most countries offered only vocal criticism following the invasion. The night of the invasion, the United States, Canada, Denmark, France, Paraguay, and the United Kingdom requested a meeting of the United Nations Security Council At the meeting, the Czechoslovak ambassador Jan Muzik denounced the invasion, while the Soviet ambassador Jacob Malik insisted the Warsaw Pact actions were "fraternal assistance" against "antisocial forces". The next day, several countries suggested a resolution condemning the intervention and calling for immediate withdrawal. Eventually, a vote was taken with ten members supporting the motion Algeria, India, and Pakistan abstained. The USSR (with veto power) and Hungary opposed. Canadian delegates immediately introduced another motion asking for a UN representative to travel to Prague and work toward the release of the imprisoned Czechoslovak leaders.
President Lyndon Johnson publicly criticized the invasion. He cancelled a planned nuclear disarmament summit between the United States and the Soviet Union. Johnson and Republican candidate Richard Nixon discussed the invasion in a telephone conversation on the night of August 20th. Johnson told Nixon:
"What are they going to put in there about Russian tanks? What are these goddamn pink sympathizers going to say about these goddamn troops that are crossing the borders? Have they got a plank on that? And what are they recommending there? And I think that your position is just as sound as mine was when I said politics stops at the water's edge."
Former child film star Shirley Temple Black visited Prague in August 1968. She became part of a U.S. Embassy-organized convoy of vehicles that evacuated U.S. citizens from the country. Twenty-one years later, in August 1989, she returned to Prague as U.S. Ambassador, three months before the Velvet Revolution that ended 41 years of Communist rule.