Description: Shipping from Europe with tracking number Prague SpringThis article is about the 1968 reform movement in Czechoslovakia. For the music festival, see Prague Spring International Music Festival.Prague SpringPart of the invasion of Czechoslovakia and Protests of 1968Czechoslovaks carry their national flag past a burning Soviet tank in Prague.Date5 January – 21 August 1968 (7 months, 2 weeks and 2 days)LocationCzechoslovakiaParticipantsPeople and Government of Czechoslovakia Warsaw PactOutcomeNormalization in CzechoslovakiashowvteProtests of 1968Part of a series on theHistory of CzechoslovakiaOrigins of Czechoslovakia1918First Czechoslovak Republic1918–1938Munich Agreement1938Second Czechoslovak Republic1938–1939German occupation1939–1945 Bohemia and Moravia1939–1945 Slovak Republic1939–1945Third Czechoslovak Republic1945–1948 Coup d'état1948Czechoslovak Socialist Republic1948–1989 Prague Spring/Invasion1968Velvet Revolution1989 Post-revolution1989–1992Dissolution of Czechoslovakia1993vteThe Prague Spring (Czech: Pražské jaro, Slovak: Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ), and continued until 21 August 1968, when the Soviet Union and most of Warsaw Pact members invaded the country to suppress the reforms.The Prague Spring reforms were a strong attempt by Dubček to grant additional rights to the citizens of Czechoslovakia in an act of partial decentralization of the economy and democratization. The freedoms granted included a loosening of restrictions on the media, speech and travel. After national discussion of dividing the country into a federation of three republics, Bohemia, Moravia-Silesia and Slovakia, Dubček oversaw the decision to split into two, the Czech Socialist Republic and Slovak Socialist Republic.[1] This dual federation was the only formal change that survived the invasion.The reforms, especially the decentralization of administrative authority, were not received well by the Soviets, who, after failed negotiations, sent half a million Warsaw Pact troops and tanks to occupy the country. The New York Times cited reports of 650,000 men equipped with the most modern and sophisticated weapons in the Soviet military catalogue.[2] A massive wave of emigration swept the nation. Resistance was mounted throughout the country, involving attempted fraternization, sabotage of street signs, defiance of curfews, etc. While the Soviet military had predicted that it would take four days to subdue the country, the resistance held out for eight months until diplomatic maneuvers finally circumvented it. It became a high-profile example of civilian-based defense; there were sporadic acts of violence and several protest suicides by self-immolation (the most famous being that of Jan Palach), but no military resistance. Czechoslovakia remained controlled by the Soviet Union until 1989, when the Velvet Revolution peacefully ended the communist regime; the last Soviet troops left the country in 1991.After the invasion, Czechoslovakia entered a period known as normalization (Czech: normalizace, Slovak: normalizácia), in which new leaders attempted to restore the political and economic values that had prevailed before Dubček gained control of the KSČ. Gustáv Husák, who replaced Dubček as First Secretary and also became President, reversed almost all of the reforms. The Prague Spring inspired music and literature including the work of Václav Havel, Karel Husa, Karel Kryl and Milan Kundera's novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being.BackgroundEastern BlocshowRepublics of the USSRshowAllied statesshowRelated organizationsshowDissent and oppositionshowCold War eventsshowFallvteThe process of de-Stalinization in Czechoslovakia had begun under Antonín Novotný in the late 1950s and early 1960s, but had progressed more slowly than in most other states of the Eastern Bloc.[3] Following the lead of Nikita Khrushchev, Novotný proclaimed the completion of socialism, and the new constitution[4] accordingly adopted the name name change from "Czechoslovak Republic" to "Czechoslovak Socialist Republic". The pace of de-Stalinization, however, was sluggish; the rehabilitation of Stalinist-era victims, such as those convicted in the Slánský trials, may have been considered as early as 1963, but did not take place until 1967.[5]In the early 1960s, Czechoslovakia underwent an economic downturn.[6] The Soviet model of industrialization applied poorly to Czechoslovakia since the country was already quite industrialized before World War II while the Soviet model mainly took into account less developed economies. Novotný's attempt at restructuring the economy, the 1965 New Economic Model, spurred increased demand for political reform as well.[7]1963 Liblice ConferenceIn May 1963, some Marxist intellectuals organized the Liblice Conference that discussed Franz Kafka's life, marking the beginning of the cultural democratization of Czechoslovakia which ultimately led to the 1968 Prague Spring, an era of political liberalization. This conference was unique because it symbolized Kafka's rehabilitation in the Eastern Bloc after having been heavily criticized, led to a partial opening up of the regime and influenced the relaxation of censorship. It also had an international impact as a representative from all Eastern Bloc countries were invited to the Conference; only the Soviet Union did not send any representative. This conference had a revolutionary effect and paved the way for the reforms while making Kafka the symbol of the renaissance of Czechoslovakian artistic and intellectual freedom.[8]1967 Writers' CongressAs the strict regime eased its rules, the Union of Czechoslovak Writers (Cs: Svaz československých spisovatelů) cautiously began to air discontent. In Literární noviny [cs], the union's previously hard-line communist weekly, members suggested that literature should be independent of the Communist Party doctrine.[9]In June 1967, a small fraction of the union sympathized with radical socialists, especially Ludvík Vaculík, Milan Kundera, Jan Procházka, Antonín Jaroslav Liehm, Pavel Kohout and Ivan Klíma.[9]A few months later, at a meeting of Party leaders, it was decided that administrative actions against the writers who openly expressed support of reformation would be taken. Since only a small group of the union held these beliefs, the remaining members were relied upon to discipline their colleagues.[9] Control over Literární noviny and several other publishers was transferred to the Ministry of Culture,[9] and even some leaders of the Party who later became major reformers—including Dubček—endorsed these moves.[9]Dubček's rise to powerAlexander DubčekAs President Antonín Novotný was losing support, Alexander Dubček, First Secretary of the Communist Party of Slovakia, and economist Ota Šik challenged him at a meeting of the Central Committee of the Party. Novotný then invited the Secretary General of the Communist Party of Soviet Union, Leonid Brezhnev, to Prague that December, seeking support;[10] Brezhnev, however, was surprised at the extent of the opposition to Novotný and so he rather supported his removal. Dubček replaced Novotný as First Secretary on 5 January 1968.[11] On 22 March Novotný resigned and was replaced by Ludvík Svoboda, who later gave consent to the reforms.[12]Literární listyEarly signs of change were few. In an interview with KSČ Presidium member Josef Smrkovský published in the Party journal Rudé Právo with the title "What Lies Ahead", he insisted that Dubček's appointment at the January Plenum would further the goals of socialism and maintain the working class nature of the Party.[13]However, right after Dubček assumed power, the scholar Eduard Goldstücker became chairman of the Union of Czechoslovak Writers and thus editor-in-chief of the Literární noviny,[14][15] which under Novotny had been filled with party loyalists.[15] Goldstücker tested the boundaries of Dubček's devotion to freedom of the press when on 4 February he appeared in a television interview as the new head of the union. During the interview he openly criticized Novotny, exposing all of Novotny's previously unreported policies and explaining how they were preventing progress in Czechoslovakia.[16]Goldstücker suffered no repercussions, Dubček instead began to build a sense of trust among the media, the government, and the citizens.[15] It was under Goldstücker that the journal's name was changed to Literární listy, and on 29 February, the Union published the first copy of the censor-free journal.[14] By August, Literární listy had a circulation of 300,000, making it the most published periodical in Europe.[17]The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 4 November 1956; Hungarian: 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the policies caused by the government's subordination to the Soviet Union (USSR).[nb 2] The uprising lasted 12 days before being crushed by Soviet tanks and troops on November 4, 1956. Thousands were killed and wounded and nearly a quarter-million Hungarians fled the country.[4][5]The Hungarian Revolution began on 23 October 1956 in Budapest when university students appealed to the civil populace to join them at the Hungarian Parliament Building to protest against the USSR's geopolitical domination of Hungary through the Stalinist government of Mátyás Rákosi. A delegation of students entered the building of Magyar Rádió to broadcast their sixteen demands for political and economic reforms to civil society, but were detained by security guards. When the student protestors outside the radio building demanded the release of their delegation, policemen from the ÁVH (State Protection Authority) shot and killed several of them.[6]Consequently, Hungarians organized into revolutionary militias to fight against the ÁVH; local Hungarian communist leaders and ÁVH policemen were captured and summarily killed or lynched; and political prisoners were released and armed. To realize their political, economic, and social demands, local soviets (councils of workers) assumed control of municipal government from the Hungarian Working People's Party (Magyar Dolgozók Pártja). The new government of Imre Nagy disbanded the ÁVH, declared Hungary's withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact, and pledged to re-establish free elections. By the end of October the intense fighting had subsided.Although initially willing to negotiate the withdrawal of the Soviet Army from Hungary, the USSR repressed the Hungarian Revolution on 4 November 1956, and fought the Hungarian revolutionaries until 10 November; repression of the Hungarian Uprising killed 2,500 Hungarians and 700 Soviet Army soldiers, and compelled 200,000 Hungarians to seek political refuge abroad.[7]The pejorative label Tankie was inspired by these events. Within the leftist politics, it is often used to describe contemporary leftists with authoritarian tendencies, especially Stalinists and, sometimes, Maoists or any other branch of Marxism-Leninism.[8][9]
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End Time: 2024-09-29T15:35:40.000Z
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