apply in Slovakia and vice versa. Furthermore any crisis of the
In the 19th century, the Czech Lands diplomatic arrangements on a pan-European level always has became the economic heartland of the
Empire. With economic growth came its reflection in relations between Czechs and Slovaks.
both a rise in Czech bourgeois nationalism and the development of a mass labour movement. By the outbreak of the first world war, the social democrats were the strongest party in the Czech Lands, and by proportion of population were the strongest element in Austrian social democracy.
Inadequate positions of workers' movement
However the Czech social democrats were at a loss in front of the rising national tensions in the Empire. The prevailing traditions of the political workers' movement did not help them. A bad precedent was set by one Friedrich Engels, who, accusing the Czech national movement of
1848 for splitting the fight against the
Habsburg state and blocking the path to
German reunification, threw them into the dustbin of history along with the
Welsh, the Basques, the Bretons and other "remnants". When the Czechoslovak social democrat leaders split the Austrian trade unions along national lines, were roundly condemned by the Second
International in 1910. As Leon Trotsky advanced, against the split in the trade organizations, arguments which skilfully counterfeited internationalism."(My Life
New York, 1970 p.217).
Nonetheless Czech social democrats did not develop an alternative policy on the national question to the prevailing orthodoxies of the Second International, and during the first world war, the social democrats remained opposed to the break up of the Habsburg monarchy until the final moment, leaving the initiative to the far-sighted Czech bourgeois politician
Tomas Masaryk. This latter took the lead of the massive popular desire in the
Czech Lands to put an end to the Empire, at the same time selling the idea of the independent Czechoslovak state to the Entente powers as means of containing the Germans, and as an anti-Bolshevik force in Central Europe. The conflict between the Czechoslovak Legion in Russia and the Bolsheviks was also a point in Masaryk's favour in the eyes of the imperialist powers.
Masaryk takes up cudgels against Bolshevism
Czechoslovakia was consolidated in the struggle against the Hungarian revolution of Béla Kun, by the driving out of Hungarian forces from Slovakia. In this revolutionary state-building tasks were carried out at a single stroke. The growing Czech revolutionary movement was unable to make the link up with the Hungarian revolution and when the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (CPCz) was finally founded in 1920 the revolutionary wave was over. The majority of the social democracy came over to the Third International and the CPCz retained mass support throughout the interwar period, despite the twists and turns of policy imposed from Moscow, each of which involved taking a position either for or against the territorial integrity of the Czechoslovak state, which at that time also contained a 3 million strong German population. All the positions reflected the current attitude of the Kremlin towards the Czechoslovak state. Direct subordination to the Soviet Union with, (in the early period especially, some reticences)
COLIN MEADE had thus replaced subordination (with rather more vociferous protests) to the pan-German framework of the Second
In 1939 an independent pro-German Slovak state came into being, while the Czech Lands were annexed to the Reich. The Slovak and Czech CPs separated, and at one stage the idea of a Slovak Socialist Republic as a part of the USSR was discussed in Slovak CP circles. When the end of the war came however, the CPs reunited and at Moscow's bidding, entered into the pro-Soviet coalition government led by Eduard Benes which strove to reestablish the prewar Czechoslovakia. Under this government the CP became the largest party, winning 38% of the votes in the 1946 elections, although it was considerably weaker in Slovakia.
### Tens of thousands persecuted by Stalinists
In February 1948, as the Marshall Plan threatened to pull Czechoslovakia out of Moscow's orbit, the CP took total power and began to impose a full-scale Stalinist dictatorship. All areas of social life were subjected to bureaucratic diktat; tens of thousands were thrown into camps, while the party itself was racked by a series of bloody purges. Among the victims of these purges was the current (for the moment) President Gustav Husak, leader of the Slovak CP, accused of "Slovak bourgeois nationalism".
Given the mass nature of the CP, there can be no question that a vast number of people threw themselves into the task of "building socialism" with genuine enthu-
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cauldron
December 25, 1989 • #176 Internationa/ Viewpoint siasm. Furthermore, the alliance with the Soviet Union was popular with Czechs and Slovaks disillusioned with the "democratic" imperialist powers who had dropped them at Munich in 1938. Much of the intelligentsia identified itself with the new regime. Czechoslovakia remained quiet throughout 1956. By the early 1960s, however, signs of crisis became apparent. In 1962 the economy failed to grow as unrealistic plans were abandoned (perhaps because of the sudden closure of the Chinese market due to the Sino-Soviet split). The issue of the rehabilitation of all those who had suffered in the 1950s threatened the positions of many who had risen to power in those years. In particular the Slovaks began the campaign that would finally lead to the federalization of the country. Husak was at the head of these developments. All these things were perceived by a wide section of the CP as the results of an uncritical adoption of the "Soviet model" by the CzCP.The idea of a specific "Czechoslovak road to socialism"
### Abolition of censorship opens floodgates January 1968, Antonin Novotny (whose style of rule was described as a "personality cult without a personality") was removed as party first secretary and replaced by Slovak party boss Alexander Dubcek. As the factional struggle inside the party intensified the reformist wing took a dramatic step: they abolished cenlong-suppressed society Independent groups emerged and public demonstrations took place. The Dubcek leadership attempted to control these developments — an attempt to legally refound the Social Democratic Party was for example rejected — but by dialogue rather than repression. The idea of "socialism with a human face" caught the imagination of people throughout the world who wanted socialism but not Stalinism. It is probable that if there had been free elections at this time, the CzCP
But this was not to be. Alarmed by the threat to the entire bureaucratic system posed by the "Czechoslovak road", 500,000 troops of five Warsaw Pact countries entered Czechoslovakia from all directions on the night of August 21, 1968, claiming that they had been invited to by a group of (still unidentified) "internationalists". The population responded to the "internationalist aid" by a solid general strike, and throughout the next few months protests continued, especial-
Dubcek leadership demobilizes protests
This movement was demobilized by the Dubcek leadership. When, for example, a general strike was proposed to prevent the removal of popular leader Josef Smrkovsky as head of government, Smrkovsky himself went on television to plead for calm. On January 21 student Jan Palach burned himself to death in protest against his people's acceptance of the invasion and its results.
The CPCz leadership however, continued to refuse to engage in the large-scale repression demanded by Brezhnev and co. and in April 1969 Dubcek was replaced by Gustav Husak as first secretary of the party. Husak started his bid for power from Slovakia. Immediately after the invasion he succeeded in getting the Slovak CP to accept the "new reality", thus gaining a solid base for the reversal of the Prague Spring. Key to his success was a promise that the process of federalization would continue.
The new team rapidly moved to "normalize" the country. Some 500,000 people were purged from the party, and anybody who refused to condemn the Prague Spring was removed from responsible posts, to be replaced by the cynical opportunists who have made up the base of the regime for the past 20 years.
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
During those decades the overwhelming facts of military force, along with relatively high living standards have kept the population subdued, restricting open opposition to small groups that could be easily repressed and isolated. In Slovakia an additional factor of stability has been at work: the intelligentsia has been hard at work in the satisfying task of producing the basic historical texts of a nation. At the same time lack of investment led to growing industrial backwardness along with a terrible ecological deterioration. It is estimated, for example, that a third of the country's rivers can no longer support life.
The opposition never wholly disappeared. In 1977 hundreds of people signed Charter 77, calling for basic democratic rights, and attempting to create a space for free discussion.
Despite imprisonment, forced exile, physical attacks, and above all, extreme isolation, the movement persisted and Slowly grew. Oppositionists always claimed that they represented a silent majority, and have been proved right. The coming of the glasnost era in the Soviet Union, the opening of the Berlin Wall, the regime's stupefyingly brutal response to the peaceful demonstration of Friday November 24, and the determination of the youth, especially students, not to put up with any more have propelled the dissidents out of their ghetto to the front of the political stage.
Opposition ranges from
Marxists to monarchists
The opposition is very diverse politically, ranging from revolutionary Marxists to activists have played a central role and in 1988 some 500,000 people signed a petition for religious rights. Catholic activism is very strong in Slovakia. The vast majority of the opposition think of a market economy and parliamentary democracy as the solu-
On the other hand the opposition has a
AirE astern hey, if you dort war me to be plot, car dea with that. ill be co piot....OK. Ill be navigator... How bout flight attendant?. Baggage handler?......
ME LucKovich attempts have been made to overcome historic national enmities and work with movements in neighbouring East European countries. Groups of young people opposed to the militarization of Czechoslovak society and open to dialogue with the peace movements in the West have been prominent in recent years.
The opposition's ideology embodies a revulsion against the subordination of the individual to a "general interest" which turned out to be the self-interest of an elite. The history of the Czechs and Slovaks, whose national interests have so often been sacrificed by both bourgeois and bureaucratic forces to the "needs of history" have an exemplary significance. Such issues will form a part of the renewal of the socialist project that is now possible and necessary. *
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7
Civic Forum: "What we want"
International Viewpoint #76 • December 25, 1989
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
UR COUNTRY has found itself in a deep moral, spiritual, ecological, social, economic and political crisis. This crisis is testimony to the ineffectiveness of the hitherto existing political and economic system.
Almost all the mechanisms that are necessary for society to react to changing domestic and foreign conditions have been
WE PUBLISH below the full text of the programme of the scrapped. The self-evident principle that whoever holds authority must take responopposition co-ordination Civic Forum. Among the groups sibility has not been respected for many involved in Civic Forum are: Charter 77, The Czechoslovak decades. All three fundamental powers in
Helsinki committee, Obroda (Renewal), the independent the state - the legislative, executive and judicial _ have all been merged in the students, the Czechoslovak Democratic Initiative, the hands of a narrow ruling group, consisting
Independent Peace Association, members of the two official almost exclusively of Communist Party
Czech non-communist parties, the Churches and "other members. All this has led to the destruction of the foundations of a legal state.
citizens of democratic tendencies". The translation into
The Communist Party monopoly on all
English was done by members of Civic Forum and has been important posts creates an unjust feudal slightly modified.
system, which paralyses all of society.
People are thus condemned to the role of mere executors of the orders of the pow-
DOCUMENT ers-that-be. They are denied a long list of human, civic and political rights.
The command system of centralized management of the national economy has obviously failed. The promised restructuring of the economic mechanism has been slow and inconsistent and has not been accompanied by the necessary political changes.
Changes of personnel not enough
These problems will not be solved by changing several persons in positions of power or by several politicians resigning from public life.
The Civic Forum is therefore striving for the following objectives:
1. The Law:
The Czechoslovak republic must be a legal, democratic state in the spirit of the traditions of Czechoslovak statehood and in the spirit of internationally accepted principles, expressed above all in the Universal Declaration and Human Rights and
The International Pact on Civic and Political Rights.
In this spirit a new constitution must be worked out which will above all make more precise the relations between the citizens and the state. Such a constitution can only be passed by a newly elected constituent assembly. The implementation of civic rights and freedoms should be reliably assured by a developed system of legal
An independent judiciary guarantees.
should also include constitutional and administrative courts.
The whole Czechoslovak legal system will gradually have to be brought into line with these principles and made binding not only for citizens but also for state officials and bodies.
We insist that the wrongs which occurred in the past as a consequence of
• politically motivated persecution be se
2. Political system: We demand fundamental and permanent changes in the political system in our society. We must establish or renew democratic institutions and mechanisms to allow the real participation of all citizens in public affairs and at the same time to form effective barriers against the abuse of political and economic power. All existing and newly founded political political parties and other political and social associations should be able to participate equally in free elections for all levels of government. This assumes, however, that the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia abandons its constitutionally guaranteed leading role within our society, as well as the monopoly control of the communications media. There is nothing to prevent it from doing this tomorrow.
### Federation should be retained
While retaining Czechoslovakia as a federation, it should at the same time become a union of both our nations and other nationalities with equal rights for all.
3. Foreign Policy: We want our country to again assume its honorable place within Europe and the world. We are a part of Central Europe and therefore want to maintain good relations with all our neighbours.
We envisage joining European integration. We would also like to subordinate our policy towards our Warsaw Pact part ners and those in CMEA to the idea of. common European home. We want to respect our international legal commitments while fully maintaining our state sovereignty.
4. National Economy: We intend to abandon our long-standing method of running the economy. It dampens people's motivation to work and it wastes the results of their labour. It plunders natural resources, destroys the environment and widens the gap between Czechoslovakia and the rest of the world. We are convinced that this economic system cannot be improved by minor modifications. We want to create a developed market, not deformed by bureaucratic interventions. Its success depends on breaking up the monopolies currently enjoyed by existing large enterprises and creating real compe tition. This can come into existence only on the basis of the parallel and equal existence of various types of ownership and the gradual opening of our economy to the world.
State must guarantee equal conditions
The state will of course continue to have a number of functions, which cannot be replaced. It will guarantee general and equal conditions for everyone in the economy and will carry out a macro-economic policy with the aim of controlling inflation, an increase in the foreign debt and the threat of unemployment. Only the state can guarantee the necessary minimum of public and social services and protection of the environment.
5. Social Justice: It is imperative for us that conditions are created in our society for the development and implementation of the abilities of all.
Czechoslovakia must be a country with social justice, where the elderly are taken care of, where the sick and needy receive aid. An important prerequisite for such a society is, however, a prosperous national economy.
Churches, communities, enterprises and various state and voluntary organizations
Party paper interviews Václav
December 25, 1989 • #176 International Viewpoint overall network of social services. This, will broaden human solidarity, responsibility and love of our neighbours. It is these humanitarian principles which at present are necessary for welding our soci-
6. The Environment: We must all seek a method of restoring harmony between man and his environment. We will strive for a gradual repairing of the damage which has been inflicted upon nature in recent decades. We will attempt to return beauty to our landscape and human dwellings and assure the better conservation of nature and natural resources. We will do our best in the shortest time possible to improve basic living conditions and assure healthy drinking water, uncontaminated food. We will insist on a basic improvement in the system of caring for the environment which will concentrate not only on eliminating existing sources of pollution, but above all on preventing further environmental damage.
At the same time we will have to change the structure and orientation of the nationdecrease energy and raw material inputs. We are aware that this will mean sacrifices on the part of all of us. This will require a change in value scales and lifestyles.
Freedom from all restrictive
Ideologies
7. Culture: Culture cannot only be the concern of artists, scientists and teachers, but a way of life of all our society. We must free ourselves from all restrictive ideologies and overcome the existing artificial separation of our culture from the rest of world culture. Art and literature must not be restricted and they must have the possibility for publication and contacts with the public.
Science should have its rightful place in society. In this way naive and demagogic over-expectations of science can be overcome, as well as its subservient status which makes it the handmaiden of the ruling party.
A democratic educational system should be based on humanitarian principles, without a state monopoly on education. Society must have respect for the teacher in all types of schools and must give them space for their individuality. The historical rights of institutions of higher learning should be renewed, thus guaranteeing independence and freedom of academic expression, both for teachers and students.
We consider education our most precious national asset. Education must lead to independent thought and high moral responsibility.
This is what we want. Our programme now is brief. However we are preparing to make it more specific. The Civic forum is an open association of citizens. We thus appeal to all who can contribute to this work to do so. *
Havel
THE FOLLOWING interview with Civic Forum leader and presidential candidate Václav Havel was carried out by Jan Lipavsky for the Communist Party daily Rudé Právo on December 2, 1989. DOCUMENT
R EAL DIALOGUE requires
that the partners know another. In the case of the dramatist Václav Havel, one of the representatives of Civic Forum, there have certainly been things written about him in Rudé právo (RP) but he has never spoken for himself. We rectify this gap in the following conversation, offered to RP this week. Havel was born on October 5, 1936 in Prague. He is a graduate of the drama faculty at the Academic of Performing Arts and the author of a number of theatrical works. He has been a spokesperson of Charter 77 and has been imprisoned several times. • I have come and asked you for this interview, and you have agreed, although I suppose that you are not madly in love with the paper of the Communist Party Central Commit-
RP has not had much good to say about me. However this is not the time for recriminations. We have to think about the future. I am glad that your paper has decided to interview me, because there is something I would like to say to the mem• Very well, but first tell me what picture RP has given of you -would you say that it was inaccu-
As for the picture that RP has painted of me, well it is pretty dark. But a real assessment of my character can only be made by people who know me and my work and who are not prejudiced. • Do you think that a real dialogue is possible in this country between people with different political opinions, between you, who clearly want nothing to do with Marx and me as a
CZECHOSLOVAKIA SUARMANN Communist? Are you a social democrat or an anti-Communist without a definite political ideology?
I do not adhere to any ideology, doctrine or ready made worldview defined by someone else. Nor does it seem to me that I could belong to this or that concretely defined and ideologically limited political movement. I am simply on the side of truth against lies, on the side of meaning against nonsense, on the side of justice against injustice and on the side of order against disorder. • But you call for, as it says in your programme, pluralist democracy and for a coalition government. Thus you have a definite ideology and political opinion. But do you know what surprised and shocked me in your negotiations with the prime minister? The way in which you, excuse me, clamoured for the fulfillment of your demands. It was hardly a dialogue between equals. It looks like you threw your principles overboard.
Our negotiations took place in the way they did in the interests of our nations. Several times we told the prime minister that there were good reasons to believe that at that moment we were transmitting the demands of a large part or a majority of the public, and we also said several times that it would be in everybody's interest if the problems in our country did not get to the point of uncontrolled strikes, bloodshed, confusion and confrontation. If we are going to organize our society in a democratic, peaceful, orderly and neighbourly fashion and avoid conflicts, then the government must not only announce things; it must do things. Any sort of delay would hurt not only us, that is the Civic Forum, but also the government and society as a would have lost controi of the situati of '9 would have lost control of the situation.
International Viewpoint #76 • December 25, 1989