Leseprobe

C Z E C H R E P U B L I C 7 9 In the first years of communist rule, armed resistance continued. The various groups, whose members had in many cases been active in the struggle against the Nazi occupation, carried out acts of sabotage in industry and agriculture, collected intelligence information, acquired weapons for a fight against the communist rulers and fought local party functionaries. Infiltrated by secret police units, these groups were wiped out; their members were arrested and either sentenced to long prison terms or executed. The regime’s continued campaign of repression made organised acts of resistance more difficult. Nevertheless, hundreds of small initiatives and individuals remained active. They pre- pared for escapes abroad, secured hiding places for politically persecuted persons, supported the families of detainees, produced and distributed leaflets critical of the regime, and removed propaganda slogans from public spaces. There was greater social resistance in rural areas where forced collectivisation and expropriation of the private property of the peasantry was enforced with violence. The effects of the planned economy diktat led to spontaneous workers’ demonstrations in Brno as early as December 1951. In the wake of the devaluation of the currency in 1953, the vast majority of the population lost all their savings, while the communist government, under the pretext of the class struggle against “bourgeois and reactionary elements”, propped up the ailing economy, eradicated foreign debt and sought to fill the empty state coffers. Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Prague and other cities, while 129 companies across the country went on strike to protest against the currency reform. On 1 June 1953 in Plzenˇ, the workers at the Škoda Works called a strike, angry protesters occupied the town hall and the city radio, and communist symbols in the streets and on buildings were torn down. It was only through the violent inter- vention of the army, border troops and the people’s militia that the uprising was quelled. In 14 politically motivated court cases, 331 people were sentenced to long prison terms and about 200 families forced out of their homes. After the harsh repression of the 1950s, the political situation relaxed at the beginning of the 1960s. Initial—mostly economic—reform efforts were put in place to stop the economic crisis. When these failed, dissatisfaction grew in the country: ever greater numbers of people took to criticising their poor living conditions; young people demanded reforms, and writers and artists spoke out with critical works. In 1968, the reform-minded Alexander Dubc´ek was elected General Secretary of the KSCˇ . His programme envisaged the establishment of “socialism with a human face”. His reforms did not only target the economy but also, in particular, granted civil rights such as freedom of speech and assembly and permitted other parties and organisations. Politically persecuted persons were rehabilitated. The relaxation of censorship allowed for a public discus- sion in the media of the reprisals of the past and the course of reform. “The Two Thousand Words”, a manifesto published in June 1968, condemned repression and called for more far- reaching new regulations. While the reform debates continued in Czechoslovakia, other socialist dictatorships feared that these reform efforts would spread. The Czechoslovak Communist Party leadership was called upon to complete the reforms and to combat the “counter-revolution”. On the night of 20–21 August 1968, Warsaw Pact troops finally invaded Czechoslovakia and cracked down on the reforms. Soviet troops occupied the capital Prague. Millions of people rose up against the invasion in the CˇSSR. After the suppression of the Prague Spring, thousands of people fled abroad. In the CˇSSR itself, supporters of the reform movement were arrested and imprisoned. Others were banned from