Czechoslovak Socialist Republic

Czech Republic, 1948–1990. Draft, not yet reviewed

The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was the Czechoslovak state from 1948 until 1989, when the country was under communist rule, and was regarded as a satellite state in the Soviet sphere of interest. In the coup d'état of February 1948, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia seized power with the support of the Soviet Union. On 20 and 21 August 1968, the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact jointly invaded the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. In late 1989, the Velvet Revolution forced the Communist leadership to resign.

Seat of power: Prague

Rulers

Klement Gottwald

President of Czechoslovakia, 1948–1953

Under Stalin's direction, Gottwald imposed the Stalinist Soviet model of government on the country. He nationalized the country's industry and initiated the collectivization of Czechoslovak farms. His regime conducted a number of show trials, including the trial of the non-Communist politician Milada Horáková, who was executed in June 1950.

Portrait of Klement Gottwald: UnknownUnknown, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, file

Antonín Zápotocký

President of Czechoslovakia, 1953–1957

Zápotocký favoured a more humane way of governing, but was outflanked by the Stalinist First Secretary Antonín Novotný. In May 1953, in the wake of a monetary reform which effectively deprived the farmers and better-paid workers of all their savings, sporadic riots against the communist authorities took place. At a meeting in Moscow, he was told to adhere to "collective leadership" and in effect give up power to Novotný.

Portrait of Antonín Zápotocký: Nationaal Archief, CC0, file

Antonín Novotný

President of Czechoslovakia, 1957–1968

Following the death of Zápotocký in 1957, Novotný was named as President of the republic, further consolidating his grip on power. In the Czechoslovakia of Novotný, people continued to face strict government regulations in the arts and media, although they had loosened dramatically since Stalin's death in 1953 and the subsequent de-Stalinization programmes of 1956. An ardent hardliner, Novotný was forced to yield the reins of power to Alexander Dubček during the short-lived reform movement of 1968.

Portrait of Antonín Novotný: Pot, Harry, CC BY-SA 3.0 nl, file

Ludvík Svoboda

President of Czechoslovakia, 1968–1975

He signed an order preventing the Czechoslovak Army from getting involved with the invading Warsaw Pact troops. President Svoboda survived the removal of reformist Communists in Czechoslovakia in the aftermath of the Prague Spring, while passively witnessing the purges and the suffocation of the civil liberties that had briefly been restored. He even helped muzzle the press and contributed to Dubček's replacement with Gustáv Husák in April 1969.

Portrait of Ludvík Svoboda: Original photo taken by Stanislav Tereba, http://www.tereba.com/ The first derivated version by Fredy.00 This derivat..., CC BY-SA 3.0 cz, file

Gustáv Husák

President of Czechoslovakia, 1975–1989

Husák was soon appointed leader of the Communist Party and General Secretary in Dubček's place, and presided over the period of normalization, whereby the Czechoslovak government reestablished its ties to the Warsaw Pact and aimed to preserve stable communist governance while minimizing social unrest. Gustáv Husák, who replaced Dubček as First Secretary and also became President, reversed almost all of the reforms. Husák's resignation from leadership in 1987 did little to thwart the collapse of communist rule in the 1989 Velvet Revolution.

Portrait of Gustáv Husák: http://kalendarakcii.bratislava.sk/vismo/akce.asp?id_org=700021&id=4789&p1=7765 http://zpravy.idnes.cz/foto.aspx?foto..., CC BY-SA 3.0, file

Václav Havel

President of Czechoslovakia, 1989–1992

On 29 December 1989, Havel became President of Czechoslovakia by a unanimous vote of the Federal Assembly. In 1990, Czechoslovakia held its first free elections in 44 years, resulting in a sweeping victory for Civic Forum and its Slovak counterpart, Public Against Violence. He also extended general amnesty as one of his first acts as president, in an attempt to lessen the pressure in overcrowded prisons as well as to release political prisoners and persons who may have been falsely imprisoned during the Communist era.

Portrait of Václav Havel: Kingkongphoto & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel Maryland, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, file

Culture

Party purges occurred throughout the Eastern Bloc, including a purge of 550,000 party members of the KSČ, 30% of its members. Slánský and eleven others were convicted together in one series of show trials, after which they were executed.
During the Communist period, the country was part of the Iron Curtain. Emigration without permission was banned, and people could be shot while trying to escape.
Human rights activists and religious activists were severely repressed. The 1970s saw the rise of the dissident movement in Czechoslovakia, represented, among others, by Václav Havel.
The Prague Spring reforms were an 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.

Picture

The Prague Spring was a period of political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic that continued until 21 August 1968, when the Soviet Union and four other Warsaw Pact members invaded the country to suppress the reforms.

Image: The Central Intelligence Agency, Public domain, file

Sources

Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.