In 1948, Czechoslovakia’s democratic government was seized by pro-Soviet communists and was run as a Stalinist state until 1964. Around this time, both students and all Intellectuals began protesting for reforms. These reforms consisted of the improvement of education and removal of censorship.
Four years later in 1968, First Secretary Antonin Novotny was replaced by Alexander Dubcek, as the political and economic issues had become critical. Dubcek was adamant about bringing forth democracy to the country. Dubecks ultimate goal was to create communism with a human face. One of Dubecks first actions was instating the “Action Program.” The action program was, “a humanistic socialist democracy which would guarantee, among other things, freedom of religion, press, assembly, speech, and travel.” The new wave of freedom and liberation in the country became
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They viewed these reforms as the collapse of communism, so the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev warned Dubcek to put an end to the democratic reforms. Brezhnev also pressured the leadership to regain control of the press and to end the Prague Spring. Dubcek resisted these threats, and the Soviet Union responded with violence. On August 20, 1968, 600,000 Warsaw Pact troops invaded, and student protestors were no match. The Warsaw Pact Nations that invaded included Russia, Hungary, Bulgaria, East Germany, and Poland. The troops took control of all media stations, leaving the Czechoslovakians without much freedom of speech. The secret police persecuted the populace, causing the public to fear the idea of openly supporting the protestors. Demonstrations continued to occur, despite the fact that hundreds of demonstrators were being shot by Warsaw Pact troops. Dubcek and other leaders were taken to Moscow and detained, while Gustav Husak - a “realist” willing to comply with the Soviets - took his seat in
Tucker, Robert C. "Stalinism as Revolution from Above". Stalinism. Edited by Robert C. Tucker. New York: American Council of Learned Societies, 1999.
During the 20th century, the rise of communism sparked rage in people throughout the world. More towards the end of the 1900's the fall of communism and dictatorships was just the beginning of what would eventually be a large democratic change for several countries. 1989: Democratic Revolutions at the Cold War's End, speaks about the change brought to several different countries from the 1980's-1990's and plans to show "the global transformations that marked the end of the cold war and shaped the era in which we live"(Pg V). During the cold war, communist had power and control over a large area and spread communism throughout several continents. This book specifically hits on six different studies of where communism and dictatorship affected these areas and what they did to stop it. Poland, Philippines, Chile, South Africa, Ukraine, and China throughout the end of the 20th century created revolutionary movements which brought them all one step closer to freeing themselves and creating democratic change.
“ The constitution promised the Soviets freedom of speech, conscious, press, assembly, and demonstrations in conformity with the interest of the working people and in order to strengthen the socialist system.”20 In fact the Soviet people never saw any of these rights. The Constitutional rights could only be used to support the regime, not to criticize it.
Originally platformed by Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin took control of the communist party in 1924 when Lenin died of a stroke. Communist ideals were heavily in opposition to classical liberal values; Whereas Liberalism stressed the importance of the individual, Communism sought to better the greater good of society by stripping many of the individual rights and freedoms of citizens. Communism revoked the class structure of society and created a universal equality for all. This equality came with a price however. Any who opposed the communist rule were assassinated in order to keep order within society. Joseph Stalin took this matter to the extreme during an event known as the Great Purge. The Great Purge, also known as The Great Terror, began in 1936 and concluded in 1938. During these two years, millions of people were murdered and sent to labour camps in Siberia for opposing the Communist party and the ultimate dictator, Stalin himself. In some cases, even those who did not oppose the regime were killed. Sergey Kirov was a very popular member of the communist party and Stalin saw this as a possible threat to his ultimate power. As a result, Stalin order Kirov to be executed. Stalin furthered his violation of individual rights by introducing the NKVD who worked closely with the russian secret police force. One of the primary goals of the secret police was to search out dissidents who were not entirely faithful to the communist regime. This violation of privacy caused histeria en mass in the Soviet Union and millions were killed as a result. The Soviet union resisted liberalism to such an extreme that it resulted in the deaths of millions of people, leading to some of the darkest days in russian
‘The provisional government was brought down with barely a shot fired.... ... middle of paper ... ... It was hugely significant as Trotsky’s failure to pursue the leadership of the communist party with any great intent saw Stalin rise to power and ‘old bolshevism’ fall and was the dawn of a new era for the communist party in Russia.
The Brezhnev Doctrine was how Leonid Brezhnev reversed Khrushchev's De-Stalinization reform. This allowed him to intervene into any nation that was socialist and at risk of losing its socialist status. The result was a series of interventions, including a crackdown on Dubcek’s attempt to spread communism via the Prague Spring. This ultimately resulted in the Soviet Union asserting stronger influence over its European satellites.
Khrushchev had reinforced his position because before the revolt many people in Russia thought that Khrushchev was a bit weak hearted and was afraid to order the deaths of thousands of people, this was mainly because of the way he had treated Poland, however now that Khrushchev had shown that he was not afraid he earned a new respect from many older communists. This also showed the West that despite Stalin’s death the USSR was still determined to keep Eastern Europe under Soviet control. The consequences for Hungary Hungary suffered terribly as a result of the rebellion. Up to 30,000 of their countrymen had died, and at least 200,000 had fled to the surrounding countries. Nagy (the leader of the Hungarians during the revolt) had retreated to the Yugoslavian embassy and was tricked into coming out of it, he was then arrested be the AVO deported to Russia where he was put on ‘trial’ and then hung.
In the fall of 1989, people all around the world were watching unbelievable scenes on their televisions. Thousands of people in eastern Europe were meeting in the streets and squares and demanding the end of the communist rule. For the first time in history, opposition to communism was publically voiced. Barbed wire border fences in Hungary were being torn down. East Germans were fleeing to the West. Overnight the Berlin wall collapsed. The start of these historical events was the Polish Revolution of 1989.
The new American President, Eisenhower, was actually. prepared to support a new independent Hungary. In Czechoslovakia however, current leader Dubcek, new the outcomes of. the Hungarian revolt and so did not want to make the same mistake. He specifically told the Soviet leader Brezhnev, that the Czechs have no intention in leaving the Warsaw Pact as the Hungarians did but less.
In 1968, the Soviet Union along with several Warsaw Pact allies invaded Czechoslovakia with the intention of re-establishing a full communist government. The reason for the invasion was mainly due to “Prague Spring” – the period of great hope for the Czech people led by the reform movement against the hard-line policies of the Czech and Soviet governments. The main justification given by Soviet Premier Brezhnev regarding the attack was that the USSR, a communist nation itself, had an obligation to stop anything that poses a threat to established communism in any country. This came to be known as the “Brezhnev Doctrine”, and was seen as a clear warning to other eastern European countries. This example is one of many in history that has raised the issue of whether or not great nations are justified in exerting influence over the affairs of lesser states.
This essay will concentrate on the comparison and analysis of two communist figures: Mao Zedong, leader of the Communist Party in China, and Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union. The main focus of this paper will be to explore each figure’s world view in depth and then compare and contrast by showing their differences and similarities.
The main concern of the new government was the transformation of Czechoslovakia from a state-controlled to a free market economy (Embassy of the Slovak Republic). Disputes arose between the two republics about reform process which focused on privatization, the encouragement of foreign investment, policy of macro-economic stabilization, price liberalization, and liberalization of foreign trade (Slovakia.Org, “20th Century”). The Czech Republic was more economically developed than the industrial-based economy of Slovakia (Slovakia.Org, “20th Century”). The transition to a market economy left the Slovak Republic to endure greater economic hardships than the Czech Republic (Sovakia.Org, “20th Century”). For example, the federal government chose to dramatically cut the country’s defense industry, resulting in a large decrease in industrial production and a large rise in unemployment in Slovakia (Slovakia.Org, “Slovak Economy”). This took place because the economy that rose out of the communist era in Slovakia was based on industrial production, particularly on weapons and military equipment (Slovakia.Org, “Slovak Economy”).
Dubcek immediately started trying to reform all aspects of the culture. There were many different reforms that he tried putting into effect. He strived for free speech, economic experimentation, open borders, and open debate in the political aspect of the country. The reforms specifically included liberalization of the country's repressive political environment, highly regimented economic system, and overly centralized administrative system, which has been come to know as the Prague Spring (Goldman 123). Also at this time, Czechoslovakia's culture consisted of artists, writers, jazz clubs, and other cultures of the West were very popular in Prague. Dubcek described it as creating "socialism with a human face" (www.wikipedia.com).
"The Velvet Revolution: A Peaceful End to Communism in Czechoslovakia." Tavaana. E-Collaborative for Civic Education, n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2014.
Janos, Andrew C. “What was Communism: A Retrospective in Comparative Analysis.” Communist and Post- Communist Studies Volume 29 (1996): 1-24. Print.