 | This article has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
|
Czechoslovak Republic (1948–1960) Československá republika Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (1960–1990) Československá socialistická republika | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1948–1990 | |||||||||
| Motto: Pravda vítězí /Pravda víťazí "Truth prevails" | |||||||||
| Anthem: 'Kde domov můj' (Czech) 'Where my home is' 'Nad Tatrou sa blýska' (Slovak) 'Lightning Over the Tatras' | |||||||||
 The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in 1989 | |||||||||
| Status | Satellite state of theSoviet Union (Until 1989) and member of theWarsaw Pact | ||||||||
| Capital and largest city | Prague 50°05′N14°25′E / 50.083°N 14.417°E /50.083; 14.417 | ||||||||
| Official languages | |||||||||
| Religion |
| ||||||||
| Demonyms | Czechoslovak,Czechoslovakian | ||||||||
| Government | Communist state | ||||||||
| General Secretary | |||||||||
• 1948–1953 | Klement Gottwald | ||||||||
• 1953–1968 | Antonín Novotný | ||||||||
• 1968–1969 | Alexander Dubček | ||||||||
• 1969–1987 | Gustáv Husák | ||||||||
• 1987–1989 | Miloš Jakeš | ||||||||
• 1989 | Karel Urbánek | ||||||||
• 1989–1990 | Ladislav Adamec | ||||||||
| President | |||||||||
• 1948–1953 (first) | Klement Gottwald | ||||||||
• 1989–1990 (last) | Václav Havel | ||||||||
| Prime Minister | |||||||||
• 1948–1953 (first) | Antonín Zápotocký | ||||||||
• 1989–1990 (last) | Marián Čalfa | ||||||||
| Legislature | National Assembly (1948–1969) Federal Assembly (1969–1990) | ||||||||
| Historical era | Cold War | ||||||||
| 25 February 1948 | |||||||||
| 9 May 1948 | |||||||||
| 11 July 1960 | |||||||||
| 21 August 1968 | |||||||||
| 1 January 1969 | |||||||||
| 24 November 1989 | |||||||||
| 23 April 1990 | |||||||||
• End of the Government of National Understanding | 27 June 1990 | ||||||||
| Area | |||||||||
• Total | 127,900 km2 (49,400 sq mi) | ||||||||
| Population | |||||||||
• 1986 estimate | 15,600,000 | ||||||||
| HDI (1990 formula) |  0.931[1]very high | ||||||||
| Currency | Czechoslovak koruna (Kčs) | ||||||||
| Calling code | 42 | ||||||||
| Internet TLD | .cs | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Part of a series on the |
| Czechoslovak Socialist Republic |
|---|
.svg) |
TheCzechoslovak Socialist Republic, (Czech andSlovak:Československá socialistická republika, ČSSR) known from 1948 to 1960 as theCzechoslovak Republic (Československá republika),Fourth Czechoslovak Republic, or simplyCzechoslovakia, was theCzechoslovak state from 1948 until 1989, when the country was undercommunist rule, and was regarded as asatellite state in theSoviet sphere of interest.[3]
Following thecoup d'état of February 1948, when theCommunist Party of Czechoslovakia seized power with the support of the Soviet Union, the country was declared a "people's democratic state" when theNinth-of-May Constitution became effective. The traditional nameČeskoslovenská republika (Czechoslovak Republic), along with several other state symbols, were changed on 11 July 1960 following the implementation of the1960 Constitution of Czechoslovakia as a symbol of the "final victory ofsocialism" in the country.
In April 1990, shortly after theVelvet Revolution, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was renamed to theCzech and Slovak Federative Republic. On 10 December 1989, the National Government of Understanding was established withMarián Čalfa as Prime Minister, replacing aLadislav Adamec led communist government, with a cabinet in which theCommunist Party of Czechoslovakia held 10 of 21 seats, compared with the 15 of 20 seats they had held in the previous cabinet. The Communist Party continued to hold a strong plurality in government until democratic elections in June 1990 where theCivic Forum claimed victory, and a new government was formed on 27 June by Prime Minister Čalfa which led the government until its end.
The official name of the country was theCzechoslovak Socialist Republic. The name also means "Land of theCzechs andSlovaks" whileLatinised from the country's original name – "the Czechoslovak Nation"[4] – upon independence in 1918, from theCzech endonymČeši – via itsPolish orthography.[5]
The name "Czech" derives from theCzech endonymČeši viaPolish,[5] from the archaic CzechČechové, originally the name of theWest Slavic tribe whosePřemyslid dynasty subdued its neighbors inBohemia around AD 900. Its further etymology is disputed. Thetraditional etymology derives it from an eponymous leaderČech who led the tribe intoBohemia. Modern theories consider it an obscure derivative, e.g. fromčeta, a medieval military unit.[6] Meanwhile, the name "Slovak" was taken from theSlovaks. During the state's existence, it was simply referred to "Czechoslovakia", or sometimes the "ČSSR" and "ČSR" for short.
| Eastern Bloc | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||||||
Allied and satellite states
| ||||||||
| ||||||||
Cold War events
| ||||||||
Before thePrague Offensive in 1945,Edvard Beneš, the Czechoslovak leader, agreed to Soviet leaderJoseph Stalin's demands for unconditional agreement withSoviet foreign policy and theBeneš decrees. While Beneš was not a Moscow cadre and several domestic reforms of otherEastern Bloc countries were not part of Beneš's plan, Stalin did not object because the plan included property expropriation and he was satisfied with the relative strength of communists in Czechoslovakia compared to other Eastern Bloc countries.[7]
In April 1945, the Third Republic was formed, led by aNational Front of six parties. Because of theCommunist Party's strength and Beneš's loyalty, unlike in otherCentral and Eastern European countries, USSR did not requireEastern Bloc politics or "reliable" cadres in Czechoslovak power positions, and the executive and legislative organs retained their traditional structures.[8] The Communists were the big winners in the1946 elections, taking a total of 114 seats (they ran a separate list in Slovakia). Thereafter, the Soviet Union was disappointed that the government failed to eliminate "bourgeois" influence in the army, expropriate industrialists and large landowners and eliminate parties outside of the "National Front".[9] Hope in Moscow was waning for a Communist victory in the 1948 elections following a May 1947 Kremlin report concluding that "reactionary elements" praising Western democracy had strengthened.[10]
Following Czechoslovakia's brief consideration of takingMarshall Plan funds,[11] and the subsequent scolding of Communist parties by theCominform atSzklarska Poręba in September 1947,Rudolf Slánský returned toPrague with a plan for the final seizure of power.[12] Thereafter, Soviet AmbassadorValerian Zorin arranged acommunist coup d'état, followed by the occupation of non-Communist ministers' ministries, while the army was confined to barracks.[13]
On 25 February 1948, Beneš, fearful ofcivil war and Soviet intervention, capitulated and appointed a Communist-dominated government who was sworn in two days later. Although members of the other National Front parties still nominally figured, this was, for all intents and purposes, the start of out-and-out Communist rule in the country.[14][15][16] Foreign MinisterJan Masaryk, the only prominent Minister still left who was not either a Communist orfellow traveler, was found dead two weeks later.[17] On 30 May, a single list of candidates from the National Front, which became an organization dominated by the Communist Party, was elected to the National Assembly.
After the passage of theNinth-of-May Constitution on 9 June 1948, the country was reconstituted as a "people's democratic state." Although the Ninth-of-May Constitution was superficially similar to the 1920 independence constitution, it was close enough to the1936 Soviet Constitution that Beneš refused to sign it. He had resigned a week before it was finally ratified, and died in September. The Ninth-of-May Constitution confirmed that the KSČ possessed absolute power, as other Communist parties had in theEastern Bloc. On 11 July 1960, the1960 Constitution of Czechoslovakia was promulgated, changing the name of the country from the "Czechoslovak Republic" to the "Czechoslovak Socialist Republic". It declared Czechoslovakia to be asocialist state led by the KSČ, codifying the actual state of affairs since 1948.
In 20–21 August 1968 the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by the Soviet Union andWarsaw Pact. The invasion stoppedAlexander Dubček's Prague Spring liberalisation reforms and strengthened the authoritarian wing of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ).
Except thePrague Spring in the late-1960s, Czechoslovakia was characterized by the absence of democracy and competitiveness of its Western European counterparts as part of theCold War. In 1969, the country became a federative republic comprising theCzech Socialist Republic andSlovak Socialist Republic.
Under thefederation, social and economic inequities between the Czech and Slovak halves of the country were largely eliminated. Several ministries, such as Education, were formally transferred to the two republics. Thecentralized political control of the Communist Party severely limited the effects offederalization.
The 1970s saw the rise of thedissident movement in Czechoslovakia, represented (among others) byVáclav Havel. The movement sought greater political participation and expression in the face of official disapproval, making itself felt by limits on work activities (up to a ban on any professional employment and refusal ofhigher education to the dissident's children), police harassment and even prison time.
In late 1989, the country became ademocracy again through theVelvet Revolution. In 1992, theFederal Assembly decided it wouldbreak up the country into theCzech Republic andSlovakia on 1 January 1993.
The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was bounded on the west byWest Germany andEast Germany, on the north by Poland, on the east by the Soviet Union (via theUkrainian SSR) and on the south byHungary and Austria.
TheCommunist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) led initially by First SecretaryKlement Gottwald, held a monopoly on politics. Following the 1948Tito–Stalin split, increased party purges occurred throughout theEastern Bloc, including a purge of 550,000 party members of the KSČ, 30% of its members.[18][19]
The evolution of the resulting harshness of purges in Czechoslovakia, like much of its history after 1948, was a function of the late takeover by the communists, with many of the purges focusing on the sizable numbers of party members with prior memberships in other parties.[20] The purges accompanied variousshow trials, including those ofRudolf Slánský,Vladimír Clementis, Ladislav Novomeský andGustáv Husák (Clementis was later executed). Slánský and eleven others were convicted together of being "Trotskyist-zionist-titoist-bourgeois-nationalist traitors" in one series ofshow trials, after which they were executed and their ashes were mixed with material being used to fill roads on the outskirts of Prague.[18]
Antonín Novotný served asFirst Secretary of the KSČ from 1953 to 1968.Gustáv Husák was elected first secretary of KSČ in 1969 (changed toGeneral Secretary in 1971) and president of Czechoslovakia in 1975. Other parties and organizations existed but functioned in subordinate roles to KSČ. All political parties, as well as numerous mass organizations, were grouped under the umbrella of National Front of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. Human rights activists and religious activists were severely repressed.
In terms of political appointments, the KSČ maintainedcadre andnomenklatura lists, with the latter containing every post that was important to the smooth application of party policy, including military posts, administrative positions, directors of local enterprises, social organization administrators, newspapers, etc. The KSČ'snomenklatura lists were thought to contain 100,000 post listings. The names of those that the party considered to be trustworthy enough to secure anomenklatura post were compiled on thecadre list.[21]
.svg)
| Name | Photo | Title | In office |
|---|---|---|---|
| Antonín Novotný |  | First Secretary | 14 March 1953 – 5 January 1968 |
| Alexander Dubček | .jpg) | First Secretary | 5 January 1968 – 17 April 1969 |
| Gustáv Husák |  | First Secretary / General Secretary | 17 April 1969 – 17 December 1987 as First Secretary 1969–1971 |
| Miloš Jakeš |  | General Secretary | 17 December 1987 – 24 November 1989 |
| Karel Urbánek | General Secretary | 24 November 1989 – 20 December 1989 | |
| Ladislav Adamec | Chairman | 21 December 1989 – 1 September 1990 |
Communist-controlled Czechoslovakia was an active participant in the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon),Warsaw Pact, theUN and its specialized agencies, andNon-Aligned Movement; it was a signatory ofconference on Security and Cooperation in Europe.
The CSSR's economy was a centrally plannedcommand economy with links controlled by the communist party, similar to theSoviet Union. It had a largemetallurgical industry, but was dependent on imports foriron and nonferrous ores. Like the rest of the Eastern Bloc,producer goods were favored overconsumer goods, and as a result consumer goods were lacking in quantity and quality. This resulted in ashortage economy.[22][23] Economic growth rates lagged well behind Czechoslovakia's western European counterparts.[24] Investments made in industry did not yield the results expected, and consumption of energy and raw materials was excessive. Czechoslovak leaders themselves decried the economy's failure to modernize with sufficient speed.
In the 1950s, Czechoslovakia experienced high economic growth (averaging 7% per year), which allowed for a substantial increase in wages and living standards, thus promoting the stability of the regime.[25]
After World War II, the country was short on energy, relying on importedcrude oil andnatural gas from the Soviet Union, domesticbrown coal, andnuclear andhydroelectric energy. Energy constraints were a major factor in 1980s.
Homosexuality was decriminalized in 1962.[26]
Religion was oppressed and attacked in communist-era Czechoslovakia.[27] In 1950 the government executedOperations K and R dismantle monastic life confiscate ecclesiastical property, and bring religious institutions under strict state control.[28][29] Later during the 1950s more than 6,000 religious people (some old and sick) received prison sentences averaging more than five years apiece. Between 1948 and 1968, the number of priests declined by half, and half the remaining clergy were over sixty years of age.[30] In 1991, 46.4% of Czechoslovaks were Roman Catholics, 29.5% were atheists, 5.3% were Evangelical Lutherans, and 16.7% were n/a, but there were huge differences between the 2 constituent republics – seeCzech Republic andSlovakia.
After World War II, free health care was available to all citizens. National health planning emphasized preventive medicine; factory and local health-care centers supplemented hospitals and other inpatient institutions. Substantial improvement in rural health care occurred in the 1960s and 1970s.
The mass media in Czechoslovakia was controlled by theCommunist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ). Private ownership of any publication or agency of the mass media was generally forbidden, although churches and other organizations published small periodicals and newspapers. Even with this informational monopoly in the hands of organizations under KSČ control, all publications werereviewed by the government's Office for Press and Information.
Part ofa series on the | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| History ofCzechoslovakia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
.svg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Links to related articles | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
