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Czechoslovak Socialist Republic

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The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic,[a] known from 1948 to 1960 as the Czechoslovak Republic,[b] Fourth Czechoslovak Republic, or simply Czechoslovakia, 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.[3]

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
The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in 1989
StatusSatellite state of the Soviet Union and member of the Warsaw Pact
Capital
and largest city
Prague
50°05′N 14°25′E / 50.083°N 14.417°E / 50.083; 14.417
Official languages
Religion
Demonym(s)Czechoslovak, Czechoslovakian
Government
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
LegislatureNational Assembly
(1948–1969)
Federal Assembly
(1969–1990)
Historical eraCold 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)Steady 0.931[1]
very high
CurrencyCzechoslovak koruna (Kčs)
Drives onright
Calling code42
Internet TLD.cs
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Third Czechoslovak Republic
Czech and Slovak Federative Republic
Today part of
  • a. ^ All permanent non-Soviet members of the Warsaw Pact, except Romania, were "European colonies".[2]

Following the coup d'état of February 1948, when the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia seized power with the support of the Soviet Union, the country was declared a socialist republic when the Ninth-of-May Constitution became effective. The traditional name Československá republika (Czechoslovak Republic), along with several other state symbols, were changed on 11 July 1960 following the implementation of the 1960 Constitution of Czechoslovakia as a symbol of the "final victory of socialism" in the country.

In April 1990, shortly after the Velvet Revolution of November 1989, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was renamed to the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic. On 10 December 1989, the National Government of Understanding was established with Marián Čalfa as Prime Minister, replacing a Ladislav Adamec led communist government, with a cabinet in which the Communist 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 the Civic Forum claimed victory, and a new government was formed on 27 June by Prime Minister Čalfa which led the government until its end.

Name

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The official name of the country was the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. The name also means "Land of the Czechs and Slovaks" while Latinised from the country's original name – "the Czechoslovak Nation"[4] – upon independence in 1918, from the Czech endonym Češi – via its Polish orthography[5]

The name "Czech" derives from the Czech endonym Češi via Polish,[5] from the archaic Czech Čechové, originally the name of the West Slavic tribe whose Přemyslid dynasty subdued its neighbors in Bohemia around AD 900. Its further etymology is disputed. The traditional etymology derives it from an eponymous leader Čech who led the tribe into Bohemia. Modern theories consider it an obscure derivative, e.g. from četa, a medieval military unit.[6] Meanwhile, the name "Slovak" was taken from the Slovaks. During the state's existence, it was simply referred to "Czechoslovakia", or sometimes the "ČSSR" and "ČSR" for short.

History

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Background

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Before the Prague Offensive in 1945, Edvard Beneš, the Czechoslovak leader, agreed to Soviet leader Joseph Stalin's demands for unconditional agreement with Soviet foreign policy and the Beneš decrees.[7] While Beneš was not a Moscow cadre and several domestic reforms of other Eastern 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 a National Front of six parties. Because of the Communist Party's strength and Beneš's loyalty, unlike in other Central and Eastern European countries, USSR did not require Eastern Bloc politics or "reliable" cadres in Czechoslovak power positions, and the executive and legislative branches retained their traditional structures.[8] The Communists were the big winners in the 1946 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 taking Marshall Plan funds,[11] and the subsequent scolding of Communist parties by the Cominform at Szklarska Poręba in September 1947, Rudolf Slánský returned to Prague with a plan for the final seizure of power.[12] Thereafter, Soviet Ambassador Valerian Zorin arranged a communist coup d'état, followed by the occupation of non-Communist ministers' ministries, while the army was confined to barracks.[13]

 
Pro-Communist demonstrations before the coup d'état in 1948

On 25 February 1948, Beneš, fearful of civil 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 Minister Jan Masaryk, the only prominent Minister still left who was not either a Communist or fellow 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.

Czechoslovak Republic (1948–1960)

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After passage of the Ninth-of-May Constitution on 9 June 1948, the country became a People's Republic until 1960. Although it was not a completely Communist document, it was close enough to the Soviet model 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 the Eastern Bloc. On 11 July 1960, the 1960 Constitution of Czechoslovakia was promulgated, changing the name of the country from the "Czechoslovak Republic" to the "Czechoslovak Socialist Republic".

1968–1990

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Main articles: History of Czechoslovakia, History of Czechoslovakia (1948–1989), and History of Czechoslovakia (1989–1992)

In 20–21 August 1968 the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact. The invasion stopped Alexander Dubček's Prague Spring liberalisation reforms and strengthened the authoritarian wing of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ).

Except the Prague Spring in the late-1960s, Czechoslovakia was characterized by the absence of democracy and competitiveness of its Western European counterparts as part of the Cold War. In 1969, the country became a federative republic comprising the Czech Socialist Republic and Slovak Socialist Republic.

Under the federation, 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. The centralized political control of the Communist Party severely limited the effects of federalization.

The 1970s saw the rise of the dissident movement in Czechoslovakia, represented (among others) by Václav 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 of higher education to the dissident's children), police harassment and even prison time.

In late 1989, the country became a democracy again through the Velvet Revolution. In 1992, the Federal Assembly decided it would break up the country into the Czech Republic and Slovakia on 1 January 1993.

Geography

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The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was bounded on the west by West Germany and East Germany, on the north by Poland, on the east by the Soviet Union (via the Ukrainian SSR) and on the south by Hungary and Austria.

Politics

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Main article: Politics of Communist Czechoslovakia
Further information: Eastern Bloc politics

The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) led initially by First Secretary Klement Gottwald, held a monopoly on politics. Following the 1948 Tito–Stalin split, increased party purges occurred throughout the Eastern 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 various show trials, including those of Rudolf Slánský, Vladimír Clementis, Ladislav Novomeský and Gustáv Husák (Clementis was later executed).[18] Slánský and eleven others were convicted together of being "Trotskyist-zionist-titoist-bourgeois-nationalist traitors" in one series of show 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 as First Secretary of the KSČ from 1953 to 1968. Gustáv Husák was elected first secretary of KSČ in 1969 (changed to General 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 maintained cadre and nomenklatura 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.[21] The KSČ's nomenklatura lists were thought to contain 100,000 post listings.[21] The names of those that the party considered to be trustworthy enough to secure a nomenklatura post were compiled on the cadre list.[21]

Leaders of the Communist Party

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See also: List of presidents of Czechoslovakia and List of prime ministers of Czechoslovakia
 
Flag of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. After February 1948, the Communist Party became the only autonomous political entity in the country.
 
Presidential standard of Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (1960–1990),
Name Photo Title In office
Antonín Novotný   First Secretary 14 March 1953 – 5 January 1968
Alexander Dubček   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
as General Secretary 1971–1987

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

Foreign relations

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Communist-controlled Czechoslovakia was an active participant in the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon), Warsaw Pact, the UN and its specialized agencies, and Non-Aligned Movement; it was a signatory of conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Administrative divisions

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Main article: Administrative divisions of Czechoslovakia
 
Czechoslovakia in 1969

Economy

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Main article: Economy of Communist Czechoslovakia
Further information: Eastern Bloc economies
 
Obverse of the 100 Kčs banknote of the State Bank of Czechoslovakia dated 1989

The CSSR's economy was a centrally planned command economy with links controlled by the communist party, similar to the Soviet Union. It had a large metallurgical industry, but was dependent on imports for iron and nonferrous ores. Like the rest of the Eastern Bloc, producer goods were favored over consumer goods, and as a result consumer goods were lacking in quantity and quality. This resulted in a shortage 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]

  • Industry: extractive and manufacturing industries dominated this sector. Major branches included machinery, chemicals, food processing, metallurgy, and textiles. Industry was wasteful of energy, materials, and labor and slow to upgrade technology, but was a source of high-quality machinery and arms for other communist countries.
  • Agriculture: minor sector but supplied bulk of domestic food needs. Dependent on large imports of grains (mainly for livestock feed) in years of adverse weather. Meat production constrained by shortage of feed, but high per capita consumption of meat.
  • Foreign Trade: exports estimated at US$17.8 billion in 1985, of which 55% was machinery, 14% fuels and materials, and 16% manufactured consumer goods. Imports at estimated US$17.9 billion in 1985, of which 41% was fuels and materials, 33% machinery, and 12% agricultural and forestry products. In 1986, about 80% of foreign trade was with communist countries.
  • Exchange Rate: the official, or commercial, rate was Kcs 5.4 per US$1 in 1987, whereas the tourist, or noncommercial, rate was Kcs 10.5 per US$1. Neither rate reflected purchasing power. The exchange rate on the black market was around Kcs 30 per US$1, and this rate would become official once the currency became convertible in the early 1990s.
  • Fiscal Year: calendar year.
  • Fiscal Policy: state almost exclusive owner of means of production. Revenues from state enterprises primary source of revenues followed by turnover tax. Large budget expenditures on social programs, subsidies, and investments. Budget usually balanced or small surplus.

Resource base

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Main article: Resource base of Communist Czechoslovakia

After World War II, the country was short on energy, relying on imported crude oil and natural gas from the Soviet Union, domestic brown coal, and nuclear and hydroelectric energy. Energy constraints were a major factor in 1980s.

Demographics

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Society and social groups

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Main article: Society of Communist Czechoslovakia

Homosexuality was decriminalized in 1962.[26]

Religion

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Main article: Religion in Communist Czechoslovakia

Religion was oppressed and attacked in communist-era Czechoslovakia.[27] 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 – see Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Culture and society

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Health, social welfare and housing

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Main article: Health and Social Welfare in Communist Czechoslovakia

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.

Mass media

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Main article: Mass media in Communist Czechoslovakia
Further information: Eastern Bloc information dissemination

The mass media in Czechoslovakia was controlled by the Communist 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 were reviewed by the government's Office for Press and Information.

Military

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Main article: Czechoslovak People's Army

See also

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ Czech and Slovak: Československá socialistická republika, ČSSR
  2. ^ Czech and Slovak: Československá republika

Sources

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  1. ^ "Human Development Report 1990" (PDF). Human Development Reports.
  2. ^ Vladimir Tismaneanu, Marius Stan, Cambridge University Press, 17 May, 2018, Romania Confronts Its Communist Past: Democracy, Memory, and Moral Justice, p. 132
  3. ^ Rao, B. V. (2006), History of Modern Europe Ad 1789–2002: A.D. 1789–2002, Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
  4. ^ Masaryk, Tomáš. Czechoslovak Declaration of Independence. 1918.
  5. ^ a b Czech. CollinsDictionary.com. Collins English Dictionary – Complete & Unabridged 11th Edition. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
  6. ^ Online Etymology Dictionary. "Czech". Retrieved 11 February 2011.
  7. ^ a b Wettig 2008, p. 45
  8. ^ Wettig 2008, p. 86
  9. ^ Wettig 2008, p. 152
  10. ^ Wettig 2008, p. 110
  11. ^ Wettig 2008, p. 138
  12. ^ Grogin 2001, p. 134
  13. ^ Grenville 2005, p. 371
  14. ^ Grenville 2005, pp. 370–371
  15. ^ Grogin 2001, pp. 134–135
  16. ^ Saxonberg 2001, p. 15
  17. ^ Grogin 2001, p. 135
  18. ^ a b c Crampton 1997, p. 262
  19. ^ Bideleux & Jeffries 2007, p. 477
  20. ^ Crampton 1997, p. 270
  21. ^ a b c Crampton 1997, p. 249
  22. ^ Dale 2005, p. 85
  23. ^ Bideleux & Jeffries 2007, p. 474
  24. ^ Hardt & Kaufman 1995, p. 17
  25. ^ Chris Harman, A People's History of the World, 1999, p 625
  26. ^ "Vers la décriminalisation de l'homosexualité sous le communisme". February 2017.
  27. ^ Catholics in Communist Czechoslovakia: A Story of Persecution and Perseverance

References

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  • Bideleux, Robert; Jeffries, Ian (2007), A History of Eastern Europe: Crisis and Change, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-36626-7
  • Black, Cyril E.; English, Robert D.; Helmreich, Jonathan E.; McAdams, James A. (2000), Rebirth: A Political History of Europe since World War II, Westview Press, ISBN 0-8133-3664-3
  • Crampton, R. J. (1997), Eastern Europe in the twentieth century and after, Routledge, ISBN 0-415-16422-2
  • Dale, Gareth (2005), Popular Protest in East Germany, 1945–1989: Judgements on the Street, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-7146-5408-9
  • Frucht, Richard C. (2003), Encyclopedia of Eastern Europe: From the Congress of Vienna to the Fall of Communism, Taylor & Francis Group, ISBN 0-203-80109-1
  • Grenville, John Ashley Soames (2005), A History of the World from the 20th to the 21st Century, Routledge, ISBN 0-415-28954-8
  • Grenville, John Ashley Soames; Wasserstein, Bernard (2001), The Major International Treaties of the Twentieth Century: A History and Guide with Texts, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 0-415-23798-X
  • Grogin, Robert C. (2001), Natural Enemies: The United States and the Soviet Union in the Cold War, 1917–1991, Lexington Books, ISBN 0-7391-0160-9
  • Hardt, John Pearce; Kaufman, Richard F. (1995), East-Central European Economies in Transition, M.E. Sharpe, ISBN 1-56324-612-0
  • Saxonberg, Steven (2001), The Fall: A Comparative Study of the End of Communism in Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary and Poland, Routledge, ISBN 90-5823-097-X
  • Wettig, Gerhard (2008), Stalin and the Cold War in Europe, Rowman & Littlefield, ISBN 978-0-7425-5542-6
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