The Czech republic has a history of democratic pluralism which existed prior to the period of communist rule. During the inter-war years, the republic resisted the trends of right wing dictatorships which spread throughout the region and affected nearby states such as Germany and Poland, and instead maintained the democratic tradition. Though there were emerging right wing forces asserting themselves within the country, such as the Sudetenland Germans, these internal forces did not by themselves prove to be enough to totally erode the tradition of parliamentary democracy established by Jan Masaryk in 1918, when the Czechoslovak republic was founded.
However, like much of Europe in the inter-war period, Czechoslovakia was plagued by ethnic divisions. The northern area known as the Sudetenland had a large German population, and this German minority identified itself with the Nazi regime of neighboring Germany. In addition, political disputes centred around the question of power sharing existed between the Czechs and the Slovaks; two ethnic groups which had different historical, cultural and linguistic traditions. The Czechs have a rich history of protestant Christianity tracing back to the famed Jan Hus, as well as a more industrialised economic structure than their Slovak brothers. Though the Czechs and Slovaks had successfully shared Czechoslovakia during the inter-war period, the years leading up to World War 2 was a time of strained relations between these two groups.
The Czechoslovak republic was the most economically developed nation in Eastern Europe in the years before the Second World War. Developments in light industry, as well as arms production and engineering led the growth of the Czechoslovak economy. Most sources state that not only was the Czechoslovak economy the most developed in the region, but was the 10th strongest economy in the world. This high degree of economic development translated into a high standard of living for the bulk of the population. Within the larger regional context the Czech republic was a fully independent nation in all respects, and was not politically or economically dominated by it's neighbors. The country was integrated to the larger regional and international community through trade relations, and enjoyed relatively stable diplomatic relations with nearby states.
German aggression to the north placed all of these achievements in jeopardy. The signing of the Munich agreement on September 30, 1938 changed the course of Czech history. The story behind this agreement is a long and complex one, but several concrete outcomes for the republic can be identified. It strengthened ethnic claims of identity and resulted in the separation Czechoslovakia into its component Czech and Slovak areas, each made a German protectorate independent of one another. It also crushed the democratic tradition within the country, as left-wing political parties such as the communists which had previously enjoyed legality, found themselves forced into the underground of illegality. It also left a deep scar on the political consciousness of the Czech people. The Munich agreement was made by the great powers, and nations which had been allied to Czechoslovakia had signed away its freedom. Czechoslovakia itself had no formal input into this process, and emerged feeling betrayed. The war years were harsh on the Czech protectorate, as the Czech people were made to assimilate to German politics and culture or be forcibly migrated. The democratically elected government led by Eduard Benes fled in exile to London, where it fought to support the home resistance and assert Czechoslovak independence after the war had ended.
As a result of the German defeat, the Czechoslovak republic was liberated by the efforts of the Soviet army. Though the Americans did liberate a small western portion of the country, it was the Soviet effort which effectively removed the German protectorate. The result of the liberation was not the institution of a communist regime like in many other East European states, but the re-instigation of the pre-war democratic government. While in exile Benes had met with the Soviets on many occasions to negotiate the terms of liberation, and these efforts must have impacted the Soviet pattern of liberation in the country. Another factor which had an effect was the pattern of plural democracy which had existed prior to German domination. The democracy of inter-war Czechoslovakia was the only country in the region which had maintained the legality of the communist party. It was a political climate which had always respected the legitimacy of communist ideas. The Czech communist party had been a leading force of the local resistance effort during the war, and had gained much popularity from these efforts. These are some factors which made the Soviets more secure and confident of their position in Czechoslovakia
The government of post-war Czechoslovakia held its first election on May 26, 1946. The communist party won 38% of the national vote, empowering them with the premiership and the most parliamentary seats in a coalition government. Initially Czechoslovakia was treated as a test case for a democratic, internally founded communist government. Unfortunately, Stalin scolded the Czech Communist Party harshly over the next two years for following a soft line of national communism. In the years leading up to 1948 the Czech Communist Party gradually gained control of the police and secret services, as well as extending it's formal political power. In response to this centralization of control by the communists, all members of government who were not communists or Social Democrats resigned in protest. This event was not answered by reform, but by replacing the empty positions with loyal communists and dependable sympathizers. With complete control over the political apparatus as well as control over the coercive forces of the police and military, the communist seizure of power was complete. During this two year period there was an effort to adapt the policies of the Czechoslovak communist government to the concerns and wishes of Stalinist Russia. While it had been a legal and bloodless victory, the implicit threat of coercive force embodied by control of the police, and unresponsiveness to democratic procedure, made the test case of Czechoslovakian democratic communism a failure.
Although the democratic and developed history of Czechoslovakia would lead one to believe that communism was perhaps less harsh in this country than in others, the opposite thesis proves to be true. Two important developments during the period of communist rule exemplify the harsh and brutal nature of Czechoslovakian communism.
The first of these developments began in the early 1950's, when Stalin was preoccupied with consolidating his power in Eastern Europe, and had begun the series of purge trials to combat the spread of a variety of different Titoist forms of nationalist communism. The year 1951 was a particularly harsh year economically, and to both resolve internal power struggles within the party and provide a scapegoat to present economic conditions the Slansky trials began. Rudolf Slansky was the secretary general of the party, and had come into increasing conflict with the President Klement Gottwald. Slansky was also a jew, which gave Stalin and his supporters a traditional scapegoat. After having been tortured for an unknown period of time, Slansky and thirteen others provided coerced confessions which allowed for a verdict of guilt. Slansky and ten others were hung, while three others escaped with life imprisonment. Over 275 others became victims of the fallout from these trials. What these trials achieved was the elimination of political opposition within the party, allowing Gottwald to steer the country fully along the route of Stalinist central policy. The trials in Czechoslovakia in the early 1950's have been called the bloodiest purges in Eastern Europe, and created a regime of terror unmatched in the region.
A second major event which shows the nature of Czechoslovak communism occurred more than a decade later, in the spring of 1968. What is often called the Prague Spring is an event unique in the Eastern Bloc. In January of that year a change in the leadership of the Czechoslovak found Alexander Dubcek as the party secretary. Dubcek and his team drastically altered the nature of communism in the country, and attempted to create what they called 'socialism with a human face'. Prior to this effort Czechoslovak society was a closed society, with every sphere of life firmly dominated by the communist party. It did not deviate from the Stalinist model of societal control and deference to Moscow that existed in the East European region. Dubcek initiated initiatives which attempted to open public debate and make amends for the terror associated with the regime since the Slansky trials. Open public debate was begun in the spring of 1968, and censorship was formally abolished in June. Officials mixed with the public, accepting criticism without retaliation, and a presidential amnesty proclaimed on May 9. These reformist measures were not immediately suppressed by Moscow, but by late August the movement was crushed by the Red Army. Though it was not a bloody struggle all the reforms were reversed and a new period of closure and control began in Czechoslovakia. The Soviet Union was unwilling to risk a loss of control over Czechoslovakia or to risk the spread of such a movement to other nations in the Eastern Bloc.
The iron curtain remained in place for the next twenty years, behind which a program known as normalization had been put in place. Normalization re-established party control over society and entrenched Czechoslovakia in the regional bloc centred around Moscow. It was a sharp return to Stalinist policies, and remained in place throughout the 1970's and early 80's. The achievements of this regime must all be viewed as regressive, in each of the political, environmental and economic spheres. Once the communist regime fell in 1989 the degree of this destruction became evident to Czechs and the outside world. Politically the communist period had suppressed civil society to a point of non-existence, fundamentally harming the democratic historical traditions of the country and people. Environmental pollution in Czechoslovakia was staggering, with 15 million Czechs producing twice as much airborne pollutants than 60 million East Germans. The health of the people likewise suffered in this poisonous environment. Economically, the country that had once been the 10th strongest economy in the world was now almost pathetically weak. Though in a much better economic position that most of its Eastern Bloc neighbors, the Czech economy had been removed to the margins of the international economy, and still relied heavily on inter-bloc trade relationships.
The revolution in Czechoslovakia which ended the communist regime was the quickest in Eastern Europe. It was neither bloody, nor drawn out. Prior to the actual removal of the communist government, covert dissent had been growing within the population. A mass movement which also united a political vanguard of pro-democracy leaders known as the Civic Forum had materialized under the communist regime in the late 1980's. Though open call for reform had not occurred since the Prague Spring of 1968, many argue that it was the preparations made by Civic Forum leaders that were responsible for the smooth and quick transformation of the Czechoslovak government. These internal conditions of dissent were accompanied by external factors which aided the revolution. The Soviets had issued a statement which openly apologized for the martial nature of the suppression of the Prague Spring in 1968, and the leadership of the German communist regime had been removed. The revolution itself was a mass movement, involving students, the intellectual community, and an estimated 75% of the workers. Within days of the beginning of the revolution the government had been taken by the Civic Forum, with the writer and playwright Vaclav Havel installed as the new president. The mandate of this newly formed government was to orchestrate a transition to democracy, and organized the first free elections in June of 1990.
The emerging democracies of the Czech and Slovak republics have since 1989 chosen to follow autonomous directions, as age old ethnic rivalries and questions of power sharing became issues in the democratic Czechoslovak nation after 1989. Following the tradition of plural democracy, the independent Czech republic has developed a stable democratic system which does not discriminate between political ideologies. As a consequence of the historical memory of experiences with the west during the time of the Munich agreements, many remain suspect of full western integration and seek a path of strong social democracy. Likewise, past betrayals by the Soviet Union such as during the Prague Spring have made them suspect of reliance on old regional intuitions such as the COM-ECON economic relationships and therefore seek entry into the capitalist global market.
Over the course of history the Czech republic has been the victim of external forces. Beginning with the Munich agreement in the late 1930's, and following through to the domination of the Czech nation by Soviet policy, it has been larger regional forces which have the strongest impact on the Czech republic. Though the Czech people have often sought a path of their own, being the most developed area of Eastern Europe, and also one of the smallest parts of the region, make it an attractive target of foreign influence. The inter-war republic of Jan Masaryk did not withstand these forces, nor could the post-war democratic republic of Eduard Benes. This latest episode of democratic effort signified by the developments since 1989 are another effort to assert Czech plural democracy. Given the economic, environmental and political devastation of the nation this final democratic attempt may prove to be another difficult journey.
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