Politically, December was rather a contradictory month, to put it mildly. On one hand, there was still a tendency to pursue the current reformist trends. This notion was supported by public speeches made by Prague Spring’s men, by the media and by the fact that the borders were still open. On the other hand, Gustáv Husák warmly welcomed Soviet soldiers. Vasil Biľak gave an interview for the American Daily World. He talked about the harmful tendencies of the after-January developments, about the right-wing journalists who emigrated and joined “imperialistic enemies”, about the artists who didn’t accept the results of the November assembly of the ÚV KSČ, about the students who were influenced by “anti-socialistic powers”, and about the disorientation of workers…
Dubček fought in vain and wanted to give up
In society and primarily inside the Communist Party, the people in favour of normalisation were gradually gaining the upper hand. Top leaders were still trying to maintain an illusion that the reforms would continue. This showed during the negotiations between the Soviet and Czechoslovakian Communist Parties in Kiev. It took place at the beginning of December and besides Czechoslovakian President Svoboda, Dubček and Prime Minister Černík (both representatives of the reformist wing) were also present. However, Husák and even Lubomír Štrougal were there as well, notably, Josef Smrkovský was not invited.
The Soviets demanded personnel changes in many State departments, and directed their criticism at the media, especially on the papers Reportér and Politika. Dubček expressed his disagreement with the illegal paper Zprávy and the radio station Vltava. To this Brezhnev replied by asking for their legalization, and the Chairman of the USSR Presidium voiced his opinion that Zprávy shouldn’t be stopped as it would mean a victory of the right-wing powers. Soviets also argued that the book Prague’s Seven Days published in Czechoslovakia was anti-Soviet.
Alexander Dubček wrote in his memoirs that after the Kiev talks he was considering resignation. It wasn’t possible to sustain a free, legal and just society in a country surrounded by Warsaw Pact countries which were subject to the USSR. After he had consulted Josefem Smrkovský, he decided not go ahead with the resignation and stay in his post as long as possible. He was worried that the resignation would negatively affect his supporters. He also wanted to give people time to prepare for the future and decide what to do.
In Kiev, Dubček categorically refused legalisation of the paper Zprávy.
Television still “naughty”
Czechoslovakian TV aired a documentary that called “Zprávy illegal”. Its author was the well-known commentator Zdeněk Lavička.
Two years later, Zdeněk Lavička published a long self-criticism in the paper Týdeník Čs televize. He said that in 1968 he was “naïve and under the sway of false ideas”. He apologised to all comrades for the documentary, saying that at that time he didn’t respect their work and had offended them…
A few other interesting programs appeared on TV screens at the beginning of the month. Let’s name at least the allegoric documentary Blaník Knights, directed by Vlastimila Vávra. Another interesting one was a news commentary prepared by Vladimír Škutina in cooperation with Karel Kyncl and other journalists. Two if its parts were screened. The third one was banned in the beginning of 1969, and the whole project was terminated. A great popularity enjoyed the current affairs program called Is this Book, White or Striped?
Its authors, Ota Popp and Karel Kyncl, revealed the lies of the so called White Book that was dealing with the topic of Czech “contra-revolution”. The Christmas and New Year program met with great success as well. TV over New Year included a midnight toast with TV commentators and program announcers.
Shortly before Christmas, the government decided to replace TV Director B. Švec by Josefa Šmídmajer.
Fight for Smrkovsky
People were alarmed by Smrkovsky’s absence in the talks with Soviets. He was the closest ally of Dubček and spokesman for the people. Even though he publicly denied his removal from politics, people didn’t feel reassured. Only a few days later, the Union of Anti-Fascist Fighters demanded for Smrkovsky to become the Chairman of the Federal Assembly. Their request was supported by resolutions by factory workers, trade unions and others.
In the middle of December, the congress of Czech Metal-workers Union took place. The delegation of Královopole Machine Works appealed to all the participants to defend Josef Smrkovský. The congress passed a resolution stating that should Smrkovský or any other reformist leader be removed from his office, they would announce a general strike.
At the summit meeting of top representatives, Gustáv Husák presented a claim that a Slovak should be nominated as Chairman of the Federal Assembly, because a Czech was the Chairman of the Government. Husák repeated his demands on TV in his Christmas speech. This gave rise to an outcry throughout the entire Czechoslovakia nation with radio and TV becoming involved in the campaign against Smrkovský’s removal. The daily paper Práce published an open letter in which Pavel Kohout asked Husák not to “identify himself with this injustice”.
The situation became worse four days before New Year when the Metal-workers Union announced a general strike. Other companies and institutions joined in shortly afterwards. The public understood that Husák’s demand was just another concession to Moscow and conservatives.
Husák didn’t intend to give in though. On 29th December he spoke at the meeting of the Slovak National Council and once again asked for a Slovak politician to become the Chairman of the Federal Assembly. Three months and eighteen days later he became a leader of the Communist Party…
In the meantime, there had been an increased number of appeals for a general strike. Citizens decisively stepped against Smrkovský’s removal from politics. On 5th January 1969, Josef Smrkovský appeared on TV asking for a general strike in support of his Federal Assembly’s chairmanship candidacy to be cancelled. His time, and the time of other men of January 68, was over as was the wonderful year that went awry…
Source: period press, totalita.cz etc.
