May in Politics

May started with nice and warm weather with occasional showers. Articles in papers were describing how everything became green and how vegetables flourished. Society’s revival process was also flourishing in the month of love. Young people especially became more active and managed to infect with their enthusiasm other numerous groups of Czechoslovakian citizens. The year ninety sixty-eight could indeed be called a time of ferment.

Spontaneous celebrations of the First of May were in Prague and many other places an expression of the happy welcome of society’s liberation and also of trust in new representatives of the country. It was mainly young people who participated on parades and this time nobody had to force them. Their enthusiasm was contagious and as we would say today “goal oriented”.

Students’ complaint

Students met on the third of May at Old Town Square in Prague where they demanded the foundation of an opposition party and where also the Club of Democratic Youth was founded. Liberation activities carried on throughout the month and in the middle of the month Rag Day celebrations took place in Prague and other places. In Prague students got into a conflict with police but this time they stuck up for themselves and the new Prague students’ parliament complained to the government parliament about the actions of the police corps. The complaints ended in June with a case against an unknown official for abuse of power. The May university students’ movement culminated in foundation of the Czech and Moravian University Students’ Union that happened in the end of the month in Olomouc.

Secret survey

The research team of Institute of State and Law lead by Zdenek Mlynar carried out a sociology survey in the first half of May. The outcome was quickly evaluated but nothing was published in 1968 because it was considered to be too “revolutionary”. Some top Communist leaders were worried about foreign reaction including socialist allies of Czechoslovakia.

The public wasn’t acquainted with the outcome until 200 when it was published by Lidove noviny papers. It clearly shows that those who were and still are saying that the process was just a reform initiated exclusively from above, are in wrong.

It was apparent from the survey that people were well aware of the fact that this was a big opportunity and were demanding e.g. permission of other political parties that would compete for power, they also asked for allowance of none-socialist and minority opinions, freedom of press, speech and association. It was surprising how clearly people identified with values of European democratic countries and parliament democracy.

Artists were uniting and Novotny was expelled from the Communist Party

May was also a month when the real work begun on the settlement of Czech and Slovakians. In the beginning of May the National Assembly approved a government policy statement which included an objective to prepare a federative settlement of the state.

However the development didn’t lead to foundation or to be more precise to a resurrection of the Social Democratic party because Communists didn’t agree to it. Apart from Communist representatives they also got support from former members of Social Democratic Party. At the meeting of Communist Party with Social Democrats the foundation of Social Democratic Party was declined.

Antonin Novotny was expelled from the (KSC) Czechoslovakian Communist Party at the summit meeting of the KSC Central Committee and many others had their membership suspended. It may come as an interesting fact to someone that among those “afflicted” was also the notorious attorney J. Urvalek who partook on trials in nineteen fifties.

Artists also actively participated in the process. In May the Club of Non-party Members was founded as a part of Union of Composers and in Film Club met representatives of unions of writers, dramatic and radio designers, film and TV producers, artists, architects, composers, journalists and scientists. The meeting took place on 6 th May and appointed Coordinating Committee of Creative Unions whose task was to promptly respond to the current situation, influence the development of society and protect the interests of the reformist movement.

It is quite interesting that in May the Minister of Internal Affairs Josef Pavel announced on radio broadcasting that his department had curtailed interference of western broadcasting stations that were broadcasting in Czech language. At the same time the German Democratic Republic started interference of Czech broadcasting that was done in Germen language.

Even though May was beautiful and sunny, political clouds started appearing at horizon. Only two days after the unforgettable First May celebration, Minister of Defence Martin Dzur informed that the drill of Warsaw Pact army will be carried at the Czechoslovakian state’s territory. It wouldn’t be that alarming if it wasn’t for the Soviets party repeated statement that faithful Communists have nothing to worry about because all they need to do is to call and the whole Soviet army and other friendly armies will come to help… Maybe also this was one of the reasons why the group of Warsaw Pact officers who came to Prague in the end of May to prepare the June officer and staff drill, didn’t get a particularly warm welcome.

Source: totalita.cz, period press etc

František Sládek

Articles within the field

  • 9. 6. 2008

    Who was Zdenek Mlynar

    Zdenek Mlynar (until 1945 called Zdenek Muller) was born on 22.6.1930 in Vysoke Myto and died in Vienna on 15.4.1997.

Created: 9. June 2008 | Updated: 9. June 2008

Who was Zdenek Mlynar

In the nineteen fifties he studied in the Faculty of Law at Lomonosov University in Moscow where he was a classmate of Michail Gorbacov. After graduation he became a research worker at the Czechoslovak Academy’s Science Institute of State and Law. In 1963 he became senior lecturer at the Charles University’s Faculty of Law. Here he applied himself to history of political theories and comparative research of political systems. He was also head of the team that was dealing with issues of socialism development.

He was a member of the Communist Party since 1946 and became a member of the Communist Party’s Central Committee in March 1968 when he immediately became involved in the reformist movement. He was an author of the political part of Action Program, participated on Moscow negotiations in August 1968 and signed Moscow protocols. In November 1968 he was withdrawn from top functions because of his disapproval with progressing normalisation. Subsequently he was also withdrawn from Central Committee and in 1970 expelled from Czechoslovakian Communist Party.

He was able to stay in the Institute only for few months then he was transferred to entomology department of Prague’s National Museum. In 1976 Mlynar became one of the first initiators and signatories to Charter 77. As a result he was from January to June 1977 kept under house arrest and eventually he left the state for Austria where he worked as a publicist and political scientist. He became a leading research worker of Austrian Institute for International Politics in Luxenburg and Professor of political science at University in Innsbruck. Subsequently he established himself as an internationally recognized expert on development tendencies of Soviet regimes and later on so called Perestroika.

After November 1989 he came back to his home country and was trying to influence politics from the position of a left democrat (from 1995 to 96 he was an honorary president of Left Bloc).

He regularly published in left oriented Rude pravo (later Pravo) papers and also published few books (Crisis in Soviet systems from Stalin to Gorbachev, 1991; Free Lance Socialist, 1992; Reformists are usually not happy, 1994). The biggest attention he received was his memoirs Night Frost in Prague (Cologne in 1978, Prague 1990; translated to 11 languages) that describes Czechoslovakian events of the years 1968-69.