There is no need to repeat that the author was writer Ludvík Vaculík and that the text was written on the impulse of the following scientists: Otto Wichterle, Jan Brod, Otakar Poupa and Miroslav Holub, who were afraid for the future of the revival process. It is also well known that the document was published on June 27th 1968 in Literární Listy and in the daily press Práce, Mladá Fronta and Zemědělské Noviny and those two days later it also appeared in Ostrava’s daily newspaper Nová Svoboda.

People do not speak much about the timing of the document’s publication any more. Today, it is obvious that neither the author nor those who ordered it had a special reason for the date on which it was published. Those who ordered the manifesto wanted it to be published as soon as possible, however, the author was limited by some other duties and he did not feel any time pressure. What happened though was this: The manifesto was published on the eve of district conferences of the Communist Party (KSČ), on whose agenda was the election of delegates for the special KSČ session and at the time when the National Assembly was dealing with the Act on Rehabilitation and the Amendment to the Press Act. The impact of the document was thus enormous.

What the document was about

Those who intend to contemplate the document more closely should probably read the text unabridged, which is to be found elsewhere on our web pages. The content of the original document is better than any other version. However, for those who do not have the time we bring at least a short “editing“.

The manifesto Two Thousand Words to Workers, Farmers, Clerks, Scientists, Artists and Everyone“is the full title of the document. It’s only purpose was to inspire the development of people’s movement which would support the democratic process in the country. At the same time it warned against anticommunism. In spite of this the author expressed his fear of the activities of the conservative members of the KSČ and the Czechoslovakian society and fear of the support they receive from abroad. The thing that was probably the most irritating was the fact that he openly warned against possible military intervention of the SSSR.

Home reaction

It would be a huge lie to call the situation in Czechoslovakia in June forty years ago as still waters in a lake. It was not a lake, it was a wild creek, even though there were more and more pools and dams on it trying to slow the water down.

Czechoslovakian communists did not get the manifesto at all! The conservatives misused it the most, the reformers saw it as some kind of antiprogram to the Action Programme of the KSČ, which explains their quick and severe reaction.

Already on the day of the manifesto’s publication, the presidium of the ÚV KSČ was dealing with it at its special session. Both political wings joined in the discussion. The conservatives saw in the text anti-Soviet provocation and an instigation to civil war. The reformers, as we have already said, took it as an act endangering their reforms. During the session, the General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party Leonid Brežněv phoned Alexandr Dubček and described the Two Thousand Words as "Comming of forces that will bring about a counterrevolutionary situation".

The session was then suspended and did not continue until the night from June 27th to 28th until the early hours. It is not a well known fact that during that night a special delegation came to the seat of Czechoslovakian communists. The delegation consisted of representatives of artistic associations, among them Eduard Goldstücker, Ladislav Helge and others. They talked in the corridor with Dubček, Smrkovský and with some other members of the presidium and secretaries. They tried to talk them out of their idea, that the document was some kind of a counterrevolutionary manifesto.

These frenzied night interventions had an effect. The presidium in the end unambiguously refused the Two Thousand Words, they however admitted that the author’s and the signatories‘ intentions were subjectively good. The resolution on the manifesto did not label the document as counterrevolutionary; it only claimed that it could be misused by counterrevolutionary forces. In “the ÚV KSČ standpoint to Two Thousand Words", whose authors were Čestmír Císař and Zdeněk Mlynář,it was stated, that despite the honest intentions of the author and the signatories, the document turns against the new politics of the Party and the Government. It also expressed a decision to fight such acts back. During a break, the ÚV KSČ secretary of that time, Alois Indra, sent a Telex destined to the Soviet ÚV and to all regional and district KSČ organizations. In that text he described the manifesto as an act encouraging the counterrevolutionary situation".

The National Assembly also talked about the manifesto on 27th June. The general and a Member of Parliament interpolated the Government and said that the Two Thousand Words are an appeal to counterrevolutionaries". On 28th June, the Government and the National Front disapproved the manifesto in the same sense as did the ÚV KSČ standpoint.

What was the authors‘reaction?

The agitation in the highest position of the nation made the initiators and the authors of the manifesto to give public speeches in which they explained their reasons for the text. Already on 27th June, the following people: Otto Wichterle, Jan Brod and Otakar Poupa appeared on TV to calm down the atmosphere that was raised in the society. One day later Alexander Dubček appeared on TV, also to talk about the manifesto, even though he did not mention it directly. The author and the initiators also published their reactions in the press. The scientists wrote an article for the newspaper Práce entitled “A word about those who signed. This article which appeared on 29th June 1968. Ludvík Vaculík wrote an article for Literárních Listů on the 11th July entitled "992 Word-Long Apology".

How about the public?

The direction of the KSČ started organizing events to support its standpoint. It was taken aback by a violent spontaneous reaction of the public. Many workplaces and factories supported the manifesto. Even many KSČ district conferences expressed their support. As an example, in the following days, Mlada Fronta received some 20 000 resolutions supporting the appeal.

The society ignored the attacks of the conservatives against the Two Thousand Words. After the publication, the document was signed by hundreds of public figures and approximately one hundred thousand citizens.

The representatives of artists took an unambiguous stand to the manifesto which was approved by the Coordination Committee of the Creative Associations:

"The appeal Two Thousand Words has become a pretext to arouse panic and nervousness, psychological and power pressure on those forces in the Czechoslovakian Communist Party and the whole society, which have been striving for a long time to morally, politically and economically revive the country. The conservatives are trying to break the unity of the progressive forces in this society… These are old tactiques which we know very well: Thanks to an artificially created scandal, the attention is digressed from real and serious problems, which the conservative politics are responsible for. While the Two Thousand Words, which were legally published and signed with full names, is dissected without any regards to the overall meaning of the document, the state bodies have not yet taken a stand point in relation to such issues as distribution of anonymous pamphlets attacking the contemporary development from more that the conservative positions. We find this situation very worrying …and we are ready to oppose it. We are convinced that at such moments, morality and ethics become a political force…"

What were the reactions abroad?

The most severe reaction against the manifesto was in the Soviet Union. For the Soviet politburo, the manifesto was just another proof that Dubcek’s direction is not able nor it is willing to accept their instructions. That is why the Soviets kept going back to the manifesto, e.g. in the so called Warsaw letter of the ÚV KSSS to the direction of ÚV KSČ from 4th July 1968 or at the later meeting in Čierna nad Tisou. The Manifesto was also denounced by Moscow’s Pravda. It described it as a manifesto joining the imperialist reaction.

After the defeat of Prague Spring the document Two Thousand Words became a symbol of counterrevolution in the dictionary of the communist regime. In the Lesson from crisis development, the manifesto was described as a "counterrevolutionary platform", which was „direct guidelines to violent actions and to the destruction of the socialist system". According to the Lesson "this counterrevolutionary appeal went the furthest in inspiring hatred against the Soviet Union and it even threatened our allies with an armed conflict".

Sources: totalita, wikipedia, cntemporary press

František Sládek