Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Anunwrittensocialcontractwasstruckbetweenrulersandruledduringthe1970s,whereby
the country was guaranteed a tolerable standard of living (second only to that of the GDR in
Eastern Europe) in return for its passive collaboration. Husák's security apparatus quashed
all forms of dissent during the early 1970s, and it wasn't until the middle of the decade that
anorganizedoppositionwasstrongenoughtoshowitsface.In1976,thepunkrockband
The
Plastic People of the Universe
were arrested and charged with the familiar “crimes against
the state” clause of the penal code. The dissidents who rallied to their defence - a motley as-
sortmentofpeoplerangingfromformerKSČmemberstoright-wingintellectuals-agreedto
form
Charter77
(
Charta 77
in Czech), with the purpose of monitoring human rights abuses
in the country. One of the organization's prime movers and initial spokespeople was the ab-
surdist Czech playwright
Václav Havel
. Havel, along with many others, endured relentless
persecution (including long prison sentences) over the next decade in pursuit of Charter 77's
ideals. The initial gathering of 243 signatories had increased to more than 1000 by 1980, and
causedpanicinthemoralvacuumofthePartyapparatus,butconsistentlyfailedtostirafear-
ful and cynical populace into action.
The 1980s
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the inefficiencies of the economy prevented the govern-
ment from fulfilling its side of the social contract, as living standards began to fall. Cyn-
icism, alcoholism, absenteeism and outright dissent became widespread, especially among
theyounger(post-1968)generation.The
JazzSection
oftheMusicians'Union,whodissem-
inated “subversive” Western pop music (such as pirate copies of “Live Aid”), highlighted
the ludicrously harsh nature of the regime when they were arrested and imprisoned in the
mid-1980s. Pop concerts, religious pilgrimages and, of course, the anniversary of the Soviet
invasion all caused regular confrontations between the security forces and certain sections of
the population. Yet still, a mass movement like Poland's Solidarity failed to emerge.
With the advent of
Mikhail Gorbachev
, the KSČ was put in an extremely awkward posi-
tion, as it tried desperately to separate
perestroika
from comparisons with the reforms of the
Prague Spring. Husák and his cronies had prided themselves on being second only to Ho-
necker'sGDRasthemoststableandorthodoxoftheSovietsatellites-nowthefontofortho-
doxy, the Soviet Union, was turning against them. In 1987,
Miloš Jakeš
, the hardliner who
oversaw Husák's normalization purges, took over from Husák as General (First) Secretary
andintroduced
přestavba
(restructuring),Czechoslovakia'slukewarmversionof
perestroika
.
The Velvet Revolution
Everything appeared to be going swimmingly for the KSČ as it entered
1989
. Under the sur-
face, however, things were becoming more and more strained. As the country's economic
performance worsened, divisions were developing within the KSČ leadership. The protest
movement was gathering momentum: even the Catholic Church had begun to voice dissat-
