Liberalisation Policies Adopted by Czechoslovakian Politicians - Coursework Example

?Topic:  To what extent did the liberalisation policies adopted by Czechoslovakian politicians cause the Prague Spring? Introduction Prague Spring isthe term used to designate the short period of time in the history of Czechoslovakia which saw the introduction of political and civil reforms that promised to free the country from the repressive social-political legacy of the Soviet Union. The libralization reforms were introduced formally on January 5, 1968 with the commncement to power of the reformist leader Alexander Dubcek (Ramet, 1999). The period was very brief as it ended in the invasion of Czechoslovakia and the Warsaw pact allies under the pretext of preserving peace and continuity of Czechoslovakia (Williams, 1997). In spite of the severe crushing of the reforms, the period of Prague Spring is cherished in the history of the country as a breakthrough in the dictatorship climate during the time and as a harbinger of hope for the people of not only Czechoslovakia, but also of Hungary and Poland. The available literture on the history of Czechoslovakia reveals that Prague Spring was not the result of just the change in the political will of the government, but it had several antecedent conditions that led to it. These antecedents are deeply rooted in the history of Czechoslovakia starting after the World War I in 1919 and the political decisions and forces that shaped the destiny of the nation for the next three decades upto the 1950s. This paper aims to understand the causes that led to the Prague Spring and also to assess if the liberalization policies of politcians played an active role in its inception. In rder to evaluate if the liberalization policies adopted by Czechoslovakian politicians cause the Prague Spring, it is important to understand the antecedent conditions in Czechoslovakia with respect to the socio-economic and political environment. Political Decision Making in Czechoslovakia Leading Up To the Prague Spring Czechoslovakia had come into existence as an independent country after the fall of the Habsburg monarchy after the World War I (Evans, 1979). The new formed Czechoslovakia was characterized by parliamentary democracy and a strong center of government and a robustly growing economy (Windsor and Roberts, 1969). However, the political turmoil in the neighboring countries, hostile neighbours like Hungary, Poland and Germany, and the impeding march of the Hitler’s forces towards Czechoslovakia all added to insecurities about the future of Czechoslovakia. In addition, the country faced internal ethnic and religious tensions and economic inequalities between its Czech and Slovak people. The World War II saw the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Germany, and later liberation of the country with help from teh Russian Army (Ramet 1999). Thus, post the World War II Czechoslovakia was placed in the power of the Soviet Union and its political and economic policies oriented towards communism. Czechoslovakia soon moved towards a socialist regime and the political set up went into the hands of the socialist parties (Davies, 2007). The coalition consitsed of both the socialist and the communuist elements and it initiated economic policies favoring socialism. This was the time when the people of Czechoslovakia were optimistic of their future as an emerging economy and a free country (Chad, 2007). However, within a decade Czechoslovakia was overtaken by the communist party and a regime of purging the politics of all non-communist elements was set into motion (Davies, 2007)). During the communist era, Czechoslovakia invested greatly in the development of heavy industries and acquired an inmressive growth rate of 170 percent . By 1948, Stalins’ collectivism ecomomic policies greatly inspired Czechoslovakia which followed an approach of forced labour and excessive government control in the market (Segel, 2003). This was the dark period of repression of public opinion and freedom of speech in Czechoslovakia and led to the public simmering with resentment against the political approach. The dissension within the politicians existed as early as the 1950s, but there was no outward will shown by any leader to move against the communist led policies. However, soon after the death of Stalin in 1953, Russia itself initiated the process of de-Stalinization that denouced the ecomomic policies of the leader (Ouimet, 2003). A direct repurcussion was that there were that there were economic and political changes initiated in the neighboring states of Eastern Europe (Williams, 1997). Communist Party of Czechoslovakia slowly made a shift towards a more democratic form of ecnomic planning where the people’s needs and aspirations were presumed to be taken into account. This was done after a change in top level regime in the government when Alexander Dubcek came to power and was the harbinger of the reforms in 1968 (Williams, 1997). Prior to becoming the leader of the country, Dubcek gained support from across the politicians like Ludvik Svoboda and Josef Smrkovsky and started the campaign of for a change towards socialism for the people. Dubcek maintained that the state should remain in control of the economy and should regulate the system for the better of the society (Navratil, 2006). The reforms were nevertheless aimed up at liberalization of not only the market and ecomic system but also the society and media. The impact of the reforms were expected to be far reaching and widespread, and even before a formal announcement in 1968, the political and social environment of Czechoslovakia was slowly gearing towards the hope of a new era of freedom and renaissance. The growing power of reformist polititians in the government led to a relaxation of the severe censorship and repression that existed during the early 1950s. As such, even preceeding the actual Prague Spring in January 1968, there was a cultural awakening where literature and art were realsed from the political hold and writers and artists had started reasserting themselves. This was in sharp contrast to the time after the takeover of Czechoslovakia by Russia in 1948 when literature and art were exclusively confined to political propoganda and as tools for supression of all creative thoughts (Schwartz and Flotow-Evans, 2006). The period uptill late 1950s was demarcated by writers going into voluntary exile or getting prosecuted, and whatever work was published or created was for the sake of tokeinism and largely conformed the Russian perception of socialism (Segel, 2003). However, with the growing influence of Dubcek in the ruling Communist Party of Czechoslovakia there was a slow transition in the form of freedom to experiment and debate and express free ideas and thoughts. There was a literary and artistic renaissance in Czechoslovakia as non-conformist authors like Josef Skvoreky, Josef Topol, Pavel Kohout, Ladoslav Fuks, Ivan Klima and Vladmir Paral began to be published freely around 1963 (Vladmir , 1971). The ideology of Franz Kaffka gained favour and bagan to be discussed and explored freely. There was also a corresponding increase in creativity and spontaniouty in arts, theatre and cinema (Buchler, 1998). The New Wave in cinema led to the development of cinema that explored and commented on the Eastern European political environment even before the actual introduction of freedom of media in the year 1968 (Pehe, 1988). The liberalized stance of the powerful politicians towards the freedom of expression, also led to an awakening and acknowledgement of the fact that the Slovaks were not treated at par with the Czechs under the older regime. There was a surge in literature and propoganda creating awareness of the low standard of living of the Slovaks, the lack of amenities and opportunities for this ethnic community and the suppression of the people during the 1950s when many Slovakians were imprisoned as a part of political purging by the state (Windsor and Roberts, 1969). The people of Czechoslovakia began to demand more transparency in the way the judicial system operated and the trails were conducted. This lead to an awareness of the needs for a better civil society with better rights and protection laws for the common citizens (Davies, 2007). The economic climate of Czechoslovakia during the 1950s was dire and heading towards disaster due to the protectionist policies of the goverenment and the massive unproductive investments in heavy industries. The central planning approach and the lack of balance in investing in other sectors led to a slowing of the economic growth of the country and leading to a negative econimic growth by 1963 (Ramet, 1999). The attempt to develop a plan for economic revival was made as early as the 1963 when Dubcek requested Ota Sik, economits and central comittee member in the Communist Party, to assess the situation make recommendations. The attempt to reform the economic planning of Czechoslovakia was met with intense resistance from bureaucratic and political circles, which made Dubcek and Ota Sik perceive that economic transition was impossible without changes at the political level (Ramet, 1999). The urge to change was already apparent in the works of scholars, writers and intellectuals and soon ground was ripe for the commom masses including students to ask for political changes. The subtle movement of change and acceptace of critical analysis of the government and the politicians was enhanced by the patronization of the intellegentia and the elite (Bryant, 2007). However in the political realm there was a sharp division between the traditionalists who wanted the censorship and micro management of the society and the economy to continue and the reformist politicians who wanted to introduce the new era of freedom and liberalization (Navratil, 2006). The pro-communist Novotny camp resisted the reforms while Dubcek and his allies including the socialists leaders pushed for the changes. The backdrop for the introduction of the formal changes was therefore set by the politicians’ focus on liberalization. These changes were therfore formally introduced in the form of changes in the political, economics and civil laws in January of 1968. The Prague Spring The Prague Spring came into existence in 1968 when Alexander Dubcek introduced a seried of reforms that were greatly appluaded by the people of Czechoslovakia. The introduction of an Action Program in 1968 by Dubcek introduced several measures like the freedom of movement of people, freedom of speech and press and the freedom for artists and writers (Fowkes, 2000). On the political front, the Action Program hinted at the future introduction of a multi-party system in power and on the ecomic level, it introduced an emphasis on consumer goods in addition to the heavy industries that were the traditional bedrock of Czechoslovakia. The introduction of civill liberties in the form of curbs on the secret police and censorship brought about a renewed enthusiams among the masses of Czechoslovakia and there was a widespread acceptance and welcome of Dubcek’s action program from all the sectiond of Czechoslovakia society (Navratil, 2006). The political decisions of Dubcek also aimed at administrative decentralization and maintaining good relationships both with the Western nations and with the Soviet Union on the East. More importantly, the reforms addressed the long repressed sentiments of the Slovaks and initiated the process of federalization of Czechoslovakia on the basis of Czech and Slovak ethnicities (Vladmir, 1971). It also aimed at the economic revival of the country using mixed methods of planning and market strategies and using quality human resources to become internationally competitive. The bried period when the action plan was made official and when the censorship of the press was lifted, saw a large eruption in public sentiment against the repressive influence of the Soviet Union and the communist elements in the government. Though short-lived, Parague Spring left a mark on the history of Czechoslovakia and it is also traced as the harbinger of the later disintegration of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s. Conclusions The Prague Spring was the result of a decade long process of slow change in the political stance of soem of the prominent leaders of Czechoslovakia and it came to become a reality ultimately when Alexander Dubcek came in power. The Prague Spring was the direct result of the liberalization policies of the reformist politicians. The changing social environment in Czechoslovakia led to a hope for the people of the neighboring states of Poland and Hungary, where the people wanted to free from the policies of Russia and to exert their own autonomy and economic and social freedom (Judt, 2005). The above discussion highlights the fact that decision making by the reformist politicians in Czechoslovakia had already paved the ground for the introduction of the Prague Spring. The slow turn towards awakening of the intellegentia through relaxation of censure and prosecution of writers and ideologists was made possible by the growing focus on humane socialism that had penetrated the Czechoslovakian political parties. The change in approach towards the working class and the move towards making the workers participate in the economic growth of the country, encouraged the mass of Czechoslovakia to become ready for the changes that Prague Spring introduced. The civil and administrative reforms were aimed at making Czechoslovakia a more democratic country and were the direct result of the political thinking. The contribution of the liberalization policies of Alexander Dubcek were even acknowldged by the Soviet President as the inspiration of his own glasnost and perestroika liberalization policies that led to the reforms in teh Soviet Union (Gorbachev and Zdenek 2003). It can therefore be concluded that the liberalization policies followed by the Czechoslovakia politicians led to the Prague Spring. It is to the credit of the political liberalization initiated in the 1968 and the Prague Spring that people in Czech and Slovakia republic now allegedly have a better economic, political and civil life and freedom. References 1. Bryant, C. (2007). Prague in Black: Nazi Rule and Czech Nationalism.Harvard: Harvard University Press 2. Buchler, A. (ed) (1998). Allskin and Other Tales by Contemporary Czech Women. Seattle: Women in Translation 3. 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The Rise and Fall of the Brezhnev Doctrine in Soviet Foreign Policy. London: University of North Carolina Press 11. Pehe, J. (1988). The Prague Spring: a mixed legacy. MD, USA:University Press of America 12. Ramet, S. P. (1999). Eastern Europe: politics, culture, and society since 1939 IN: Indiana University Press 13. Segel, H. B. (2003). Introduction: The Literature of Eastern Europe from 1945 to the Present. The Columbia Guide to the Literature of Eastern Europe since 1945. New York: Columbia University Press. 14. Schwartz, A. and Flotow-Evans, L.V.(2006). The third shore: women's fiction from East Central Europe. IL: Northwestern University Press 15. Vladmir , K. (1971).The Intellectual Origins of the Prague Spring: The Development of the Refoormist Ideas in Czechoslovakia 1966-67. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 16. Williams, K. (1997). The Prague Spring and its Aftermath: Czechoslovak Politics, 1968–1970. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 17. Windsor, P. and Roberts, A. (1969). Czechoslovakia 1968: Reform, Repression and Resistance. London: Chatto & Windus Read More