History, Slovakia after Communism

In 1989 revolts against the Communist governments swept through many eastern European countries, including East Germany, Poland, Romania, and Czechoslovakia. In November Slovaks joined with Czechs in mass protests against the Communist government. Less than one month later, the government resigned and non-Communists took control of the country. A new movement called Public Against Violence (PAV) was formed in Slovakia, bringing together political dissidents, intellectuals, and Catholics to lead the transition to an open democratic society. The federation’s first free elections since 1946 were held in June 1990, and were won by PAV in Slovakia and Vaclav Havel’s Civic Forum in the Czech lands. Havel was chosen as president of Czechoslovakia, and Marian Calfa, a Slovak, became vice president. Within Slovakia, the new non-Communist government was led first by Vladimir Meciar, then a member of PAV, and then in 1991 by Jan Carnogursky, leader of the Christian Democratic Movement.

One of the major tasks facing the new government of Czechoslovakia was the reestablishment of an economy based on free enterprise. The country began a mass privatization program with the goal of shifting hundreds of state-owned companies into private hands, and took steps to encourage foreign investment. However, as these and other reforms got underway, tensions developed between the two republics. Because Slovakia had industrialized during the Communist period, it inherited an inefficient, defense-oriented industrial base; the transition to a market economy thus resulted in greater unemployment and economic hardship in Slovakia than it did in the more economically advantaged Czech lands. Because of their economic differences, Czechs and Slovaks held opposing views about the appropriate pace and nature of economic reform; they also disagreed about how power should be divided between the federal and republic-level governments. These differences complicated the reform process and prevented the adoption of a new federal constitution.