History, The Communist Regime

In February 1948 the Communists provoked a political crisis and took over the government in Prague. Under the leadership of Slovak Klement Gottwald, the Communists patterned Czechoslovakia’s economy and government on those of the Soviet Union. The state took control of the country’s factories and many businesses; private property was nationalized; and farmers were forced to join collective farms in which all land and equipment were jointly owned. The government prohibited opposition to the Communist Party and made efforts to decrease the influence of churches. The Communist Party became the only effective party in Czechoslovakia.

In the 1960s party leaders and intellectuals in Slovakia and the Czech lands created a movement to reform the Communist system. The movement, which came to be known as “socialism with a human face,” was led by Alexander Dubcek, a Communist from Slovakia who became the head of Czechoslovakia’s Communist Party in January 1968. The USSR feared that the reforms would threaten its influence in Czechoslovakia, and on August 20 of that year, the Soviet military, assisted by other Communist countries of Eastern Europe, invaded Czechoslovakia. As a result, nearly all the reforms that had been introduced were eliminated. Dubcek was replaced by Gustav Husak in April 1969, and ultimately was expelled from the party. Many other leaders and intellectuals who supported liberalization also lost their positions. The Husak government reestablished tight party control and censorship of the press. However, in January 1969 a new socialist federal republic was established, granting the Czech and Slovak republics autonomy over local affairs.

During the 1970s and 1980s, dissent took different forms in the two republics. In the Czech lands, political organizing brought forth a powerful dissident movement called Charter 77. In Slovakia, subversive activity was confined largely to the private sphere. Historically a religious people, Slovaks turned to the practice of Catholicism to express their opposition to the Communist regime. During this period a number of mass pilgrimages and religious celebrations took place in Slovakia; because these events brought large numbers of people together, they effectively became nationalist demonstrations.