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Memory of Nations: Democratic Transition Guide” (ISBN 978-80-86816-39-5)

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Memory of Nations: Democratic Transition Guide” (ISBN 978-80-86816-39-5) MEMORY OF NATIONS Democratic Transition Guide [ The Czech Experience ] CONTENTS AUTHORS TRANSFORMATION OF THE POLITICAL SYSTEM . 3 MARKÉTA BÁRTOVÁ Member of the Section for Research on the Resistance Move- DISMANTLING THE STATE SECURITY ment against the Communist Regime of the Ministry of De- APPARATUS ........................... 11 fence in the Czech Republic (since 2014). Head of the Section for Research on the Resistance Movement against the Com- REGIME ARCHIVES ...................... 19 munist Regime of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes (2012–2013). LUSTRATION .......................... 25 LADISLAV MRKLAS INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION Political Scientist, Vice-President and Lecturer at the private OF THE CRIMES OF THE REGIME ........... 30 university, the CEVRO Institute, Prague. His main research interest is comparative politics with a focus on the Czech po- REHABILITATION OF VICTIMS .............. 36 litical system, European political parties, electoral and party systems, local and regional politics, and political marketing. EDUCATION AND PRESERVATION OF SITES OF CONSCIENCE ........................ 43 PAVEL ŽÁčEK Historian, Publicist and Government Official. First Direc- TIMELINE OF THE MAJOR EVENTS .......... 50 tor of the Security Services Archive (2007) and the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes (2008–2010). Member SOURCES USED AND FURTHER READING . 52 of the Learned Committee, Estonian Institute of Historical Memory, and Scientific Board of the Romanian Consiliul Naţional pentru Studierea Arhivelor Securităţii (since 2009). This case study is a part of the publication “Memory of Nations: Democratic Transition Guide” (ISBN 978-80-86816-39-5). This publication is available to download at www.cevro.cz/guide. [ 2 ] MEMORY OF NATIONS: DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION GUIDE – ThE CZECH EXPERIENCE TRANSFORMATION OF THE POLITICAL SYSTEM LADISLAV MRKLAS COMMUNIST REGIME only “building up socialism” which corresponded to the change IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA (1948–1989) of the official name of the state to the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, but especially Article 4 anchoring the leading role of The beginning of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia can the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia which is designed as be dated from 25 February 1948 when the resignation of demo- the “vanguard of the working class” and a “voluntary union of cratic parties’ ministers was accepted and a new government of the most active and most conscious citizens who are labourers, the “revived” National Front was appointed, and its end can be peasants and intellectuals.” Article 6 furthermore limits the plu- set on 17 November 1989 when an authorised student demon- rality in the field of social organizations, as it defines the “Na- stration commemorating 50 years from the death of Jan Opletal, tional Front of Czechs and Slovaks uniting social organisations”. a student killed by the occupation totalitarian regime of Nazi In practice, it meant that no association or interest organisation Germany (1939), was dispersed. The intervention against the stu- (including, for example, animal breeders, gardeners, fishermen dent gathering launched the fall of the regime which had been in or hunters) could exist outside the framework of the National power in Czechoslovakia for more than four decades. Front. The Constitution also includes a declaration of Marxism- Over these decades, the nature of the regime changed several Leninism with the binding state ideology and a single scientific times, totalitarian phases alternated with post-totalitarian and opinion. This constitution does not mention the traditional con- democratising ones. In its first phase, until 1956 (1958), the re- cept of the division of powers any more. gime is designated as a classic communist totalitarian model and As of 1 January 1969, the amendment of the Socialist Constitu- its beginning may be identified as the most repressive period, tion came into effect thus making a federation of what up to then ending by the death of the soviet dictator Joseph Stalin and then used to be a unitary state. Although it was a partial victory of the au- by the death of the first national communist leader Klement Got- tonomously-minded part of the Slovak Communists, federalization twald. In the 1960s, at first, there was a phase of loosening which took place already when the reformist movement was defeated, ended when a unique attempt at democratization from the inside and thus, it had actually no impact on the real division of powers.2 was made (post-totalitarian democratising regime, also called “socialism with a human face”).1 On 21 August 1968, the armies of five states of the Warsaw Pact with the Soviet Union in the lead 1 Discussions about the nature of the Prague Spring and its direction have entered Czechoslovakia and ended the democratisation process. been going on until today. It is certain that within the competition of various influential groups and dodges in the leadership of the party and the state, From 1969, at first, we can talk about the period of purges from the reformist wing got a lot of important positions in the party and state hi- the reformist powers and of consolidation of the regime (nor- erarchy. Antonín Novotný left his position as the leader of the party and later malization) which was replaced by the freezing of the regime in his position as the President of the Republic. The reformist Oldřich Černík the first quarter of the 1970s, i.e. stabilisation of the positions cre- became the Prime Minister, Ota Šik, the author of the economic reforms ated during normalization. It is not until the end of the 1980s and proposal, became the Deputy Prime Minister, Josef Smrkovský was elected the president of the National Assembly and Alexander Dubček, a Com- mainly under the influence of Perestroika by Mikhail Gorbachev, munist from Slovakia, became the General Secretary of the Communist but also thanks to the ongoing transition in other former Eastern- Party of Czechoslovakia and even though he was not directly a member of Bloc countries (Poland, Hungary, the German Democratic Re- the reformist wing, thanks to his age and unique manners he soon became public), that the dynamics of the society development started to one of the symbols of the political loosening. He was active in the following increase which the regime was no longer able to react to. fields: criticism of the existing direction of the regime as a deformation of socialism, democratization of public life, official abolishment of censorship, rehabilitation of a part of the victims of repressions, opening the space for many forbidden and new social and political organisations (Sokol gymnas- DEVELOPMENT OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL tics movement, Scout Movement, Club of Committed Non-Party Members, Social-Democratic Party, K 231 – Association of former political prisoners), FRAMEWORK OF THE COMMUNIST REGIME a shift in the foreign policy from the direct vassalage to the Soviet Union, state-law transformation of Czechoslovakia into a federation, but also The constitutional and legal framework of the political system the program of economic reform which aimed to introduce limited market was changing quite significantly, too. Until June 1948, the Con- mechanisms, widen the autonomy of businesses and the renewal of small stitution of 1920 was formally in force; however, many of its parts business. were not implemented any more. The Czechoslovak coup d’état 2 Formally, a federation of two republics was created – the Czech Socialist in February 1948 was crowned by the adoption of the “May Con- Republic and the Slovak Socialist Republic. This way, three political struc- tures emerged – federal (federal government and two-chamber Federal As- stitution” (on 9 May 1948), drafted entirely by the Communist sembly), Czech and Slovak (with their own governments and parliaments Party of Czechoslovakia. The Constitution already mentions – National Councils). This amendment proved itself to be a very important the “people-democratic” nature of the state, the initiated journey element especially in the period of political transformation. State law ques- towards socialism and the power of the working class. tions became, especially for the Slovak part of the society, one of the key However, the top constitutional document became the “So- points of their political agenda. It was prohibited to get a majority in one of the Chambers (House of Nations) of the Federal Parliament which became cialist Constitution” approved in July 1960, many times and quite one of the breaks of a faster transformation of the legal order and, as a matter significantly amended later on, but formally in force until the dis- of fact, also one of the factors of the process that culminated in the division solution of Czechoslovakia at the end of 1992. It mentioned not of the federation following the parliamentary elections in 1992. MEMORY OF NATIONS: DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION GUIDE – ThE CZECH EXPERIENCE [ 3 ] If we think about the legal framework of the regime, it is neces- dominated by people linked with the suppression of the revival sary to take into account especially its ideological foundations. process and close cooperation with, or more precisely vassalage Legal thinking was based on the ideology of Marxism-Leninism to, the Soviet communist leadership. Formally, the party power built on social class stratification being the basic standard. It is was in the hands of the party congresses organised approxi- very well illustrated by its characteristics written by
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