- Hubert Walas
The Split of Czechoslovakia pt. 2 | … but better off apart
The years under the communist regime brought Czech and Slovak nations closer once again. The fights against the new occupier were brutal, but a common enemy unites. We pick off right after the events of the Prague spring and continue to the final days of Czechoslovakia. If you haven't seen the 1st part, we strongly encourage you to do so.
Normalization
After the invasion and occupation by the Warsaw pact troops in 1968, the leader of the USSR, Brezhnev, was recorded saying “Now the situation in brotherly Czechoslovakia is normalized.“ With the communist party under new management, normalization meant the revocation of all previous reforms, consolidation of power by the party, the return of a centralized economy, the restoration of police power, and improving relations with other socialist republics as a “devoted member of the socialist cause.”
Political repression returned although with varying degrees of severity. Though persecutions and imprisonments were widespread, severe punishments like executions were not used anymore. In the following 2 years, tens of thousands of people fled the country, most of whom were scientists, artists, young and highly educated individuals, several being killed or imprisoned by border guards in their attempts to cross into the west.
In January 1969 Czechoslovakia became a federation of two sovereign nations of the Slovak and Czech socialist republics. Although seeming like a major change in the internal relations within Czechoslovakia, the federation meant no actual changes in the political and day-to-day life until 1989, as all power was still concentrated in the communist party. The change is thought of as a purely calculated move which allowed the new party leadership to rid themselves of political rivals by granting them harmless positions within the new federal institutions.
In 1971 after 7 and ½ years the first elections were held with a 99,45% voter turnout and a 100% support for communist candidates. The country was successfully normalized.
Downfall
The 70s and the 80s period was a time of political apathy as well as economic, cultural, and societal decline, which were shared by almost all countries in the Eastern bloc. Although industrialization was high and the unemployment extremely low, the inefficiency of the centrally planned economy, corrupt leadership, and a demoralized population caused a steady decline of the nation. Only a few believed socialism would win over capitalism and even fewer believed it a cause worthy of pursuing. The heavy industry, the centerpiece of the centrally planned economies, began to lag behind, fulfilling its targets only on paper. The state took its toll on the environment as well, where it caused high degradation, which poses health and safety risks to this very day. It was with liberation movements in the Eastern block and the introduction of Gorbachevs Perestrojka which offered the opportunity for the population to show its hidden anger and disappointment.
The Velvet Revolution
Several petitions and protests followed in 1988 in Czechoslovakia, namely by the Catholics demanding religious freedoms as the official state religion was atheism. In January 1989 protests remembering the death of Jan Palach took place, as well as protests recalling the invasion of the Warsaw pact troops. In November 1989 hundreds of thousands gathered in the streets across the country to openly protest against the communist party, which would later be known as the start of the Velvet revolution.
In a matter of days, the Federal Assembly deleted the constitutional provisions, which gave the communist party sole legal authority over the nation. The communist leaders ceded power to the opposition leaders with the first free elections held since 1946. In June of 1990 in an unprecedented move, Gorbachev ordered the occupying troops to leave the lands of Czechoslovakia. Not a single shot was fired and after 30 years they simply were gone. This unusually fast switch in behavior and policies by authoritarian politicians lead many to question their motives, many regarding it as calculated moves by politicians planning their exit strategy. This theory is supported by the fact that in Czechoslovakia not a single person was ever legally punished for the crimes done during the communist regime even in spite of the regime being later declared as criminal, illegitimate and reprehensible by law.
The chaos, the greed, the split
The newly elected democratic parties succeeded in securing a transition to democracy but proved ineffectual and confused in their attempts to govern. After more than 40 years of political repression, persecutions, imprisonments, executions, and the current ousting of all communist politicians, there was simply no one left with any political or governing experience. Most governmental institutions, until now serving the party found themselves lost on how to function, which laws to follow, whom, and how to serve. Soon the political landscape began to fracture and opportunism became widespread.
Such times of instability produce chaos. Even with the country in a state of unease and its institutions confused as to what their new roles were, a major point of conflict was the so-called Hyphen war - the dispute over what to call Czechoslovakia after the fall of communism. The name of the federative republic was still the “Czechoslovak Socialist Republic”. As petty as the conflict may seem, especially in the face of democratization and the switch to a market economy, it was only a part of a much larger problem, that both nations were facing since the foundation and especially after the Beneš decrees… The problem of inequality.
The most obvious difference between both nations was the size of the population. Just based on this fact, consciously or not, power tented towards the Czechs, who by number alone got the upper hand in any disputes, got more investment, development, better positions, and status. Apart from that historically speaking the Czechs had more freedoms, more and better education and all in all more wealth than their eastern counterparts, further deepening the differences.
This had a double effect on both. The Czechs felt throughout history as they had to support the less developed Slovaks and saw therefore their reluctance as unthankfulness and greed. Being a more populous repression was also more intensive towards the Czechs, therefore there was also a stronger push for freedom by them, giving Czechs more of a sense of martyrdom. The Slovaks on the other hand felt overshadowed by the Czechs, their development hampered and needs overlooked or ignored. Slovaks tended to see their counterparts as prideful, selfish, and unjust. Therefore Czechs had a more positive view on Czechoslovakia, which may have also been the reason why it kept the Czechoslovak flag even after its dissolution.
The tipping point
Without the suppression of the communist party, all mentioned issues were in the background of all conflicts surrounding the discussion over the future of the country. The struggle for power, positions, and especially the division of property. Common ground was hard to find.
A probable tipping point happened after the ethnically Czech president, Václav Havel, decided to dismantle the Czechoslovak arms industry, after a large decline in global and internal demand. This decision disproportionately affected Slovaks where most of the manufacturing was located, leading to thousands losing their jobs, a new phenomenon after absolute employment. This was seen by many Slovaks as confirmation of their suspicions towards the Czechs. Therefore in the elections of 1992 nationalist parties had won the election. The Slovak nationalists quickly moved to declare the sovereignty of the Slovak Republic, which made it impossible to return to a centralist state, proposed by the Czech parties. Unable to find common ground the Federation was dissolved by a simple law on the 31st of December, 1992. With the Czech and Slovak republics emerging as separate entities on the 1st of January 1993, none of them claimed to be the true successor of Czechoslovakia.
This hastened approach to dissolution is by many thought of as illegitimate. The constitution itself saw a split possible only by a referendum, where the people would voice their wish to remain or dissolve the federation. While a constitutional law was proposed to make the split possible by political representatives, it failed to gather the required support. In spite of this, politicians from majority parties, who campaigned on the promise of resolving this crisis, went ahead, dissolving the federation based on a simple law and backroom negotiations, contributing to a sense of regret among the population.
A popular theory suggests a different reason for the split, a calculated and pragmatic one. During socialist times it was only the privilege of party members to receive any offices of power within public institutions or state companies, but they also were the only ones allowed contacts with the west as diplomats, trade negotiators, political representatives, oftentimes using their privileged positions in conducting otherwise illegal activities like smuggling and sale of foreign currency or products. As the expression goes they were “the more equal among equals”. This made many of them rich, influential, and knowledgeable, all of which the democratic politicians lacked.
While the 1990 elections were made up of activists, actors, intellectuals or in general political amateurs, the 1992 elections were by a much larger margin made up of ex-communist party members, who used the confusion and lack of political experience of the opposition to their advantage, quickly orienting themselves in the new environment. With that in mind the theory suggests that with the privatization of the whole economy coming soon, greed became the reason for conflicts between politicians. Not finding a solution the country was split.
This theory is supported by the fact that one of the first acts of the newly elected politicians was the destruction of thousands of incriminating public records and documents. As well as the privatization itself, when entire factories, large pieces of land and housing blocks were sold deeply undervalued to the selected group of people, many of them previous party officials. And so, with the last act of irony, the old communist elite became the new capitalist and political elite along with their friends and children.
…but better off apart
Whatever were the true reasons for the slit or how some conflicts may seem harsh, in actuality the relations between the Czechs and Slovaks are at their best presumably since the foundation of Czechoslovakia itself. A fact celebrated even by the staunchest Czechoslovakists. Soon after separation laws were put into practice that recognizes both Slovak and Czech as broadly accepted languages. Military, economic, and political cooperation remained strong, especially after both entered NATO and the European union with Czechia being the largest trade partner of Slovakia and it being Czechia’s 2nd largest after Germany. Both growing their economies several-fold since the 1990s, the Czech republic 6 fold, and Slovakia 9 fold. In the field of diplomacy, there is a tradition of first and last foreign visits by public officials being conducted to Prague and Bratislava respectively. Cooperation on many issues regarding regional policy and within the EU remained very strong, both countries often consulting their joint moves in foreign policy and in special cases such as the Covid-19 pandemic. In the general public the topic of separation remains a controversial one especially with the older generation and can bring up heated debates, but they often take a light turn.
In global political affairs, the successful split of Czechoslovakia created a positive precedent and therefore has been used by many secessionist movements from Catalonia and Belgium to Quebec. The breakup of Czechoslovakia has been a curious event in geopolitics, an example of successful and peaceful split . Therefore, along with its historical development, it offers a unique geopolitical lesson, from which we can take today.
