Prague Spring

The Prague Spring was a 1968 reform movement in Czechoslovakia that sought “socialism with a human face.” A Soviet-led invasion ended the reforms and restored tighter Communist control.

Action Program of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia: The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia’s April 1968 blueprint for political, economic, and social reforms. It set out the program Dubček’s government pursued during the Spring.
Alexander Dubček: A Slovak Communist politician who led the Czechoslovak Communist Party during the Prague Spring. As party leader, he became the principal face of the reform program.
Czechoslovak Socialist Republic: The Communist-ruled Czechoslovak state that existed from 1960 until the 1989 transition to democracy. The Prague Spring unfolded within its one-party political system.
Moscow Protocol: The agreement signed by Czechoslovak and Soviet leaders in Moscow on 26 August 1968 after the invasion. Its terms compelled Czechoslovak leaders to reverse key reforms.
Hungarian Revolution of 1956: A nationwide uprising against Soviet-backed rule in Hungary, crushed by Soviet forces in 1956. Unlike the Spring, it began as a mass uprising rather than party-led reform.
Censorship in Czechoslovakia: State control over the publication and circulation of information in Czechoslovakia under Communist rule. Relaxed censorship let public debate and criticism expand during the reforms.
Ludvík Svoboda: A Czechoslovak general and politician who served as president from 1968 to 1975. He negotiated with Soviet leaders after the invasion and helped secure the Moscow Protocol.
Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948: The Communist Party’s seizure of power in Czechoslovakia in February 1948. It established the political order that reformers sought to change.
Charter 77: A Czechoslovak dissident initiative launched in 1977 that called on the government to uphold human rights commitments. It challenged the repressive order consolidated after the Prague Spring.
Velvet Revolution: The largely peaceful mass movement that ended Communist rule in Czechoslovakia in 1989. It achieved political change that the Prague Spring’s reformers could not secure.

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