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The Moscow Protocol in which the Czechoslovak leaders virtually agreed to be subdued to Moscow, the first and the last page of the document (Source: Institute for the Contemporary History of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic)
The Moscow Protocol in which the Czechoslovak leaders virtually agreed to be subdued to Moscow, the first and the last page of the document (Source: Institute for the Contemporary History of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic)
The Moscow Protocol in which the Czechoslovak leaders virtually agreed to be subdued to Moscow, the first and the last page of the document (Source: Institute for the Contemporary History of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic)
The front page of the Práce daily of 19 October 1968 informing about the ratification of the Treaty on the Temporary Stay of the USSR Army (Source: National Museum)
Seventy-seven people were detained at the demonstration in Prague on 28 October 1968. At the following demonstration, which was held on 6 and 7 November 1968 in the capital, as many as 167 people were detained. It was at this time that the first demonstrations took place in Brno and České Budějovice as well. (Source: National Museum)
On 8 November 1968, the publication of Reportér weekly, which was “too critical of the situation” was stopped for a period of one month. Front cover of the 18 September 1968 issue: clockwise from the top-left corner: Oldřich Černík, Alexander Dubček, Josef Smrkovský and Gustáv Husák; President Ludvík Svoboda is in the middle (Source: National Museum)
Politika weekly was stopped on the same day as Reportér. Front cover of the 3 October 1968 issue: Gustáv Husák (on the left) and Alexander Dubček. (Source: National Museum)
Reaction of the humorist magazine Dikobraz to the measures adopted on 8 November 1968. (Source: National Museum)

End of Hope

“The Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, acting upon the approval of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria, People’s Republic of Hungary, People’s Republic of Germany, People’s Republic of Poland, and the Government of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic agreed that a part of the USSR armed forces present in the territory of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic shall temporarily stay in the territory of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in order to protect the countries of the socialist community against the increasing revanchist efforts of the West Germany military powers.”

A treaty between Czechoslovakia and the USSR on the temporary stay of the Soviet Army, 16 October 1968

On 26 August 1968, the Czechoslovak delegation in Moscow signed the so-called “Moscow Protocol”. It was a secret document, in which the delegation agreed to, among other things, declare the conclusions of the extraordinary Vysočany Party Congress invalid. The delegation further agreed to carry out purges in the media management, virtually renew censorship and prevent the occupation from being discussed in the UN Security Council.

When the politicians returned to Czechoslovakia, the public did not place much trust in them. The reason was that they did not want to openly discuss the results of the negotiations. It was not until Alexander Dubček made an emotional speech in which he reassured the citizens that the reforms would continue, though at a slower pace, that he managed to win the favour of a part of the public. However, the following weeks saw the actual political course heading a different direction.

František Kriegl, the only politician who refused to sign the Moscow Protocol, was removed from the position of the chairman of the National Front on 6 September 1968. Both the director of Czech TV, Jiří Pelikán, and the director of Czech Radio, Zdeněk Hejzlar, were shortly removed from office as well. In autumn 1968, Zdeněk Mlynář, one of the main drafters of the Action Programme, resigned from the office of Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.

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On 18 October 1968, the National Assembly approved the Treaty on the Temporary Stay of the Soviet Armed Forces, which made the stay of 75,000 Soviet soldiers in Czechoslovakia legal. Only four MPs voted against the treaty, ten abstained from voting, and a few more did not attend the parliamentary session. On 8 November 1968, the Czechoslovak government allowed another concession when it temporarily stopped the publication of magazines which were critical of the situation, namely Reportér and Politika. The conservative wing of the party completed its accession at the meeting of the Central Committee of the Party which was held between 14 and 17 November 1968. Not only did they manage to occupy some important posts, but they also pushed through a resolution defining a further plan of “normalization”.

It was especially a Slovak politician, Gustav Husák, who gained a strong position in the Party. In December 1968, he proposed that the planned candidate for the Speaker of the newly-elected National Assembly, Josef Smrkovský (the existing Speaker of the National Assembly), be replaced with a Slovak representative in order to comply with the federative principle. Even though the public stood by Josef Smrkovský, one of the most popular figures of the Prague Spring, he refused this public support, and Peter Colotka was elected to replace him. Thus the conservative wing had one victory more, which was sealed in April 1969 when Gustav Husák was elected First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. The violent suppression of riots in August 1969 was the last straw for the Prague Spring. In addition to the security forces and the People’s Militia, the Czech army also took an active part in the suppressions.

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