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Traditional student celebration in May, Prague, May 1966 (Photograph by Miloš Šindelář)
In the second half of the 1960s, student life revolved mainly around student magazines. Front covers of Buchar and Ekonom magazines (Source: Libri Prohibiti)
Lubomír Holeček (on the left) and Jiří Müller were forced to join the military service after their studies were involuntarily terminated. They were separated from the army at the beginning of 1968. (Source: Jiří Müller’s personal archives)
Traditional student May celebration in 1968 (Photograph by Miloš Šindelář)
Student demonstration at Old Town Square in Prague, 3 May 1968 (Source: National Archives)
Reaction of Student magazine to the so-called Moscow Protocol of 26 August 1968 (Source: Libri Prohibiti)
A leaflet with the students’ ten demands which were approved by the Union of University Students of Bohemia and Moravia on 11 November 1968 (Source: Security Services Archives)
The Faculty of Law of Charles University on strike, November 1968 (Source: National Archives)
Building of the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague during the November strike in 1968 (Source: National Archives)
The Union of University Students was supported by some secondary schools as well (Source: National Archives)
The occupation strike should have finished on 20 November 1968. Since the politicians misinterpreted this, the students prolonged the strike by 24 hours. (Source: National Archives)
Jiří Müller’s text about the student movement which was published on 19 April 1969 in Elixír magazine (Source: Security Services Archives)

Student Movement

“We publicly declare that the only force behind our acting is the idea of humane socialism in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. We deem both the legal and illegal pressure made on the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic to be only temporary. We shall never come to terms with tolerating the great power politics aimed at dividing nations. People must be connected through the idea of mutual respect, not through the hysteria of fear. If we are positive that our government and the leaders of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia do not sufficiently aim to reach the stated objectives, we shall come out again.”

Extract from a proclamation made by the Action Committee of Prague university students and by the Union of University Students on the decision to go on an occupation strike to support the ten requirements of the Union, November 1968

Since the mid 1960s, student life, which was suppressed after February 1948, had been slowly liberalized. Active students gathered around faculty magazines and committees of the Czechoslovak Union of Youth. At some schools, new and independent committees were established (e.g. at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague, a union with a humorous name Klikoživ was formed. The name is an acronym of what freely translates into English as the “Cable of Opposition Persons”). Student May parades which were watched by hundreds of thousands of people in the streets were just one of the manifestations of the liberalization process.

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However, by 1966 the leaders had adopted a more severe approach once again. It was symbolized by the expulsion of Jiří Müller, a student leader, from the Czech Technical University of Prague and his subsequent drafting into the military service. Six months later, Luboš Holeček followed suit. What happened at Strahov was a major breakthrough. After one of many blackouts at the dormitories of Strahov, the students took to the streets on 31 October 1967. However, they were brutally crushed by members of the Public Security.

The excessive intervention caused controversy even among the leaders of the Party, and became grounds for discussing the removal of Antonín Novotný from office. It prompted students to leave the pro-regime Czechoslovak Union of Youth once and for all.

 In spring 1968, the Academic Student Councils and other independent bodies were established at the faculties. At the same time, the Union of University Students of Bohemia and Moravia was founded to serve as an umbrella organization.

The students also played a significant role in events at the national level. In March and April 1968, they organized public youth rallies at which they brought the representatives of the reform process face to face with the sharp criticism of the Communist Party and the requirement that opposition parties be created. Moreover, the rallies were broadcast on the radio, and the public could hear exactly what the students thought. The students’ support of Čestmír Císař’s idea to run for presidency or the student demonstration to re-establish diplomatic relations with Israel evoked a positive response.

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After the occupation in August and in autumn 1968, students were one of the most active groups that opposed “normalisation”. Between 18 and 21 November 1968, they organized an occupation strike at faculties throughout Czechoslovakia to support the students’ ten demands directed to the Party. However, none of the demands was met, and feelings of despair were spreading among the students towards the end of 1968.

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