Politics of the past: the use and abuse of history - Socialists ...

comprehend the overwhelming contradiction between communist
ideals and everyday life.
After 1963, Czechoslovakia experienced escalating levels of liberalisation.
It became possible to speak relative openly in the media,
an unmistakable sign of change. Czechoslovakia began to steer
unambiguously towards democracy and plurality, not only politically
but also economically – with one exception: criticism of the Central
Committee of the KSČ and criticism of the Soviet Union were
not permitted.
Nevertheless, the events of 1968 could never have happened without
the support of left-wing intellectuals and high level officers of
the party. Support which was not simply opportunistic in the way it
often was after November 1989 but which for many was the result
of an often very painful process of reflection and transformation.
These people confessed their previous errors, confessed that they
had allowed themselves to be intoxicated with the drug of ideology.
Admitting to this is never a simple matter. I would particularly
like to remember two important protagonists of this turbulent period
who in their mature years entered the ranks of the Czechoslovak
Social Democratic movement. Their names are Alexandr Dubček,
the first secretary of the KSČ Central Committee, and Věněk Šilhán,
who represented him in the agitated August days of the KSČ
Vysočany congress.
The Prague Spring also inspired an attempt to re-establish the
ČSSD in Czechoslovakia. Renewal of the Social Democratic Party
in 1968 would have signified a radical rupture in the communists’
monopoly of power and a fundamental change in the post-February
political system. The KSČ recognised this danger and these attempts
met with immediate opposition from the conservative and,
to some extent, progressive elements in the KSČ. The wider populous,
including many well-known personalities, closely followed
and supported social democrat activity. The social democrats were
of course aware that the attitude of the KSČ leadership towards
their efforts to re-establish was determined in part by increasingly
tense relations between Moscow and its satellites. They did not
want to endanger the democratisation process and in this spirit the
preparatory committee of the ČSSD suspended its activities, at
Dubček’s request, prior to a meeting of the chairs of the
225 Jiři Paroubek