The concept of “velvet revolution” and its history. Velvet revolution. Velvet revolutions in Eastern Europe

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Velvet revolutions

Introduction

The Velvet Revolution was a peaceful civil uprising in Czechoslovakia in November-December 1989. Led to a relatively quick removal from power communist party and the organized dismantling of the socialist regime of Czechoslovakia. Despite the initial clashes between demonstrators and security forces, the Communist Party of Human Rights was generally carried out bloodlessly, which is why it received its name.

The anti-communist revolutions of 1989, sometimes called Western countries"Autumn of Nations" was a wave of change of power in the Central and Eastern Europe in the fall of 1989. Within a few months, pro-Soviet communist regimes were overthrown, which in the West is called an analogy of the “Spring of Nations” of 1848.

The fall of communist regimes was associated with perestroika in the USSR. Started with Polish People's Republic, this was followed by peaceful mass protests leading to changes in power in the GDR, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and the People's Republic of Bulgaria, as well as reforms carried out at the initiative of the communist authorities in the Hungarian People's Republic. The Socialist Republic of Romania became the only country where the change of power took place by force, and the former head of state was shot.

The coming to power of Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev in 1985 led to the victory of the doctrines of “new thinking”, “universal human values” and “peaceful coexistence of two systems”. The Glasnost policy was announced in 1987, and the first competitive elections took place in 1989. people's deputies THE USSR. The CPSU actually abandoned the censorship of funds mass media, representatives of the opposition began to appear in magazines, newspapers, and on Soviet television.

Political liberalization took place against the backdrop of a growing economic crisis and the growing dependence of the Soviet leadership on Western loans.

Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms were met with skepticism by such communist leaders as Erich Honecker (GDR), Todor Zhivkov (People's Republic of Bulgaria), Gustav Husak (Czechoslovak Socialist Republic). Mikhail Gorbachev's visit to the People's Republic of China on May 15, 1989 sparked protests in Tiananmen Square.

At the same time, during the Cold War, the countries of Eastern Europe had already made three attempts to start reforms - Hungary (1956, suppressed by troops), Czechoslovakia (1968, suppressed Soviet Army), Polish People's Republic (1980, the actions of the Solidarity trade union ended with the introduction of Martial Law by Wojciech Jaruzelski.)

The Soviet military factor played a fairly large role in the stability of communist governments even after these events, however, as the perestroika processes developed, the USSR began to gradually move away from the Brezhnev Doctrine, and on October 23-25, 1989, it officially announced its renunciation of the use of force against its satellites. This marked a turning point in Soviet foreign policy.

Poland

After Wojciech Jaruzelski declared martial law in 1981, the Solidarity trade union continued its activities illegally. The Catholic Church provided significant support. Important role for Polish public opinion played by the election of the ethnic Pole Karol Wojtyla as Pope (John Paul II, October 16, 1978).

In 1988, Solidarity managed to initiate a nationwide strike and force Wojciech Jaruzelski to the negotiating table. On March 9, 1989, they agree on parliamentary reform: the Polish parliament becomes bicameral. The Sejm turns into the lower house, the upper house (Senate) is formed during elections.

In April 1989, Solidarity was again legalized, and took part in the parliamentary elections on June 4 and 18, 1989. Solidarity candidates occupy 35% of the seats in the Sejm (65% are occupied by the Polish United Workers' Party and other allied parties in accordance with the Agreement round table-- agreement between the government and the opposition), 99 out of 100 seats in the Senate [source not specified 1975 days]. In September 1989, the first non-communist government was formed.

Czechoslovakia

The Czechs witnessed the fall of the so-called Iron Curtain, which came with the fall of the Berlin Wall. In response to events in East Germany, and in the absence of any reaction from the USSR, mass rallies began. On November 17, 1989, clashes between students and police began. On November 27, a general two-hour strike took place in the country; on November 20, the number of demonstrators increased from 200 thousand to half a million.

On November 28, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia announced the renunciation of its monopoly on power, which was formulated as “Poland - 10 years, Hungary - 10 months, East Germany - 10 weeks, Czechoslovakia - 10 days.” (later added - "Romania - 10 o'clock").

On December 10, communist leader Gustav Husak accepted the first non-communist government since 1948 and resigned. The dismantling of fortifications on the Czechoslovakian border with West Germany began.

On December 28, Alexander Dubcek was elected speaker of parliament, and on December 29, Vaclav Havel was elected president.

Hungary

In 1988, the General Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, János Kádár, was removed. In the same year, parliament adopted a “democratic package” of laws: pluralism of trade unions, freedom of assembly, parties and the press, new law about elections, a radical revision of the constitution, etc.

In October 1989, the ruling party met for its last congress and reformed into the Hungarian Socialist Party, which exists to this day. At the historic session of October 16-20, parliament approved multi-party parliamentary elections and direct presidential elections. The country was renamed from the Hungarian People's Republic to the Hungarian Republic.

When in May 1989, under the influence of perestroika in the Soviet Union, the GDR's Warsaw Pact partner, Hungary, destroyed fortifications on the border with its western neighbor Austria, the GDR leadership had no intention of following its example. But it soon lost control of the rapidly unfolding events. Thousands of GDR citizens flocked to other Eastern European countries in the hope of getting from there to West Germany. Already in August 1989, the diplomatic missions of the Federal Republic of Germany in Berlin, Budapest and Prague were forced to stop receiving visitors due to the influx of East German residents seeking entry into the West German state. Hundreds of East Germans fled to the West through Hungary.

On September 4, 1989, in Leipzig, after a sermon by the pastors of the Lutheran Church of St. Nicholas Christian Fuhrer (German: Christian Führer) and Christoph Wonneberger (German: Christoph Wonneberger), 1,200 people, most of whom did not fit in the church building, held a procession under the slogan “We are - people!" (German: “Wir sind das Volk!”) with demands for civil liberties and the opening of the borders of the GDR. A demonstration that took place a week later provoked a response from the authorities, with more than 50 people arrested. A month later, 70,000 people came to the central square of Leipzig. On October 16, the demonstration attracted 120,000 people, and a week later, according to some sources, about 320,000 people, which was most population of the city. The troops brought into the city were left in barracks in order to avoid bloodshed. In parallel, demonstrations took place in other cities of the GDR, from 300 to several tens of thousands of people took to the streets. The church played a key, unifying role in the protest movement; citizens dissatisfied with the processes taking place in the country felt comprehensive support from both the Protestant and catholic churches; according to Markus Meckel, the German Democratic Republic's foreign minister in 1990, "it was the only place for free communication and reflection."

These demonstrations had a huge impact on political processes going to the GDR, they formed first as democratic associations, and then as parties, such organizations as the “New Forum”, “Social democratic party", "Union 90".

When the Hungarian government announced the opening of borders on September 11, 1989, the Berlin Wall lost its meaning: within three days 15 thousand citizens left the GDR through Hungarian territory.

As a result of mass protests, the leadership of the SED resigned (October 24 - Erich Honecker, November 7 - Willy Stoff, November 13 - Horst Sindermann, Egon Krenz, who replaced Erich Honecker in positions Secretary General The Central Committee of the SED and the Chairman of the State Council of the GDR, was also removed on December 3, 1989). Grigor Gysi became the Chairman of the SED, Manfred Gerlach became the Chairman of the State Council of the GDR, and Hans Modrow became the Chairman of the Council of Ministers.

On November 4, a mass rally took place in Berlin demanding respect for freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, which was agreed upon with the authorities. velvet revolution communist regime

On November 9, 1989 at 19:34, speaking at a press conference broadcast on television, GDR government representative Günter Schabowski announced new rules for exiting and entering the country. According to the decisions taken, from the next day, citizens of the GDR could receive visas to immediately visit West Berlin and the Federal Republic of Germany. Hundreds of thousands of East Germans, without waiting for the appointed time, rushed to the border on the evening of November 9. The border guards, who had not received orders, first tried to push the crowd back, using water cannons, but then, yielding to the massive pressure, they were forced to open the border. Thousands of West Berliners came out to greet the guests from the East. What was happening was reminiscent folk holiday. The feeling of happiness and brotherhood washed away all state barriers and obstacles. West Berliners, in turn, began to cross the border, breaking into the eastern part of the city.

Bulgaria

On November 10, 1989, the leader of the People's Republic of Bulgaria, Todor Zhivkov, was removed by the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party, but this was not enough. In November 1989, demonstrations began in Sofia under environmental pretexts, which quickly grew into demands for political reforms. Despite the replacement of Todor Zhivkov with Petr Mladenov, the protests continued.

In February 1990, the Bulgarian Communist Party renounced its monopoly on power, and in June 1990 the first free elections since 1931 were held. They were won by the moderate wing of the Communist Party, which formed the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP). Although Todor Zhivkov was put on trial in 1991, he avoided the fate of Nicolae Ceausescu.

Romania

In Romania, unlike other Eastern European countries, there was not even limited de-Stalinization. In November 1989, 71-year-old Nicolae Ceausescu was re-elected to another 5-year term as leader of the ruling Romanian Communist Party.

On December 16, the Securitate arrested the ethnic Hungarian priest László Tökes. On the same day, the city of Timisoara rebelled. Nicolae Ceausescu, having returned to the country after an official visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran, addressed the people. However, his speech had no impact on the dissatisfied. Western radio stations, whose broadcasts to the territory of Romania were widely launched from the territory of Hungary and other neighboring countries, were widely informed about the events in Timisoara.

Ceausescu ordered the use of force, but on December 22 the military unexpectedly sided with the demonstrators. Armed clashes between regular troops and the forces of the state security service Securitate took place in the country. Together with the army, the rebels took the building of the Central Committee of the RCP. Ceausescu, along with his wife Elena, tried to escape by helicopter, but was arrested, and then a few hours later, shot.

The National Salvation Front led by Ion Iliescu came to power. Elections were scheduled for May 1990.

Albania

Albania was not part of the pro-Soviet bloc and maintained a relatively isolated position in relation to other countries, but revolutions in Eastern Europe gave rise to surges of discontent among Albanians. Political reforms and a change of power in Albania occurred in 1991.

Ukraine(Orange Revolution)

The Orange Revolution was a widespread campaign of peaceful protests, rallies, pickets, and strikes that took place in a number of Ukrainian cities from November 22, 2004 to January 2005. It began after the Central Election Commission of Ukraine announced the preliminary results of the presidential elections on November 21, 2004, according to which Viktor Yanukovych, who was then Prime Minister, won with a 3% advantage. Supporters of Yanukovych's main rival in the elections, Viktor Yushchenko, and most foreign observers believed that Yanukovych's advantage in the vote was achieved due to election irregularities.

December 3, 2004 Supreme Court Ukraine admitted that it was not possible to determine the winner and scheduled a re-vote for December 26, 2004. The re-vote recorded Yushchenko's victory with a margin of 8%.

Consequences

At a summit in Malta on December 3, 1989, the leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union declared the end of the Cold War. In July 1990, the Chancellor of a reunifying Germany, Helmut Kohl, approached Mikhail Gorbachev with proposals to remove objections to the entry of a united Germany into NATO in exchange for economic assistance.

On July 1, 1991, at a meeting in Prague, the Organization was officially dissolved Warsaw Pact. At a summit that same month, George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev announced a Soviet-American strategic partnership. The US President especially noted the assistance the USSR provided during the Gulf War.

As Mikhail Gorbachev later argued, the USSR's consent to the unification of Germany was given in exchange for a promise that the countries of Eastern Europe would not be included in NATO. Western powers reject the fact of such a promise. In 1990, for whole year before the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact it would have sounded very strange.

The main consequence is the collapse of the USSRmany individual states (15-16).

A country	date	Cause revolution	Target	driving forces	Bottom line
		Illegal activities of Solidarity;	Removal of the Communist Party from power	"Solidarity" Wojciech Jaruzelski	1989 - the first non-communist government
		Society's rejection of the Communist Party regime	Removal of the Communist Party from power	Parliament	Elimination of the communist regime
		Closed borders;	Civil liberties; Opening borders	Public; Democratic movements	Unification of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic
Czechoslovakia	November-December 1989	Society's rejection of the Communist Party regime	Removal of the Communist Party from power	Civil Forum, Public	Elimination of the communist regime; Vaclav Havel - President
			invalidation of the official voting results in the second round of the presidential elections in Ukraine and holding the vote again	opposition blocs of Viktor Yushchenko and Yulia Tymoshenko, with the participation of the Socialist Party of Ukraine; students, small and medium business, pensioners, intelligentsia	re-election of the country's president; Viktor Yushchenko came to power

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On November 17, students took to the streets in memory of Jan Opletal, a Czech student who died in 1939 during protests against the Nazi occupation of the Czech Republic. About 15 thousand people marched from Prague's Albertov district to Vysehrad Hill to the tomb of the poet Karel Hynek Mahi.

After the demonstration ended, the students headed to the center of Prague to Wenceslas Square. Gradually the townspeople joined them. This action was already uncoordinated, so the police did not allow the procession to reach the square. The day ended with demonstrators being dispersed and some being beaten.

On November 20, students in the capital announced a strike. At the same time, mass demonstrations began in the center of Prague and in other cities. Representatives of the intelligentsia, and subsequently workers, joined the student protests. On the fifth day of mass demonstrations, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia resigned and the government fell.

On November 26, a rally with the participation of about 700 thousand people took place in the center of Prague. The next day, people went on strike demanding the abolition of the constitutional article on the leading role of the Communist Party, as well as the resignation of party and government representatives who had compromised themselves and holding free elections.

On November 29, 1989, parliament repealed the constitutional article on leadership role communist party. Within a month, parliament was reorganized.

At the beginning of 1993, Czechoslovakia ceased to exist, and in its place two new states emerged - the Czech and Slovak Republics. In the Czech Republic, November 17 is declared the Day of the Fight for Freedom and Democracy.

The turn of the 80-90s. The 20th century is especially significant in the history of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania. At this time, the Velvet Revolutions took place in Eastern Europe, radically changing the balance of political forces in this region.
In historical science, political upheavals in a number of Eastern European countries are usually called the “Velvet Revolution”. They are considered revolutionary because they brought profound changes in the sphere of economics, politics, culture, and transformed the model of social structure. They are called velvet because the changes were made without mass bloodshed, with the exception of the events in Romania with brutal murder dictator.
Romania (1989)
Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia

Poland

The Velvet Revolutions in Eastern Europe took place quite short time and had a similar development scenario. There is an explanation for this: their inspirers pursued the same goals, expressed general dissatisfaction with the existing regime of power and referred to the same reasons for the unsatisfactory standard of living.
Causes of the Velvet Revolutions in Eastern Europe
There is an opinion that the beginning of the velvet revolutions in Eastern European countries is associated with several main factors:
The crisis situation of the socialist development model. Totalitarianism and authoritarianism in power have become a brake on the development of scientific and technological progress (NTP) and an obstacle to prosperity in the economic sphere. The countries of the Eastern European region lagged significantly behind the capitalist states with which they once went “hand in hand” in many respects. Differences were also noticeable in people’s living standards: the quality of medicine suffered, and there was a regression in social security, spiritual and educational spheres.

Deterioration of the position of Eastern European states in the international arena. The reason for this was the command-administrative management system, which is characterized by centralized economic planning and super-monopoly. The slowness of this system led to ineffective production, its lag, and a delay in the scientific and technological revolution. Since the late 1970s. leadership of countries Western Europe and the United States of America treated the countries of the socialist camp as a secondary force in world politics and economics. Eastern European states could compete on equal terms with the capitalist powers only in the military sphere, but only at the expense of military potential resources Soviet Union.

"Perestroika". Progressive Eastern European youth, observing the process of reforming ideology, politics and economics in the USSR, expected that similar transformations would affect their homeland, which would lead to an improvement in the situation in the socio-political sphere.

Insolvency political parties. To carry out reforms and improve the standard of living of the population, the countries of Eastern Europe during the years of the Velvet Revolutions needed a mature political force. Trust in the ruling party was lost: it was perceived as part of the Soviet bureaucratic machine, contradictions also emerged within it - a struggle between conservatives and reformers began, which also weakened its position.

National pride. People's dissatisfaction with the Soviet Union's policies towards internal processes on the territory of Eastern Europe.

The formation of a new world order caused by the end of the confrontation between the West and the East.

Ideological uniformity.

Consequences of the Velvet Revolution in Eastern Europe
The end of the communist regime. Communist parties in all countries that took part in revolutions underwent collapse. Some of them were transformed into political organizations social democratic type.

Change of ideology. Socialist ideals fell out of favor. The economy has begun a course towards capitalism: privatization of the public sector has begun, business support has begun, and the creation of market relations has begun. In politics, a course was taken towards a multi-party system.

A course towards democratization of all spheres of life.

Improving people's living standards. At first, the transition to capitalism was not easy for the countries of Eastern Europe - inflation, production decline, poverty. But by the mid-90s. managed to overcome these difficulties.

Integration of Eastern European states into European organizations, expansion of NATO and the European Union to the eastern regions.

Termination of the military-political alliance with the USSR - the Warsaw Pact Organization, withdrawal of Soviet troops from Eastern European territory.

Withdrawal of Soviet troops from Poland
Velvet revolutions in Eastern Europe: results
In addition to the above-described consequences of political upheavals, the Velvet Revolutions in Eastern European countries led to their Westernization. Having adopted the experience of their Western colleagues, they embarked on the path of developing a democratic society, a multi-party system and pluralism in politics, and the principle of separation of powers was proclaimed.
In Eastern Europe, a parliamentary system was established. None of the states still have strong presidential power. This was facilitated by the opinion of the political elite that a presidency, like a totalitarian government, could slow down democratization. All power is concentrated in the hands of Parliament, the executive branch of power belongs to the government. Its composition is approved by parliamentarians, they also control its activities, adopt the state budget and laws.
Many historians believe that the Velvet Revolutions in Eastern Europe can be called harbingers of the collapse of the Soviet Union into separate states.
The Velvet Revolutions played a special role in the process of ending the Cold War. By changing their ideology, political and economic priorities, they shook the position of the USSR and provoked pressure on the Union from the States. During the meetings between the Soviet and American leaders, a number of bilateral agreements were signed limiting the arms race.

Abolished the constitutional article on the leading role of the Communist Party.

December 10 - Gustav Husak formed the first non-communist government.

December 29 – Parliament elected Václav Havel as president.

Developments

In 1988, the first open manifestations of opposition sentiments in society began, in the form of demonstrations on the anniversaries of the country's history (1918, 1938, 1968), dispersed by the police. The first protest was a candlelight vigil in Bratislava on March 25, 1988, organized by Catholic activists. In January 1989, from 15 to 24 January, a series of mass demonstrations were organized with the support of the church, formally dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the self-immolation of student Jan Palach; The police responded with crackdowns, repressions and arrests. Around the fall of 1989, the process of dismantling the socialist system “from above” began, accompanied by massive demonstrations.

The revolution began with a student demonstration on November 17, the anniversary of the funeral of Jan Opletal (a Czech student who died in 1939 during protests against the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia), which at first took place under purely student slogans, then acquired a political dimension and was brutally dispersed by the police.

The detonator of anti-government protests was rumors that spread a day later about the murder of one of the students. The “victim” was student Martin Schmid, who allegedly died as a result of the use of force by police during the dispersal of a demonstration. This key event The “velvet revolution” turned out to be a performance staged by the intelligence services of the ruling regime of Czechoslovakia. In reality, the murdered student was portrayed by State Security Lieutenant Ludwik Zifczak, who claims that he received orders to do so personally from Lieutenant General Alois Lorenz. IN scientific literature The version about the role of the Czechoslovak intelligence services and the reformist wing of the Communist Party in organizing the demonstrations is still being intensively discussed.

On November 20, students of the capital announced a strike, which was immediately supported by almost all higher education institutions during the first day. educational establishments countries. At the same time, mass demonstrations began in the center of Prague and in other cities (in the capital, the daily number of participants reached a quarter of a million people). Representatives of the intelligentsia, and subsequently the teams of many enterprises in the country, joined the student actions.

The leaders of unofficial groups who formed the political movement “Civic Forum” in the Czech Republic and Moravia (in Slovakia, a similar movement was called “Publicity Against Violence” (OPN), led the popular discontent, managed to give it an organized character and, within a few weeks, achieve fundamental changes in socially - political life Czechoslovakia. On November 21, the opposition was supported by Cardinal František Tomášek of the Czech Republic.

Under pressure from the opposition and mass demonstrations, on November 24, the leadership of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia resigned. New general secretary Karel Urbanek was elected to the party.

On the fifth day of protest demonstrations, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia resigned. The opposition offered a quarter of the seats in the new government, but this proposal was not accepted. Since the new government refused to hand over power unconditionally to the opposition, it moved on to the next act of revolution. On November 26, a grand rally took place in the center of Prague, and a day later a general strike began.

On November 28, following a meeting between the delegation of the government of Czechoslovakia and the ruling Popular Front with representatives of the opposition “Civic Forum”, a decision was made to abolish the provision enshrined in the constitution on the leading role of the Communist Party. On November 29, parliament repealed the constitutional article on the leadership role of the Communist Party of Human Rights.

On December 10, Czechoslovak President Gustav Husak resigned and a new coalition government of national accord was formed, in which the communists and the opposition received the same number of seats.

A “reconstruction” of the parliament was carried out, where the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia lost its majority. The bodies and organizations of the Communist Party of Human Rights in the army, border troops, troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the corps ceased their activities national security, prosecutor's office, justice, etc.

At its extraordinary congress (December 20-21), the CPC dissociated itself from the sectarian-dogmatic model of the party and society. The action program of the Communist Party of Human Rights “For a Democratic Socialist Society” was adopted. The party charter was abolished, and democratic temporary regulations were adopted instead. The party apparatus has been radically reduced. A revised assessment of the events of 1969, an intention to develop a new view of the history of the party, starting from the moment of its formation, was announced. Row former leaders The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia was expelled from the party.

The change in the political system entailed the rapid entry of new people into the state elite. The core of this new political elite were the dissidents who existed in Czechoslovakia in the 1970s and 1980s.

The victory of new political forces led to the restoration of legislative and executive power on federal level and local authorities. Elections to the Federal Assembly were held in June 1990, and to local councils in November 1990.

During the pre-election period, the “Civic Forum” and the GPN transformed into a movement that united non-partisan citizens and small parties. The revived parties, as well as those that played a secondary role under the communists, launched a competitive struggle with the “Public Forum” and the GPN. Before 1990, there were about 40 parties in Czechoslovakia.

Categories:

Revolutions in the Czech Republic
Revolutions in Slovakia
Revolutions of the 20th century
Czechoslovak Socialist Republic
Events of November 16
November 1989
Perestroika
Metaphors
Events in Czechoslovakia

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See what the “Velvet Revolution” is in other dictionaries:

- (Velvet Revolution) Demonstrations and uprisings in Prague and other Czechoslovak cities during 1989, which led to the liquidation of the communist regime in November of that year. Policy. Dictionary. M.: INFRA M, Ves Mir Publishing House.... ... Political science. Dictionary.

Characteristics of political events in Czechoslovakia, when (1989) power through peaceful, democratic procedures passed from the Communist Party to the bloc of opposition forces. Attributed to playwright and President of the Czech Republic Václav Havel. But how… … Dictionary of popular words and expressions

VELVET REVOLUTION, see Eastern European revolutions (see EASTERN EUROPEAN REVOLUTIONS) ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Publ., Polit. About a bloodless revolution, a sharp change of political orientation and government without military conflicts (especially about a change of government in Czechoslovakia). Lilich 200, 393 396; Mokienko 2003, 95 ... Large dictionary of Russian sayings

Residents of the capital of the Czech Republic will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia on Tuesday, a RIA Novosti correspondent reports.

The Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia was the bloodless overthrow of the communist regime as a result of street protests in November-December 1989.

Protest movement against political regime in Czechoslovakia unfolded under the slogans of democracy, independence and rapprochement with Europe.

The perestroika that began in the USSR pushed the opposition in Czechoslovakia to more decisive action. The main method chosen was a campaign of street demonstrations to provoke the authorities to use violence.

The first open manifestations of oppositional sentiments in society in the country began back in 1988 in the form of street protests, but all of them were dispersed by the police. The next series of mass demonstrations took place in January 1989 with the support of the church. Faced with the manifestation of discontent, the authorities did not enter into dialogue with dissidents, relying on their suppression by force, which marked the beginning of the bloodless overthrow of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia as a result of the so-called “Velvet Revolution” in November-December 1989.

An open clash with the authorities began on November 17, 1989, after the defeat of a peaceful student demonstration of thousands in Prague, which was organized in memory of Jan Opletal, a Czech student who died in 1939 during protests against the Nazi occupation of the Czech Republic. At first, the demonstration took place under purely student slogans, but with the movement it acquired a political dimension and was brutally dispersed by the police.

The detonator of the anti-government protests was the rumors that spread a day later about the murder of one of the students (as it turned out later, this was disinformation). The “victim” was student Martin Schmid, who allegedly died as a result of the use of force by police during the dispersal of a demonstration. This key event of the “Velvet Revolution” turned out to be a performance staged by the intelligence services of the ruling regime of Czechoslovakia. The role of the wounded student, who was being placed into an ambulance under the lenses of many television cameras, was played by a state security lieutenant.

On November 20, students in the capital announced a strike, which was immediately supported by almost all higher educational institutions in the country during the first day. At the same time, mass demonstrations began in the center of Prague and in other cities (in the capital, the daily number of participants reached a quarter of a million people).

Representatives of the intelligentsia, and subsequently the teams of many enterprises in the country, joined the student actions.

The leaders of unofficial groups, who formed the political movement “Civic Forum” in the Czech Republic and Moravia (in Slovakia, a similar movement was called “Publicity Against Violence” (OPV), led the popular discontent, managed to give it an organized character and, within a few weeks, achieve fundamental changes in social -political life of Czechoslovakia. On November 21, the opposition was supported by Czech Cardinal Frantisek Tomasek.

Under pressure from the opposition and mass demonstrations, on November 24, the leadership of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia resigned. Karel Urbanek was elected as the new general secretary of the party.

On the fifth day of protest demonstrations, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia resigned and the government fell. The opposition offered a quarter of the seats in the new government, but this proposal was not accepted. Since the new government refused to hand over power unconditionally to the opposition, it moved on to the next act of “revolution.” On November 26, a grand rally took place in the center of Prague, and a day later a general strike began.

On December 10, Czechoslovak President Gustav Husak resigned and a new coalition government of national accord was formed, in which the communists and the opposition received an equal number of seats.

A “reconstruction” of the parliament was carried out, where the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia lost its majority. The bodies and organizations of the Human Rights Committee in the army, border troops, troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the National Security Corps, prosecutors, justice, etc. ceased their activities.

At its extraordinary congress (December 20–21), the CPC dissociated itself from the sectarian-dogmatic model of the party and society. The action program of the Communist Party of Human Rights “For a Democratic Socialist Society” was adopted. The party charter was canceled and more democratic temporary regulations were adopted in its place. The party apparatus has been radically reduced. The assessment of the events of 1968-1969 was revised, and the intention was announced to develop a new view of the history of the party, starting from the moment of its formation. A number of former leaders of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia were expelled from the party.

On December 29, 1989, the reorganized parliament elected Alexander Dubcek, the main initiator of the course of reforms of 1968-1969, known as the “Prague Spring”, as its chairman, and the writer, human rights activist, head of the “Civic Forum” Vaclav Havel as the president of Czechoslovakia.

The new leadership of Czechoslovakia set a course for the establishment of political pluralism and a market economy.

The victory of new political forces led to the restoration of legislative and executive powers at the federal level and local authorities. Elections to the Federal Assembly were held in June 1990, and to local councils in November 1990.

During the pre-election period, the “Civil Forum” and the OPN transformed into a movement that united non-partisan citizens and small parties. The revived parties, as well as those that played a secondary role under the communists, launched a competitive struggle with the “Civic Forum” and the OPN. By 1990, there were about 40 parties in Czechoslovakia.

In March 1990, the Federal Assembly abolished the country's old name, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic; in April it was replaced by a new name - the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic. Since January 1, 1993, there have been two independent states- Czech and Slovak Republics.

In the Czech Republic, November 17 is declared the Day of the Fight for Freedom and Democracy, and in Slovakia - the Day of the Fight against Totalitarianism.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources