Diplomatic representatives and communist functionaries from People’s Republic of Poland towards political development in Slovakia in the period of Czechoslovak reform in the years 1968–1969 Cover Image

Przedstawiciele dyplomatyczni PRL i funkcjonariusze PZPR wobec rozwoju sytuacji politycznej na Słowacji w okresie czechosłowackiej reformy lat 1968–1969
Diplomatic representatives and communist functionaries from People’s Republic of Poland towards political development in Slovakia in the period of Czechoslovak reform in the years 1968–1969

Author(s): Grzegorz Gąsior
Subject(s): Diplomatic history, Political history, Government/Political systems, Post-War period (1950 - 1989), History of Communism
Published by: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika
Keywords: People’s Republic of Poland; Diplomatic relations; Czechoslovak reform;

Summary/Abstract: Slovakia and the structures of Communist Party of Slovakia (CPS), local branch of statewide Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (CPC), played an important role in the period of attempts to reform the communist political system in Czechoslovakia in the years 1968–1969. The effort to gain an equal position to Slovakia in the common state catalyzed the crisis in the ruling establishment that led to election of Slovak communists‘ leader Alexander Dubček to the post of First Secretary of CC CPC. Dubček became a symbol of reform movement in the party. In Bratislava he was succeded by Vasil Biľak, one of the main supporters of Warsaw Pact‘s military intervention in Czechoslovakia. After invasion in the August 1968 the leadership in CPS was taken over by Gustáv Husák, who suppressed the freedoms in Slovakia, and after becoming First Secretary of CC CPC in April 1969 continued the „normalization” in the rest of the country. The situation in Slovakia was observed by the diplomats of People’s Republic of Poland and functionaries of Polish United Workers’ Party especially from regions bordering with Slovakia, who maintained contacts with Slovak comrades.

  • Issue Year: 29/2014
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 143-174
  • Page Count: 31
  • Language: Polish