Revoluce 1989: Očekávaní a výsledky
Revolutions of 1989: Expectations and Results

Author(s): Jan Rychlík
Subject(s): History, Social history, Recent History (1900 till today), Transformation Period (1990 - 2010)
Published by: Софийски университет »Св. Климент Охридски«
Keywords: Velvet Revolution; 1989; Czechoslovakia
Summary/Abstract: Revolutions invariably bring in an illusion of the beginning of a new age. People believe that everything from now on will be not only different, but also much better, and that they stand at the eve of “a golden age and paradise on Earth.” The Velvet Revolution, as the peaceful political change in Czechoslovakia at the end of 1989 came to be known, was certainly no exception. It goes without saying that no revolution can materialize in full people’s expectations. The “paradise on Earth” never existed, does not exist and will never do so. It is also known that during every revolution, people know what they do not want rather than what they exactly want. The system of the so-called “real socialism” and in the Czechoslovak case especially, the “regime of normalization,” which was imposed on the country after the Soviet invasion in 1968, was rejected by the majority of Czechs and Slovaks in November 1989. But do we know what the people really wanted to have in its place? And did it materialize – at least partly? These are the questions the author attempts to answer in this essay.

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