NID: CZECHOSLOVAKIA: COMMUNIST PARTY FALLING APART

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe: A 30-Year Legacy
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06826800
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 26, 2019
• Document Release Date: December 10, 2019
• Publication Date: December 2, 1989

Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826800
CZECHOSLOVAKIA: Communist Party Falling Apart
The splintering of the Communist Party is eroding both the ability of
hardliners to interfere in democratization and the party's potential role
in determining Czechoslorakia's future.
The party's Presidium. lcd by General Secretary Urbanck. appears
incapable of curbing rank-and-file demands for radical changes in
the party. The powerful Prague city party organization, for example.
has rejected the recent Central Committee shuffle as inadequate,
according to Western press reports. The Democratic Forum of
Communists, a reform wing of the party, is demanding abolition of
the People's Militia, the party's paramilitary force, and has expressed
agreement with the Civic Forum's platform. It may turn to Dubcek-
cra reform Communists�or even t Du cek himself�to bolster its
legitimac)
Communists expel cd from the party after the Soviet-led invasion in
1968 have established a Democratic Socialist Party and hope to
attract parts- members and others willing to support political
pluralism.
.A group of Slovak reform
Although some party officials outside Prague are demanding that
"order be restored." other apparatchiks are beginning to worry
their futures.
about
Comment: The calls by hardliners to reassert party domination
appear to have little backing from the rank and file, and their fears of
ouster are probably justified. Many reformists, formerly silenced by
the hardline leadership, are beginning to show their true colors. As
long as hardliners control the Central Committee, however, the more
radical reformers probably will defect to newly formed socialist
parties or simply defy orders from the leadership
General Secretary Urbanck must react to these changes soon if he is
to regain control and prevent the party's eclipse. At the next Central
Committee plenum on 14 December. he may try to move up the
extraordinary party congress, scheduled for late next month, in an
effort to purge the party of hardliners. If he fails to stem the party's
disintegration, it could end up with little or no voice in a future
government coalition.
---Ttrp-Seggt
TCS 2979/8
2 December 1989
Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826800