NID: CZECHOSLOVAKIA: OPPOSITION GAINING STRENGTH

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe: A 30-Year Legacy
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06826791
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 26, 2019
• Document Release Date: December 10, 2019
• Publication Date: November 21, 1989

Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826791
I �I I� I II �I
CZECHOSLOVAKIA: Opposition Gaining Strength
The hardline regime seems near collapse in the face of huge rallies and
opposition efforts to form a unified front and seize the political initiative,
though it may try to buy time by using force.
Some 250.000 demonstrators gathered yesterday in Prague's Wenceslaus
Square demanding thc ouster of the regime. Leading dissidents joined
a leader of the once-subservient Socialist Party and some Communist
party members to establish a "Civil Forum" and arc threatening a
general strike Monday unless several party leaders. including President
Husak and General Secretary lakes, resign. More and more political and
social groups arc condemning the violence that met demonstrators
Friday. Universities in Prague, Brno. Olomouc. and Bratislava have
been closed by student strikes, and theaters in Prague and Bratislava
have suspended performances and are holding political discussions.
Dissident leader Vaclav Havel said in an interview that miners in
northern Bohemia and workers in numcro factories will participate
in the general strike.
The Czechoslovak Government met in an emergency session Monday
and issued a warning that it is prepared to quell further demonstrations.
Havel claims o power struggle is under way to replace Jakes and that h:.
Havel, has been in contact with the country's leadership. including
Premier Adamec.
Comment: The reaction against the violent suppression of the
demonstration Friday probably will force the regime eventually to make
concessions. Senior leaders might try to buy time by ordering police to
quell demonstrations in addition to forcing lakes to resign. Interior
Minister Kind and Prague party chief Stepan. who are directly
responsible for the Prague police, might also become scapegoats. Such
moves without policy changes are not likely to satisfy the public, and
further concessions may be necessary sooner than the Central
Committee plenum set for 14 and 15 December.
Dissidents probably will make the Civil Forum a coordinating group
for reformers of all political stripes, hoping to sustain the momentum
started by the mass demonstrations. The group is likely to attract
Communists bolting from a party on the edge of collapse and may gain
authority rapidly. Suppressing yet another rally would probably swell the
strike set for the 27th. Moscow has not yet commented publicly on the
demonstrations but is likely to criticize any brutal suppression as leading
to further instability. It is likely to accept rapid change in
Czechoslovakia�preferably to a Communist reformist regime, possibly
including some Communist leaders of the 1968 reforms with whom
Moscow reportedly established contact this summer.
�TUITSeeret�
TCS 2970/89
1 21 November 1989
6.2(d)
6.2(d)
6.2(d)
6.2(d)
6.2(d:
6.2(d
6.2(d
Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826791