NID: CZECHOSLOVAKIA: RESTIVENESS GROWING

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe: A 30-Year Legacy
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06826779
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 26, 2019
• Document Release Date: December 10, 2019
• Publication Date: November 3, 1989

Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826779
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CZECHOSLOVAKIA: Restiveness Growing
Cracks are beginning to appear in the Czechoslovak regime's
monolithic facade. Prague's crackdown on the protest last Saturday
provoked a rare display of dissent from the Communist youth daily.
which characterized the demonstrators as peaceful. The head of the
traditionally subservient Socialist Pany had publicly rebuked regime
authoriti s earlier for suppressing demonstrations
his party will seek real independence. Some rank-and-
e ocialists have adopted a more ambitious program. including
support for a constitutional amendment mandating an �open"
multiparty system. Last month. 70 regional representatives of the
Czechoslovak People's Party demanded their leade7 resign, accusing
them of blocking positive changes.
Comment: The usually docile National Front parties have almost
certainly surprised the regime with their signs of independence.
Despite its talk of democratization, Prague probably expected them
to remain subordinate as Communist-controlled vehicles for winning
over public opinion. On its own, this show of unrest will not threaten
the regime of Communist leader Milos lakes, built risks encouraging
more open demands for change from a disgruntled public and
probably will further unnerve a leadership acutely aware of its
unpopularity.
NR Record
10
-ThrSecrgL
TCS 2956/89
3 November 1989
Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826779
Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826779
Czechoslovakia's National Front
Czechoslovakia's four legal non-Communist parties operate within the National Front, an
umbrella organization that also includes the ruling Communists and such mass organizations
as trade unions and women's groups. The regime has maintained the Front organizations
in large part to pass on and promote Communist Party directives, and they have been careful
to adhere to the party line. The Socialist Party has 16,000 members, mostly urban
professionals, and the rural-based People's Party claims approximately 50,000 adherents.
Both have their own newspapers and publishing houses. There are also two Slovak parties
with estimated memberships of less than 1,000 each. Communist Party leader Jakes recently
pledged to reactivate the National Front and to upgrade the satellite parties' role in
policymaking as the cornerstone of his limited political reforms.
rePOL.
TCS 2956/89
3 November 1989
Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826779