Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of maps
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Map 1 Slovak Republic
- 1 Slovakia, the Slovaks and their history
- 2 The Duchy of Nitra
- 3 The beginnings of the nobility in Slovakia
- 4 Medieval towns
- 5 Renaissance and humanist tendencies in Slovakia
- 6 The period of religious disturbances in Slovakia
- 7 The Enlightenment and the beginnings of the modern Slovak nation
- 8 Slovak Slavism and Panslavism
- 9 The Slovak political programme: from Hungarian patriotism to the Czecho-Slovak state
- 10 Slovakia in Czechoslovakia, 1918–1938
- 11 Slovakia from the Munich Conference to the declaration of independence
- 12 The Slovak state, 1939–1945
- 13 The Slovak question and the resistance movement during the Second World War
- 14 The Slovak National Uprising: the most dramatic moment in the nation's history
- 15 The Slovak question, 1945–1948
- 16 Czechoslovakism in Slovak history
- 17 The Magyar minority in Slovakia before and after the Second World War
- 18 The establishment of totalitarianism in Slovakia after the February coup of 1948 and the culmination of mass persecution, 1948–1953
- 19 Slovakia and the attempt to reform socialism in Czechoslovakia, 1963–1969
- 20 Slovakia's position within the Czecho-Slovak federation, 1968–1970
- 21 Slovakia under communism, 1948–1989: controversial developments in the economy, society and culture
- 22 The fall of communism and the establishment of an independent Slovakia
- 23 Afterword: Slovakia in history
- Index
20 - Slovakia's position within the Czecho-Slovak federation, 1968–1970
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 October 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of maps
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Map 1 Slovak Republic
- 1 Slovakia, the Slovaks and their history
- 2 The Duchy of Nitra
- 3 The beginnings of the nobility in Slovakia
- 4 Medieval towns
- 5 Renaissance and humanist tendencies in Slovakia
- 6 The period of religious disturbances in Slovakia
- 7 The Enlightenment and the beginnings of the modern Slovak nation
- 8 Slovak Slavism and Panslavism
- 9 The Slovak political programme: from Hungarian patriotism to the Czecho-Slovak state
- 10 Slovakia in Czechoslovakia, 1918–1938
- 11 Slovakia from the Munich Conference to the declaration of independence
- 12 The Slovak state, 1939–1945
- 13 The Slovak question and the resistance movement during the Second World War
- 14 The Slovak National Uprising: the most dramatic moment in the nation's history
- 15 The Slovak question, 1945–1948
- 16 Czechoslovakism in Slovak history
- 17 The Magyar minority in Slovakia before and after the Second World War
- 18 The establishment of totalitarianism in Slovakia after the February coup of 1948 and the culmination of mass persecution, 1948–1953
- 19 Slovakia and the attempt to reform socialism in Czechoslovakia, 1963–1969
- 20 Slovakia's position within the Czecho-Slovak federation, 1968–1970
- 21 Slovakia under communism, 1948–1989: controversial developments in the economy, society and culture
- 22 The fall of communism and the establishment of an independent Slovakia
- 23 Afterword: Slovakia in history
- Index
Summary
In 1968, a series of social reforms began in Czechoslovakia with the aim of creating a democratic form of socialism. This process has since been variously described as ‘socialism with a human face’, the ‘Prague Spring’ or the ‘regeneration process’. The reform movement was directed ‘from above’, because it was implemented by reformist representatives of the Communist Party. But both the Czech and Slovak halves of the country supported these reforms. In January 1968, Alexander Dubček, the Slovak politician, was elected first secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (CPC), and this event is commonly regarded as the beginning of this process; other reformist Communists also secured a range of further political and state positions.
Slovakia's role in the social reforms
The basis of the constitutional settlement between the Czech and Slovak nations was the concept of the mutual recognition of expressions of their national sovereignty. The settlement of relations between the Slovak and Czech nations was predicated upon the principle of national equality (rovný s rovným, or ‘like with like’), but this principle of recognition of Slovak self-rule was not applied after 1945. As a result, many Slovaks demanded that this situation should be corrected by means of the federalisation of the state.
Federalisation soon became one of the constituent components of the wider reform process, and settling the constitutional relations between the Czech and Slovak nations thus became a priority. This process not only presupposed a sense of political symmetry, but also (state) equality, equal rights and self-determination of both nations.
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- Slovakia in History , pp. 315 - 329Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011
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