The Position of the Civic Forum and Public Against Violence Toward the Negotiations with Czechoslovak Prime Minister Ladislav Adamec
Annotation
Civic Forum and Public Against Violence released this communique after their second round of negotiations with the government on November 28. The nationwide general strike had occurred the day before with resounding success; it was estimated that between one-half and three-fourths of the adult population participated in some fashion. This triumph gave the opposition a great deal of leverage in the negotiations; it also signaled growing popular impatience for major change. During this round of talks, the government, led by Federal Prime Minister Ladislav Adamec, made some major concessions. The most significant of these was the agreement to remove from the constitution the guarantee of the Communist Party's leading role in society and Marxism-Leninism as the state's official ideology. This eliminated the political basis for the party's monopoly on power. Negotiators also made progress towards resolving long-standing opposition demands, including the release of political prisoners and the creation of a committee to investigate November 17. Other key issues, such as the formation of a new federal government and the resignation of President Gustav Husak, proved to be more problematic and would require further bargaining between the two sides.
Text
The Position of the Civic Forum and Public Against Violence Toward the
Negotiations with Czechoslovak Prime Minister Ladislav Adamec
Prague, 28 November 1989, 4 p.m.
The CF believes that the negotiations with the prime minister of the federal
government, Mr. Ladislav Adamec, and his associates authorizes it to provide the public
with this information and these proposals:
1. The Prime Minister promised the delegation of the CF and PAV [Public
Against Violence] that he would form a new government by 3 December 1989.
2. The Prime Minister announced to the delegation of the CF and PAV that
tomorrow the CSSR government will present the Federal Assembly with a proposal for a
constitutional law by which the articles legally establishing the leading role of the CPCz
and Marxism-Leninism as the state ideology will be expunged.
3. The Prime Minister promised the CF and PAV delegation that he would
immediately discuss with the Prague National Committee the issue of allotting the CF
rooms, and discuss with other institutions the issue of giving the CF and PAV access to
the media, including creating conditions for the publication of their own journals.
4. The Prime Minister informed the CF and PAV delegation that he had already
submitted to the President of the republic a proposal for amnesty for political prisoners,
[and] a list that the CF submitted to the Prime Minister during the previous meeting. The
CF will challenge the president of the republic to accommodate this proposal at the latest
by 10 December 1989, which is Human Right’s Day. The Civic Forum is receiving
information that this list was not complete and therefore the CF and PAV are reserving
the right to complete it.
5. The CF gratefully received the news from Dr. Kueera, the deputy chairman of
the Federal Assembly [FA], that tomorrow at the meeting of the FA he will propose the
creation of a special committee for the investigation of the brutal intervention against the
peaceful demonstration of Prague students on 17 November 1989. CF representatives,
especially students, will be invited to work on this committee.
6. The CF and PAV delegation requested that the new government publish the
directives of its program declaration as soon as possible, in which it should be obvious
that the government is prepared to create legal guarantees for securing free elections,
freedom of assembly and association, freedom of speech and press, for the elimination of
the state control over the church, for the amendment of the National Defense Act and
others. It is further necessary to ensure the liquidation of the People’s Militia and
consider the question of the future existence of political party organizations in all
workplaces. The CF and PAV delegation also requested that the government turn its
declaration into visible deeds as soon as possible. The delegation let the federal prime
minister know that, should the public not be satisfied with the programmatic declaration
of the government and with its implementation, then at the end of the year the CF and
PAV will demand that the prime minister resign and that the president of the Republic
nominate a new prime minister suggested by the CF and PAV, if the President should
deem it necessary.
7. On 29 November 1989, CF and PAV will demand in writing that the President
of the Republic, Dr. Gustav Husak, step down by 10 December 1989.
8. The CF and PAV delegation suggested to the Prime Minister that the
government of the CSSR submit to the Federal Assembly a proposal for a constitutional
law by which the representatives of the Federal Assembly, the Czech National Council
and the Slovak National Council and the national committees of all degrees who have
broken their oath as representatives and ignored the will and interest of the people, will
be recalled from their functions. The CF and PAV will propose a system of
supplementary elections in the nearest future.
9. The CF challenges the government and the Federal Assembly to immediately
condemn the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops, and the Federal
Assembly to request the Highest Soviet of the USSR and the representative organs of the
Bulgarian People’s Republic and the German Democratic Republic to declare the
intervention by the armies of five Warsaw. Pact countries in Czechoslovakia a violation
of the norms of international law and the Warsaw Pact itself, because the intervention
occurred without the knowledge or agreement of the highest state organs of
Czechoslovakia.
10. The CF believes that this outcome justifies it in challenging every citizen to
continue working in peace while in a state of readiness to strike. Strike committees can
transform themselves into civic forums, but can also work along side of them. Students
and theater workers will decide themselves whether they will end their strike today or
tomorrow, or whether to continue it. When they decide, however, the CF will support
their position. The CF and PAV challenge the public to assess itself the results of these
negotiations and to make their opinion known to the CF and PAV by all accessible
means. The Civic Forum and Public Against Violence 28 November 1989 at 4 p.m.
[Source: USD AV CR, KC OF Archive, file OF Documents—typescript copy A4, 1 p. Translated by Caroline Kovtun.]
Credits
The Civic Forum, "The Position of the Civic Forum and Public Against Violence Toward the Negotiations with Czechoslovak Prime Minister Ladislav Adamec Prague," 28 November 1989, trans. Caroline Kovtun, Cold War International History Project, Documents and Papers, CWIHP (accessed May 14, 2008).