Teleprint from the Presidium of the CC CPCz to the Secretaries of Regional Committees of the CPCz and CPS and the Party Municipal Committees in Prague and Bratislava
Annotation
Czechoslovak communist leaders reacted to the first protests after November 17 with the same uncompromising attitude towards opposition they had held for twenty years. This November 21 Central Committee directive, calling on local communists to create a uniform front against the protests, illustrates some of the leadership's initial arguments and strategies. Denying that the public outcry against the recent police brutality was justified, leaders claimed that emotions were being manipulated by provocateurs to overthrow the state. They also argued that the protesters' demands, namely a general strike, threatened the public interest and would damage the economy. This strategy left little room for compromise with the opposition, but at the time it seemed feasible. The party's traditional supporters (including workers) remained passive or hostile to the growing unrest. By isolating the protests and presenting themselves as the only possibility for stable, rational change, conservatives hoped to keep the situation under control.
The strategy had one major flaw: many people unwilling to support a revolution were nevertheless convinced that some change was necessary, and conservative leaders had notoriously stifled all previous attempts at reform. This damaged their credibility even with communist supporters. To maintain any public sympathy, the government would have to change its tactics and its leadership.
Text
Teleprint from the Presidium of the CC CPS to the Secretaries of Regional
Committees of the CPCz [and] CPS and the Party Municipal Committees in Prague
and Bratislava
21 November 1989
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
Prague, 21.11.1989
#V-0135/89
Dear Comrades,
In the last few days a disturbance of the peace and public order occurred in
Prague and a list of other places in our republic. The organizers of these acts abused a
segment of the public, especially the student youth. They are dramatizing the situation,
influencing the feelings and opinions of young people, heightening emotions. They are
misusing the cultural front for this. Strikes are being organized in a series of theaters.
Revolutions and demands with ultimatums calling for cadre changes in the
leading organs, for the resignation of the government, for the destruction and liquidation
of the CPCz, for the discrediting of the SNB 3 (police). This is a direct attempt to
overthrow the socialist order.
The forces of the opposition are trying to widen their influence beyond the scope
of the capital. They are sending their organizers out to universities and various gatherings
which are taking place in many areas at their initiative.
The current situation demands deliberate yet principled and offensive action on
the part of all party organs and organizations and individual communists, in order not to
let the situation slip out of our hands.
It is urgently necessary to mobilize party organizations, communists and all
citizens who care about socialism, to support the position of the CSSR government, the
CSR and the SSR, made public on 21 November of this year, and to help bring about an
atmosphere of peace and prudence.
The most important is mass political work among the people. The functionaries
and apparatus of the party and people’s councils, the leading workers must go to the
workers’ collectives to prevent efforts to call a general strike, which the forces of the
opposition are planning for 27 November. Every managerial worker is personally
responsible for the situation in his collective.
It is necessary to engage in discussions with the students and apprentices, who are
being manipulated by irresponsible elements. It is especially important to strengthen the
influence of the teachers and parents over the younger generation.
The main goal is to show convincingly that straining the situation is a threat to
every citizen of our society, the safety of every family. The eventual strikes, which the
opposition threatens to carry out, would significantly damage our national economy, lead
our market and supplies to destruction (especially now in the winter period before the
Christmas holiday).
The organizers of revolutionary acts will continue in their efforts to seek the
support of the workers for their demands. They are trying to enlist support in the
factories. Therefore it is necessary to prevent their emissaries from entering businesses,
factories and other institutions and prevent them from using other methods of influencing
the workers’ collectives. The factory management and party leadership must ensure
proper defense of these interests. In these times the leading workers—communists and
non-communists— must realize their responsibility for the handling of the political
situation in their sphere of influence.
We must pay special attention to the media. The Presidium of the CC CPCz
adopted measures which ought to stifle the high passions [of the public] and ensure
uniform information [being given out by] the Czechoslovak Press Agency 4 (CTK), radio
and television. Concrete tasks were handed down to the executive directors of these
information agencies to this end.
The party press must influence the public. This applies in full also to regional,
district, business and factory dissemination and information media. It is necessary for
them to broadcast the positions of the worker’s collectives and individuals supportive of
the politics of reconstruction and democratization, a dialog in the interests of socialism.
The voices condemning the efforts to disrupt our society should be heard.
In this situation it is necessary to mobilize the ideological activists of the party, all
those who have the ability to influence the opinion of communists and the public-at-large
in the counties and districts. To ensure prompt information and uniformity of opinions, it
is necessary to incorporate lecturers and propagandists of social organizations, including
the Socialist Academy, into this group of activists.
We recommend that operational staffs be established in regional and district party
committees, which would evaluate the situation, [and] its development and would
propose concrete measures.
All party organs and organizations must act quickly, decisively and unanimously,
and secure the support of the regional and district committees of the National Front,
organizations affiliated with it, and national committees at all levels.
The positions and resolutions in support of the politics of the party should be sent
without delay to the Central Committee of the CPCz.
The Presidium of the CC CPCz
[Source: SUA, UV, KSC - teleprints and letters, UV-0135/ 89. Obtained by Oldrich Tuma.]
Credits
The Presidium of the CC CPCz, "To the Secretaries of Regional Committees of the CPCz and CPS and the Party Municipal Committees," teleprint, Prague and Bratislava, November 21, 1989, Cold War International History Project, Documents and Papers, CWIHP (accessed May 14, 2008).