The End of Czechoslovakia: Velvet Revolution
The term Velvet Revolution represent a bloodless revolution that occured in Czechoslovakia in 1989 and put an end to the communist government there.
The Velvet Revolution took place between 17 November and 29 December 1989, and is considered to be a milestone in Czechoslovakia’s way to the free market economy and political democracy.
On 17.11.1989 peaceful student demonstration in Prague had been violently interrupted by the police. On 19.11.1989, the Civic Forum Headed by dissident and play writer Václav Have was established. The Civic Forum, joined by 750,000 students, workers, professionals and lawyers, demanded the resignation of the Communist government, investigations into rampant police brutality, and the release of prisoners of conscience. The Civic Forum also arranged massive demonstrations in Prague on 25and 26 November.
On 10 December, Czechoslovakian President Gustáv Husák was forced to resign, and Václav Havel was elected as President. Alexander Dubček was elected as a speaker of the federal parliament.
The new government concentrated on the issues that were abandoned by communist government, such as human rights, political freedom, private property ownership and business law. The first elections in Czechoslovakia (since 1946) were held in 1990. During these elections, 96% of the voting population voted, and Vaclav Havel was re-elected as the President of Czechoslovakia. In 1990, the state security service (i.e. the secret police or STB) had been officially eliminated and the Ministry of Interior established citizen commissions to review personnel files and to hear testimony of all police officers wishing to maintain positions in the new police force.
In the next nationwide election in 1992, Czechs voted overwhelmingly for the Civic Democratic Party, led by the Federal Finance Minister Václav Klaus, a Milton Friedman monetarist, Margaret Thatcher politician, and big supporter of privatization process. Václav Havel resigned as President. In 1.1.1993, Czechoslovakia was divided into Czech Republic and Slovakia –a process frequently regarded as “Velvet divorce”.
