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Invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968

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On August 20 1968, Czechoslovakia was invaded by the armies of Warsaw Pact.

I watched Vlny (Waves in English, Radio Prague, les ondes de la révolte in French). This is a very interesting movie about 1968 Prague Spring and the subsequent crushing of this liberalization effort by the armies of Warsaw pact.

Table of content

A parallel

In 1964, Czechoslovakia, then a satellite state of the USSR and member of the Warsav Pact, had started a movement of liberalization and democratization (“Socialism with a human face”). The USSR feared that the country would move out of its grasp and give a bad example to the other countries of the Warsav Pact and so it was decided to put things in order (“normalization”) by sending troops in the country. The invasion of the country by the armies of the Warsaw pact was justified as a fraternal action of solidarity in the name of peace in order to free the country from right-wing activists.

Socialist Czechoslovakia is the target of fierce attack from internal reactionaries and foreign imperialists.

— Pravda, July 19 1968

In the interests of their security, in the interests of the people and of world peace, the Socialist sister countries could not permit themselves to allow the CSSR to be detached from the community of Socialist countries.

— Executive Committee, the Council of State (Staatsrat) and the Council of Ministers (Ministerrat), 1968

In 2013, a series of protests and riots are triggered by the decision of president Yanukovych to abandon a project to sign a treaty, the European Union Association Agreement, with the European Union and instead come back closer to Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union. After deadly struggles between the protesters and the police (more than a hundred of the former being killed by the police, some of them being shot by snipers), president Yanukovych fled to Russia and new elections were organized. The Kremlin feared that its (former) vassal state would move out of its grasp and become too close with NATO[1] or the European Union. When it started invading Ukraine in 2022, one of the reason of the invasion was to free the country from neo-nazis.

I will begin with what I said in my address on February 21, 2022. I spoke about our biggest concerns and worries, and about the fundamental threats which irresponsible Western politicians created for Russia consistently, rudely and unceremoniously from year to year. I am referring to the eastward expansion of NATO, which is moving its military infrastructure ever closer to the Russian border.

[…] he North Atlantic alliance continued to expand despite our protests and concerns. Its military machine is moving and, as I said, is approaching our very border.

[…]

Focused on their own goals, the leading NATO countries are supporting the far-right nationalists and neo-Nazis in Ukraine, those who will never forgive the people of Crimea and Sevastopol for freely making a choice to reunite with Russia.

[…]

Your fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers did not fight the Nazi occupiers and did not defend our common Motherland to allow today’s neo-Nazis to seize power in Ukraine.

— Vladimir Putin, 2022-02-24

We would like to see a Ukraine that is friendly, demilitarised, and immune to the danger of the creation of yet another Nazi state, a Ukraine that will not ban the Russian language, Russian culture, and the Russian Orthodox Church. […]

[…]

We still want all issues to be settled diplomatically. But this time we have explained very clearly the necessity of the demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine.

— Sergey Lavrov, 2022-03-10

Some things don't change.

Another parallel?

In 2025, US president Donald Trump suggests to annex Greenland. Greenland does not seem to be really interested but you know, this is for their own good.

Greenland faces new threats from Russian aggression and Chinese expansion. […] This is not just History, this is Destiny. Now is time to stand together again. For peace, for security, for the future. America stands with Greenland.

— Weird video posted by Donald Trump

Someone has borrowed some old USSR manual…

Appendix, on the invasion of Czechoslovakia

Article from Pravda, 1968-07-19

Article from Pravda (Правда) from July 19 1968 (one month before the invasion):

Consolidating Socialism and peace

[…] [The plenum] also agreed that it was necessary to struggle implacably for socialism in Czechoslovakia

[…]

Socialist Czechoslovakia is the target of fierce attack from internal reactionaries and foreign imperialists.

[…] A political opposition has emerged in the country as a counterweight to the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and it is spreading. […]

The anti-socialist and revisionist forces have seized control of the press, radio and television and are using such media as a platform from which to attack the Communist Party, to disorientate the working classes foster disruptive, anti-socialist demagogy and sour relations between the Czechoslovak SSR and other socialist nations. The anti-socialists are using the media as a vehicle for enemy propaganda and to spread the counter-revolutionary message with the slogan: ‘Two Thousand Words’.

[…]

Of course the socialist forces in the Czechoslovak SSR far outnumber those who entertain big ideas about a revolutionary victory for the Czechoslovak people. The right-wing elements, notwithstanding all the noise they are making and their attacks, do not enjoy wide support amongst the masses of workers. However, in order defeating them requires a determined, uncompromising and consistent struggle

[…] Therefore we must be united and show solidarity in defending socialism, our security and the international position of the entire socialist community.

[…] It also required the closing down of all political organisations opposed to socialism and the seizure, by the Party, of the mass media — the press, radio and television in the interests of the working classes and all workers and socialism.

Article from the the GDR Neues Deutschland, 1968-08-12

Article from Neues Deutschland (GDR), August 23 1968, three days after the invasion of Czechoslovakia:

Our armies guarantee peace

[…]

The action to demonstrate solidarity with the people of the CSSR, with our Czechoslovak comrades who have taken up the fight against the counter-revolution in their country, has been taken on behalf of the Socialist cause and, at the same time, of peace in Europe

[…]

Keeping the peace and defending Socialism — our policy pursues this aim firmly and consistently. The means used to that end are dictated by requirements at the time. We are strengthening our Republic in all areas, economic, political, ideological and military, in order to be ready for any eventuality. And now a situation has arisen in which we had to put our armed forces in the field in order to safeguard peace […]

[…] In accordance with the agreement signed in Bratislava, the sister parties offered their help.

In order to appreciate the full significance of this action taken for peace […]

The Executive Committee, the Council of State (Staatsrat) and the Council of Ministers (Ministerrat) made the following declaration: ‘In the interests of their security, in the interests of the people and of world peace, the Socialist sister countries could not permit themselves to allow the CSSR to be detached from the community of Socialist countries.'

The Socialist sister countries’ operation is a triumph for the cause of peace and Socialism […]

Two Thousand Words

“Two Thousand Words to Workers, Farmers, Officials, Scientists, Artists, and Everyone” (Dva tisíce slov, které patří dělníkům, zemědělcům, úředníkům, vědcům, umělcům a všem) is a manifesto written by Ludvík Vaculík (June 17 1968). It is mentionned in the Pravda article as an example of “counter-revolutionary message”.

The leaders' mistaken policies transformed a political party and an alliance based on ideas into an organization for exerting power, one that proved highly attractive to power-hungry individuals eager to wield authority, to cowards who took the safe and easy route, and to people with bad conscience.

[…]

Elections lost their significance, and the law carried no weight.

[…]

The summer holidays are approaching, a time when we are inclined to let everything slip. But we can safely say that our dear adversaries will not give themselves a summer break; they will rally everyone who is under any obligation to them and are taking steps, even now, to secure themselves a quiet Christmas!

[…]

This spring a great opportunity was given to us once again, as it was after the end of the war. Again we have the chance to take into our own hands our common cause, which for working purposes we call socialism, and give it a form more appropriate to our once-good reputation and to the fairly good opinion we used to have of ourselves. The spring is over and will never return. By winter we will know all.

— Two Thousand Words to Workers, Farmers, Officials, Scientists, Artists, and Everyone, Ludvík Vaculík (1968)

By winter, the country had been invaded by the USSR and “normalized”.

References

Czechoslovakia and the USSR:

Ukraine and Russia:

Greenland and the USA:

  1. In the 2000s, Vladimir Putin claimed he did not mind if Ukraine decided to join NATO.

    On the topic of Ukraine’s accession to NATO, the Russian President said that it was entitled to make the decision independently. He does not see it as something that could cloud the relations between Russia and Ukraine. But President Putin stressed that Russia’s position on the expansion of the bloc remained unchanged.

    — Kremlin, 2002

    I think that NATO already has influence in many of our partners, including in Ukraine and Georgia. This does not irritate us.

    […]

    […] If other former Soviet republics want to join NATO, our attitude will remain the same.

    But I want to stress that we will respect their choice because it is their sovereign right to decide their own defence policy and this will not worsen relations between our countries.

    — Vladimir Putin, 2005

    ↩︎