 We're talking about the Prague Spring, so-called Prague Spring, although it's a longer process which underlines the crisis of Stalinism in the post-war period. One of the biggest movements shaking Stalinist regimes from their foundations there were others, big movements, leading in the direction of trying to regenerate, to regenerating socialism on a democratic basis and there are many different components in this movement, which I'll try to explain the dynamics of it and how it came along and how it rose and how it was defeated and the consequences, giving a bit of a context in terms of international relations in the world at the time and and also going back to the roots of the Czechoslovak regime, how it came to power and the consequences of how the transition to get rid of capitalism and towards a planned economy impacted and the perspectives and how the movement developed in 1968 is also a consequence of that. To start the Prague Spring was sharply suppressed by the intervention, the military intervention of the Soviet Union and around the Soviet Union by the Warsaw Pact. The Warsaw Pact was a military alliance of the Eastern Bloc countries with the Soviet Union. Almost every country led by Stalinist regimes participated in the suppression of the Prague Spring movement in August 1968, except for Romania, which was then hailed as a liberal Stalinist regime in the West and we know how things have developed in Romania since that and brought to the fall of the regime of Ceausescu. Romania refused to participate in this and the suppression of the Prague Spring at the time. But going back to the movement and how it came about well, the demonstrators were greeting Soviet troops entering Prague and the other towns in Czechoslovakia with the slogan Lenin wake up, Brezhnev has gone mad and that kind of epitomized the psychology of the mass of the people in this movement they most of the students, the intelligentsia and the workers who were participating in this big wave of mobilizations had in mind a target, which was not the idea of going back to capitalism. This is a kind of myth that has been created and has been also fueled by the posterior evolution of the leaders of the Prague Spring, Dubcek first, for example, who supported the so-called Velvet Revolution of 1989 and basically the whole movement towards the restoration of capitalism. But at the time it was a different thing and the aim of this revolution immobilization was to challenge the domination over society of the bureaucracy of the Soviet bureaucracy, there were no formerly not Soviets in Czechoslovakia at the time or even before. The regime in Czechoslovakia was established by a combination of revolutionary uprising and process of mass mobilization of the working class and the presence of the Red Army, obviously, because the Red Army was the liberator troops entering Prague and the Czech Republic in 1945, in May 1945 and chasing formerly wiping out the last Nazi resistance of occupied Czechoslovakia. So basically the regime coming out of that period, of that process, was a combination of revolutionary features by expropriating the capitalist who collaborated with Nazi Germany occupation, most of them they were expropriated, their properties were expropriated, were put under workers management and control for a limited period of time in the transition between 45 and 48. All the workers' organization exploded in terms of membership, strength, roots in the working class. It was an impressive show but it was dominated by the Communist Party which was following Stalinist line in the whole in the whole struggle against Nazi occupation, the anti-fascist struggle and then in the transition from 45 to 48 defending the idea of creating a People's Republic, a sort of hybrid between bourgeois democracy and socialism without pushing for further the transition to the abolition of capitalism. And the abolition of capitalism was brought about by a combination of the internal revolutionary wave, the strength of the Communist movement and the Communist Party which was dominating the trade unions, the working class in crashing with a crashing majority because of the role they played in the resistance movement before and a combination of the international relations between the big powers which also had an impact in shaping up the whole process from 45 to 48. In the previous period when the liberation happened after the uprising in Prague which saw an important mass participation of the workers of Prague for five days of fears fighting and hundreds of people were killed against the Nazis the uprising in Prague was the biggest show of workers' power in arms, workers in arms with the militias organized by the Communist Party and the other anti-fascist parties but the whole process was frozen by Stalinist leadership with the idea that the most important strategic asset of which would defend or screen the Soviet Union for a future repetition and allow the Soviet Union to rebuild itself after the distractions of the war was guaranteed by the alliance with the allied powers Britain and the United States in particular the anti-fascist alliance the three big powers alliance as you want to call and so Stalinist Soviet Union and Stalin in particular were pursuing a policy of appeasement with the so-called democratic powers of the west which had as a casualty a number of the development of the process of the revolution in the post-war period in a number of countries which were occupied by the red army and because of the relationship of forces between the working class and the ruling class and the presence of the red army and the armed workers, the armed militias, the armed partisans and so on the relationship of forces was so favorable to to the revolutionary side that the reaction didn't really have much social base to base themselves upon in other countries where like Italy or Greece or France for example, which were established in the in the pact between Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt and with Americans in general because Roosevelt died at some point They established a partition of the world in spheres of influence and eastern Europe was to be part of the Soviet sphere of influence the other countries, although they experienced and went through analogous and even stronger in certain ways, revolution waves in the struggle against fascism were to be preserved as part of the sphere of influence of US imperialism or British imperialism in a way of preserving their capitalist setup, their capitalist constitution and state and therefore the policies of the Stalinist Comintern before the dissolution of the Comintern, which by the way was decided by Stalin in May 1943 as a gift in an exchange to his democratic imperialist partners by suppressing the communist international the message was we're not pursuing the development of revolutionary of revolutionary overthrow of capitalism throughout the world the communist international was dissolved in in may 1943 as a consequence of this policy in That policy also meant An adaptation of the communist parties to the national liberation struggle trying to to present and trying to portray the national liberation struggle as national struggle against Nazi occupation And that in in the case of the of the Czech and Czechoslovakia in general Revolution of 4548 meant a coalition government with the remaining bourgeois parties in a situation where the bourgeoisie fled with the nazis There was no alternative armed power in the country other than the red army and the partisan armed militia But the Stalinist collaborated and and propped up and allowed the rebuild Rebuilding a number of bourgeois parties a number of petty bourgeois parties and together with them in a coalition government staged a sort of Fiction of bourgeois democracy for for a number of years until the international situation changed Um, I don't I don't have much time to go into that, but There are elements of revolution and counter-revolution in all these processes and the strength of the communist party in the Czech Republic in Czechoslovakia which Was was immense the communist party Came out of the resistance war as the main force in three elections in 1947 got About 40 percent of the vote The the party went from 28 000 members in in may 1945 when when the uprising happened and the liberation happened to about Three quarters of a million 750 000 members by december of the same year. So just imagine this enormous movement The working class swelling The ranks of the communist party and strengthening the leadership of the communist party In all this process we have a contradiction between a revolutionary push from the working class Expressed in the structures of the communist party and the trade unions the Revolutionary trade unions that were built in the process of the anti fascist struggle And then became a huge powerful force In 1945 in the second half of 1945 reaching more than one and a half million members Organized in the whole working class A huge movement of workers councils developing But obviously all this movement which had enormous Put an enormous revolutionary pressure on the communist party on the trade union leadership On the government the popular front government and for for immediate transition Towards socialism. That was the aim Was reflected in the beginning in the in the structures of the communist party and the revolution trade union in clandestinity internally in in Czechoslovakia during the anti fascist struggle but then The leadership of these structures were completely overruled and substituted by the exiled leadership Which was based in moscow came back And and stepped as it took the position of leadership Their policy was to freeze the revolutionary process and prevent A revolution to to happen to keep it at the stage of a national revolution keep it at the stage of A people's republic which would not mean The the for example the establishment of a planned economy and the expropriation of capitalism But under the pressure of the working class They had to even the bourgeois had to agree to a number of Measures that were pointing in the direction of a planned economy They even agreed to an emergency economic plan a two years plan to Re-establish the productive forces of Czechoslovakia after the war and a sweeping movement of support to nationalization's measures Going from the heavy industry to the banking system To distribution to all the aspects of the economy in Czechoslovakia developed very rapidly after the liberation occurred It was a spontaneous movement of the working class It was a huge wave that the communist party could not completely Fence off although their policy was completely different Was to keep the status quo basically and limit the transition to freeze the transition And they pursued this policy up until 1947 The end of 1947 there is something that changes Just a little quote about of Stalin to to show this This the approach of the Stalinist leadership to to the process in november 1944, but that is reiterated with Many declarations afterwards Stalin stated that the alliance between the ussr great britain and the united states of america is founded not on casual transitory considerations But on vital and lasting interests So basically the soviet union the worker state The revolutionary here of october According to Stalin had strategic and or long lasting interest in an alliance with the main imperialist powers coming out victorious from from the world the war Obviously that wasn't the case the behavior of the of the us Strategies during the war for it was to establish connections with the nazi regime When it was clear that nazi germany was to be defeated and The germans also reached out to the americans and the british in order to arrive at a sort of negotiated or Most agreeable fall of of the nazi regime Which was meant to prevent The victory and the conquer All by the red army of large part of of eastern europe and they actually it's it's quite It's not thought so much in in academic history, but It's quite striking that for example the germans the nazi troops after In the last part of the war where completely Moved out of the way of the americans to accelerate the The rate of conquest and advance of the of the us troops and allied troops on the west And the german general staff moved Left only 26 german divisions on the western front To defend the western front against the allied troops Advance and concentrated all their forces to the east Towards russia 170 divisions On that front that shows the type of Struggle that was going on and there was also an attempt to Push americans to enter Czechoslovakia Before the uprising in Prague At that point It was already it had already been agreed That Czechoslovakia should be in the sphere of influence of the soviet union, but still they allied So reliable in terms of Stalin's Expectations were plotting ways of preventing the expansion of The sphere of influence of the soviet union Because they were rightly Concerned of the revolutionary impact of this of this advance of the of the red arm The regime established in 1948 was a somersault a complete Had one of the many 180 degrees turn of the Stalinist policy And it was caused by changing the war and changing world relations because obviously The the imperialists had Needed the soviet union to fight against nazi germany And and the second world war is in fact a titanic struggle between the soviet union and nazi germany and With very secondary Important, but secondary participation of the imperialist allied troops That's where most of the fighting that's where the strategic changes in the balance of forces was determined It was on the eastern front in during the second world war But yeah, this reliable allies had been at at a complete On complete diverging interest from those of the soviet union and so by The beginning of 1947 There is a u-turn in the u.s policy towards europe with a return to anti communism To raising the threat of communism as the main guiding line for u.s intervention that coincided with the marshal plan To stabilize europe and counter the revolution wave that was swiping all european country By means of Foreign direct investment by the united states the u.s loans to britain france to other countries And there was also an illusion by Stalin that Reconstruction in the soviet union would be allowed by u.s loan as well. So that's the level of hallucination and I would say I wouldn't I wouldn't call it a mistake, but a complete misunderstanding of this reading of of the class forces and why they were Going towards a breakup of the of the great alliance after the war when the situation was beginning to stabilize The british and u.s didn't need The alliance with the soviet union anymore. So They entered into a collision course and the reaction in moscow was a complete panic reaction With another 180 degree turn, which was Going back to the policies of the previous period the third period policies of Complete left-wing Extremist policies Which meant for for the Czech for Czechoslovakia that the communist party had to abandon the united front And the collaboration with the bourgeois party and go towards Seizing power and completing the overthrow of capitalism and implementing a regime of Similar to that of the soviet union So why have have I spoken about this because that shapes The future events the type of regime that was built in Czechoslovakia was built under an immense participation and Revolutionary commitment of the working class it had to give to the working class certain type of Allowance for for For example freedom of organization freedom of speech to a certain degree But by the turn in 1948 in february when when the communist party sees sees this power in Czechoslovakia They they they do that with the massive support on part of the population So there are elements which are reactionary elements which are extremely progressive in all this process and they establish a regime which is Based on the on the economic plan and the expropriation of the economy To the image of the existing Soviet union regime regime or that we call and we characterize as marxists as proletariat and bonapartism In the sense that the working class Is nominally the ruling class, but it has been expropriated by a bureaucratic Apparatus, which is embodied by the state and this huge bureaucracy expropriates the Political rights of the ruling class. So the working class which was part of this enormous revolutionary ferment before 1945 is reigned in by the Stalinist leadership and Massivized and all the energies of the working class in the Czech Republic in Czechoslovakia were turned on the internal front on the economic front to fight for the meeting the economic plan to re-establishing the basis of the productive forces demanding huge sacrifices which the workers willingly went along with So that shows the level of support that the Stalinist leadership had Enjoyed at that time amongst the mass of the population in the Czech Republic especially the working class But also the peasantry and so on number of reforms were were granted which were based on the expropriation of the economy for example on By establishing a plan in agriculture and distributing the lands and That were expropriated to the German collaborators and Czech Czechoslovak ruling class and the introduction of a planned economy With the nationalization of almost everything almost everything very very little was left To to be nationalized 20 years later, what happened that provoked this huge Revolutionary wave against against The most oppressive aspects of that regime in order to Disapply in the working class from 1948 onwards. There is a process of Stalinization of the party which means a number of Perch trials a number of Leaders or people who had authority because of the role they played in the liberation struggle But we're still putting forward the line of mobilizing or resting on The active participation of the working class where targeted and removed and The the push by the communist leadership which enjoyed of this huge enormous authority Because of the role they played in the previous period The Stalinists Effectively managed to control the process the revolution process and To divert the energies the revolutionary energies of the working class on to the internal front on the economic field and so on But that was At a huge cost. It was at an enormous cost from the point of view of the Quality of life of the of the conditions of life of the workers and so on they paid an enormous price in raising up again Czechoslovakia to the levels that were The productive forces were at before the war Um In in the in the early 1960s, there is a slowing down of economic growth All the benefits of the planned economy started to wear out Because of a number of reasons There is the policy by the soviet unions of Throwing out Technology out of the countries that were liberated Especially Germany, but also other countries including Czechoslovakia Machinery and so on. There is also the wearing out of the existing machinery and the problem of under-investment in the planned economy also The economy was paying a price for the policies of the Stalinist communist party in the previous period. For example, the Czechoslovak communists They supported the idea of the deportation of all the german speaking minority of Czechoslovakia, they were accused of collaborating with the nazis Only in part This accusation is true, especially regarding the ruling class. Obviously the german Minority Czech minority speaking german where at this proportionate part of the Czech Czechoslovak ruling class and they Collaborated actively with the nazis But it meant also the deportation about 20 percent of the working class Out of Czechoslovakia 20 percent of the working class And a lot of these workers were not fascists or were not fascist collaborators They just happened to be german part of the german minority That opened holes in the in the planned economy because a lot of these workers were Specialized workers and they could not be Substituted just by recruiting new layers of the working class out of the peasantry in Slovakia or in the Czech Republic. There were other problems There was like in all Eastern european countries each national bureaucracy was Planning to be as much as possible Independent economically from the others because there were tensions and also from the soviet union because they were aiming at having their own independence And that provoked conflicts and frictions throughout The the east your eastern european bloc And important conflicts like for example the tito styling styling clash between uber slavia and the soviet union But also other minor Frictions and conflicts between national bureaucracies So they were aiming at developing their own Particular base and in the Czech Republic the communist party enjoyed of a massive support as we have seen So they had the social basis to to base themselves upon they tried to counter the the slowing down of the planned economy which was A planned economy applied with bureaucratic methods to an economy which was particularly More developed than that of the soviet union for example already starting from a level Even after the destructions of the war an industrial level which was Of a qualitatively different level from The backward productive forces of the soviet union. So the the planned the bureaucratically planned economy Which was aimed at developing heavy industry and so on Didn't really manage to to develop in an harmonious form The whole economy like in the soviet union, but even worse than soviet union It ended up into a crisis in the early 60s which provoked a crisis within the communist party in in The Czech communist party Uh, the crisis Practically brought to a stagnation and there was a problem of consumer goods not being available So all the efforts and the sacrifices of the working class were exposed The working class didn't really see Benefit in continuing that and the bureaucracy was divided on how to uh, how to face this To this also international developments the crisis in the soviet union the exposure of the by khrushchev which destabilized the confidence in In the communist party of the soviet union in all around the world By exposing the crimes of starlin and so on the Destal linearization Which was Then applied in in all the other countries the satellite countries of the soviet union The then leader novotny Of the communist party the Czech communist party attempted the number of reforms, but these reforms Uh, were not successful. They just brought To even a bigger crisis So by the end of the 1960s in 1967 the situation was of A growing opposition within the communist party to the policies of novotny trying to find a way out of Of this situation Which was then crystallized by an event which was Could could seem secondary which was a big row a big opposition statement by the writers association The Czech writer association at the end of 1967 taking a position in support of A number of writers who were censored and repressed in the soviet union among Which solzhenitsyn So There was this public position taken by the writers association in the in Czechoslovakia, which was Suppressed in in an extreme Stupid way by the communist party leadership The some of these writers were victimized There were some of their papers were closed down and so on and that ignited a movement by the students in solidarity with With the intelligentsia a movement which was heavily repressed with Heavily attacked by the secret police With students beaten up and so on so that spread Shock waves and created the situation of crisis In which a big change in the communist party started to To happen The change was the removal of Novotny This big opposition in the within the bureaucracy was getting More and more support within the party and the trade unions and so on Even bresnev was called by Novotny to come And participate in in a meeting of the central committee of the party at the end of 1967 and And bresnev was meant to support Novotny But when he realized that the scale of the opposition he was facing he just watched his hands and said, okay Go ahead with substitution so Dubcek was elected leader of the of the Communist party who was alexander dubcek. It's important to understand Because he was not an evolutionary. I mean he in his youth Was part of the resistance movement fought against the nazis, but since He was educated in soviet union was regarded by the soviet union bureaucracy as one of ours are sasha alexander dubcek So he was a good candidate coming from the apparatus of the slovak communist party a good candidate to replace novotny dubcek had maneuvered his way up to become To enter into a leading position in the communist party By a combination of things which were mainly A wave towards a liberalization easing the repression on on for example The press and so on When he was leader of the slovak communist party since 1963. So we are talking about already several years He started to build up his position within Czechoslovakia with his brand as a liberal liberalizer a more benign Approach towards criticism and so on and so forth And also using this criticism and directing it against the leadership of novotny So basically he was elected on this wave And started a program of reforms Immediately when dubcek was nominated he started announcing for example on the 20th anniversary celebration of The february 48 conqueror conquest of power by the communist party He delivered a speech saying Basically the message was we need to change And that immediately raised enormous expectations in the mass of the People in In Czechoslovakia In april 68, and that's the beginning of the process of the so-called prak spring he Delivered what was called an action program Which was and what was the meaning of this action program by dubcek the idea was to reform the system without touching The basis and The basis of power and privilege by the bureaucracy The bureaucracy was over and compassing society was controlling every aspect of Czechoslovak life economically and Socially From all points of view. We're talking about a layer a privileged layer because of the position in the state apparatus The bureaucracy was gaining from that position. So the idea behind dubcek's reform was Not to touch the core of these privileges for the bureaucrats but to allow A process of national regeneration and create a situation where he could find Is some of the most repressive features of the Stalin's regime up until then And Bays himself on a more genuine level of popular mobilization and support So he established or announced Which is different announced the establishment of Relative freedom of press So immediately there was a big wave of new publications and papers and a big movement in the Intelligencia amongst the students but also amongst the workers and the workers started publishing every Factory council started started publishing their own their own bulletin their own voice and so on Better focus on consumer goods in order to deliver And in order to do that introducing Economic reforms which are based on the idea of giving the manager The factory managers More power So basically to build up a confrontation between different layers of the bureaucracy in order to shake up the whole productive machine but never To give proper power to the working class in order to control the bureaucratic mismanagement. That was never a Dubczyk's intention And even the idea of establishing a multi-party system. So to go back to the situation pre-1948 have A transition of 10 years towards the democratic election, which is a very ambitious program Limiting the powers of the secret police, which was hated or was becoming more and more hated because of the way the suppression of Dissidency and criticism and even in terms of workers Demands was handled was often a matter of the secret police handling it. So it became more and more hated To establish a federation on equal grounds between the Czech Republic and the Slovakian Republic Keep good relations To the west And keep strong alliance with the soviet union. So to have The cake and eat it as they say here And then and then the slogan which Encompassed all this program was socialism with a human face And I think that really struck a chord although it's kind of ironic because It meant that before socialism didn't have a human face but Actually socialism was officially established In Czechoslovakia in the early 1960s Following the declaration that socialism was had been accomplished in the soviet union by kruzshov So the idea was well if we have socialism then why do we still have to go through all the transitional period where You know of the police state So there was an element of that and that connected with the consciousness of millions of people Dubcek enjoyed Enormous support There was at some point a poll which gave dubcek 78 percent of of support The slogans in the demonstrations were dubcek svoboda the president the new president And Kind of twin figure with dubcek in leading this process Non-party organizations were tolerated So we have a springing up hundreds of associations groups and so on as a process of the revolutionary wave That Was beginning and basically what happened is already in april, but then it radicalized throughout The spring and the summer A movement of the youth of the intelligentsia But also the beginning of the movement of the working class demanding the immediate application of these measures And this is a good example of what we mean When we say that the most dangerous moment for Totalitarian regime or on autocracy Is when they attempt to reform the system because it opens up the venue which has been compressed for for two decades in this case the venue for the rising demands and legitimate demands of the youth and the working class which Is the feature The main feature of the process from now on dubcek wants to limit this process has the approach of a bureaucrat And shows it throughout the movement trying to to come down using his authority and calm the most extreme demands of the workers and the youth promising future delivery of reforms and so on and so on All this process is witnessed by the soviet union bureaucracy in moscow with a A lot of fear they know this is a revolutionary process They know what that dubcek is playing with fire And they start to put pressure on the communist party leadership to To rein in this this process of reforms and stop the pro the revolutionary process using their authority the authority of the Soviet union but it's not 1948. It's not any more 1948 20 years of past and the authority Huge authority still but it's not enough To stop the process So basically there is a dynamic where the communist party leadership the reformers dubcek and the others are Pressurized from a huge mobilization of the working class For example, there is the resurgence of the workers councils Which at some point at the peak even after soviet the Warsaw Pact invasion in august Reach about 60 of the working class electing councils in the factories although they're Kept in a sort of advisory form but they enter into constant conflict with the management with the bureaucrats there and so on So it's a big It's a huge problem from the point of view of the bureaucracy pressure to slow down and Using the specter of hungary 1956 hungary 1956 was a political revolution an enormous revolution of the working class in hungary against The bureaucracy and was suppressed in blood It's particularly violent way by the intervention of the soviet troops So dubcek and the other leaders were using that example, which obviously everyone knew about as a way of scaring the working class and the youth into Not exceeding too much not limiting their criticism not to attack the soviet union not to attack The communist party not to limit the criticism and so on Throughout the movement dubcek was the leader of the movement but at the same time also It was not leading the movement. He wanted to Control the movement And and just tried to postpone or resist to these pressures that he was subject to from different part and i'm Going almost finished So they The process was Abruptly interrupted by the intervention of the so of the Warsaw Pact troops Mostly from the soviet union but also from all the other countries around And the reason for this intervention is that The soviet union bureaucrats knew very well that regeneration of socialism, which was the aim Although confused because there were all sorts of demands even to establish some sort of protectorate by the united nation Or include some kind of united nation related Human rights code into the constitution and whatever By the demonstrators So it was confused but it was a movement which was aimed at re-establishing Something that the working class in Czechoslovakia had experienced between 45 and 48 Because they they had for a short period of time experienced Not workers democracy fully fledged workers democracy because that would be a bit too much But they have experienced the power of the mobilization of the working class by Defeating the Nazis first and then by pushing the whole process towards The overthrow capitalism throughout from 1945 to 1948 So the traditions of 1945 to 48 come back the workers councils the works Council as they were called Which had played a part in the management of industry for the first two years after the liberation Were re-established by the workers The revolution process was getting out of control and therefore The soviet union bureaucracy decided to to step in and the invasion Was aimed at suppressing putting a stop to this process But the process was so radical That it Even the intervention of soviet troops could not stop it all together The soviet troops enter In the night between the 20th and 21st of august and are met by these demonstrations mass demonstrations everywhere Doop checks advice or lead is do not resist the troops So Basically a complete capitulation The leadership of the communist party is taken away Doop check and the others are taken away they are taken to face-to-face chat with Brezhnev and company And they come back a few days later when it's clear that just the intervention of military intervention is not sufficient to stop the process are brought back in as To to spend their faces to use their their authority and so on to help The stabilization of of the process They've signed a deal one of the leaders actually refused to do so and that's to his credit But all the others capitulate to to this Soviet intervention And sign a deal which is the most it's called the Moscow protocol. Basically. It's a process of re-establishing the rule of the bureaucracy over Czechoslovakia So just to finish in two minutes The process is not finished there, but obviously The revolutionary wave is left without any leadership the leaders capitulate completely and Withdraw from from the positions they have taken they join The normalization process doop check himself Is still left as the the head of the communist party for The next eight months and that's how long it took to the soviet union to bring down the the revolt in Czechoslovakia It took eight months By april 1969 The the movement is demoralized The factory councils dissolved themselves Because they they they don't see any possible possible development of that the revolution is defeated And doop check is then removed And chucked away in he wasn't even killed. He could play His role in the 1989 velvet revolution just as a private citizen coming back from From the past glory and and so on The impact The long-term impact and consequences of this defeated revolution Were very important a crisis in the communist movement everywhere with splits and For example, the italian communist party lost about 300 000 members as a result of the repression in Czechoslovakia It was a huge party and one and a half one and a half million members at the time There was widespread demoralization, but I think the worst the most long Drown impact of The defeat of the of the Of the Czechoslovak movement was on the bureaucracy itself Because basically I think the bureaucracy in Czechoslovakia and in all the neighboring country Realized that there was no easy way out of the crisis of their own system and started looking at alternatives And these alternatives were not the revolutionary Regeneration of socialism, which would mean them losing their own privileges, but looking towards a way of achieving the goals of dub check Therefore to reform the system by maintaining their own position and without threatening their own position And the experience of of Czechoslovakia 1968 Showed that that was not possible. That was not possible as long as the soviet union was still there and as long as They could intervene in in in this way So they started looking for alternatives and that's the reason why The transition after 1989 when the new crisis emerged starting from the soviet union They were operating throughout the Eastern european bloc And then also Have having a rebound the impact on the soviet union a very complex process In this process the bureaucracy Went along all the way Towards the perspective of capitalist restoration and it was very They played a leading role in the process towards capitalist restoration in Czechoslovakia Which Dubcek in his last years tried to oppose Although he supported the velvet revolution he opposed the partition of Czechoslovakia into Slovakia and the Czech Republic But that was just the last utopian stand of Failed reform and not not a revolutionary and The consequences of 96 the defeat of 1968 Prague spring have played a long way in the Deciding the direction of the transition in eastern europe 20 years later. I'll stop there