Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Fifty Years after the Prague Spring(history lesson)
americanthinker.com ^ | 3/22/2018 | Bruce Walker

Posted on 03/22/2018 7:41:28 AM PDT by rktman

March 22 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the first flowering of the Prague Spring, when Marxism in Czechoslovakia tried to end the abuses of power and to grant to the people a measure of the sort of freedom so solemnly promised in the charters of every communist regime in the world. The Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia demonstrated to anyone who could be convinced by facts that leftism seeks only power and nothing else.

The Prague Spring did not begin with a repudiation of Marxism. Indeed, the slogan used by the Czechs involved in the Prague Spring was that they wanted to create "Socialism with a Human Face." These reformers were careful not to criticize communism or the Soviet Union and not to pull out of the Warsaw Pact. Dubcek, the first secretary of the Communist Party, having ousted the prior first secretary, was actually using the Communist Party as an agent of reform

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: chekz
NEVER compromise with the alt left radical extremists commie socialist dems. NEVER.
1 posted on 03/22/2018 7:41:28 AM PDT by rktman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: rktman

I remember this.

I was in High School, and a great fan of Classical Music at the time, and the Prague Spring reminded me of THIS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6kqu2mk-Kw

Listen...and contemplate the incredible spirit of a people to overcome tyranny.


2 posted on 03/22/2018 7:47:15 AM PDT by left that other site (For America to have CONFIDENCE in our future, we must have PRIDE in our HISTORY... DJT)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: rktman

Bkmk


3 posted on 03/22/2018 7:52:32 AM PDT by leaning conservative (snow coming, school cancelled, yayyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: left that other site

Alexander Dubcek ended up tending forests in a remote corner of Slovakia.


4 posted on 03/22/2018 7:59:28 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Buckeye McFrog

Interesting.

That may seem like a downfall to some, but for others may be the fulfillment of a dream.

Who knows what it was for Alexander Dubcek?

Thanks for that bit of information.


5 posted on 03/22/2018 8:01:58 AM PDT by left that other site (For America to have CONFIDENCE in our future, we must have PRIDE in our HISTORY... DJT)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Buckeye McFrog

Ham Radio operators helped to prevent major blood shedding by keeping people in and outside of country informed and by coordinating resistance to Russian tanks.
Mighty “Warsaw Pact” tanks squashed the uprising, Dubcek was “corrected”, many people arrested and commie “paradise” has returned (for awhile). Many Hams were arrested and lost their licenses.
Hero was OK1ZQ, who barricaded in the attic of Ministry of Interior, for few days, with no food and Russians occupying the building, managed to keep communications between new government and UN delegate in NYC.


6 posted on 03/22/2018 8:15:07 AM PDT by Leo Carpathian (FReeeeepeesssssed)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: left that other site

Strangely in these Communist dictatorships killing off the deposed leader was not the norm. Normally they were just put out to pasture someplace. Dubcek lived until 1992.


7 posted on 03/22/2018 8:27:11 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Buckeye McFrog

“Put out to pasture” LOL.

Like an old nag.


8 posted on 03/22/2018 8:28:17 AM PDT by left that other site (For America to have CONFIDENCE in our future, we must have PRIDE in our HISTORY... DJT)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Buckeye McFrog

I think Ceausescu would have preferred that alternative.


9 posted on 03/22/2018 8:28:59 AM PDT by left that other site (For America to have CONFIDENCE in our future, we must have PRIDE in our HISTORY... DJT)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: rktman

Ten years, or so, ago we spent three days prior to a river cruise in Prague. The citizens were the most fervent capitalists I have ever met.


10 posted on 03/22/2018 8:50:06 AM PDT by immadashell (Save Innocent Lives - ban gun free zones)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: left that other site

Ceaucescu was not killed by fellow Communists, but by his own outraged citizens.

There was some sort of tacit “shut-up and we’ll let you live” pact amongst Communist leaders. Khrushchev likewise quietly lived out his days in a dacha someplace.


11 posted on 03/22/2018 8:55:01 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Buckeye McFrog
Ceaucescu was not killed by fellow Communists

Actually he kind of was, granted they were opportunistic and fed off of the public's dissatisfaction, but the guy that replaced Ceausescu still was a Communist IIRC.

12 posted on 03/22/2018 8:58:00 AM PDT by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Buckeye McFrog

“Shut up and we’ll let you live”

We’re not supposed to do that in America, but Hillary, Obama, and even some republicans come to mind./s


13 posted on 03/22/2018 9:00:05 AM PDT by left that other site (For America to have CONFIDENCE in our future, we must have PRIDE in our HISTORY... DJT)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: rktman

Our country has been through so much. Civil War, Vietnam, the 60s chaos, to name a few...and we continue to be a living, breathing battlefield for freedom...

But at the most consequential junctures in our history, the American people manage to make the right choice, sometimes at great cost, in the knick of time — and we are spared the fall into the precipice of unchallenged tyrannical darkness. Trump’s continuing fight of victory attests to that.

The same cannot be said of other nations, who even in the midst of newfound freedom and prosperity, can’t seem to break free from the cycles of tyranny: Russia, China, to name a few. The people tire of the struggle fast.

And a post like this, about Czechoslovakia, the memory and lessons of which has been all but lost (or distorted) in much of Europe and the former Soviet Union: posts like this would hold more weight on a board like “Free Republic” — if there weren’t so many people blinded by false prophets like Putin touting it.


14 posted on 03/22/2018 9:23:11 AM PDT by GoldenState_Rose
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: rktman; All
Fifty Years after the Prague Spring(history lesson)

We need to add the brutal Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia and the Butcher of Prague.

The Nazis brutally killed so many Jewish folks and killed a lot of non Jewish children and executed so many young Czechs who were at the prime of their lives.

The Czech children were brutally gassed by the Nazis before they got to the concentration camps.

These Nazi murderers will have a long long time in hell.

There were more folks killed in the last century than any other century. We know that the Chicom Mao, Stalin and Hitler were responsible for a higher percentage of the deaths that occurred in the last century.

Stalin was an insomanic and this was when he plotted to get rid of his enemies whether or nor they collaborated against his will. Stalin was one sick puppy.

15 posted on 03/22/2018 11:14:27 AM PDT by TheConservativeTejano
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TheConservativeTejano

According to the (incorrect) alt left radical extremist dems, that is the same as today’s Trump supporters. Weird how that works huh? There were many relo/re-education camps in Yugoslavia under Tito. Mrs. Rktman’s mom spent time there with her family. Why? Christians.


16 posted on 03/22/2018 11:55:38 AM PDT by rktman (Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: rktman

Partner, I really feel bad for the former eastern bloc countries since they were under both sthe Nazis and the Communists Russians.

We were in Czechoslovakia and Hungary 2 years ago and even they mentioned that they were just getting on their feet after the Nazis and Communists take over of their countries. I suppose we can say this for Yugoslavia, Romania, Poland, and Bulgaria.

The Russian communists were brutal against these countries.

It probably is looking like their only fault is they were Christian. Although, I have heard the Orthodox Christians and Jewish folks are allowed to practice their religion in Russia.

17 posted on 03/23/2018 7:51:11 PM PDT by TheConservativeTejano
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson