Government paper

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Date: August 2, 2011
Government paper
This essay critically looks up the words that are not familiar from , and then define them by the use of internet searches. Some of the words and phrases include civil resistance, Prague Spring, and Rose Revolution.
Prague spring: this is the phrase that has been used with the aim of describing a brief period of time that occurred a time Czechoslovakia government led by Alexander Dubček wanted to democratize the nation and lessen the stranglehold Moscow had on the affairs of the nation. The period came to with Soviet Invasion, Alexander Dubček removal as party leaders well as an end to reforms in Czechoslovakia. Among the signs that indicated that all was not well in Czechoslovakia occurred in 1966. At this time, there were complaints about people exploitation by Soviet Union. It has been stated that, “this developed when people in Slovakia complained about the government in Prague imposing its rules on the Slovaks and overriding local autonomy. A weak economy exacerbated the situation and none of the reforms that were introduced worked. The workers remained in poor housing and led the most basic of lifestyles. The same occurred in rural Czechoslovakia where farmers had to follow Party lines with regards to cultivation and innovation was frowned on, (Kusin 65)”.
In 1967, Anthony Novotný, the party leader by that time received open criticisms. Among such criticisms, students demonstrated against him. As a result, he was replaced as First party’s secretary by Alexander Dubček. Alexander by that time had not courted Anti- Novotný movement; however, being a man who had handed in lots of grievances, against Novotný, he was the oblivious choice. in early 1968, Dubček started reform programs that among them was Czechoslovakia constitution amendments, aiming at bring back political democracy as well as greater personal freedom.
Among the proposed amendments were: Czech Communist Party remain being Czech’s dominant political party though there has to be a reduction in its totalitarian aspects; there were rights for the Communist party members to challenge the policies of their party; in what came to be given the name Prague Spring, “he also announced the end of censorship and the right of Czech citizens to criticize the government”, (Hermann, 84). This was the clause that Newspaper took advantage of to start producing scathing reports concerning incompetence and corruption in government. As a result, the common theme was the housing state of workers. Farmers were also allowed to form their own independent co-operatives, to ensure that they have aright to direct what they want to do, other than following orders from the central authority. Trade unions were also given more powers to bargain on behalf of their members.
Apart from doing all these, Alexander assured Moscow that Czechoslovakia will remain being a Warsaw Pact member and that there was nothing to worry about the reforms made. However, this was not enough to assure Brezhnev, the Soviet Union leader. As a result, in August, Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia, with the aim of reasserting Moscow’s authority. a large percentage of the troop originated from the Soviet Union, however, contingents from other Warsaw Pact members like East Germany, Polish, Hungary among others were provided with the aim of providing an impression that the troop represented United Warsaw Pact, who were not satisfied with Czechoslovakia reforms, (Judt 86).
The reforms were later abandoned; Dubček was arrested and sent to Moscow. In Moscow, he was told what was expected of him, and on return, he announced the end of his reform. But, his days in office were numbered as he was removed in office in 1969. In general, the Prague Spring gave an indication that; Warsaw was not in anyway ready to let its member to leave it. The tankers that were rolled on Prague Street reaffirmed to the West that, Eastern Europe was under oppression, and were not given similar democracy like these democratic rights experienced in Europe. On the other hand, “to the masters in Moscow what they had ordered ensured the maintenance of the Warsaw Pact – something that they considered was vital to the survival of communism in Europe as a whole”, (historylearningsite.co.uk par 5)
Civil resis...