The Pace of History

"History is moving very rapidly in this country where we had 20 years of timelessness," said playwright Vaclav Havel of Czechoslovakia's new Civic Forum.

Journalist Mike Leary, writing for the Knight-Ridder agency on November 29, 1989, reported that as recently as May of that year, Havel had been languishing in prison and the small band of opposition figures described themselves as a "ship of fools."  Only 12 days earlier, the Civic Forum did not exist and riot police were violently assaulting student demonstrators in Wenceslas Square. 

The rapid pace of progress was demonstrated by a timeline that ran in the previous day's Wall Street Journal:

February 1948  The Communist Party, part of the coalition that governed after World War II, seizes power. 

January 1968  Discontent over the pace of economic reform and cultural liberalization leads to the ouster of Antonin Novotny as party boss.  He is replaced by Alexander Dubcek, a reformer. 

April 1968  A series of reforms, later called the Prague Spring, is adopted, including measures that guarantee freedom of speech, religion, press, and travel. 

August 1968  The Soviet army invades, Dubcek is replaced by Gustav Husak, Czechoslovakia accepts the stationing of Soviet troops and agrees to curb almost all of the Dubcek reforms. 

December 1987  Milos Jakes succeeds Husak as leader of the Communists. 

Oct. 18, 1989 Erich Honecker is ousted in East Germany and replaced by Egon Krenz. 

Nov. 9  East Germany opens its borders. 

Nov. 12  Jakes says he won't tolerate street protests or relax control. 

Nov. 17  50,000 demonstrators march in Prague.  Riot police use tear gas and clubs on them.  

Nov. 20  More than 200,000 people demonstrate in Prague, demanding free elections and the resignations of hard-liners. 

Nov. 24 Jakes resigns and is succeeded by Karel Urbanek, Dubcek returns triumphantly to Prague and addresses a crowd of 250,000 in Wenceslas Square.

On the 25th of November, the crowds in Prague topped 350,000 and then 500,000 on the 26th, and on the 28th, millions of Czechs and Slovaks walked off their jobs and into the streets of Prague, initiating a powerful demonstration and a crippling general strike.

By the 29th of November, 25 years ago today, the Czech Prime Minister turned Prague's lavish Palace of Culture over to Civic Forum for use as its headquarters, and the Communist Party had to immediately move out.