Post-1968 Czechoslovakia froze policy rather than courting society

Evidence

The “normalizing” leadership that assumed power in late 1968 had little truck with reform or societal negotiation. The Hus k government neither allowed policy innovation, nor did it have the elites to implement and justify it. The electoral law of 1967, which provided for a modicum of electoral choice, was repealed in 1971.55 Nor did the party engage in even a pretense of pluralism: It presented a single-party list throughout the post–Prague Spring era. Although the party no longer enforced society’s loyalty to the party by the 1980s, it displayed little tolerance of dissent. Instead, it zealously prosecuted such degenerates as the Plastic People of the Universe, a rock band whose chief “antisocialist transgression” appears to have been its penchant for long hair and unintelligible lyrics. The result was an ever-deepening divide between the communist party and the society. — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past, 233

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Czechoslovak party made society dependent via vetted jobs and education — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past: The…, 194; A legitimacy belief froze reform and confirmed itself via Prague Spring — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past: The…, 232; Czechoslovak party’s past rejection of 1968 reforms nullified its reform rhetoric — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past: The…, 342 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Czechoslovak party’s past rejection of 1968 reforms nullified its reform rhetoric #corroborates (0.85) — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past, 342