Later History

The Velvet Revolution

Just after the Berlin Wall fell, and with major change imminent in Eastern Europe, thousands of students set out on a chilly candlelit March on November 17, 1989. As part of their nonviolent campaign, they held signs simply calling for a dialogue with the government. Against police warnings, they marched from the southern citadel at Vysehrad and turned up National Boulevard (Národní trída), where they soon met columns of helmeted riot police. Holding their fingers in peace signs and chanting, "Our hands are free," the bravest 500 sat down at the feet of the police. After an excruciating standoff, the police moved in, squeezing the students against buildings and wildly beating them with clubs.

Although nobody was killed and the official Communist-run media presented the story as the quiet, justified end to the whims of student radicals, clandestine videotapes and accounts of the incident blanketed the country. By the next day, Praguers began organizing their outrage. Havel and his artistic allies seized the moment and called a meeting of intellectuals at the Laterna Magika on Národní, where they planned more nonviolent protests. Students and theaters went on strike, and hundreds of thousands of Praguers began pouring into Wenceslas Square, chanting for the end of Communist rule. Within days, factory workers and citizens in towns throughout the country joined in a general strike. In Wenceslas Square, the protesters jingled their keys, a signal to the Politburo that it was time to go. On November 24, General Secretary Milos Jakes resigned, and by the end of the year, the Communist government fell. By New Year's Eve, Havel, joined by Dubcek, gave his first speech as president of a free Czechoslovakia. Because hardly any blood was spilled, the coup d'état was dubbed "the Velvet Revolution."

Economic & Political Changes

In June 1990, the first free elections in 44 years gave power to the Civic Forum, the movement led by Havel. But it was Václav Klaus who launched the country on its course of economic reform. First as federal finance minister and then as Czech prime minister, Klaus, an economist, helped form a right-wing offshoot of the Civic Forum called the Civic Democratic Party; it won the 1992 elections on a program of massive privatization. First, thousands of small businesses were auctioned off for a song. By the end of 1994, shares in some 1,800 large companies were privatized by giving citizens government coupons they could exchange for stock or fund shares. In less than 5 years, private companies churned out 80% of the Czech economy.

The Velvet Divorce Gives Way to a New Union

In 1992, leaders of the Czech and Slovak republics peacefully agreed to split into separate states. The Slovaks wanted to step out of Prague's shadow (Slovak nationalists had been calling for that since 1918), and the Czech government was happy to get rid of the expected financial burdens of Slovakia's slower reconstruction. The "Velvet Divorce" was final on January 1, 1993, with common property split on a two-to-one ratio, without lawyers taking anything--yet. They're still arguing over gold assets and bank accounts, just like any other acrimonious couple.

Privatization, however, did little to bring in new capital or energize management at larger companies. Meanwhile, Czechs bought up Western goods and equipment and ignored domestic suppliers. Speculators pounced on the imbalance to force the central bank to float the Czech crown, causing it to dive in the spring of 1997.

As socioeconomic divisions have widened, voices of discontent have grown louder. Czech reforms hit a wall in 1997, damaged by a series of financial scandals and poor competitiveness. Klaus and his center-right government barely clung to power in the 1996 elections. In November 1997, a fundraising scandal blew up around Klaus and his party, forcing the government to resign. New elections were held in mid-1998, bringing the first left-wing government to power since the revolution, the center-left Social Democrats, not the Communists.

Still, Czech politicians pushed to prove that the country belongs in the big leagues. The Czechs became one of the first former Soviet-bloc states to join NATO in 1999, along with Poland and Hungary (though about half of the country, according to polls, isn't sure it's a good idea).

In May 2004, the Czechs joined nine other countries to become new members of the European Union, completing a quest that the newly elected Democratic leaders started 14 years ago. While the country has promised to eventually change to the E.U.'s common currency, the euro, this won't happen for several years, until there is even more convergence in economic strength. In the meantime, things generally are becoming more expensive as the GDP grows. Even though wider access to better-quality suppliers and the competition created by it led to lower prices on some goods, luxurious items and electronics are still more expensive than in western Europe. On the other hand, food and services are more affordable.

Crime & Racism

Throughout Eastern Europe, overt racism appears to be an unwelcome byproduct of revolution. Romanies (Gypsies) and Jews have been the targets of many attacks. The government has stepped up efforts to weed out and crack down on racist groups (most are called Skinheads) after several violent incidents. In 1997, hundreds of Romanies sold their meager possessions to pay for plane tickets to Canada because of a local TV report that said they would find asylum there. They didn't, and most were sent back, penniless and hopeless. Since then, many more have tried to win asylum in Britain, Sweden, and Finland, creating friction in talks on E.U. membership.

With police carrying a smaller stick, crime has risen sharply, as pickpockets and car thieves take advantage of Prague's new prosperity. Violent crime, while rising, is still well under American levels, and Prague's streets and parks are safer than those in most large Western cities.