The Prague Spring. ‘Twas a glorious time to be alive. Or so I imagine. I mean, I was alive but I was also some 4500 miles away, as the crow flies. Although, come to think of it, crows aren’t particularly migratory and are most unlikely to ever fly that far. And what’s more, I was two years old at the time and nobody’s memory is that great. 

But anyway…

The Prague Spring was a too-short period of political “opening-up” and increasing freedom in the then-socialist republic of Czechoslovakia. It began with the ascension of one man to a particular office, when Alexander Dubček became the First Secretary of the Communist Party in that Soviet satellite nation. 

Dubček represented a new generation of post-Stalin communists, perhaps more idealistic and less ideological, certainly more willing to challenge Kremlin hegemony vis-à-vis the interests of his own people.

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It may or may not have been Mark Twain who first asserted that history does not repeat itself, but does often rhyme. Whoever said it may well have been thinking about the Russian nation and its geopolitics over the centuries. For surely, the more things change, the more they remain the same. (Alphonse Karr said that. In French. Not important.)

What is important is that 20,454 days ago today, something quite significant happened. Totalitarianism had taken on a new face. That face belonged to Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and titular leader of the Kremlin. Not all were deceived, but some saw in his face a break from the harsh Stalinism of recent Russian history. And the new first secretary of the communist party in the satellite nation of Czechoslovakia — the aforementioned Alexander Dubček  — would come to espouse “socialism with a human face.”  Were not Leonid Brezhnev and Alexander Dubček of one mind, then? Well, yes, for a time; but ultimately, no.

Czech history, you see, leaned West. It valued things like democracy, human rights, freedom of speech and religion — all that Enlightenment stuff. Russian history, on the other hand…well, let us say that Russian elites — then and now — above all else, desire and value power.

For some seven months, Dubček championed reforms in Czechoslovakia which led to increased freedom of the press, freedom of speech and freedom of movement, with economic emphasis on consumer needs and choices. There were even hints at the possibility of multiparty government.

Alas…’twas not to be.

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The American president in those days was Lyndon Baines Johnson — competent, controversial, perhaps not particularly courageous. Persons of goodwill disagree on his legacy. He did the requisite lip-service to freedom for Czechoslovakia, but little else. America had its own problems in those days, and many Americans — most perhaps — cared little about events and peoples beyond her own borders.

But back to Prague and 1968.

Dubček’s reformist inclinations took root in the Czechoslovakian citizenry. Literature and art and scholarly pursuits flourished. Liberty blossomed. People could actually question their government. Freedom was in the air. Winter gave way to a spring which lent its name to a movement — to one brief, shining moment in time.

And so my friends, on this January 5th of 2024, let’s agree to learn from history, lest we repeat it…for that will never do.

By Steven Roberts