Institute of Contemporary History

The first part of the documentary edition is devoted to the activities of the Communist Party of Slovakia (CPS), especially its board, the presidency and the central committee in the period from December 1967 to October 1969. It begins at the moment when the conflict between Antonín Novotný, the firs secretary of Central Committee of Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (CC CPCz), and board of CPS (headed by Alexander Dubček since 1963) culminated. The conflict was triggered by Slovak requirements in order to increase the decision-making powers of the local authorities, especially the Slovak National Council. It continues to document the progress of the reform process in Slovakia and the origins of normalization. It was terminated at the CC CPS meeting in October 1969, when a power shift in favor of anti – reform forces took place and the reform policy of the previous year was condemned.

Second part describes the work of Bureau of the CC CPCz for the management of party works in the Czech lands, which was a substitute solution instead of the allegedly proposed Czech Communist Party as part of the federated CPCz and was established in November 1968 with the intention of consolidating the power role of the communist party in Bohemia and Moravia.

VONDROVÁ, Jitka. Komunistická strana Československa: Komunistická strana Slovenska (prosinec 1967 – říjen 1969). Byro ÚV KSČ pro řízení stranické práce v českých zemích (listopad 1968 – říjen 1969). Praha: Ústav pro soudobé dějiny AV ČR, 2019. 716 s. Prameny k dějinám československé krize v letech 1967–1970, sv. 9/5. ISBN 978-80-7285-215-4.