Issue and Opponent: During the 1980s, growing discontent emerged from the general public over economic struggles. Demonstrators wanted to end the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia and communist rule. They wanted free and fair elections for their country. Civic Forum and Public Against Violence emerged as the two primary opposition groups during the Velvet Revolution. They worked together throughout the campaign to end communist rule in Czechoslovakia.
Dilemma Action: The Velvet Revolution was launched on November 17, 1989, when a mass of students gathered in Prague to protest the one-party rule. Protestors chose November 17 because it was International Students Day, the 50th anniversary of a Nazi attack on the University of Prague that killed nine and saw 1,200 students sent to concentration camps. At the protests party, slogans and Communist stars were covered with the national flag, a homemade slogan proclaiming that ‘truth will prevail’ was raised, and the national anthem was sung. Keyrings were rattled every few minutes by thousands of hands to signify the leadership’s death knell. People were cheering on the rooftops, and in the trees, waving from the top of telephone boxes and newspaper kiosks, and brandishing flags from all six stories of some very precarious scaffolding. A huge slogan that demanded the need for free elections was draped across the front of a 50ft high equestrian statue of King Wenceslas. Other protest tactics included playing songs from banned artists and strikes/boycotts. The protest launched the Velvet Revolution which used a variety of creative tactics to achieve its goals.
Outcomes: In December 1989, Communist leader Gustav Husak resigned from his position and appointed the first predominantly non-Communist government. The government held free elections in June of 1990.