Günter Bischof - The Prague Spring and the Warsaw Pact Invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968

[…] It is quite obvious that the oppositional forces are centrally coordinated. Presumably they have both an open center and an illegal one. The personages of the open center include today Smrkovský (member of the CC CPCz and Minister for Forestry), Šik (member of the CC), Goldstücker (professor at Charles University and president of the writers’ union), Pelikan (director of state TV), Kohout (writer) and several journalists and students. As can be gathered from the Western press, the illegal center is in touch with capitalist circles and their organs abroad. Some Czechoslovak comrades in leading positions have been attempting to this day to interpret the activities of the oppositional forces as isolated extremist phenomena. However in reality we are confronted with the centrally coordinated and systematically developed preparation of a counterrevolution.

To date the situation has developed in analogy to the one on the eve of the counter-revolutionary putsch of 1956 in Hungary. […] If the comrades in the party leadership do not take a determined stand soon, the other side will be able to realize their plans in regard to public violent provocations.

(Florin) 2

Ambassador

1. For the policies of the GDR in connection with the events in Czechoslovakia, see Manfred Wilke’s chapter in this volume.

2. Autograph signature.

SAPMO-BA, DY 30/3616, S. 52–57 (reprinted in Karner et al., Dokumente , #3).

Speech of the Minister of Defense of the USSR, Marshal of the Soviet Union A. A. Grechko, at the plenum of the CC CPSU.

10 April 1968

[…] The policies of our Party are continuously and fervently echoed by the Army and the Navy and meet with the unanimous approval of the entire personnel of the Armed Forces. The soldiers of the Soviet Union share the thoughts and the feelings of the party and the people. They are perfectly aware that they must be ready for international deployments, which are a consequence of the tremendous significance that our military power has for international events. They identify with everything that the party decrees, also in regard to foreign politics. Many of our soldiers have to serve outside the country. At present tens of thousands of communist and non-party soldiers are serving abroad in thirty-six different countries, where, as I am proud to report to the plenum, they discharge their duty with dignity and as propagators of the Leninist policy of the party.

The present situation is characterized by a tremendous surge in the bellicosity of the imperialists in general and of the Americans in particular. They resort increasingly frequently to the use of force in their attempts to crush the forces of progress and social liberation and they stage dangerous provocative acts in various regions of the world. Instigated by their masters in Washington, West German militarists and revanchistes openly demand a revision of the results of WWII and are becoming more assertive by the day. […]

A source of deep concern for us are the events in China and the betrayal of Marxism-Leninism, the principles of proletarian internationalism, the unity of the worldwide communist movement and of the security of the Socialist states in the east by the group around Mao Tse-tung, which is going to inflict great harm.

The leaders in Peking are to blame for the fact that the stretch of the Socialist countries’ defensive line that the Chinese are in charge of has proved to be the weakest. It is no coincidence that it is here, in Southeast Asia, that the American imperialism is at its most active.

[…] We are ready at any time, pending a party resolution, to assist the Czechoslovak people together with the armies of the countries of the Warsaw Pact if the imperialists and counterrevolutionaries should attempt to wrest socialist Czechoslovakia from the socialist camp.

[…] Let me add a few words on the situation in Vietnam. We all know about the latest triumphs that the Vietnamese army has achieved in its struggle with American imperialism. The steadfastness and perseverance of the Vietnamese people and its fighters are a source of deep satisfaction for all of us. At the same time it must be said that the military gains of the Vietnamese patriots are inseparably linked to the efforts of our people and our country that are aimed at assisting this heroic nation. To put it bluntly: this war is waged not only by the Vietnamese but by the Soviet people as well. It is common knowledge that both in the North and in the South it is our weapons that are used to fight the American aggressors.

Let me give you some figures. Only recently did we deliver to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam hundreds of Flak rocket launching pads and thousands of rockets; 3,000 or so flak cannon, 2,500 field cannon and grenade launchers, approximately 250,000 machine guns and carbines, approximately 400 airplanes and choppers and a great deal of other weapons and military technology. All this was given free of charge, with only one aim in mind—to assist the Vietnamese people in their struggle against the American aggressors. Our assistance is set to continue and we despatch weapons and military technology to Vietnam on a daily basis.

In addition to this we train whole regiments of flak soldiers, pilots and other specialists who are sent to the front when they are needed. In Vietnam there are hundreds of our advisers who help the Vietnamese control the war and handle modern weapons. Often our officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers take part in the fighting, and many of the airplanes destroyed in the war were brought down by our brave fighters.

It needs to be said however that our Soviet military personnel are not treated as comrades taking part in a joint struggle. Contacts between our people and the Vietnamese soldiers are discouraged, their contacts with Vietnamese troops are limited, and those Vietnamese with sympathies for the Soviet state are subject to persecution. The truth about the war is kept secret and access to destroyed American airplanes is made difficult under one pretext or another.

All this seems to happen at the instigation of the Chinese who are active in the Vietnamese army as advisers and observers of one kind or another. Such attitudes towards soldiers from the Soviet Union obviously sadden us but we carry out our work regardless because we have been mandated to do so by the party in the name of our internationalist duty to pay tribute to our friendship with the Vietnamese people and to fight our common enemy, imperialism, and we will continue to do so by assisting the Vietnamese people.

[…] On behalf of the Armed Forces allow me to signal my unqualified approval […] of the realization of the plenum’s resolutions; the Armed Forces are standing by to implement them. [Applause.]

RGANI, F. 2, op. 3, d. 94, S. 1–15. Unedited stenographic notes. Translated from the German translation of the original Russian document (original Russian and German translation in Karner et al., Dokumente , #33).

Subject: Soviet Threat to Czechoslovakia 1

I have thought further about our conversation yesterday.

I conclude that it would be a serious mistake not to give the Soviets a private signal of concern about troop movements near Czechoslovakia.

1. In retrospect, our failure to deter the Communist takeover in Czechoslovakia in 1948 was one of the most serious mistakes of our foreign policy since the war. Firm diplomatic action then—a period of our nuclear monopoly—could well have prevented the Cold War. Similarly, our public statement in 1956 that we would not intervene gave the Soviets a full license. Obviously, the situation has profoundly changed.