167-470: Direction – Social Democracy ( Slovak : Smer – sociálna demokracia , Smer–SD ), also commonly referred to as Smer , is a left-wing nationalist and left-wing populist political party in Slovakia led by the incumbent prime minister Robert Fico . The party identifies as social-democratic , and was described as a combination of "leftist economics and nationalist appeal". Founded by Fico in 1999 as
334-446: A "rhythmic law" which forbids two long vowels from following one another within the same word. In such cases the second vowel is shortened. For example, adding the locative plural ending -ách to the root vín- creates vínach , not * vínách . This law also applies to diphthongs; for example, the adjective meaning "white" is biely , not * bielý (compare Czech bílý ). Slovak has final devoicing ; when
501-574: A Christian country . In 2019, Fico expressed his sympathy for the Member of the National Council of the neo-Nazi People's Party Our Slovakia Milan Mazurek , who was convicted of the intentional crime of defaming a nation, race or belief. In 2022, Smer criticized the proposal for a comprehensive compensatory social benefit for people in need, interpreting it as buying Roma votes before local and regional elections . Fico's rhetoric towards
668-667: A Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) and the SNS, an extremist nationalist party. The coalition was described as "anti-market left" and "Slovak national", given its socioeconomically left-wing but also nationalist policies. On 12 October 2006, the party was temporarily suspended from membership in the PES. The resolution to suspend the party referred specifically to the PES Declaration "For a modern, pluralist and tolerant Europe", adopted in Berlin by
835-523: A broad segment of less ideologically motivated younger people, giving the party a more pragmatic and less orthodox culture. In contrast to the Czech branch of the party, family, regional identity, religious, professional, and inter-personal relationships formed the glue of the Slovak branch of the party. A socially idealistic Dubček, with no rigid ideological destination in mind, rose amid these ranks. In 1948,
1002-620: A call for help from unnamed representatives as the cause of the "fraternal intervention", publishing an unidentified appeal as proof on 22 August 1968; However, as it became clear from the first day that virtually the entire responsible leadership of the Czechoslovakian government and communist parties, including Dubček, were being blamed as causes of the invasion, and even the Soviet-supported leadership fell into accusations against each other, most allied communist parties around
1169-750: A coalition government with the Slovak National Party . After the 2024 European Parliament election , Smer unsuccessfully sought to rejoin the S&;D group. Smer subsequently declined to join the Fidesz -led Patriots for Europe group, stating that it would not join a non-leftist group. In September 2024, Smer began negotiations with two other parties in the Non-Inscrits , the German Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht and
1336-461: A coalition with the extreme right is unacceptable." The party was readmitted on 14 February 2008 after its chairman Fico and SNS leader Jan Slota pledged in a letter to respect European values, human rights, and all ethnic minorities. Although the party won the most votes in the 2010 Slovak parliamentary election , with a lead of 20% over the second-place Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party (SDKÚ), they had not been able to form
1503-505: A coalition with the nationalist Slovak National Party (SNS) and was readmitted into the Party of European Socialists (PES) in 2008. It later formed another coalition with the SNS in 2016. In the 2006 Slovak parliamentary election , the party won 29.1% of the popular vote and 50 of 150 seats. Following that election, Smer formed a coalition government with the People's Party – Movement for
1670-536: A compromise candidate between more radical reformers and hard-line conservatives. In power, Dubček was caught between a powerful hard-line minority in Czechoslovakia and their allies in other Warsaw Pact countries who pressured Dubček to rein in the Prague Spring, and on the other hand, more radical reformers who demanded more far-reaching and immediate reforms. While still stressing the leading role of
1837-779: A consensus-style of leadership. Alexander Dubček was born in Uhrovec , Slovakia (then part of Czechoslovakia), on 27 November 1921. When he was three years old, the family moved to the Soviet Union. He spent most of his childhood living on what some have called a commune in Kyrgyzstan. The settlement was in Pishpek (now Bishkek ), in the Kirghiz SSR of the Soviet Union , now the independent state of Kyrgyzstan . It
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#17327973062492004-494: A constitutional ban on same-sex civil unions , marriages as well as adoptions . It opposes the allocation of state subsidies to LGBT rights organizations . In 2022, 21 out of 27 Smer deputies in the National Council voted for a bill prohibiting the display of the rainbow flags on public buildings while the remaining 6 were absent. During the 2015 European migrant crisis , party's leader Robert Fico stated that
2171-412: A couple of months before they would tell him about it. The speech had been an answer to stories circulating of those who had begun returning from false imprisonment in the gulag . As much as Dubček was disturbed by the news of what Stalin had done, he also admired Khrushchev for making the speech over the opposition of most of the leadership, who were themselves involved. In 1948, the party he had joined
2338-689: A few in the Kremlin voiced skepticism, such as Gennady Voronov , who asked, "Whom was it really so necessary for us to defend, and from whom?" Bil’ak would join Indra in reassuring the Soviets, promising that Kolder would be ready to be voted the KSC First Secretary when Soviet troops arrived. When two of their promised allies on the Presidium, Jan Piller and František Barbírek , opposed
2505-551: A government because of losses sustained by their coalition partners. Their result, 34.8%, gave them 62 of 150 seats in the National Council, but the HZDS failed to cross the 5% threshold, losing all their seats, and the SNS was reduced to nine seats. The four opposition centre-right parties (the Christian Democratic Movement , Freedom and Solidarity , Bridge , and SDKÚ) were able to form a new government. In
2672-449: A growth impasse but had fallen behind the rest of the world due to a generation of stagnation in all spheres of life. Reforms only touched some sectors, and reforms were slow, which the regime tried to make up with increased imports. Liberalizing the centralized economy threatened those in the party bureaucracy who administered the old system, resulting in their sabotage and slowing of what reforms were voted. The cultural sphere liberalized
2839-462: A historical scholar based in Prague: "I think there is a trend that became apparent around 2009, and became even more visible after Václav Havel's death, which shows certain reconsideration of the period between 1968 and 1989. The picture is becoming more diverse, and is no longer as black and white as it was in the 1990s – the communist evil and the fearful, suppressed society. The picture is now gaining
3006-480: A human face". Dubček and his allies’ aim was not a return to capitalism, nor was it an end to the Communist Party's rule or its leading role in society. It was socialism marked by, "internal democracy, unlimited and unconditioned by the party, the strengthening of the faith of the people and the working class, and its transformation into a revolutionary force and the creative power of the party." To that end,
3173-593: A long telephone conversation between Bil’ak and Brezhnev on 10 August, two of Bil’ak's most important allies met with the Soviet ambassador to Czechoslovakia on 14–15 August: Alois Indra , who along with Drahomir Kolder had previously been in direct contact with the Soviet Politburo, was accompanied by another KSC hard-liner, Oldřich Pavlovský , in their meeting with ambassador Stepan Chervonenko . They assured him that as soon as Soviet "troops move into action on
3340-441: A phone conversation between Dubček and Brezhnev on 13 August, Dubček complained that he was on the verge of quitting in frustration, having difficulty meeting his promises because he was operating in such a fluid situation that planning was difficult and any new promises could just cause Brezhnev greater distrust when those promises couldn't be fulfilled rapidly. The Soviet leadership tried to rein in events in Czechoslovakia through
3507-411: A photograph on Facebook depicting himself alongside Fico, with the former holding a red star bearing a hammer and sickle motif. The star was a birthday gift presented to Blaha by Fico. Since the 2020 parliamentary election – Smer's return to the opposition, Slovak authorities have been investigating a number of corruption-related crimes. By August 2023, a total of 42 individuals reportedly linked to
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#17327973062493674-766: A portrait of Argentine Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara , hanging the Flag of Europe . In his speech at the Smer-organized commemoration of the anniversary of the Slovak National Uprising in August 2023, Blaha addressed the crowd as " comrades " and stated, "The basic historical truth is that war and fascism have always come from the West and freedom and peace from the East." In December 2019, Blaha shared
3841-574: A series of negotiations. The Soviet Union agreed to bilateral talks with Czechoslovakia in July at Čierna nad Tisou railway station , near the Slovak-Soviet border. At the meeting, Dubček defended the reform program but pledged his government's continued commitment to the Warsaw Pact and Comecon . Dubček promised to curb the media and anti-socialist tendencies and prevent the reconstitution of
4008-444: A shift to "the rustic social democracy that perceives the specifics of Slovak reality". Post-2020 Smer holds stances that have been described as nationalist , populist and Russophilic . The party is considered an example of a left-authoritarian party - a left-wing party with socially conservative stances. In 2023 , Smer won the parliamentary election with 23% of the vote and 42 seats in the National Council and subsequently formed
4175-451: A short-cut explanation. In a letter written in 1974 to the widow of Josef Smrkovský , a close political ally who died in official political disgrace that January, Dubček said he remained unable to explain why the Soviet leadership believed "distorted reports" about the nature and aims of his socialist reforms. He said that these urgent warnings to the Soviet leadership were the result of party leaders and other conservatives who, "saw all that
4342-615: A somewhat different line on Ukraine than during his election campaign. During a meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in January 2024, Fico promised not to block private Slovak arms companies from selling to Ukraine, not to block EU financial support for Ukraine, and to support the accession of Ukraine to the European Union . He described Slovakia's political differences with Ukraine as "minor" and claimed to support Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. In
4509-558: A split from the post-communist Party of the Democratic Left , Smer initially defined itself as the Third Way party. It adopted the epithet Social Democracy after merging with several minor centre-left parties in 2005. It has dominated Slovak politics since 2006, leading three coalition governments ( 2006–2010 , 2016–2020 , 2023–present ) and one single-party government ( 2012–2016 ). During its rule in charge it continued
4676-424: A variety of colours." Since 1989, many historians and scholars have paraphrased Gennadi Gerasimov , a spokesman for Mikhail Gorbachev , when asked the difference between what Gorbachev and Dubček had done. He said it was 19 years. Many have questioned this since that time, better seeing nuance and particularities beyond cold war narratives. In fact, despite both future leaders profoundly questioning Stalinism at
4843-415: A voiced consonant ( b, d, ď, g, dz, dž, z, ž, h ) is at the end of a word before a pause, it is devoiced to its voiceless counterpart ( p, t, ť, k, c, č, s, š, ch , respectively). For example, pohyb is pronounced /pɔɦip/ and prípad is pronounced /priːpat/ . Consonant clusters containing both voiced and voiceless elements are entirely voiced if the last consonant is a voiced one, or voiceless if
5010-591: A watershed in his thinking that would dedicate him to reforms. From 1960 to 1968, he also participated in the National Assembly. In 1963, a power struggle in the leadership of the Slovak branch unseated Karol Bacílek and Pavol David, hard-line allies of Antonín Novotný , First Secretary of the KSČ and President of Czechoslovakia. Bacílek was removed in response to the findings of the rehabilitation commissions, due to his role in crimes as Interior Minister in
5177-493: Is /x/ . Slovak uses the Latin script with small modifications that include the four diacritics ( ˇ, ´, ¨, ˆ ) placed above certain letters ( a-á,ä; c-č; d-ď; dz-dž; e-é; i-í; l-ľ,ĺ; n-ň; o-ó,ô; r-ŕ; s-š; t-ť; u-ú; y-ý; z-ž ) Italic letters are used in loanwords and foreign names. The primary principle of Slovak spelling is the phonemic principle. The secondary principle is the morphological principle: forms derived from
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5344-574: Is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group , written in Latin script . It is part of the Indo-European language family , and is one of the Slavic languages , which are part of the larger Balto-Slavic branch . Spoken by approximately 5 million people as a native language, primarily ethnic Slovaks , it serves as the official language of Slovakia and one of the 24 official languages of
5511-531: Is a social-democratic party (thus matching its self-identification), but one with very strong nationalist and populist elements that also include aspects of social conservatism. Tim Haughton states that the party "conveys both a Slovak version of social democracy and a stronger national emphasis"; he also stressed that the party cannot be seen as right-wing or far-right, but rather as one that combines "leftist economics and nationalist appeal". Smer advocates economically left-wing policies. The main economic proposals of
5678-410: Is associated with one or more grammatical cases. The noun governed by a preposition must agree with the preposition in the given context. The preposition od always calls for the genitive case, but some prepositions such as po can call for different cases depending on the intended sense of the preposition. Slovak is a descendant of Proto-Slavic , itself a descendant of Proto-Indo-European . It
5845-620: Is closely related to the other West Slavic languages , primarily to Czech and Polish . Czech also influenced the language in its later development. The highest number of borrowings in the old Slovak vocabulary come from Latin , German , Czech, Hungarian , Polish and Greek (in that order). Recently, it is also influenced by English. Although most dialects of Czech and Slovak are mutually intelligible (see Comparison of Slovak and Czech ), eastern Slovak dialects are less intelligible to speakers of Czech and closer to Polish and East Slavic , and contact between speakers of Czech and speakers of
6012-503: Is considered a centre-left and a left-wing party. Additionally, it has also been variously described as anti-establishment , nationalist , left-authoritarian, populist , centrist populist, social populist , left-wing populist , and national populist . The party has been recognised as diverging from the typical Western European social-democratic tradition due to its rejection of postmaterial values. Slovak political scientists Grigorij Mesežnikov and Oľga Gyárfášová argue that Smer
6179-463: Is currently undergoing changes due to contact with surrounding languages (Serbo-Croatian, Romanian, and Hungarian) and long-time geographical separation from Slovakia (see the studies in Zborník Spolku vojvodinských slovakistov , e.g. Dudok, 1993). The dialect groups differ mostly in phonology, vocabulary, and tonal inflection. Syntactic differences are minor. Central Slovak forms the basis of
6346-688: Is defined by an Act of Parliament on the State Language of the Slovak Republic (language law). According to this law, the Ministry of Culture approves and publishes the codified form of Slovak based on the judgment of specialised Slovak linguistic institutes and specialists in the area of the state language. This is traditionally the Ľudovít Štúr Institute of Linguistics , which is part of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. In practice,
6513-401: Is necessary to improve the socioeconomic conditions of Slovak citizens. The party presents its economic policies as being "social" and "pro-ordinary people", and its proposals also included the introduction of differential VAT rates, replacement of flat income tax rate with a progressive one that would tax the lower-income groups much less and reduction of excise duty on fuel oils. In regards to
6680-581: Is now a cooperating defendant. Imrecze, also a cooperating defendant, stated that the total amount of bribes involved was €1,100,000. The indictment was also based on the statements of other high-ranking officials, now cooperating defendants: the former director of the Criminal Office of the Financial Administration, Ľudovít Makó, and the former director general of the tax and customs administration section, Daniel Čech. In June 2023,
6847-719: Is present when, for example, the basic singular form and plural form of masculine adjectives are written differently with no difference in pronunciation (e.g. pekný = nice – singular versus pekní = nice – plural). Such spellings are most often remnants of differences in pronunciation that were present in Proto-Slavic (in Polish, where the vowel merger did not occur, piękny and piękni and in Czech pěkný and pěkní are pronounced differently). Most loanwords from foreign languages are respelt using Slovak principles either immediately or later. For example, "weekend"
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7014-438: Is spelled víkend , "software" – softvér , "gay" – gej (both not exclusively) , and "quality" is spelled kvalita . Personal and geographical names from other languages using Latin alphabets keep their original spelling unless a fully Slovak form of the name exists (e.g. Londýn for " London "). Slovak features some heterophonic homographs (words with identical spelling but different pronunciation and meaning),
7181-594: Is the plural genitive (e.g. päť domov = five houses or stodva žien = one hundred two women), while the plural form of the noun when counting the amounts of 2–4, etc., is usually the nominative form without counting (e.g. dva domy = two houses or dve ženy = two women) but gender rules do apply in many cases. Verbs have three major conjugations. Three persons and two numbers (singular and plural) are distinguished. Subject personal pronouns are omitted unless they are emphatic. Several conjugation paradigms exist as follows: Adverbs are formed by replacing
7348-626: Is used to create numerals 20, 30 and 40; for numerals 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90, desiat is used. Compound numerals (21, 1054) are combinations of these words formed in the same order as their mathematical symbol is written (e.g. 21 = dvadsaťjeden , literally "twenty-one"). The numerals are as follows: Some higher numbers: (200) dv e sto , (300) tristo , (900) deväťsto , (1,000) tisíc , (1,100) tisícsto , (2,000) dv e tisíc , (100,000) stotisíc , (200,000) dv e stotisíc , (1,000,000) milión , (1,000,000,000) miliarda . Counted nouns have two forms. The most common form
7515-413: The 2012 Slovak parliamentary election , Smer won 44.4% of the votes and became the largest party in the National Council, with an absolute majority of 83 seats (out of 150). Fico's Second Cabinet was the first single-party government in Slovakia since 1993. In the 2014 European Parliament election in Slovakia , Smer came in first place nationally, receiving 24.09% of the vote and electing four Members of
7682-484: The Fourth cabinet of Robert Fico . Originally named Direction ( Slovak : Smer ), the party was founded on 8 November 1999, emerging as a breakaway from the post-Communist Party of the Democratic Left (SDĽ), the successor of the original Communist Party of Slovakia and the governing party from 1998 to 2002. Under Robert Fico , at the time one of the most popular politicians in the country, it quickly became one of
7849-591: The Prague Spring , but his reforms were reversed and he was eventually sidelined following the Warsaw Pact invasion in August 1968. Best known by the slogan, " Socialism with a human face ", Dubček led a process that accelerated cultural and economic liberalization in Czechoslovakia. Reforms were opposed by conservatives inside the party who benefited from the Stalinist economy, as well as interests in
8016-644: The Russo-Ukrainian War , Smer calls for an end to military aid to Ukraine as well as to sanctions against Russia . It interprets the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a proxy war between the US and Russia , with the latter "dealing with threats to its national interests". The party declares that the conflict was provoked in 2014 by "the extermination of citizens of Russian nationality by Ukrainian fascists". However, since his return to power, Fico has taken
8183-472: The Second World War , imprisoned as a bourgeois nationalist in the 1950s to emerge as a key figure in the normalization process in Czechoslovakia – a return to strict Communist Party control and the suppression of political liberalization following the Warsaw Pact invasion in 1968 . In November 2023, Blaha replaced a portrait of President Zuzana Čaputová in his parliamentary office with
8350-580: The Slovak National Uprising . His brother died in the uprising. The second and last time Alexander was wounded, he was sent to the Peterov family in Velčice to recover with Anna's help. Because of his participation in the uprising, this would be a bad mark against him during the Stalinist period, after authorities began amalgamating the activities of partisans in the uprisings with members of
8517-743: The Social Democratic Party . In return, the Soviets promised to withdraw troops that had been stationed in the country since exercises that June, where the Czechs had played the NATO team. Despite Dubček's continuing efforts to stress these commitments afterward, Brezhnev and other Warsaw Pact leaders told Dubček they remained anxious. Because so many motives were hidden behind clandestine activities, personal motives, and organizational biases, where even pro-intervention hard-liners had to make appearances so as not to be charged with treason, there
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#17327973062498684-728: The Soviet Politburo by those within the Czechoslovakian regime who promoted intervention. One such message was sent to Brezhnev at the time of the Čierna nad Tisou meeting. These letters and reports were sent by a group of anti-reformist hard-liners in the Czechoslovak Communist Party (KSC), under the leadership of Slovak Communist Party chief, Vasiľ Biľak , working with allies in the StB and Czechoslovak Army. Bil’ak later wrote in his own memoirs that what he and his colleagues feared most, right up until mid-August,
8851-509: The United Kingdom , Australia , Austria , Ukraine , Norway , and other countries to a lesser extent. Slovak language is one of the official languages of Autonomous Province of Vojvodina . There are many Slovak dialects, which are divided into the following four basic groups: The fourth group of dialects is often not considered a separate group, but a subgroup of Central and Western Slovak dialects (see e.g. Štolc, 1968), but it
9018-704: The high medieval period, and the standardization of Czech and Slovak within the Czech–Slovak dialect continuum emerged in the early modern period. In the later mid-19th century, the modern Slovak alphabet and written standard became codified by Ľudovít Štúr and reformed by Martin Hattala . The Moravian dialects spoken in the western part of the country along the border with the Czech Republic are also sometimes classified as Slovak, although some of their western variants are closer to Czech; they nonetheless form
9185-414: The "cult of the plan", were only slightly less ideologically threatening. In many ways they were just as dangerous to the interests of conservatives in the party, but they lacked the political leverage of the moral economists who bridged the gap with the writers and intellectuals. Ota Šik relied on an interdisciplinary approach and method. Writers and cultural intellectuals began to see themselves as holding
9352-573: The 1950s. In their place, a new generation of Slovak Communists took control of party and state organs in Slovakia, led by Dubček, who became First Secretary of the Slovak branch of the party. Along with that title, Dubček became a member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the KSČ. Shortly after Dubček took his new position as head of the Slovak party in 1963, he personally oversaw complete rehabilitation of those earlier convicted of being Slovak "bourgeois nationalists". He promoted
9519-598: The 1968 party membership. This mostly purged the younger generation of post-Stalin communists that he represented along with many of the most competent technical experts and managers. During the Velvet Revolution in 1989, Dubček served as the Chairman of the federal Czechoslovak parliament and contended for the presidency with Václav Havel . The European Parliament awarded Dubček the Sakharov Prize
9686-661: The 2000s, the party opposed the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan , and organized the withdrawal of 110 Slovak soldiers that were deployed in Iraq. In its foreign policy manifesto, Smer calls for understanding with countries "with a form of government other than parliamentary democracy ", referring to China and Vietnam . During his premiership, party's leader Robert Fico praised the political systems of both countries, describing
9853-709: The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia took power. In June, 1949, still in Trenčín, Dubček was promoted from his minor party duties at his workplace to administrative secretary of the OV KSS. He rose through the party ranks as a party functionary, first in Trenčín, then being transferred to Bratislava, and then to Banská Bystrica , while he pursued further education and training. He left for the Soviet Union in 1955, but returned in 1958 after completing his university education there. Shortly after returning from Moscow, in September 1958 he
10020-559: The Communist government by eliminating its repressive features, allowing greater freedom of expression, and tolerating political and social organizations not under Communist control. "Dubček! Svoboda !" became the popular refrain of student demonstrations during this period, while a poll at home gave him 78-percent public support. Dubček declared a 10-year program to implement reforms, but as reforms gained momentum he struggled to both maintain control and move with events. Dubček had been
10187-514: The Czech Stačilo! , on establishing cooperation between left-wing conservative parties. SMER is considered an example of a left-conservative party. It encompasses socially conservative and nationalist elements, such as "emphasising Slovak folk traditions, mythicalising the nation's history, offering open and pragmatic support from its chairman Robert Fico to the Catholic bishops, and rejecting
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#173279730624910354-423: The Czech language fulfills the requirement of fundamental intelligibility with the state language"; the state language is Slovak and the Minority Language Act basically refers to municipalities with more than 20% ethnic minority population (no such Czech municipalities are found in Slovakia). Since 1 September 2009 (due to an amendment to the State Language Act 270/1995 Z.z.) a language "fundamentally intelligible with
10521-603: The Czechs and the Slovaks enjoyed when Dubček was their leader was a prologue to the peaceful revolutions now taking place in eastern Europe and Czechoslovakia itself." Sakharov credited Dubček and the Prague Spring as his inspiration. At the time of his death in an automobile crash in 1992, Dubček remained an important political figure. Many saw him as the destined future president of newly-formed Slovakia. Since that time, his life and work have been significantly re-evaluated. This comes after long being over-shadowed by simplistic cold war narratives and rhetoric. According to Jan Adamec,
10688-399: The European Parliament . Despite suffering a significant loss in support as a result of strikes by teachers and nurses earlier in the year, Smer won the 5 March 2016 parliamentary election with 28.3% of the vote and 49 of 150 seats, and subsequently formed Fico's Third Cabinet in a coalition government with Bridge, Network , and the Slovak National Party . Prime Minister Fico resigned in
10855-440: The European Union . Slovak is closely related to Czech , to the point of very high mutual intelligibility , as well as Polish . Like other Slavic languages, Slovak is a fusional language with a complex system of morphology and relatively flexible word order . Its vocabulary has been extensively influenced by Latin and German , as well as other Slavic languages . The Czech–Slovak group developed within West Slavic in
11022-432: The European integration of Slovakia, lifted some economic-liberal reforms of the previous centre-right governments and introduced various social welfare measures. Smer-led populist governments have been associated with numerous political corruption scandals, and have been accused by opponents to have resulted in a deterioration of the rule of law in Slovakia. After the 2020 parliamentary election (Smer's return to
11189-533: The German border in order to be discovered. They instructed agents to hang posters calling for the overthrow of communism. This was to prove a western-sponsored network was active in Dubček's reform movement as part of an imminent insurrection or coup. The KGB was only further enraged when the Czechoslovakian Interior Minister revealed it all to be a deliberate Soviet provocation. The KGB had many reasons for their actions, but most important may have been its institutional bias. The Pillar Commission set up to investigate
11356-541: The KGB leadership had ordered his reports destroyed and not shown to anyone after they received what Kalugin thought was a more balanced assessment. Meanwhile, KGB reports to the Soviet leadership went to lengths to support the official narrative and the claims of anti-reform hard-liners. They blamed everything negative that happened in Czechoslovakia on the Prague Spring, including in some cases traffic crashes, fires, and burglaries. The KGB even manufactured evidence, directing agents to plant cashes of American-made weapons near
11523-434: The KSC Presidium and 50 members of the KSC Central Committee as his supporters. The Soviet Politburo received many such appeals for intervention, misleading them into confidence the viability of a hard-liner government in waiting. The KGB had also buried reports that the US and the Federal Republic of Germany were not behind the Prague Spring. KGB Station Chief in Washington DC, Oleg Kalugin , only discovered years later that
11690-493: The Ministry of Culture publishes a document that specifies authoritative reference books for standard Slovak usage, which is called the codification handbook ( kodifikačná príručka ). The current regulations were published on 15 March 2021. There are four such publications: Slovak speakers are also found in the Slovak diaspora in the United States , the Czech Republic , Argentina , Serbia , Ireland , Romania , Poland , Canada , Hungary , Germany , Croatia , Israel ,
11857-453: The PES congress in 2001, which states that "all PES parties adhere to the following principles ... [and] to refrain from any form of political alliance or co-operation at all levels with any political party which incites or attempts to stir up racial or ethnic prejudices and racial hatred." In The Slovak Spectator , the PES chairman Poul Nyrup Rasmussen commented: "Most of our members stood solidly behind our values, according to which forming
12024-589: The Party and the centrality of the Warsaw Pact, Dubček also was open to redefining the duty of party members from obedience to more creative expression. According to a CIA assessment at the time, Dubček was seen as an adept politician who might pull the balancing act off at home, which if true made Soviet military intervention all the more urgently needed by the anti-reform faction. The Soviet politburo may not have shared this view of Dubček, but they interpreted events as demonstrating dishonesty as much as lack of ability. In
12191-658: The Plenum of the Communist Party of Slovakia, Dubček represented this rising conviction among his generation that rejected the dictatorship of a single class of workers or party officials. Instead, he appealed to a universal all-inclusive human principle that had as much in common with sociology as Marxist–Leninism, in origins, practice, and aims, while still embracing both. In September, 1967, Novotný's conservatives began to impose strict censorship on films and other culture products, institutions, and culture workers. This did not quiet opposition but only further provoked it. What followed
12358-443: The Prague Spring sought to liberalize the existing regime. It continued a series of reforms that granted greater freedom of expression to the press and public, rehabilitated victims of Stalinist purges by Klement Gottwald, advanced economic decentralization, and supported fundamental human rights reforms that included an independent judiciary. During the Prague Spring, he and other reform-minded Communists enhanced popular support for
12525-552: The President of the Financial Administration at the time. In return for the alleged bribery, Imrecze facilitated the passing of information regarding entities scheduled for corporate income tax audits and ensured the fulfillment of requirements for filling positions within the Financial Administration with specific individuals recommended by Brhel. In one instance, the Financial Administration then awarded substantial IT contracts to Michal Suchoba's company, Allexis, while Suchoba himself
12692-512: The Romani people in Slovakia is considered hostile, stating that the Romani people in Slovakia drain the social system. In 2023, Fico called for the approval of a law concerning NGOs , according to which non-governmental organizations with foreign funding should be labeled as foreign agents . During the COVID-19 pandemic , the party opposed vaccinations and restrictive measures. It opposed
12859-431: The Slovak Republic. (2) The use of languages other than the official language in official communication shall be laid down by law. Constitution of Slovakia , Article 6. Beside that, national minorities and ethnic groups also have explicit permission to use their distinct languages. Slovakia is a country with established Language policy concerning its official language . Standard Slovak ( spisovná slovenčina )
13026-441: The Slovak healthcare system, the party advocated a ban of manipulation feels as well as a halt to the privatization of public health system. Smer also made pledges to cancel payment of tuition fees for regular university sutudents and establishing a dynamic minimum wage that would be fixed to the 60% of average salary. The party is highly critical of other slovak parties, accusing them of implementing "anti-social" policies that neglect
13193-431: The Slovak one as clumsy and uncompetitive in comparison. In 2007, Fico made an official state visit to the then leader of Libya, Muammar Gaddafi , "discussing the fight against world imperialism" (citing Fico). In October 2023, Smer was suspended from the Party of European Socialists (PES) and the affiliated Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) European Parliament group., following its formation of
13360-482: The Smer parliamentary group after criticism from his own ranks. As early as April 2020, party vice-chairman Pellegrini announced his ambition to run for party chairman as Smer's most popular politician, winning 170,000 more votes than the chairman. Fico reacted strongly, saying that he did not intend to resign and wanted to remain at the head of the party, while Pellegrini gradually began to tighten his criticism of Fico and
13527-466: The StB and Interior Ministry. This motive is partly supported by the guarantees against reprisals against pro-Soviet Czechoslovakians in the Moscow Protocols. The KGB was also upset when Czechoslovak Interior Minister Josef Pavel revealed the existence of six KGB liaison agents within his office, implying that they would be removed. In an atmosphere of conformity cultivated by Brezhnev, only
13694-763: The Ukrainian government is run by neo-Nazis. In December 2023, the Fourth Cabinet of Robert Fico introduced an amendment to the Criminal Code. The government proposed that the bill be debated in a fast-track legislative procedure, arguing that the status quo leads to human rights violations. The amendment included scrapping the Special Prosecutor's Office dealing with high-level corruption and lowering penalties for financial crimes. The fast-track legislative procedure faced widespread criticism from
13861-634: The Years 2020–2023' published by the Ministry of Justice led by Boris Susko of Smer in December 2023. In March 2023, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense , Robert Kaliňák , who previously served as Minister of Interior , and businessman Jozef Brhel were formally indicted with bribery. Kaliňák was identified as the intermediary in a bribery scheme involving an annual sum of €200,000, purportedly arranged by Brhel for František Imrecze, who served as
14028-399: The adjectival ending with the ending - o or - e / - y . Sometimes both - o and - e are possible. Examples include the following: The comparative of adverbs is formed by replacing the adjectival ending with a comparative/superlative ending - (ej)ší or - (ej)šie , whence the superlative is formed with the prefix naj-. Examples include the following: Each preposition
14195-485: The army to prevent his loss of power. Ironically, investigation into this led to Novotný being completely removed from office a few months later. Investigations by officials and a newly freed media of his chief accomplice, General Jan Šejna , exposed a corruption scandal involving his own and his sons' shady business dealings, which was known as the 'Clover Seed Scandal'. Dubček, with his background and training in Russia,
14362-409: The balance of power between the entrenched apparatus and reformers, which for many explains their enthusiasm for joining the party in disproportionate numbers, where their growing power could be expressed. Regardless, the economic reforms touched on both the nationalities and the political question. Reforming how the economy operated was tied to how the party operated, and thinking evolved to recognize
14529-476: The balance of power, reversing reforms of the Prague Spring. Dubček was forced to resign as party head in April 1969, succeeded by Gustáv Husák , a former reformer and victim of Stalinism who was ambiguously favored by Moscow. This signaled the end of the Prague Spring and the beginning of normalization . Dubček was expelled from the Communist Party in 1970, amid a purge that eventually expelled almost two-thirds of
14696-585: The basis of the lowland dialects (see above). The western dialects contain features common with the Moravian dialects in the Czech Republic, the southern central dialects contain a few features common with South Slavic languages, and the eastern dialects a few features common with Polish and the East Slavonic languages (cf. Štolc, 1994). Lowland dialects share some words and areal features with
14863-410: The bridge dialects between the two languages. Slovak language is primarily spoken in Slovakia. The country's constitution declared it the official language of the state (štátny jazyk): (1) Na území Slovenskej republiky je štátnym jazykom slovenský jazyk. (2) Používanie iných jazykov než štátneho jazyka v úradnom styku ustanoví zákon. (1) The Slovak language is the official language on the territory of
15030-647: The chairman of the Fico parliamentary group, became the vice-chairman of the National Council for the Opposition on the basis of post-election negotiations. In May 2020, two deputies for Smer ( Ján Podmanický and Marián Kéry ) founded a value policy platform with deputies from KDŽP, elected as a candidate of the Kotlebists – People's Party Our Slovakia . Because of this, Pellegrini sharply criticized them, while Fico defended Podmanický. In May 2020, Podmanický also left
15197-460: The coalition parties, including the bill's rapporteur, MP Tibor Gašpar of Smer, could be directly affected by the proposed lowering of penalties. Additionally, their cases are overseen by the Special Prosecutor's Office, which the amendment would abolish. The coalition government introduced the amendment, citing the need to shift towards a rehabilitative approach to justice, update the criminal code, and align with European Union standards. Proponent of
15364-490: The creation of a new social-democratic party at the press conference, which they would join. Political scientist Grigory Mesezhnikov postulated that after the departure of the Pellegrini group, the Smer could move further to the left into the spectrum of the radical to communist left. As Smer won the parliamentary election held on 30 September 2023 with 23% of the vote and 42 seats in the National Council , Robert Fico ,
15531-658: The early 1960s. The one-size-fits-all model of economic planning, better suited to the pre-industrialized Soviet Union of the 1930s, resulted in over-investment in heavy industry at the expense of light industry and consumer goods. Quantity was maximized regardless of costs, leading to poor quality and prices that were twice that of world prices. Along with other economists, Ota Šik condemned the existing system of management as one that made further development impossible. Though production continued to grow, albeit slowly, in 1964 income began to fall. This forced then-president Antonín Novotný to begin making limited concessions to liberalize
15698-503: The early hours of the attack, Czechoslovakian radio broadcast an appeal to citizens not to resist. The presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia asked, "all citizens of the Republic to keep the peace (and remain at their posts but) not resist the advancing armies, because the defense of our state borders is now impossible". By making this official declaration before Soviet troops could preempt functioning of
15865-529: The eastern dialects is limited. Since the dissolution of Czechoslovakia it has been permitted to use Czech in TV broadcasting and during court proceedings (Administration Procedure Act 99/1963 Zb.). From 1999 to August 2009, the Minority Language Act 184/1999 Z.z., in its section (§) 6, contained the variously interpreted unclear provision saying that "When applying this act, it holds that the use of
16032-571: The family moved to the Central Russian city of Gorky, now Nizhny Novgorod . Alexander was then 12. In 1938, due to general orders by Stalin, they would have had to renounce their Czechoslovak citizenship in order to stay. With the same loyalty to their place of birth that Alexander would show for the rest of his life, the family returned to Czechoslovakia. At 17 years old, Alexander joined the then-illegal Communist Party of Slovakia (KSS), working to organize resistance at his workplace. It
16199-628: The fears of international corporations and financial groups that literally govern this country and now they have understood that once our program is implemented, the gold rush in Slovakia will be over." This reveals a highly nationalist orientation of the party. Smer holds Russophilic and Eurosceptic stances on foreign policy; however, it claims to support Slovakia's membership in the European Union and NATO . The party expresses strong anti-Western , especially anti-American sentiment , often spreading Russian propaganda narratives. Regarding
16366-400: The foundation of its political profile and advocates government's strong role in a number of areas" and called its economic policy "etatist paternalism", while also arguing that the party also represents "socio-economic policies based on social-democratic values". Robert Fico, the leader of the party, argued that the government should be "the father of all citizens" and stated that a strong state
16533-453: The government monitors every single Muslim who is on the territory of the Slovak Republic. In 2016, Fico declared that Islam has no place in Slovakia. He challenged multiculturalism and called for the preservation of the country's traditions and identity. In 2021, Fico called on political scientist Jozef Lenč of the Muslim faith, commenting on Smer, not to work as a political scientist in
16700-423: The greeting "Greetings, comrades! Honor work!" In January 2024, Prime Minister and party chairman Robert Fico and Deputy Speaker of the National Council and party vice-chairman Ľuboš Blaha visited the grave of Gustav Husák , the last communist president of the Czechoslovakia , to pay their respects. Husák, a highly controversial figure, was one of the leading figures of the Slovak National Uprising during
16867-593: The indictment was quashed by the Supreme Court citing "serious procedural errors that infringed upon the defendants' right to a fair defense". In August 2023, Deputy Prosecutor General Jozef Sedlák canceled the charges for Kaliňák, while Brhel remained charged. Slovak language [REDACTED] Croatia Slovak ( / ˈ s l oʊ v æ k , - v ɑː k / SLOH -va(h)k ; endonym : slovenčina [ˈslɔʋent͡ʂina] or slovenský jazyk [ˈslɔʋenskiː ˈjazik] ),
17034-556: The invasion and supported Dubček, Soviet plans had to be abandoned. This forced them to retain Dubček and his government until the following year, when Dubček's government could no longer contain growing pressure to advance reforms once again, coming both from within and without the party. The day of the invasion, occupying armies quickly seized control of Prague and the Central Committee's building, taking Dubček and other reformers into Soviet custody. But, before they were arrested, Dubček urged
17201-422: The languages surrounding them (Serbo-Croatian, Hungarian, and Romanian). Slovak contains 15 vowel phonemes (11 monophthongs and four diphthongs) and 29 consonants. The phoneme /æ/ is marginal and often merges with /e/; the two are normally only distinguished in higher registers. Vowel length is phonemic in Slovak and both short and long vowels have the same quality. In addition, Slovak, unlike Czech, employs
17368-419: The last consonant is voiceless. For example, otázka is pronounced /ɔtaːska/ and vzchopiť sa is pronounced /fsxɔpitsːa/ . This rule applies also over the word boundary. For example, prísť domov [priːzɟ dɔmɔw] (to come home) and viac jahôd [ʋɪɐdz jaɦʊɔt] (more strawberries). The voiced counterpart of " ch " /x/ is [ɣ] , and the unvoiced counterpart of " h " /ɦ/
17535-436: The last day of October that were badly mishandled, provoking further opposition, Novotný secretly invited Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev to visit to Prague in December 1967. He had hoped to shore up his own position. In Prague, Brezhnev was stunned to learn of the extent of the opposition to Novotný. He decided not to interfere. Brezhnev was generally supportive of Novotny, but said he was not there to solve their problems. He
17702-567: The law instead of vetoing it, she wants to create enough time for the Constitutional Court to decide on her submission challenging the constitutionality of the law. As of February 2024, the Constitutional Court is expected to make its decision following the publication of the law in the collection of laws by the Ministry of Justice. Direction – Social Democracy has been recognised as a social-democratic party, and
17869-520: The law, the Ministry of Justice led by Boris Susko of Smer published the brochure 'Overview of Violations of the Principles of the Rule of Law in the Years 2020–2023.' The amendment was finally approved by the National Council on 8 February 2024. The final proposal also included a reduction of the statute of limitations in rape cases from 20 to 10 years, which again caused widespread criticism from
18036-486: The manner in which his predecessor had been removed. Making no secret where he was headed, in February, with Brezhnev present, Dubček pledged: "We shall have to remove everything that strangles artistic and scientific creativeness." The period following Novotný's downfall became known as the Prague Spring . During this time, Dubček and other reformers sought to liberalize the Communist government—creating "socialism with
18203-618: The media, specifically, " Pelikán , Císař , Kriegel , and other scoundrels". Dubček's unwillingness or inability to do so created distrust around certain statements circulated in the media, which may have made the issue more significant than it actually was in itself, as it gave credence to the coup plotters. Press freedom began as an opening to reassessment of the Stalinist purges and the nation's historic past, but it grew into an abstract ideal as conservative criticism generalized and mounted. The question had been one more of truth-telling than of press freedom. The issues were more broad. Confusion
18370-429: The most common examples being krásne /ˈkraːsnɛ/ (beautiful) versus krásne /ˈkraːsɲɛ/ (beautifully). The main features of Slovak syntax are as follows: Some examples include the following: Word order in Slovak is relatively free, since strong inflection enables the identification of grammatical roles (subject, object, predicate, etc.) regardless of word placement. This relatively free word order allows
18537-618: The most completely and rapidly, but the economy and national autonomy remained heavily centralized. Cultural intellectuals were able to achieve more, and gain greater leverage among the reformists because of a combination of a greater ability to connect with the public and a peculiarity of the system. Writers and publishers benefited from the autonomous profitability of the sectors they controlled, giving them fundamentally different interests than those tied to heavy industry or other sectors, who lacked financial independence. The technocratic economic reformers, such as Radoslav Selucký , who denounced
18704-481: The most popular parties in Slovakia, while the SDĽ experienced a constant decrease within popularity. In the 2002 Slovak parliamentary election , its first formal election period, it became the third-largest party in the National Council of the Slovak Republic , with 25 of 150 seats. In 2003, it changed its formal name to Direction (Third Way) ( Slovak : Smer (tretia cesta) ) and Party of Civic Understanding merged into
18871-587: The need for a diversity of interests to be represented. Cultural reform touched on economic reform, as the educated groups saw one of the principle resources the economy neglected was talent. Technical advance required abilities that were neither promoted nor respected among the conservatives, such as Novotný, who were mostly poorly educated and often lacked fundamental competency at their jobs. They did not call, however, for capitalism and class difference but democratic compensation for additional time and expense necessary for their education. In May 1967, speaking before
19038-441: The neighboring Soviet-bloc who feared contagion, western subversion, strategic vulnerability, and loss of institutional power. For reasons of institutional interests in the Soviet Union such as those of the military and KGB, false reports, and the growing concern among the Soviet leadership that Dubček was no longer able to maintain control of the country, Czechoslovakia was invaded by half a million Soviet-led Warsaw Pact troops on
19205-437: The new Pellegrini party, while those saying they would vote for the original Smer remained at 9.6%. At a press conference one week following the announcement of Pellegrini's departure, another 10 deputies announced they would leave the party, including Vice-presidents Peter Žiga and Richard Raši , Bureau member Denisa Saková and long-standing deputies and party members. At the same time, together with Pellegrini, they announced
19372-665: The night of 20 August," the "healthy forces" in the KSC would carry out their "plan of action" to oust Dubček, setting up a "provisional revolutionary government of workers and peasants." Indra said he could "guarantee" that a majority of the KSC Presidium, the KSC Central Committee, the National Assembly, and the Czechoslovak government would join with the "healthy forces." He promised six of the eleven members of
19539-418: The night of 20–21 August 1968. This was intended to enable a coup by conservative forces. That coup, however, could not materialize due to lack of a viable pro-Soviet replacement leadership and the unexpected extraordinary popularity of Dubček and the reformist leadership. Soviet intervention ushered in a period of maneuver between conservatives and reformers where conservatives relied on Soviet influence to shift
19706-533: The noun in situations where definiteness must be made explicit. Slovak nouns are inflected for case and number . There are six cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, locative, and instrumental. The vocative is purely optional and most of the time unmarked. It is used mainly in spoken language and in some fixed expressions: mama mum (nominative) vs. mami mum! (vocative), tato , oco dad (N) vs. tati , oci dad! (V), pán Mr., sir vs. pane sir (when addressing someone e.g. in
19873-441: The official government, the Czechoslovakian leadership ensured that both the invasion and Soviet invitation would be seen as illegitimate but also established the political and strategic framework for the resistance as symbolic and moral, where their opponent would have less control. Controversy at that time and since has arisen as to whether Dubček knew of the invasion and hid the fact for his own reasons, perhaps explaining some of
20040-403: The opposition), Slovak authorities investigated a number of corruption-related crimes involving multiple Smer politicians and individuals reportedly linked to the party, with a total of 42 of them being convicted. At the party congress in July 2020, following a major internal split (which resulted in the founding of a new party named Voice – Social Democracy , also known as Hlas–SD), Fico announced
20207-507: The parliamentary opposition, President Zuzana Čaputová , the European Commission and non-governmental organizations, resulting in a weeks-long opposition parliamentary obstruction and a series of demonstrations. Critics have raised questions about potential conflicts of interest within the government coalition. They have noted that various individuals with perceived affiliations to the government, alongside accused members of
20374-468: The parliamentary opposition, President Zuzana Čaputová and non-governmental organizations. The government defended the reduction of the limitation period by motivating victims to report rape earlier, possibly allowing a return to the 20-year limitation period in the next amendment after the approval of the law. President Zuzana Čaputová signed the law on 16 February, verbally clearly expressing her opposition to its content. The President argued that by signing
20541-494: The party focus on the establishment of a welfare state and supporting the poorest groups of Slovakia. Many of the party's socioeconomic policies, such as free travel for pensioners and pension increases are considered typically left-wing populist. The party also promotes redistributive policies, such as corporate tax increases and income tax hikes for the highest earners. Smer also adheres to economic nationalism ; Grigorij Mesežnikov noted that "Smer openly subscribes to etatism as
20708-445: The party in the near future. He also outlined the establishment of a new party, Voice – Social Democracy (Hlas–SD), which he said should be social democratic, but refuse to be liberal. Around that time, Fico had already offered Pellegrini the position of party chairman, provided that he maintained his influence in the party, an offer which was rejected by Pellegrini. In the first FOCUS survey, 21.4% of respondents said they would vote for
20875-529: The party line. Political conflicts were commonly negotiated. This was complicated by exceptions, such as Kultúrny život, the weekly newspaper of the Union of Slovak Writers, which authorities considered politically unreliable. Such direct confrontations were spreading. In 1967, Vaclav Havel's play, The Memorandum , Milan Kundera 's novel, The Joke (novel) , were seen by many writers as the beginnings of open rebellion. The Czechoslovak economy began to plateau in
21042-533: The party position was laughable, saying: "Anyone who was in Prague and lived in Czechoslovakia at that time knew that the Party's authority, the Party's position in the eyes of the nation had improved for the first time." Instead, he said that "The Party discredited itself." However, the telephone conversation between Brezhnev and Dubček on 13 August suggests that media coverage was given high importance. Brezhnev had instructed Dubček to remove key people responsible for
21209-436: The party promoted itself as one willing to ban or limit the service fees of Slovak banks. In regards to Slovak banks, Robert Fico said: "The banks operating in Slovakia must realize that they operate on the territory of a sovereign state, which must use all available means to bring a pressure to bear on the banking sector." In response to criticism of his remarks, Fico also argued that the political opponents of Smer are "conveying
21376-512: The party's leader was given a mandate to form a government. The Fourth cabinet of Robert Fico comprising Smer, Voice – Social Democracy (Hlas–SD) and the Slovak National Party (SNS) sworn in on 25 October 2023. Fico has promised to cut all aid to Ukraine as a result of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine , and has promised to block Ukrainian accession to NATO should the subject be broached under his tenure. Fico has also stated that
21543-527: The party's situation. Pellegrini criticized the fact that the party's presidency had not met since the election and the date of the parliament was unknown. Pellegrini demanded that the assembly be held as soon as possible, while Fico insisted that the nomination assembly take place only at a ceremonial assembly in December 2020. At a June 2020 press conference in Banská Bystrica, Pellegrini announced that he would resign as vice-chairman of Smer and leave
21710-466: The party, including policemen, prosecutors, judges, members of the Slovak intelligence agency , politicians, officials, and businessmen were convicted. The party strongly rejects all charges, calling it criminalization of politics . Numerous criticisms of the investigation process and the Special Prosecutor's Office were outlined in the brochure 'Overview of Violations of the Principles of the Rule of Law in
21877-521: The party. In 2005, the party absorbed the SDĽ and the Social Democratic Alternative , a small social democratic party that split from the original SDĽ somewhat later than Direction did, in addition to the Social Democratic Party of Slovakia . Founded in 1990, the party became known for the leadership of Alexander Dubček , and Direction adopted the epithet Social Democracy. Following the party's victory in 2006, Smer entered into
22044-399: The path taken by their leadership elders as they began to rise in the ranks during the 1950s and early 1960s. The Slovak branch of the party emerged from the war with a smaller membership base and less connection with Slovak institutions than the Czech branches had. To recruit a mass party base for electoral politics, the party's leadership, which was over 60 years old on average, appealed to
22211-408: The people not to resist militarily, on the grounds that "presenting a military defense would have meant exposing the Czech and Slovak peoples to a senseless bloodbath". Already the previous month, when officers under General Václav Prchlík , head of the KSC's military department, began preparing contingency plans for a Soviet/Warsaw Pact invasion, Dubček had immediately vetoed its implementation. In
22378-461: The political and intellectual climate in Slovakia had been freer than that in the Czech lands . Meanwhile, cultural weeklies such as Literarni Novinv , Kultúrny život, , and Kulturni Tvorba saw greatly expanded readership. Like many of the Slovak culture institutions, these publications were, however, engaged in a mostly indirect confrontation with the center, such as obvious ironic overstating of
22545-558: The poor while benefitting the rich. Robert Fico argued that the neoliberal economic policy of the Mikuláš Dzurinda threw Slovakia "back to the 1930s". In its economic rhetoric, SMER also frequently attacks monopolies, arguing that the increase in gas prices is caused by the "ruthless pricing policy of monopolies" that are "raking in exorbitant profits". The party is also critical of the banking industry, stating that Slovak banks tend to collect unfairly high service fees from their client;
22712-512: The present-day standard language. Not all dialects are fully mutually intelligible. It may be difficult for an inhabitant of the western Slovakia to understand a dialect from eastern Slovakia and the other way around. The dialects are fragmented geographically, separated by numerous mountain ranges. The first three groups already existed in the 10th century. All of them are spoken by the Slovaks outside Slovakia, and central and western dialects form
22879-574: The ratification of the Istanbul Convention in Slovakia. Following a major internal split in June 2020 (which resulted in the founding of a new party named Voice – Social Democracy , also known as Hlas–SD), the party began to radicalize its rhetoric, including expressing nostalgia for the prior communist state . The party politicians utilize slogans reminiscent of the communist era, such as "Loiterers from cafes, to fields and factories" and
23046-657: The return of historic cultural personalities to popular awareness within Slovak society. This took the form of celebrations and commemorations, such as the 150th birthdays of 19th century leaders of the Slovak National Revival Ľudovít Štúr and Jozef Miloslav Hurban , the centenary of the Matica slovenská in 1963, and the twentieth anniversary of the Slovak National Uprising Dubček himself had taken part in. Even before this reformist take-over,
23213-546: The rights of non-heterosexual minorities". The party holds socially conservative views on social issues with a record of anti-LGBT , anti-Romani , Islamophobic , anti-immigration and sexist statements. It proclaims its strong opposition to liberalism and progressivism , advocating traditional family values and running for the patriotic electorate. Party's leading politicians spread disinformation and conspiracy theories , including antisemitic George Soros conspiracy theories . Regarding LGBT rights , it calls for
23380-414: The same stem are written in the same way even if they are pronounced differently. An example of this principle is the assimilation rule (see below). The tertiary principle is the etymological principle, which can be seen in the use of i after certain consonants and of y after other consonants, although both i and y are usually pronounced the same way. Finally, the rarely applied grammatical principle
23547-538: The same year. In the interim between the Prague Spring and the Velvet Revolution, Dubček withdrew from high politics but served as a leading inspiration and symbolic leader for Eurocommunism , maintaining intermittent contact with European communist reformers, especially in Italy and the Soviet Union. Also in 1989, just before his death, Andrei Sakharov wrote, "I am convinced that the 'breath of freedom' which
23714-531: The show trials of the 1950s recommended the disbandment of the secret police, and Czechoslovakian security services had already ceased most cooperation with the KGB, having a major impact on the KGBs operational effectiveness and influence. The Czech security services had been vital to their effective operations. Some suggest further that they may have feared eventual reprisals against their most active and loyal agents within
23881-610: The state language" (i.e. the Czech language) may be used in contact with state offices and bodies by its native speakers, and documents written in it and issued by bodies in the Czech Republic are officially accepted. Regardless of its official status, Czech is used commonly both in Slovak mass media and in daily communication by Czech natives as an equal language. Alexander Dub%C4%8Dek Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (1948–1970) Public Against Violence (1989–1992) Alexander Dubček ( Slovak pronunciation: [ˈaleksander ˈduptʂek] ; 27 November 1921 – 7 November 1992)
24048-414: The street). There are two numbers: singular and plural. Nouns have inherent gender . There are three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. Adjectives and pronouns must agree with nouns in case, number, and gender. The numerals 0–10 have unique forms, with numerals 1–4 requiring specific gendered representations. Numerals 11–19 are formed by adding násť to the end of each numeral. The suffix dsať
24215-452: The strictly planned economy. This included allowing greater freedom to companies in setting prices and wages. Though the source of the immediate crisis was the now-pressing economic effects, Dubček's generation had spent the early 1960s engaged in travel, research, and study heavily supported by academia, the state, and the party. Their body of research and experience convinced the reformers that their self-isolated country had not simply reached
24382-539: The time of Nikita Khrushchev 'secret speech' in 1956, Dubček had a family, upbringing, and early education very different from the conventional communist party training that many assume him to have, as well as fundamentally different education than both Gorbachev and Velvet Revolution leader Václav Havel . As Ivan Laluha points out, his thinking was shaped by his upbringing by unconventional parents, and personal experience of, and longtime associations with, utopian and international experiments and members that emphasized
24549-705: The use of word order to convey topic and emphasis . Some examples are as follows: The unmarked order is subject–verb–object . Variation in word order is generally possible, but word order is not completely free. In the above example, the noun phrase ten veľký muž cannot be split up, so that the following combinations are not possible: And the following sentence is stylistically infelicitous: The regular variants are as follows: Slovak, like every major Slavic language other than Bulgarian and Macedonian , does not have articles. The demonstrative pronoun in masculine form ten (that one) or tá in feminine and to in neuter respectively, may be used in front of
24716-433: The wake of the political crisis following the murder of Ján Kuciak and was replaced by Peter Pellegrini , with the same majority. However, Fico remained leader of Smer. The party managed to score 18.29% in the 2020 Slovak parliamentary election , which was 2 to 3 percent more than the latest polls showed, but it was still a decrease of 10% compared to previous elections. The party occupied 38 seats in parliament. Pellegrini,
24883-465: The wartime regime and other non-communist elements. Dubček's father, Štefan, had been a member of the party since 1921. Upon his return he became active in it once again. Štefan was responsible for printing the party papers, forged and official documents, as well as producing other left-wing publications. During this time, the activities of Alexander and his family relied more on working through personal networks rather than party cells. The entire family
25050-423: The world rejected the Soviet pretext as a thin disguise for gross violation of national party autonomy. Even President Ludvík Svoboda had publicly issued a statement calling on occupying forces to withdraw and for reforms to continue, while Czechoslovakia's UN representatives were calling for international support against the invasion. The Soviets were only partly responsible for their confusion. Closely following
25217-543: The world's surprise. Some point to the telephone conversation between Brezhnev and Dubček on 13 August where Dubček is recorded to say, "If you on the Soviet Politburo believe we're deceiving you, you should take the measure you regard as appropriate." Brezhnev is recorded to respond, "Such measures would be easier for us to adopt if you and your comrades would more openly say that these are the measures you're expecting of us." Historians have never accepted Dubček's foreknowledge, and Dubček has always denied it, but Czech resistance
25384-606: Was a Slovak statesman who served as the First Secretary of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) ( de facto leader of Czechoslovakia ) from January 1968 to April 1969 and as Chairman of the Federal Assembly from 1989 to 1992 following the Velvet Revolution . He oversaw significant reforms to the communist system during a period that became known as
25551-431: Was a utopian Esperantist and Idist industrial cooperative, Interhelpo . Pavol Dubček, Alexander's son, described what his grandfather's family found as, "there was nothing there but an old barracks", after the family had come promised job opportunities and a good life. He said many of the first generation of immigrant children suffered typhus. Despite this, Pavol said it was "impossible" to go back at that time. In 1933
25718-483: Was an unprecedented mobilization of solidarity among culture workers in both Czech and Slovak lands. Following his presentation of grievances the month before, in October 1967 Dubček and Ota Šik challenged First Secretary Novotný's leadership style at a Central Committee meeting. Dubček said he acted like a dictator. Faced with lack of support at the central and local level of the party and large public demonstrations
25885-551: Was and remains confusion as to Soviet motives for the invasion that ended the Prague Spring. Some believed that the Soviets saw even a partly free press as threatening an end to one-party rule in Czechoslovakia, and (by extension) elsewhere in Eastern Europe. This is contradicted by many eyewitnesses, such as Ken Coates . According to Coates, the charge that the party was losing control or that counter-revolutionaries were misusing reforms, including press freedom, to undermine
26052-555: Was appointed head secretary of the West Slovak Regional Committee of the KSS, and then transferred to Prague in 1960. There, as Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Czech Republic for Industry, Dubček became intensely involved in the work of rehabilitation commissions (especially Drahomir Kolder's and Barnabit's, 1962–1963). Learning of the mechanisms of repression, Dubček would call this
26219-649: Was common. At the time of the invasion, events caught much of the world by surprise, despite widespread evidence of troop buildups and continued seeming arbitrary maneuvers on the country's borders. In an emergency meeting of the United States National Security Council called by President Lyndon B. Johnson on 20 August, Defense Secretary Clark Clifford , along with the cabinet and president could not explain Soviet actions. The invasion also erupted alongside so many destabilizing changes that some have pointed to 'press freedom' serving as
26386-593: Was happening solely from the angle of the loss of their leading role in the party." Anti-reformist elements were a coalition of hard-liners in the Soviet Union, such as Yuri Andropov , whose false reports of events in Hungary had also helped overcome Khrushchev's opposition to intervention, and Warsaw Pact leaders fearing for their own positions such as East German leader, Walter Ulbricht , and Polish leader, Władysław Gomułka . Perhaps most significantly, false high-level reports included letters secretly passed directly to
26553-503: Was here, as a factory worker in Dubnica nad Váhom , where he learned his first trade. He worked together with his brother, Július, and with his childhood friend, Anna Borsekova. They fought against the wartime pro-German Slovak state headed by Jozef Tiso . In August 1944 Dubček and his brother were ordered to join the partisans. They were members of the Jan Žižka partisan brigade during
26720-530: Was involved, shifting from one place to the next, eventually moving to Velčice. After the arrest of much of the KSS leadership in 1942, Štefan and the Dubčeks worked with another former Interhelpo member, primarily organizing communist youth. Alexander was arrested himself in July, but not before having significant impact and authority. After Štefan was arrested, Štefan was sent to prison and eventually to Mauthausen concentration camp , which he survived in part because he
26887-482: Was not only to prod the Soviets to quick action but to ensure that Dubček would be removed and not even a moderate reformist government would remain to frustrate their personal prerogatives. Press freedom was only one of many reforms where no compromise at all could be tolerated. On the night of 20–21 August 1968, military forces from several Warsaw Pact member states ( Albania , Romania and East Germany did not participate ) invaded Czechoslovakia. Soviet media cited
27054-453: Was reorganized as the Slovak branch of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ). Though still outside of the higher circles, Dubček's generation represented the young idealistic rank-and-file of the party that took power in 1948, not a break from it. It was Stalinism that represented the discontinuity. It was this pre-Stalinist generation that originally seized power, allied with the younger generation of party members, who began to question
27221-499: Was seen by the USSR as a safe pair of hands. "Our Sasha", as Brezhnev called him. Aside from the immediate personal and professional animosity of Bulgarian leader, Todor Zhivkov , who refused to acknowledge him directly, other Warsaw Pact leaders sent customary congratulations. Zhivkov received a protest for his snub from Soviet diplomats. Zhivkov's behavior was not motivated by opposition to Dubček's program of reforms but his discomfort at
27388-582: Was somewhat unconventional and much is shrouded in ambiguity that created an open question for some. The non-violent resistance of the Czech and Slovak population, which helped delay pacification by Warsaw Pact forces for over eight months (in contrast to the Soviet military's estimate of four days), became an example of civilian-based defense . A latter-day The Good Soldier Švejk (referring to an early-20th-century Czech satirical novel) wrote of "the comradely pranks of changing street names and road signs, of pretending not to understand Russian, and of putting out
27555-625: Was that Dubček would reach an accommodation of compromise with Moscow that would forestall or prevent an invasion. Bil’ak himself feared his own imminent departure from office with good reason. His hard deadlines were 26 August, the date of the Slovak Party Congress, and 20 August, a gathering of the reformist leadership. Both had been moved up to allow reformers to secure better positions. The warnings of Bil’ak and his supporters stoked deliberately exaggerated fears of violent "anti-socialist counter-revolution" as an "imminent threat". This
27722-709: Was there a short time. Dubček married childhood friend, Anna Dubčeková (née Borseková), in September, 1945. They started a home in Trenčín . Dubček began his studies at Comenius University in Bratislava , but he would return to the Soviet Union in 1955 to attend the University of Politics in Moscow, where he graduated in 1958 before he returned home. While in Moscow, Dubček's Russian friends learned of Khrushchev's 'secret speech' denouncing Stalin in 1956. It would be
27889-567: Was there to help restore party unity, while the KSC Presidium was deadlocked 5-5. In January, 1968, the questions of leadership and reform were turned over to the Czechoslovak Party Central Committee. They voted no confidence in Novotný by splitting the functions of the president and party leader. He remained president but was replaced by Dubček as First Secretary. Novotný resisted, attempting to mobilize elements of
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