Velvet Revolution - Shortly After

Shortly After

The victory of the revolution was topped off by the election of rebel playwright and human rights activist, Václav Havel, as President of the republic (December 29). Free elections held in June 1990 legitimized this government and set the stage for the changes needed to deal with the remnants of the Communist party’s power and the legacy of the Communist period on popular values and expectations. The new government also had to deal with the accumulated social, environmental and other problems that were the result of Communist rule for forty years. Changes were needed to strengthen democratic government, restructure the economy and rebuild the country’s external economic and political relations. The main threat to political stability and the success of Czechoslovakia’s shift to democracy was likely to come from ethnic conflicts between the Czechs and the Slovaks, which resurfaced in the post-Communist period. However, there was a general consensus to move toward a market economy, so in early 1990, the President and his top economic advisors decided to move ahead quickly to liberalize prices, push demonopolization, and privatize the economy. The outcome of the transition to democracy and a market economy would depend on the extent to which developments outside the country facilitated or hindered the process of change.