Since the Czechoslovak communists have taken over the power in the late 1940’s huge repression occurred.
Around 250 000 people were interned, 248 executed and 8 000 died in prisons. All because of the Stalinist repressions. Most of the people executed were communists sentenced in fabricated trials (some of them, of course, were spies).
Klement Gottwald, firstly the prime minister and then the president, adopted Stalinist’s principle and he knew very well why. Were he not so repressive he would have been killed by other fellow communists (actually, Rudolf Slánský, executed in communists repressions, was a friend of Klement Gottwald; they say Stalin gave an ultimatum: either Gottwald or Slánský).
During the long communist regime, torture was widespread although it was not lawful.
To attain a more prestigious profession you would have to be a communist. Schools were only for cadres (people with favorable communist backgrounds).
People with disabilities (just like me) were institutionalized (it didn’t matter whether your disability was physical or mental).
Massive human rights abuse was present and the whole communist nightmare took 40 years. The Velvet Revolution gave people false hope our country would catch up with more developed Germany. People laugh at it right now but some politicians were saying we would catch up with Austria in 5 years and 10 years with Germany (economically). This was absolutely out of the question because the country was on economical par with Western countries somewhere in the Middle Ages (back in the Charles IV. era) last time. The country has had very deep internal problems and politicians didn’t reflect it. Massive socioeconomic reforms would have been needed, however, massive economic transfers were undertaken (the biggest since the 1600s). New robber barons emerged.
Václav Havel promised that he was not going to restore capitalism and that the new regime would be more friendly to the disadvantaged people. Wrong, the capitalism was restored with all its attributes.
In former communist Czechoslovakia, you had a steady job with a good income (it applied to everyone). You had to work otherwise you would have gone to jail. But with capitalism emerging all the security has disappeared.
The new regime could be greater for some people (notably the oligarchs). Although some people basically were stripped of their human rights, lost their jobs, become homeless and the new regime was the worst thing that could exist.
And I feel pity for them. Imagine having an IQ of 80, no talents, no creativity, little education (basically all the things you cannot change). Were you beaten as a child you have your short-term memory destroyed, therefore influencing negatively your outcome in the formal-educational system and your chance of getting a job or be homeless. You can be hardworking as you can, the new regime is hell for you. If you were born in this regime you will spend your entire life in poverty. No steady job, poor income and so on.
The inequality is rising and Karl Marx was right. More inequality makes more socioeconomic troubles. The crime rate has risen, violence transferred from prison to households, we have 50 000 people who are problematic drug users. New elements, such as organized crime, appeared. The murder rate is higher (they were torturing people to death in jails, no people are being killed outside).
1 – 33 % of people are worse off in the new regime in relative terms. And we are not talking about absolute numbers.
So the main point of this article is – the human rights abuse is palpably the same as in the previous regime, the difference is just in particular spheres.
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