1968: Prague Spring II

Content: One of the problems with Communism from the beginning was this insistence of the founders on a single party state. This hybrid can never produce real democracy. The absence of political competition produced a deficit of freedom, economic inefficiency, and corruption.

In April of 1968, Alexander Dubcek, leader of the Czech Communist Party, tried something different, something new, and ultimately, for Czechoslovakia, something disastrous. His program included opposition political parties, greater intra-party democracy, more autonomy for parliament, the right of assembly and association, freedom from secret police, and freedom of the press.