The End of the Prague Spring – Soviet Propaganda

Broadside: Pražane! Zastav provokatéra! [Resident of Prague! Stop the provocateur!].

Single leaf, printed to recto, measuring 29.3 × 20 cm. Old crease marks; still very good.

Soviet broadside in less-than-ideal Czech, issued during the days after the arrival of Russian troops on tanks on August 21, 1968, which heralded the onset of the so-called Normalization period, presided over by Gustáv Husák, and marked the end of the political and cultural liberalization in the mid to late 1960s known as the Prague Spring. Nearly 150 Czech citizens were killed during the invasion, and many more wounded during protests. The response of the public was one of largely non-violent, but active resistance: soldiers were misdirected, street signs were removed, food and water were denied the occupants, and anti-Soviet posters and slogans appeared overnight. The present poster condemns "provocateurs" and calls on Czechoslovak citizens to be "reasonable" and resist anti-Soviet activism: "Resident of Prague! The provocateur is Your enemy. Remember history and you will know where internal and foreign provocateurs have led the country... The provocateur calls those occupiers, who liberated You from fascism."

As of February 2023, we cannot trace any copies of this broadside.

Book ID: 52719

Price: $150.00