Summary: in 1968 the invasion of the Warsaw Pact troops put an end to the liberal reforms of Alexander Dubček. A year later the Normalization period started with Gustav Husák.
Normalization is the name commonly given to the period 1969 to about 1987, sometimes referred only to the smaller period from 1969 to 1971. Dubček was in power until only April 1969, when Gustav Husák was named first secretary. The Normalization was meant to be the restoration of continuity with the pre-reform, a “temporary stationing”. Although this period was characterized by the political repression and the return to ideological conformity. All of the reformists in the Czechoslovak leadership were invited to leave the political activities and 54 of the 115 members of the KSC Central Committee were substituted. The reformists from regional, district, and local party branches were banned from the Czech and Slovak lands. The KSC party membership was significantly reduced to half size. The heads of the social organizations were demitted, as well as directors of publishing houses and film studios. Censorship was very strict living in alert and it was started a campaign of militant atheism.
Husák had defined very specifics objectives for the period of the normalization whish were the restoration of firm party rule and the reestablishment of Czechoslovakia’s status as a committed member of the socialist bloc. Therefore the plane demanded five stages: strength his own leadership (also by removing the reformers from important positions); adapt or replace the laws enacted by the reformists; restore centralized control over the economy; give back the power to police authorities; and develop Czechoslovakia’s bonds with other socialist nations.
In May 1971, the already party chief Husák was by then able to report to the Fourteenth Party Congress that the process of normalization had been completed satisfactorily and that Czechoslovakia was ready to proceed toward higher forms of socialism.
Therefore from 1971 to 1987 started the second period of Normalization whish already had a different goal, this time to keep the status quo of Czechoslovakia was the most important to Husák. During this second stage of the Normalization Husák had gain power in the social international scene and thus he had great freedom to rule Czechoslovakia. The repression of any kind of threat to Husák himself or to the regime was now worse then ever. Besides the arrestments and imprisonment of intellectuals, artistes and religious activists, the people opposing to the regime were punished by job loss demotion, denial of employment, denial of educational opportunities, housing restrictions and refusal to grant travel requests. The los of personal freedom was also a characteristic of the Husák’s regime, this measure was more to control the considerable consumers gains. Husák once again achieved his objective the status quo had been preserved. Although with the new leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev the changes on the political course was more then significant transforming the logical of the Normalization and its leader Husák.
This period showed to be a destruction of public property at high position. Alcoholism levels raised considerably to the point to alarmed officials, increased; absenteeism and declining worker discipline affected productivity. Emigration, one heavy expression of alienation, surpassed 100,000 throughout the 70s.