Slovak Socialist Republic

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From 1969 to 1990, the Slovak Socialist Republic (Slovenská socialistická republika in Slovak; abbreviated SSR) was the official name of that part of Czechoslovakia that is Slovakia today. The name was used from January 1, 1969 until March 1990.

[edit] History

After the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968 liberalisation reforms were halted and then reversed. The only exception was the federalization of the country. The former centralist state of Czechoslovakia was divided in two: the Czech Socialist Republic and Slovak Socialist Republic by the Constitutional Law of Federation of October 28, 1968, which came into effect on January 1, 1969. New national parliaments (the Czech National Council and the Slovak National Council) were created and the old parliament of Czechoslovakia was renamed the "Federal Assembly" and was divided in two chambers: the House of the People (cz:Sněmovna lidu / sk:Snemovňa ľudu) and the House of Nations (cz:Sněmovna národů / sk:Snemovňa národov). Very complicated rules of voting were put in effect.

Federalization was notional - all the real power was kept by the Communist Party. The increased number of "parliaments" conveniently provided more positions for party members though their role was just symbolic.

After the fall of socialism in Czechoslovakia, the word "socialist" was dropped in the names of the two republics, i.e. the Slovak Socialist Republic was renamed Slovak Republic (still part of Czechoslovakia).

The complicated system of parliamentary voting (there were de-facto 5 different bodies each having right of veto) was kept after the fall of socialism, complicating and delaying political decisions during radical changes in the economy.

Later, in 1993, the Slovak Republic became an independent state and officially took the name Slovakia as a short form - see dissolution of Czechoslovakia.

[edit] See also

• Slovaks in Czechoslovakia (1960-1990)
• Constitutional Law of Federation
• History of Czechoslovakia
• Czech Socialist Republic
• Czech and Slovak Federal Republic
• Slovak Republic (1939-1945)

[edit] External links

• Constitutional Law of Federation (in Czech)

v • d • e Timeline of Czechoslovak statehood
Timeline	Origins	1918–1938	World War II (1938–1945)		1945–1948	1948–1989		1989–1992	Dissolution
Bohemia Moravia Silesia	crown lands of the Austrian Empire	First Republic of Czechoslovakia (1918–1938) Full boundaries and government established by the 1920 constitution	Sudetenland annexed by Nazi Germany (1938–1945)		Third Republic of Czechoslovakia (ČSR) (1945–1948)	Czechoslovak Republic (ČSR) (1948–1960) Declared a "people's democracy" (without a formal name change) under the Ninth-of-May Constitution	Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (ČSSR) (1960–1990) Including Czech Socialist Republic & Slovak Socialist Republic (1969–1990)	Czech and Slovak Federal Republic (ČSFR) (1990–1992) Including Czech Republic & Slovak Republic	Czech Republic (since 1993)
			Second Republic of Czecho-Slovakia (ČSR) (1938–1939) Including autonomous regions of Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia	Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (1939–1945)
Slovakia	part of the Kingdom of Hungary			Slovak Republic (1939–1945)					Slovakia (since 1993)
				Southern Slovakia and Carpatho-Ukraine Awarded to  Hungary (1939–1945)
Carpathian Ruthenia					Zakarpattia Oblast of the Ukrainian SSR (1944/1946–1991)			Zakarpattia Oblast of Ukraine (since 1991)
			Czechoslovak government-in-exile