Velvet Revolution

In November and December 1989 Czechoslovak citizens toppled communist rule in weeks of peaceful protest led by Vaclav Havel and Civic Forum.

Overview

The 17 November police crackdown on a student march, staged on the fiftieth anniversary of a Nazi-era student martyrdom, ignited national outrage. Actors went on strike, and hundreds of thousands filled Letna Plain in Prague chanting for the government to resign. Havel Civic Forum negotiated with a collapsing regime that purged its own leadership, and on 29 December the Federal Assembly unanimously elected Havel president. The communist party resigned its leading role, free elections followed in June 1990, and the command economy began conversion. The velvet label honored a revolution of near-zero casualties, and the country later divided in the similarly named velvet divorce of 1993.