The `Prague Spring' was but the climax of a long, intensive struggle waged within the Czechoslovak party and society since 1956.

This book studies in detail the reform regime of Alexander Dubcek from the assumption of power in the Party by reform-minded communists in January 1968 until Gustav Husik replaced Dubcek as First Secretary. The reform regime survived only eight months of genuine rule but it persisted for a further eight months after the Soviet invasion in an agonizing struggle for survival. One of the most impressive but little-known developments in the era of reform rule was the attempt by the Czechoslovaks to perpetuate the 'Prague Spring', to salvage something of the programme for reform, and maintain public faith in the face of Soviet occupation. Dr Golan's book (a sequel to The Czechoslovak Reform Movement, Cambridge 1971) examines the nature and effects of reform rule in nearly every area of society: the economy, the trade unions and social organizations, national and religious minorities, the cultural world, the Party, government, the legal and security systems, Slovakia, and the field of foreign Policy.