This leaflet, written in Russian, displays in a simple manner several of the main ambitions of the reformers during the Prague Spring. In addition to calling on Warsaw Pact troops to leave, the writer asked for sovereignty and neutrality, which meant a withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact and an attempt to create a more humane socialism without fear of retribution from Moscow. As you can see, the Warsaw pact countries are represented by knives stabbing into the figurative body of Czechoslovakia, labeled Svoboda, which translates as "freedom" but was also the name of the widely popular president of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.
Question to Consider
Who might the leaflet's intended audience have included?
Source:
"The Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia: August 1968," the Labadie Collection of Social Protest Material, exhibit at the University of Michigan's Special Collections Library. Documents selected by Brian Rosenblum and Jonathan Bolton and translated by Jonathan Bolton.
