Uprising in Plzeň (1953)

During May 31 - June 2, 1953 workers in the city of Plzeň, Czechoslovakia revolted in violent protest against currency reform and politics of Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. Estimated number of casualties is around 70 - 80.

Background

After the communist party took over power in 1948 it started to concentrate production on heavy industry, especially in armament production. The agricultural sector was forcibly collectivised. These policies led to shortages of customer goods, especially food, accompanied by inflation (28%). The government's reaction was to increase prices on state-supplied goods at the start of 1953. This led to growing disaffection among people, and to short lived strikes.

The next step to be implemented was a currency reform - which basically amounted to a devaluation of savings. All savings were devalued in ratio 50:1, all salaries in ratio 5:1 (small groups of people were exempted). All obligations of the state were abolished. Rationing of food on subsidized prices was stopped and work quotas increased. The reform was announced on May 31, 1953, at 22:00, after months of rumors and denials by the state representants.

Uprising in Plzeň

News of the reform spread quickly among night shift workers in a plant of Škoda Works in Plzeň, who then went on strike. The next day, in the morning, they decided to march to the city centre. The first incident occurred, where a guard was killed. Around noon the mob attacked the city hall, and started to build barricades in the streets, and set fire to the building of State Security (StB) and destroyed symbols of the communist party. Posters and slogans asking for the end of single party rule appeared. Some of the local communists and uniformed policemen had joined or were forced to join the rebellion, and 2,000 students had joined too. The nearby Bory Prison was attacked and its prisoners released. Secret service <sic> members and their informers were lynched.

No central leadership of the uprising was established, all actions were chaotic and uncoordinated.

The government sent two police battalions (8,000 men) and an army unit (2,500 men, 80 tanks) to suppress the rebellion. During street fights about 40 rebels were killed, the insurgents managed to destroy 9 tanks and armored personnel carriers with petrol bombs. During the afternoon, June 2, the last insurgents barricaded themselves in factories and gave up. Over 2,000 people were taken prisoners immediately and martial law was imposed. Leaders of the uprising were promptly tried and sentenced to lengthy prison terms, later one person was executed. Communists and militiamen who participated in the revolt were treated especially harshly.

Other cities

Strikes had started in 19 large industrial plants in Bohemia and Moravia, in industrial cities as Kladno and Ostrava. These strikes didn't turn violent and ended within a week. Estimated, 360,000 workers went on strike, up to 250,000 of them had demonstrated in the streets.

Aftermath

The leaders of the Communist party decided to present the event as provoked by agents of imperialism and this stayed as an official explanation until 1989. The party was ordered to purge members suspected of "social-democratism" or low loyalty. The army had stated that any future uprising would get suppressed immediately.

On June 8 the measures instituted on May 31 were recalled, except for the currency reform; also the prices were reduced somewhat.

This and other uprisings in Central Europe forced leaders of Soviet Union to exercise greater control over these countries.

No further violent uprising occurred in Czechoslovakia until the Warsaw Pact invasion of 1968. The Velvet Revolution (1989) that ended power of communist party was bloodless. Detailed knowledge of the 1953 events in Plzeň was and still is relatively low among Czech public. Shaken trust in stability of currency lasted for decades.

External links

• Description of the event within context of early post-Stalin succession struggle (scroll to "The Plzen Rebellion" chapter)
• Description of the event by Czech emigré historian (in German, in the Die Zeit daily) and shortened translation in Czech