Slovak Socialist Republic

Part of Czechoslovakia between 1969 and 1990

Slovak Socialist Republic (1969–90)
Slovenská socialistická republika

Slovak Republic (1990–92)

Slovenská republika

Federal subject of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (1969–90) and Czech and Slovak Federative Republic (1990–92)

1969–1992

Flag (1969–1992)

Coat of arms (1969–1990)

Slovak Socialist Republic within the ČSSR

Anthem

Nad Tatrou sa blýska

Capital

Bratislava

• Type

Socialist republic (1968–89)
Parliamentary republic (1989–92)

Legislature

Slovak National Council

History

• Constitutional Law of Federation

1 January 1969

• Velvet Revolution

17 November – 29 December 1989

• Independence

31 December 1992

Preceded by

Succeeded by

Czechoslovak Socialist Republic

Slovakia

The Slovak Socialist Republic (Slovak: Slovenská socialistická republika, SSR) was from 1969 to 1990 a republic within the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, when previously unitary Czechoslovak state changed into a federation. The name was used from 1 January 1969 until November 1989. The Slovak Republic (Slovak: Slovenská republika, SR) was from 1990 to 1992 a republic within the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic, that is now the independent Slovakia.

History

After the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968 liberalisation reforms were halted and then reversed. The only significant 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 28 October 1968, which came into effect on 1 January 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 (Czech: Sněmovna lidu, Slovak: Snemovňa ľudu) and the House of Nations (Czech: Sněmovna národů, Slovak: 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, since April 1990 of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic).

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.

In November 1992, the federal parliament voted to dissolve the country officially on 31 December 1992. As of 1 January 1993, the Slovak Republic became an independent state named Slovakia.

External links

Constitutional Law of Federation (in Czech)

Timeline of Czechoslovak statehood

	Pre-1918	1918–1938	1938–1945		1945–1948	1948–1989		1989–1992	1993–
Bohemia Moravia Silesia	Austrian Empire	First Republic^a	Sudetenland^b		Third Republic	Fourth Republic^e 1948–1960	Czechoslovak Socialist Republic^f 1960–1990	Czech and Slovak Federative Republic 1990–1992	Czech Republic
			Second Republic^c 1938–1939	Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia 1939–1945
Slovakia	Kingdom of Hungary			Slovak Republic 1939–1945					Slovakia
				Southern Slovakia and Carpathian Ukraine^d
Subcarpathian Ruthenia					Zakarpattia Oblast^g 1944 / 1946 – 1991			Zakarpattia Oblast^h 1991–present
	Austria-Hungary		Czechoslovak government-in-exile
^a ČSR; boundaries and government established by the 1920 constitution. ^b Annexed by Nazi Germany. ^c ČSR; included the autonomous regions of Slovakia and Subcarpathian Ruthenia. ^d Annexed by Hungary (1939–1945).			^e ČSR; declared a "people's democracy" (without a formal name change) under the Ninth-of-May Constitution following the 1948 coup. ^f ČSSR; from 1969, after the Prague Spring, consisted of the Czech Socialist Republic (ČSR) and Slovak Socialist Republic (SSR). ^g Oblast of the Ukrainian SSR. ^h Oblast of Ukraine.