The Two Thousand Words

The Two Thousand Words is a manifesto written by the Czech reformist writer Ludvík Vaculík and signed on June 17, 1968, by intellectuals and artists in the midst of the Prague Spring. That year, following the election of Alexander Dubček, Czechoslovakia experienced an attempt at political liberalization that ended with the Soviet invasion in August and the subsequent normalization. The text was published on June 27 in the weekly Literární listy, now Literární noviny.

The document does not call for open revolution but asks the people to hold the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) accountable to standards of openness. Vaculík describes a nation in moral and economic decline, where citizens had stopped taking part in public affairs. He credits the "democratically minded" members of the party who had argued for change from within, and holds that new ideas gained strength because party leaders were weak and inequality and poverty were widespread. He proposes backing the progressive wing of the party, demanding transparency in economic management, electing capable and honest people, and using lawful, peaceful protest against corrupt officials. He also defends a free press. He mentions the Soviet Union only obliquely and advocates a moderate, gradual move toward equal relations.

The reaction was sharply divided. It encouraged progressives within the party but also provoked a conservative backlash that led to Vaculík's expulsion. Government leaders denounced it, and on July 15 the Soviet newspaper Pravda condemned it as a counterrevolutionary platform. Although it did not spark significant local mobilization, it weakened moderate Czechoslovak diplomats and became one of the factors contributing to the August invasion.