The Ninth-of-May-Constitution was superficially similar in many respects to the 1920 Constitution and contained a mixture of liberal democratic and Communist elements. In contrast, the 1960 Constitution was a fully Communist document. It borrowed heavily from the 1936 Soviet Constitution. This was reflected in the change of the country's official name from the Czechoslovak Republic to Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. Due to President and party boss Antonín Novotný's devotion to Nikita Khrushchev and oneupmanship among other Eastern Bloc countries, Czechoslovakia was declared the first country after "our great ally, the fraternal Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" which achieved socialism. Thus the constitution's preamble said that "socialism has won in our country," proclaiming that the last obstacle to socialism had been removed by "the determined action of the working people in February 1948." It went on to say that as a result of "finishing the socialist construction, we are changing over to building an advanced socialist society and gathering strength for the transition to communism." Infamous Article 4 stipulated that "the leading force in the society and the state is the vanguard of the working class, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia." The 1960 Constitution severely limited the autonomy granted to Slovakia. This provision was Novotný's idea. The executive branch of the Slovak government was abolished and its duties assigned to the Presidium of the Slovak National Council, thus combining executive and legislative functions into a single body. The legislative National Assembly was given authority to overrule decisions of the Slovak National Council, and central government agencies took over the administration of the major organs of Slovak local government. The constitution was first amended by constitutional laws 110/1967, 28/1968, the Constitutional Law of Federation 143/1968 and accompanying 144/1968 on ethnic minorities, and further by constitutional laws 57/1969, 155/1969, 43/1971, 50/1975, 62/1978, 135/1989 and several times during 1990–1992.
Structure
The Constitution consisted of a preamble and 112 articles divided into 9 chapters. Chapter 1, entitled "The Social Order," declares Czechoslovakia to be "socialist state, founded on the firm bond of workers, peasants and intelligentsia, in whose lead is the working class"; it "belongs to the world socialist system; strives for friendly relations to all nations and securing lasting peace in the whole world". The paragraph whereby it was "a unitary State of two fraternal nations possessing equal rights – the Czechs and the Slovaks" was changed into "federal state" and moved into the Law of Federation in 1968. Article 2 states that "all power in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic shall belong to the working people." State power will be exercised "by the working people through representative bodies which are elected by, surveiled by, and accountable to them." Principles of the "socialist economic system, in which the means of production are socialised and the entire national economy directed by plan" and the rules of democratic centralism, are also laid out. "Socialist ownership" takes two forms: state ownership especially of natural resources, the means of industrial production, public transportation and communications, banks and insurance companies, mass media and health, educational, and scientific facilities; and cooperative ownership, which is the property of people's cooperatives. Small private enterprises "based on personal labour and excluding exploitation of others' workforce" are permitted within limits formally; this in practice concerned agriculture. Personal ownership of consumer goods, "family homes, and savings earned through labour" is guaranteed, as is inheritance of such property. Chapter 2 describes the rights and duties of citizens. Equal rights regardless of nationality, race, or sex are guaranteed. Education is free and compulsory to the age of fifteen ; citizens of Hungarian, Ukrainian, and Polish ethnicity are ensured "all opportunities and means for education in their mother tongue". "All citizens have the right of work and compensation for work done according to its amount, quality and social import", "all workers" have the right of medical care and material security in old age and in case of disability. "In accordance with the interests of the working people, all citizens are guaranteed" freedom of speech and press. Also guaranteed is the "right to profess any religious faith or to be without religious conviction, and to practice religious acts unless this contravenes the law"; conscientious objection to "civic duty set by law" based on religious conviction is specifically prohibited while citizens are bound to serve in the armed forces. Chapters 3 to 6 deal with the National Assembly, President, government and Slovak National Council respectively and were abolished and replaced by the Constitutional Law of Federation in 1968. Chapter 7 concerns National Committees, 8 judiciary system and 9 general and concluding provisions.
