Although in March 1987 Husak nominally committed Czechoslovakia to follow the program of perestroika, he nevertheless cautioned the party in October 1987 not to "hasten solutions too quickly" so as to "minimize the risks that could occur." December 1, 1987
On December 17, 1987, Husak, who was one month away from his seventieth birthday, had resigned as head of the KSC. He retained, however, his post of president of Czechoslovakia and his full membership on the Presidium of the KSC. Husak's resignation was caused by failing health and by increasing ambitions of the party members Miloš Jakeš, Ladislav Adamec and Vasil Biľak, which became apparent since the spring of 1987. Milos Jakes, who replaced Husak as first secretary of the KSC, was sixty-five years of age at the time of his assumption of the most powerful post in the country. Other than the age difference and the fact that Jakes is a Czech whereas Husak is a Slovak, there was little to distinguish the new leader from his predecessor. In his first pronouncements as the head of the KSC, Jakes assured the KSC's Central Committee that he would continue the cautious and moderate path of reform set forth by Husak. He called for a large-scale introduction of new technology as the means to "fundamentally increase the efficiency of the Czechoslovak economy." But he also warned that there would be no "retreat from the fundamental principles of socialism," adding that the party had learned well the "lesson from 1968-69 and know[s] where such a retreat leads." At the same time, Jakes acknowledged Soviet pressure for reform by pledging to pursue economic restructuring, stating that "just as Soviet Communists, we too must observe the principle that more democracy means more socialism."
The Czechoslovak version of perestroika, which had slowly taken shape during the last months of Husak's rule under the guidance of the reformist and pro-Gorbachev Czechoslovak leader Premier Lubomir Strougal, called for a modest decentralization of state economic administration but postponed any concrete action until the end of the decade. The slow pace of the Czechoslovak reform movement was an irritant to the Soviet leadership. Economically, however, it was surely partly due to the fact that on the one hand there were no serious economic problems at the standard-of-living level in Czechoslovakia as opposed to e. g. Poland, the Soviet Union and Hungary, and on the other hand the catastrophic initial effects of the reforms in the Soviet Union and Hungary could already be seen in the late 80s. A corroboration of this might be the fact that Gustáv Husák, before his resignation in 1989 (see Velvet Revolution), told to the newly appointed anti-Communist government they can expect very difficult years to come. The dissatisfaction of many ordinary Czechs and Slovaks was increasing, due to the rigid political situation, lack of freedom, but mainly because they could see on foreign TV channels in some regions (German in frontier Bohemia, Austrian in southwestern Slovakia (incl. the capital Bratislava)), and in the late 80s in all regions due to a gradual spread of videorecorders, the way of living in Western Europe and in the USA.
In December 1987, some 500, 000 Catholics of Czechoslovakia have signed a petition for religious freedom. It was the biggest petition of the opposition forces in central Europe.
The first anti-Communist demonstration took place on March 25, 1988. An unauthorized peaceful gathering of some 2, 000 (other sources 10, 000) Catholics in the Slovak capital Bratislava, organized by the Slovak Catholic dissent and demanding religious freedom and civic rights, was violently dispersed by the police force. Some 100 participants were arrested. Leading Communist functionaries (e. g. the Slovak prime minister, minister of the interior, minister of culture) were observing the whole operation from the windows of a nearby hotel (Carlton).
Demonstrations also occured on October 28 1988 (the anniversary of the establishment of Czechoslovakia in 1918) in Prague, Bratislava and some other towns. Interestingly, the establishment of the „capitalist“ Czechoslovakia on October 28 only became a public holiday in September 1988 in the Communist Czechoslovakia. Further demonstrations followed in January 1989 (death of Jan Palach on January 16 1969), on August 21 1989 (Soviet intervention in 1968) and on October 28 1989 (see above).
The anti-Communist revolution started on November 16 1989 in Bratislava, with a demonstration of Slovak university students for democracy, and continued with the well-known similar demonstration of Czech students in Prague on November 17. See Velvet Revolution.
Following the Velvet revolution, Czechoslovakia's parliament (the Federal Assembly) on November 25, 1992 voted to split the country into the Czech Republic and Slovakia starting on January 1, 1993.
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