Government structure of Communist Czechoslovakia
History Politics Economy Industry Agriculture Foreign trade Transport Education Demographics Government structure Health and social welfare Mass media Resource base Religion Society The government of Czechoslovakia under Marxism–Leninism was in theory a dictatorship of the proletariat.
In the 1970s and 1980s the government structure was based on the amended 1960 Constitution of Czechoslovakia, which defined the country as the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.
In practice, as was the case in all other Communist countries, its function was largely confined to rubber-stamping decisions already made by the KSC.
In practice, the president was first selected by the KSC leadership and then "officially" voted into office by the Federal Assembly.
As head of state, the president represented the nation in diplomatic affairs, received and appointed envoys, convened the Federal Assembly, and signed laws into force.
He was commander in chief of the armed forces and was empowered to appoint or remove the premier, other members of the executive, and other high civilian and military officials.
Federal ministers were important administrators, but they lacked the political weight of their counterparts in most non-communist countries.
In August 1986 there were thirteen federal ministries: agriculture and food; communication; electrotechnical industry; finance; foreign affairs; foreign trade; fuels and power; general engineering; interior; labor and social affairs; metallurgy and heavy engineering; national defense; and transportation.
Supreme Court judges were elected by the Federal Assembly to serve ten-year terms of office.
Prosecutors were responsible for supervising the observance of laws and legal regulations by public bodies and individual citizens.
The administrative units of Czechoslovakia's two republics were, in each instance, a unicameral legislative body called the national council, an executive branch known as the government, and a judiciary consisting of a supreme court and an office of the prosecutor.
The 1968 constitutional amendments that created the two republican or, "national," governmental units initiated a truly federal system of government, which flourished briefly.
Since that time, revisions of and deviations from the 1968 amendments have made the two national governments clearly subordinate to the federal governmental structure in Prague.
Both the Czech and the Slovak governments had ministers of agriculture and food, construction, culture, development and technology, education, finance, forestry and water resources, health, industry, interior, justice, labor and social affairs, and trade.
Below the level of the republics (the national administrations), in the 1970s and 1980s, Communist Czechoslovakia was divided into regions kraje, districts okresy, and communities (i. e. towns, villages etc.).
The principal organs of government at these levels, known as national committees, functioned in accordance with the principle of the so-called democratic centralism.
The system of national committees was established at the close of World War II by the then-existing provisional government and was used by the communists as a means of consolidating and extending their control.
The council, composed of a chairman, one or more deputy chairmen, a secretary, and an unspecified number of members, acted as the coordinating and controlling body of the national committee.
To expedite the work of the national committee, the council established commissions and other subcommittees and could issue decrees and ordinances within its area of jurisdiction.
The Constitution charged the national committees with the responsibility of organizing and directing the economic, cultural, health, and social services in their areas.
Polling booths are rarely used, and voting was often carried out collectively by the work force of each enterprise or by other groups of the population.
