ABSTRACT
The relationship between the Communist party of Czechoslovakia and Czechoslovakian society was under some strain by the early months of 1988. The social contract between the Communist rulers and the ruled involved an implicit bargain wherein the government provided reasonable standards of living and security in exchange for refraining from activities threatening the stability of the regime. The sources of threat to this arrangement and to the stability of the regime arose from three major internal and external developments: the growth of public criticism, economic difficulties, and the changes in Eastern Europe. These changes were most apparent in Poland and Hungary, where the regimes most openly expressed their support for perestroika and Gorbachev. The inertia of the East German government can be gauged by Honecker's refusal in early October 1989 to heed Gorbachev's warning that governments failing to respond to popular wishes put themselves in grave danger.
