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07/05/2009: "CKS LIMO (1956)"
"The CKS government liked to claim that martial law really didn't bother people. Probably most people were used to it. But then some groups of people were really under a lot of psychological pressure, especially in the early days when a person could disappear and no one would dare to ask why.
All government offices and military and schools had "political dossier offices" attached to the personnel offices, with two employees just in charge of watching political actions among the personnel. They may have had quotas for reporting a few people a year.
The security agencies up to the mid-1970's would extort businessmen and others, making up political cases and taking money to let people off light. They could confiscate the property of political prisoners, as well.
Relatives and friends were recruited (sometimes with threats) to spy on political suspects, as in Eastern Europe before.
For the lightest side of it, (private) parties were supposedly forbidden, because you were not allowed to have a gathering without approval. If there were a lot of shoes at the door, or loud music, the police would come to investigate.
The police also came once a year at night to check who was living in each house, and if it matched with the household registry at the police station. Supposedly, guests of even one night were supposed to register. Also, periodically the police would sweep through hotels and arrest everyone there who was not with a legally married partner. They were still doing that in the 1990's.
People with political questions in their dossiers would not get a government job, even teaching or medical work.
There were still struggles over than in the early 1990's. In the early days, students who got accepted at schools abroad had to go through a political training camp before they could leave the country - those with records did not get permission to study abroad".
Martial law was suppose to be a preventative measure against communists. There was a lot to gain in having a communist threat against your country back in the 1960's. Now the communists are our friends. Someone got it wrong.
Bob Dylan summed part of it up with his classic "With God on Our Side"Here's an extract:
Came to an end
We forgave the Germans
And then we were friends
Though they murdered six million
In the ovens they fried
The Germans now too
Have God on their side.
I've learned to hate Russians
All through my whole life
If another war comes
It's them we must fight
To hate them and fear them
To run and to hide
And accept it all bravely
With God on my side.
But now we got weapons
Of the chemical dust
If fire them we're forced to
Then fire them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God's on your side.
