Socialism with a human face

Socialism with a human face (Czech: socialismus s lidskou tváří, Slovak: socializmus s ľudskou tvárou) is a slogan referring to the reformist and democratic socialist programme of Alexander Dubček and his colleagues, agreed at the Presidium of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in April 1968,^[1] after he became chairman of the KSČ in January 1968.

The first author of this slogan was Radovan Richta, and it was a process of moderate democratization, economic modernization, and political liberalization that sought to build an advanced and modern socialist society that valued democratic Czechoslovak tradition^[2] while still allowing the Communist Party to continue governing.

Socialism with a human face was vital in initiating the Prague Spring, a period of national democratization and economic decentralization. It was, however, rolled back by the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia on August 21, 1968.