Word: ek
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...scene was poignantly reminiscent of happier days in Czechoslovakia. As Alexander Dubček walked toward a waiting jetliner in Prague last week, a mechanic and an air hostess rushed forward to request his autograph-just as throngs of admirers used to do in early months of 1968, when Dubček's democratic reforms brought a Springtime of Freedom to the country. But this time, as another hostess and Mrs. Dubček wept openly, the former party leader turned the autograph seekers away. Then the man who had sought in vain to liberalize Czechoslovak Communism helped...
...ek paid a political price for his departure, as well as a human one. Before he left, he wrote a letter announcing his resignation from the Central Committee of the Communist Party, his last important political post. Two days later, the 135-member committee opened its first meeting in four months with the announcement that "at the proposal of the Presidium" Dubček had quit. His removal was only the first of many. During the conference at Hradčany Castle atop Prague's highest hill, the committee ousted from office the last remaining moderates from...
Winning and Losing. The three-day Central Committee meeting was regarded by Czechoslovaks as a test of strength. It pitted Gustav Husák, who nine months ago replaced Dubček as party first secretary, against his archrival, Lubomir Strougal, the deputy party boss and leader of the ultraconservatives. Apparently, Strougal not only retained his No. 2 post in the party hierarchy but also replaced the wily Oldfich Cernik as Premier. Cernik's undisputed managerial skills and political agility had enabled him to serve as Deputy Premier in the Stalinist regime of Antonin Novotný and as Premier...
Overall, Husák's position appears to have been considerably weakened. The purge affected many "realists" who, like Husák, initially supported Dubček but quickly adjusted to the Soviet occupation. Ultras, who recently took control of the party organization in Prague, moved into positions of power in the trade-union movement and perhaps even the Interior Ministry, which controls the secret police. Josef Korčák, who became premier of the Czech lands, threatened a crackdown on Czechoslovakia's associations of artists and writers. There was also the threat of new purges among...