Word: husak
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...gold and white Spanish Hall of Prague's Hradcany Castle when he addressed a combined session of the Federal Assembly, the National Front and the Central Committee. All three bodies have been thoroughly purged of reformist members, sometimes on Brezhnev's personal orders. Czechoslovak Party Boss Gustav Husak dutifully thanked his visitors for their "international assistance," and Brezhnev was formally named a "hero of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic" for the "liberation" of the country...
...appointment was a clever move by Husak, who fears that outright persecution of Dubček and his liberal followers would plunge the country into deeper political and economic trouble. In Ankara, Dubček will be conveniently removed from Czechoslovakia, where he remains by far the most popular political figure. As an ambassador, Dubček will be duty-bound to carry out the orders of his political opponents in Prague. In the highly unlikely event that Dubček should decide to defect to the West, Husak could portray the act as one of political treachery...
...your Essay, how could you overlook one of the most inspirational leaders of the past year? To the people of Czechoslovakia Alexander Dubcek represented hope, and during a year's stay in that country we saw the hope fade as his official influence was replaced. But months after Husak took over leadership, one could still buy pins and pictures of Dubcek at souvenir stands in Praha. Hope may be gone but not the memories...
...before Husak addressed the Skoda workers, their boss, Plant Manager Jan Martinak, lost his job in the purge. He had been chosen before the invasion by one of the workers' councils created under Dubcek's program of partial self-management for industry. The councils are now "under analysis" by the government and are no longer active. Josef Pavel, Interior Minister under Dubcek and a main force behind the reforms, was "suspended" from the Communist Party-one step from expulsion. Ota Sik, architect of last year's economic reforms, was kicked out of the party. His fate...
From the Soviet viewpoint, the crackdown means that Czechoslovakia is finally getting "normalized." Most tellingly, the government announced that Husak and President Ludvik Svoboda will pay a state visit to Moscow this week, with all the trappings. Ever since Dubcek began his effort to "humanize" Communism, every visit by Czechoslovak officials has been designated merely as a "working" trip. Now having re-established Czechoslovakia as safe Communist territory, the Soviets might even be ready to authorize a reduction of their 85,000-man occupying force...