Word: lasts
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...last Tuesday, Vaclav Havel stepped from a silver Volkswagen Golf and, trailed by eight fellow members of the Civic Forum, proceeded to a second-floor conference room in the cream stucco building. Prime Minister Ladislav Adamec opened the talks with a seven-minute statement outlining the government's concessions. In return, Adamec said, "please terminate your strikes. This is my wish and my plea." Havel was in no mood to be conciliatory. For the next 18 minutes, he listed the Civic Forum's demands, all of which, he said, must...
...Prague was racing through a revolution so quickly that even the participants could barely keep track of developments. The opposition never stopped to bask in celebration. Since its inception three weeks ago, the Civic Forum has emerged as the most single-minded and uncompromising opposition force in Eastern Europe. Last week, as the Communist leaders tried to mollify their countrymen, the Civic Forum kept up the pressure, meeting each new concession with more demands and deadlines...
Havel and company had been emboldened by the response to their call for a two-hour strike last Monday. At the stroke of noon, millions of workers and students took to the streets, shutting down hundreds of enterprises, from huge steelworks to the local Fiat service agency. Not only was the astounding turnout a sharp rebuke to the country's leaders, but it was a warning that a few cosmetic changes within the Politburo would not satisfy the demands for a more democratic system...
...bridge between the totalitarian system and true pluralistic democracy." But popular heroes are already emerging. One is Valtr Komarek, 59, director of the official Institute of Forecasting of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. An academic with a magnetic speaking style, Komarek seized the nation's imagination last weekend with a nine-minute televised address that detailed Communist incompetence in economic management. By the Monday strike, posters had already been printed reading KOMAREK INTO THE GOVERNMENT...
...Under attack not only from citizens but from rank-and-file members as well, the party seems to be desperately reshuffling its players in hopes of appeasing the public. Adamec must strike a careful balance between party hard-liners and the Civic Forum's relentless pressure for swift action. Last week several Communist legislators apologized for failing to respond sooner to the popular mood. Even ousted party leader Milos Jakes supported the abolition of the party's constitutional right to lead the country...