Word: leaders
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...beneath the statue of St. Wenceslas in downtown Prague kept growing, in size and in confidence. By late last week they had swelled into the largest protests in Czechoslovakia's history: a half million chanting, shouting, horn- honking people, all bent on ousting the repressive rule of Communist Party leader Milos Jakes. They achieved their primary objective in just eight days...
...Friday, Jakes and all 13 other members of the ruling Politburo resigned en masse, admitting that they had taken insufficient measures to bring about democratic reform in the country. Within hours Jakes was replaced by Karel Urbanek, 48, party leader of the Czech republic. Urbanek played no role whatsoever in the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, the principal condition set by opposition forces for the choice of a new party leader. But his views on reform are far from clear, and some observers saw him as a - transition figure. Jubilation over Jakes' departure was further tempered...
...East Germany new party leader Egon Krenz mounted a campaign to live down his long association with his discredited predecessor, Erich Honecker, who is under investigation for suspected abuses of power. Struggling to hang on to his job as the party prepares for a seminal congress on Dec. 15, Krenz announced that he favored rescinding the country's constitutional guarantee of a "leading role" for the Communist Party, opening the possibility of multiparty rule...
Referring to Moscow's evident relief at the dramatic turn in Prague, playwright Vaclav Havel, leader of Czechoslovakia's human rights movement, said wryly, "We cannot rule out the situation that all occupiers of this country will have renounced the occupation, and only the occupied will still stand behind it." Added Havel, who is known for his absurdist dramas: "It is like something out of my own plays...
...tradition served as a goad to some, it was lack of a historical memory that helped spur on others. The generation of Czechoslovaks now coming of age did not experience the trauma of the invasion -- and the fear of provoking a new crackdown. Said Martin Mejstrik, a leader of the university strike: "Our parents are still frightened. We are also frightened sometimes, but we have less to lose...