Gustav Husak was born in
Bratislava in 1913. He trained as a lawyer and in 1933 joined the
Communist Party in Slovakia. During the Second World
War he was a member of the Czech
Resistance movement
and in 1944 was elected onto the Central Committee of the Communist
Party.
After the war Husak worked
for the Slovak Communist Party but in 1951 was imprisoned for having
dissent political views. Convicted as an opponent of Joseph
Stalin Husak was imprisoned from 1954 to 1960.
Husak eventually proved
his political loyalty and in 1963 was allowed to work for the Academy
of Sciences. Five years later he became First Secretary of the Slovak
Communist Party.
In
January 1968 the Czechoslovak Party Central Committee passed a vote
of no confidence in Antonin Novotny
and he was replaced by Alexander Dubcek
as party secretary. Husak, a Dubcek supporter, became his deputy.
During
what became known as the Prague Spring,
Dubcek announced a series of reforms. This included the abolition
of censorship and the right of citizens to criticize the government.
Newspapers began publishing revelations about corruption in high places.
This included stories about Novotny and his son. On 22nd March 1968,
Novotny resigned as president of Czechoslovakia.
He was now replaced by a Dubcek supporter, Ludvik
Svoboda.
In
April 1968 the Communist Party Central Committee published a detailed
attack on Novotny's government. This included its poor record concerning
housing, living standards and transport. It also announced a complete
change in the role of the party member. It criticized the traditional
view of members being forced to provide unconditional obedience to
party policy. Instead it declared that each member "has not only
the right, but the duty to act according to his conscience."
The
new reform programme included the creation of works councils in industry,
increased rights for trade unions to bargain on behalf of its members
and the right of farmers to form independent co-operatives.
Aware
of what happened during the Hungarian
Uprising Dubcek
announced that Czechoslovakia had no intention of changing its foreign
policy. On several occasions he made speeches where he stated that
Czechoslovakia would not leave the Warsaw
Pact or end its alliance with the Soviet
Union.
In
July 1968 the Soviet leadership announced that it had evidence that
the Federal Republic of Germany was
planning an invasion of the Sudetenland
and
asked permission to send in the Red Army
to protect Czechoslovakia. Alexander Dubcek,
aware that the Soviet forces could be used to bring an end to Prague
Spring, declined the offer.
On
21st August, 1968, Czechoslovakia was invaded by members of the Warsaw
Pact countries. In order to avoid bloodshed, the Czech government
ordered its armed forces not to resist the invasion. Alexander
Dubcek and Ludvik Svoboda were taken
to Moscow and soon afterwards they announced that after "free
comradely discussion" that Czechoslovakia would be abandoning
its reform programme.
In
April 1969 Husak was chosen to replace Dubcek as party secretary.
Over the next few years he purged the government of Dubcek supporters
and re-established Communist Party discipline. He also introduced
moderate reforms and a new federalist constitution.
In
1987 Husak opposed the Perestroika
policy of Mikhail Gorbachev. When
it became clear that the overwhelming majority of people in Czechoslovakia
supported
Gorbachev, he resigned as general secretary.
After
the collapse of communism government in November 1989, Husak was expelled
from the Communist Party.
Gustav Husak died
in 1991.
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