Gustav Husak - a pragmatic politician or repressive leader?

History of the life of the Czechoslovakian politician GustavThe gander is instructive enough. His rule was famous for the so-called "normalization", that is, the elimination of the consequences of the reforms of the "Prague Spring". Gustav Husak was a Slovak by nationality and the son of an unemployed. Life brought him to the top of power. He became President of Socialist Czechoslovakia, virtually the undisputed leader of the Communist Party of the country. Being a reformer in his youth, he began to repress the disaffected in the sixties of the last century. He himself resigned when he realized that his time was over.

Early biography: Gustav Husak in his youth

The future Czechoslovak politician was born onthe territory of Austria-Hungary, in Poshonykhidegkut (now Dubravka), January 10, 1913. At the age of 16 he became a member of a communist youth group. This happened during his studies at the Bratislava Gymnasium. And when he entered the law faculty of the University of Comenius, he already became a member of the Communist Party. There, he quickly made a career, moving forward each time to a higher level. In 1938 the party was banned. When the Second World War broke out, Gustav Husak, on the one hand, often engaged in illegal communist activities, for which he was repeatedly arrested by representatives of the fascist government Josef Tiso, and on the other - was friends with the leader of the Slovak ultra-right Alexander Mah. Some sources claim that this is why he was released after several months of detention. In 1944 he became one of the leaders of the Slovak National Uprising against the Nazis and their government.

Gustav Husak after the war

A young promising politician immediately begancareer of a statesman and party functionary. From 1946 to 1950, he actually played the role of prime minister and, thus, in 1948 participated in the liquidation of the Democratic Party of Slovakia, which in the elections in 1946 gained 62 percent of the vote. But in 1950 he became a victim of Stalin's purges and during the reign of Clement Gottwald was convicted of nationalist views and sentenced to life imprisonment, spent six years in prison Leopoldov. Being a convinced communist, he considered such reprisals against him a misunderstanding and constantly wrote tearful letters about this to the party leadership. It is interesting that the then leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Alexander Novotny refused to pardon him, telling his comrades that "you still do not know what he is capable of if he comes to power."

Career of the state leader

During de-Stalinization, Gusak Gustav wasrehabilitated. His sentence was canceled and reinstated in the party. This happened in 1963. Since then, the politician has become a big opponent of Novotny and supported the Slovak reformer Alexander Dubcek. In 1968, during the Prague Spring, he became Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia, responsible for the implementation of reforms. When the Soviet Union expressed a sharp discontent with the policy of the new leadership, Husak Gustav was one of the first who called for caution. He became skeptical about the possibilities of the "Prague Spring", and during the military intervention in Czechoslovakia, the Warsaw Pact countries became a participant in the negotiations between Dubcek and Brezhnev. Suddenly, Husak led the part of the members of the CPC, who began to call for a "rollback" of reforms. In one of his speeches of the day he asked a rhetorical question about where Dubcek's supporters are going to look for friends who would help the country cope with Soviet troops. Since then, Husak has been nicknamed a pragmatic politician.

Ruler of Czechoslovakia

With the support of the USSR, the politician quickly replaced Dubcekas leader of the HRC. He not only turned back the reform process, but also expelled all liberal-minded people from the party. In 1975 Gusak Gustav was elected President of Czechoslovakia. For twenty years of his rule the country remained one of the most faithful to the policy of the Soviet Union. In the first years of his tenure, Gusak tried to appease the angry people of the country, raising economic prosperity and avoiding mass and open repression. At the same time, human rights in Czechoslovakia were more limited than, for example, in Yugoslavia in the days of Broz Tito, and in the field of culture, its policy can even be compared to what was in Romania under Nicolae Ceausescu. Under the slogans of stability, the country's secret services constantly arrested dissidents, such as Charter 77 members, as well as trade union leaders who tried to organize strikes.

Gusak in the era of "perestroika"

The older, the more conservative became the HeroSoviet Union Gusak Gustav (this award he received in 1983). However, in the seventies of the twentieth century he returned to the party those who were expelled after the "Prague Spring", although they were obliged to publicly repent of "mistakes". In the 80's. In the Politburo, which he headed, the struggle began over whether to carry out reforms like "Gorbachev's". Prime Minister Lubomyr Strougal spoke for the Czechoslovak "perestroika". The gander, however, maintained neutrality, but in April 1987 he proclaimed a program of reforms, which were to begin in 1991.

End of career

In 1988, the Czechoslovak Communists demandedfrom his leader to give power to the younger generation. Being a pragmatist, Gusak decided not to go too far, agreed and resigned, leaving the post of President of Czechoslovakia. Similarly, he did the same during the "velvet revolution" of 1989. He simply instructed Mariana Chalfi to manage the government of "people's trust" and handed him power on December 10 of the same year. This was the formal end of the regime he had created. In a desperate attempt to rehabilitate, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia expelled him from his ranks in 1990, but this did not help her in the elections. The president of the country was the dissident Vaclav Havel. Gusak adopted Catholicism and in 1991, almost all forgotten, died.

Until now, historians argue about what kind of moralresponsibility is borne by this politician for two decades of his reign in Czechoslovakia. Did he control the state apparatus, or was it a plaything in the hands of events and other people? In the last years of his life, Gusak justified himself that he simply wanted to mitigate the inevitable consequences of the Soviet invasion of the country and tried to resist the "hawks" inside his party. In truth, he was in fact constantly seeking the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Czechoslovakia. Perhaps this influenced his policy, because he constantly tried to create the impression that everything is "normal."