Strange unity: Gustav Husák and political power struggles in the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia using as an example the presidential issue (1969-1975)
Abstract
The paper analyzes the Czechoslovak political history of the first half of the 1970s using the example of the presidential issue with emphasis on the role of Gustav Husák. The text describes differences between the various actors in the leadership of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, and especially the division among the "healthy forces" (block of left communists formed during Prague Spring), which broke up into several smaller groups.
Under Soviet pressure, Vasil Biľak resigned his hopes of becoming the head of the Communist Party and accepted the position of the second man in the Party. Soviet leadership considered the social stability of Czechoslovakia to be reliant on the stability of party leadership and the cooperation of Gustav Husák with Vasil Biľak.
Ludvík Svoboda's health condition did not allow him to perform fully in his role as president , he personally made no effort to hold on to the position. Nevertheless, in the interest of political stability, he was confirmed in office in March 1973.
It was a temporary solution. The hypothesis that Svoboda was eventually forced out of his post against his will in May 1975 was not confirmed.
He was in no condition to make this decision consciously. Husák's effort to assume the presidency continually clashed with the question of accumulation of functions as well as the nationalist factor.
His centrist politics and support of Moscow eventually helped him create a "strange unity" in the party leadership and, in May 1975, Husák ultimately became the first and last president of Czechoslovakia with Slovak nationality. In the eyes of the Czechs, Husák was a Slovak, who significantly participated in the normalization process after Prague Spring and for the Slovak nation he became a renegade - a "Prague Slovak."