That
same year saw the introduction of Dubcek’s programme of reforms, which
included freedom of speech. Leonid Brezhnev was concerned about the
new liberalism in Czechoslovakia and voiced his concern that there were
American agents in the country. Dubcek assured the Soviets that his
reform programme would not endanger Socialism, but they would not accept
what he had to say and, in May 1968, units of the Soviet Army assembled
on the Czech border.
By July there were 1,000 tanks and 75,000 troops gathered outside the
country and Dubcek met with Soviet leaders on 29th July for talks at
Cierna-Nad-Tisou. He once again assured them of Czechoslovakia’s loyalty
to their Soviet ally but on 20th August the Soviet Army, with some token
Warsaw Pact forces, invaded the country. Dubcek was to say, “How could
they do this to me? My whole life has been devoted to co-operation with
the Soviet Union. This is my own profound personal tragedy.” (map
- Czechoslovakia in 1969)
He was then taken to Moscow and forced to abandon his policies On his
return he was compelled to resign as Party Secretary in April and was
then made Speaker of the Federal Assembly. In 1970 he was expelled from
the Communist Party and soon shuttled off to a minor administrative
post in Bratislava, where he spent a total of 20 years as a ‘non person’,
harassed by the secret police. He was to say that his spirits remained
strong due to the support of his wife and three sons.
He returned to the political limelight in 1988, supporting the dissident
playwright Vaclav Haval in November 1989 during what was to be called
‘The Velvet Revolution.’ Dubcek was to witness the fall of Communism
in Czechoslovakia
but, although he became the Chairman of the Federal Parliament, he was
politically irrelevant.
In September 1992 he was involved in a serious road accident and the
injuries he sustained eventually led to his death on 7th November 1992.
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by
Bill Harry
