Dubcek, << DOOB chehk, >> Alexander (1921-1992), was a political leader in Czechoslovakia. He served as first secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and 1969. Dubcek was the first Slovak ever to hold this top party position. Dubcek began a program of liberal reforms that gave the Czech people increased freedom. Russian party leaders viewed these reforms as a threat to Soviet interests, and Russian troops invaded and occupied Czechoslovakia in August 1968. The brief period of increased freedom came to be known as the “Prague spring.” Dubcek was replaced as party leader in April 1969 and formally expelled from the party in 1970.
Dubcek was born in Uhrovec, near Topolcany, on Nov. 27, 1921. His family moved to Russia in 1925, and Dubcek lived there until 1938. He became a member of the Czechoslovak Communist Party in 1939. During World War II (1939-1945), Dubcek worked in the resistance movement that fought the German forces occupying Czechoslovakia. After the war, he began to rise in the party ranks. In 1962, Dubcek was elected to the Presidium of the Czechoslovak Communist Party. In 1963, he became first secretary of the Slovak Communist Party.
In the late 1980’s, Dubcek joined other reformers in attempts to free Czechoslovakia from one-party Communist rule. The reforms succeeded. Dubcek was elected chairman of Czechoslovakia’s legislature, the Federal Assembly, in 1989 and again in 1990. Dubcek died on Nov. 7, 1992, as a result of injuries suffered in an automobile accident.
See also Czechoslovakia (The 1960’s) ; Husak, Gustav .
