Dubcek Wins Key Czech Post After 2 Decades

Alexander Dubcek, the champion of the Prague Spring reforms, triumphantly returned to power Thursday as the Speaker of Parliament after two decades in forced obscurity.

“This is a moral satisfaction to the hundreds of thousands of people who have upheld the ideals” of political pluralism and individual freedom, Dubcek told lawmakers after he was unanimously elected by the 269 deputies present.

The televised vote by the Communist-dominated 350-member Federal Assembly for a man ousted and banished by authorities would have been unimaginable just two months ago.

Dubcek’s political renaissance is just the latest in a series of historic political victories for Czechoslovakia’s pro-democracy movement. Since mid-November, it has ousted the hard-line Communist leadership and installed a reform government dominated by non-Communists.

Czechoslovakia’s changes have come amid democratic reforms in Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria and Romania this year.

Today, the Parliament is to meet at Prague’s Hradcany Castle to elect playwright and opposition leader Vaclav Havel as president. Havel is to be inaugurated immediately after the vote.

Deputies voted Thursday to amend the presidential oath to be taken by Havel to eliminate the pledge of allegiance to socialism.

In his acceptance speech before Parliament, Dubcek praised the peaceful revolution as a continuation of the reforms that began in 1968 and were crushed by a Soviet-led invasion.

“The deep changes in society . . . have resulted in my return to responsible work in the highest legislative body in the land,” Dubcek said. “The autumn of 1989 developed the ideals of the Prague Spring of 1968 and inspires our nation today toward new creative actions.”

After the Soviet-led invasion, Dubcek was ousted as Communist Party chief, expelled from the party and sent to work as a forestry manager in Bratislava where he was kept under police surveillance. Although renowned abroad, he was excluded from the state-controlled media in Czechoslovakia.

He recaptured the spotlight Nov. 24, speaking to 250,000 pro-democracy demonstrators on Prague’s Wenceslas Square.

Next to Havel, Dubcek is the second most powerful symbol of reform in Czechoslovakia and is the favorite son in his native Slovakia.

Dubcek’s role in the new government was decided during intense negotiations between the opposition, representatives of the Communist Party and members of smaller parties and political groups. The talks also produced a list of new deputies to replace 23 hard-line Communists who resigned.

The government is to serve until elections are held next year, possibly in July.

Parliament voted Thursday to amend the constitution to allow the appointment of the new deputies, including Dubcek.

Only one of the 23 new deputies is a Communist Party member. The others are members of smaller parties or are independent, although Communist Party members will continue to hold the majority until free elections.

Communist Party leaders Ladislav Adamec and Vasil Mohorita sent a message of congratulations to Dubcek and said the ideals of 1968 are a “source of political inspiration for the party’s new policies of democratic socialism.”

The Prague daily Vecerni Praha reported Thursday the first arrest of a major Communist Party figure since the revolution.

Miroslav Stepan, ousted Prague Communist Party boss, was being held in custody after his arrest Dec. 23, the newspaper reported.

“Stepan was indicted for preparing the criminal act of abuse of power of a public official,” the newspaper reported.