1969. Change of leadership of the Communist Party

50 years ago, on April 17, 1969, more than six months after the invasion of Soviet troops in Czechoslovakia, the leader of the Prague Spring, Alexander Dubchek, was removed from the post of first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and replaced by completely loyal to Moscow Gustav Gusak. The disgraced reformer was sent by ambassador to Turkey.

In 1970, Dubchek was expelled from the party, deprived of the status of a deputy of the federal assembly and sent to work in the forestry of Slovakia. At the same time, Dubchek, unlike other figures of Prague Spring, was not officially accused of “revisionism” and “opportunism”.