Milouš Jakeš (born August 12, 1922 in České Chalupy near České Budějovice) was General Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia from 1987 until 1989. He resigned from his position in late November 1989, during the so-called "Velvet Revolution".
Early life
Jakeš grew up in a poor village family in the
Šumava borderlands before working in
Bata Shoes factory in
Zlín between 1937 and 1950. He joined the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia soon after
World War II, triggering his steady rise within the party ranks. In 1955 he began his studies at Moscow's Party's Higher College and, after obtaining his degree in 1958, his career continued without interruption, undisturbed even during the 1968
Prague Spring period. After the
Soviet invasion, Jakeš became one of the main initiators of the political
purges carried out in the name of "
normalization".
Party leader
Following the ouster of
Gustáv Husák at a dramatic party meeting in December 1987, Jakeš was nominated for the position of General Secretary by the various competing factions within the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. Following his rise to power, Jakeš began to promote himself as a reformer by verbally advocating the concept of "
perestroika." Yet, despite the Communist Party's attempt to appease the public's demand for reform, Jakeš remained staunchly opposed to any dialogue with the growing opposition movement in the country. However, he would eventually resign along with other members of the Politburo in November, 1989, when the Communist Party was ousted from government during the "Velvet Revolution."
As General Secretary Jakeš used the firstname Miloš. During the trial it was revealed that his actual name is Milouš. It is not known why he chose to use a different name. Some speculate that the reason was Zdeněk Jirotka's well known humoristic novel Saturnin where the biggest buffoon is called Milouš.
Target of jokes
Jakeš was a target of many jokes and much humiliation due to his clumsy verbal style. He gained unwanted fame through his famous speech addressed to local party workers in Červený Hrádek close to
Plzeň. When speaking about the necessity of
Gorbachev-inspired "perestroika", he presented himself and the party as a
lonely fence-post being allegedly left alone to overcome the hardships. On the same occasion he mistook the word
broiler (type of
chicken) for
boiler and spoke in an embarrassingly familiar way about some official Czech pop music singers when pointing to their allegedly super-high incomes (
Nobody of us earns so much!). His speech had been recorded by a journalist from the Czech television who managed to secretly make a copy of the tape. The record was frequently transmitted among the people in the summer of 1989 and afterwards. It was also
remixed and released as a dance-song.
The widespread feeling of moral and intellectual decay among Czechoslovakia's ruling elite was confirmed by this speech. It is not surprising that the slogan Jakeše do koše (hey Jakeš! to the trash!) became one of the rallying cries of the "Velvet Revolution."
Later life
In 2003 Jakeš and two other party notables stood trial for their role in the events of August 1968. Allegedly, it was at that time that Jakeš took part in a failed attempt to establish a pro-Soviet "workers-peasants' government" serving the interests of the occupiers. Facing a possible lengthy prison sentence, Jakeš was nevertheless acquitted of the charge of
treason. He lives in
Prague as an ordinary pensioner and used to be a frequent guest at the present-day Communists' rallies. He wrote a book
Dva roky generálním tajemníkem (
Two years as the General Secretary) where he compared the forty-year-long Communist rule of
Czechoslovakia to the
famous Hussite period in the nation's history.
References
External links
Parts of the speech in Červený Hrádek (audio)
Projev Miloše Jakeše na Červeném Hrádku v Archivu ČT24 — parts of the video recording of the speech in Červený Hrádek
Category:1922 births
Category:Living people
Category:People from Český Krumlov District
Category:Czech communists
Category:Leaders of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
Category:People acquitted of treason
