Editing Alexander Dubček (section)

== Exile in Bratislava ==

After his expulsion from the party, Dubček became a "nonperson" whose very mention was banned. In 1988 he told [[Voice of America]] that, "what he had been through could not be described as 'life' in the normal sense of the word, but rather a matter of survival."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Battiata |first=Mary |date=11 May 1990 |title=ALEXANDER DUBCEK, CAUGHT IN THE PAST |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1990/05/11/alexander-dubcek-caught-in-the-past/db7df180-7841-4b05-9845-ca22a0f6a707/}}</ref>

While the first news reports during the normalization period, 1970–74, show a man who actively avoided attention and was shifting uncertainly between insecure employment, telling a West German photographer: "Please, sir. Please, sir, if you like to help me come not to me." School girls giggled, saying all they were told at school was that he had done something bad.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1971-04-30 |title=Dubcek Said to Manage A Garage in Hometown |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/04/30/archives/dubcek-said-to-manage-a-garage-in-hometown.html |access-date=2023-03-20 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Other reports saw him as a man living securely but anonymously with his wife and children in a comfortable villa in a nice neighborhood in [[Bratislava]]. This seems to have been the official fable, as no evidence suggests this being a wholly accurate picture. When in 1975, authorities turned to prosecute his wife, Anna, she presented evidence of the insecure position of the entire family and personal friends denied proper medical care, her sons denied apartments, the armed guards posted at their home that made them fear its seizure, and her own nervous condition and health problems from constant surveillance and persecution. An entire politics arose around the false portrayal of the stability, security, and privilege of the Dubčeks' "private" life, in part to make plausible that Dubček was at liberty to be heavily involved in counter-revolutionary activities. Dubček was described as variously a spy-master, or when proven not to be or when misrepresented by either the regime or others, as a self-absorbed and simple-minded marionette of powerful external forces living a self-indulgent private life insulated from political participation and understanding.<ref name=":22" /> Complaints, such as that Dubček's sons were given high marks and admitted to university were described by one writer as, "self-righteous vengefulness of the Soviet sycophants" within the regime.<ref name=":24">{{Cite book |last=Christopher Andrew |url=http://archive.org/details/TheSwordAndTheShield-TheMitrokhinArchiveAndTheSecretHistoryOfTheKGB |title=The Sword and the Shield - The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB |date=1999}}</ref>

Dubček would say he first broke his silence by publishing letters he smuggled out of the country after he was denied the right to bury his mother in daylight in 1974, for fear it would provoke an anti-government demonstration.<ref name=":4" /> Dubček's public letters to other parties and to the National Assembly were part of a larger international 'campaign' by purged members gradually being joined by many high-profile figures outside Czechoslovakia and other domestic activists. This campaign was spurred by international publication of the "memoirs" of [[Josef Smrkovský]], as well as the sometimes described 'hysterical' reaction of Husak to Dubček's both real and invented transgressions and writings. This ultimately gave Dubček a greater voice through anti-regime allies and provoked Dubček further in self-preservation.<ref name=":22" /> When in September 1975, as Husak intensified repressions following his consolidation of leadership positions, Dubček reacted to interrogation by refusing to deny the information being leaked or protesting the false use of his name, counter-threatening to act "decisively" if "repressive measures" were taken against him.<ref name=":24" />

The former leader of the Prague Spring in fact had much in common with Eurocommunist tendencies. There were common challenges in the countries of the east and west caught between the superpowers, but seeking to both heal the division of Europe and gain autonomy from the influence of great power politics. Eurocommunism sought to unify the European labor movement and participate fully in parliamentary and internal democracy, decentralize, and steer an independent course. Not only did this bring them into direct conflict with the Soviet Union during the crackdown against the Solidarity trade union, but they had been in open disagreement with Moscow over the invasion of Czechoslovakia.<ref name=":1" /> In 1968, the clash was less public but just as clear. In a restricted meeting of the [[Italian Communist Party]], [[Enrico Berlinguer]] told members to prepare their base for a clash with the Soviet leadership over the invasion.<ref>{{Cite web |title=For Enrico Berlinguer, Communism Meant the Fullest Spread of Democracy |url=https://jacobin.com/2022/05/enrico-berlinguer-italian-communist-party-pci |access-date=2023-03-22 |website=jacobin.com}}</ref>

Dubček had a long history of contact with not only the Italian Communist Party but with its newspaper ''l'Unita'' and its journalists. A highly favorable article about him in ''[[L'Unità]]'', on 29 June 1970, reporting his expulsion from the party, portrayed him as a [[Social democracy|social democratic]] communist seeking to change the ruling style of the party. He struck a chord with Italian audiences and remained a popular symbol of shared ideals.<ref name=":8">{{Cite journal |last=Blehova |first=Beata Katrebova |date=2019-01-01 |title=Alexander Dubček a talianski komunisti, 1968 - 1989 |url=https://www.academia.edu/42294486 |journal=Pamäť národa}}</ref> Under constant surveillance and separated from his domestic contacts, it was in many ways easier for him to make contact with western communist media and parties than with his own party and people. He saw this use of intermediaries as the natural course of action, stating in a letter to the Italian Communist Party:

"Since the matter of the political path in the Communist Party has become international, it cannot remain internal at this time. After the expulsion of almost 600,000 communists from the party and their civil and social disenfranchisement to our laws and the Constitution of Czechoslovakia, the crisis in the party deepened even more. A gradual starting point can only come with the help of other communist parties of socialist countries and other communist parties, especially European ones...Helping other communist parties cannot be understood as interfering in the internal affairs of another communist party, because it has long since become an international matter."<ref>29 March 1975, to the Presidency of the Italian Communist Party. In: Laluha, I., Uher, J., Autrata, O., Babnič, V., eds.
Ways to November
, p. 153.</ref>

Dubček's relationship with Italian communists would lead to his first direct public interview, which prodded the [[University of Bologna]] into offering him an honorary doctorate as a man who could bridge the differences between the east and west. His trip to Italy in 1988, and the public recognition he gained from both the timing and prestige of an award he shared with [[Nelson Mandela]], marked his return to high politics. This was at a time when perestroika was finally breaking through to the Soviet bloc nations outside the Soviet Union.<ref name=":1" /> This led directly to his partial rehabilitation as well as a return to public life. Immediately after receiving the award, Dubček was congratulated by Rudolf Slansky Jr., son of [[Rudolf Slánský]], who pointed to his importance as, "not only a symbol of the Prague Spring, but also a symbol of inevitable changes in Czechoslovakia and a real political alternative."<ref>{{Bulleted list | Meletti, Jenner: Il "doktore" commuove Bologna ["The Doctor" moves Bologna]. l'Unità, year 65, No. 256, 14/11/1988, p. 3; Dubček e Natta ricor-dano insieme quei giorni della Primavera [Dubček and Natta remember the days of Prague Spring]. l'Unità, year 65, No. 256, 14/11/1988, p. 3; | Berti-Netto, Gabriel: "Un aiuto per cambiare la Cecoslovacchia". Intervista a Rudolf Slánsky, esponente di spisso del opposizione ["We need change in Czechoslovakia." Interview with Rudolf Slánsky, representative of the opposition].}}</ref>

In 1989, he was awarded the annual [[Sakharov Prize]] in its second year of existence.<ref>[http://www.europarl.europa.eu/parliament/archive/staticDisplay.do?language=EN&id=1003 "Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought: List of prize winners"], [[European Parliament]] webpage.</ref>