Josef Skála (born 27 May 1952) is a Czech communist politician, journalist, and university lecturer. He served as vice-chairman of the

Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia The Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia ( cs, Komunistická strana Čech a Moravy, KSČM) is a communist party in the Czech Republic. As of 2021, KSČM has a membership of 28,715, and is a member party of The Left in the European Parliament ...

from 2009 to 2010 and from 2016 to 2018. Since 2018, he has been a signatory of the left-wing Restart platform. Since October 2021, he is one of the leaders of the Kudy z krize ("Where to go from the crisis") platform. He was also a prospective candidate for the

in the

2023 Czech presidential election Presidential elections will be held in the Czech Republic on 13 and 14 January 2023. Incumbent president Miloš Zeman is not eligible to run due to the two-term limit. As was the case in the last two presidential elections, the vote will be d ...

, but withdrew as he failed to gather enough signatures.

Life

Josef Skála joined the Communist Party at the age of 18. He studied journalism at

Charles University ) , image_name = Carolinum_Logo.svg , image_size = 200px , established = , type = Public, Ancient , budget = 8.9 billion CZK , rector = Milena Králíčková , faculty = 4,057 , administrative_staff = 4,026 , students = 51,438 , undergr ...

in Prague, graduating in 1975. In his memoirs from the 1970s, he wrote that "I welcomed the international aid of the USSR and other

socialist countries A socialist state, socialist republic, or socialist country, sometimes referred to as a workers' state or workers' republic, is a sovereign state constitutionally dedicated to the establishment of socialism. The term ''communist state'' is oft ...

in August 1968 with enthusiasm and relief. I welcomed the Soviet troops at dawn on August 21 at the

Ruzyně Airport Ruzyně is a district of Prague city, part of Prague 6. It has been a part of Prague since 1960. Václav Havel Airport is located in this district. Czech Airlines has its head office on the grounds of the airport. Travel Service Airlines and its ...

... I tried to help the Soviet soldiers even in seemingly insignificant matters of their daily life here. Soon after the entry of the troops, immediately after the parents managed to establish contact, I started working as a writer of articles, reports and notes for the Vltava radio station." In 1978, he worked as an employee of the city committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in Prague (MV KSČ Prague). In 1980, he defended his candidate's dissertation "Social Consciousness and Contemporary Ideological Struggle" at the University of Political Affairs of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (Department of Marxism–Leninism). His supervisor was the

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

philosopher . He then lectured on philosophy at Charles University and held senior positions in the Socialist Youth Union. In 1986, at a meeting of the Central Committee of the SSM, he was elected to the position of permanent representative of the Czechoslovak Headquarters of SSM undergraduates in the International Union of Students, replacing

Miroslav Štěpán Miroslav Štěpán (5 August 1945 – 23 March 2014) was a Czechoslovak politician. He was a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. He was the Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee in Prague and member of the Central Committee ...

. He held the position until the dissolution of the SSM in 1990. Under he was a member of the presidency of the Central Committee of the SSM, and the presidency of the

World Peace Council The World Peace Council (WPC) is an international organization with the self-described goals of advocating for universal disarmament, sovereignty and independence and peaceful co-existence, and campaigns against imperialism, weapons of mass d ...

, an international organization of left-wing youth.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skála, Josef 1952 births Living people Charles University alumni Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia presidential candidates Candidates in the 2023 Czech presidential election Czech communists StB Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia politicians Communist Party of Czechoslovakia members Czechoslovak communists