Josef Smrkovský (26 February 1911 – 15 January 1974) was a
Czechoslovak politician and a member of the
Communist Party reform wing during the 1968
Prague Spring
The Prague Spring (; ) was a period of liberalization, political liberalization and mass protest in
the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected Secretary (title), First Secre ...
.
Early life
Josef Smrkovský was born into a farmer's family in
Velenka, in the
Kingdom of Bohemia
The Kingdom of Bohemia (), sometimes referenced in English literature as the Czech Kingdom, was a History of the Czech lands in the High Middle Ages, medieval and History of the Czech lands, early modern monarchy in Central Europe. It was the pr ...
(present-day
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
). As an adult, he began working as a baker and soon became a secretary of the Red Trade Union (1930–1932) and was involved in the
communist
Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
movement. He joined the
Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( Czech and Slovak: ''Komunistická strana Československa'', KSČ) was a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. It was a member of the Com ...
(KSČ) in 1933 and went to study at a political school in the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
.
[Czech Who's Who]
Josef Smrkovský
When he returned, Smrkovský began to work as a secretary of the KSČ regional committee in
Brno
Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...
(1937–1938).
World War II
During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, Smrkovský worked for the illegal
communist resistance to
Nazi occupation and eventually became a member of the central committee.
[Biographical Timelin]
In May 1945, as a member of the
Czech National Council
The Czech National Council () was the legislative body of the Czech Republic from 1968, when it was created as a member state of Czechoslovakia, until 1992, when it was legally transformed into the Chamber of Deputies according to the Constitut ...
, he negotiated an agreement for the
Nazi
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
units in
Prague
Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
to surrender. He is notorious (and often quoted) for preventing the
US Army
The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...
from liberating Prague via
Plzeň
Plzeň (), also known in English and German as Pilsen (), is a city in the Czech Republic. It is the Statutory city (Czech Republic), fourth most populous city in the Czech Republic with about 188,000 inhabitants. It is located about west of P ...
– a claim he himself made publicly in the 1960s.
"Victorious February" and political imprisonment
Although the Czech National Council was dissolved in 1945 and its members were unpopular with Soviet authorities, Smrkovský was co-opted into the presidium of the Central Committee of the KSČ.
He worked as a chairman of the Land Property Fund, and in 1946 was elected as a member of the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...
. During the government crisis in February 1948, he served as a commander of the
People's Militias and helped support the successful
communist coup d'état in February 1948 (which later came to be known as the "Victorious February"). He then found work in the Ministry of Agriculture.
In 1951, Smrkovský was suddenly arrested and condemned to life imprisonment for cooperation with a "conspiring centre" around
Rudolf Slánský
Rudolf Slánský (31 July 1901 – 3 December 1952) was a leading Czech Communist politician. Holding the post of the party's General Secretary after World War II, he was one of the leading creators and organizers of Communist rule in Czechoslova ...
. He was released in 1955 and fully rehabilitated in 1963.
Prague Spring
After his release from prison, Smrkovský worked as a head of an agricultural cooperative (
JZD Pavlovice).
In 1963, he was assigned to work in various less important government ministries, finally becoming the Minister of Forestry and Water Works.

Smrkovský contributed to the
reform movement of 1968 in a peculiar way. Not only did he support the removal of
Antonín Novotný
Antonín Josef Novotný (; 10 December 1904 – 28 January 1975) was a Czechoslovak politician who served as the President of Czechoslovakia from 1957 to 1968, and as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia from 1953 to 1968. ...
from his post as Communist Party leader, but Smrkovský's public announcement ("What Lies Ahead") at the end of January 1968 demonstrated the real impact of
Alexander Dubček
Alexander Dubček (; 27 November 1921 – 7 November 1992) was a Slovaks, Slovak statesman who served as the First Secretary of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) (''de facto'' leader of Czech ...
's election as First Secretary. Smrkovský was designated as chairman of the National Assembly in April 1968, and as a talented speaker became (together with Dubček) one of the most popular politicians of the era. He was in favour of democratic reforms, but remained a believer in the communist ideology, and continued to support the constitutionally guaranteed
leading role of the communist party in the state.
Soviet occupation
"If someone thinks we are manoeuvred by the Soviets, they are badly off base," said Smrkovský in the summer of 1968.
His assessment proved incorrect. The
Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia
On 20–21 August 1968, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four fellow Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Republic of Bulgaria, and the Hungarian People's Republic. The ...
took only one day. Smrkovský and the other leading proponents of the reform were deported to
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
, where they were instructed to sign the so-called
Moscow Protocol (as they finally did, with the exception of
František Kriegel, who refused to sign). Upon his return, Smrkovský unsuccessfully tried to keep the
Stalinist
Stalinism (, ) is the totalitarian means of governing and Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1927 to 1953 by dictator Joseph Stalin and in Soviet satellite states between 1944 and 1953. Stalinism in ...
wing from taking control of the party. He was demoted at the request of
Gustáv Husák
Gustáv Husák ( , ; ; 10 January 1913 – 18 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak politician who served as the long-time First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia from 1969 to 1987 and the President of Czechoslovakia from 1975 ...
, suspended from KSČ,
and widely denounced. In 1971 he took part in the birthday celebration of
Bohumil Hrabal
Bohumil Hrabal (; 28 March 1914 – 3 February 1997) was a Czech Republic, Czech writer, often named among the best Czech writers of the 20th century.
Early life
Hrabal was born in Židenice (suburb of Brno) on 28 March 1914, in what was then ...
. He died in 1974, and was buried under police control.
[Antonín Benčík: Otazníky nad osudy Josefa Smrkovského - description of the funeral (pdf]
The obituary letter sent by Dubček to Smrkovský's relatives was published in Italian daily ''Giorni – Vie Nuove'' and reprinted in ''
Le Monde
(; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...
'', or ''
New York Herald Tribune
The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the '' New York Tribune'' acquired the '' New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and compet ...
''.
The public was not supposed to officially learn about Smrkovský's death. František Kriegel's funeral speech was forbidden, but 1,500 people came to honor the memory. The urn with the remains was subsequently stolen and found on a train in České Velenice. The survivors were not allowed to bury the urn in Prague. This did not happen until 1990, when the remains of Josef Smrkovský were buried at the
Olšany Cemetery
Olšany Cemeteries (, ) is the largest graveyard in Prague, Czech Republic, once laid out for as many as two million burials. The graveyard is particularly noted for its many remarkable Art Nouveau monuments.
History
The Olšany Cemeteries w ...
in Prague.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smrkovsky, Josef
1911 births
1974 deaths
People from Nymburk District
People from the Kingdom of Bohemia
Members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
Government ministers of Czechoslovakia
Members of the Constituent National Assembly of Czechoslovakia
Members of the National Assembly of Czechoslovakia (1948–1954)
Members of the National Assembly of Czechoslovakia (1964–1968)
Members of the Chamber of the People of Czechoslovakia (1969–1971)
Czech communists
Prague Spring
Burials at Olšany Cemetery
Czechoslovak Socialist Republic rehabilitations