Marián Čalfa
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Marián Čalfa (born 7 May 1946, in
Trebišov Trebišov (; ; ) is a small industrial town in the easternmost part of Slovakia, with a population of around 25,000. The town is an administrative, economic and cultural center with machine (Vagónka) and building materials industries. History Th ...
) is a Slovak former politician, who served as prime minister of Czechoslovakia during and after the
Velvet Revolution The Velvet Revolution () or Gentle Revolution () was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations against the one-party government of the Communist Pa ...
in 1989, as well as de facto acting
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
for 19 days. He was a key figure in the smooth transfer of power from
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 ...
rule to democracy.


Career

From 1985, Čalfa worked as the head of a legislative department of the Czechoslovak federal government. In April 1988, he became the chairman of the legislative committee. On 10 December 1989, during the Velvet Revolution, he was appointed prime minister in place of discredited
Ladislav Adamec Ladislav Adamec (10 September 1926 – 14 April 2007) was a Czechoslovak communist politician. Early life Adamec was born in Moravia on 10 September 1926. From 1958 to 1961 he studied at the Political College of the Central Committee of th ...
. Although Čalfa was a member of 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), this government had a non-Communist majority. He thus headed the first cabinet in 41 years that was not dominated by the KSČ. When President
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 ...
resigned shortly after swearing in the government, Čalfa also took on most presidential duties until the election of
Václav Havel Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and dissident. Havel served as the last List of presidents of Czechoslovakia, president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until 1992, prior to the dissol ...
on 29 December. On 18 January 1990, Čalfa left the KSČ to join Public Against Violence (VPN), the Slovak counterpart of Havel's
Civic Forum The Civic Forum (, OF) was a political movement in the Czech part of Czechoslovakia, established during the Velvet Revolution in 1989. The corresponding movement in Slovakia was called Public Against Violence ( – VPN). The Civic Forum's purpo ...
, thus becoming the first prime minister since before
World War II 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 ...
who was not a Communist or a
fellow traveler A fellow traveller (also fellow traveler) is a person who is intellectually sympathetic to the ideology of a political organization, and who co-operates in the organization's politics, without being a formal member. In the early history of the Sov ...
. The first postwar prime minister,
Social Democrat Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...
Zdeněk Fierlinger, had been openly pro-Communist, and later led his party into a merger with the Communists. Čalfa helped lead Havel's movement to a sweeping victory in the 1990 elections. When VPN dissolved in April 1991, he followed most of the party into the Civic Democratic Union (ODU-VPN), of which he became a leading member. Both cabinets headed by Čalfa succeeded in introducing significant political and economic reforms, facilitating the transition from Communist rule to a multi-party system and a market-oriented economy. Čalfa received strong support from other political figures, including both President Václav Havel and Finance Minister
Václav Klaus Václav Klaus (; born 19 June 1941) is a Czech economist and politician who served as the second president of the Czech Republic from 2003 to 2013. From July 1992 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in January 1993, he served as the second ...
. Čalfa resigned from the Federal Government after the defeat of the Public Against Violence in the elections of 1992. He was succeeded by caretaker Jan Stráský, whose major task was to oversee the
Dissolution of Czechoslovakia The dissolution of Czechoslovakia, which took effect on December 31, 1992, was the Self-determination, self-determined Partition (politics), partition of the federal republic of Fifth Czechoslovak Republic, Czechoslovakia into the independent ...
. In that year, Čalfa took up Czech citizenship and started working as a
lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...
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 ...
, heading the law firm Čalfa, Bartošík a Partneři. During his tenure as prime minister, Čalfa was occasionally a target of criticism for his Communist past. Some cited this as proof that the Velvet Revolution was unfinished or had even been "stolen" by people belonging to the past ''
nomenklatura The ''nomenklatura'' (; from , system of names) were a category of people within the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries who held various key administrative positions in the bureaucracy, running all spheres of those countries' activity: ...
''. Presently, historians consider him a "
power behind the throne The phrase "power behind the throne" refers to a person or group that is understood to ''de facto'' wield the power of a high-ranking official (originally, and hence the name, a monarch), or whose support must be maintained to continue in office. ...
," who greatly contributed to the smoothness and speed of the Velvet Revolution and the election of Václav Havel as president. He used his negotiation skills in critical moments against his fellow Communist Party members and talked them into compromises that were sometimes more radical than the representatives of the Civic Forum had expected.


References


External links


Leaders of Czechoslovakia
- link to photo
Members of the first Čalfa cabinet 1989-90

Members of the second Čalfa cabinet 1990-92

Čalfa, Bartošík a Partneři
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calfa, Marian 1946 births Living people People from Trebišov Prime ministers of Czechoslovakia Members of the Chamber of the Nations of Czechoslovakia (1990–1992) People of the Velvet Revolution Communist Party of Czechoslovakia politicians Public Against Violence politicians Civic Democratic Union (Slovakia) politicians Communist Party of Slovakia (1939) politicians Charles University alumni Acting presidents of Czechoslovakia