95th birthday celebrations for Alexander Dubček

The Slovak-born politician Alexander Dubček, who was briefly the chairman of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, would be 95 years old on Sunday. Born on November 27, 1921 in the village of Uhrovec (Trenčín Region), Dubček was a reformist within the Communist Party; something which went against the wishes of leaders in Moscow who feared the break-up of the Warsaw Pact. Shortly after his election as the head of the Czechoslovak Communist Party on January 5, 1968, Dubček surprised his fellow leaders, announcing that he wanted the totalitarian aspects of the party to be softened, creating "communism with a human face". Thus, the Prague Spring was born, and with it, popular uprising. Despite regular reassurances from Dubček to Moscow that Czechoslovakia would not leave the Warsaw Pact, Soviet troops (with forces from other members of the Warsaw Pact) invaded Czechoslovakia on August 20 and 21, with Dubček being arrested. His attempts at reforms were halted and a period of "Normalisation" and censorship was imposed. Dubček was released after talks in Moscow, which he assured had been "comradely" although he quickly abandoned his reform programme. After a series of position changes, he was expelled from the Communist Party in 1970 and sent to work in a lumber yard. Dubček remains a popular figure in the Czech and Slovak Republics as a symbol of liberation. He died on November 7, 1992 as a result of injuries sustained in a car accident at the age of 70.