A Few More Answers

In autumn 2009, Lubomír Štrougal's memoir Memories and Reflections was published, in which the author described his life and his work in the top echelons of Czechoslovak politics.

The book was a great success, and the author was showered with questions. He was contacted by people who remembered the era and by those who did not, asking him to explain certain issues more precisely, to take off his diplomatic gloves when assessing specific individuals, and to say what he truly thought then – and what he thinks today. This feedback prompted the author to look back on his political career once more and to answer questions concerning the work of the Czechoslovak government, especially during the so-called normalisation period, the key events of that time, and the personalities he met and worked with, as well as to reflect on the successes and failures in the building of socialism. The answers to numerous questions gradually expanded into other topics, as L. Štrougal wanted not only to satisfy his readers but also to comment on subjects outside his political career – so here, for example, is his extensive reflection on the context and background of the revolutionary events of 1989, and the book culminates in a very topical contemplation on the state of the Czech Republic.

The former prime minister's views were recorded by the publicist Dr. Zdeněk Jirků and supplemented with five retrospective interviews, in which members of “his government” – L. Gerle, F. Langer, V. Ehrenberger, M. Toman, but also a representative of the non-political sphere, F. Čuba, the chairman of the famous Slušovice Agrokombinát – comment on the political and, above all, economic events of the “Štrougal era”. Their recapitulation of successes and failures vividly illustrates the social and economic development of Czechoslovakia during the time when Dr. Lubomír Štrougal was its prime minister.

JUDr. Lubomír Štrougal

Born on 19 October 1924 in Veselí nad Lužnicí. A graduate of the Třeboň grammar school. During the war, he was subjected to forced labour. After the liberation, he graduated from the Faculty of Law at Charles University. From 1949, he worked in the apparatus of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ). In 1957, he became the lead secretary of the South Bohemian Regional Committee of the KSČ. From 1959–1961, he was the Minister of Agriculture, from 1961–1965 the Minister of the Interior, and from 1965–1968 a secretary of the Central Committee of the KSČ. In 1968, he became Deputy Prime Minister, and from 1970, Prime Minister of the federal government of the ČSSR. In 1988, he resigned from his state and party functions by his own decision. He spends his retirement mainly at his cottage in the Jizera Mountains. He recounts his life and political career in the book Memories and Reflections (published 2009).