Urbanek, Karel

Born in a Czech peasant family from a village in Uherske Hradiste, Zlín Region . He graduated from the Valtice College of Railway Transport. In 1962 - 1973 he worked on the railways of Moravia ^[1] . He was a train dispatcher, then the head of the station in his native village of Boykovice . In 1962 he joined the ruling Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (HRC).

Since 1974, Karel Urbanek has held various posts in the South Moravian organization of the HRC. He graduated from the Higher Political School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the correspondence Higher Economic School. In 1984 - Secretary of the City Committee of the HRC in Brno . Since 1986 - member of the Central Committee of the CPC. In November 1988, he was co-opted to the highest party body - the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Czechoslovak Republic ^[2] . He headed the newly created Committee on Party Work in the Czech Socialist Republic (Czechoslovakia). In June 1989, he replaced former Deputy Prime Minister Josef Korczak as a deputy of the Czech National Council (Czechoslovak Legislature) ^[3] .

On November 17, 1989, a student demonstration in Prague marked the beginning of the anti-communist Velvet Revolution . Mass protests forced the leadership of the HRC to make serious concessions. A group of influential figures oriented towards Soviet Perestroika led by Lubomir Strougal and Ladislav Adamets insisted on major personnel changes.

On November 24, an emergency plenum of the Central Committee of the HRC removed Milos Jakes from the post of Secretary General. Karel Urbanek ^[4] , not very famous in the country and not having a particularly odious reputation, was approved at this post ^[5] . Such a figure in the new conditions seemed optimal. At the same time, Urbanek’s candidacy was supported by Gustav Husak , who was still hoping to maintain his presidency and needed a managed secretary general ^[6] .

Karel Urbanek was an opponent of the suppression of opposition demonstrations by the police, party militia and, especially, army units (to which the conservative- Stalinist elements of the CPC like Miroslav Stepan were inclined) ^[7] . In his programmatic speeches, Urbanek acknowledged the mistakes made by the party and announced the intention of the HRC to continue along the path of the Prague Spring . It is characteristic that a significant part of Urbanek’s first television appearance as Secretary General on November 25, 1989 was addressed to the creative intelligentsia - writers, artists, playwrights ^[8] .

In early December 1989, Karel Urbanek participated in negotiations with the Civil Forum . Expressing the opinion of most observers, Posev magazine characterized Urbanek as "a generally harmless person." However, in a rapidly changing situation, the new general secretary already looked like a figure too connected with the previous leadership ^[9] . Moreover, his calls for development within the framework of socialism sounded like hopelessly outdated dogmatism.

Vaclav Havel expressed confidence that Urbanek is a temporary figure and will quickly give way to the younger, more energetic and ambitious Vasil Mogorite ^[10] . And so it happened on December 20, 1989 ^[11] .

Thus, Karel Urbanek, the senior leader of the HRC, spent less than a month. However, during this period, key decisions were made to dismantle the monopoly power of the Communist Party of the Czech Republic - including the abolition of the article of the Constitution of Czechoslovakia on the leading role of the Communist Party.

After the resignation, Karel Urbanek, as a former railwayman, was offered the work of a wagon trailer ^[12] . He rejected this offer, was unemployed for a long time, then went into business. He returned to Brno, where he maintained contacts in influential circles and acquired a stake in an agricultural company ^[13] .

Urbanek departed from active politics, but is a member of the Communist Party of the Czech Republic and Moravia (established in March 1990 on the basis of Czech organizations of the HRC). Occasionally performs at party events. Remembering 1989, he claims that he did not seek to occupy the highest party position, and considered Strougal's candidacy more suitable. He considers the police to disperse the student demonstration on November 17 as the main mistake of the HRC. Positioned as a supporter of democratic socialism in the spirit of the Prague Spring ^[14] .