APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110008-5
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Husak delivering closing statement at 14th Party Congress
had he been forced to repeat his endorsement of the invited invasion thesis but, by stressing the collective nature of party authority, the congress had underscored the fact that he had paid for his preeminence by making fundamental concessions to his conservative colleagues. Moreover, the one change made in the membership of the Party Presidium—the replacement of Dubcek-era holdover Evzen Erban by hardliner Karel Hoffman—served notice to all concerned that the conservative wing of the party would continue to exercise a strong voice in the policymaking process.
Husak was subsequently able to redress the leadership balance to his advantage by easing Alois Indra out of his post as Party Secretary and into the less powerful job of Chairman of the National Assembly. But although Husak's position in late 1973 appeared stronger, with regard to both the Soviets and his internal opposition, than at any time since he assumed power, his room for maneuver was still very limited.
The short- and long-term problems that Husak has encountered in the economic field have been inextricably intertwined with his political woes. He was painfully aware that the inherent weaknesses of a command economy had played a major role in Novotny's downfall, yet in moving to overcome the chaos generated by Dubcek's embryonic reforms, he had no choice other than to reimpose a highly centralized system patterned on the Soviet modal. From the outset, however, he wisely avoided one major error of the Novotny era by preserving the Dubcek regime's emphasis on building new housing, producing more consumer goods, and upgrading the Czechoslovak diet.
Husak's first order of business was to strengthen his regime's control over the planning and direction of the economy. As in the political field, he moved slowly at first to avoid unduly alarming the populace. In mid-1969, however, continued inflationary pressure forced his hand, and Czechoslovakia entered a prolonged period of economic retrenchment and reorganization. Retail prices were increased and then frozen. New investment projects were curtailed. Planned wage increases were halted. A wide range of controls, including obligatory goals for output and trade,
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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110008-5
