Miloš Jakeš

Miloš Jakeš
Miloš Jakeš in Prague on May 1, 2014
First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
In office 17 December 1987 – 24 November 1989
Preceded by	Gustáv Husák
Succeeded by	Karel Urbánek
Personal details
Born	(1922-08-12) August 12, 1922 (age 94) České Chalupy, Czechoslovakia
Nationality	Czech
Political party	Communist Party of Czechoslovakia

Miloš Jakeš (born August 12, 1922) is a retired Czech communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia from 1987 until 1989. He resigned from his position in late November 1989, amid the Velvet Revolution.

Jakeš was born in České Chalupy near České Budějovice. He grew up in a poor village family in the Šumava borderlands before working in Bata Shoes factory in Zlín between 1937 and 1950. He joined the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia soon after World War II, triggering his steady rise within the party ranks. In 1955 he began his studies at Moscow's Party's Higher College and, after obtaining his degree in 1958, his career continued without interruption, undisturbed even during the 1968 Prague Spring period. After the Soviet invasion, Jakeš became one of the main initiators of the political purges carried out in the name of "normalization".

Following the ouster of Gustáv Husák at a dramatic party meeting in December 1987, Jakeš was nominated for the position of General Secretary by the competing factions within the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. Following his rise to power, Jakeš began to promote himself as a reformer by paying lip service to glasnost and perestroika. Yet, despite the Communist Party's attempt to appease the public's demands for reform, Jakeš remained staunchly opposed to any dialogue with the growing opposition movement in the country. Even when the Velvet Revolution broke out, Jakeš refused to consider any serious talks with the opposition. Events soon overtook him, and on November 24 he resigned along with the party's entire Presidum. The Communists officially abandoned power four days later.

As General Secretary Jakeš used the firstname Miloš. During the trial it was revealed that his actual name is Milouš. It is not known why he chose to use a different name. Some speculate that the reason was Zdeněk Jirotka's well known humoristic novel Saturnin where the biggest buffoon is called Milouš.