Miroslav Sládek
Encyclopedia
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
far-right populist politician. During 1990s he was leader of a political party peaking at 8% of election votes.
Early years
Sládek grew up in the town Kostelec nad OrlicíKostelec nad Orlicí
Kostelec nad Orlicí is a town in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic located about 7 km southwest of Rychnov nad Kněžnou and 29 km east-southeast of Hradec Králové. It has 6,220 inhabitants .-External links:*...
. He studied at the Charles University in Prague
Charles University in Prague
Charles University in Prague is the oldest and largest university in the Czech Republic. Founded in 1348, it was the first university in Central Europe and is also considered the earliest German university...
, specialising on information and library systems. Until 1989 (fall of communist party from power
Velvet Revolution
The Velvet Revolution or Gentle Revolution was a non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia that took place from November 17 – December 29, 1989...
) he worked in area of informatics. Critics claim that his work was to implement censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
policies of the government.
Republican party
In 1990 Sládek founded a new political party, Sdružení pro republiku - Republikánska strana Československa, SPR-RSČ(Coalition for Republic - Republican Party of Czechoslovakia). The name referred to the powerful pre-war
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Agrarian Party (officially named Republican party) and probably to other parties in other countries. Sládek became party chairman in 1990 (and was elected again in 1991, 1992, 1994 and 1998).
Sládek was the symbol and the most active member of the party visiting several towns or villages per day with political speeches. A poster with his photo was printed in huge quantities and used, without any change, during several elections. He had made all the major decisions, set politics of the party and expelled those not loyal enough to the leader.
SPR-RSČ was populistic protest party. The programme pointed to real problems as massive corruption during voucher privatisation or high criminality among Roma (Gypsies) and promised to solve them with "iron fist". The party used the resentments and fear of Sudeten Germans
Sudeten Germans
- Importance of Sudeten Germans :Czechoslovakia was inhabited by over 3 million ethnic Germans, comprising about 23 percent of the population of the republic and about 29.5% of Bohemia and Moravia....
, expelled in 1945, and painted itself as the only protector of the nation. Stopping the immigration, support of death penalty and aversion to the EU
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
were other points of the programme.
In Czechoslovak parliamentary election, 1992 the party managed to obtain several seats; in June 1992 Sládek became member of Federal Assembly of Czechoslovakia
Federal Assembly of Czechoslovakia
The Federal Assembly was the name of Czechoslovakia's federal parliament from January 1, 1969 to the dissolution of Czechoslovakia on December 31, 1992...
, until the end of 1992 when Czechoslovakia and the federal parliament were dissolved.
Publications
From 1990 to 1995 Sládek was editor-in-chief of the party weekly Republika. Editors of the weekly were several times charged with attempt to incite violence and hatred.Between 1992 and 1998 Sládek published collections of his speeches in five books. These books are now freely available online.
Election success
The populist and negative campaigning paid off: during Czech legislative election, 1996Czech legislative election, 1996
Parliamentary elections were held in the Czech Republic on 31 May and 1 June 1996, the first after independence. The result was a victory for the Civic Democratic Party, which won 68 of the 200 seats. Voter turnout was 76.3%.-Results:...
SPR-RSČ obtained 8% of votes and 18 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic
The Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of the Czech Republic. The seat of the Chamber of Deputies is situated in palaces in Malá Strana, Prague....
. The party was, however, ignored by other politicians and was unable to carry out its promises. Instead, it often turned to the obstruction of legislative process.
The media in the Czech Republic were focused against the party. The pressure, dictatorial manners of Sládek and several scandals pushed many party members, including some of those elected into the parliament, out of SPR-RSČ. Several "truly republican" parties emerged and quickly disappeared.
Candidate for president
During presidentPresident of the Czech Republic
The President of the Czech Republic is the head of state of the Czech Republic. Unlike his counterparts in Austria and Hungary, who are generally considered figureheads, the Czech President has a considerable role in political affairs...
elections (by the parliament) in 1992, 1993 and 1998 Sládek was one of candidates, receiving marginal number of votes. Few days before 1998 election Sládek got arrested and stayed in prison during the voting. His missing vote allowed the re-election of Václav Havel
Václav Havel
Václav Havel is a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician. He was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia and the first President of the Czech Republic . He has written over twenty plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally...
(who obtained just the necessary number of votes).
The decline
Inability of SPR-RSČ to change anything on the political scene, internal problems of the party and populistic campaign of Miloš ZemanMiloš Zeman
Miloš Zeman is a well-known Czech politician. He was a member and leader of the Czech Social Democratic Party, former speaker of the chamber of deputies from 1996 until 1998, and the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic from 1998 until 2002. He was a frequent rival of Václav Klaus...
, leader of social democracy
Czech Social Democratic Party
The Czech Social Democratic Party is a social-democratic political party in the Czech Republic.-History:The Social Democratic Czechoslavonic party in Austria was founded on 7 April 1878 in Austria-Hungary representing the Kingdom of Bohemia in the Austrian parliament...
, turned voters away from the party. In Czech legislative election, 1998
Czech legislative election, 1998
Parliamentary elections were held in the Czech Republic on 19 and 20 June 1998. The result was a victory for the Czech Social Democratic Party, which won 74 of the 200 seats. Voter turnout was 73.9%.-Results:...
it obtained 3.9% of votes and no parliament seats.
Decline of the party accelerated and in 2001 it was forcefully dissolved due to financial irregularities. Sládek established successor party Republikáni Miroslava Sládka
Republikáni Miroslava Sládka
The Republicans of Miroslav Sládek , abbreviated to Republikáni or RMS, is a tiny political party in the Czech Republic.The party was founded by Miroslav Sládek as a successor of Coalition for Republic - Republican Party of Czechoslovakia...
(The Republicans of Miroslav Sládek) http://www.republikani.com/ but failed to attract significant number of voters.
In 2002 Sládek was elected into the municipal government of Útěchov, a district of Brno
Brno
Brno by population and area is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region where it forms a separate district Brno-City District...
. After conflict with the mayor he took over the position, until 2004.
In 2006 he was sentenced to a fine because of the debt accumulated by SPR-RSČ and is forbidden to run for leadership of any political party for three years. He still believes in chance to return into high level politics, though http://zpravy.idnes.cz/domaci.asp?r=domaci&c=A060319_081941_domaci_jan.
In one interview Sládek told that while he personally failed the whole political scene became "Sládek-like" in the meantime.
External links
(All texts are in Czech languageCzech language
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
.)