The thesis deals with the Czechoslovak communist politician Gustáv Husák in connection with the cause of the Slovak bourgeois nationalism. It is structured chronologically, sometimes interspersed with thematic areas. It draws from a wide variety of sources. The prevailing approach is positivistic and analytical. The aim is to explain the emergence of the cause of the Slovak bourgeois nationalism and the way in which Husák was incorporated into it. The work points to a pivotal link with the international context and reveals poor relations between leading Party officials. Furthermore, the thesis raises issues of Husák's political fall, fabricated charges, imprisonment and subsequently the complexity of the rehabilitation process, at the end of which Husák's Communist Party membership was restored and a further political career remained a possibility. Additionally, the text tries to consider to a large extent the social relations between different participants and understand their motives of behavior. All of this is also put into perspective with respect to Czech-Slovak relations, which were significantly influenced by the aforementioned cause. The intention of the work deliberately exceeds the biographical theme.

Bibliographic record: Michal MACHÁČEK: Gustáv Husák. A Political Biography with Special Emphasis on Czech-Slovak Relations in 20th Century, PhD. thesis, The Faculty of Arts at Charles University 2017, 476pp. [784 standard pages]. Abstract The dissertation thesis discusses public activities, thoughts and the political life of JUDr. Gustáv Husák, CSc. (1913-1991), who was involved in the Czech-Slovak public space for sixty years with a significant footprint even today. The text is based on a thorough research and is chronologically structured, intertwined with thematic areas, however an analytical approach prevails. The first chapter focuses on Husák's youth, the factors that led him to the communist movement, and his early activism. This is followed by a portrayal of the Husák's activities during the Second World War, his role in the resistance, participation in a propaganda trip to the Nazi conquered Ukraine, and his vision of Slovakia as a republic of the Soviet Union. His later involvement in the Slovak National Uprising provided the legitimacy of his later political career in the post-war era, when he successfully led the struggle for the communist monopoly of political power in Czechoslovakia and attempts to present the Communist Party of Slovakia as a national party. Next two chapters show the origins...