[citation needed] In 1933, when he started his studies at the law faculty of the Comenius University in Bratislava, he joined the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) which was banned from 1938 to 1945.

In 1950, he fell victim to a Stalinist purge of the party leadership, and was sentenced to life imprisonment, spending the years from 1954 to 1960 in the Leopoldov Prison.

[citation needed] A convinced Communist, he always viewed his imprisonment as a gross misunderstanding, which he periodically stressed in several letters of appeal addressed to the party leadership.

It is generally acknowledged that the then party leader and president Antonín Novotný repeatedly declined to pardon Husák, assuring his comrades that "you do not know what he is capable of if he comes to power".

[citation needed] As part of the De-Stalinization period in Czechoslovakia, Husák's conviction was overturned and his party membership restored in 1963.

In April 1968, during the Prague Spring under new party leader and fellow Slovak Alexander Dubček, Husák became a vice-premier of Czechoslovakia, responsible for overseeing reforms in Slovakia.

[citation needed] After the Soviets invaded Czechoslovakia in August, Husák participated in the Czechoslovak-Soviet negotiations between the kidnapped Dubček and Leonid Brezhnev in Moscow.

In the first years following the invasion, Husák managed to appease the outraged civil population by providing a relatively satisfactory living standard and avoiding any overt reprisals[clarification needed] like was the case in the 1950s.

At the same time, the people's rights were somewhat more restricted than was the case in János Kádár's Hungary and Josip Broz Tito's Yugoslavia.

After its collapse, Husák kept saying that he was just trying to diminish the aftermath of the Soviet invasion and had to constantly resist pressure from hard line Stalinists in the party such as Biľak, Alois Indra and the like.

[6] Communist Party of Czechoslovakia/KSČ (prohibited 1938, dissolved 1939–1945) Communist Party of Slovakia/KSS (illegal 1939–1944/1945) Slovak National Council (Slovenská národná rada) (during World War II a resistance parliament-government, since 1968 the Slovak parliament) Council of Commissioners (Zbor povereníkov) (a quasi government responsible for Slovakia) Czechoslovak Parliament (called National Assembly and since 1968 Federal Assembly) Czechoslovak government President of Czechoslovakia Speeches and Writings, a publication from 1986.