Richard Falbr, 1990s union leader and politician, dies at 85

Richard Falbr, a former head of the main Czech trade unions umbrella body and MEP, has died at the age of 85. A very well-known face in public life in the 1990s, Falbr was born in the UK during the war to a Czech airman father and Spanish mother.

Richard Falbr was a member of the European Parliament for two five-year terms.

The European Parliament in Brussels|Photo: Radio Prague International

The tall and imposing-looking Social Democratic Party politician had previously been head of the national trade union organisation from 1994 to 2002.

But he spent his early years in the UK, having been born in the English town of Chester in 1940.

“My father was a Czech airman in the 312th squadron – it was a fighter squadron. He came with my mother from Spain, after the defeat of the Republican army. He fought there as a member of the International Brigades, near Valencia, where my mother came from. I was wondering, Why Chester? And I realised that there was a place called Cholmondeley, where the Czech airmen were concentrated before they were divided into three squadrons in which they fought during the Battle of Britain.”

The Falbrs returned to Czechoslovakia in 1945. The family were left-wing and Richard joined the Communist Party. But, like many, he became disillusioned with the system.

“After the invasion in 1968, because it was something that could not be forgotten. It was something incredible. I was 27 and we were so happy at that time. It was a nice atmosphere – and suddenly everything was ruined. After 1968, all the illusions one could have about mistakes that could have been forgiven in the Soviet Union disappeared. It was a clear imperial policy.”

The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968|Photo: APF Czech Radio

Falbr’s father was a diplomat and he himself worked in law in the normalisation period, despite exiting the Communist Party in 1969. However, in an interview with Radio Prague International over two decades ago, he denied he had it relatively easy in the latter decades of the totalitarian system.

“I did not have much of a career, because I was a lawyer and I worked for the previous trade unions, which did not do much for their members. But they did offer legal protection to their members. And I was an expert on labour law, working for those who were in conflict with enterprises… I really made a career after the revolution, because finally I could use everything I knew, my legal knowledge and my languages, and I could start travelling. For me, these years were very nice years.”

The one-time union leader remained faithful to his leftist roots throughout his life, as evinced by the Che Guevara flag that adorned his office wall in the early 2000s.

Richard Falbr|Photo: Radio Prague International

“Che is a person I have great admiration for. I have all his books, which I bought in Cuba in 1988, I think. Maybe it is because he really did what he said and what he wrote. I lived in Latin America from 1949 to 1953. I went to school there and I know Latin America well. This is why, like many Latin Americans, I have great admiration for El Che.”

Richard Falbr passed away on May 13 at the age of 85. A private family funeral was held for him this week.