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If Václav Klaus ever had a “right hand”, it was undoubtedly Miroslav Macek (1944-2024). And that both in an almost literal executive and in a figurative sense. Therefore, it is also natural that Klaus was one of the first to react to Mack’s departure from this world.
Miroslav Macek was not only Klaus’ mentor, he was also the “creator” of Klaus, as we know him today and as historiography will surely treat him as a social phenomenon one day. He supported the strengths of his favorite: the formulation of economic and right-wing ideological positions, hard work, a sense of important symbolic gestures, a sense of spin in politics. He was strict in his ideological positions (the individual is everything, there is no such thing as society). Pragmatic in substantive policy decisions.
Video: interview with Miroslav Mack
That is why Miroslav Macek was so important to Václav Klaus as an analyst, consultant and strategist in critical moments, whether it was the division of Czechoslovakia in 1992, which probably would not have happened so easily without Mack’s mediation activity, or during the splitting of the ODS in 1997, when with Klausem formulated the term “Sarajevo assassination”, which was able to cover up the true nature of the political crisis in the Civic Democratic Party, which fundamentally influenced the development of post-apocalypse for the next twenty years.
It was very interesting to discuss with Miroslav Mack. He was quick in his judgment, argued directly, did not make many detours, but responded to his opponent in a discussion. And he accepted arguments and also quickly turned them into counter-arguments, as the director Radim Procházka and I quickly found out while filming a documentary about the so-called Sarajevo, called Paper assassination, when, of course, we also shot a lot with Miroslav Mack. It definitely wouldn’t have been possible without him, he was the one who worked on Klaus’s defense from the first minutes of the crisis and got him out of the worst not only with his feverish, well-thought-out activity, but mainly in his full dedication to him, in short, by staying. A number of former friends of Václav Klaus left, Macek stayed.
Biography and reactions of politicians
It was also a personal adjustment. Macek impressed Klaus with his self-confidence, which in a certain visible arrogance competed with Klaus’s. Of course, he was never the chairman (after all, even Milan Knížák’s ego succumbed to Klaus’s charm), but he was very close to him in this discipline. In addition, Macek had a specific intellectual wit, which Klaus lacked quite a bit, as well as cultural and social knowledge, which also suited Klaus. Because he was similarly a “cultured person” like Klaus, and he was proud of it (that is, they both were). This very special kind of intellectual snobbery was the strongest bond between their professional and perhaps human friendship.
With all the criticism towards both of these men-symbols of the 90s, it must be admitted that such politicians are discussed and competed with in a completely different way than with some culturally limited personalities who are in some party leaders today. It was a different time, they say in moments like this…
Of course, the cultural focus and educational overview, as well as the external formal impression of a gentleman, do not remove problematic aspects from anyone. Even Miroslav Macek had enough of them.
First of all, he had a “special ability” to be involved in problematic money transfers, such as the sale of Knijní vlekoobchod or later the privatization of Spořitelna in the hands of Erste Bank, where he cashed out millions of sums on the verge of a conflict of interest. From the Book Wholesaler, there is an icon of tunneling in the 1990s, i.e. a process where money was lost strangely, but no one was caught. Macek, as deputy chairman of the ODS, explained everything to his fellow party members at the time, and they accepted his version by an overwhelming majority. In the end, even Macek learned something from Klaus. He accepted his way of dealing with mistakes and mistakes. Don’t talk too much about them, but learn from them for next time, either when choosing suitable people around you or in public speaking.
Video: the famous slap to David Rath
After leaving politics, Miroslav Macek no longer had to limit himself much, he could freely devote himself to his hobby of translating Shakespeare and other classical authors from English, or glossing social and political events, in which his analytical but very strictly ideological spirit proved itself. In this regard, Macek never really moved from his positions in the 90s of the last century, which again more or less applies to Václav Klaus, certainly with some differences and exceptions. But when one reads what Macek writes about homosexuals and their compulsion to show off their genetic deviation or aberration in public, it is very close to Klaus’s famous formulation that “he has nothing against homosexuals, but homosexuality bothers him”. You could almost say that Klaus was copying from Mack, but it was certainly often the other way around, as is the case with the mood and attitude of close friends.
Macek further seemed to represent the “good old post-revolutionary right-wingers” and was also a delusional spreader of the “cult of common sense”, which always tells us how we should behave and act, how to evaluate events and actions of ourselves and others. That is, to “us”, noble and educated men who are rightly proud of themselves…
After all, Miroslav Macek was also a poet. Today he says they are in the other world, in any case he left a lot of them here, perhaps also so that when he is not here, we can continue to read them with joy or criticism. So let’s honor the deceased with what he loved most, his own creation.
“Don’t let fear go home,
keep common sense in your head
one more piece of advice:
Always rely on yourself!”
