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Antonín Josef Novotný (; 10 December 1904 – 28 January 1975) was a Czechoslovak politician who served as the
President of Czechoslovakia The president of Czechoslovakia (, ) was the head of state of Czechoslovakia, from the Origins of Czechoslovakia, creation of the First Czechoslovak Republic in 1918 until the Dissolution of Czechoslovakia, dissolution of the Czech and Slovak F ...
from 1957 to 1968, and as First Secretary of the
Communist Party of Czechoslovakia The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( Czech and Slovak: ''Komunistická strana Československa'', KSČ) was a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. It was a member of the Com ...
from 1953 to 1968. An ardent hardliner, Novotný was forced to yield the reins of power to
Alexander Dubček Alexander Dubček (; 27 November 1921 – 7 November 1992) was a Slovaks, Slovak statesman who served as the First Secretary of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) (''de facto'' leader of Czech ...
during the short-lived reform movement of 1968.


Biography


Early years

Antonín Novotný was born in Letňany,
Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...
,
Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...
(now part of
Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
,
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
). The Novotný family was
working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...
in social origin, and he worked from an early age as a
blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...
.Branko Lazitch with Milorad M. Drachkovitch, ''Biographical Dictionary of the Comintern: New, Revised, and Expanded Edition.'' Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 1986; pp. 344–345. Novotný was a charter member of the
Communist Party of Czechoslovakia The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( Czech and Slovak: ''Komunistická strana Československa'', KSČ) was a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. It was a member of the Com ...
(CPC) at its founding in 1921, and became a professional Communist Party
functionary An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless of whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority (either their own or that of the ...
in 1929. In 1935, Novotný was selected as a delegate to the 7th World Congress of the Comintern. He was made a regional party secretary in Prague in 1937 and made secretary and editor of the CPC's newspaper in the
South Moravian Region The South Moravian Region (; , ; ), or just South Moravia, is an Regions of the Czech Republic, administrative unit () of the Czech Republic, located in the south-western part of its historical region of Moravia. The region's capital is Brno, th ...
in 1938.


World War II years

With the coming of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
and the occupation of Czechoslovakia by
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
in 1939, the CPC was outlawed and forced into an underground existence. Novotný served as one of the leaders of the CPC in the underground movement in Prague. Novotný was finally arrested by the German secret police, the
Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...
, in September 1941 and was immediately deported to the
Mauthausen concentration camp Mauthausen was a German Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen, Upper Austria, Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with List of subcamps of Mauthausen, nearly 100 f ...
. He managed to survive his concentration camp experience and was liberated by the U.S. Army on 5 May 1945.


Post-war political rise

After the war, Novotný returned to Czechoslovakia and resumed his activity in the Communist Party. He was elected a member of the governing Central Committee of the CPC in 1946. He was promoted to the Secretariat of the Central Committee in September 1951, and became one of the party's top leaders on the CPC's Politburo following the arrest of
Rudolf Slánský Rudolf Slánský (31 July 1901 – 3 December 1952) was a leading Czech Communist politician. Holding the post of the party's General Secretary after World War II, he was one of the leading creators and organizers of Communist rule in Czechoslova ...
for alleged "Titoism" in November of the same year. Novotný was formally appointed as Deputy Prime Minister in February 1953. After the death of party leader
Klement Gottwald Klement Gottwald (; 23 November 1896 – 14 March 1953) was a Czech communist politician, who was the leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia from 1929 until his death in 1953 – titled as general secretary until 1945 and as chairman f ...
in March 1953, Novotný became a leading candidate in the succession struggle, ultimately winning out in September 1953 when he was named First Secretary of the party, effectively making him the leader of Czechoslovakia. While President
Antonín Zápotocký Antonín Zápotocký (; 19 December 1884 – 13 November 1957) was a Czech communist politician and statesman in Czechoslovakia. He served as the Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia from 1948 to 1953, and then as President of Czechoslovakia from 1 ...
and Prime Minister
Viliam Široký Viliam Široký (31 May 1902 – 6 October 1971) was a prominent communist politician of Czechoslovakia. He served as Prime Minister from 1953 to 1963, and was also the leader of the Communist Party of Slovakia between 1945 and 1954. Biogra ...
wanted a less repressive way of governing, the hardliner Novotný was able to outflank them with the backing of the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. At a meeting in
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
in late 1953, Zápotocký and Široký were told to adhere to the principles of "collective leadership" — in other words, abandon power to Novotný. In the Czechoslovakia of Novotný, people continued to face strict government regulations in the arts and media, although they had loosened dramatically since Stalin's death in 1953 and the subsequent de-Stalinization programmes of 1956. His quasi-authoritarian practices led to mounting calls for a new form of socialism over the unsatisfactory pace of change that would include the accountability, proper elections, and responsibility of leaders to society. Novotný's administration, however, still remained centralized for 10 years. During these years society evolved, seen through events such as the Czechoslovak film miracle. Following the death of Zápotocký in 1957, Novotný was named as President of the republic, further consolidating his grip on power. Three years later, he replaced the superficially democratic Ninth-of-May Constitution with a new constitution that was a fully Communist document. The new constitution declared that "socialism has won" in Czechoslovakia and declared the country a socialist state under the leadership of the KSČ, thus codifying the actual state of affairs that had prevailed since the Communist takeover in 1948. In the 1960s, Novotny's attention was turned to the activities of Czech exiles in Western Europe who were seeking to discredit his Party's regime. One example of this was his suggestion to kidnap the exiled journalist, Josef Josten, from London in a specially made box. When this scheme proved impracticable, he proposed assassination, as recorded by the defecting intelligence agent, Josef Frolik.


Events of 1968

While Novotný was forced to adopt some reforms due to popular pressure in the 1960s, these efforts were half-hearted at best. Growing public dissatisfaction caused Novotný to lose his grip on power. He was forced to resign as party leader in January 1968 and was replaced by a reformer, Alexander Dubček. In March 1968, he was ousted as president and in May he resigned from the Central Committee of the CPC.


Later years

In 1971, during the period of
normalization Normalization or normalisation refers to a process that makes something more normal or regular. Science * Normalization process theory, a sociological theory of the implementation of new technologies or innovations * Normalization model, used in ...
, he was reelected to the Central Committee. However, his political influence was minimal and he was too ill to be a strong force in the
Gustáv Husák Gustáv Husák ( , ; ; 10 January 1913 – 18 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak politician who served as the long-time First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia from 1969 to 1987 and the President of Czechoslovakia from 1975 ...
administration. He died on 28 January 1975 in Prague.


Honours and awards


Czechoslovak honours

* Czechoslovak War Cross 1939 (1947) * Order of Klement Gottwald, two times (10 December 1954; 7 May 1955)


Foreign honours

* Order of the Queen of Sheba (1959) * Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Cambodia (1960) * Star of the Republic of Indonesia, 1st Class (1961) * Order of the Yugoslav Great Star (26 September 1964) * Grand Cordon of the
Order of the Nile The Order of the Nile (''Kiladat El Nil'') was established in 1915 and was one of the Kingdom of Egypt's principal orders until the monarchy was abolished in 1953. It was then reconstituted as the Republic of Egypt's highest state honor. Sulta ...
(1966) * Order of Pahlavi (1967)


References


Further reading

* George Shaw Wheeler, ''The Human Face of Socialism: The Political Economy of Change in Czechoslovakia''. Lawrence Hill and Company, Publishers, Inc.: U.S.A, May 1973. * Milan Čechvala:
Dejinné zadosťučinenie
'' In Slovenské národné noviny 7/2006 (4 April 2006).


External links


Biography
, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Novotny, Antonin 1904 births 1975 deaths Politicians from Prague People from the Kingdom of Bohemia Leaders of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia Presidents of Czechoslovakia Members of the National Assembly of Czechoslovakia (1948–1954) Members of the National Assembly of Czechoslovakia (1954–1960) Mauthausen concentration camp survivors Recipients of the Czechoslovak War Cross 1939–1945 Recipients of the Order of Klement Gottwald