Ladislav Kopřiva (28 June 1897 in
Ivanovice na Hané,
Austria-Hungary – 13 November 1971 in
Prague) was a
Czechoslovak communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
during the era of
Gottwald Gottwald is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*Clytus Gottwald (1925–2023), German composer, conductor and musicologist
*Felix Gottwald (born 1976), Austrian Nordic combined athlete who competed from 1994 to 2007
*Frederick Gott ...
, after the
Communist Party of Czechoslovakia took control of the country during a 1948 coup. His position was
Minister of National Security, and he was largely responsible for a series of
purges of party members, such as Czech Vice Premier
Rudolf Slánský, stating that "Our Czechoslovak traitors
..can be compared with
Russia's
Trotsky ..Our conspiracies are not extraordinary, but only further evidence that our country is subject to the same laws of socialistic development as the
Soviet Union."
Kopřiva soon fell out of favor; he was voluntarily relieved in late January 1952, to be replaced by
Karol Bacílek, who would initiate yet more purges.
Like many high communist officials out of favor, he was soon purged from the party; in April 1963 he was expelled from the party
[Dubček, Alexander: "Hope Dies Last", page 86. Kodansha International Incorporated, 1993.] because of his role in the purges after the findings of the Kolder Report, which partly rehabilitated many of those purged.
References
Sources
Time (magazine)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kopriva, Ladislav
1897 births
1971 deaths
People from Ivanovice na Hané
People from the Margraviate of Moravia
Members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
Czech communists
Government ministers of Czechoslovakia
Members of the Chamber of Deputies of Czechoslovakia (1935–1939)
Members of the National Assembly of Czechoslovakia (1948–1954)