RSDr. Vasiľ Biľak (11 August 1917 – 6 February 2014) was a Slovak

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

politician and leader of Rusyn origin. Vasiľ Biľak was born in Krajná Bystrá (), in the

Sáros County Sáros (- Hungarian, Slovak: ''Šariš'', Latin: ''comitatus Sarossiensis'', German: ''Scharosch'') was an administrative county ( comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is now in northeastern Slovakia. Today, Šariš is only an in ...

of the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

(present-day

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

) in a family of Rusyn ethnicity and was originally a tailor and

inseam In sewing, a seam is the join where two or more layers of fabric, leather, or other materials are held together with stitches. Prior to the invention of the sewing machine, all sewing was done by hand. Seams in modern mass-produced household te ...

expert. Active in the communist movement since 1936, in 1955–1968 and 1969–1971 he was a member of the Central Committee of the

Communist Party of Slovakia The Communist Party of Slovakia (, KSS) is a communist party in Slovakia, formed in 1992 through the merger of the Communist Party of Slovakia – 91 and the Communist League of Slovakia. The party is observer of the Party of the European Lef ...

(ÚV KSS); in 1962–1968 he was the secretary and from January until August 1968 General secretary of ÚV KSS; from April 1968 until December 1988 he was a member of the Presidium of the Central Committee 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 ...

(ÚV KSČ). From November 1968 until December 1988 he was a secretary of ÚV KSČ with significant influence on the foreign policy and the ideology of the party. In 1960–1989 he was a member of National Assembly, later Federal Assembly. In 1968 he belonged to the exponents of the

hardline In politics, hardline or hard-line is an adjective describing a stance on an issue that is inflexible and not subject to compromise. A hardliner is a person holding such views. The stance is usually far from the centrist view. People, policies, ...

wing in the KSČ; he supported the Soviet invasion and participated in the so-called "

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 ...

process" after the political liberalization called the

Prague Spring The Prague Spring (; ) was a period of liberalization, political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected Secretary (title), First Secre ...

. He was one of the politicians who signed the invitation letter for the armies of

Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP), formally the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance (TFCMA), was a Collective security#Collective defense, collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Polish People's Republic, Poland, between the Sovi ...

countries.Kieran Williams, "The Prague Spring and its aftermath: Czechoslovak politics 1968-1970", (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997). In December 1989, he was suspended from the KSČ. The Slovak Justice Minister

Ján Čarnogurský Ján Čarnogurský (born 1 January 1944) is a Slovak former politician, who served as the Prime Minister of Slovakia The prime minister of Slovakia, officially the chairman of the government of the Slovak Republic (Slovak language, Slovak: '' ...

said in 2001 he would not ask the Slovak President

Rudolf Schuster Rudolf Schuster (born 4 January 1934) is a Slovak politician, who served as the second president of Slovakia from 1999 to 2004. He was elected on 29 May 1999 and inaugurated on 15 June. In the presidential elections of April 2004, in which he so ...

to grant an amnesty to Biľak, the Czechoslovak Communist Party ideologist was charged with treason in connection with the "invitation" sent to Warsaw Pact countries to extend "brotherly help" to Czechoslovakia in 1968. In 2011, the trial process with Biľak ended unsuccessfully, when the attorney stopped it for lack of witnesses. He died in 2014, aged 96, in

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

. He was the last of the original five '

Tankies ''Tankie'' is a pejorative label generally applied to authoritarian communists, especially those who support or defend acts of repression by such regimes, their allies, or deny the occurrence of the events thereof. More specifically, the t ...

' to die.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bilak, Vasil 1917 births 2014 deaths People from Svidník District People from the Kingdom of Hungary Rusyn people Slovak people of Rusyn descent Members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia Communist Party of Slovakia (1939) politicians Members of the National Assembly of Czechoslovakia (1960–1964) Members of the National Assembly of Czechoslovakia (1964–1968) Members of the Chamber of the People of Czechoslovakia (1969–1971) Members of the Chamber of the People of Czechoslovakia (1971–1976) Members of the Chamber of the People of Czechoslovakia (1976–1981) Members of the Chamber of the People of Czechoslovakia (1981–1986) Members of the Chamber of the People of Czechoslovakia (1986–1990) Prague Spring Recipients of the Order of Klement Gottwald Recipients of the Order of Lenin