Viliam Široký (31 May 1902 – 6 October 1971) was a prominent

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 of

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

. He served as

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

from 1953 to 1963, and was also the leader of the Communist Party of Slovakia between 1945 and 1954.

Biography

Široký was born into the family of railroad workers in Hungary. According to Muriel Blaive, he was an ethnic Hungarian, but no Slovak source confirms this. He joined 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 ...

(KSČ) at age 19, and quickly rose in the party apparatus after the election of

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 ...

as general secretary. Together with Václav Kopecký, Široký was an agent of the

Soviet 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 ...

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

, whose task was to inform the Moscow leadership mainly about Gottwald's activities. in 1935, Široký was elected as a member of the Czechoslovak

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

, where he sat until the KSČ was banned in 1938. Prior to the start of

Second World War 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 ...

, he was also elected secretary of the Communist Party of Slovakia. In the autumn of 1938, Široký left for the USSR due to the growing threat of invasion from

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 ...

. During the war, he first worked as a member of the exiled foreign secretariat of the Communist Party in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, and later in a similar position 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 1941 he was sent to Slovakia, where he was soon arrested and imprisoned; first in Leopoldov Prison, and later in Nitra. At the beginning of 1945, he managed to escape and cross the approaching front to the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

. After the end of the war, Široký was a member of the Presidium and the Politburo of the KSČ as well as its secretariat, making him one of the most influential men in Czechoslovakia. He also held important government positions: from April 4, 1945, he was Deputy Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia, a post which he upheld in several post-war governments until March 21, 1953. From March 14, 1950 to January 31, 1953, he was

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

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 ...

's government, and he presided over this government from March 21, 1953, after Zápotocký became President. Subsequently, he was the Prime Minister of other governments and held the post of Prime Minister until 20 September 1963. When Zápotocký died in November 1957, Široký carried out most presidential duties for a week until party boss Antonín Novotný was elected president. He took an active part in negotiating and enforcing constitutional changes which resulted in the creation of the 1960 Constitution of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. From 1949 onwards, Široký was an initiator of the campaign against so-called bourgeois nationalists in Czechoslovakia, which led to the suppression of Slovak politicians such as Vladimír Clementis, Laco Novomeský and Gustáv Husák, who were accused of prioritizing national Slovak issues over the social and ideological issues of Czechoslovakia. During a meeting of the KSČ leadership in April 1950, Široký specifically mentioned Husák and Novomeský as Slovak bourgeois nationalists; during another party meeting the following month, he also leveled the same charges against Karol Šmidke. The charges would culminate in a trial in April 1954, where Husák and other leading Slovak politicians were sentenced to lengthy prison terms. As a result of his leading role in the campaign against bourgeois nationalists during the early 1950s, Široký's position became a burden for the party leadership under Antonín Novotný in the early 1960s, when the legitimacy of the trials were questioned and several of those imprisoned were rehabilitated. Široký was forced to resign as Prime Minister in September 1963, and was also removed from the Presidium of the KSČ. Five years later, during 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 ...

of 1968, he was expelled from the party altogether. Široký's party membership would be restored shortly before his death 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 ...

headed by his former political enemy, Gustáv Husák.

Honours and awards

Czechoslovak honours

Order of Klement Gottwald, two times (7 May 1955; 30 May 1962)

Foreign honours

Grand Cross of the

Order of Polonia Restituta The Order of Polonia Restituta (, ) is a Polish state decoration, state Order (decoration), order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on alien (law), foreigners for outstanding achievements in ...

, 5 July 1947

References

External links