born Nov. 23, 1896, Dedice, Moravia, Austria-Hungary
died March 14, 1953, Prague, Czech.
Czechoslovak communist politician and journalist.
A charter member of Czechoslovakia's Communist Party (1921), he became its leader in 1927 and a member of the Czechoslovak parliament in 1929. Opposed to the Munich agreement , he lived in Moscow through World War II, making several broadcasts to the Czechoslovak underground. After the war, he was appointed deputy premier (1945–46), then premier (1946–48). Inaugurated as president in 1948 after Edvard Beneš 's resignation, he quickly consolidated his position, purging rivals and adopting a Stalinist model of government, and served until his death.