The Czechoslovak leader whose Stalinist orthodoxy was swept aside by the Prague Spring reform movement
In an impromptu interview after the 1965 May Day parade, Novotný declared, "Meat will be shortly!" (Maso bude vbrzku!). Across the country, Czechs asked, "Where on the map is this 'Shortly'?" — and the nation laughed.
A locksmith and KSČ charter member from 1921, Novotný rose through the party apparatus during the Slánský purge and emerged from the succession struggle after Gottwald's death to rule Czechoslovakia for fifteen years as First Secretary (1953–1968) and President (1957–1968). His regime enforced Stalinist orthodoxy (central planning, censorship, and a refusal to reckon with the show trials of the 1950s) even as economic stagnation and Slovak resentment eroded its foundations. His forced resignation in January 1968, replaced by Alexander Dubček, removed the greatest obstacle to reform and directly precipitated the Prague Spring. Reelected to the Central Committee under normalization in 1971, he died in Prague in 1975 without recovering real influence.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1921Charter member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ)
- 1937–1938Secretary of the KSČ Regional Committee in Hodonín
- 1941–1945Arrested for underground resistance; imprisoned at Mauthausen
- 1945–1951First Secretary of the KSČ Prague City Committee
- 1951–1953Member of the KSČ Political Secretariat; Deputy Prime Minister
- 1953–1968First Secretary of the KSČ Central Committee
- 1957–1968President of Czechoslovakia
- 1971Reelected to the KSČ Central Committee under normalization
Economic stagnation and the 1965 New Economic Model
As Czechoslovakia’s economy slowed in the early 1960s, Novotný’s government introduced a New Economic Model in 1965. It was an economic reform intended to replace the Soviet industrialization model imposed on a country that had already reached a high level of industrial development before the Second World War. The reform prompted demands for political change as well as changes to economic management, weakening Novotný’s public support. On 5 January 1968 he was replaced as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia by Alexander Dubček; on 22 March he resigned as president. A reform intended to address economic stagnation thus became entangled with demands for a change in party leadership and a more open public sphere, and Novotný lost power.