In order to correct the mistake of doctors made regarding his already dead body, a slanderous campaign was launched in the country. The fate of this politician was too difficult.
It is not bad if a person has a good role model. But if a whole country begins to blindly copy the experience of another state, everything becomes sad. Our hero himself overdid it, and taught his fellow citizens bad.
Childhood
Life was sadly in the world of Mary Gottwald. The girl lived in the Czech town of Vyshkov, and from childhood she earned her bread by hard peasant labor. In November 1896, she gave birth to a son, whom she gave the name Clement. The neighbors had not respected her much before, but now they began to express their contempt directly in the face of a young mother, the unfortunate husband did not. The boy grew up, not knowing his father, enduring ridicule from peers and contempt from wealthier peasants.
Vyshkov - Clement Gottwald’s hometown
In 1908, a teenager mastered the profession as a cabinetmaker and went to Vienna to seek a better life. In the capital, there were enough people with such an education as his, too young master of respectable customers was not interested. Among workers, leftist views were popular. Clement found them faithful and joined the Social Democratic youth movement.
Youth
Having only his fists to protect himself and his mother’s good name, the boy grew up strong and desperate. In 1914, he was even glad that he was drafted into the Austro-Hungarian army. Gottwald was identified in the artillery and hoped to make a military career. Instead of general epaulettes, the soldier had a difficult fate: he was wounded, then sent to fight against the Germans in Italy, and from there to Bessarabia. Disappointed in dreams of high ranks, the soldier surrendered to the Russians.
Artillerymen of Austria-Hungary on the fronts of the First World War
Confusion reigned in the camp of the enemy. They also guessed that war is not a good thing. Clement met his like-minded people among the Russians. In the October Revolution, our hero did not take part, looked closely. In the fall of 1918 it became known that a new state of Czechoslovakia had emerged from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Clement Grotwald immediately went to his homeland.
Political struggle
A young country learned to live. Deputies from the most diverse forces in terms of ideology were elected to the multi-party parliament. The only criterion that guaranteed getting into power cabinets was patriotism. Clement Gottwald became a member of the Social Democratic Party. He was disappointed that this political force had lost its former revolutionary fuse, therefore, in 1921, with the group of comrades, organized the Communist Party.
Participation in ideological battles did not prevent the young man from building his personal life. During the war, during dancing, he met a pretty girl, Maria Golubova, who worked as a maid. The young man was able to find her and agree to become his wife. In 1920, the family was replenished with a daughter, who was named Marta. She will grow up and become a like-minded person of her parent.
Clement Gottwald with his wife Martha 29 years after the wedding
Takeoff and war
An experienced Bolshevik was entrusted with work related to the party press. He was the chief editor of the newspapers Voice of the People and Pravda. In 1925, Clement Gottwald was introduced to the Central Committee of the party, which he headed after 2 years. The finest hour for the left activist came in 1929 - as a result of elections, he went to the Parliament of Czechoslovakia. He presented his ideas from a high rostrum until 1938, when Hitler annexed part of Czechoslovakia and began to exert a strong influence on the government of the country.
The left politician took refuge in the USSR. From Moscow, he led the communist underground in Czechoslovakia, making his contribution to the victory over fascism. He had experience since 1935. Gottwald headed the Comintern. In the Soviet Feed Union, the Czech quickly found a common language with Joseph Stalin. Returning to his homeland after the defeat of the Third Reich, he wanted to imitate the famous leader.
Joseph Stalin and Clement Gottwald
Triumph
In 1945, Clement Gottwald became chairman of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. In the new government, he got the post of deputy prime minister, a year later - the prime minister. Our hero carried out the nationalization of the economy in the country, taking the Soviet system as a model. Such reforms have found opponents in Parliament. Gottwald tried to deprive parliamentary mandates of first dissenters, and then his opponents within the Communist Party.
Clement Gottwald on a propaganda poster
The scandal erupted in 1948. The deputies were asked to vote for the new version of the Constitution, which Gottwald introduced. President Edward Benesh not only criticized the document, but also resigned. The daring leader of the Communists was not upset by this fact. He himself was soon appointed to the first post of state by the National Assembly.
