  klement gottwald (23 november 1896 â 14 march 1953) was a czechoslovak communist politician and longtime leader of the communist party of czechoslovakia (ksÄ or cpcz or cpc). he was prime minister of czechoslovakia from 1946 to 1948 and president from 1948 to 1953. ==early life== gottwald was born on 23 november 1896, in deditz, wischau (vyÅ¡kov), moravia, austria-hungary (now in the czech republic). ==career== a cabinet maker by training, he joined the social democratic party in 1912. he was drafted into the austro-hungarian army during world war i, but defected to the russians late in the war. a charter member of the ksÄ in 1921, he edited the party's newspaper in bratislava from 1921 to 1926. from 1925 onward he was a member of the ksÄ central committee. in 1927, he became secretary-general of the ksÄ, and two years later he was elected to the national assembly. he became a secretary of the comintern in 1935, a post he held until its dissolution in 1943. after the munich agreement of 1938, gottwald spent the next seven years in exile in moscow. from 1939 onward he was one of the leaders of the czech resistance. in march 1945, edvard beneÅ¡, who had been elected president of czechoslovakia 1935â38 and who had been head of the czechoslovak government-in-exile in london since 1941, agreed to form a national front government with gottwald. as part of the deal, gottwald became deputy premier under zdenÄk fierlinger. in 1946, gottwald gave up the secretary-general's post to rudolf slÃ¡nskÃ½ and was elected to the new position of party chairman. that march, he led the party to an astonishing 38% of the votes. this was easily the ksÄ's best performance in an election.jean-baptiste duroselle: histoire diplomatique de 1919 Ã  nos jours, pt.3, ch.2, par.5, p
1896_births 1953_deaths Anti-Revisionists Austro-Hungarian_military_personnel_of_World_War_I Cold_War_leaders Communist_rulers Czech_communists Czech_people_of_German_descent Czech_people_of_World_War_II Leaders_of_the_Communist_Party_of_Czechoslovakia Leaders_who_took_power_by_coup Members_of_the_Chamber_of_Deputies_of_Czechoslovakia Members_of_the_Constituent_National_Assembly_of_Czechoslovakia Members_of_the_National_Assembly_of_Czechoslovakia People_from_VyA!kov People_from_the_Margraviate_of_Moravia Presidents_of_Czechoslovakia Prime_Ministers_of_Czechoslovakia World_War_II_political_leaders