Evening star., 1948-02-26
Gottwold, New Czech Dictator,
Warned Benes Of Aims in 1929
Communist Leaders
Speech as New
Deputy Recalled
By Eugene .TiIIinser

NEW ISftA, Ecp. AOs- We fdA
here to break your necks.
These words, addressed to DR..
Eduard Benes and his National So-
#ciety Party, were spoken 19 years
ago by Klement GottWald, today the
Communist dictator of Czechoslo-
.vakia, in his maiden speech in the
Czech Parliament.
That was in 1929, when the almost
unknown Deputy Gottwald entered
the Prague Parliament at the head
of 80 Communist members. He had
just been elected to Parliament on
the Communist ticket. Taking the
floor and looking with hatred at
DR.. Benes and the deputies of his
traditional party, Gottwald, then 80
years old, pronounced the following
words:
"You, gentlemen, are asking me
what we are here for. My answer is
simple. We are here to break your
necks, and I promise you most SOL
emnly, we will do it,"
Red Role Was Important.
When he made this statement in
1929, Gottwald was chairman of the
political bureau of the Czech sec
ton of the Third International.
Despite the fact that for the outside
world his name was among the
lesser known of the Comintern
hierarchy, Gottwald nevertheless
has played an important role in the
Communist international. He be-
longs to what insiders call the "old
guard" among European Communist
leaders.
Since he became Czech Prime
Minister in June, 1916, certain So
Wet apologists have described Gott-
wald as calm, mild-mannered man
and stressed his "tactful regard for
democratic procedure" He was
pictured as being free from class
ideology" and of good will to all
classes and groups" The idea was
to show that there are Communists
who are independent of Moscow.
The present political showdown In
Prague has definitely debunked this
myth. !.
Gottwald's career, as a matter OF
fact. is similar to those OF all the
other European Communist leaders
who today are Moscow backed chiefs |
of governments behind the iron
curtain.
Born in the small peasant town
of Dedidocz, in the province OF
Morayia. November %, 1896 - st.
Elements Day-the man who has
now become the undisputed boss OF
Czechoslovakia. like Hitler, spent
his early youth in Vienna. where
he worked as carpenter. Like most
Communists, he first joined tnet
socialist movement.
Fought Well in War.
During the first World War,
Gottwald fought gallantly in the
Austrian Army. And wnen the
Czechoslovak republic was proclaim
ed and an autonomous Czech army
organized, Gottwald Joined up. De-
mobilized in 1920, he became a
member of the newly founded Com
munist Party. Soon he was editor
of the party's official newspapers
'tPgawda. .">e1 I"t0a e,.cE ~ 4
aSIIis real political career, however. !
started when Dmitri Manuilsky, one
of the oldest pillars of the Pol1tbu-
reau-now Ukranian delegate to the
u. N.-came to Prague ip 1925 to
reorganize the Communist Party on
orders of the Kremlin. Gottwald |
soon became Manuilsky's right-hand
man and was made chairman OF the
Czech party. ;<s# /
Together with the topnotch Eu-
ropean Communist chiefs-Robert
Cachin and Maurice Thorez OF
France, Palmiro Togliatu OF italy,
Georgi Dimitrov of Bulgaria, Bella
Rakosi of Hungary, Wilhelm Pieck
of Germany, etc.-Gottwald took
part in the various meetings OF the
comintern. At the seventh COMM
tern Congress in Moscow in 1885.
the last one before its dissolution"
eight years later, GottWald was
elected to. the Central Executive
Committee of the Third Interna-
tional.
Spent Years in Moscow.
Like all the other European Com
munist bosses, Gottwald spent the
years before and during Warld War
II in Moscow. In 1888, after Hitler
took over Czechoslovakia, Gottwald
went to the Soviet capital and was
coached for his future, task.
When DR.. Benes, then chief OF
the Czechoslovak government IN
exile in London, went to Moscow
in 1945, he met Gottwald at the
instigation of Prime Minister Stain.
1t is matter of record that Gott-
valid never concealed his contempt
for DR.. Benes. Once he went so
far as to describe DR.. Benes as
"a little Czech teacher with the
ambitions of a Napoleon" Like
Mr.. Stain, Gottwald despises in
tellectuals and for him DR.. Benes
was the most talkative Czech in
tellectual"
At their meeting in Moscow, Gott-
wald forced on DR.. Benes his views
the future of CzechoSlo-
vakia IT. Was he who drafted the