Communist Party of Slovakia (1939)
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Communist Party of Slovakia Komunistická strana Slovenska | |
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Founded | May 1939 |
Dissolved | 22 November 1990 |
Preceded by | Communist Party of Czechoslovakia |
Succeeded by | Party of the Democratic Left |
Ideology | Communism Marxism–Leninism |
National affiliation | Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (1948-1990) |
National organization | National Front of the Slovak Socialist Republic (1969-1990) |
The Communist Party of Slovakia (Slovak: Komunistická strana Slovenska, KSS) was a communist party in Slovakia. It was formed in May 1939, when the Slovak Republic was created, as the Slovak branches of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) were separated from the mother party. When Czechoslovakia was again established as a unified state, the KSS was still a separate party for a while (1945–1948). On 29 September 1948, it was reunited with the KSČ and continued to exist as an "organizational territorial unit of the KSČ on the territory of Slovakia". Its main organ (and thus the main newspaper in Slovakia at the time) was Pravda.
After the merger KSS functioned as a regional affiliate of the KSČ, not as an independent political institution. Therefore, the organizational structure of the KSS mirrored that of the KSČ: the KSS Congress held session for several days every five years (and just before the KSČ's Congress), selecting its Central Committee members and candidate members, who in turn selected a Presidium, a Secretariat, and a First Secretary (i.e. party leader).
The most important first secretaries were Alexander Dubček (1963–1968) and Jozef Lenárt (1970–1988). Following the March 1986 party congress, the KSS Presidium consisted of 11 members; the Secretariat included, in addition to Lenárt, three secretaries and two members; and the Central Committee comprised 95 full members and 36 candidate members. The KSS in 1986 also had its own Central Control and Auditing Commission, four other commissions, twelve party departments, and one training facility.
KSS ceased to exist in 1990 (following the Velvet Revolution), when it was transformed into the independent social-democratic party called the Party of Democratic Left (SDĽ). Most of that party, in turn, is now part of Direction – Social Democracy, which had separated from the KSS in 2000.
A new Communist Party of Slovakia was, however, founded in 1992 from a merger of the Communist Party of Slovakia – 91 and Communist League of Slovakia.
Leaders
Party leaders (1944–1990)
- 1944–1945: Karol Šmidke
- 1945–1951: Štefan Bašťovanský
- 1951–1953: Viliam Široký
- 1953–1963: Karol Bacílek
- 1963–1968: Alexander Dubček
- 1968: Vasiľ Biľak
- 1968–1969: Gustáv Husák
- 1969–1970: Štefan Sádovský
- 1970–1988: Jozef Lenárt
- 1988–1990: Ignác Janák
Prime Ministers of the Slovak Socialist Republic (1969–1990)
- 1969: Štefan Sádovský
- 1969–1988: Peter Colotka
- 1988–1989: Ivan Knotek
- 1989: Pavol Hrivnák
- 1989–1990: Milan Čič
See also
- Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia
- Dawn (political party)
- Slovak Socialist Republic
- Central National Revolutionary Committee
- 1939 establishments in Slovakia
- 1990 disestablishments in Slovakia
- Communist parties in Slovakia
- Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
- Defunct political parties in Slovakia
- Parties of one-party systems
- Political parties in Czechoslovakia
- Political parties disestablished in 1990
- Political parties established in 1939
- Direction – Social Democracy
- Eastern European political party stubs
- Slovakia politics stubs