19.11.1957 Antonín Novotný became president

Novotný took the presidential chair on 19 November 1957, a traditional ceremonial act. According to the communists, under his rule Czechoslovakia achieved socialism.

Novotny is described as a party bureaucrat, during whose presidency a new constitution was adopted and Czechoslovakia became a socialist republic. During his presidency, rehabilitation processes took place and the Communist Party of the Czechoslovakia Slovak communists sought to increase their political position within the state.

Novotný took the presidential chair on 19 November 1957, a traditional ceremonial act on that day. "After the election of the new president of the republic, Antonín Novotný, the I. "Milan Liška writes in his book The Castle Guard.

During Novotny's presidency, a reformist communist movement emerged, which wanted a greater internal democratisation not only within the Communist Party but throughout society, with the Communist Party maintaining its leading role. "In the so-called revival process of reformist communism (1967-1970), there is a certain democratization and political relaxation that interrupted by the entry of Warsaw Pact troops and the occupation by the Soviet army," writes Václav Ryneš in Nation and State.

Reform efforts resulted in the establishment of the Czechoslovak Socialist Federal Republic and the process of normalisation and consolidation. Antonín Novotný did not succeed in stopping the ambitions of the Slovak communists, nor in suppressing the reformist efforts of the communists, who were joined by the majority of the population, and became the representative of the communist bureaucracy.

Novotný held the office of president and first secretary of the party's Central Committee until 1968. "Novotny was largely implicated in the purges, monster trials and other unfair practices of the Communist Party in the first half of the 1950s. But he also became a symbol of the new Communist era, which was much more liberal. In both these aspects he was similar to the Soviet ruler Khrushchev," writes Zdeněk Ležák in his book The Velvet Revolution.

According to the communists, it was indeed under Novotny's rule that Czechoslovakia achieved socialism. From a people's democratic state it became socialist. It was officially proclaimed in July 1960, when a new constitution was adopted and the name of the republic was changed to the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.

"Nothing else actually happened. Even under Novotny's government, central planning continued, with an emphasis on heavy industry. We did not have as many prisoners as in the Soviet Union, so labour was not as cheap and human resources had their limits. In order to meet the Five Year Plans, workers competed to beat the standards, worked inlong shifts and long work weeks," writes Lezak.

Sources: Milan Liška, Castle Guard, Václav Ryneš, Nation and State, Zdeněk Ležák, Velvet Revolution, www.wikipedia.org