Rudolf Slánský (31 July 1901 – 3 December 1952) was a Czechoslovak Communist politician. He was a longtime member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. Later he was the General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee (1945-1951). Slánský was one of the main organizers of the 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état. During World War II he was a member of Czechoslovak exile resistance in the foreign centre in Moscow. Slánský was executed on December 3, 1952 at Prague’s Pankrac Prison.