RSDr. Vasil Biľak (born 11 August 1917 in Krajná Bystrá) is a former Slovak Communist leader of Rusyn origin.

Vasil Biľak was originally a tailor. In the years 1955–1968 and 1969–1971 he was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Slovakia (ÚV KSS); in 1962–1968 he was the secretary and from January until August 1968 General secretary of ÚV KSS; from April 1968 until December 1988 a member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (ÚV KSČ). From November 1968 until December 1988 he was a secretary of ÚV KSČ with significant influence on the foreign policy and the ideology of the party. In 1960–1989 he was a member of National Assembly, later Federal Assembly.

In 1968 he belonged to the exponents of the conservative wing in the KSČ, he supported the Soviet invasion and participated on the normalisation process after the political liberalization called the Prague Spring.

He was one of the politicians who signed the invitation letter for the armies of Warsaw Pact countries. In December 1989 he was suspended from the KSČ.

References

1. Kieran Williams, “The Prague Spring and its aftermath: Czechoslovak politics 1968-1970,” (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997).