As President Gottwald settled into office, his Prime Minister Nejedlý and Minister of the Interior, Nosek, implemented the final steps necessary to begin removing liberal influence in the government. In a move that drew objections from many liberal quarters, the Ministry of the Interior demoted several members of the VB that had been involved in the zealous "persecution" of communists in the aftermath of the Krčmaň Affair. The move drew sharp criticism from the ČSNS and ČSL, but they did little more than table resolutions in the Chamber of Deputies that, ultimately, were ignored by the Government or taken under advisement.

The military, too, saw many officers alleged to be coordinating with the British removed. A much-publicized purge of the Air Force followed revelations that Air Marshal Karel Janousek headed a ring of British spies in the military including the storied flying ace Karel Miloslav Kuttelwascher. In a daring escape, Kuttelwascher fled to the American occupation zone in Austria after stealing a civilian plane-- but Janousek fell into the hands of the VB and was imprisoned.

A public trial of former General Kutlvašr was held, wherein he named the British agent-- David Blake-- that contacted him and confessed to the crime of espionage. In light of his exemplary service in both world wars he was sentenced to house arrest, with every guest to visit him vetted by the StB.

Quietly, during the Kutlvašr trial and the outrage over the Janousek revelations, the charges against the Krčmaň conspirators were dropped.

Gottwald set to work dismantling the Constitution in small ways, but the writing was already on the wall. Veterans that served with the RAF would disappear in the night, reappearing in France or Germany stepping out of civilian planes and into Western custody, seeking asylum. StB and the Border Police began setting up checkpoints and monitoring airfields, but the defections continued.

In Washington, the high-profile defection of Ambassador Juraj Slavík and most of his staff embarrassed the Gottwald regime, and subsequent speeches called the Slovak-born diplomat a scoundrel and a traitor.

Liberal politicians began looking for their way out, as well. Arrests for "collaboration" with the British began to reach the ranks of the ČSNS, putting Petr Zenkl to flight-- he fled to London in November 1948, feeding the narrative and speeding the decline of the ČSNS.

For all these abuses, though, the liberals that remained in Czechoslovakia were stuck between their ideology and the truth. Gottwald had, for all they could see, won his place within the bounds of the law. How could they decry the electoral process without defaming the Czech and Slovak people, making themselves more unpopular?

The final blow came in December of 1948, when by Presidential decree-- citing the precedent of banning the Agrarian Party in 1946-- the ČSNS was banned for its support of British intervention in Czechoslovak affairs as evidenced by Zenkl's flight to London and numerous arrests made in the preceding months. Subsequently, the Prime Minister ejected ČSNS Deputies from the Chamber of Deputies-- per the Constitution, the Chamber could still function without them-- but the liberals walked out in protest.

The President, therefore, was "forced" to dissolve the Chamber of Deputies and call for new elections. These elections were decisive for the communists, and saw to it that the KSČ and KSS could nearly form a government independent of other parties. In the aftermath of the elections, several ČSSD Deputies changed their affiliations to the KSČ-- whether or not they made that decision independent of external urging is a matter of speculation-- and granted that capability to Nejedlý.

By the end of 1948, the KSČ had effectively gained control over the country. Many ČSNS Deputies fled over the border into Hungary or into Germany, where they boarded flights to France, the United Kingdom, or even the United States. Without ČSNS, many ČSL and DS Deputies began doing the same. Persecution came for those who did not. Prokop Drtina joined Petr Zenkl and Juraj Slavík in exile, and they were soon joined by Jan Šrámek, Ján Ursíny, and Hubert Ripka. A late-night escape with the aid of several ČsOL members who had served with the RAF spirited former Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk to safety, spawning photographs of the son of the founder of Czechoslovakia disembarking at an airstrip in Alsace in his pajamas.

These defections were, of course, of little concern to Klement Gottwald. The liberals were infinitely less dangerous barking outside the windows than they were circling him in Prague. He celebrated New Year's Eve as President of Czechoslovakia, undisputed ruler of the country-- they celebrated overseas as political refugees.