Socialism and Democracy in Czechoslovakia: 1945-1948

312 Pages·1981·3.228 MB·English

by  M. R. Myant

SOCIALISM AND DEMOCRACY IN
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
I945-I948
SOVIET AND EAST EUROPEAN STUDIES
Editorial Board
JOHN BARBER, ARCHIE BROWN, KAREN DAWISHA, MICHAEL KASER,
ALISTAIR MCAULEY, ALEX PRAVDA, FRED SINGLETON
The National Association for Soviet and East European
Studies exists for the purpose of promoting study and
research on the social sciences as they relate to the Soviet
Union and the countries of Eastern Europe. The Mono­
graph Series is intended to promote the publication of
works presenting substantial and original research in the
economics, politics, sociology and modern history of the
USSR and Eastern Europe.
SOVIET AND EAST EUROPEAN STUDIES
Books in the series
A. Boltho Foreign Trade Criteria in Socialist Economies
Sheila Fitzpatrick The Commissariat of Enlightenment
Donald Male Russian Peasant Organisation before Collectivisation
P. Wiles, ed. The Prediction of Communist Economic Performance
Vladimir V. Kusin The Intellectual Origins of the Prague Spring
Galia Golan The Czechoslovak Reform Movement
NaumJasny Soviet Economists of the Twenties
Asha L. Datar India's Relations with the USSR
and Eastern Europe, 195:]-1969
T. M. Podolski Socialist Banking and Monetary Control
Rudolf Bicanic Economic Policy in Socialist Yugoslavia
S. Galai Liberation in Russia
Richard B. Day Leon Trotsky and the Politics of Economic Isolation
G. Hosking The Russian Constitutional Experiment: Government
and Duma 1907-14
A. Teichova An Economic Background to Munich
J. Ciechanowski The Warsaw Rising of 1944
Edward A. Hewett Foreign Trade Prices in the Council
for Mutual Economic Assistance
Daniel F. Calhoun The United Front: the TUC and the Russians 192:]-28
Galia Golan Tom Kippur and After: the Soviet Union
and the Middle East Crisis
Maureen Perrie The Agrarian Policy of the Russian Socialist-Revolutionary
Party from its origins through the revolutions of 1905-1907
Gabriel Gorodetsky The Precarious Truce: Anglo-Soviet Relations 1924-27
Paul Vysny Neo-Slavism and the Czechs 189�1914
James Riordan Sport in Soviet Society: Development of Sport
and Physical Education in Russia and the USSR
Gregory Walker Soviet Book Publishing Policy
Felicity Ann O'Dell Socialisation through Children's Literature:
The Soviet Example
Stella Alexander Church and State in Yugoslavia since 1945
Sheila Fitzpatrick Education and Social Mobility in the Soviet Union 1921-1934
T. H. Rigby Lenin's Government: Sovnarkom 1917-1922
M. Cave Computers and Economic Planning: The Soviet Experience
Jozef M. van Brabant Socialist Economic Integration; Aspects of contemporary
economic problems in Eastern Europe
R. F. Leslie, ed. The History of Poland since 1863
SOCIALISM AND DEMOCRACY
IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA
1945-1948
M.R.MYANT
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE
LONDON NEW YORK NEW ROCHELLE
MELBOURNE SYDNEY
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A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
ISBN9 78-0-521-23668-3 hardback
ISBN9 78-0-521-06716-4 paperback
Contents
Acknowledgements page vii
Abbreviations ix
Introduction I
The development of the Communist Party of
Czechoslovakia 6
2 War and occupation 25
3 The national revolution 53
4 The national revolution in Slovakia 91
5 Czech political parties 105
6 The Gottwald government 131
7 Deepening divisions 160
8 Prelude to February 181
9 The February crisis 200
10 Post-February Czechoslovakia 219
Notes 243
Bibliography 275
Index 293
v

Acknowledgements
It would be impossible to name individually all those who have
contributed in one way or another towards this work. Numerous
people have provided advice, ideas and encouragement at various
stages and conversations with many of those who lived through the
events covered in the book were extremely helpful. Without their
comments it would have been very difficult to make much sense
of what was happening.
Special mention must be made of Vladimir Kusi'.n who supervised
my PhD at Glasgow University and made innumerable useful
suggestions. I would also like to thank those who made it possible
for me to spend a year in Prague on a British Council studentship.
My supervisors there were Cestmi'.r Amort and Vaclav Kral and
they gave some helpful general advice. They also made access to
some sources easier as did Mrs Bliihova of Bratislava on an earlier
occasion. More recently the editors of the NASEES monograph
series gave helpful advice on how to reduce the work to publish­
able length.
I am also indebted to C. Crampton, Myra Black, Ella Kininmonth,
and Janette Johnstone who typed various parts of the work, and to
those who provided financial assistance. For two years at Glasgow
University I was supported by a Francis T. Hunter Scholarship
and for a period after that I was dependent on my wife who also
spent a great deal of time improving the successive versions of
the work.
vii

Abbreviations
CKD Ceskomoravska Kolben Danek (Prague engineering combine).
CNR Ceska narodni rada; Czech National Council.
DS Demokraticka strana; Democratic Party.
HSL'S Hlinkova slovenska l'udova strana; Hlinka Slovak People's
Party.
JSCZ Jednotny svaz ceskych zemedelcu; United Union of Czech
Farmers.
JZSR Jednotny zviiz slovenskych rol'nikov; United Union of Slovak
Farmers.
Kes Koruna ceskoslovenska.
KSC Komunisticka strana Ceskoslovenska; Communist Party of
Czechoslovakia.
KSS Komunisticka strana Slovenska; Communist Party of Slovakia.
LD Lidovd demokracie; People's Democracy (see bibliography).
LS Lidova strana; People's Party.
NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
NKVD Narodny komisariat vnutrennikh del; People's Commissariat
of Internal Affairs.
NS National Socialist, abbreviated from CsSNS Ceskoslovenska
strana narodne socialisticka; Czechoslovak National Socialist
Party.
PL Prdvo lidu; Right of the People (see bibliography).
ROH Revolueni odborove hnuti; Revolutionary Trade Union
Movement.
RP Rude prdvo; Red Right (see bibliography).
R-3 Rada tfi; Council of Three.
SCM Svaz ceskoslovenske mladeze; Union of Czechoslovak Youth.
SD Social Democrat.
SNR Slovenska narodna rada; Slovak National Council.
SS Svobodne slovo; Free Word (see bibliography).
UNRRA United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.
UPK Ustfedni planovaci komise; Central Planning Commission.
URO Ustfedni rada odboru; Central Council of Trade Unions.
ZVOJPOV Zviiz vojakov povstania; Union of Soldiers of the Uprising.
ix