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.From the perspective of that later time, Zden%1Å‚k MlynáYrued that his generation had no mature experience of democracy and hadbecomechildren of the war who, having not actually fought against anyone, brought ourwartime mentality with us into those first postwar years, when the opportunityto fight for something presented itself at last.To the question whom to fightagainst and in what cause, the age offered a simple reply: on the side of thosewho were most consistently and radically against the past, who were not cau-tious, who made no compromises with the past but strove to sweep it aside, toovercome it in a revolutionary way.8There was no doubt in the minds of many from that generation, no questionof the final outcome:We launched into the new era with all the élan, enthusiasm, sincerity and sec-tarianism of our twenty years.[expecting that] with banners flying and bandsplaying [we] would march into the wide-open gates of the millennium.Weran through those gates of paradise in 1945 and once again in 1948.9It is possible to argue that the Communists took political advantage of thenaiveté, enthusiasm and inexperience of the youth.Yet this fails to explainthe hundreds of thousands of older men and women who rushed to join theparty after liberation.At the conclusion of the Second World War the party Chapter 3: Four Groups of Postwar Czech Intellectuals 57had only 28,485 members, but the party rolls immediately began to swell,reaching 800,000 members by the end of 1945.10 In December 1945, Chair-man Gottwald set a target of 1 million members to be reached before theparty s Eighth Congress in March 1946.The goal was easily met: the organi-zational secretary reported that the party had 1,081,544 members.11 In 1947,in conjunction with the announcement of the Czechoslovak road to social-ism, Gottwald announced a target of 1,500,000 members to be reached be-fore the parliamentary elections scheduled for 1948.As a result of a series ofmembership drives, the party ranks had swelled to 1,393,778 by the end of1947, although only small gains were made among the targeted middle class.The importance of these figures is twofold.Above all, the immensity of theparty is indisputable: the Communist Party of the early postwar years was,and remains, the largest party in Czech history.At the end of 1947, therewere 1,266,140 Communists in the Czech lands alone.Based on the returnsfrom the 1946 parliamentary elections, this figure represents 23.1 percent ofthe voting public.The Communist Party dwarfed all the others, with the sec-ond-place National Socialist Party having less than half its number of mem-bers.12 The party was also the most widespread, having offices in 96 percentof localities across the republic, while the other parties were organized inonly between 60 and 70 percent.13 It was strongly represented in Prague,where its 190,000 members composed over a quarter of the voting-age pop-ulation.It was also relatively socially differentiated, drawing less than half ofits membership from the ranks of industrial laborers.14Significantly, the growth of the Communist Party also bears witness to thesuccess of the party s moderate course, one similar to that followed by theCommunist parties of the other young People s Democracies. The partyproclaimed the desire to follow a parliamentary road to socialism, while re-maining silent about the characteristics their socialism would bear.Theyaimed to win the hearts and minds of the Czech population by satisfyingits desires for a vaguely defined socialism and by offering a consistent alter-native vision of the national character and the Czech past, particularly thecrucial recent past.They portrayed their party as the legitimate heir to thegreatest Czech traditions and therefore the logical actor to lead the nationinto the future.This culminated in the twin announcements of the specificCzechoslovak road to socialism in the autumn of 1946 and the goal, an-nounced in January 1947, of gaining 51 percent of the vote in the 1948 elec-tions.Many of the party s members may well have been trying to cover fortheir collaborationist wartime past, and many may have been merely oppor-tunists.Nonetheless, the sheer size of the party shows that many came to be-lieve in its vision of the nation, its past and its future.While it is important to note here that the promulgation of a Czechoslo-vak road to socialism found its impetus in Moscow, the landmark domesticevent leading to its official announcement was the parliamentary elections of 58 Part I: Czech Intellectuals Enter the Postwar WorldMay 1946.These were crucial because the Communist victory served as bothjustification for the party s moderate policies and the decisive element in as-suring that this strategy would continue in the future.These elections werefree and fair, occurring under what one leading noncommunist politiciancalled normal conditions. The non-Communist Minister of Justice, writinglater in exile, drew the same conclusion:I consider it necessary to stress that in 1946 Czechoslovakia still had free elec-tions.It is necessary to substantiate this because part of our public and not aninsignificant part at that time denied it and did not want to recognize that thesewere free elections.Czechoslovak society had, in 1946, a real possibility todecide how the liberated state would be administered.All statements to the con-trary are incorrect.15In these elections the Communist Party emerged as by far the strongest inthe Czech lands, drawing over 40 percent of the vote (see table 3.1).The outcome was clear.The Communists had achieved a substantial plu-rality in both of the Czech lands, as well as in the leading city of each region,Prague and Brno.The party won in 138 of the 154 counties in the Czechlands and gained the chairmanship of over half of the local committees.Theparty did particularly well in the border regions formerly settled by ethnicallyGerman citizens and among Protestants, as well as surprisingly well amongrural voters.16 For the non-Communist parties, the results came as ashock. 17 In its self-congratulatory messages, the party accorded front-pageimportance to the position manifested by our intelligentsia, which collec-tively stood on the side of the Communists. 18 One leading anticommunist,after his flight into exile, explained that one important cause forthe movement to the left was the example set by Czech intellectuals, of whoma marked majority went over to the Communists, in so far as they were not[Communists] already.The Communists were skillful in taking advantage of this,and before the elections published long lists of intellectuals who had becomemembers of their party.19Table 3.1.Returns of the General Election of May 1946 in the Czech LandsBohemia Moravia TotalCommunist Party 1,541,852 (43.26%) 663,845 (34.46%) 2,205,697 (40.17%)National Socialists 898,425 (25.21%) 400,555 (20.79%) 1,289,980 (23.66%)People s Party 580,004 (16.27%) 531,005 (27.57%) 1,111,009 (20.24%)Social Democrats 533,029 (14.95%) 322,509 (16.74%) 855,538 (15.58%)Blank 10,969 (0.31%) 8,484 (0.44%) 19,453 (0.35%)Total 3,564,279 1,926,398 5,490,677(100.00%) (100.00%) (100 [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]
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.From the perspective of that later time, Zden%1Å‚k MlynáYrued that his generation had no mature experience of democracy and hadbecomechildren of the war who, having not actually fought against anyone, brought ourwartime mentality with us into those first postwar years, when the opportunityto fight for something presented itself at last.To the question whom to fightagainst and in what cause, the age offered a simple reply: on the side of thosewho were most consistently and radically against the past, who were not cau-tious, who made no compromises with the past but strove to sweep it aside, toovercome it in a revolutionary way.8There was no doubt in the minds of many from that generation, no questionof the final outcome:We launched into the new era with all the élan, enthusiasm, sincerity and sec-tarianism of our twenty years.[expecting that] with banners flying and bandsplaying [we] would march into the wide-open gates of the millennium.Weran through those gates of paradise in 1945 and once again in 1948.9It is possible to argue that the Communists took political advantage of thenaiveté, enthusiasm and inexperience of the youth.Yet this fails to explainthe hundreds of thousands of older men and women who rushed to join theparty after liberation.At the conclusion of the Second World War the party Chapter 3: Four Groups of Postwar Czech Intellectuals 57had only 28,485 members, but the party rolls immediately began to swell,reaching 800,000 members by the end of 1945.10 In December 1945, Chair-man Gottwald set a target of 1 million members to be reached before theparty s Eighth Congress in March 1946.The goal was easily met: the organi-zational secretary reported that the party had 1,081,544 members.11 In 1947,in conjunction with the announcement of the Czechoslovak road to social-ism, Gottwald announced a target of 1,500,000 members to be reached be-fore the parliamentary elections scheduled for 1948.As a result of a series ofmembership drives, the party ranks had swelled to 1,393,778 by the end of1947, although only small gains were made among the targeted middle class.The importance of these figures is twofold.Above all, the immensity of theparty is indisputable: the Communist Party of the early postwar years was,and remains, the largest party in Czech history.At the end of 1947, therewere 1,266,140 Communists in the Czech lands alone.Based on the returnsfrom the 1946 parliamentary elections, this figure represents 23.1 percent ofthe voting public.The Communist Party dwarfed all the others, with the sec-ond-place National Socialist Party having less than half its number of mem-bers.12 The party was also the most widespread, having offices in 96 percentof localities across the republic, while the other parties were organized inonly between 60 and 70 percent.13 It was strongly represented in Prague,where its 190,000 members composed over a quarter of the voting-age pop-ulation.It was also relatively socially differentiated, drawing less than half ofits membership from the ranks of industrial laborers.14Significantly, the growth of the Communist Party also bears witness to thesuccess of the party s moderate course, one similar to that followed by theCommunist parties of the other young People s Democracies. The partyproclaimed the desire to follow a parliamentary road to socialism, while re-maining silent about the characteristics their socialism would bear.Theyaimed to win the hearts and minds of the Czech population by satisfyingits desires for a vaguely defined socialism and by offering a consistent alter-native vision of the national character and the Czech past, particularly thecrucial recent past.They portrayed their party as the legitimate heir to thegreatest Czech traditions and therefore the logical actor to lead the nationinto the future.This culminated in the twin announcements of the specificCzechoslovak road to socialism in the autumn of 1946 and the goal, an-nounced in January 1947, of gaining 51 percent of the vote in the 1948 elec-tions.Many of the party s members may well have been trying to cover fortheir collaborationist wartime past, and many may have been merely oppor-tunists.Nonetheless, the sheer size of the party shows that many came to be-lieve in its vision of the nation, its past and its future.While it is important to note here that the promulgation of a Czechoslo-vak road to socialism found its impetus in Moscow, the landmark domesticevent leading to its official announcement was the parliamentary elections of 58 Part I: Czech Intellectuals Enter the Postwar WorldMay 1946.These were crucial because the Communist victory served as bothjustification for the party s moderate policies and the decisive element in as-suring that this strategy would continue in the future.These elections werefree and fair, occurring under what one leading noncommunist politiciancalled normal conditions. The non-Communist Minister of Justice, writinglater in exile, drew the same conclusion:I consider it necessary to stress that in 1946 Czechoslovakia still had free elec-tions.It is necessary to substantiate this because part of our public and not aninsignificant part at that time denied it and did not want to recognize that thesewere free elections.Czechoslovak society had, in 1946, a real possibility todecide how the liberated state would be administered.All statements to the con-trary are incorrect.15In these elections the Communist Party emerged as by far the strongest inthe Czech lands, drawing over 40 percent of the vote (see table 3.1).The outcome was clear.The Communists had achieved a substantial plu-rality in both of the Czech lands, as well as in the leading city of each region,Prague and Brno.The party won in 138 of the 154 counties in the Czechlands and gained the chairmanship of over half of the local committees.Theparty did particularly well in the border regions formerly settled by ethnicallyGerman citizens and among Protestants, as well as surprisingly well amongrural voters.16 For the non-Communist parties, the results came as ashock. 17 In its self-congratulatory messages, the party accorded front-pageimportance to the position manifested by our intelligentsia, which collec-tively stood on the side of the Communists. 18 One leading anticommunist,after his flight into exile, explained that one important cause forthe movement to the left was the example set by Czech intellectuals, of whoma marked majority went over to the Communists, in so far as they were not[Communists] already.The Communists were skillful in taking advantage of this,and before the elections published long lists of intellectuals who had becomemembers of their party.19Table 3.1.Returns of the General Election of May 1946 in the Czech LandsBohemia Moravia TotalCommunist Party 1,541,852 (43.26%) 663,845 (34.46%) 2,205,697 (40.17%)National Socialists 898,425 (25.21%) 400,555 (20.79%) 1,289,980 (23.66%)People s Party 580,004 (16.27%) 531,005 (27.57%) 1,111,009 (20.24%)Social Democrats 533,029 (14.95%) 322,509 (16.74%) 855,538 (15.58%)Blank 10,969 (0.31%) 8,484 (0.44%) 19,453 (0.35%)Total 3,564,279 1,926,398 5,490,677(100.00%) (100.00%) (100 [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]