Nationalism and Communism in Interplay

Abstract

After the disruption in 1938–9 it was out of the question to reconstitute Czechoslovakia without a substantial shift in the conditions of the Czech-Slovak partnership. Although President Beneš, supported by a considerable part of Czech political opinion, held to the concept of a Czechoslovak nation (this was his ‘scientific’ conviction) it was beyond his capacity to enforce this stance in practice. To secure the existence of post-war Czechoslovakia the goodwill of the USSR was supposed to be crucial; thus its views, as reflected in the policy of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, were to be respected. The electoral strength of this party, as evidenced in the parliamentary elections of 1946, gave a popular sanction to its policy. Furthermore, the cooperation of the democrats with the communists in the Slovak national uprising in September–October 1944 created a new institutional basis for Slovak national identity: the Slovak National Council as a legislative body and the Council of Commissioners as its executive organ.