„Nemáme strach z československé Mischkultur“: Identitotvorné politiky lidové fronty KSČ v německojazyčném a slovenskojazyčném prostředí mezi lety 1935 a 1938
"We Are Not Afraid of Czechoslovak Mischkultur": Identity-forming Policies of the Communist Party’s Popular Front in German- and Slovak-speaking Areas between 1935 and 1938

Summary/Abstract: Using approaches from cultural political history, this study analyses how the multi-ethnic Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (Komunistická strana Československa, KSČ) adopted Popular Front tactics in Slovak- and German-speaking areas in the late 1930s, as conceived at the Moscow headquarters of the communist movement in 1935. These tactics were based on a common struggle against fascism in alliance with other left-wing and anti-fascist forces, in this particular case in defence of the Czechoslovak Republic – which had previously been rejected as a bourgeois construct in accordance with the thesis of the right to national self-determination up to secession – against the threat of aggression from Nazi Germany. Through a reconstruction of two demonstrations in the summer of 1938 in Liberec (Reichenberg) in northern Bohemia and Košice (Kassa in Hungarian, Kaschau in German) in eastern Slovakia, the author sheds light on the broader aspects of this transformation in party politics. He shows how contemporary and historical narratives (for example, those concerning the medieval Hussite movement) were developed within the ranks of the KSČ to encompass not only the ethnically defined Czechoslovak nation, but also representatives of national minorities. These narratives were intended not only to promote the brotherhood of nations, but also to facilitate the development of a Czechoslovak Mischkultur, that is a shared culture of all nationalities in the country. As part of these supra-ethnic, shared Czechoslovak ideas, the Communist Party also adopted state symbols ranging from the Czechoslovak flag and army to the figure of the country’s first president, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (1850–1937). The text also discusses the party’s visions for the country’s future, when, as part of a tactical shift, the KSČ held on to the idea of a revolution modelled on the Soviet example, but one that was to take place within Czechoslovakia’s borders and lead to national reconciliation in the country. The study shows that the KSČ’s policy shift was not merely a change of tactics in accordance with Comintern instructions, affecting only its Czech core, but rather a complex phenomenon permeating the entire communist movement within the state. However, there were noticeable differences between the Slovak and German sections of the party. The main focus was on the threat posed by Nazi Germany and the rise of the Sudeten German Party (Sudetendeutsche Partei, SdP) in the west of the country, while the question of Slovakia remained rather marginal. Thus, communist policy sought to build on the traditions of Czech-German internationalism within the socialist movement of the Czech lands, and certain similarities can be found between the KSČ’s approach and that of the German social democrats in Czechoslovakia. As in the period following its foundation, the KSČ maintained a predominantly Czech-German character during the late 1930s, despite a decline in support among the German-speaking electorate.

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