Český národní výbor v Londýně proti vládám československé Národní fronty (vybrané dokumenty z let 1945–1947)
The Czech National Committee in London against the Czechoslovak National Front government (selected documents, 1945–1947)

Summary/Abstract: The Czech National Committee (CNC) headed by Lev Prchala, an army general, Karel Locher, a former diplomat of National Liberal orientation, and Vladimír Ležák-Borin, a left-wing journalist, was founded in April 1945 in London with the intention of succeeding the Czech National Association (CNA), which during WWII was in opposition to the Czechoslovak government-in-exile headed by President Edvard Beneš. CNA representatives criticised Beneš’s absolutist position on the exile anti-Nazi resistance as well as his unjustified usage of the title of president, his opposition to a federal arrangement for Czechs and Slovaks and his fundamental foreign policy orientation toward the Soviet Union. Carrying on in this vein, the CNC denounced the post-war political constellation in Czechoslovakia, the authoritarian National Front regime, the inordinate representation of Communists in the government and state bodies and the so-called Košice government programme and its fulfilment: prohibition of centre-right and right-wing political parties, criminalisation of political opponents, terrorising of Sudeten Germans and extensive nationalisation of property. At the same time, the CNC continually warned against the threat of the Sovietisation of Czechoslovakia. The documents presented, containing many controversial statements as well as imprecise and unsubstantiated claims, which are highlighted in the paper’s introduction and notes, are a representative, albeit incomplete, collection of the CNC’s published texts in the period prior to the Communist coup of February 1948. They provide evidence of an unrelenting political battle waged by this small group of Czech exiles who correctly judged that post-war political developments in Czechoslovakia were headed toward unchecked Communist Party rule. However, they had no means of retaliation.

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