Czechoslovak Political Prisoners - über das Projekt Political ...

political parties and especially to President Edvard Beneš 4 , but they all finally conceded. For
the nationalized organization the compensation was supposed to be paid, but that never happened.
In the end, more then 60 % of the industrial production was nationalized.
The next big change in the possessive relations was the agrarian reform. That meant the
confiscation of land from Germans, Hungarians, collaborators, and enemies of the state whose
land was given back to people who did not have any land and to small farmers. All though
this was mainly land located in the Czechoslovakian border area there were also changes happening
in the interior 5 . The reform dispatched large private estates and the face of the village
changed because the socially weaker population left. This agrarian reform was done mainly by
the Communist Party, which received a lot of future votes as a result.
The successful elections of the Communist Party
The first postwar elections in Czechoslovakia took place May 26, 1946 and for a long time these
were the last democratic parliamentary elections. In the Czech lands four different parties were
campaigning: Communist, Social Democratic, National Social, and the People’s Party. In Slovakia
there were two possible winners, the Democrats or the Communists, but just before the elections
two more parties were established which were the Party of Freedom and the Labor Party. The voters
who did not agree with the present regime and existing parties had the chance to express it with
the so-called, “white ballots.” It was expected that these ballots would be used by the supporters
of the prohibited parties. The Communists came up with this idea of the white ballots and other
parties thought it was a trick and originally did not agree with this suggestion. The Communist
Party was bringing many mottos and slogans to the campaign, but most of them were just varieties
of one theme, “More work for the country, that’s our issue.” It also proclaimed that it would work,
without benefit to themselves, on construction and farming. The economic effect of this activity
was not big, but it brought them powerful political power. The Communist Party got over 40 % of
the total vote and for the first time in the history of Czechoslovakian it got into the government.
It was benefiting mainly from the postwar attitudes and expectations and its ideas spread mainly
between the middle class and rural folk. It mainly got the votes of the already mentioned Agrarian
Party, which was not renewed. The day after the elections, Monday May 27, the newspaper, “Rudé
Právo” 6 came up with banner headlines, “Communists as a Leading Power of the Nation – No political
party ever had so much support before – In the most democratic elections the population
proved and extended the Communist mandate – The nation is happy – Only a few people used the
white ballots against the People’s Democratic Regime and against the National Front.”
President Beneš was again elected unanimously to be the head of state and on July 2, 1946
he named the new government, which was represented by the Communist Prime Minister,
Klement Gottwald. The government put in its program a new constitution and a two-year economic
plan, so that within two years the postwar damaged economy would be renewed.
4 Edvard Beneš – Edward Beneš was the second President after T.G. Masaryk from 1935 to 1938. He was also a President
in exile in 1940 –1945 and the President of Czechoslovakia after the War (1945 –1948). Together with T.G. Masaryk and
M. R. Štefánik, he took part in the resistance movement during WW I and he is one of the founders of Czechoslovakia.
After the WWII his position of President was confirmed and he was newly elected on June 19, 1946. He was one of the
leaders of the 1 st resistance group and the head of the 2 nd resistance group.
5 Collectivization took place in Czechoslovakia during the 1950’s. As a result the major part of agricultural land was centered
into JZD – Unified Cooperative Farms. This process was not without violence and threats.
6 Rudé právo – (in English „Red right“) before 1989 a daily newspaper of the Communist Party.
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