Československá strana národně socialistická

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The historical emblem of the ČSNS shows a hammer and a pen. They symbolize the unity of physical and mental work.

The Československá strana národně socialistická (abbreviated ČSNS ; German  Czechoslovak National Socialist or People's Socialist Party ) was a moderate and reformist - socialist party in Czechoslovakia . It was in 1897 in the then to Austria-Hungary belonging to countries of the Bohemian crown as a splinter group from the Social Democrats and the " Young Czechs founded". In its history it changed name several times, until the First World War it was called Česká strana národně sociální (Czech National Social Party).

In the First Czechoslovak Republic (between the world wars) it played a leading role in parliamentary democracy. Its most prominent representatives were President Edvard Beneš and Milada Horáková . In the ČSSR , the party was called Československá strana socialistická (ČSS; Czechoslovak Socialist Party) and, as a block party, had to submit to the communists . After the Velvet Revolution in 1989, it did not succeed in building on its former importance, and in 1996 it resigned from the Czech Parliament. Since 1997, several small parties based on the tradition of the ČSNS have emerged.

Surname

The literal translation of the Czech attribute národně sociální (as it was already in the party name in 1898) or národně socialistická would be “national-social” or “national-socialist”. Because of the misleading association with German National Socialism , the term “people's socialist” or the term “people's socialists” is often used in German for the party.

history

Founding in Austria-Hungary (1897-1918)

Party founder Václav Klofáč (around 1930)

The party came into being in 1897 when some Czech MPs in the Austrian Reichstag left the Czech Social Democratic Party ( Česká strana sociálně democická , ČSSD). On the other hand, the founders came from the national liberal party of the “ Young Czechs ”. The long-time chairman (1899–1938) Václav Klofáč was one of them . The orientation of the ČSSD, which was an autonomous section of the Austrian Social Democratic Workers' Party , was not national enough for them. Unlike the ČSSD, which advocated the unity of workers of all nationalities in the Danube Monarchy, the ČSNS strove for an independent Czech state. The National Socialists and the “Young Czechs” established the right to these historically, while the Social Democrats refused to appeal to “historical privileges and documents”.

The ČSNS also differed from the Marxist ČSSD in that it did not want a class struggle , but an alliance of all layers for the independence and unity of the Czech nation. Accordingly, its members included small farmers and tradespeople, white-collar workers, entrepreneurs and teachers in addition to workers. Their symbol was a hammer, which crosses itself with a quill, as a symbol for the unity of the physical and mental workers. Their idea of ​​socialism was not revolutionary, but limited to social reforms. It represented a romantic nationalism and Pan-Slavism and a transfiguration of Czech history. She distinguished herself from the “Young Czechs”, who were also nationally influenced, in that they were not radical and not democratic enough for her. The ČSNS and in particular its youth organization Mladé Proudy ('Young Currents') were also expressly anti-militarist. But an essential element of their appearance was also anti-Semitic demagogy. Its program was quite similar to the German National Workers 'Union and the German Workers' Party , which were active at the same time among the German Bohemians .

Former building of the Melantrich publishing house in Prague

An influential media network was associated with ČSNS, including the Melantrich publishing house , the national daily České slovo and a number of local newspapers. It built a differentiated organizational structure down to the local level. Its focus was on Bohemia, where it had 78,184 members in 1913, compared to 3,400 in Moravia and 1,800 in Upper and Lower Austria. The members were often closely integrated into a network of the party and its support organizations . The national-social unions played the most important role. In the founding years, several branch unions joined the National Socialist, the largest of which was the railway workers' union. In the accident insurance elections in 1898 they were almost on a par with the social democratic unions. The 'Czech Workers' Congregation ' ( Česká obec dělnícká , ČOD) was created as the umbrella organization for the national-social unions . The ČSNS also maintained a youth association with theater and music groups, sports teams, scout groups, libraries and women's committees.

High phase in the Czechoslovak Republic (1918–1939)

Edvard Beneš (around 1942)

After the founding of Czechoslovakia in 1918, it was renamed the 'Czechoslovak Socialist Party' ( Československá strana socialistická ). It became the reservoir for the non-Marxist left in the republic and renounced the emphatically national aspect. So the anarchists also joined the party, but left it again by 1923. The party had its greatest influence in the interwar period. It always achieved around 9% of the vote in parliamentary elections. 1918–1926 and 1929–1938 she was part of the government coalitions. She supported the first Czechoslovak President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk , who was in office from 1918 to 1935. From 1923, his later successor Edvard Beneš was himself a member of the party. The women's rights activist Milada Horáková was also active in the party.

In 1926 the party decided to rename itself again and adopted the name 'Czechoslovak National Socialist (or' People's Socialist ') Party' ( Československá strana národně socialistická , ČSNS). At that time there was also a wing in the party that apparently sympathized with the Radola Gajdas fascist movement . In the internal party dispute, however, the Democrats prevailed. When the party realized that its ambitious socialization goals , which it wanted to achieve step by step and through parliamentary channels, could not be achieved, it moved away from these and only demanded participation and profit-sharing rights for workers. They subordinated their once socialist objectives to the endeavor to defend the republic against attacks from left and right wingers. It was therefore considered the “state-supporting” party of Czechoslovakia.

The party did not belong to any of the classic party families. Admission to the Socialist International was refused in 1923 at the instigation of the rival ČSSD, which was already a member there. The party had no essential parallels with Hitler's Nazi regime of the same name, which was emerging in Germany . Their anti-Semitism was never based on race and was eventually given up entirely under the influence of the humanist Masaryk. In addition, the ČSNS defended parliamentary democracy and individual freedom. In contrast to the NSDAP, whose electorate was essentially to be found in the middle class, the ČSNS had retained its roots as a workers' party. Your trade union confederation ČOD had a great influence on the party. There were related parties only in Yugoslav Slovenia (also under the name National Socialist Party ) and in Poland ( National Workers' Party ). There were regular exchanges with the Russian Social Revolutionaries . Sporadic contacts also existed with the French Parti républicain, radical et radical-socialiste .

After the Munich Conference in 1938, the party was largely absorbed by Rudolf Beran's “ruling party” Strana národní jednoty (“Party of National Unity”) . A minority joined forces with the ČSSD to form the National Labor Party , the “loyal opposition party”. After the invasion of the Wehrmacht and the establishment of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia , it was banned. Members of the ČSNS were active in the resistance against the German occupation . Edvard Beneš was in exile at the time, and the ČSNS was also involved in the Czechoslovak government in exile .

Election results in the first Czechoslovak Republic 1918–1938
choice Share of the vote Mandates
General election 1920 8.1% 24
General election 1925 8.6% 28
General election 1929 10.4% 32
General election 1935 9.2% 28

Post-war period (1945–1948)

In 1945 the party renewed itself initially under the chairmanship of Petr Zenkl . She participated in the National Front and its transitional government under the Social Democrat Zdeněk Fierlinger . Edvard Beneš was again President. In the parliamentary elections in Czechoslovakia in 1946 , it was the second strongest party behind the Communists (KSČ) with 18.29% of the vote and 55 parliamentary seats . Then she was again part of the broad government coalition under Prime Minister Klement Gottwald .

In order to protest against the increasing dominance of the KSČ, the ministers of the ČSNS resigned in February 1948. This turned out to be a tactical mistake, since the withdrawal did not lead to new elections as hoped, but rather the communists used the situation to cement their power in the so-called February coup. So the party lost its political importance. Many important party members went into exile, including chairman Petr Zenkl. Beneš continued to serve as president until June 1948 and died a few months later. Milada Horáková was arrested and sentenced to death in a show trial .

Block Party during Real Socialism (1948–1989)

Logo of the block party ČSS

The party survived as an insignificant bloc party under the revived name 'Czechoslovak Socialist Party' ( Československá strana socialistická , ČSS) as part of the National Front the further years under the communist governments from 1948 to 1989. It was represented in parliament, but its seat share was increased always determined by the communist-dominated National Front when nominations are made.

During the Prague Spring 1968, the ČSS supported the reformers, and its membership grew rapidly during this time. After its failure, the party leadership again submitted to the National Front in 1969. At the 1972 party congress at the latest, the anti-reformist tendency established itself in the party as a whole. At the beginning of the 1970s there was still a group of ČSS members in Brno who formed an illegal opposition group.

After the failed Prague Spring, the number of members of the ČSS (as well as the ČSL) was limited to 10,000 by the statutes. Their clientele consisted mainly of employees and members of the middle class. In the 1986–1990 electoral period, the ČSS - just like the ČSL - occupied 11 of the 200 seats in the People's Chamber and provided 7 of the 75 Czech MPs in the National Chamber of the Federal Assembly (it was not represented in the Slovak part). It maintained friendly relations with the Liberal Democratic Party of Germany (LDPD), which played a comparable role as a bloc party in the neighboring GDR . From 1970 to 1986 the later Social Democratic Prime Minister Jiří Paroubek belonged to the ČSS.

After the 1989 revolution

After the Velvet Revolution of 1989, the party failed to regain the influence it had had during the interwar period. From 1992 to 1996 she was represented as part of the list connection Liberálně sociální unie (LSU; "Liberal-Social Union") with the Greens and the Agrarian Party with a few members in the Czech Chamber of Deputies . In June 1993 the ČSS left the Liberal-Social Union and changed its name to Liberální strana národně sociální (LSNS; "Liberal National-Social Party").

In the run-up to the 1996 elections , she joined forces with the Free Democrats (the former “citizens' movement”) to form Svobodní democé - Liberální strana národně sociální (SD-LSNS; “Free Democrats - Liberal National Social Party”) and the well-known dissident and former Czechoslovak Foreign Minister Jiří Dienstbier took over the chairmanship together with Vavřinec Bodenlos . A large part of the LSNS MPs rejected this merger and switched to Občanské národní hnutí (ONAH; "National Citizens' Movement"). With 2.05%, the SD-LSNS clearly missed re-entry into the House of Representatives. Dienstbier and a few other former dissidents active in the party left the party.

Splinter parties from 1997

After the disintegration of the SD-LSNS, the remaining hull took on the historical name Česká strana národně sociální (ČSNS; "Czech National Social Party") in 1997 . However, this was also unsuccessful in elections (0.3% in the 1998 parliamentary elections ; 0.8% in 2002 ). She was only indirectly represented in Parliament from 1999 to 2002, when MP Marie Machatá transferred from the Freedom Union to the ČSNS.

After a bankruptcy in 2005, the party re-established itself under the name Česká strana národně sociální 2005 (ČSNS 2005; "Czech National Social Party 2005"), which one year later was renamed Česká strana národně socialistická ("Czech People's Socialist Party") renamed. However, this formation only gained greater prominence and importance in 2011, when the former Czech Prime Minister and chairman of the ČSSD Jiří Paroubek (a former member of the ČSS block party) left the Social Democrats and negotiated a transfer with the ČSNS in 2005. On November 26th 2011 there was a founding party convention of a new party, in which the ČSNS from 2005 was absorbed. The party gave itself the name Národní socialisté - levice 21. století (NS-LEV 21 or LEV 21; "People's Socialists - Left of the 21st Century") and elected Paroubek as its new chairman. This party was represented 2011-2013 with two non-attached members in the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament, since Paroubek and his party colleague Jiří Šlégr took their parliamentary mandates when converting from the ČSSD to the People's Socialists. In the 2013 elections , however, the party lost its seats with a share of 0.08 percent of the vote and has not been represented in the Czech Parliament since then.

In addition to the Národní socialisté – LEV 21 (since 2017 only called Národní socialisté ), the Česká strana národně sociální (ČSNS) , which went bankrupt in 2005, is still politically active. It was led by Michal Klusáček from 2012 to 2019 . However, this party has hardly any political influence, has no longer obtained a parliamentary mandate at the national level and is only represented in a few local parliaments. In the 2013 parliamentary elections , she entered into a list connection with Petr Hannig's right-wing populist Suverenita - Strana zdravého rozumu ("Sovereignty - Common Sense Party") (which, however, also remained unsuccessful). The Národní socialisté cooperated with the right-wing extremist Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti (DSSS; "Workers' Party for Social Justice") in the 2017 parliamentary elections . However, both parties lay claim to the historical legacy.

Development of the party name

  • 1897 - 1898 Strana národních dělníků (National Workers' Party)
  • 1898 - 1914 Česká strana národně sociální (Czech National Social Party)
  • 1918 Česká strana socialistická (Czech Socialist Party)
  • 1918 - 1926 Československá strana socialistická (Czechoslovak Socialist Party)
  • 1926 - 1938 , 1945 - 1948 Československá strana národně socialistická (Czechoslovak National Socialist Party)
  • 1948 - 1993 Československá strana socialistická (Czechoslovak Socialist Party)
  • 1993 - 1995 Liberální strana národně sociální (Liberal National Social Party)
Logo after the merger with Svobodní Demokratie
Merger with Svobodní Demokraté
  • 1995 - 1997 Svobodní democé - Liberální strana národně sociální (Free Democrats - Liberal National Social Party)
cleavage
  • Since 1997 Česká strana národně sociální (Czech National Social Party)
  • 2005 - 2006 Česká strana národně sociální 2005 (Czech National Social Party 2005)
  • since 2006 Česká strana národně socialistická (Czech National Socialist Party)
  • In addition, the National Socialists - Left of the 21st Century have been active since 2011 and also lay claim to the historical legacy.

Chairperson

Petr Zenkl (1930s)
Alois Neuman (1948)
SD-LSNS
Česká strana národně sociální from 1997

Web links

literature

  • Detlef Brandes : The Czechoslovak National Socialists. In: Karl Bosl (ed.): The first Czechoslovak Republic as a multinational party state. Oldenbourg, Munich et al. 1979, ISBN 3-486-49181-4 , pp. 101-154.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See, for example, Karel Kaplan: The political processes in Czechoslovakia, 1948–1954. Oldenbourg, Munich 1986, p. 12.
  2. ↑ Detlef Brandes: The Czechoslovak National Socialists. In: Karl Bosl (ed.): The first Czechoslovak Republic as a multinational party state. 1979, pp. 101-154, here pp. 101-102.
  3. ↑ Detlef Brandes: The Czechoslovak National Socialists. In: Karl Bosl (ed.): The first Czechoslovak Republic as a multinational party state. 1979, pp. 101-154, here p. 104.
  4. ^ Hugh LeCaine Agnew: The Czechs and the Lands of the Bohemian Crown (= Hoover Institution Press Publication. 526). Hoover Institution Press, Stanford CA 2004, ISBN 0-8179-4491-5 , p. 150.
  5. ↑ Jan Havránek: The Czech pacifism and anti-militarism on the eve of the First World War. In: Gernot Heiss, Heinrich Lutz (Ed.): Peace Movements. Conditions and effects (= Viennese contributions to the history of modern times. Vol. 11). Oldenbourg, Munich 1984, ISBN 3-486-52421-6 , pp. 114-135, here p. 121 ff.
  6. ↑ Detlef Brandes: The Czechoslovak National Socialists. In: Karl Bosl (ed.): The first Czechoslovak Republic as a multinational party state. 1979, pp. 101-154, here p. 149.
  7. ↑ Detlef Brandes: The Czechoslovak National Socialists. In: Karl Bosl (ed.): The first Czechoslovak Republic as a multinational party state. 1979, pp. 101-154, here p. 148.
  8. ↑ Detlef Brandes: The Czechoslovak National Socialists. In: Karl Bosl (ed.): The first Czechoslovak Republic as a multinational party state. 1979, pp. 101-154, here pp. 144-145.
  9. ↑ Detlef Brandes: The Czechoslovak National Socialists. In: Karl Bosl (ed.): The first Czechoslovak Republic as a multinational party state. 1979, pp. 101-154, here p. 150.
  10. ↑ Detlef Brandes: The Czechoslovak National Socialists. In: Karl Bosl (ed.): The first Czechoslovak Republic as a multinational party state. 1979, pp. 101-154, here pp. 150-152.
  11. ↑ a b Rick Fawn, Jiří Hochman: Historical Dictionary of the Czech State. 2nd edition, Scarecrow Press, Lanham (MD) et al. a. 2010, pp. 65–66, entry Czechoslovak National Socialist Party .
  12. ^ Karel Vodička : The political system of the Czech Republic. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2005, p. 25 ( online ).
  13. ↑ Stanislav Balík, Jan Holzer, Jakub Šedo: Velvet and gentle - wherever you look: The so-called "velvet" revolution in Czechoslovakia. In: Detlef Pollack , Jan Wielgohs (Ed.): Actors or Profiteurs? The Democratic Opposition in the East Central European regime changes in 1989. VS-Verlag, Wiesbaden 2010, ISBN 978-3-531-15576-0 , pp. 183–201, here p. 192, doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-531-92462- 5_11 .
  14. ^ Oldřich Tůma: Opposition in Czechoslovakia. A historical overview. In: Detlef Pollack, Jan Wielgohs (Ed.): Actors or Profiteurs? The Democratic Opposition in the East Central European regime changes in 1989. VS-Verlag, Wiesbaden 2010, ISBN 978-3-531-15576-0 , pp. 19–39, here p. 26, doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-531-92462- 5_2 .
  15. ^ Joachim Amm: The Federal Assembly of the CSSR: Socialist Parliamentarism in Unitarian Federalism, 1969–1989. Pp. 51-52.
  16. ↑ Miroslav Kunštát: German unity as a recognized necessity - the Czechoslovakian perspective. In: Michael Gehler, Maximilian Graf: Europe and German Unity. Observations, decisions and consequences. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2017, pp. 567–597, here p. 580.
  17. ^ Karel Vodička: The party system of the Czech Republic. In: Dieter Segert u. a .: Party systems in post-communist societies in Eastern Europe. Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen 1997, pp. 90-134, here p. 122.
  18. ↑ a b Tom Lansford (Ed.): Political Handbook of the World 2018–2019. CQ Press, Los Angeles et al. a. 2019, entry Czech National Social Party .
  19. ↑ Hannig: suverenita před volbami posiluje. In: Parlamentní Listy , December 22, 2013.
  20. ↑ DSSS a představitelé Národních socialistů se rozhodli spolupracovat na volební kampani v rámci voleb do Poslanecké sněmovny. In: Parlamentní Listy , 24 August 2017.