Bohumír Šmeral

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Bohumír Šmeral

Bohumír Šmeral (born October 25, 1880 in Třebíč , † May 8, 1941 in Moscow ) was a Czech politician , journalist and publicist. He was party leader of the Czech Social Democratic Party , co-founder of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and a member of the Executive Committee of the Communist International .

Life

Childhood and youth

Šmeral came from the family of a teacher. Even during his school days at high school , Šmeral was involved in the social democratic party and joined the social democratic association Pokrok (progress). In 1898 he began to study law at Charles University in Prague and received his doctorate in August 1904. From 1899 he worked as an editor of the newspaper Práva lidu ( People's Rights ). He was a staunch Marxist . His vision of a socialist state was based on the existence of parliamentary democracy . From 1903 to 1904 he appeared alongside workers 'leaders as a speaker at workers' meetings and published some political works.

Political career

His tenacity, high intellect, willingness to make sacrifices and discipline ultimately led to his being elected to the party's executive committee in August 1909 and a member of the Austrian Reichsrat in 1911 . There he was appointed negotiator of the MPs' club and thus had a decisive influence on the editorial board of the Práva lidu.

At the beginning of the First World War he was one of the most capable politicians of the Czech social democracy, whose brain and leader he was, according to his biographer Jan Galandauer. At this time he officially took over the party leadership after Antonín Němec and headed the Práva lidu as editor-in-chief. In 1916 he was appointed second chairman of the overall organization of Czech deputies in the Reichsrat. Until the end of the First World War he advocated the retention of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy and against the establishment of Czechoslovakia, as he was an opponent of small states. For this he was also criticized in his own party, especially by Gustav Habrman , František Soukup , František Tomášek , Rudolf Bechyně and other representatives of Masaryk politics .

Šmeral then renounced all of his political functions. This led to a massive resignation of numerous members who were critical of his thoughts on the continuation of the monarchy, but generally supported his policy. His sympathy for the labor movement finally led him to rethink, and Šmeral no longer represented the ideas of the bourgeois politicians, but the working people. In September 1918 he joined the Socialist Party, an association of social democrats ( ČSSD ) and socialists (CSSN). After the establishment of Czechoslovakia , he withdrew completely from public life, refused to take part in the Revolutionary National Assembly and to work in the government.

In the spring of 1920 he visited the Soviet Union and took part in negotiations with Lenin . After his return he appeared as a leader of the Marxist left. In May 1921, Šmeral took an active part in founding the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( KSČ ). At the inaugural session he was the keynote speaker, then as the movement's leading figure. Šmeral himself was repeatedly criticized by representatives of the radical left, such as the later President Klement Gottwald , for his political views. Since 1926 he was a member of the executive committee of the Communist International and stayed regularly in Moscow .

From the mid-1930s he often stayed outside of Czechoslovakia. In November 1938 Šmeral went to Moscow , from where Stalin sent him to the Mongolian People's Republic as a party advisor . Regarding the “ political cleansing ” carried out during his presence , he said: “The people of Mongolia are not important, the country is important. Mongolia is bigger than England, France and Germany combined. ”Between 1937 and 1940, an estimated 30,000 people fell victim to communist terror in Mongolia.

Bohumír Šmeral died in Moscow on May 8, 1941.

Honor

The former foundry and machine factory Ignác Storek Brno , Czech Republic, where the first Kaplan turbine was built in 1918 , was confiscated and nationalized after 1945 . Then it was called from 1949 "Spojené strojírny a slévárny Bohumíra Šmerala, np" and 1959 "Šmeralovy závody" and now called Šmeral Brno as The notified the district Bohunice after bohumír šmeral Brünnerstraße Šmeralova in 1991 Pod nemocnicí renamed.

Works (selection)

  • Kdo jsou a co chtějí sociální democé [Who the Social Democrats are and what they want] (1906)
  • Materálie k dějinám dělnického hnutí [Materials on the history of the labor movement] (1906)
  • Pravda o sovětském Rusku [The Truth About Soviet Russia ] (1920)

literature

  • J. Pokorný:  Šmeral Bohumír. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 12, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2001-2005, ISBN 3-7001-3580-7 , p. 365 f. (Direct links on p. 365 , p. 366 ).
  • Ján Galandauer: Bohumír Šmeral 1888 až 1914 . Nakl. Svoboda, Prague 1981
  • Ján Galandauer: Bohumír Šmeral 1914 až 1941 . Nakl. Svoboda, Prague 1986
  • Jacob Hen-Tov: Communism and Zionism in Palestine. The Comintern and the Political Unrest in the 1920's. Transaction, 1974, ISBN 0-87073-326-5 . (in English; readable in Google books)

Web links

Commons : Bohumír Šmeral  - collection of images, videos and audio files

supporting documents

  1. ^ Claus-Dieter Krohn: Exile Research. An international yearbook. Volume 9. Edition Text + Critique Verlag, 1991, p. 260
  2. ↑ Journal for Contemporary Questions of the East: East Europe. Volume 39. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1989, p. 402.
  3. ^ Walter Kolarz: Russia and its Asian peoples. European Publishing House, 1956, p. 149.
  4. ^ Mongolian Institute of History: History of Mongolia. Volume 5. Mongolian Academy of Sciences Ulaanbaatar, 2003, p. 380.
  5. ↑ Sunjid Dugar: The principle of equality in relation to the general law on equal treatment in German and Mongolian law. Herbert Utz Verlag, 2009, p. 49.
  6. ↑ Helena Zelená Křížová: Ignác Štorek - podnikatel z Vysočiny ( Memento of the original from October 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.zdarskevrchy.cz archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , April 6, 2010
  7. ↑ from 1959: Šmeralovy závody
  8. ↑ Od Storka až po Šmeral September 5, 2001
personal data
SURNAME Šmeral, Bohumír
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czech politician, journalist and publicist
DATE OF BIRTH October 25, 1880
PLACE OF BIRTH Třebíč
DATE OF DEATH May 8, 1941
Place of death Moscow