Intellectuals and the Communist Idea

The Search for a New Way in Czech Lands from 1890 to 1938

By (author) Ladislav Cabada, Zdenek Benedikt

Not available to order

Publication date:

14 September 2010

Length of book:

210 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9780739143780

Intellectuals and the Communist Idea describes how the Communist ideology penetrated into Czech culture and politics from the dawn of the twentieth century into the late 1930s, just before the outbreak of WW II in Europe. Based mainly upon the research of contemporary primary sources, the analysis examines the complex issue of personal reasons and individual motivations, appealing slogans, and ideological and power peripheries connected with the formation of the relationship between the newly-founded Communist Party in Czechoslovakia and the left-wing artists and intellectuals declaring themselves Marxists. The work follows two main paths: the first is marked by the melting of the pre-war (meaning WWI) libertarian communism and radical left-wing stream in Czech politics into the Czechoslovak Communist Party, established in 1921 and becoming a strong and relevant political subject soon after its foundation. The second path follows the left-wing art front involvement in the Communist Party and its activities within. This concise insight into the world of Czech Communist intellectuals uncovers the ideological bigotry and intolerance of the Communist class-defined ideology, together with pointing out the unprincipled pragmatics of the ideological flops committed by the members of the interwar Communist movement under Lenin's and later Stalin's ward. The book illustrates clearly how the initial enthusiasm of the Czech Communist intellectuals eventually changed either into disillusionment resulting in their disaffiliation with Communism, or into permanent fear and obedient loyalty, which later became the base for establishing the Communist system in post-WW II Czechoslovakia.

Chapter 1 1. Introduction
Chapter 2 2. The Czech left in the early 20th century
Chapter 3 3. Czech political scene during WWI
Chapter 4 4. The Czech and Slovak Left in the period between the establishment of the sovereign Czechoslovak Republic and the first parliamentary elections
Chapter 5 5. En route to the communist party
Chapter 6 6. Czechoslovak Communist Party Established
Chapter 7 7. Proletarian Culture
Chapter 8 8. The Left in the first half of the 1920s
Chapter 9 9. Leftist culture in the mid-1920s
Chapter 10 10. KSC and the leftist culture in the years 1926 - 1928
Chapter 11 11. Fifth congress of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
Chapter 12 12. Generation debate and the origin of the Left Front
Chapter 13 13. KSC and the Left Front in the first half of the 1930s
Chapter 14 14. KSC and left-wing culture in the mid-1930s
Chapter 15 15. Political trials in the USSR, Trotskyism and the definitive dissension in the cultural left
Chapter 16 16. Conclusion

Ladislav Cabada, a professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, accurately notes that political science became a “new” discipline in the former Communist bloc after 1989, and that he has taken advantage of this opportunity to study this formerly frowned upon area of research. He also rightly points out, much to the chagrin of many political scientists and historians, that the two disciplines are closely related. Indeed this volume, published in Czech in 2000 and again in 2005, and now available to a wider audience in English, is his doctoral thesis that is equally at home in either discipline.

This is an interesting volume whose subchapters allow for an easy read. It adds to our knowledge of writers and their struggles with or lackey support of Communism, especially during the interwar period in Czechoslovakia