PŘEDSEDNICTVO ÚV KSČ V OBDOBÍ POVÁLEČNÉ VÝSTAVBY STRANY DO PARLAMENTNÍCH VOLEB V ROCE 1946

Abstract

BUREŠ, Jan. The Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in the period of the post-war construction of the party up to the parlamentary election in 1946. Historický časopis, 2022, 70, 2, pp. 271-303, Bratislava. In this study we deal mainly with the role of the central bodies of the leadership of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, namely the Bureau of the Central Committee and its Secretariat, in the period from the liberation of Czechoslovakia in May 1945 to the parliamentary elections in May 1946. The presidency of the Communist Party was the highest level of a branched network of party organizations, for which it issued basic political lines and general instructions, which were subsequently developed by the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. Both of these organs were relatively small, and after the first phase of their formation after the war, they quickly stabilized in terms of personnel. The Communist Party continued to be governed strongly autocratically after the war. All power was concentrated in their hands by a narrow circle of members of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the party with the dominant position of Chairman Gottwald, whose decisions were implemented by the Secretariat, autocratically controlled by R. Slánský. In the period under review, both bodies focused mainly on key issues of political development and the resulting party strategy. It was mainly about solving the organizational construction of the party, the mass influx of new members, key issues of propaganda and influencing the media, solving the complicated Slovak issue, the establishment of the Provisional National Assembly in 1945, and the preparation and conduct of VIII. Congress of the Communist Party and the election campaign.

Keywords

• czechoslovakia
• elections in 1946
• the presidium of the central committee of the communist party of czechoslovakia