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TIIE CZECIIOSLOYAK REPUBIJC, 1918-1938

grave illncss removed Svehta front tlic political sccnc, that llic owncrs of large cstatcs gradually acąuircd grcatcr inllucncc in the parły, at limes clashing willi ihc inlcrcsts of tlić smali farmcrs. A smali fraction of lliis group madę an attempt in the middlc thirlics and again at the bcginning of 1938 to rcplace the fundanicntal modcralion of the agrarian party with ultra-rightist policies, toying willi the idea of cooperating with the Nazi-controllcd Sudctcn German (Hcnlcin) party and cxcluding the so-cialists from the government.^0S This altcinpt, however, foundered on llic opposition of the majority of the agrarian leaders and that of the rank-and-filc members, who refused to betray the democratic rccord of their party.

The power of tlie Agrarian party was bascd on its control of a variety of economic institulions rather than on an appeal to a spccial agrarian ideology. Because of the asccndancy of pragmatists typified by Svchla, who combined tlie principle of progrcssive social lcgislation with a gen-uinely democratic outlook and favorcd cooperalion with the socialists, the agrarians assumed a position in the center of the Czcchoslovak political spectrum. From 1922 until 1938 they were the corc of all centcr-left or center-right coalitions, occupying the ministrics of the interior and agriculture, and holding the Office of prime minister.

Briefly, until the secession of the communists in 1920-21, the Czccho-slovak Social Democratic Workcrs’ party (Ceskoslovenska socialne-demokraticka strana dćlnicka) was tlić largest forcc in the National As-sembly. Aftcr the secession of the communists there rcmained about lifty Social Democrats in the National Asscmbly. The party had suflercd a stunning blow. In the Czech provinccs, cspecially central Bohcmia, its membership fell wcll behind that of the communists, and in Slovakia the Social Democrats were almost wiped out.⁰¹

Gradually three factors hclpcd the Social Democratic party to regain its strength. The first was the existcncc of a tough leadership and of a reliable hard core of party and labor union cadrcs. The party ollicials largely succecded in cutting the party’s losscs and in kecping the local organizations going. In the 1920’s tlicy gradually regained support of the working class by their professionalism and skill in dealing with brcad-and-butter issues. The second element was tlie party’s succcss in obtain-ing passage of long-promised social legislation in the National Asscmbly and in achieving marked progress in tlie participation of organized labor in the political and administrative proccsscs. The party tlius won back the loyalty of many of the radicals to the Czcchoslovak State.⁰⁵ The third

⁰³    Taborsky, Czeclioslovak Deniocracy, p. 90.

⁰⁴    Peroutka, liudovaru stutu, ni, 1976, 1983-87. See also Chmclar, Political Parties, pp. 38-44.

« Kocman, Doj o sm&r, ii, 162-64.

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DEMOCRACY AND ITS PROBLEMS, 1918-1920

element which worked in favor of dcmocratic socialism was the generał dcclinc ot poslwar radicalism, as well as the growing factional strife among the communists, which gradually undermined their strength. In the elections of 1925 the Social Dcmocrats rcccivcd only twenty-nine scats in the Chamber ot Deputies as against the communists’ forty-one, but only four ycars lalcr, in the elections of 1929, the Social Dcmocrats cxcccdcd the communists in the lower housc by cleven deputies.

In kceping witli their ollicial program the Social Dcmocrats subscribcd to the principlcs of scicntific socialism (Marxism) and became associ-ated willi the Sccond International in The Hague. Their actual practice, howevcr, was similiar to that of Western socialist parties. Moderation, repudiation of doctrinairc policics, and fuli understanding for the problem of the Czcchoslovak stale werc their main characteristics. In its 1930 program, the party dcclared itself unconditionally in favor of the princi-ples of parliamentary democracy.

Witli the cxception of the four years between 1925 and 1929, the Social Dcmocrats played an important role in all cabinets. The party’s chairman, Antonin Hampl, was a leader of the metal workers’ union who had risen from the ranks through the party’s hierarchy. He was known as a strong disciplinarian and a supporter of coopcration among the main dcmocratic political forces—a position that brought him into conflict willi the radical Marxist Left in 1919-20. Having the apparatus of the party in liand and enjoying firm support among the skilled workers, hc devoted his ellorts to building up the party. Other leaders, including the most outstanding member of the party’s parliamentary delegation, Rudolf Bcchynć, the party boss of the important industrial city of Plzefi, Gustav Habrman, and the leader of the party’s Slovak branch, Ivan Derer, grcatly contributcd to maintaining a viablc system of democracy. One miglit add, howcver, that moderation and reformism, which proved to be an asset in limes of Czcchoslovakia’s intcrnal and cxtcrnal stability, worked to the party’s disadvantagc in times of crisis.

The second socialist party in Czechoslovakia was the Czech Socialist party, which was renamed, in 1926, the Czechoslovak National Socialist party (Ccskoslovcnska narodne-socialisticka strana).⁰⁰ It was founded bcforc World War 1 by a group of men who brokc oll from the Social Dcmocratic party, bccausc tlicy refused to acccpt Marxian doctrine, espccially the notion of class strugglc, and emphasized the idea of na-tionalism. In the radical atmosphcrc of the immediatc poslwar period the National Socialists adopted an almost revolulionary stand on social is-

⁰⁰ Chmelar, Political Parties, pp. 49-52; Peroutka, Butlovdm sialu, i, 488-96. The CzechosIovak National Socialist party must not be confuscd wilh the German National Socialist party. In aims and ideals, it approached much morę the French Radical Socialist party.

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