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THE CZEC1IOSLOVAK RHPUIUJC, 1918-1938

sucs and evcn contomplated joining tlić futurę socialist intcrnational.⁰⁷ Soon, howcYcr, rcacting to tlić generał swing to tlić right and tlić split in the Social Dcmocratic party, they tended to abandon llicir radical socialist vic\vs. It was only in 1929, under the impression ot the oulbrcnk o[ the Great Depression, that they began again to cooperatc willi the Social Dcmocrals, cspecially in practical policies designed to allcviatc unem-ployment and sullcring among the workers. Only a part of the following of the National Socialist party, howcvcr, were workers. The majorily of its members was reeruited from among the lowcr middlc class, civil servants, and the intclligentsia.

The National Socialist party played an important role in the majority of Czechoslovak cabincts, being foreed to go into opposition only be-tween 1925 and 1929. The fact that one of its leading members, Edvard Beneś, licld the position of foreign minister unintcrruptedly from 1918 to 1935, when he was elcctcd president, was duc partly to his pcrsonal prestige but, above all, to tlie support given him by President Masaryk. The actual leader was Vdclav Klofać (1868-1942), an astrtc, folksy politician, who scrved as Czechoslovakia’s first minister of national de-fense, despite a lifelong antimilitarist rccord. Anollicr of the party's lcad-ers, Jiii Stnbrny, played an important role in the critical days of October, 1918 (he was cosigncr of the Pragnę National Committcc’s declaration of indcpendencc). Howcvcr, in 1926, after a serious intcrnal crisis in the party, he was cxpcllcd from it and drifted into fascism.

Somewhat smallcr than the National Socialist party was the Czccho-slovak Populist party (Ceskoslovenska strana lidova).^0S It was formed gradually by the fusion of scvcral Catholic political partics, groups, and labor unions, first in Bohemia in October, 1918, and then in Moravia in January, 1919. The Bohemian and M oravian wings remained autono-mous until 1922, when they formed a common cxccutivc committce and chose tlie leader of the Moravian wing, Msgr. Jan Srdmek (1870-1956), as tlie party’s chairman. The party^?s program was based on Christian morał principles and the social cncyclicals of Pope Leo XIII. In the first years of Czcchoslovakia the Czech populists were discountcd as a political forcc, because of their close association with the Roman Catholic Church. Even before World War I Czech public opinion largcly lumcd against the Catholic Church, because of its role in the Czech national disaster in the sevcnlcenth ccnlury and its close idcntificalion with the Habsburg dynasty. The ChurclPs aloofness from the Czechoslovak strug-

⁰⁷ Peroulka, pp. 32-37.

⁶⁸ Ibid., vol. ii, 618-35; Climelar, Pol i utai Partics, pp. 53-58; for morę rccent Information about the Populist party, sce Milos Trapi, Politika ćcskelio kaiolicismu na Morave, 1918-1938 [The Politics o/ the Czech Catholics in Moratia, 1918-1938] (Praguc, 1968); and Moric Mruban, Z ćasu nedlouho zailych [Front the Recent Past] (Rome-Los Angeles, 1967).

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DEMOCRACY AND ITS PROllLEMS, 1918-1920

glc for national indcpcndcnce during Ihc war furthcr alicnatcd Czccli opinion from it. The Czech socialist partics were notably crilical of the Church and suspicious of the aims of the Populist party.

The Czech populisls were undcrrcprcscntcd in the Praguc National Commillee and the provisional National Asscmbly, because party repre-sentation in tlicsc two bodies was bascd on the results of the last Austrian clcctions, and the Austrian clcctoral system penalized splintcr partics. The Czech populists were likcwisc slighted in the Kramar cabinet, and altogcthcr cxcludcd from Tusar’s two Red-Green coalition cabincts. Gradually, howcvcr, by showing complcte loyalty to the Czcchoslovak Rcpublic and a strong sense of social responsibility toward the Czech working class, they managed to dissipatc the hostility and suspicions of the leftist partics and to disarm Czech anti-Catholicism gcncrally. Much of the credit for this success was due to the able leadership of Msgr. Sramek, whosc meck pricstly manner conccalcd a rcalistic, tcnacious, and vcry astutc politician. He combincd Catliolic faith with progressive social vicws and gcnuinc patriotism. As a member of all political cabinets from 1921 to 1938, he succecdcd in rcmoving many initial obstacles to good church-state relations and in finding a comforlablc place for the Czech Catholics in Czech national and political lifc.

The once powcrful rcpresentativc of the Czech bourgeoisic, the Young-Czcch party, merged in February, 1918, with other right and center partics into the Czech Statc-Rights party, which was renamed the Czcchoslovalc National Dcmocratic partyⁿ'^J (Ccskoslovcnska strana mirodnć-dcmokraticka) at its first postwar congress in March, 1919.⁰⁹ Its initially leading position in Czechoslovakia was due to the prestige of its two leaders, Karci Kramar and Alois Raśin, whose popularity was cn-hanced by the pcrscculion they liad sulTcrcd at the liands of the Austrian aulhoritics during the war. The party incrcascd its importancc by attract-ing outstanding representatives from among high civil servants, liberał professions, and tlie intclligcntsia. In the first days of Czcchoslovakia the choicc of Kramar for the premiership and ot RaSin to the highly re-sponsiblc function of financc minister was taken for granted.

After their decisivc defeat in tlie local clcclions in Junc, 1919, the National Democrats fcll to sixth, and later to the ninth, place among the Czechoslovak political partics. Their program was that of national radiealism, hostility to tlie Germans, and in the initial ycars a rather un-rcalistic concept of Slavism which was to be cxpresscd by the futurę co-operation of Czechoslovakia with a Russia liberated from Bolshevik domination. The National Democrats were perhaps the most adamant cncmics of the Sovict Union. Advocating the principles of orthodox eco-

⁰⁰ Peroutkn, Budowani sialu, u, 799-819; Chmclar, Political Parlies, pp. 20-27.

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