Českoněmecká sociálnědemokratická levice mezi lety 1918–1921
The Czech-German Social Democratic Left during 1918–1921

Summary/Abstract: Defined by the end of the Great War and the beginning of 1921 when the core of the Czech-German social democratic left founded the German Division of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ), the text analyses the attitudes and arguments of this party wing with support of the period press and brochures published by the party. It places an emphasis on the issue of nationality. The introduction briefly presents the context that resulted in the establishment of the Liberec Left prior to the Great War. Subsequently, it demonstrates how it joined the right-wing parties in the struggle for the national determination at the end of the war or shortly thereafter. They called for the same as their Czech comrades, but they were also enticed by the possibility of the Great German revolution. Moreover, the nationalist anti-Czech motifs prevailed the international ones. This began to change as late as 1919 when the vision of the German revolution was receding and the Liberec section re-established closer contacts with Czech radicals. After all, they are the ones who called for the foundation of the Czech-German Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.First, this study reasons that this quick transformation of ideas cannot be interpreted as mere opportunism of the main players, but rather it continues the pre-war disputes within the social democratic movement. In the eyes of then players it could also be dispute-free. Second, taken into account the future development inside the KSČ, it cannot be declared that the class definitively won over the nation. The national rhetoric was strong even within this international party. Third, the study assumes that the analysed texts to a certain extent show the spirits of a substantial part of North Bohemian workers, revealing how essential the national symbols were for the public of the time as well as how quickly their importance could degrade.

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