KOMUNISTICKÁ STRANA ČESKOSLOVENSKA V ZAJETÍ SOCIÁLFAŠISMU. VYLOUČENÍ JOSEFA GUTTMANNA Z KSČ V ROCE 1933
THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA IN THRALL TO SOCIAL-FASCISM. THE EXCLUSION OF JOSEF GUTTMANN FROM KSČ IN 1933

Summary/Abstract: The paper focuses on the events from the end of the year 1933 when a high ran king party official and editor-in-chief of the Communist periodical Rudé právo was excluded from the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ). This event is set to the context of the international situation and to the period when Czechoslovak communists enforced the tactics of social-fascism. Josef Guttmann was one of the first politicians that warned before these tactics that ruled out any possibility of the close cooperation with any other left-oriented parties and, on the contrary, escalated the situation. The crucial change came after Adolf Hitler’s ascension to power in January 1933. It turned out that the tactics failed. Guttmann’s criticism, however, got ahead of the official stance of the Communist International, therefore it was turned down. Guttmann was excluded from the Party and a discrediting campaign was initiated to smear him. A change in the official policy of the Communist International indeed took place, yet Guttmann remained a renegade. In 1930s, he was active in the Trockist group together with Záviš Kalandra.

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