Kreibich on the crisis facing the new Czecho-Slovak Republic, just emerged from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, with a new coalition government, the fifth in three years, led by Edvard Beneš.

‘Czecho-Slovakia at the Cross-roads. by Karl Kreibich from International Press Correspondence. Vol. 1 No. No. 14. December 6, 1921.

Now more than ever is it the duty of the European Communists to pay attention to Czecho-Slovakia. Not only because this state is of great importance in the development of Central Europe on account of its geographical position and its complex economic, national and political relations, but also because it is on the threshold of important decisions in its domestic and foreign policies, and because it faces great social and economic changes.

Czecho-Slovakia acquired an exceptionally strong position when 70 per cent of the former Austrian industries fell to its share at the time when its boundaries were defined. It was thus enabled to extricate itself from the post-war period of goods and coal shortage, and to profit by the same shortage which the successors of the Habsburgs fell into. With Krémal at its head and with Rasin who was the director of the largest Czech bank, a fellow member of the same party and Krémal’s companion in high-treason as its minister of finance, the first government of the republic pursued a policy of the strictest economic isolation and complete separation from the other successor states, and mounted the high horse in national politics. But the shortage in goods of that time has disappeared long ago, and it becomes clearer from day to day that the state and its industries are looking forward to the export of manufactured articles. Now its relatively high foreign exchange as compared with the other successor states is becoming a disadvantage. Germany has risen in importance as a trading country. The West was not very promising. But the foreign exchange of the successor states sank lower and lower, and Germany’s reparation burdens weighed heavier and heavier upon her. The end was the crash of the mark. Unemployment in Czecho-Slovakia rose enormously. The coal-production had to be curtailed, and the stores of coke are assuming gigantic proportions. In Kladno the blast-furnaces are banked and thousands of workers have been discharged from the Vitkovitz Iron Works. A short-lived boom in the textile-industry does not alter the situation as a whole. This situation will grow still worse, especially if the crisis in Germany becomes more acute. Several Czech politicians have built up the theory of the “Isle of Fortune”, as Czecho-Slovakia is designated by them, because this country is surrounded by countries of low rates of exchange. But a further depreciation of the mark or a possible bankruptcy of Germany will inevitably drag Czecho-Slovakia down with it. By assigning all new expenditures to a special budget, the state budget is thus artificially kept in balance without incurring a bigger deficit. This method requires a credit which is hardly to be gotten. The greater part of the income is made up of a high turnover tax and an equally high coal tax. Moreover the military budget is growing, whereas the educational budget is shrinking.

In the national question the Germans are making less trouble. Due to the influence of the economic crisis and the threatening, bitter social struggles, a moderation of the national radicalism made itself felt in the camp of the German nationalists; from that direction voices may be heard which sound compromise. The hostility of the German nationals against the Czech state has somewhat slackened, because it is self-evident that this state can also be used and employed in the interests of the money-bags. The national differences in Slovakia are already more important. There the irredentism among the Magyar bourgeoisie is very strong. Its main support is the officialdom which the Czecho-Slovakian Government inherited from old Hungary. This happened because the Czechs had no other officials who were versed in Hungarian law-making and management. This officialdom is thus kept up in spite of its Magyar sentiments, because like the old imperial Austrian officials, they are most useful and trustworthy in the suppression of the revolutionary proletariat. So for example, the ministry of the interior in Prague was assigned to Dr. Cerry, who during the war was one of the most willing tools in the hands of the Habsburgs in Moravia; Dr. Klima, who under the Habsburgs was the chief of the secret political police in Prague, is now the Chief of Police of Kaschau, the capital of Eastern Slovakia. Of course both of these men are thorough monarchists. Our comrades published serious accusations against an entire group of important Magyar political officials of Slovakia; the material published reveals and indicts them as agents of Horthy. All this is of no avail because the government considers the suppression of Communism as of greater importance. This system and the ruthless fury of the Czech officials and military, but particularly the special decisions made for Czecho-Slovakia, roused deep dissatisfaction among the Slovaks. The dissatisfaction is expressed in the cry for autonomy. The Government parties succeeded in winning the Slovak Clericals into the government majority, only after a great deal of trouble and after they had made big concessions to the Clericals in the questions of church and school. Not a week passes in this situation without bringing a crisis. Under such circumstances, it is self-evident that the ruling parties see a great danger in the return of the Habsburgs to Hungary. The Slovak Clerical peasants and their leaders cherish no particular love for Horthy, but at heart they are still monarchists, who have not yet forgotten the Habsburgs. A Hungary under Habsburgs would make the danger of losing Slovakia an immediate one. The restoration of the Habsburgs would mark the beginning of the end of the Czech state. That is why we see a sudden enthusiasm on the part of the ruling parties, for a republic and democracy; in reality however, they care naught for democracy and are not at all concerned over the monarchism of Roumania and Jugo-Slavia, or the reaction and white terror going on in these countries and in Poland. The stand taken by the Communists could therefore be no other than this: the proletariat is prepared and determined to strike the reaction at its roots, to free its Hungarian brothers and to sweep the Habsburgs out of the way. But this can be accomplished only through the revolutionary action of an armed proletariat, which will then turn against all reaction within the country. The present reactionary forces which rule now will never carry on a war against Monarchism and Reaction; in case of war they will instead pursue their own reactionary and imperialistic purposes. Therefore, a fight against mobilization and against war.

The end of the campaign launched by the Little Entente against Hungary was a sad one. Indeed, the Habsburgs were driven out, but nothing was accomplished in the main issue the disarming of Horthy. The Allies who openly pursue a reactionary policy in Central Europe, are triumphant. The treaty with Poland was concluded immediately after the Hungarian campaign. This treaty virtually means the surrender of M. Benesch to the French command. Moreover, Czecho-Slovakia has already obligated itself to Koumania and Poland the two countries which are used by the Allies as watchdogs against Soviet Russia–to let through war materials and troops for the war against Russia. Thus nothing has come of the efforts of benesch to pursue an independent policy based upon the will of the masses.

Only a few weeks have passed since the former government of officials has been displaced by the coalition of bourgeois and socialist parties, and the situation of the proletariat has already become worse. The censorship and the limitation of freedom have been intensified; the martyrs of the class-justice which raged after the December struggle remain in prison; the separation of Church and State is repealed; under the direction of the capitalists the passing of social-reform laws has greatly slackened; the duty on articles of consumption has been increased, while the property tax is comparatively lower than ever. The housing-reform has been limited, the school budget reduced, and the expenses for the army doubled. The capitalists, supported by the government whose social-democratic ministers expressed themselves against a wage-increase, proceed in the most drastic manner against the working-class. The miners of Ostrau who are faced by the question, “Fight or Submission”, were threatened by the government with compulsory measures. The next step of this policy in this direction will be the passing of extraordinary laws against the Communists. So far, Czecho-Slovakia was behind the other countries of the Little Entente and Poland in this respect, which tact was undoubtedly brought home to Benesch by France. In the meanwhile he is attempting the “needle-prick” poncy.

Czecho-Slovakia, thus confronts a crisis, and the young united Communist Party faces bitter struggles.

International Press Correspondence, widely known as”Inprecor” was published by the Executive Committee of the Communist International (ECCI) regularly in German and English, occasionally in many other languages, beginning in 1921 and lasting in English until 1938. Inprecor’s role was to supply translated articles to the English-speaking press of the International from the Comintern’s different sections, as well as news and statements from the ECCI. Many ‘Daily Worker’ and ‘Communist’ articles originated in Inprecorr, and it also published articles by American comrades for use in other countries. It was published at least weekly, and often thrice weekly. Inprecor is an invaluable English-language source on the history of the Communist International and its sections.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/inprecor/1921/v01n14-dec-06-1921-inprecor.pdf