ANTONIN NOVOTNY AND THE SLOVAK ISSUE IN THE 1960s (Antonin Novotny wobec kwestii slowackiej w latach 60. XX w.)

• Authors: Gasior Grzegorz
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

Antonin Novotny assumed the function of First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in 1953 and the office of the President of Czechoslovakia in 1957, at a time when Slovak national organs and the Communist Party of Slovakia had been totally subjugated to Prague centralism, and all strivings towards increasing their independence were regarded as 'bourgeois nationalism' and liquidated at the very onset. The question of Slovak self-government returned at the beginning of the 1960s together with de-Stalinisation and the wish of some of the Slovak Party groups and intelligentsia to rehabilitate the 'bourgeois nationalists' - communists, headed by Gustav Husák, sentenced at a political trail held in 1954. Despite their rehabilitation in 1963 Novotny continued to deploy the menace of Slovak nationalism and opposed all intentions to increase the competence of Slovak national and Party organs. More, he was of the opinion that the 'Slovak question' was a mere economic problem and not a national one. His numerous unfortunate decisions, emphasis on Czech contribution to the economic promotion of the eastern part of the country, a tendency to ignore the national tradition of Slovakia and its communist leaders meant that Novotny aggravated increasingly wide circles of the local Party apparatus. In October 1967 this trend resulted in a controversy between Novotny and the leadership of the Communist Party of Slovakia, headed by Alexander Dubcek, which resulted in Novotny being deprived of the function of First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (January 1968) and the post of President (March 1968) and inaugurated the 'Prague spring'.

Keywords

EN

COMMUNIST PARTY OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA; COMMUNIST PARTY OF SLOVAKIA; NOVOTNY ANTONIN; SLOVAK SELF-GOVERNMENT

Discipline

• HISTORY: HISTORY

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla PAN w Warszawie
• Journal: Dzieje Najnowsze
• Year: 2008
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 109-116
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Gasior Grzegorz

• Grzegorz Gasior, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Instytut Historyczny, ul. Krakowskie Przedmiescie 26/28, 00-927 Warszawa, Poland.

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

09PLAAAA06397