The Communists seized power in Czechoslovakia in 1948. They attempted to permeate through their ideology all spheres of social life, including the area of education. So-called “Departments of Social Sciences” were consequently established at all universities in Czechoslovakia: with theological faculties being no exception. At the Faculty of Theology in Bratislava, the teachers of Marxism were aware that it made no sense to spread atheist propaganda among the clergy and consequently worked at persuading the clergy to pledge loyalty to the regime and control their reactions. All the teachers of Marxism were Communist party members. A number of them also lectured at the Political school of the Communist Party Central Council. They collaborated with the state secret services and informed them about everything which occurred at the faculty. They were actually present at all the assemblies of the faculty council. The Departments of Social Sciences functioned for more than 40 years, with a short suspension in 1968–69, and they lasted up until the revolutionary changes which transformed the situation in Czechoslovakia in 1989.
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