Czech National Social Party
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The Czech National Social Party (Czech: Česká strana národně sociální, 1897 - 1918), Czech Socialist Party (Česká strana socialistická, 1918 - 1919), Czechoslovak Socialist Party (Československá strana socialistická, 1919 - 1926), Czechoslovak National Socialist Party (1926 - 1948), Czechoslavak Socialist Party (Československá strana socialistická, 1948 - 1993), Liberal National Social Party (Liberální strana národně sociální, 1993 - 1995), Free Democrats - Liberal National Social Party (Svobodní demokraté - Liberální strana národně sociální, 1995 - 1997), and again Czech National Social Party (from 1997) was a nationalist party established in 1897 within the National Liberal Party as a nominally socialist group with a stress on achieving Czech independence from the Habsburg Empire (as opposed to the international revolution of the Social Democratic Party, which was the largest Czech socialist group at that time).
Ideologically the party had nothing to do with the German variant of National Socialism. It was formed over 20 years before the German Nazi Party.
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History
Leadership of the Czech National Social Party was soon assumed by Václav Klofáč. An important role was played by Jiří Stříbrný and Emil Franke as well. The party platform rested on the recalled social traditions of Hussitism and Taboritism, but it was also a programme of "collectivizing by means of development, surmounting of class struggle by national discipline, moral rebirth and democracy as the conditions of socialism, a powerful popular army, etc."
In 1918 the party changed its name from Czech National Social Party to the Czech Socialist Party, in 1919 to Czechoslovak Socialist Party and then in 1926 to the Czechoslovak National Socialist Party. Edvard Beneš took actual party leadership, although nominally it was his ally Václav Klofáč. Jiří Stříbrný and his friends were expelled.
From 1921, the party was part of most Czechoslovak government coalitions. Its newspaper was the České slovo. In 1938, a part of the Czech membership entered into the Party of National Unity led by Rudolf Beran, while few of its Slovak members joined the Hlinka Slovak People's Party led by Josef Tiso.
Under German occupation, the Czechoslovak National Socialist Party functioned in exile and most of its members where active in the resistance movement. After 1945, the party resurfaced, under the leadership of Petr Zenkl, as one of the parties in the National Front. When Czechoslovakia became a communist state in 1948, the party was again renamed the Czechoslovak Socialist Party and democrats were expelled.
After the return to democracy in 1989, the National Front was abolished. The party renamed itself the Liberal National Social Party (Liberální strana národně sociální), but failed to gather any significant support and was reduced to minor party status. This led in 1995 to a merger with the Free Democrats, to form the Free Democrats - Liberal National Social Party. After failure in 1996 elections, the party split and was renamed again in 1997 into Czech National Social Party.
Having no political success for years, crippled by finacial debts, the party disappeared.
Reference
- Karel Hoch: The Political Parties of Czechoslovakia.
- Erik Ritter von Kuehnelt-Leddihn: Leftism Revisited, Regnery Gateway, Washington D.C., 1990, pp. 145-146.
- Malá encyklopédia Slovenska, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava 1987
See also
External links
- Official pages (http://www.csns.cz) (in Czech)