Czechoslovakia (Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum)

Czechoslovak People's Republic Československá lidová republika [cz] Československá ľudová republika [sk] Timeline: Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum OTL equivalent: Czechoslovakia
Flag Emblem
Motto:  Pravda vítězí/Pravda zvíťazí (Czech/Slovak) ("Truth prevails")
Anthem:  Kde domov můj • Nad Tatrou sa blýska
Location of Czechoslovakia
Capital		Prague
Official languages		Czech • Slovak
Ethnic groups		Czechs; Slovaks; Moravians; Hungarians
Religion		Irreligion; Christianity; Judaism
Demonym		Czechoslovak
Government		Federal state; Single-party socialist state
-	President	Miloš Zeman
-	Prime Minister	Robert Fico
Legislature		Federal Assembly of Czechoslovakia
-	Upper house	Chamber of the Nations
-	Lower house	Chamber of the People
Establishment
-	Independence from Austria-Hungary	October 28, 1918
-	Enactment of the Ninth-of-May Constitution	June 9, 1948
Currency		Altyn (ALT)
Time zone		CET (UTC+1)
Internet TLD		.cs
Calling code		+42

Czechoslovakia (Czech: Československo; Slovak: Česko-Slovensko), officially the Czechoslovak People's Republic (Czech: Československá lidová republika; Slovak: Československá ľudová republika), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by West Germany to the west, East Germany and Poland to the north, East Austria to the south, the Soviet Union to the east, and Hungary to the southeast. Its capital and largest city is Prague, with 1.3 million inhabitants. Czechoslovakia is a multi-ethnic state and includes the historical territories of Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia, and a small part of Silesia.

Czechoslovakia consisting of two constituent republics with separate government structures: the Czech People's Republic (Česká lidová republika), with Prague as its capital, and the Slovak People's Republic (Slovenská ľudová republika), with Bratislava as its capital. The two republics share responsibility with the federal government in areas such as economy, finance, currency, agriculture and food, transportation, labor, social policy, and the media. The central government, located in Prague, has exclusive jurisdiction over foreign affairs, defense, federal legislation and administration, and the federal judicial system. Czechoslovakia is a member of the United Nations, the Comecon, the Warsaw Pact, WTO, and CSCE and participates in cooperation with the European Community through the Helsinki Initiative.

Politics and government

The building of Federal Assembly of Czechoslovakia in Prague.

In accordance with the recent 1994 Constitution, Czechoslovakia is a socialist state which all powers are vested in the working people “through representative bodies which are elected by, surveiled by, and accountable to them." Both the 1960 and 1994 constitutions are modeled after the Soviet constitutional framework with the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (Komunistická strana Československa, KSČ) serves as the leading force and vanguard of the Czechoslovak working class.

As in other Marxist-Leninist states, any "counter-revolutionary, pro-fascist organization" is prohibited to be organized or to contest Czechoslovak elections. The electoral processes take place from the bottom up. Elections in Czechoslovakia are officially multi-candidate elections which requiring the number of candidates to the elected offices be greater than the number of available seats. All candidates in the elections are officially non-partisan although the final lists of candidates are decided prior handedly by the KSČ-controlled electoral committees.

Prague Castle, the official office of President of Czechoslovakia.

Political parties and civil organizations must accept the leading role of the KSČ as a condition of their continued existence. Other political parties consists of the Party of Slovak Revival (Slovak: Strana slovenskej obrody, SSO), the Czechoslovak Socialist Party (Czech: Československá strana socialistická, ČSS), the Czechoslovak People’s Party (Czech: Československá strana lidová, ČSL) and the Freedom Party (Slovak: Strana slobody). All of these parties are members of KSČ-led National Front organization, but they do having certain degrees of political freedom and activities.

Voters are organized in two basic units: the workers of an enterprise and the residents of a local administrative division. The 1994 Constitution abandons the state control over certain industrial sectors at the most in favor of free market economy in which the workers manage the firms and enterprises and democratically determine remuneration levels and labor divisions. Workers elect delegates among themselves to represent and act on behalf of them in a worker's council (dělnická rada) for each enterprise they worked in. The inhabitants of a district elect delegates to a local council as public functionaries, which act as local legislators, government and courts in one.

Straka Academy, the official office of Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia.

The highest legislative institution is the Federal Assembly (Czech: Federální shromáždění; Slovak: Federálne zhromaždenie) consists of the Chamber of the People (Sněmovna lidu), representing the workplace delegates, and the Chamber of the Nations (Sněmovna národů), representing the residential delegates from two constituent republics. The Chamber of the People reflects a system of proportional representation, while the Chamber of Nations has equal number of delegates from each republic. Together, the chambers elect the forty-member Presidium of the Federal Assembly, which serves as the legislative authority when the assembly is not in session.

The Federal Assembly elects the President of Czechoslovakia (Prezident) for a renewable five-year term. Czechoslovakia is among several people's democracies in Europe which does not have collective heads of state including East Germany and Romania. A proposal to abolish the post and transfer its powers to the Presidium of Federal Assembly was defeated in 1994. However, the powers of President are greatly reduced under the recent constitution compared with previous ones. As head of state, the President is commander in chief of the armed forces and represents the nation in diplomatic affairs, receives and appoints envoys and signs laws into force.

Palace of Justice, the official seat of Supreme Court of Czechoslovakia.

The Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia (Czech: Předseda vlády; Slovak: Predseda vlády) is appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Assembly. In reality, the Prime Minister is determined first by the KSC Politburo before officially voted into office by the Federal Assembly. The Prime Minister appoints other members of the Council of Ministers and other high civilian and military officials. Because many powers can only be exercised with the signatures of both the President and the Prime Minister, responsibility over some political issues is effectively shared between the two offices.

The judiciary of Czechoslovakia is consisted of the Supreme Court of Czechoslovakia at the federal level, the Supreme Court of the Czech People's Republic and the Supreme Court of the Slovak People's Republic at the republican level, and regional and district courts. All organs of justice are elected by the local assemblies. In addition, there is also exist the Office of the Prosecutor. The Office of the Prosecutor is responsible for prosecuting both criminal and civil cases and supervising the observance of laws and legal regulations by public bodies and individual citizens. In addition to the federal office, the Office of the Prosecutor is also exist in each constituent republic.

History

Post-war coalition (1945–1948)

Marshal Ivan Konev hailed by the local population as the Soviet Army enters Prague, May 9, 1945

Before the Soviet liberation of Czechoslovakia in 1945, President Edvard Beneš agreed to Soviet leader Sergei Kirov's demands for unconditional agreement with Soviet foreign policy and the Beneš decrees. While Beneš was not a Soviet sympathizer and his post-war plans did not contain pro-Soviet domestic reforms, Kirov did not object because the plan included property expropriation and he was satisfied with the relative strength of Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (Komunistická strana Československa, KSČ) compared to other Eastern Bloc countries.

On April 4, 1945, six parties consisted of KSC (including the Communist Party of Slovakia), the Democratic Party, the Czechoslovak Social Democracy, the Czechoslovak National Social Party, the Czechoslovak People's Party, the Freedom Party and the Labour Party, formed a provisional government in the city of Košice, recently liberated by Soviet troops. Because of the Communist Party's strength and Beneš's loyalty, unlike in other Central and Eastern European countries, the Kremlin did not require Eastern Bloc politics or "reliable" cadres in Czechoslovak power positions, and the executive and legislative branches retained their traditional structures.

The campaign of Communist Party of Czechoslovakia for the 1946 general election.

The Communists were the big winners in the 1946 elections, taking a total of 114 seats (they ran a separate list in Slovakia). Not only was this the only time a Communist Party won a free election anywhere in Europe during the Cold War era, but it was one of only two free elections ever held in the Soviet bloc, the other one having been held in Hungary a year earlier. Klement Gottwald, leader of the KSČ, became Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia.

However, thereafter, the Soviet Union was disappointed that the government failed to eliminate bourgeois influence in the army, expropriate industrialists and large landowners and eliminate parties outside of the National Front. Hope in Moscow was waning for a Communist victory in the 1948 elections following a May 1947 Kremlin report concluding that "reactionary elements" praising Western democracy had strengthened.

Klement Gottwald addressed the Communist demonstrators on February 21, 1948.

Following Czechoslovakia's brief consideration of taking Marshall Plan funds, and the subsequent scolding of Communist parties by the Cominform at Szklarska Poręba in September 1947, Rudolf Slánský returned to Prague with a plan for the final seizure of power, including the StB's elimination of party enemies and purging of dissidents. Thereafter, Soviet ambassador Valerian Zorin arranged a communist coup d'état on February 21, 1948, followed by the occupation of non-Communist ministers' ministries, while the army was confined to barracks.

Jan Masaryk (1886–1948), Foreign Minister of Czechoslovakia (1940–1948).

On February 25, 1948, Beneš, fearful of civil war and Soviet intervention, capitulated and appointed a Communist-dominated government who was sworn in two days later. Although members of the other National Front parties still nominally figured, this was, for all intents and purposes, the start of undisguised Communist rule in the country. Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk, the only prominent minister still left who was not either a Communist or fellow traveler, was found dead two weeks later.

On May 30, a single list of candidates from the National Front—now an organization dominated by the Communist Party—was elected to the National Assembly. After passage of the Ninth-of-May Constitution on June 9 1948, the country became a people's democratic republic. Although it was not a completely Communist document, it was close enough to the Soviet model that Beneš refused to sign it. He had resigned a week before it was finally ratified, and died in September. The Ninth-of-May Constitution confirmed that the KSČ possessing hegemonic power, as other Communist parties have in the Eastern Bloc.

Further readings