Václav Majer (WFAC)

Václav Majer
Václav Majer
12th Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia
	In office; 5 April 1945 – 26 June 1950
President	Edvard Beneš (1945–1948); Jan Masaryk (1948–1950)
Preceded by	Jan Šrámek
Succeeded by	Josef Černý
	In office; 20 December 1957 – 18 July 1961
President	Jan Masaryk (1957–1958); Štefan Osuský (1958–1961)
Preceded by	Jozef Lettrich
Succeeded by	Miloslav Rechcígl
Leader of the Opposition
	In office; 26 June 1950 – 1958
Prime Minister	Josef Černý (1950–1956); Jozef Lettrich (1956–1958)
Succeeded by	Jozef Lettrich
Chairman of the Social Democratic Party
	In office; 1946–1961
Preceded by	Antonín Hampl
Succeeded by	Blažej Vilím
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
	In office; 1945–1964
Constituency	Rakovník
Personal details
Born	22 January 1904; Pochvalov, Kingdom of; Bohemia, Austria-Hungary
Died	26 January 1972 (aged 68); Prague, CR, Czechoslovakia
Nationality	Czech
Political party	ČSSD
Spouse(s)	Irma Majerová (nee Linhart)
Children	Three
Occupation	Politician
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Military service
Allegiance	Czechoslovakia
Service/branch	Czechoslovak Army
Years of service	1938–1939
Rank	Corporal
Battles/wars	World War II Invasion of Czechoslovakia; Battle of France;
Awards	Czechoslovak War Cross 1945

Václav Majer (22 January 1904 – 26 January 1972) was a Czech politician of the Czechoslovak Social Democratic Party (ČSSD). He was the Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia for two periods, 1945–1950 and 1958–1961. He is generally considered one of the main architects of the rebuilding of Czechoslovakia after World War II.

He was a leader of the right-wing within the Czechoslovak Social Democratic Party at the time when the main issue discussed inside the party was the question of cooperation between Social Democrats and Communists. While Majer supported cooperation with the Communists as part of the National Front, he quickly became the main proponent of a more centrist and independent policy and was in favour of the Marshall Plan, resulting in the Communist withdrawal from the government in 1947.

Early life and career[]

Majer was born on 22 January 1904 in the village of Pochvalov in the Rakovník District of Bohemia, into a working-class family. His father was Václav Majer (1877–1942) and his mother was Anastázie Majerová (1873–1942). He had a younger brother, Stanislav (1907–1981). Both of his parents were killed in 1942 in the Nazi concentration camp Kulmhof (today Chełmno in Poland).

He worked for 15 years as a miner in the Mostecka and became politically active in the Czechoslovak Social Democratic Workers' Party (ČSDSD) during the 1920s. He became the secretary of the Social Democratic trade union of Agricultural Workers in Louny. Between 1935 and 1938 he was the chairman of the Union of Builders and Miners of Czechoslovakia. From 1937 to 1938 he was also member of the Central Executive Committee of the Party. Before the war, he was one of the leading Social Democratic experts on rural issues and workers' rights.

Second World War and exile (1938–1945)[]

During the Sudeten Crisis in September 1938 he was drafted into the Czechoslovak Army as part of the general mobilization and served in ZLO Regiment 202 of the Headquarters of the Prague Area (Velitelství okrsku Praha), which was responsible for defending the Prague Line. During the German invasion of Czechoslovakia he participated in the Siege of Prague and eventually managed to go underground instead of surrendering and becoming a POW.

At the beginning of the German occupation he became involved in the organized resistance, serving as the deputy leader of the now-banned ČSDSD under chairman Antonín Hampl. For the first few months of the occupation he served in the Political Centre (Politické ústředí, PÚ), which was the political leadership of the home front.

In February 1939, he was discovered by the German occupation forces and hiding from arrest, and the following month he managed to escape with his party colleague Václav Holub through Hungary and Yugoslavia to France. Equipped with forged personal documents and Hungarian currency, they fled through Nitra and Komárno in Hungarian-occupied Slovakia and then to Budapest by train. After hiding here for a few days they traveled to Szeged on the Hungarian-Yugoslav border by car and crossed the border on foot. After staying in Belgrade for a days they traveled by train to Beirut with the assistance of the French embassy. After staying several days in a tent camp they embarked on an Egyptian merchant vessel and sailed to Marseilles.

In France they joined the Czechoslovak Legion in France. During the Battle of France he served in the 2nd Czechoslovak Infantry Division (2e Division des Chasseurs Tchecoslovaque), and was evacuated to Britain through Gibraltar when France was collapsing in June 1939.

In London he was appointed by President Edvard Beneš to serve in the Czechoslovak government-in-exile headed by Prime Minister Jan Šrámek, and quickly emerged as one of the leading political leaders within the cabinet. From 1939 to 1941 he served as Minister of Industry and Trade, and from 1941 to 1945 he served as Minister of Economic Recovery. He was one of the delegates of the Social Democrats at the Moscow conference from 22–30 March 1945, which resulted in the Košice government program. Since Beneš did not take part in the meetings on the ground that as a constitutional president he stood above political parties, Majer was the leader of the London democratic exiles during the negotiations with the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ). Both the Communist leader, Klement Gottwald, and Majer took the initiative, with both leaders bringing drafts to the discussions. While the communists and democratic leaders clashed on many points, in the end their common interests proved strong enough to produce a final text. Upon the conclusion of the Moscow conference, President Beneš and the party leaders departed for Košice, a eastern Slovak town which had recently been liberated by the Red Army. They arrived on 3 April and stayed there until after the liberation of Prague on 9 May.

First premiership (1945–1950)[]

On 5 April 1945, the new government was formally installed and the next day it announced its program which, despite its origin in Moscow, was known as the Košice Government Program. The democratic exiles had successfully promoted Majer as Prime Minister, defeating the left-wing Social Democrat Zdeněk Fierlinger, which had been the preferred candidate of the KSČ. As the Czechoslovak ambassador to the Soviet Union sine 1938, Fierlinger had won the confidence of the Soviet government by his display of an uncritically pro-Soviet attitude.

When Majer and the government returned to Prague on 15 May 1945, it took quick and firm hold of the levers of command. Under the Moscow Agreement on 30 March 1945, President Beneš had been given emergency powers to issue decrees with the validity of laws, at the request of the government, until the convocation of the National Assembly. These powers were first used to assert government authority throughout the country. At the cabinet meetings of 31 May and 1 June, Majer and six political parties which were part of the National Front of Czechs and Slovaks approved the proposal of the Slovak National Assembly for the fundamental organization of the republic as a dualistic, symmetrical organization of Czechoslovakia into two federated states – Slovakia and the Czech lands of Bohemia and Moravia. The approved proposal was in accordance to the 1942 London Agreement, which had stipulated a Federalization of the Czechoslovak Republic.

As stipulated in the Košice Program, the government also had to implement its pledge of holding a general election to elect a Constituent Assembly to draft a constitution for a Czechoslovak Federative Republic at the earliest possible time. At the request of Majer's government, Beneš announced that the elections for the Constituent National Assembly were to be held on 14 October 1945.

The war had set in motion profound social changes within Czechoslovakia, and had ultimately led to a widespread popular desire for social reform. All parties entered the election campaign as members of the National Front, adhering to the Košice program. The program laid the framework for future economic growth, the right to work as well as and social and geographical equalization. It comprised the goals of providing social security and establishing a welfare state, nationalization of key banks and major industrial companies, creating economic growth in cooperation with industry and combat unemployment.

The Social Democratic Party and the conservative Republican Party (RS) emerged as the two largest parties following the 1945 legislative elections. The ČSSD, led by Majer, won 95 of the 300 seats with 31.50% of the vote. The Constituent National Assembly met for the first time on 28 October 1945, the national holiday, and two days later, on 30 October, the cabinet of Prime Minister Majer received the investiture vote of the assembly, but no changes were affected in its composition.

Federalization and constitutional reform[]

The most important act of the Constituent National Assembly was the federalization of Czechoslovakia and the adoption of the Federative Constitution of 1946. On 27 November 1945, the National Assembly passed Constitutional Act No. 143/1945 on the Czechoslovak Federation, which took effect on 1 January 1946. On 11 March 1946, the National Assembly's constitutional committee submitted to it the draft constitution and bills for five constitutional laws. On 15 March, when the National Assembly began to debate the draft constitutional laws, a preamble to the constitution expressing the principles and ideals of its creators was adopted. On 24 March 1946 the constitution was unanimously approved by the National Assembly.

At the 1946 federal elections, the Social Democratic Party again emerged as the largest party despite losing some ground to the Communists, winning 88 of the 300 seats with 28.98% of the vote. On 18 June 1946 Majer formed his second cabinet, continuing with the six-party grand coalition of national unity together with the other parties of the National Front: the Republican Party (RS), the Czechoslovak People's Party (ČSL), the Slovak People's Party (SĽS), the Czechoslovak Socialist Party (ČSS), and the Communists.

Domestic policy[]

Economy

The most significant problem facing the Majer government was the economy. While the output in the iron and steel industries and armaments industry had increased under the German occupation, consumer goods industries were starved of labour, capital and raw materials. German depletion of natural resources, disruption of the monetary system, and great distortion of the pattern of output, employment and trade, in addition to physical destruction and losses in territory and population, had resulted in economic consequences similar to Europe as a whole.

Despite these problems, one of the main achievements of Majer's government was the maintenance of near full employment. The government maintained most controls over the economy, including control over the allocation of materials and manpower, price control and rationing of consumer goods. The inflation rate was also kept low during his term. The rate of unemployment rarely rose above 2% during Majer's time in office, whilst there was no hard-core of long-term unemployed. Both production and productivity rose as a result of new equipment.

Czechoslovakia also benefited from the American Marshall Aid program (European Recovery Program, ERP) in 1948, and the economic situation improved significantly, eventually benefited from $768 million in aid between 1948-1951.

When the Majer government was voted out of office in 1950, the economy had been improved compared to 1945. The period from 1946 to 1951 saw continuous full employment and steadily rising living standards, which increased by about 5% each year. During that same period, the economy grew by 1.3% a year. Careful planning after 1945 also ensured that demobilisation was carried out without having a negative impact upon economic recovery, and that unemployment stayed at very low levels. By the end of the Four-Year Economic Plan in December 1950, the economy had almost reached 1937 levels and exceeded those with respect to national income, transportation, and industrial production, which were higher by 10%.

Nationalisation

Majer's government also carried out the manifesto commitment of the Košice Government Program for nationalisation of key industries and public utilities. In manufacturing, nationalisation was far-reaching, but agriculture, handicrafts, domestic and foreign trade, and the service sector remained under private ownership, except for the the confiscation of some firms and farms owned by Germans and "collaborators." Coal mining, energy, metallurgy and the armaments industry (including the Škoda Works and Zbrojovka Brno) were nationalised through Act No. 100/1945. Some private-owned insurance companies were nationalised through Act No. 101/1945, while some sugar mills and refineries, industrial distilleries and large breweries (such as the Budějovický Budvar) were nationalised through Act No. 102/1945. The following year, the National Bank of Czechoslovakia and some joint-stock banks were nationalised through Act No. 114/1946. By 1950 about 40% of the Czechoslovak economy had been taken into public ownership.

Agriculture

The Majer government placed strong emphasis on improving the quality of life in rural areas, benefiting both farmers and other consumers. Security of tenure for farmers was introduced, while consumers were protected by food subsidies and the re-distributive effects of deficiency payments. At a time of world food shortages, it was vital that farmers produced the maximum possible quantities. The government encouraged farmers via subsidies for modernisation. As a result of the Attlee government's initiatives in agriculture, there was a 20% increase in output between 1947 and 1952,

A significant expropriation took place in agriculture. In 1945, 1.8 million hectares of agricultural land, mostly of German ownership, was confiscated through Beneš decrees 5, 12, 33 and 108/1945. In the Land reform of 1946 (No. 42/1946) two-thirds of this land was subdivided into small lots and allocated to small landowners or to settlers in the border regions. The settlers usually received ownership rights to parcels up to 13 hectares

Welfare

The government set about implementing the creation of a "cradle to grave" welfare state, expanding on Act No. 221/1924 which had introduced insurance for sickness, invalidity and pensions. Among the most important pieces of legislation was the Federal Insurance Act (Act No. 99/1948), which established the Federative Health Insurance Company (Federativní zdravotní pojišťovna). People in work were required to pay a flat rate of national insurance, and in return, they (and the wives of male contributors) were eligible for a wide range of benefits, including pensions, sickness benefits, unemployment benefits, and funeral benefits. Various other pieces of legislation provided for child benefits (Act No. 11/1946) and support for people with no other source of income (Act No. 87/1946). In 1950, unemployment, sickness and maternity benefits were exempted from tax.

Health

The Federal Health Service (Federativní zdravotní služby, FZS) was established in 1948 through Act No. 100/1948. This was a publicly funded healthcare system, which offered treatment free of charge for all at the point of use.

Housing

One of the most serious challenges of the government was the lack of housing as a result of the wartime destruction from air attacks and military operations. While the expulsion of 1.8 million Sudeten Germans due to the Beneš decrees had resulted in as many as 640,000 apartments and houses ending in the government’s possession by 1946, some belonged to Czechs returning to the area, some were primitive even by interwar standards, and others suffered war damage and needed reconstruction. This catastrophic lack of housing was a burning problem for practically all new settlers, who had to live with friends, in hotels, or in makeshift accommodations. To alleviate the crisis in this critical industrial area, many of the postwar government’s early housing initiatives focused on this region, where housing shortages would continue into the 1950s. The cities around Ostrava suffered similar problems since the housing stock in that area was depleted and the coal mining and steel industries began expanding rapidly after the war. Given these circumstances, architects quickly recognized the crucial role the profession could play in the future development of the country.

As part of the Four-Year Plan in the summer of 1946, a large house-building programme (Act No. 93/1946) was carried out with the intention of providing people with high-quality homes, which included the target of 125,000 new housing units by 1948. Government planners wanted to provide large quantities of affordable housing and to slash costs by employing uniform designs over the whole country. As a result, the Ministry of Building Industry (Ministerstvo stavebního průmyslu) was established with, with the responsibility of overseeing the housing construction. Architects began to receive commissions for civic and residential projects, whose projects were often funded jointly with either nationalized industries, public administrative bodies or private corporations like the Baťa Shoe Company (with headquarters in Zlín and famous for its interest in modern architecture providing housing for its workers), creating a model of public-private partnership that would be influential in future developments. Legislation was also passed on house building standards (Act No. 46/1949).

Particularly low-wage earners benefited from these developments. Although the Majer government failed to meet its targets, primarily due to economic constraints, over 600,000 new homes were built between 1945 and 1950 (a significant achievement under the circumstances) which ensured that decent, affordable housing was available to many low-income families for the first time ever.

Foreign policy[]

Europe and the Cold War

In foreign affairs, the Majer government was concerned with four main issues; the relationship with the Western democratic powers (mainly the United States, the United Kingdom and France) and the Soviet Union, post-war Europe, the onset of the Cold War, and the establishment of the United Nations. The first two were closely related, and Majer was assisted by Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk.

The main foreign policy goal of the Košice government program was establishing Czechoslovakia as a "bridge" between East and West, with close cooperation both with the Soviet Union and the Western democratic powers in the framework of the ‘anti-Hitler coalition of the United Nations’. Friendly relations with Poland, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria on the ‘basis of Slavic brotherhood’ were also pursued. On 29 June 1945 the Czechoslovak and the Soviet signed an agreement formally transferring Ruthenia (Subcarpathian Rus) to the Soviet Union.

Unlike in the neighbouring countries of Germany, Hungary, Poland and Austria, which were subjected to Allied occupation, Czechoslovakia was treated as a victor, having fought alongside the Allied powers. Both the Soviet Union and the United States enjoyed considerable credit among the Czechoslovak population as the liberators of Czechoslovakia, and U.S. and Soviet forces had withdrawn from Czechoslovakia in November and December 1945, heralding a return to normalcy.

Through its politically neutral position, Czechoslovakia would also become an important haven for Hungarians and Poles escaping the Communist takeover of their countries.

Marshall Plan and the July 1947 crisis

On 5 June 1947 U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall made an offer of American aid to promote European recovery and reconstruction. The majority of the Czechoslovak parties, including Majer and the Social Democrats, were eager to share in the U.S. aid, which they needed in order to complete the Four-Year Economic Plan of 1947–1950. The Communists were skeptical to the offer, but nonetheless agreed to accept the invitation. On 4 July the cabinet voted unanimously to accept the invitation to send a delegation to a preliminary conference of European states in Paris to discuss the Marshall Plan scheduled on 12 July.

The unanimous acceptance of the Marshall Plan by the cabinet precipitated the so-called July crisis. Jan Masaryk, the foreign minister of Czechoslovakia, was summoned to Moscow on 9 July and berated by Stalin for considering Czechoslovakia's possible involvement with and joining of the Marshall Plan. Stalin warned that by accepting the plan the Soviet Union would consider this, as a signal of Czechoslovakia aligning themselves with the West, and thus damage Soviet-Czechoslovak relations. The Czechoslovaks chose, nonetheless, to attend the summit on 12 July.

The Communist acceptance of the offer was a result of a misunderstanding brought about by Soviet inefficiency. Gottwald had sought advance Soviet approval for accepting the invitation, but Valerian Zorin, the Soviet ambassador, and M. Bodrov, the charge d'affaires in Czechoslovakia, lacked instructions. Failing to get a reply from Moscow in time, the Communist cabinet members voted in favour of accepting the invitation. Upon receiving instructions from Moscow not to accept the invitation, the Communist Party withdrew their acceptance and voiced their opposition to the invitation, citing fears that the American plan would result in the "economic enslavement of Czechoslovakia."

In the political chaos which ensued, Majer engineered the expulsion of all communist ministers from the cabinet on 18 July. Majer did this under pressure from U.S. Secretary of State Marshall, who had informed him that anti-communism was a pre-condition for receiving American aid. The Communists, who had considered leaving the government as a result of the acceptance of the Marshall Aid, decided however remain in the National Front for the remainder of the term. The acceptance of the Marshall Plan and the expulsion of the Communists also resulted in a rift in Czechoslovak-Soviet relations, which were only resolved by the signing of the Declaration of Neutrality of 4 April 1951. Czechoslovakia eventually benefited from $768 million in aid between 1948-1951 by the Marshall Plan (European Recovery Program, ERP).

Opposition (1950–1958)[]

Second premiership (1958–1961)[]

Retirement and death[]

Following the defeat in 1961, Majer continued to lead the party as Leader of the Opposition. The period following the election defeat in 1961 was dominated by infighting between the Social Democratic Party's right wing, led by Majer and Blažej Vilím, and its left, led by Alexander Dubček. He retired as Leader of the Labour Party on 9 November 1963, having led the party for 18 years, and on 16 November Vilím was elected as his replacement.

He would remain a MP for Rakovník until the 1965 federal election, following which he subsequently retired from politics. While keeping a relatively low profile, Majer wrote his memoirs, and as a highly sought-after public speaker. In 1971, he was awarded the country's highest civilian award, the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, by President Ludvík Svoboda. Majer died, at the age of 68, on 26 January 1972.

Private life[]

He married Irma Linhartová (1918–2002) in 1948 and had three children: daughters Jana and Irma and a son, Václav. Irma was also politically active in the Social Democratic Party. She was secretary to Senator Vojtěch Dundr (1879–1957) and later Party chairman Blažej Vilím (1909–1976).