18 - The establishment of totalitarianism in Slovakia after the February coup of 1948 and the culmination of mass persecution, 1948–1953

Summary

The Communist takeover of Czechoslovakia, in February 1948, began a period of the transformation of Slovak society in line with Communist ideology and the Soviet model of socialism. The central pillar of this new political system was the Communist Party, which became a ‘state-party’ and monopolised political power. The Party began to take over the economy of the state. All industrial and other enterprises, foreign trade and wholesale trade gradually came under its remit. The economic liquidation of the majority of privately owned crafts and trades followed. In the villages, most land was in the possession of the peasant-farmers, but from the beginning of 1949 mass collectivisation commenced. It was formally voluntary, but in reality pressure and intimidation prevailed.

These forcible interventions fundamentally altered the social structure of Slovak society. Private ownership of the means of production was largely abolished. Practically all citizens became employees of the state. In practice, this also included the collectivised peasant-farmers, who lost their claims to their own land. The Communists controlled the state from the centre to the districts, towns and enterprises. The new regime was not satisfied with a monopoly of power, but aimed at total state control of all aspects of society, including the spiritual sphere and personal life of every individual. Historical literature calls the period of extraordinarily extensive social changes the ‘founding period of the totalitarian regime’ or the ‘hot phase of the totalitarian process’. This phase lasted until 1953.