This thesis constitutes the first full-length study of Polish Communists in Canada, a group that provided a substantial segment of the countries socialist left in the early 20th century. It traces the roots of socialist support in Poland, its transplantation to Canada, the challenges it faced within an ethnic community heavily influenced by Catholicism, the complications caused by its links to the Comintern, and its changing strength and decline. It offers a deeper understanding of the ways in which the Communist party was able to appeal to certain ethnic groups, such as through cultural outreach, as well as its complicated and often arguably counter-productive relationship with the Comintern. It also furnishes important information on the efforts of the RCMP and Polish consulates to maintain control over the communists, as well as how generally improved material conditions among Poles, especially following the Second World War, along with the influence of the Cold War, accounted for a rapid decline in support. The thesis is primarily based on sources generated by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs or, more precisely, by the Polish consulates in Winnipeg, Montreal and Ottawa. One the Canadian side, the thesis took advantage of RCMP records, Canadian security bulletins, immigration records and Polish-language newspapers printed in Canada. By utilizing these sources, this study not only analyses the interaction of the Polish Canadian communist movement with other segments of the Polish community in Canada, but it also moves beyond the introverted approach that has characterized most studies of ethnic organizations in Canada by placing the movement within a “Canadian” context to analyze its relations with the government, broader segments of Canadian society, and the Communist Party of Canada (CPC).

The thesis deals with the way the organization, meaning and symbolism I. Spartakiad held in 1955 in Czechoslovakia for the communist regime. In the introduction deals with political, economic, social and cultural situation after the World War II in Czechoslovakia. Then the thesis deals with the field of physical education and sport. It deals with the process of the unification of physical education in the interests of the communist party and its effects on the arrangement I. Spartakiad. A key issue is the demonstration of abuse traditions sports in Czechoslovakia, abuse Sokol festivals in order Spartakiad in terms of their organization and eventually themselves abuse masses protruding trainees. All this also presented an example of gymnastic songs, during which trainees through movements of their bodies to express a clear link to the communist symbolism.

My diploma thesis deals with socialist realism. I have demonstrated that the content of this term has been changing regarding the political situation and it was loosely replacing the term folk art in historical texts. I have proved that the opinions of experts on socialist realism differ and a clear definition of the term socialist realism does not probably exist. The lack of definition of socialist realism was used to manipulate the artistic community. The thesis helped me to defend the proposition that the Communist Party has supervised and influenced the operation of the film industry even before the February coup in 1948 by the Ministry of Information, where a communist Václav Kopecký was in the lead. Interventions into films and purges of film workers were made already in the immediate postwar period. The main cultural-political directive on cinematography from April 1950, which should have provided a faster enforcement and obligatory effect of socialist realism, aimed to increase the film production. My thesis has shown that this directive, together with the bureaucratic way of approving films, disputes within the Communist Party, changes in film authorities and slow work of creative teams, contributed to an unprecedented crisis in the film production and to a fatal failure to meet the plan in the following year. In my thesis, I have proved that the film The Emperor and the Golem fully complies with two out of three principles of socialist realism. I have labeled the principle that requires truthfulness and historical concreteness as partly met. From my analysis, it can be concluded that this historical comedy has all the features that are required from the works of socialist realism.

This thesis introduces China's contemporary history especially the period 1949-1976 based on the analysis of selected British and American historiography. Through the criticism and comparison of British and American scholars' discourse, this thesis will obtain a deeper understanding of China's history. This thesis regards Mao Zedong as the main China's historical figure, as well as the construction of new China as the main line of writing. So the position of Mao and the Chinese Communist Party during the period of the construction of new China is an important part to discuss in this thesis. The thesis mainly talks about the period 1949-76 of China from the perspective of political and economic policies and movements, international relations, social issues, military actions and cultural movements. In addition, this thesis also emphasizes on discussing the angles, methodology and terminology of British and American historiography on China's contemporary history.

This diploma thesis deals with one phase of Josef Smrkovský's life between 1945-1963. After WW II and his engagement in the Prague Uprising, he was an eminent communist politician who possessed considerable power in the agrarian policy. However, he was arrested in 1951, became a victim of political trials and was sentenced to jail. He was later released due to the order of a rehabilitation committee, but he was not fully rehabilitated. The thesis examines and compares primary sources on Smrkovský's trial, describing methods of the State Secret Police such as surveillance, interrogations and both physical and psychological violence. Reports of Smrkovský's cellmates are also commented on. The thesis concludes with the analysis of rehabilitation committees and the effort of Smrkovský to clear himself. He re-entered political life at the beginning of the sixties. KEYWORDS Josef Smrkovský, politics, persecution, the fifties, The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, State Secret Police, rehabilitation

The thesis aims to provide possible interdisciplinar explanatory schema of the fact, which is in literature as a mass conformity of citizens of real-socialistic régime in Czechoslovakia. Even in the 70s and 80s, in a time of ideological emptiness, was achieved that the vast majority of the population participated in the rituals of power, which could have a considerable psychological impact. People were regularly reminded of their humbling and social psychological task is to present concepts able to describe, how could be such a humiliation at one's self-image processed and what effect this may have on general conformity. By the most symbolic ritual, the elections, it is also necessary to examine, in what form were they period presented, because this also has an impact on the degree of tension between own actions and convictions.

This work examines the prosecution of the Roman Catholic Church in the Communist-ruled Czechoslovak Republic. The first part analyzes the mutual relationship of the communist ideology and the Roman Catholic Church. The basic tenets of communism are presented via the works of Karl Marx, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and consecutive texts labeled Marxist- Leninist. The thoughts of the church are presented through the statements of several popes that took a stand against the ideals of communism and the atrocities committed in their name. The second chapter analyzes the individual steps the Communist-controlled state took against the church. Particular attention is devoted to the period from the February 1948 Communist takeover up to the end of the 1950s. This period can be further divided into three phases, distinguished by the differing tactics employed by the Communist Party. In the first phase, the Communists were attempting to subdue the church, the second phase was characteristic by very ruthless prosecution of the church officials, while the hallmark of the third phase was mainly a systematic policy of atheization. The aim of this work is a comparison of the ideological underpinnings of the Communist ideology with the real-world practice of the attempted elimination of religion from society. Focus is...

This article discusses ambiguous tactics of German Communist resisters in the Third Reich. The official historiography of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) portrayed Communist resisters as unfaltering heroes. By contrast, revisionist studies published after 1990 presented Communists as traitors and renegades. This study transcends these approaches that revolve around legitimation or de-legitimation of the dictatorship, and examines the dubious manoeuvring of three German Communists who strategically collaborated with the Nazis, namely Theodor Bottländer, Friedrich Schlotterbeck and Wilhelm Knöchel. While Knöchel’s attempts to outwit the Gestapo failed and could not prevent his execution, Schlotterbeck and Bottl€ander found ways to survive - largely without betraying their comrades. Even so, the Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (KPD), as well as its successor in the GDR, the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (SED), reprimanded venturesome, inventive and obstinate Communists, excluded them from the party and brought them to court. The harsh reactions are indicative of the inability of Communist historiography to acknowledge ‘Eigen-Sinn’, and highlight a central shortcoming of the antifascist doctrine. Likewise, more recent revisionist approaches have failed to recognise various attempts of Communists to minimise harm and survive in the grey zone between betrayal and loyalty.

The diploma thesis entitled The Atheization Policy of the Czechoslovak Republic from the End of 1940s to the Mid-1950s Illustrated on the Example of the Historical Regional Media introduces to the reader how Marxist-Leninist ideologies approached the topic of atheism and the process of atheization, and how they presented this worldview to the popular masses. The reader will also learn about the region of Teschen Silesia (where the research is based), its media and the media system established in Czechoslovakia at the time under discussion. The work also reflects on the post-war rise of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and its coup in 1948. The practical part of the thesis then reflects how the editors of the selected media (the widely available regional daily Nová svoboda, the newspaper of the Polish minority Głos Ludu and the company magazine Třinecký hutník) published topics that were supposed to lead their readers to secularization from 1948 to 1952. However, it is clear from the conclusions of the individual editions that the promotion of scientific atheism had minimal space, and the editors focused primarily on international, domestic social and political events. As time went on, however, even these contributions dwindled. Judicial monster trials of inconvenient clerics were also...

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