I doubt that the name Rudolf Slansky means much to American readers. The events in which he was embroiled and for which he was hanged in the most famous show trial in Central Europe took place more than 70 years ago. Nevertheless, there is a powerful lesson to be learned from what happened to Comrade Rudolf Slansky and his “co-conspirators” (I’m using inverted commas, since the “conspiracy” was cut out of whole cloth in Moscow, then forced upon the Czechoslovak Communist leadership). Unfortunately for Slansky and many of his co-accused, they were of the Jewish faith, which allowed both Moscow’s and Prague’s latent anti-Semitism to construct a semi-believable fable about a Titoist/Zionist cell inside the party, intent on overthrowing the nascent regime - the Communist had come to power via a coup-d’etat only three years before.
Spend a minute or two looking at this documentary. Unfortunately, subtitles are not available…but I think just the looks on the accused faces, as well as the obnoxious gloating of the evil prosecutor tell the tale:
Rudolf Slansky himself was a sworn Communist, whose loyalty to the cause and to Stalin’s regime in Moscow 1000 miles away was absolute. He was feared by his Party colleagues as a strict, demanding and entirely incorruptible ideologue. Sadly for him, once Stalin decided a purge was going to take place, Slansky’s loyalty and incorruptibility were irrelevant, as many Stalin’s former faithful NKVD lackeys and executioners could have testified.
The economy was in tatters and there was no way Moscow would allow a u-turn from its strict policies, predicated upon the promise of an imminent Marxist-Leninist paradise. Therefore, the Party had to act to appease the people and the easiest way, as Uncle Joe in Moscow advised, was a quick political trial and execution of a “band of Zionsit Titoist dogs, hungry for dollars and ready to sell out their communist homeland” Some of the slogans of the day, plastered on posters around Prague: “Death is too good for the traitors” “Let the lowlife imperialist dogs hang” (the apparatchiks must really have hated dogs)
Slansky and his closest colleagues (most of them Jews) were executed by hanging in early December 1952. They all went to their death proclaiming total fealty to the Soviet Union and Comrade Stalin. Were they innocent? The logic was simple: THEY thought they were but according to the doctrine, the Party can never be wrong and so despite not being aware of a crime, they must have indeed done some horrible things and if the Party felt they needed to suffer the ultimate punishment - the Party had to be correct, ergo: they were NOT innocent.
Let’s be clear: Slansky was no angel. It was thanks to him and his closest loyalists in the Party, headed by President Klement Gottwald, that a bloodthirsty communist Party initiated a coup d’etat and installed a Soviet-style republic in Czechoslovakia in 1948. Prior to WW2, Czechoslovakia was a shining city on the hill: a free, democratic, cultured, liberal western country whose only European peers were Great Britain and France - the very two countries that later sold her out to Hitler. It’s even possible - I am neither a historian nor a lawyer - that Slansky’s crime deserved the death penalty. I’m sure his policies destroyed thousands of families. But he did NOT deserve the noose for a made-up crime and he did NOT deserve the noose for being a Jew. And sadly, those two things were the reason his DID get the noose.
Why am I writing about this and why is it instructive? Here’s why: tens of thousands of fine Czechoslovak citizens marched through the streets braying for the “death of the imperialist dogs” and shouting “Death is too good for them” and “Long live the Soviet Union, Long Live Comrade Stalin” A small group of Communist thugs turned the nation into a herd of fearful sheep willing to snitch and yell slogans in order to stay in the good graces of not just the Party but their bosses and in many cases their families.
Just like the cousin who didn’t want to see you for Thanksgiving because you weren’t vaccinated, your Czech cousin from 70 years ago might have questioned your loyalty to the Party before having you over for dinner: “I didn’t see you at the demonstartion last week, dear Jaroslav! I definitely hope to see you at our district meeting next Wednesday…if you catch my drift”
Don’t let the Marxist get the upper hand - and believe me, they are all Marxist though the guise have changed.
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To end on a happier note, here’s the great Czech comedy, “The Wonderful Men With a Crank” directed by Oscar winning director Jiri Menzl (the Oscar was for his 1967 feature. “Closely Watched Trains”) This one DOES have subtitles…here’s a screen grab and a link below