THE COMMUNIST SUBVERSION OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA: 1938-1948

by Josef Korbel ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 5, 1959

The intent of this case study is to show that coexistence can be used as a ""weapon not of peace but of conquest""- and to show that Czechoslovakia's failure to maintain her national identity and democratic idealism proves the danger of Communist absorption to any free country. It also embodies ""all the traditional methods of Communist takeover"". Mr. Korbel has provided a clear, controlled, and surprisingly detached (he was the head of Jan Masaryk's Cabinet in the Czechoslovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs) review of the decade which ended with Benes' abdication- the ""certificate of death""- his own and his country's Benes, the convinced democrat, the wishful optimist. Czechoslovakia, a free and economically healthy country, also refutes the myth that Communism only feeds on poverty and social injustice. The origins of Communism within Czechoslovakia- from the '20's on; the Munich crisis, which left an open wound and an open door; the Communist pose- as patriots, at first in the underground, in the later years at all levels, and the many techniques employed, divisive influences exerted. All of this leads to the last fateful weeks and the allout offensive.... While the strongest market here will be those concerned with foreign policy and world affairs, this study provides an object lesson of great significance and it is handled with authority but without alarm.

Pub Date: Oct. 5, 1959

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Princeton Univ. Press

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1959

Categories: NONFICTION