Political and Class Reliability Screening 1957–1958 in Slovakia: an Element of Forced Social Mobility

What is it about?

The 1958 political and class reliability screenings took place against the backdrop of the renewal of repressive policy pursued by the CPC leadership. Their course in Slovakia, so far not explored in detail, is studied mainly in the context of building new executive elites loyal to the post-1948 political regime. Based on the research into the CPC archival documents, we can surmise that, in addition to cases of espionage in state bodies revealed in 1957, the screenings were prompted by general distrust of members of the pre-1948 middle classes and executive elites or their descendants. This distrust grew following the suppression of attempts to liberalise the communist regime in Czechoslovakia and political unrest in Poland and Hungary in 1956, seen by the CP leadership as part of conspiracy by the regimes enemies. One of the reasons behind the purges was an effort of the so-called new intelligentsia, i.e. new executive elites recruited from the workers and peasants backgrounds after 1948 despite not meeting the relevant qualification criteria, to restore their power positions, which had been shaken by the liberalisation of cadre policy in the mid-1950s. Apart from the political and class reliability screenings in state offices, purges were also conducted in other departments. These were primarily concerned with the pre-1948 activities of those under scrutiny and their class origin. In Slovakia, added to the above issues was the employees' relationship to so-called Slovak bourgeois nationalism, the campaign against which was renewed in the autumn of 1956. The screenings were the last mass purge before the onset of 'normalisation' of 1969-1970; its impact on society was mitigated by the political liberalisation in Czechoslovakia after 1963.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

The article examines an issue that has been studied only marginally to date. While the context at the level of Czechoslovakia as a whole has been studied, previous research has not included data on Slovakia, nor has it reflected specific aspects of the approach to screenings applied in Slovakia. The article also contributes by reflecting in greater detail on the circumstances under which the vetting took place and by providing new insights into the circumstances that led to its implementation. Based on the findings, the author concludes that the preparation of the screening process began immediately after expressions of dissatisfaction with the official policy of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in 1956 and after the events in Poland and Hungary in October of the same year.