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The book is primarily an exploration of the Yugoslav Cominform (anti- Tito) emigrants who found refuge in Czechoslovakia. The main emphasis throughout is on a thorough investigation of their political activities. At the same time, the nature of the subject itself provides space for an in-depth micro-historical analysis of the wider context and, thus, points up some salient features of the communist dictatorship in Czechoslovakia, especially in its initial phase. The monograph observes the actions, affairs and developments that took place among this Yugoslav community, who can be regarded as a particular organized social group or a particular unit of the communist movement, within Czechoslovakia. The book discusses the various mechanisms used in decision-making and control, and also how the different issues that arose were handled. In addition, it sets out the dealings that took place between the immigrants as a whole and the central authorities of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (the KSČ), the patterns of conduct that resulted from these interactions, and the thinking of the active Yugoslav Communist Party members. In the process, relations between Czechoslovak communists and their foreign protégés are examined. Bearing in mind that the Yugoslav group found itself in a new environment that in many respects differed markedly from their own background, it is necessary to take account of diversities in outlook between the immigrant group and their host community, and how these were influenced by pre-existing stereotypes, as well as by the different political and cultural traditions that came into play. The book analyzes in detail the functioning of the party, the security organs, and the state apparatus in their relations with the political immigrants and with foreigners generally. It also looks at the legal, material and social status of the foreigner-political immigrant in Czechoslovak society and what possibilities and opportunities existed for adaptation and assimilation in the new environment. The distinctive characteristics of this politically exposed group of Yugoslav immigrants facilitate the depiction of a somewhat natural interconnection between the themes and problems of so-called “high politics” on the one hand and the history of everyday life on the other. In this case, the history of “elites” penetrates the history “from below,” and at the same time highlights the life of “ordinary people” against a backdrop of “significant” historical events. The monograph treats some important aspects of political developments in the early 1950s that are relevant to the subject being researched, albeit from a point of view that differs from prevailing historiography. It traces minutely the role of the Yugoslav immigration and that of the so-called “Yugoslav card” in the preparation and conduct of the show trial of Rudolf Slánský and his associates. It also considers the nature of the relations between individual sections within the communist regime and how such relations were realized in practice. In addition, contacts and communications between the KSČ and the Soviet authorities, or more precisely the KSČ and the Cominform, are analyzed. The phenomenon of Yugoslav Cominform anti-Tito emigration has not been yet adequately and profoundly researched by historians from either side of the former divide. Similarly, the question of political emigration to Czechoslovakia in general has likewise received scarcely more than peripheral attention from historians to-date. For this reason, the book is an original, and indeed seminal, source based primarily on research and the study of documents that are located in both the Prague and Belgrade archives. Yugoslav anti-Tito immigration in Czechoslovakia came into being in the summer and autumn months of 1948. The immediate cause was the release of the June 1948 resolution of the Cominform that denounced Tito's leadership of the Communis |
