The Inauguration of Organized Political Warfare: Cold War Organizations Sponsored by the National Committee for a Free Europe/ Free Europe Committee

II: History of the Council of Free Czechoslovakia

71 • History of the Council of Free Czechoslovakia Francis D. Raška Introduction-formation of the Council of Free Czechoslovakia After the Communist takeover of the Czechoslovak government in February 1948, a large group of non-Communist Czechoslovak politicians sought exile in the West. A large proportion of them left their homeland out of a justified fear of Communist persecution. In fact, some of the non-Communist politicians in Czechoslovakia had already been arrested in February 1948 but were released following the personal intervention of President Edvard Beneš. Most of those who escaped initially found refuge in the western zones of Germany, and others in Austria. As time progressed, significant groups of exiles formed in Britain, France and the United States. Smaller groups formed in Belgium, Italy and other countries as well. At first, most of the refugees were interned in various refugee camps, where living conditions were very poor. Their situation improved somewhat in the summer months of 1948 when the refugee camps were placed under the jurisdiction of the International Refugee Organization.1 Prominent individuals such as former government members or parliamentary deputies were housed at the so-called Alaska House in Frankfurt . Among the early residents were National Socialists Ota Hora, Alois Čížek, Jaroslav Stránský and Vladimír Krajina; People’s Party deputy Ivo Ducháček; Judge Jaroslav Drábek and editor, Ivan Herben. Their first significant activity was initiating a meeting of the representatives of four parties (National Socialist, Social Democratic, Slovak Democratic ii 72 Francis D. Raška and People’s) in Paris, followed by another meeting on 10 April in London . The main purpose was an agreement to form a central Czechoslovak organ in exile, which would also help provide for a growing number of Czechoslovak refugees.2 Three National Socialist deputies, accompanied by the Minister of Defense in the wartime Czechoslovak Exile Government, Sergej Ingr, visited Winston Churchill, who tried to arrange a presentation by them in the House of Commons.3 But, the meeting at the House of Commons never took place. At that time, a Social Democrat, Blažej Vilím, used his access to the Labour government and tried to organize a meeting of thirty escaped Czechoslovak parliamentary deputies prior to the Czechoslovak elections scheduled for 30 May. It should be mentioned that Vilím had to assure the British authorities that there was “no intention to set up any committees, least of all a government-in-exile.”4 A Foreign Office official, C.P. Mayhew, added this: “My own view is that this is the ‘thin end of the wedge’ and that if we do not intend to use Czech refugees for propaganda and intelligence purposes, we would not be wise to open our doors to these Czech MPs.” C.F.A. Warner, Mayhew’s colleague, indicated his agreement: “I think most of these MPs will drift on to America before they become out of date (and therefore valueless) and have become much of a nuisance here.”5 R.M.A. Hankey at the Foreign Office recommended that the Czechoslovak MPs should be given the visas.6 The meeting was finally scheduled for 28 May 1948 at Caxton Hall in London. Prior to the meeting, the Czech delegation failed to obtain a reception with the Speaker of the British Parliament. The meeting adopted a two-page resolution deploring the Communist takeover of 25 February and declared that, regardless of party, they would strive “with all our efforts in brotherly unity for the return of freedom and democracy to our country in the spirit of the humanitarian, democratic and socialist principles of our president-liberator, T.G. Masaryk.”7 The role of these Czechoslovak politicians was difficult indeed because nobody seemed to care much about their predicament. A confidential appraisal of the meeting for the Foreign Office stated: 73 History of the Council of Free Czechoslovakia …having depended so long upon their leader, Dr. Beneš, and been deserted by him at the crucial moment, these Czechoslovak exile politicians are almost at a total loss as to where to go from here. There is no leader of inspiration among them, at least for the moment.8 In the United States, early attempts to organize an exile movement were undertaken by diplomats rather than politicians because most politicians had not yet made it to the United States. The first meeting, which took place on 14 June 1948 in New...