Anna Herran1; 1 Department of History, University of Toronto, Canada
Discussion
Following the creation of the Czechoslovak Republic on October 28, 1918, Czechoslovak political elites sought to make this date the new state’s most significant holiday. Despite the many challenges to establishing this new national holiday, October 28 acquired a significant symbolic importance during the interwar period, especially for the Czech population, who increasingly understood the holiday as a symbol of independence and national identity. For this reason, upon coming to power in 1948, the Czechoslovak communist party had to confront the legacy and symbolism of the October 28 national holiday. The proposed paper traces the gradual change in attitudes towards the October 28 holiday by the Czechoslovak Communist regime in the immediate postwar period. By examining the language used in the party’s official newspaper, Rudé právo, the paper demonstrates that the communist government did not outright ban and suppress symbols associated with the Interwar State. Instead, the regime initially tried to appropriate said symbols when deemed beneficial for its political motivations. As the holiday of October 28 was intrinsically connected to the interwar state, it presented too many ideological incongruences that the communists could not reconcile. After an attempt to link the Czechoslovak holiday to the October Revolution, the regime eventually abandoned these efforts and sought to create new national holidays to help erase the memory of October 28. Through this case study, the proposed paper aims to highlight the uses of national symbols under Communism, as well as the challenges new elites must face when coming to terms with past legacies and traditions.
