Talk:Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948
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[edit] New article or spin off?
Was this article started from scratch or was it spun off from somewhere else? --Irpen 22:23, 29 October 2007 (UTC)
- Either way, it's a great article. Good work people. - TheMightyQuill 23:10, 29 October 2007 (UTC)
Irpen, I began it from scratch. TheMightyQuill, I thank you for your praise. Biruitorul 23:42, 29 October 2007 (UTC)
- No problem. I was just asking. --Irpen 04:02, 30 October 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Something to learn from
This article should be read by all Communists who still believe that the former Stalinist Eastern Europe was great. This coup d'état of 1948 in Czechoslovakia shows how evil the Stalinists were. Stalinism has no respect for Democracy, nor for Human rights.
I see this article as something all Communists should read, to see how evil some people were who called them self communists. Democracy ( Democracy in the whole picture ) is a system which is the best at the moment for the human race. Its not the best, but a lest the less worst of all government types.
--UDSS (talk) 14:27, 11 January 2008 (UTC)
[edit] POV
I think this is a good informative article. I'm not an expert in the field, but as the commenter above demonstrates, the article tends to manipulate a reader's emotions: a potentially "positive" outcome slips away and is destroyed by the Soviets and communists. Phrases like this one in the "Impact" section only exacerbate the problem of this article:
For the second time in a decade, Western eyes saw Czech independence and democracy snuffed out by a totalitarian dictatorship intent on dominating a small and decent country[13]–at least the Soviets assisted, although it was Czech communists who had done most of the "dirty work".
"Small and decent" is a sentimental description for an encyclopedia article. This "dirty work" apparently also included the 1946 elections, in which as is noted the KSC won by quite a large plurality. Who were these people? Why did they vote for a communist party? What was so bad in their country that they actively voted for a political system that would radically change their society? These questions are unanswered here and mostly unanswered in the KSC article. Clearly this election is a *key* moment because it laid the groundwork for a more parliamentary-style coup as opposed to a proletarian revolution or a purely military coup. Who were these communist voters? One of the key moments to potentially describe this situation in this article is this:
However, by the summer of 1947 the KSČ had alienated whole blocs of potential voters: the activities of the Ministry of Interior and police were acutely offensive to many citizens; farmers objected to talk of collectivization, and some workers were angry at communist demands that they increase output without being given higher wages. The general expectation was that the communists would be soundly defeated in the May 1948 elections.
These are massive claims to be making and my suspicion is that this is inserted to emphasize the Russian's involvement and lessen the culpability of the average Czech citizen. There are many footnotes in this article but there is no footnote to backup these significant claims. And these claims do not jive with the description of "massive communist-led demonstrations" and "a speech before 100,000" a few paragraphs below.
Again, I think this is a good informative article, the influence of the Soviets is well documented here, especially because most of the Reference books seem to be by Americans. Hindsight is 20/20, but this article needs more emphasis given to the communist Czech citizen who was clearly dissatisfied with the status quo and provided the feet in the street.Guavas (talk) 05:41, 17 January 2008 (UTC)
