The Pětka or Committee of Five was an unofficial, informal, extra-parliamentary semi-constitutional political forum designed to cope with political difficulties during the First Republic of Czechoslovakia. It was founded in September 1920 and was made up of a council of leaders of the coalition parties that made up the Czechoslovak government at that time. The name comes from the Czech word for "five", and is pronounced pyetka. It played a crucial role in Czechoslovak politics in the era of the first Republic.
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The Pětka was founded in 1920 to provide guidance to the weak cabinet of Jan Černý, which is said to have “resembled a ventriloquist’s dummy: it had no political will or voice of its own”.[1] At the time the Petka was formed, Czechoslovakia was recovering from the First World War and dealing with the problems it faced as a new state in post-war Europe. The first President of Czechoslovakia, Tomáš Masaryk saw the new Europe as “a laboratory built over the graveyard of the world war, a laboratory that needs the work of all”.[2] In this post-war Europe, Masaryk “recognised that his people still lacked the necessary experience and forbearance necessary for parliamentary government”[3] and knew a non-traditional political institution would be needed to maintain control. In order to govern Czechoslovakia it would have been easier for Masaryk to rule as a dictator, however, this was against his democratic ideals. Instead, he acted boldly if not constitutionally, and formed a government of experts, the Petka, in September 1920. In his autobiography, Masaryk states how anxious he was “to ensure the expert elements of the administration and Government”.[4]
The five representative experts and their political parties were: Antonín Švehla (Agrarian Party), Alois Rašín (National Democratic Party), Rudolf Bechyně (Social Democratic Party), Jiří Stříbrný (Czechoslovak National Socialist Party) and Jan Šrámek (People's Party). The main force behind the Petka was Antonín Švehla who was to serve as Czechoslovakia’s prime minister between 1922–1926 and 1926–1929 and wield much influence over the government.
Created in 1920, by the leader of the Agrarian party, Antonín Švehla, it was originally designed as a means to stave off a potential crisis that seemed to be brewing, on account of the inability of the leading parties in parliament to form a governing coalition. Invited to participate in the Pětka were the leaders of the four other leading political parties in the newly formed Republic of Czechoslovakia. It was Švehla’s hope that by holding political discussions in a private setting, the five leaders would be able to forge a compromise that had been eluding the parliamentary factions.
The Pětka was designed to make up for the lack of “political voice” of the Černý cabinet. The leaders of the five main political parties met at regular intervals to provide direction to the cabinet and advise the prime minister.[5] Each of the five members worked on the principle of “We have agreed that we will agree”.[6] The Petka ensured all major disputes took place out of the public eye, and the government maintained a united front for public consumption.[7] The rigid party discipline that characterised the Czechoslovak political system enabled the Petka representatives to control each of their party's members in the Assembly and they were thereby in a position to control the cabinet.[8] In fact, the Petka has been described as “the real government of the country”.[5]
Conceived on an ad hoc basis, this behind-the-scenes forum proved so effective, that the leaders of the five parties – the Agrarians, the National Socialists, the National Democrats, the Social Democrats, and the Catholic Party – reconvened the Pětka on several occasions throughout the following two decades. Some historians go so far as to argue that the Pětka was the de facto government of Czechoslovakia, in that it had the power to overthrow any cabinet.
But whatever the true dimensions of its power, it is certain that the non-elected, rather shadowy Pětka wielded a great deal of power during the interwar period. In September 1921, it seems to have been the Pětka that was responsible for deciding to install Edvard Beneš as the prime minister. A year later, after Beneš resigned, the Pětka chose Svehla to serve as his successor. As the 1920s progressed, and Czechoslovakia remained relatively stable, the importance of the early Pětka began to wane. Or rather, it didn't so much wane as it was incorporated into the cabinet. Švehla, who was prime minister for much of this period, effectively incorporated the Pětka into his cabinet during his tenure, taking members from each of the five major parties to serve as experts or luminaries in his cabinet.
The Pětka helped keep under control the economic crisis that sparked hyperinflation across Europe between 1922-23. In 1924, the Petka directed the National Assembly to pass a National Insurance Law. This law created a social welfare system, which is described as being one of the most progressive in the world at that time.[9] The longevity of the Petka proved that it was useful in maintaining the stability of the First Republic of Czechoslovakia. The stability of the Czechoslovak regime during the inter-war period must be attributed, at least in part, to the Petka. This is because the Petka followed a moderate course that was acceptable to a majority of the chamber of deputies and thus prevented a cabinet crisis at times of social unrest. The Petka provided discipline to the National Assembly and enabled it to reach compromises that ensured stability in Czechoslovakia.
Czechoslovakia stands out among other Eastern European countries during the inter-war period because of its stability. Many other countries in Eastern Europe fell under dictatorships, experienced prolonged instability or fell under the control of extreme Left or Right wing parties. Through the entire inter-war period in Czechoslovakia, the Left never dominated a cabinet, the Communists never participated in a government and the coalition in power was never faced with an organised opposition bloc of opponent parties capable of assuming office itself. The existence of the Petka enabled Czechoslovakia to be described as being “internally stable and externally respected”.[10]
The establishment and effectiveness of the Pětka reflects two significant aspects of political life in post-World War I Czechoslovakia. First, it demonstrates the impulse towards consensus among the leaders of the newly formed Czechoslovakia, which had only come into being as an independent state with the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of World War I. This sentiment was captured in the slogan of the coalitions forged by Švehla, “We have agreed that we will agree.” Whatever their differences and personal leaders, the Czechoslovak leaders felt obliged to search out common ground so as to prevent the country from falling into chaos. Second, the presence and the power of the Pětka demonstrates the fragility and immaturity of Czechoslovakian democracy. That this unelected body which answered to nobody should have been able to yield so much power is testament to the fact that Czechoslovakia was not yet a fully fledged democracy.
The legacy of the Pětka is something of a mixed bag. On the one hand, it seems to have played an important role in some of the most significant accomplishments of the short-lived First Republic. It can be given credit, among other things, for the vast majority of social reforms enacted between 1918 and 1923. The eight-hour workday, sickness, and unemployment relief, restrictions on female and child labor constituted some of the reforms that the Pětka supposedly engineered. And in comparison with all the other Eastern European countries carved out of the remnants of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Czechoslovakia was both a prosperous and secure haven. Some credit for this must go to the Pětka. At the same time, it can be argued that the reliance on the Pětka and on backroom negotiations left the country ill-prepared when the difficulties it encountered defied compromise. Specifically, the leaders found it impossible to contend with the threat posed by the rise of the Nazis in Germany and the various repercussions that this had on life in Czechoslovakia, which possessed a large and increasingly hostile German minority.
The Pětka faced criticism for being unconstitutional and undemocratic. Even Masaryk himself acknowledged the Pětka was not entirely democratic, when in a 1925 speech he said:
I am a convinced democrat and I accept the inherent difficulties of democracy. Our difficulties arise from the high demands of democracy, which requires a body of citizens who are truly educated in the political sense, and an intelligent electorate, both men and women. Hence I am not in favour of government by experts or officials. Of course we have already had two Cabinets of Officials (the Petka) . What does that signify? It means that for us the transition from monarchism to democracy is a difficult one. Problems, however, are solved by people who think and possess knowledge, and are not merely elected.[3]
When it was founded, it was thought the Petka would last only briefly. However, “the provisional often proves lasting”[1] and the Committee of Five was to last in some form or another until the end of the First Republic of Czechoslovakia. With the dissolution of the Pětka, came the end of discipline in the coalition. Czech and Slovak politicians began to argue and long-suppressed conflicts were soon exposed.