Bohumír Šmeral
Bohumír Šmeral | |
---|---|
Russian SFSR, Soviet Union | |
Occupation(s) | Politician, journalist and writer |
Bohumír Šmeral (25 October 1880 – 8 May 1941) was a
Early life
Šmeral was born into a relatively well to-do family in a small town. While studying at the
Political career
Being able, outspoken and hard working, Šmeral was elected to the executive committee of social democracy (in 1909) and into the
During World War I Šmeral became head of social democracy. He advocated federalization of Austria-Hungary as the best way to achieve the goals of the worker's movement and argued against creation of small national states. As the war dragged on and faith in the monarchy vanished, the other leaders of the party grew discontented. During September 1917, Gustav Habrman, František Soukup, František Tomášek, Rudolf Bechyně and others criticized Šmeral for his pro-Austrian stance and forced him to resign.
After 28 October 1918, when Czechoslovakia was established, he refused to participate in politics of the new state and until the end of 1919 worked as a correspondent of Právo lidu in Switzerland.
During the spring of 1920, Šmeral visited
Šmeral was criticized as too moderate and for "social democratism" by radicals. He worked as an executive of the
In November 1938 he went to Moscow, where he died on 8 May 1941.
Selected works
- Kdo jsou a co chtějí sociální demokraté [Social Democrats: Who They Are And What They Want] (1906)
- Materálie k dějinám dělnického hnutí [Historical Materials About Worker's Movement] (1906)
- Pravda o sovětském Rusku [The Truth About Soviet Russia] (1920)
References
- Bernard Wheaton: "Radical socialism in Czechoslovakia : Bohumír Šmeral, the Czech road to socialism and the origins of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, 1917-1921", 1986, ISBN 0-88033-110-0
- Jan Galandauer: "Bohumír Šmeral 1888 až 1914", Prague, 1981
External links
- Short biography Archived 2020-05-31 at the Wayback Machine (in Czech)