Volume 47, Number 2

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 National and class aspects of electoral support for the communist party of Czechoslovakia (1925-1935)

Ondřej Král

Received: June 14, 2016
Accepted: December 1, 2016

pp. 37–58

Abstract
In the political system of the First Czechoslovak Republic the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (CPC) presented itself as an internationalist party that fulfi lled one of the main goals of the Communist International. This resulted primarily in the fact that it was the only major political party at that time that actually gained the support of citizens of both Czechoslovak and German nationality. This article thoroughly examines the electoral support for the Communist Party in terms of the nationality of its voters. In the Czech environment, the Communist Party mainly attracted the attention of workers in industrial regions. In the German environment, this phenomenon is similar, except that in the elections in 1935, half of the former Communist Party voters found the Sudeten German Party a better alternative. This leads to the idea that voters for the Communist Party were also German nationalists, who could understand the internationalism of the communists as a means of breaking up Czechoslovakia before Sudeten German Party was founded. The aim of this paper is to answer the question on importance of nationality and also of class origin of CPC voters.

Key words
electoral geography, electoral behaviour, communism, nationalism

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Demographic and social transformations of eastern part of the polish-czech borderland

Monika Olberek-Żyła

Received: April 4, 2016
Accepted: December 12, 2016

pp. 59–79

Abstract
The aim of the article is to assess the diversity of population transformation trends in towns compared to their surrounding non-urban areas and to identify relationships occurring between them in the context of the demographic development of the Czech-Polish borderland. The area under study consists of the Moravian-Silesian Region on the Czech side and of the southern part of the Silesian Voivodeship on the Polish side. The components of population growth in the years 1995–2013 were examined. Statistical material was obtained from statistical offi ces in Poland and in the Czech Republic. Two research methods were applied in order to understand the relationship between natural increase and natural loss and net migration. Firstly, the Webb method was used. Another applied method was the Długosz’s typographs method, on the basis of which an attempt was made to create typology of cities. The analysis revealed that the Czech and the Polish part of the borderland differ in development of population growth, as on the Polish side, there was an increase in population, whereas on the Czech side, population decreased. Some
similarities were observed as well, such as the depopulation of towns and cities for the benefi t of their surrounding rural areas.

Key words
the Polish-Czech borderland, demographic and social transformations, Długosz’s typograph,
Webb typology

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