A review of "Nas Milan Rastislav Stefanik"
This is a Slovak-language book published in
Czechoslovakia in 1990. The author, Stefan Stvrtecký, was a dissident expelled
from the Communist Party in 1970. He wrote the bulk of the manuscript already
during the 1970's, but the book wasn't published until after the “Velvet
Revolution” (the 1989 fall of Communism in Czechoslovakia). This is hardly
surprising, since it's a de facto defense of Milan Rastislav Stefánik, a leader
of the Czechoslovak National Council during World War I.
The First Czechoslovak Republic considered Stefánik a national hero, but under Communism, he became something of a non-person in official history books. Stefaník represented the conservative, quasi-monarchist wing of the Czechoslovak national movement. He was also a prominent player during the foreign intervention in Russia against the Bolsheviks (1918-1920).
Curiously, Stvrtecky's book isn't explicitly anti-Communist, despite its subject matter. Or not so curiously. Perhaps the author didn't want problems with the secret police, or perhaps he hoped to publish the manuscript during a “thaw”, hoping that the Communist-sounding rhetoric would make it easier to do so. Another possibility, of course, is that the author really had somewhat idiosyncratic political views (not unheard of among intellectual dissidents). Still, “Nás Milan Rastislav Stefánik” is a peculiar tome, attempting to square the circle between the conservative Stefánik (a kind of Czechoslovak Mannerheim) and some kind of pro-Bolshevik leftism! Ironically, the book was considered the definitive Slovak work on Stefánik when it was published, since no other “objective” work on the Czechoslovak general existed at the time, at least not in his homeland…
It would be interesting to read a more recent work on Stefánik, who is probably still a controversial figure. Being a Slovak, he is claimed by Slovak nationalists, despite his “Czechoslovakist” political views. His death in a mysterious plane crash in 1919 has given rise to many speculations, including the conspiracy theory that “the Czechs” (or the Hungarians, or the Communists…) shot down Stefánik's plane.
Perhaps a new dissident writer is waiting in the wings to take on “our Milan Rastislav Stefánik”?
The First Czechoslovak Republic considered Stefánik a national hero, but under Communism, he became something of a non-person in official history books. Stefaník represented the conservative, quasi-monarchist wing of the Czechoslovak national movement. He was also a prominent player during the foreign intervention in Russia against the Bolsheviks (1918-1920).
Curiously, Stvrtecky's book isn't explicitly anti-Communist, despite its subject matter. Or not so curiously. Perhaps the author didn't want problems with the secret police, or perhaps he hoped to publish the manuscript during a “thaw”, hoping that the Communist-sounding rhetoric would make it easier to do so. Another possibility, of course, is that the author really had somewhat idiosyncratic political views (not unheard of among intellectual dissidents). Still, “Nás Milan Rastislav Stefánik” is a peculiar tome, attempting to square the circle between the conservative Stefánik (a kind of Czechoslovak Mannerheim) and some kind of pro-Bolshevik leftism! Ironically, the book was considered the definitive Slovak work on Stefánik when it was published, since no other “objective” work on the Czechoslovak general existed at the time, at least not in his homeland…
It would be interesting to read a more recent work on Stefánik, who is probably still a controversial figure. Being a Slovak, he is claimed by Slovak nationalists, despite his “Czechoslovakist” political views. His death in a mysterious plane crash in 1919 has given rise to many speculations, including the conspiracy theory that “the Czechs” (or the Hungarians, or the Communists…) shot down Stefánik's plane.
Perhaps a new dissident writer is waiting in the wings to take on “our Milan Rastislav Stefánik”?
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