This book is about the political, social and economic changes in
Czechoslovakia in the years 1945- 1948. In 1945 the 'national
revolution' established the Communist Party as the dominant force within
a coalition government. The leading Communists then evolved the idea of
a specific Czechoslovak road to socialism that could bypass the
'dictatorship of the proletariat'. By analysing in detail the
revolutionary events and the society that emerged from them, the book
demonstrates that there was a real possibility of developing a distinct
model of socialism containing a plurality of parties and a sizeable
private sector. Such thinking, however, was effectively ended in
February 1948, when the Communist Party established a monopoly of power.
The fundamental causes of this change in the party's strategy are to be
found, it is argued, in the international situation. The February events
were of international significance as they confirmed the division of
Europe into two blocs. The concluding chapter shows how important they
were for the subsequent development of Czechoslovak society.