Islamic Sharansky Case Study

This thesis mainly makes a study on Slansky case which occurred in Prague in December 1952.1948-1953, the Soviet launched a new round of major purge movements in Eastern European countries, which affected a wide range. In Czechoslovakia, the impact of the so-called case of "anti-party and anti-state conspiratorial center headed by Slansky" in 1951-1952 was the most, fourteen defendants were all leaders of party and government or high-ranking cadres. Eleven including Slansky have been sentenced to death and the remaining three was sentenced to life imprisonment. Slansky was one of the founders of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, whose position was only second to president Gottwald. He stayed in Moscow during the World War II. After war he returned the Czechoslovakia as the general secretary of the communist party. He was a strong element of Stalinism and a positive follower of Moscow line. In the early stages of purge, Slansky has played the role of Stalin's executioner: he searched for the party's enemies from his comrades, and handed them over to the Soviet and Czechoslovakia's secret police, which won the trust of Stalin and Beria. However, even if such a high-level leader was brought to the gallows by Stalin and his party which single-handedly created by himself on charges of Trotskyites, Tito elements, Zionism and other elements in December 1952.Slansky case is a microcosm of the Cold War era, also is a model of the Eastern Europe political trial during this period. Understanding of this historic event has the great significance for us understanding profoundly the characteristic of the Cold War and the communism of the Soviet and its allied countries in Eastern Europe. This paper which draws on the basis of previous works takes full advantage of the latest archival material in order to give a clear and comprehensive review and explanation to the historical event.The text of this paper is divided into four parts:Part one introduces the whole of the Slansky case. This section includes the activity which Slansky was arrested before and the turn of Slansky's fate, as well as the arrest, interrogation and the final trial to Slansky later. It emphasizes on the key role that Stalin and Soviet consultants played in the collapse of Slansky, as well as the illegal methods that were used during the interrogation process and the dramatic color of the final trial.Part two analyzes the reasons for the Slansky case. There are three reasons about the occurrence of Slansky case. 1948 is the formation of US-Soviet Cold War period, Soviet need launch a public trial in Eastern Europe countries in order to compete against the United State, take control of Eastern Europe and oppose the Zionist. By 1951, the purge movement gradually spread to Czechoslovakia; During the period, the group fights of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia promoted Stalin's growing doubts about Slansky, and which was used by Western spy agencies. They implement a Stratagem of sowing discord: they produced the "Great Sweeper letter" to remind Slansky to flee to the West. It was just the letter to make Stalin and Gottwald determined to carry out the arrest, confession, trail and execution of Slansky.Part three elaborated briefly the social impacts of the Slansky case. Slansky case caused a great social impact. It has worsened the relationship between the two camps, exacerbated tensions of the international relations, and has encountered opposition and protest of the word progress public opinion which extremely sympathized with the development of the Czechoslovakia republic before. It has had a particularly negative impact on Czechoslovakia's political, economic and social life.Part four analyzes the motives of the defendants and the interrogators, so that to deepen our understanding to the fragment of the Cold War.