Item: i101416

Authentic Coin of:

Czech Republic – Czechoslovakia
100th Anniversary of Birth of Bohumír Šmeral
1980 Silver 100 Korun 29mm (9.00 grams) 0.500 Silver (0.1447 oz. ASW)
Reference: KM# 102
ČESKOSLOVENSKÁ SOCIALISTICKÁ REPUBLIKA 100 KČS  , Czechoslovak Socialist Coat-of-Arms.
1880 – 1980 BOHUMÍR ŠMERAL, Portrait of Bohumír Šmeral.

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Bohumír Šmeral (25 October 1880 in Třebíč, Margraviate of Moravia – 8 May 1941 in Moscow) was a Czech politician, leader of the Czech Social Democratic Party, and one of founders of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.

Šmeral was born into a relatively well to-do family in a small town. While studying at the gymnasium in Třebíč he joined the local wing of the Czech Social Democratic Party. During 1898-1904 he studied law at the Charles University in Prague and actively engaged in politics. Since 1899 he also worked as a journalist in the party newspaper Právo lidu and as a public speaker. He also published several theoretical works.

Political career

Being able, outspoken and hard working, Šmeral was elected to the executive committee of social democracy (in 1909) and into the parliament of Austria (Reichsrat), in 1911. According to historian Jan Galandauer he was the most competent politician among Czech social democrats.

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 Soviet Russia where he discussed the future directions of the left movement in Czechoslovakia with V. I. Lenin. After his return, he led the left-wing of Social Democracy, preparing for the creation of the communist party and participated in work of the Comintern. In May 1921 he co-founded, together with Antonín Zápotocký, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) and served in its executive committee (later named the central committee, ÚV KSČ).

Šmeral was criticized as too moderate and for “social democratism” by radicals. He worked as an executive of the Comintern from 1926, most of the time outside Czechoslovakia. During the 1930s he organized anti-fascist movements. In September 1938, after the Sudetenland Crisis resulted in the Munich Agreement, he left for Moscow and joined the exiled leadership (zahraniční vedení) of the KSČ (soon banned in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia).

The Czech Republic also known by its short-form name, Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west, Austria to the south, Slovakia to the east and Poland to the northeast. The Czech Republic covers an area of 78,866 square kilometres (30,450 sq mi) with a mostly temperate continental climate and oceanic climate. It is a unitary parliamentary republic, with 10.6 million inhabitants; its capital and largest city is Prague, with 1.3 million residents. Other major cities are Brno, Ostrava, Olomouc and Pilsen. The Czech Republic is a member of the European Union (EU), NATO, the OECD, the United Nations, the OSCE, and the Council of Europe.

It is a developed country with an advanced, high income export-oriented social market economy based in services, manufacturing and innovation. The UNDP ranks the country 14th in inequality-adjusted human development. The Czech Republic is a welfare state with a “continental” European social model, a universal health care system, tuition-free university education and is ranked 14th in the Human Capital Index. It ranks as the 6th safest or most peaceful country and is one of the most non-religious countries in the world, while achieving strong performance in democratic governance.

<img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ed/Coat_of_arms_of_the_Czech_Republic.svg/85px-Coat_of_arms_of_the_Czech_Republic.svg.png" align="left" the="" czech="" republic="" includes="" historical="" territories="" of="" bohemia,="" moravia,="" and="" silesia.="" state="" was="" formed="" in="" late="" 9th="" century="" as="" duchy="" bohemia="" under="" great="" moravian="" empire.="" after="" fall="" empire="" 907,="" centre="" power="" transferred="" from="" moravia="" to="" přemyslid="" dynasty.="" 1002,="" formally="" recognized="" an="" imperial="" holy="" roman="" along="" with="" kingdom="" germany,="" burgundy,="" italy,="" numerous="" other="" territories,="" becoming="" 1198="" reaching="" its="" greatest="" territorial="" extent="" 14th="" century.="" beside="" itself,="" king="" ruled="" lands="" bohemian="" crown,="" holding="" a="" vote="" election="" emperor;="" prague="" seat="" periods="" between="" 17th="" hussite="" wars="" 15th="" driven="" by="" protestant="" reformation,="" faced="" economic="" embargoes="" defeated="" five="" consecutive="" crusades="" proclaimed="" leaders="" catholic="" church.=""

Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the whole Crown of Bohemia was gradually integrated into the Habsburg Monarchy alongside the Archduchy of Austria and the Kingdom of Hungary. The Protestant Bohemian Revolt (1618-20) against the Catholic Habsburgs led to the Thirty Years’ War. After the Battle of the White Mountain, the Habsburgs consolidated their rule, eradicated Protestantism and reimposed Catholicism, and also adopted a policy of gradual Germanization. This contributed to the anti-Habsburg sentiment. A long history of resentment of the Catholic Church followed and still continues. With the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Bohemian Kingdom became part of the German Confederation 1815-1866 as part of Austrian Empire (1804 to 1867) and the Czech language experienced a revival as a consequence of widespread romantic nationalism. In the 19th century, the Czech lands became the industrial powerhouse of the monarchy and were subsequently the core of the Republic of Czechoslovakia, which was formed in 1918 following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after World War I.

Czechoslovakia remained the only democracy in this part of Europe in the interwar period. However, the Czech part of Czechoslovakia was occupied by Germany in World War II, while the Slovak region became the Slovak Republic; Czechoslovakia was liberated in 1945 by the armies of the Soviet Union and the United States. Most of the three millions of the German-speaking minority were expelled following the war. The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia won the 1946 elections and after the 1948 coup d’état, Czechoslovakia became a one-party communist state under Soviet influence. In 1968, increasing dissatisfaction with the regime culminated in a reform movement known as the Prague Spring, which ended in a Soviet-led invasion. Czechoslovakia remained occupied until the 1989 Velvet Revolution, when the communist regime collapsed and market economy was reintroduced. On 1 January 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved, with its constituent states becoming the independent states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999 and the EU in 2004.