National Fascist Community

{{Infobox political party

| colorcode = {{party color|National Fascist Community}}

| name = National Fascist Community

| native_name = {{langx|cs|Národní obec fašistická}}
{{langx|sk|Národná obec fašistická}}

| logo = File:National Fascist Community Emblem.svg

| caption =

| leader1_title = Leader

| leader1_name = Radola Gajda

| foundation = March 1926

| dissolution = 22 November 1938

| split = Czechoslovak National Democracy

| merged = Party of National Unity

| headquarters = Prague{{cite web|url=https://is.muni.cz/th/136440/ff_b/Bc._NOF_na_Bucovicku_za_prvni_republiky.pdf |last=Dana|first=Massowová|title=Národní obec fašistická na Bučovicku za první republiky |language=cs |date=2007 |publisher=Masaryk University |access-date=January 15, 2018 |page=11}}

| ideology = Fascism{{Cite web |url=http://slechta.bigbloger.lidovky.cz/c/392077/Ceskym-fasistum.html |title=Českým fašistům. Blog - Vít Šlechta (Bigbloger.lidovky.cz) |access-date=2018-01-15 |archive-date=2018-01-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180116081134/http://slechta.bigbloger.lidovky.cz/c/392077/Ceskym-fasistum.html |url-status=dead }}{{cite book |title=Český fašismus |last=Nakonečný |first=Milan |year=2006 |publisher=Vodnář |language=cs |isbn=80-86226-73-5 |pages=428 }}
Antisemitism
Anti-communism
Pan-Slavism
Anti-Hungarian sentiment
Czechoslovak nationalism
Anti-German sentiment

| position = Far-right

| anthem = {{center|"Hej, Slované"
{{small|"Hey, Slavs"}}Hej, Slované}}

| slogan = "{{lang|cs|Blaho vlasti budiž nejvyšším zákonem}}"
(English: Let the Welfare of the Homeland be the Supreme Law)

| flag =

| colours = {{Color box|black|border=darkgray}} Black

| country = Czechoslovakia

}}

The National Fascist Community ({{langx|cs|Národní obec fašistická}}, NOF, sometimes translated as National Fascist League) was a Czechoslovak Fascist movement led by Radola Gajda, and based on the Fascism of Benito Mussolini.Stanley G. Payne, A History of Fascism 1914-1945, London, Routledge, 2001, p. 309 The NOF is responsible for the only fascist coup in Czechoslovak history.

Formation and ideology

The party was formed in March 1926 by the merger of a group of dissident National Democrats known as the "Red-Whites" with various other rightist groups across Bohemia and Moravia.Andrea Orzoff, Battle for the castle: the myth of Czechoslovakia in Europe, 1914-1948, Oxford University Press US, 2009, p. 100 It was distinguished by a strong current of opposition to Germany, which continued even after Adolf Hitler had come to power. The NOF instead looked to Italy as its model, and based itself wholly on Mussolini's National Fascist Party. In this respect it differed markedly from its chief rival Vlajka, which was firmly in the Hitler camp. Groups targeted by the NOF for criticism included the Jews, communists, the Czechoslovak government and the Magyars. It set up a youth group and a trade union movement, although the latter was minor. The group also advocated a policy of Pan-Slavism, and hoped to take a joint lead with Poland of a grand Slavic alliance that would overthrow communism in the Soviet Union. They also believed in a corporatist economy with a large agricultural sector. The NOF attracted some early support from veterans of the Czechoslovak Legions.Andrew C. Janos, East Central Europe in the modern world: the politics of the borderlands, Stanford University Press, 2002, p. 170 It was estimated by a government informer that the NOF had as many as 200,000 followers in 1926, although it had virtually no support in the Slovak area as the far right there was dominated by an indigenous movement.

Failed coup

The NOF planned a fascist coup d'etat and secured the support of Slovak paramilitary group Rodobrana in this endeavour, albeit the plans were intercepted by Brno police.Orzoff, Battle for the castle, p. 101 On the night of 21–22 January 1933, 70 to 80 men of the NOF attacked the Svatoplukova Barracks in Brno, hoping to start a nationwide coup. However, Czechoslovak troops, with the help of gendarmes, were able to repel the attack. One rebel was killed during the fighting. The leader of the coup, retired Lieutenant Ladislav Kobsinek, fled the country, but was later extradited to Czechoslovakia and sentenced to 12 years in prison. Other rebels received sentences of several years. Although he did not directly participate in the coup, General Radol Gajda received a six-month sentence. Kobsinek was paroled in 1939. During World War II, he collaborated with Nazi Germany. After the war, Kobsinek was sentenced to 12 years in prison. In 1957, he was released from prison and deported to Germany, where he died in 1988.{{Cite web |title=Fašistický puč v Židenicích byl fiaskem, ale i mementem |url=https://cosedeje.brno.cz/w/fasisticky-puc-v-zidenicich-byl-fiaskem-ale-i-mementem |access-date=2025-03-13 |website=Tiskový servis |language=cs-CZ}}

Popularity of the party and dissolution

File:RadolaGajda.JPG.]]

In the 1929 elections the NOF ran under the name "Against Fixed-Order Lists",Vincent E McHale (1983) Political parties of Europe, Greenwood Press, p149 {{ISBN|0-313-23804-9}} but won three seats. Gajda was elected to Parliament, but the party failed to maintain its support, and received only 2% of the vote and seven seats in Chamber of Deputies in the elections of 1935.

The NOF attempted a comeback during the German occupation, although the Nazis did not support due to their earlier criticism and their overall minor status. Ultimately the NOF were disbanded and largely absorbed into the puppet National Partnership, Gajda having been bribed to leave politics.Payne, A History of Fascism, p. 426 The party's demise was sealed in late 1939 when they organised a rally in Prague's Wenceslas Square and only managed to attract 300 supporters.Benjamin Frommier, National cleansing: retribution against Nazi collaborators in postwar Czechoslovakia, Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 21

Electoral results

class=wikitable \|+ Chamber of Deputies
Election year ! # of overall votes ! % of overall vote ! # of overall seats won ! +/– ! Leader
1935 \| 167,433 (#12) \| 2.0 \| {{Composition bar\|6\|300\|hex=black}} \| style="text-align: center" \| {{increase}} 6 \| style="text-align: center" \|

class=wikitable

|+ Chamber of Deputies

Election year

! # of
overall votes

! % of
overall vote

! # of
overall seats won

! +/–

! Leader

1935

| 167,433 (#12)

| 2.0

| {{Composition bar|6|300|hex=black}}

| style="text-align: center" | {{increase}} 6

| style="text-align: center" |

class=wikitable
colspan=6\|Senate
Election year ! # of overall votes ! % of overall vote ! # of overall seats won ! +/– ! Leader
1935 \| 145,125 (#13) \| 2.0 \| {{Composition bar\|0\|150\|hex=black}} \| style="text-align: center" \| {{increase}} \| style="text-align: center" \|