Lidové milice (LM)

People's Militia - LM



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Creation: 21 February 1948, from the so-called guard units


Termination: 21 December 1989, by decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
URL : https://www.valka.cz/Lidove-milice-LM-t79897#292981 Version : 0
According to the Organisational Regulations of the People's Militia of 1952, the People's Militia (LM) was an armed corps of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ). During its existence, it performed tasks in the protection of industrial enterprises, assisted SNB units in patrol duty, was to participate in repelling a possible attack on the state by NATO troops, and was deployed in repressive measures against the population of Czechoslovakia. In addition, they had a political and educational role, especially in the indoctrination of the youth.



Creation
During and after the liberation of Czechoslovakia, various armed forces (guards, stagia, militia; national, revolutionary) were formed on the territory of Czechoslovakia. These formations temporarily replaced the role of the standard executive security organs of the state. They were abolished in June 1945. Thereafter, only the army, the National Security Corps (SNB) and the so-called Race Militia (Race Guards), under the Central Council of Trade Unions, were active in this field. Their task was to protect industrial plants. They obtained weapons both from the Red Army and from illegal wartime warehouses. Due to the interdependence of the trade unions and the Communist Party, these formations were gradually transformed into executive instruments of the Communist Party.


In February 1948, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (CCC) decided that the party organisations in individual enterprises should set up so-called guard units, whose men were to be made up of communists and their sympathisers. Most of the members of the guard detachments came from the Race Militia. On 21 February 1948, these guard units were transformed into the People's Militia by a decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. On the following day, Josef Pavel was appointed to the position of commander of the LM headquarters, František Kriegl was appointed to the position of his deputy, and Josef Smrkovský was appointed to the position of political commissar. From 25 February, the LM members were armed.


Support of the regime
In March 1948, the People's Militia was organizationally transferred from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia to the Ministry of the Interior (MV), within whose structure a department was created to coordinate and ensure their activities. The LM were an auxiliary body of the SNB. While the existence of the Race Militia was based on the decree of the Ministry of the Interior, the existence of the LM was based only on the resolutions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. The LM, on the one hand, carried out security of enterprises and, on the other hand, acted as an auxiliary corps of the SNB outside the premises of these enterprises.


LM numbers increased rapidly at the end of the 1940s, and from the early 1950s the number of LM members stabilized as only Communist Party members were allowed to join. LMs were equipped with light and heavy small arms, vehicles and even cannons from army depots. LM members reinforced units assigned to guard the state border, provided security for important facilities, and intervened against demonstrations related to the 1953 currency reform. In November of the same year, the LM were transferred from the SNB/MV to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, in the structure of which the relevant department was created.


From mid-1953, the formation of LM strike units began, which were preferably equipped with modern armaments and equipment, and into which the most physically fit and politically "advanced" LM members were recruited.


In 1968, a significant number of LM members opposed the so-called revival process, and thereafter the LM became one of the mainstays of the onset of the so-called normalisation.


In the 1970s, a training base was built in Vyškov at the Land Forces College. The LM were equipped with new weapons and equipment.


The People's Militia was involved in the system of so-called extraordinary security measures (MBO) in the event of so-called mass anti-social performances (HPSV). The Chief of the LM General Staff was a member of the Joint Operations Staff of the CPSU. The People's Militia was activated and participated in MBO from the 4th stage of the 1st variant. At Level 6 Variant II, the deployment of LM's dedicated suppression forces and assets was envisaged.


In 1988 and 1989, People's Militia units were repeatedly deployed in the MBO to suppress expressions of civil discontent. This happened on 19 January 1988, 21 August 1988, 28 October 1988, 15-20 January 1989, 21 August 1989, 28 October 1989. LM officers were deployed to block the direction of movement of demonstrators and to reinforce VB patrols. After the events of 17 November 1989, some LM units from outside Prague were called to Prague for possible intervention, but these units were sent home after a short time.


Dissolution
During December 1989, the weapons were gradually transferred from the LM warehouses to the warehouses of the Czechoslovak People's Army (ČSLA). On 21 December 1989, the People's Militia was dissolved. This was decided by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia during an extraordinary congress of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. At the same time, the members of the LM were exempted from the oath.
URL : https://www.valka.cz/Lidove-milice-LM-t79897#292996 Version : 0
Commander-in-Chief LM:


1952-1953 - Klement Gottwald
1953-1968 - Antonín Novotný
1968-1969 - Alexander Dubček
1969-1987 - Gustáv Husák
1987-1989 - Miloš Jakeš
1989-1989 - Karel Urbánek



LM Chief of Staff:
1948-???? - Josef Pavel
????-1952 - Jan Janulík


Chief of Staff of LM Commander:
1952-'60" - Alois Kotva
A.60"-1973 - Rudolf Horčic
1973-1989 - Miroslav Novák
URL : https://www.valka.cz/Lidove-milice-LM-t79897#292997 Version : 0
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