The wave of popular antisemitism that followed the sentencing of a disparate group of alleged Zionist conspirators, who in fact often did not even know each other, surprised even some Czechoslovak communists.
"The activities of the Jews are very vividly discussed. ... There is a considerable degree of opinion among the workers, even among party members, that all Jews are the same. Thus, for example, at a membership meeting of the Vitkovice Ironworks KG in Ostrava ... there was talk in connection with the trial of Jews being removed from positions in all branches and sent to Palestine." In addition to the proposal to deport all Jews to Israel, which, after all, the hated conspirators were accused of organizing, even simpler solutions were proposed: "The workers of the Armaturka national enterprise in the Olomouc region say that no one but a Jew is capable of such acts, and therefore all Jews should be shot."
The construction of the Jewish enemy, hidden under slogans about fighting Zionism, remained an integral part of communist propaganda until the fall of the regime in 1989. In the picture below you can read how Zionism was lectured about by police school teachers, explaining the democratization efforts in 1968 as just another Zionist plot.
Why were the Zionists supposedly trying to fight the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and socialism?