DSCF5611

TI iii CZECHOSLOVAK KliPUllLIC, 1918-1938

during tłic coursc of whleW it clcctcd Masaryk first prcsidcnl of Czcclio-s!ovakia and invcstcd thc first Czcchoslovak Gabinet under Karci Kramar as primc minister.

The Slovaks in Prague

Whfic thc transition from Auslro-Hungarian to Czechoslovak rulc in thc Czech provinces was swift and ordcrly, in Slovakia it was slow and con-fused. On Octobcr 30, 1918, thc Slovak National Council was cslab-lishcd at Turćiansky Sv;ity Martin. During thc first days of Novcmbcr, as Slovak soldicrs of thc disbandcd Austro-Hungarian army straggled home from thc fronts, SIovakia was swept by a great wavc of social tur-bulence. Hungarian ofltcials and gendarmes llcd thc arca. Many local national councils sprang up tliat sought to prcserve a modicum of order. On the model of Russian soviets, a number of workers’ councils was also organized.¹ Unlike thc Czech National Committcc in Prague, which swiftly cslablishcd its control ovcr thc larger part of the Czech provinccs, the Slovak National Council failed to eslablish its authority over Slo-vakia. After the Belgrade armistice on Novcmbcr 13, the Hungarian gov-ernment sent troops to reestablish its authority over Slovakia. On No-vember 15, they occupicd Turćiansky Svlit^ Martin and dispersed the Slovak National Council. Although thc council was latcr rcconstitulcd, it never played an important role in SIovak allairs. The fate of Slovnkia was decided in Prague.

As early as October 26, sensing that the collapsc of thc Habsburg empire was approaching, Vavro Srobar, thc foremost Hlasist spokesman beforc thc war, set out for Prague, wlicrc lic arrived on thc morning of the cventful October 28. He was at oncc co-optcd by thc Prague National Committcc, and was thc only Slovak who signed the proclamation of thc Czcchoslovak State on thc same day. Although latcr Ivan Derer, Milan Hodźa, and other prominent Slovaks arrivcd in Prague, Srobar remained Prague’s man of confidcncc in Slovak afTairs.³⁷ It was lic wliom

³⁶ Karol Medvccky, Sloyensky preyrat [The Slovnk lieyoltttip/i] (4 vols.; Trnava, 1930-31), i, 334-57. For eyewilness accounts of thc social uphcaval in Sio'akia after the armistice, see ibid., iv, 630". For Marxist interpretations of tlicsc cvcnl.s, sce Michał D/vonil Olilas V eikej októbrovej socialislickej revolucie na Slo-vensku, 1918-1919 [Echoes oj the Great October Socialist Rcyolntion in Sloyakia, 1918-1919] (Iiratislava, 1957), passim; L’udovil llolotik, “Októbrova rcvolucia a revolu£ne hnutie na Slovcnsku końcom roku 1918” L‘Thc October Revolulion and the RevoIutionary Movcment in Slovakia at the end of I918"J, llistoricky ćasopis, xv (1967), 489-511. Uolh authors view the. evcnls in Slovakia as “cchocs" of the Bolsheyik Kevolution in Russia.

⁸⁷ It was quite natural that Śrobar should look to Prague and that Prague should have confidcncc in him. After expulsion from a Hungarian gymnasium (high school) for Siovak national feeling, he cornplctcd his secondary school education in Moravia and mcdicinc in Prague. Sce Vavro Srobdr, Z mójho ziyola

DFMOCKACY ANI; ITS PRODLBMS, 1918-1920

thc Prague National Committcc sent to Slovakia on Novcmbcr 4 to es-tablish thc “Skalica govcrnmcnt.” Two days latcr lic was rccallcd to Prague and cntruslcd willi thc dclicatc task of sclccting forty Slovak deputies to represent thc Slovak pcoplc in thc provisional National As-scmbly. Srobar was also thc only Siovak appointed to thc first Czccho-slovak cabinct, apart from General Milan R. Stefanik, who, howcvcr, was in Siberia at thc linie and unablc to lakc part in thc work of thc gov-ernment. Srobar was minister of public hcalth and Stefanik minister of war.^3M Finally, on Dcccmbcr 10, Srobar was appointed licad of thc ncwly crcatcd ministry for thc administration of Slovakia.

In choosing thc Slovak deputies to thc National Assembly, Srob&r drew hcavily on thosc members of thc diminutivc SIovak intclligcntsia, who wcrc known as Slovak nalionalists bcforc thc war, He chose only one worker and no pcasant, As far as religion was conccrned—which, it should not be forgotten, was an important considcration in Slovakia— lic chose fully one lialf of the SIovak deputies from among the Prot-estants, although thc Protestants constilutcd only 16.8 pcrccnt of the Slovak pcoplc and only about 12 pcrccnt of Slovakia’s population. He includcd in thc Slovak dclegation scven Czcclis who had won Slovak gratitudc for their prewar Slovakophilc activities. On thc otlicr hand, no represcntative of SIovakia’s national minoritics was includcd in thc dclc-gation. As far as political partics werc conccrned, Srobar chose somc rcprescntativcs of all prewar Slovak political trends, but gavc his (thc Hlasist) trend by far thc largest representation.³⁹

It cannot be said, thercforc, that thc Slovak dclegation constitutcd a rcprcscntativc cross scction of thc Slovak pcoplc, let alonc of all of Slo-vakia. It should be poinlcd out, howevcr, that wlicn Srobar composcd thc Slovak dclegation Ile had no opportunity to consult with anyonc in Slovakia, which was in a State of confusion and partly occupicd by thc ^{2 1}

57

1

At the Gencva confcrcnce belwecn thc reprcsentatives of thc Paris National Council and thc Prague National Committcc at thc end of October, 1918, it was ngreed to includc in thc first Czcchoslovak cabinct thice Slovaks, in addition to Stefanik: Srobar, llod/a, and Milan lvanka. Sec Edvard BeneS, Svetovu vńlka a naśe reyolnce \The World Wtir and Onr Reioluiion] (3 vols.; Prague, 1927-29), w, 394. In thc end, howcvcr, bccausc of tlić ambition of Czech polilicians, room was found in thc cabinct for Srobńr only. For thc composition of all Czechoslovak cabincts under thc First Kepublic, sce M i rosi a v Buchvalck et al. (eds.), Dćjiriy Ceskoslovenska v datcclt [llistory oj Czechoslorukia in Daics\ (Prague, 1968), pp. 444-51.

³⁰ For a detailed sludy of thc origins, composition, and activity of the S!ovak Club in the provisional National Assembly, sec l.adislav Lipscher, "Klub slo-vensk^eh poslancov v rokoch 1918-1920” [“The Club of the Slovak Deputies in 1918-1920”], llistoricky ćasopis, xvi (1968;, 133-68.

2

[Out oj My Lijc] (Prague, 1946), pp. 126-61. Unlike Hotlźa and somc olher Slovak polilicians who movcd just as casily in Prague as ihey did in Budapest or Vienna, Srobar fclt at homc in Prague alonc.