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Hlinka's Slovak People's Party ( sk, Hlinkova slovenská ľudová strana), also known as the Slovak People's Party (, SĽS) or the Hlinka Party, was a
far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of bein ...
clerico-fascist political party with a strong Catholic fundamentalist and
authoritarian Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic votin ...
ideology. Its members were often called (Ľudáks, singular: ). The party arose at a time when Slovakia was still part of
Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
and fought for democratic liberties, the independence and sovereignty of Slovakia, and against the influence of
liberalism Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for ...
. After the formation of
Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...
, the party preserved its conservative ideology, opposing
Czechoslovakism Czechoslovakism ( cs, Čechoslovakismus, sk, Čechoslovakizmus) is a concept which underlines reciprocity of the Czechs and the Slovaks. It is best known as an ideology which holds that there is one Czechoslovak nation, though it might also appe ...
and demanding Slovak autonomy. In the second half of the 1930s, the rise of totalitarian regimes in Europe and the party's inability to achieve long-term political objectives caused a loss of the party's faith in democratic procedures and saw the party turn towards more radical and extremist ideologies such as fascism. After a merger with other parties in November 1938, which formed the Hlinka's Slovak People's Party – Party of Slovak National Unity, it became the dominant party of the Slovak State. In addition to adopting a totalitarian vision of the state, it included an openly pro-Nazi faction, which dominated Slovak policy between 1940 and 1942. The party chairmen were the Slovak priests Andrej Hlinka (1913–38) and later Jozef Tiso (1939–45), and its main newspapers were the (''Slovak People's Newspaper'', 1910–30), (''The Slovak'', 1919–45) and (''The Slovak Truth'', 1936–45).


History


Austria-Hungary (1905–18)

The creation process of the party took several years. With the exception of the short-lived Slovak Social Democratic Party (1905–06), there was only one party in Austria-Hungary that specifically promoted the interests of the
Slovaks The Slovaks ( sk, Slováci, singular: ''Slovák'', feminine: ''Slovenka'', plural: ''Slovenky'') are a West Slavic ethnic group and nation native to Slovakia who share a common ancestry, culture, history and speak Slovak. In Slovakia, 4.4 ...
at the turn of the 19th and 20th century — the Slovak National Party (SNS). The Slovak People's movement was established within the Hungarian People's Party (''Néppárt'', founded in 1895) which opposed liberalism and was popular amongst the religious Slovak population. The party's program addressed several other problems of Slovak society including emigration, usury, corruption and forced
magyarization Magyarization ( , also ''Hungarization'', ''Hungarianization''; hu, magyarosítás), after "Magyar"—the Hungarian autonym—was an assimilation or acculturation process by which non-Hungarian nationals living in Austro-Hungarian Transleitha ...
. Due to the gradual shift away from these values, Slovak politicians began to form a separate group within the party. The party hierarchy reacted in November 1905 by asking its only MP, František Skyčák, to sign a testimony against the Slovak program. Skyčák refused and on 5 December 1905, he published a declaration of a new political party. Other personalities, among them the Catholic priest Andrej Hlinka, joined the organisation in early 1906, before the Slovak National Party (SĽS) was officially formed on 18 March 1906 by Skyčák, Milan Hodža and A. Ráth. However, following a decision in April 1906, the party contested elections as part of the Slovak National Party until 1913 in order to prevent splitting the Slovak vote. However, their programmes were nearly identical; the SĽS called for strong democratization and included liberal reforms such as freedom of speech and
universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political sta ...
. Despite the frequent electoral manipulations in Hungary at that time, the SĽS won six deputies. and the SNS won one deputy. out of the 415 deputies of the Hungarian Diet in the 1906 parliamentary elections. The Hungarian government immediately reacted by implementing increasingly repressive measures to suppress the national and political consciousness and awareness of Slovaks. In 1912, the SĽS refused to support the strong Czechoslovakist orientation of the SNS prevailing at that time, and made a similar declaration as in 1905, again without formal effects. On 19 July 1913, the SĽS became a separate political party with Hlinka as chairman and Ferdiš Juriga and Skyčák amongst its leadership. During
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, the SĽS (just like the SNS) went into abeyance in order to prevent any possible pretext for accusations of activities against the Austro-Hungarian state. In 1918, Hlinka and Juriga staunchly supported the idea of a common Czechoslovak state and signed the Martin Declaration which rejected Hungarian jurisdiction and rule over Slovakia. The party participated in the creation of the Second Slovak National Council that existed from October 1918 to January 1919 and its leaders helped to consolidate the situation in Czechoslovakia during the first weeks of its existence.


First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–38)

After the establishment of Czechoslovakia, the SĽS renewed its activities on 19 December 1918 in Žilina. On 17 October 1925, it was renamed the Hlinka's Slovak People's Party (HSĽS) to distinguish it from the
Czechoslovak People's Party Czechoslovak may refer to: *A demonym or adjective pertaining to Czechoslovakia (1918–93) ** First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–38) **Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–39) ** Third Czechoslovak Republic (1948–60) ** Fourth Czechoslovak R ...
. During the majority of the whole interwar period, the HSĽS was the most popular party in Slovakia and until 1938, was a standard part of the democratic political spectrum. The party operated mostly in opposition but not as a destructive power and remained loyal to Czechoslovakia. All of its programs had religious, national, social and constitutional values, its ideology was based on papal encyclicals
Rerum novarum ''Rerum novarum'' (from its incipit, with the direct translation of the Latin meaning "of revolutionary change"), or ''Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor'', is an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII on 15 May 1891. It is an open letter, pas ...
and Quadragesimo anno, and was oriented mostly towards its
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
electorate. The party rejected
economic liberalism Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalis ...
and the theory of
class struggle Class conflict, also referred to as class struggle and class warfare, is the political tension and economic antagonism that exists in society because of socio-economic competition among the social classes or between rich and poor. The forms ...
popular among socialists and
communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...
, who were together with liberal atheists considered to be the party's main enemies. The constitutional part of its program was derived from the Pittsburgh Agreement, which promised an autonomous status of Slovakia within Czechoslovakia. The HSĽS opposed centralism and ethnic
Czechoslovakism Czechoslovakism ( cs, Čechoslovakismus, sk, Čechoslovakizmus) is a concept which underlines reciprocity of the Czechs and the Slovaks. It is best known as an ideology which holds that there is one Czechoslovak nation, though it might also appe ...
, which did not consider Slovaks as a separate and distinctive ethnic group from the Czechs. In addition to its program, the popularity of the party was maintained by Hlinka's charisma and cult of personality. In the 1920 parliamentary elections the party participated together with the Czech People's Party under the name ''Czechoslovak People's Party''. The alliance received 17.5% of the vote in Slovakia, making it the third largest party. Following the elections, Hlinka stated that he would "work 24 hours a day until Slovakia turns from a red Slovakia into a white and Christian Slovakia." The majority of the party's support came from Slovak farmers, mainly because the party criticized the land reforms of 1920–1929. After the county elections in 1923, the party became the largest party in Slovakia, receiving 34.4% of the vote in the 1925 parliamentary elections. In 1923, the HSĽS founded the paramilitary Rodobrana organization to protect their meetings. Rodobrana was influenced and manipulated by Vojtech Tuka for his own anti-Czechoslovak intentions, and later it was banned by the Czechoslovak government for anti-constitutional activities. Rodobrana was inspired by Italian fascism, and became a magnet for young dissatisfied radicals, the core of the future fascist wing of the HSĽS. The HSĽS leadership attempted to bring Rodobrana under party control, and succeeded when its activities were restored in 1926. Rodobrana hosted several radicals like
Alexander Mach Alexander Mach (11 October 1902 – 15 October 1980) was a Slovak nationalist politician. Mach was associated with the far right wing of Slovak nationalism and became noted for his strong support of Nazism and Germany. Early years Mach joined ...
and Ján Farkaš. On 15 January 1927, the HSĽS became a member of the Czechoslovak government coalition after Jozef Tiso started negotiations during a foreign trip by Hlinka. The party held the Ministry of Health ( Jozef Tiso) and the Ministry of the Unification of Laws and State Administration (
Marek Gažík Marek is the West Slavic (Czech, Polish and Slovak) masculine equivalent of Marcus, Marc or Mark. The name may refer to: * Marek (given name) * Marek (surname) * Marek, the pseudonym of Bulgarian communist Stanke Dimitrov (1889–1944) * The titl ...
). After a controversial trial against the HSĽS member Vojtech Tuka, who was accused of
high treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
, the HSĽS left the government on 8 October 1929. In order to contest the
1935 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1935. Asia * 1935 Philippine legislative election * 1935 Philippine presidential election Europe * 1935 Czechoslovakian parliamentary election * 1935 Czechoslovak presidential election * 1935 Danish Fo ...
, the HSĽS joined with the SNS to create the "Autonomous Block", which received 30.12% of the vote in the Slovak region of Czechoslovakia. However, it was dissolved after the elections. The HSĽS considered itself to be the only political party that vigorously defended Slovak national interests, but its inability to achieve autonomy decreased the prestige of its moderate wing and strengthened its radical members. After the death of the 74-year old Hlinka in August 1938, the presidium of the party decided that the post of chairman would remain unoccupied. The party was subsequently led by vice-chairman Jozef Tiso until October 1939, when he became the new chairman. During the Czechoslovak crisis between the spring and fall of 1938, the HSĽS retained a common Czechoslovak platform. The party officially supported the national mobilization of Czechoslovakia against Nazi Germany and rejected the appeals of the Sudeten German Party to radicalize its position.


Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–39)

The situation dramatically changed in the fall of 1938. On October 6, 1938, after the Czech region of Czechoslovakia had lost its border regions to Germany following the
Munich Agreement The Munich Agreement ( cs, Mnichovská dohoda; sk, Mníchovská dohoda; german: Münchner Abkommen) was an agreement concluded at Munich on 30 September 1938, by Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy. It provided "cession to Germany ...
, the executive committee of the HSĽS together with most other Slovak parties declared the autonomy of Slovakia within Czechoslovakia. The
Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
government accepted this declaration, and appointed Jozef Tiso as the Prime Minister of Autonomous Slovakia on the same day. The HSĽS became the dominant party in the subsequent Slovak governments. After the declaration of autonomy, internal tension between the Catholic conservative and radical fascist wings continued to grow. The conservative wing led by Tiso preserved its majority in the presidium of the party, but the radicals in turn gained influence and held important positions in new organizations like the Hlinka Guard (''Hlinkova Garda'') and the Slovak National Committees (''Slovenské Národné Výbory''). On November 8, 1938, after the Slovak part of Czechoslovakia had lost one third of its territory to
Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...
through the
First Vienna Award The First Vienna Award was a treaty signed on 2 November 1938 pursuant to the Vienna Arbitration, which took place at Vienna's Belvedere Palace. The arbitration and award were direct consequences of the previous month's Munich Agreement, which ...
(Vienna Arbitration), the Slovak branches of all parties except the
Communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...
and Social Democrats merged with the HSĽS and formed the Hlinka's Slovak People's Party – Party of Slovak National Unity (HSĽS-SSNJ). The Slovak National Party joined the HSĽS-SSNJ coalition on December 15, 1938. This new party quickly developed clearly authoritarian characteristics. It immediately subjected the
leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soc ...
and
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
parties to considerable harassment. In the December 1938 Slovak general election, the HSĽS-SSNJ coalition won 97.3% of the vote, out of which 72% went to candidates of the original HSĽS. The Social Democrats and Communists were shut out because the HSĽS-SSNJ government refused to publish new election procedures until it was too late for these parties to select their candidates. As of January 31, 1939, all parties except for the HSĽS-SSNJ, the German Party and the Unified Magyar Party (Representing the Hungarian minority) were prohibited. For all intents and purposes, Slovakia was now effectively a one-party state.


First Slovak Republic (1939–45)

In a last-ditch attempt to save the country, the Prague government deposed Tiso as Slovak premier, replacing him with Karel Sidor. A few days later, amid massive German provocations, Hitler invited Tiso to
Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...
and urged him to proclaim Slovakia's independence. Hitler added that if Tiso didn't do so, he would have no interest in Slovakia's fate. During the meeting,
Joachim von Ribbentrop Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop (; 30 April 1893 – 16 October 1946) was a German politician and diplomat who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nazi Germany from 1938 to 1945. Ribbentrop first came to Adolf Hitler's not ...
passed on a bogus report stating that Hungarian troops were approaching Slovak borders. Tiso refused to make such a decision himself on the situation. After that, he was allowed by Hitler to organize a meeting of the Slovak parliament which would approve Slovakia's declaration of independence from Czechoslovakia. On 14 March, the Slovak parliament convened and heard Tiso's report on his discussion with Hitler as well as a declaration of independence. Some of the deputies were skeptical of making such a move, but the debate was quickly quashed when Franz Karmasin, leader of the German minority in Slovakia, stated that any delay in declaring independence would result in Slovakia being partitioned between Hungary and Germany. Under these circumstances, the legislative chamber unanimously declared Slovak independence. Jozef Tiso was appointed the first Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic. The next day, Tiso sent a telegram, which had actually been composed the previous day in Berlin, asking the Reich to take over the protection of the newly created state. The request was readily accepted. The HSĽS-SSNJ was the dominant force in the country, to the point that the parliamentary elections scheduled for 1943 did not take place, and it claimed to represent the nation and the social interests of all Slovak citizens. Historians describe the party as a ''"fascist and clerical nationalist group with ties to Nazism"''.Peter Davies, Derek Lynch, The Routledge companion to the far right, Routledge, 2002, p. 21

/ref> After 1939, the conflict between two wings of the party continued and reached a new level of severity. The conservative wing led by the Catholic priest Jozef Tiso, the president of Slovakia and chairman of the party, wanted to create a separate authoritarian and religious state modelled on fundamentalist Christian principles. The conservative wing had no doubts about the need to build a totalitarian state, but wished to do so gradually, preserving legal and political continuity with the previous regime. The radicals, who preferred the methods and theory of
Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
, were fervent antisemites, wanted to remove all
Czechs The Czechs ( cs, Češi, ; singular Czech, masculine: ''Čech'' , singular feminine: ''Češka'' ), or the Czech people (), are a West Slavic ethnic group and a nation native to the Czech Republic in Central Europe, who share a common ancestry, ...
and
Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Ural ...
from the country, and intended to create a radically nationalistic and corporatist state modelled on Adolf Hitler's
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. Their main organization was the Hlinka Guard, which was controlled by the HSĽS-SSNJ. The main representatives of the radical pro-Nazi faction were Vojtech Tuka and
Alexander Mach Alexander Mach (11 October 1902 – 15 October 1980) was a Slovak nationalist politician. Mach was associated with the far right wing of Slovak nationalism and became noted for his strong support of Nazism and Germany. Early years Mach joined ...
. In the spring of 1940, the conservative wing was close to victory over the radicals, especially when Tiso pacified the Hlinka Guard through organizational changes and bound it closer to the party's leadership. However, at the July 1940 Salzburg Conference, the Government of Germany forced changes of personnel in the Slovak government and thus reinforced the radicals. The radical wing then held the most important positions of executive power. The new Prime Minister, Vojtech Tuka, also became the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Alexander Mach then once again became the leader of the Hlinka Guard and also the Minister of the Interior. Tiso changed his tactics and verbally adopted the idea of Nazism, but maneuvered and stated that it had to be implemented in "folk and Christian spirit". In the fall of 1940, the conservative wing began taking the initiative. Tiso undermined the already weak authority of the Slovak Parliament, and strongly rejected a proposal to replace four conservative ministers with radical Nazis. In early 1941, his faction silently thwarted a pro-Nazi coup attempt. On the other hand, Tiso allowed the radicals to take the initiative on the solution of the "Jewish Question", wrongly assuming that he can redirect all responsibility for the Holocaust to them, and later on he publicly advocated the deportations of Jews into concentration camps in Nazi Germany. The struggle between the party's wings ended in the summer 1942 with the victory of the conservatives. Some radicals withdrew from public life, others lost their political influence or switched to the winning side, such as Alexander Mach. Due to pragmatic reasons, HSLS adopted the
Führerprinzip The (; German for 'leader principle') prescribed the fundamental basis of political authority in the Government of Nazi Germany. This principle can be most succinctly understood to mean that "the Führer's word is above all written law" and ...
, with a completely different purpose than in Germany, which was the preventive elimination of radicals without angering the German government. Germany naturally sympathized with the pro-Nazi radicals but allowed their opponents to win regardless. The reason was purely pragmatic, as Nazi foreign policy was more interested in a consolidated Slovakia as a model of an effective satellite state, and the conservative wing was more popular amongst the Slovak population and was widely perceived as being more qualified to manage the state. Germany however never stopped supporting the radicals and frequently utilized them to pressure the Slovak puppet state. After the German occupation of Slovakia in 1944 and the outbreak of the Slovak National Uprising, the insurgent Slovak National Council (''Slovenská národná rada'' or the SNR) declared the restoration of Czechoslovakia. On September 1, 1944, the SNR banned the HSĽS and all of its organisations such as the Hlinka Guard and
Hlinka Youth Hlinka (feminine Hlinková) is a Czech and Slovak surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Andrej Hlinka, Slovak politician and Catholic priest * Ivan Hlinka, Czech ice hockey player and coach * Jaroslav Hlinka, Czech ice hockey player ...
, and confiscated their property. Although the uprising was later violently suppressed, the HSĽS never fully regained its authority. The party ceased to exist after the liberation of Slovakia by Czechoslovak troops and by the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...
in April–May 1945. Many of the party's members and supporters were prosecuted for war crimes in post war
Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...
.


Names

*1905–1925: Slovak People's Party (Slovenská ľudová strana, short SĽS) *1925–1938: Hlinka's Slovak People's Party (Hlinkova slovenská ľudová strana, short HSĽS) *1938–1945: Hlinka's Slovak People's Party – Party of Slovak National Unity (Hlinkova slovenská ľudová strana – Strana slovenskej národnej jednoty, short HSĽS-SSNJ)


Election results


See also

* Andrej Hlinka * Jozef Tiso * Slovaks in Czechoslovakia (1918–1938) * History of Czechoslovakia * History of Slovakia * Hlinka Guard - The armed wing of the party * List of defunct paramilitary organizations


Further reading

* * * *


References


Sources

* * * * * {{Authority control 1913 establishments in Slovakia 1913 establishments in Austria-Hungary Antisemitism in Slovakia Antiziganism in Slovakia Banned far-right parties Catholic political parties Catholicism and far-right politics Collaboration with the Axis Powers Conservative parties in Slovakia Defunct political parties in Slovakia Far-right political parties in Slovakia Fascist parties The Holocaust in Slovakia Parties of one-party systems Political history of Slovakia Political parties established in 1913 Political parties disestablished in 1945 Political parties in Czechoslovakia Political parties with anti-Hungarian sentiment Right-wing politics in Slovakia Right-wing parties in Europe