Publication Details

Abstract

From the beginning of the last decennium of the 19th century T. G. Masaryk was aware of the fact that the Czech nation could develop in the German and Austrian element that encircled it only if the Czechs managed to enforce a constructive program of national liberation. Its objective was to achieve a standing equal to the one of other, especially governing, nations of the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy. This program was to be backed by the conception of the integral Czechoslovak nation with its two branches (stems): the Czech and the Slovak one, which was supported theoretically, philosophically and historically.

Masaryk also attempted to gain support for his conception of the Czechoslovak national integrity in the Slovak national political milieu as it was evidenced by founding the journal Hlas (1898).

The awareness of the national distinctiveness on the Slovak side had been immensely fortified since 1848—1849. That was the reason why T. G. Masaryk’s conception of the solution of the Slovak question within Czechoslovak national unity did not meet any significant echo in Slovakia. It began to be established by the state power only after the rise of Czechoslovakia in October 1918 when the Czech bourgeoisie became the dominant ruling class in the new state.