Formovanie československej ekonomiky 1918 – 1920
The Formation of the Czechoslovak Economy (1918 – 1920)

Summary/Abstract: The Czechoslovak Republic was proclaimed in October 1918. The new state united the Czech Lands, which had relatively well developed industry and agriculture, with backward mainly agrarian Slovakia. There were already ideas of territorial or political union of Slovakia and the Czech Lands in the period before the First World War. However, there was no definite “program” by which their economic unification could be more deeply considered. The need to work out a “program” to solve the problems connected with the adaptation of Slovakia and the Czech Lands to the new conditions in the economic field was not really felt even in the period immediately after the formation of the new state. The problems that began to appear in the running of the economy were mostly attributed to the transition from wartime conditions to peace, or to faults in the work of the bureaucracy. The post-war economic crisis brought a reversal of this view. The Slovak political representatives strove to use not only parliamentary, but also other means to pursue their demands. On the initiative of Slovak political circles, the activity of chambers of commerce and industry was revived, and the Central Association of Slovak Industry and various other institutions were established. However, their legal powers were limited, and so their activities were more or less limited to solving the current operational problems.

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