Slovenská autonomistická mládež proti československej jednote
The Slovak Autonomist Youth against Czechoslovak Unity

Summary/Abstract: The Czechoslovak Republic was constructed as the nation state of the “Czechoslovak nation”. This was expressed on the ideological level by promotion of the theory of so-called Czechoslovakism. In spite of its vague formulation, it contributed to the Slovaks not being recognized as a nation in the Czechoslovak Republic. This was opposed by the autonomist camp, which had the political aims of gaining recognition of the Slovaks as a nation and obtaining political autonomy for Slovakia. The failure of the autonomists to achieve their aims led to the radicalization of their movement in the 1930s. Activation of the younger generation significantly contributed to this. The statements of its representatives on the idea of Czechoslovak unity were substantially sharper. In contrast to the older generation, the autonomist youth already unambiguously declared that they did not regard Slovak autonomy as the final aim of their movement. They did not hesitate to cast doubt on the shared Czechoslovak statehood. Their absolute rejection of Czechoslovak unity, also on the level of Czechoslovak statehood can be considered the most significant difference in the generation gap among the autonomists in relation to the ideological conception of Czechoslovakism.

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