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Slovak National PartyThe Slovak National Party (Slovak: Slovensk nrodn strana, SNS) is a Christian and nationalist political party in Slovakia. It was founded in 1990 as an ideological heir of the original Slovak National Party existing in the years 1871-1938. History SNS in Austria-Hungary The Slovak National Party arose on June 6, 1871 as the first ever political party of Slovaks in history. It was the result of the decision of an already existing nationally orientated group (called the Old Slovak School) that wanted to take part in the elections to the Hungarian Diet (parliament). Their political program was based on the Memorandum of the Slovak nation, a political document from 1861 requiring the establishment of the so-called "Slovak surrounding" (Slovensk okolie), an intended form of Slovak autonomy. However, their first election was not successful - they received no mandates in the parliament. In the year of another parliamentary elections, 1878, SNS declared its passivity. That happened after the closing of all three Slovak secondary schools in the Kingdom of Hungary and of the Matica slovensk (Slovak Foundation), an important cultural organization of the Slovaks, in 1874/1875. In 1881, the SNS did not receive any mandates in the parliament after unsuccesful elections. In 1884 and 1887,the SNS declared its passivity in the general elections. In 1892 SNS did not take part in the elections, but supported the Slovak candidates of the Npprt (Peoples Party) mostly an ethnic Hungarian party. The first succesful year from this point of view was 1901, when the SNS received four mandates in the Hungarian parliament. (That was after 30 years of SNS' existence). 1901 was also the year of the party's reorganization. Since then, all Slovak political movements (the original members, the Catholic ľudci and the liberal Hlasists) except the Social Democrats were included in the party. (While until then, the party was ruled only by a group called the Martin centre.) In the 1905 elections, SNS received one mandate in the parliament. A very successful year for the Slovak candidates was 1906. That's when seven of them received mandates in the parliament of the Kingdom of Hungary. All of them were members of SNS, one of them being only a member of SNS, and six of them being also the members of Slovak People's Party, an autonomous part of SNS. In the 1910 elections, SNS received 3 parliamentary mandates. On June 28, 1911, deputies of the party submitted a document called Memorandum of the SNS to the Hungarian government. The SNS demanded here the factical application of the so-called Nationalities Law from 1868 (the law declared all citizens of the Kingdom of Hungary members of a single Hungarian Hungarian "Magyar" nation and Hungarian the only state language; the minor educational, administration and church rights for non-Hungarian nationalities stipulated in the law have never been implemented), the permission to use the Slovak language in some types of schools at least and the returning of the property of the dissolved Matica slovensk. The Hungarian government rejected all of these requirements. After this decision, the SNS started to cooperate more with representatives of Czech politics. In 1913, the Slovak People's Party became oficially independent from SNS. In May 1914, representatives of all Slovak political movements except the Slovak People's Party agreed in Budapest on creating the Slovak National Council. The WWI, however, interrupted the implementation of this intention temporarily. On August 8, 1914, the SNS stopped its activity and declared its loyalty to the Habsburg dynasty and monarchy to prevent any accusations of activities hostile to Austria-Hungary possible during war times. On May 24, 1918, the SNS called a meeting of its Executive Committee. Politicians of other Slovak movements were also present. The SNS expressed here that its aim is the self-determination of the Slovak nation. Participants of the meeting agreed on creating a common state of Slovaks and Czechs. On September 12, the Slovak National Council was created (unofficially). The official creation happened on October 30, 1918 during a meeting, called by the SNS, in the town of Turčiansky Svt Martin (today Martin). The SNS chairman Matš Dula became chairman of the Council. This assembly of Slovak politicians also accepted the Declaration of the Slovak nation (also called Martin declaration), in which their will to politically join the Czech nation was expressed. SNS in Czechoslovakia/Czecho-Slovakia On the first day of 1919, the Matica slovensk was reopened. On January 11, 1920, the SNS merged with the Slovak Agrarians. The new name of the party was Slovak National and Farmers' Party (Slovensk nrodn a roľncka strana). The National Assembly elections in April 1920 brought the party 242 045 votes, which made it the second strongest party in Slovakia (after the Czechoslovak Social Democrats). In 1922, the Agrarians left the party and merged with the Czech Agrarians. The nationalist wing returned to its original name Slovak National Party. In 1922, the SNS demanded cultural and administrative autonomy in the Memorandum of the SNS. In the 1925 general elections, the party received 35 432 votes and no mandates in the National Assembly. In another elections year, 1929, the party participated in the elections as a member of a multi-ethnic coalition of parties (Czechoslovak National Democracy, SNS and an ethnic Ruthenian Party), which received 359 547 votes and 15 mandates. Only one mandate belonged to the SNS. On October 16, 1932, leaders of the SNS and the Hlinka's Slovak People's Party Martin Rzus and Andrej Hlinka accepted the Zvolen manifesto, in which they rejected Czechoslovakism, the idea that Slovaks and Czechs were only two branches of the same nation. There they formed an alliance of their parties called the Autonomy Block. A group of SNS members (e.g. M. Daxner, Jn Paulny-Tth) didnt agree with this coalition. Until the election in 1935, other political parties also joined the Block. The Autonomy Block succeeded in the parliamentary election: receiving 30.12 % of the Slovak votes, it became the winner of the elections in Slovakia. Slovak autonomy was established in 1938. On October 6, Hlinka's Slovak People's Party declared it in the Žilina Manifesto. This step was supported also by other parties (including the SNS) on the same day in the Žilina Treaty. On October 7, the first autonomous Slovak government (led by Jozef Tiso) was named. The SNS entered the Hlinka's Slovak People's Party - Party of the Slovak National Unity on December 15, 1938 and received no autonomous position in this party. This step was forced by the Peoples Party and supported only by a group of members around Miloš Vančo. Other members showed their negative opinion during the meeting of the Executive Committee on November 23, 1938. However, results of further talks with the People's Party, as well as the official stopping of SNS activities (by a government body), made the further existence of the party impossible. The restored SNS The Slovak National Party was restored in 1990. One of the biggest events the SNS has participated in since then was the establishment of an independent Slovakia on January 1, 1993. The SNS had deputies in the Slovak parliament in the years 1990-2002. The party also had deputies in the Slovak government: Marin Andel, Jozef Prokeš, Jaroslav Paška and Ľudovt Černk in the second Mečiar government (1992-1994), and Jn Sitek and Eva Slavkovsk in the third Mečiar government (1994-1998). In the years 2001-2003 (2004) there was also a Real Slovak National Party (Prav slovensk nrodn strana, PSNS), a party of SNS splinters, which also regarded itself as an ideological heir of the original SNS. Results in general elections to Slovak parliament - 1990: 13.94%
- 1992: 7.93%
- 1994: 5.4%
- 1998: 9.07%
- 2002: 3.65% for PSNS, 3.32% for SNS
Prominent members - Viliam Paulny-Tth (first chairman in the history of the SNS)
- Pavol Mudron (chairman)
- Svetozr Hurban-Vajansk
- Jn Francisci
- Martin Čulen
- Štefan Marko Daxner
- Matš Dula (chairman)
- Jozef Gregor Tajovsk (writer, secretary of the SNS)
- Milan Hodža (party leader, later Czechoslovak Prime Minister representing the Czechoslovak Agrarian party)
- Emil Stodola (chairman)
- Martin Rzus (chairman, poet, MP in the Czechoslovak parliament)
- Jn Paulny-Tth (chairman)
- Jozef Prokeš (chairman, mayor of Nitra, member of Slovak government, MP)
- Štefan Kvietik (actor, MP)
- Anna Malkov (chairwoman, MP)
- Jn Slota (chairman, mayor of Žilina, MP)
- Dušan Švantner
External links
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