Towards Self-Government: Nationalist Narratives in Interwar Slovak Agrarian Politics

• In Event: Memories and Narratives of War: Public Opinion and Grassroots Interpretation of Violence in Authoritarian Settings

Abstract

Short Abstract: My paper is focused on the contestation of political narratives in interwar Slovakia, particularly
by the Slovak branches of the Republican Party of Farmers and Peasants and the consequence of these narratives for policies of
economic independence, agricultural reform, and nation-building. Responding to lingering issues and memories from the wartime period, members of the Slovak Republicans made an effective use of speeches and press periodicals, built off of a tradition of romantic nationalists, to herald the Slovak peasantry as a noble repository of a “true” and immemorial Slovak national culture that needed to be amplified in order to stave off Czech and Hungarian interlocutors. These efforts provided a justification for police surveillance and large-scale land parcelization that was directed predominantly at non-titular national groups— drawing the concern of international observers at the League of Nations—shaped the public opinion, and led to the creation of a newly emergent nationally
conscious Slovak land-owning class.

Long Abstract: My paper is focused on the contestation of political narratives in interwar Slovakia, particularly
by the Slovak branches of the Republican Party of Farmers and Peasants, in order to enact their policies of
economic independence and agricultural reform. Amidst the creation of an independent Czechoslovak
state following the First World War, nationally minded Slovak politicians were concerned that Slovakia
was economically and culturally underdeveloped when compared to their counterparts in the Czech lands.
This developmental discrepancy was perceived to be an existential issue due to unsolved affairs from
before and during the war, with the largest obstacles to the Slovak nation highlighted as extranational
capital, aristocratic landowners, and Hungarian irredentists.
Through speeches and press periodicals, members of the Slovak Republicans built off of a
tradition of romantic nationalists, heralding the Slovak peasantry as a noble repository of a “true” and
immemorial Slovak national culture that needed to be amplified in order to stave off Czech and
Hungarian interlocutors, who were often portrayed as either parasitic feudal landlords or as invading
medieval knights. These efforts provided a justification for police surveillance and large-scale land
parcelization that was directed predominantly at non-titular national groups— drawing the concern of
international observers at the League of Nations—and led to the creation of a newly emergent nationally
conscious Slovak land-owning class. This, however, created the platform for mainstream Slovak
autonomist politics and led to restructuring the Czechoslovak Republic’s constitutional make-up
following the Second World War.

Author

• Duncan MacLean Eaton, Cornell U