Katolíci v politike: Martin Mičura ako poslanec Národného zhromaždenia

Abstract

The article describes the activity of Martin Micura, chairman of the Czechoslovak People's Party in Slovakia, as a member of the National Assembly in the years 1925–1939. Martin Micura, as a deputy of a pro­‑Czechoslovak party, always tried in his speeches to defend Slovaks in the common Czechoslovak Republic and look for solutions which would enable Slovakia to enjoy similar social conditions to those in the more developed Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. He was mostly involved in discussions about the budget for the next year and concentrated on questions and problems which, as a lawyer and an expert with practice in self­‑governing structures, understood best judicial issues and questions of public administration and self­‑government. He did not avoid other social areas and worked to help Slovakia in the economic, social, and cultural areas. His other “favourite” themes were church schools, sole traders and traders, taxes, transport, etc. In the 1930s, he began to comment on such key issues as the huge economic crisis and its consequences, the worsening situation in international politics and the increase in nationalism in connection with the expansion of totalitarian systems, especially Nazi Germany which began to abuse the Germany minority in Czechoslovakia to its advantage. The aim of his speeches in debates on international politics was to protect a democratic and unitary Czechoslovakia which, from the mid 1930s, was in increasing danger from undemocratic, autocratic, and totalitarian systems which gradually destroyed the Versailles Peace Treaty. He worked as a deputy of the Czechoslovak People's Party in Slovakia in various parliamentary committees, notably as chairman of the constitutional and juridical committee in the years 1925–1935.