Slovak Nationalism and the Hungarian State, 1870-1910

Abstract

Paul's chapter provides a detailed case study of the development of Slovak nationalism under the Austro-Hungarian empire. In the course of his analysis, he assesses the relevance of two theories of ethnic nationalism--the internal colonial model and the theory of inter-elite competition--as well as the specific effects of state policies of Magyarization. Paul argues that the Magyarization policy of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries had a dual effect upon Slovak nationalism. It did, in fact, succeed to some extent in creating Magyarone Slovaks and even Magyar nationalists among Slovaks. However, it also provoked a counterreaction among some elite elements in Slovak society, which leads to the speculation that a policy of forced assimilation of a nationality among whose members some inner cohesion has already developed, is likely to be counter-productive. However, other factors relating to state activity, if not specific state policy, were also at work to counter the assimilation policy, particularly the expansion of the Hungarian state and school system into the Slovak territories at the end of the nineteenth century. The effect of this state expansion was to place Slovak-speaking peoples increasingly in contact with Magyar-speaking bureaucrats and teachers, thus leading Slovaks to perceive the state as alien. Paul finds some support for the internal colonial model as an explanation of the rise of Slovak nationalism, but it is ambiguous and complex. He does so by treating the Budapest area as a core in relation to the Slovak areas, whose industrial elite was Magyar-German-Jewish. Although some Magyarone Slovaks collaborated with this industrial elite, a local-regional Slovak bourgeoisie also developed that promoted Slovak nationalism. The "cultural division of labor" in this situation was partly hierarchical, since unassimilated Slovaks were excluded from the industrial elite, but it was also partly segmentary since Slovakia generated its own bourgeoisie. 116Insofar as the theory of elite competition is concerned, Paul finds a reasonable explanation for the rise of Slovak nationalism here also, which runs as follows. There were two lines of elite competition in Slovakia. One was between the local Slovak and the Hungarian-German bourgeoisie. The second was between the Slovak lower clergy and the Magyar hierarchy in the Roman Catholic church. In both cases, the Slovak elites turned inward to the opportunities available in their region, toward contact with the peasantry, and toward the use of Slovak nationalist sentiment as an entry into politics. Paul notes that these patterns of elite conflict occurred independently of state policies. At the same time, it is clear that the state's policies of assimilation and Magyarization aligned the state with the Hungarian-German bourgeoisie and the Magyar church hierarchy and, thereby, provided obvious targets for Slovak nationalism.