Demands of the Slovak Nation, the most consequential political
program during revolution 1848-1849, was elaborated by
approximately 30 leading patriots at the meeting with M.M. Hodaea
under the chairmanship of L' Stur. The demands were a testimony to
maturity of the political thinking of the Stur's generation and at
the same time they gave more precise direction to the Slovak
national and political movement in spring 1848.
The demands were a sincerely democratic and humanistic response to the situation resulting from March developments in Hungary. They went beyond the framework of the April Laws and th e political goals of Hungarian liberal nobles. The demands sought to lessen the influence of liberal nobles greatly in public life in the country, eroding the privileges of nobles, political aristocracy, and impeding Magyarization, which in turn would have increased the importance of the non-noble strata. The demands called for far-reaching political and social reforms. Hungary would have been transformed into a modern federal state with a genuinely democratic regime and equal civil rights. Th e authors of the demands called for the release of the greater part of society from degrading feudal servility. The demands had many features in common with the federalist efforts of other non-Hungarian national movements as well as the political and social goals of the Hungarian radical democrats. On the whole, however, the demands represented the most democratic official program in Hungary during the revolution of 1848-49. The representatives of the Slovak national movement wanted to achieve th e radical demands legally and peacefully, not by confrontation. They planned to send these demands to the king, to palatine, to the Hungarian Diet and to the government. They objected to the press law's requirement of a high security deposit, restrictions on freedom of assembly, and limitations on the right to organize associations as discriminatory against less affluent, democratic circles and national movements. Thus they called for the repeal of these laws, to allow freedom of the press, asse mbly and societies. The demands considered the suffrage law's requirement of a minimum wealth and level of education in order to exercise the right to vote as equally unfair. The restrictive suffrage allowed only 6% of the inhabitants of the country to cast ballots; thus the nobles could completely dominate political life. They held the view that the real civil freedom and equality must mean univeral male suffrage. The demands considered the proposed solution to the peasant question discriminato ry also. The April Laws abolished only urbarial dependency, while the serfs' other duties remained in force. The demands insisted on the complete abolition of serfdom, ending the all forms of serfs' dependency, and transferring the meadows, forests, pastures to the peasants.
The demands of the Slovak nation envisoned Slovak rights within the Hungarian state, since Hungary was considered to be the homeland of the Slovaks. However, they refused the concept of unified Hungarian nation and national intolerance. Thus, they proposed the new laws allow them to live a sovereign national life according too the principles of national equality and the fraternal coexistence of all the nations of Hungary. The demands proposed the reconstruction of Hungary as a federal state of nationally autonomous peoples. The supreme body should be the imperial Diet with the representatives of the all nations of the country. The deputies should be responsible for their activities to their electors. The y further proposed that the constitutional matters should be dealt with by the nations themselves via their own diets and other bodies. In autonomous Slovakia the public, official and educational language should become Slovak. The demands called for the creation of a Slovak school system, including university and college. In the higher Hungarian schools, more Slovak should be taught as a subject. National-administrative sovereignty of Slovakia ought to be symbolized by national colors, flag, and an autonomous national guard. The 14th and last point of demands demanded social and political reforms in Halic in favor of the Poles and for the liberation of J. Krai' and J. Rotarides from prison. The weakness of the demands was their lack of precision on several important points. They did not define the borders of national territories, competencies between imperial and autonomous bodies, or executive legislation and its bearers.
The representatives of the Slovaks anticipated that acce
ptance of
the new political program would allow the national movement to
acquire a decisive authority. However, the demands were known
only to a modest portion of the Slovak public for several reasons.
M.M. Hodaea, the host for the meeting, fearing of the authorities'
severely repressive measures by authorities in Liptov copunty,
alleged that the demands were proposed and approved on May 11, at
a merely private meeting of several dozen individuals from the
local small gentry, burghers and pea
sants. Although 10,000 copies
of the demands were issued in the town of Levoca, half of them were
required by authorities and the others could only be spread
secretly. Consistent with its Magyarization policy, the Pest
government considered the demands inspired by the pan-Slavs, thus
illegal and riotous. Several active Slovak patriots were arrested
and the movement as a whole was suppressed as illegal. Stur,
Hodaea and Hurban had to flee from Hungary to avoid a warrant for
their arrest. Several
other patriots went with them to Prague,
where the core of the Slovak national movement was transferred.
They tried to force the content of the demands on the Slav congress
in Prague and later also in September upheaval. During late fall
they distanced themselves from them, but their basic principles
formed a framework of the Slovak efforts to establish their own
legal state.
Dejiny Slovenska Batislava 1969, II, 30-34.
Rapant, Daniel Slovenske povstanie roku 1848-49.
Martin 1937, I, 91-313.
Rebro, Karol "Statopravne poaeiadavky Slovakov v rokoch 1848-1849"
in Slov ci and their national development Bratislava,
1969, 184-187.
Encyklop‚dia Slovenska Bratislava 1982, VI, 640-41.
Dusan Skvarna
Bibliography