Martin Declaration (1918)

The Martin Declaration, officially called the Declaration of the Slovak Nation (Martinská deklarácia, Deklarácia slovenského národa) — a document passed on 30 October 1918 in Turčiansky Sv. Martin (now Martin) by members of the newly constituted Slovak National Council (Slovenská národná rada, SNR). The declaration was a result of efforts made by Slovak politicians supporting Czecho-Slovak resistance overseas led by Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and aimed at creating a common Czecho-Slovak state.

Members of the Slovak intelligentsia who were either members of Slovak National Party (Slovenská národná strana, SNS) or who recognized its dominant position in Slovak society were invited to the negotiations. They arrived in Martin on 29 October and the first informal discussions took place that evening. The next morning, with Hungarian armed forces present in the town, a preliminary meeting of the SNS committee, unannounced to the Hungarian authorities, was held in the Tatrabanka building. As well as SNS members, Slovak representatives of the Hungarian Social Democrat party (Sociálnodemokratická strana Uhorska) were also there.

Led by the SNS chairman Matúš Dula, the session began with discussion about strategy and whether to publicly express the idea of Slovakia separating from Hungary and forming a new state with the Czechlands. One proposal was put forward by the lawyer, Emil Stodola and then, after an exchange of opinions, a second was made by Samuel Zoch. Stodola had also brought a third proposal from the Roman-Catholic priest, Ján Damborský, but for unknown reasons it was not presented at the discussions. After discussions, those present agreed to the need for a public statement (written declaration) calling for changes in state as outlined in Zoch’s proposal.

Those at the confidential preliminary meeting of the SNS committee agreed on acceptance of the proposal as it spoke on behalf “of all Slovak political parties“. The proposal took away from the Hungarian government and its regional authorities the right to speak on behalf of the “Czecho-Slovak nation in Hungary“. Instead, as the document stated, this right was now assumed by the “National Council of the Slovak arm of the united Czechoslovak nation“. The declaration contained three points in which, without giving specific details, the assembly pledged Slovak allegiance to the so-called Czecho-Slovak nation and its right to self-determination. The text also called for an immediate end to the war and armament process and for an international guarantee of peace. In the first text of the declaration, there was also a demand for the presence of Slovak representatives at the international peace conference. At the insistence of Milan Hodža, however, who had arrived late in the evening on 30 October, this demand was removed from the text, a decision SNS committee members agreed with.

They favoured Zoch’s proposal as it expressed clear and concise criticism of the Hungarian state authorities, advocated Slovakia’s separation from Hungary and proclaimed a “linguistic and culturo-historical unity binding the Czecho-Slovak nation“ and emphasizing the need for a shared territorial and political space. Unlike Zoch's proposal, Stodola’s rejected proposal had not contained such a proclamation; its criticism and demands were made only on behalf of the SNS and it contained, in extensive essay form, reasons for the Slovak nation to separate from Hungary.

The debate authorized by the Hungarian authorities began after two pm and involved SNS members of the committee, invited SNS non-committee members and members of the intelligentsia acknowledging the dominant position of the SNS in Slovak society. Its aim was to create a national council and lead a debate about political affairs. During the session, a twenty-member council with twelve-member Executive Committee were convened. SNS chairman, Matúš Dula, spoke of the political situation while the leader of the Slovak People’s Party (Slovenská ľudová strana, SĽS) Andrej Hlinka urged a very pro Czecho-Slovak position. Following reactions from other politicians, Zoch read out his motion and it was unanimously accepted. The Executive Committee of the SNR continued their discussions the following day.

During the First Czechoslovak Republic, the Martin Declaration was regularly cited as an important display of support for Czech-Slovak statehood by Slovak politicians. It was, however, only passed by men, their wives, female relatives and other women excluded from negotiations and left to stand outside the Tatrabanka building. The minimal involvement of left-wing and regional intelligentsia was also criticized, while time constraints, the unpredictable behaviour of the Hungarian armed forces, lack of information about the overall situation and the political inexperience of SNS committee members caused further problems. An original of the declaration was not preserved, for a long time no minutes of the council meeting of 30 October were available while reliable minutes from the meeting of the Executive Committee on 31 October were not even kept. These circumstances were seized upon by members of the autonomist SĽS (Slovak People’s Party), who used the declaration in their struggle for Slovak sovereignty. At first they claimed that Hodža had falsified the declaration, alleging he had changed its wording without SNS committee members knowing of it. Some of the members present refuted these claims, however, and admitted that the removal of the demand for Slovaks to be present at the international peace conference had been done with their consent.

The People’s Party also spoke about a supposed secret annex to the declaration making provision for Slovaks to choose in 1928 whether to stay part of Czechoslovakia or form an independent Slovak state. In 1924, Andrej Hlinka mentioned it in a letter to the Austrian chancellor, Rudolf Ramek, and on 30 October of the same year, Ferdinand Juriga spoke of it in parliament, the party backing their claims by referring to the debate of the Executive Committee of the SNR on 31 October 1918. But a quite different motion had been passed at the meeting which spoke of the gradual introduction of Slovak autonomy within Czechoslovakia during the next ten years: there had been no talk of choosing after ten years whether to stay a part of Czechoslovakia or not, a fact clearly stated by both Zoch and Stodola. Despite that, the People’s Party went on misleading the public, with claims made by the editor of the Slovák magazine, Juraj Koza-Matejov in 1925 and the SĽS politician Vojtech Tuka in 1928 leading to both of them being prosecuted. Tuka was subsequently imprisoned for espionage and high treason after being convicted of being a Hungarian government agent and of using the annex to spark an armed uprising in Slovakia, helped by the semi-military Rodobrana organization and Hungarian organs and aimed against Czechoslovak authorities.