THE CROATIAN PEASANT PARTY’S VIEW OF HLINKA’S SLOVAK PEOPLE’S PARTY: A CASE OF SOLIDARITY BETWEEN STATELESS NATIONS

• Authors: Kardum Tomislav
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This paper examines the Croatian Peasant Party’s (HSS) view of Hlinka’s Slovak People’s Party (HSĽS) during the 1930s, framing their cooperation as an example of solidarity between stateless nations. Despite significant ideological differences – HSS’s agrarianism versus HSĽS’s political Catholicism – the two parties were united by their shared struggles against centralizing state powers in Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. From the HSS perspective, the Slovak pursuit of autonomy, and eventually separation from Czechoslovakia, was seen as both a source of inspiration and a potential warning for their own negotiations with Belgrade, highlighting the possibility of a similar path toward separation. The HSS expressed solidarity through diplomatic gestures, such as Maček’s condolences upon Hlinka’s death, and public discourse emphasizing mutual struggles for self-determination. This study highlights how the Slovak declaration of independence in 1939 served as a potential model for Croatian aspirations, while the HSS pursued a more pragmatic path through the Cvetković-Maček Agreement.

Keywords

EN

CROATIAN NATIONALISM; SLOVAK NATIONALISM; VLADKO MAČEK; ANDREJ HLINKA; STATELESS NATIONALISM

• Publisher: Faculty of Arts, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Slovak Republic
• Journal: Studia Historica Nitriensia
• Year: 2025
• Volume: 29
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 34 - 48

Contributors

author

Kardum Tomislav

• Croatian Institute of History, Opatička 10, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia

Identifiers

DOI

https://doi.org/10.17846/SHN.2025.29.1.34-48