Slovak People's Party
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Hlinka's Slovak People's Party – Party of Slovak National Unity
Hlinkova slovenská ľudová strana – Strana slovenskej národnej jednoty |
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| Abbreviation | HSĽS-SSNJ |
| Leader |
Andrej Hlinka (1913–38) Jozef Tiso (1939–45) |
| Founded | July 29, 1913 |
| Dissolved | May 1945 (banned) |
| Newspaper |
Slovenské ľudové noviny (1910–30) Slovák (1919–45) Slovenská pravda (1936–45) |
| Youth wing | Hlinka Youth |
| Paramilitary wing |
Rodobrana (1923–27) Hlinka Guard (1938–45) |
| Ideology |
Political Catholicism Slovak nationalism Corporate statism Clerical fascism from late 1930s divided into conservative and pro-Nazi wings |
| Political position | Before 1938: Right-wing After 1938: Far-right |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
| Colours | Blue, red, white |
| Party flag | |
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Hlinka's Slovak People's Party (Slovak: Hlinkova slovenská ľudová strana, HSĽS), also known as simply the Slovak People's Party (Slovenská ľudová strana, SĽS) or the Hlinka Party, was a right-wing conservative political party in Slovakia with strong Christian and nationalist orientation. Its members were called Ludaks.
The party arose at a time when Slovakia was still part of Austria-Hungary and fought both for democratic freedoms and Slovak national rights, and against liberalism. After the formation of Czechoslovakia, the party preserved its conservative character, opposing ethnic Czechoslovakism and demanding Slovak autonomy. In the second half of the 1930s, the rise of totalitarian regimes in Europe and the party's inability to achieve long-term political objectives caused a loss of faith in democracy and saw the party turn to more radical ideas. After a merger with other parties in November 1938 to form the Hlinka Slovak People's Party – Party of Slovak National Unity, it became the dominant party of World War II Slovakia. In addition to adoption of a totalitarian vision of the state, it included an openly pro-Nazi wing, which dominated Slovak policy between 1940 and 1942.
The party chairmen were the Slovak priests Andrej Hlinka (1913–38) and later Jozef Tiso (1939–45), and it main newspapers were Slovenské ľudové noviny (Slovak People's Newspaper, 1910–30), Slovák (The Slovak, 1919–45) and Slovenská pravda (The Slovak Truth, 1936–45).
The creation process of the party took several years. With the exception of the short-lived Slovak Social Democratic Party (1905–06), there was only one party in Austria-Hungary that specifically promoted the interests of the Slovaks at the turn of the 19th and 20th century — the Slovak National Party (SNS). The Slovak People's movement was established within the Hungarian People's Party (Néppárt, founded in 1895) which opposed liberalism and was popular amongst the religious Slovak population. The party's program addressed several other problems of Slovak society including emigration, usury, corruption and forced magyarization. Due to the gradual shift away from these values, Slovak politicians began to form a separate group within the party. The party hierarchy reacted in November 1905 by asking its only MP František Skyčák to sign a testimony against the Slovak program. Skyčák refused and on 5 December 1905, he published a declaration of a new political party. Other personalities, among them the Catholic priest Andrej Hlinka, joined the organisation in early 1906, before the Slovak National Party (SĽS) was officially formed on 18 March 1906 by Skyčák, Milan Hodža and A. Ráth. However, following a decision in April 1906, the party contested elections as part of the Slovak National Party until 1913 in order to prevent splitting the Slovak vote. However, their programmes were nearly identical; the SĽS called for strong democratization and included liberal reforms such as freedom of speech and universal suffrage. Despite the frequent election manipulations in Hungary at that time, the SĽS won six deputies (and the SNS one) out of the 415 deputies of the Hungarian Diet in the 1906 elections. The Hungarian government immediately reacted by increasing oppression to suppress the national and political conscious of Slovaks.
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