SOCIAL DEMOCRACY AND THE HUNGARIAN MINORITY IN SLOVAKIA 1918 – 1921

The paper addresses the origins of the ‘Hungarian minority question’ in Slovakia, which emerged after the national revolutions in Central Europe in 1918-19 and which is still a hot issue today. Special attention is paid to the milieu of the multi-ethnic (Hungarian, Slovak, and German) social democratic movements and to the question of how the different ethnic elements of this movement tried to come to terms with the new political challenges posed by the radical change in inter-ethnic power structure in Slovakia. The Hungarian social democrats were among the first to come forward with ‘new’ ideas, now understanding the need for them in their new situation.