Omladina Trial

In 1894, the Omladina Trial, convened in the Austro-Hungarian regional capital of Prague, ostensibly placed Czech Anarchism and Anarcho-syndicalism before the court as well as specifically convicting 68 Czech Nationalists of radical activities.

Since the European Revolutions of 1848, the face of Central and Eastern Europe became even more inundated with encompassing enlightenment ideals. In what was Austria-Hungary or the old Habsburg imperial lands, Bohemian rebels and their associates began to factionalize and represent many different political sects of the distinct, multi-ethnic nation emphasizing those enlightenment philosophies. What became a "Pan-Slavic" movement derived from the ideologies of the past French Revolutions in 1789.

By 1871, Serbia became embroiled in a middle class development that was stunted by a slow economy, as well as grew overwhelmingly in urban populations. This laboring, more working class bourgeoisie espoused a liberal ideology that seemed revolutionary to Austrian-Hungarian imperial control. Furthermore, a fettered peasantry loomed in the lower rung of Serbia, and philosophies of liberalism, romanticism, and radicalism stirred the minds of the aspiring youth. Ideologies of force and war became mechanisms through which the Serbs and other minorities believed could relinquish themselves from the burdens of economic disconnectedness and political repression.

One of the men who contributed to this movement and led to the Omladina Trials was Serb gentryman Svetozar Marković (1846–1875). As a young, vibrant leader of the evolving radicalists, he took center stage in the intellectual, economic, and political changes that would ensue in the following decades. He urged the organization of a radicalist party to wage "a struggle against everything which has grown too old- a struggle of the young generation against the old".

Other future Social Democrats and Progressives joined the movement including F. V. Lorenz and Antonín Pravoslav Veselý as editors. Furthermore, Jan Neruda brought his radicalist ideas as a spokesperson of the Young Czech Party from his days working at Národní Listy, a successful, progressive newspaper of the mid-19th century.

As Bohemian (Czech) radicalism reached its climax, many within the Eastern European region attached themselves to this growing ideology that sought to progressively incorporated all citizens into a political environment. The Young Czech Party also known as the National Liberal Party (formed in 1874) advocated universal manhood suffrage, and urged the adoption of civil liberties. Under its political wing, as a more radical, underground group, Omladina arose in the late 1870s in the industrial city of Kladno. Using periodicals and reformist newspapers, the educated, middle class liberals and radicals trumpeted their support for a sovereign parliament, freedom of the press and assembly, and implored vigorously for the protection of workers. Cooperation between these students and laborers in the movement flourished at unprecedented levels and progressive journals such as Omladina, Rozhledy, and Javnost began to call for workers reform incessantly. Not surprisingly, the government and its church affiliates deemed Omladina and such reformist groups as illegal, imprisoned many protestors and editors, and even arrested students possessing progressive literature. Debates exploded across the country, and Czech Socialists and Progressives vociferated their anger and discontent through debate and political societies. Events in 1871 like the Paris Commune and demonstrations of political activism prepared the Habsburg monarchy for similar events in their own land.

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