Slovak National Party (historical party)

The Slovak National Party (SNS, Slovak: Slovenská národná strana) was a Slovak conservative and nationalist political party in the Kingdom of Hungary and then in Czechoslovakia from 1871 to 1938. The post-Velvet Revolution party with the same name sees the historical one as its ideological predecessor.

The Slovak National Party arose on 6 June 1871, as the first political party of Slovaks in history. It was the result of the decision of an already existing nationally oriented group (called the Old Slovak School) that wanted to take part in the elections to the Hungarian Diet (parliament). Their political program was based on the Memorandum of the Slovak nation, a political document from 1861 requiring the establishment of the so-called "Slovak surrounding" (Slovenské okolie), an intended form of Slovak autonomy. However, their first election was not successful – they received no mandates in the parliament.

In the year of another parliamentary election, 1878, SNS declared its passivity. That happened after the closing of all three Slovak secondary schools in the Kingdom of Hungary and of the Matica slovenská (Slovak Foundation), an important cultural organisation of the Slovaks, in 1874/1875. In 1881, the SNS did not receive any mandates in the parliament after unsuccessful elections.

In 1884 and 1887, the SNS declared its passivity in the general elections. In 1892 SNS did not take part in the elections, but supported the Slovak candidates of the Katolikus Néppárt (Catholic People's Party), mostly an ethnic Hungarian party. The first successful year from this point of view was 1901, when the SNS received four mandates in the Hungarian parliament. (That was after 30 years of SNS' existence). 1901 was also the year of the party's reorganisation. Since then, all Slovak political movements (the original members, the Catholic ľudáci and the liberal Hlasists) except the Social Democrats were included in the party. (While until then, the party was ruled only by a group called the Martin centre.)

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