PITTSBURGH CZECH-SLOVAK DECLARATION OF 1918: POLITICAL AND HISTORIOGRAPHIC INTERPRETATIONS

Keywords: declaration, content, autonomy, self-government, Czechoslovak state, discussion, interpretation, argument

Abstract

The author of the article revealed the historical conditions of the appearance of the Czech-Slovak declaration, signed by representatives of the Czech and Slovak emigration in the USA in May 1918 in Pittsburgh. He did a detail textual analysis of the document, indicated some differences between the Czech-language project and the Slovak-language original. The author researched discussions among the scientists about the use of terms and different approaches in the normative-legal interpretation of certain paragraphs of the document. Distribution of state power between the Czech and Slovak authorities in the common state did not fix in the declaration. The principles of the functioning of the Slovak Sejm was not clear defined.

The author considered the use of the Pittsburg Declaration in the internal political struggle between the authorities of the Czechoslovak Republic and the autonomous opposition. He found out the reasons why the Slovak politicians agreed in 1920 with Constitution of the Czechoslovak Republic, although its provisions fixed the centralized state system and contradicted the content of the Pittsburgh Declaration. Author analyzed the arguments and counterarguments of those antagonists about the interpretation of the content and the political significance of the declaration. In particular, he traced the evolution by the president of the Czechoslovak Republic T.G. Masaryk in the estimates of the document, what aroused resentment in the Slovak autonomous politicians, who accused the president in hypocrisy and utilitarianism. He also reviewed comments and opinions about the Pittsburg Declaration on the international scene, where the enemies of Czechoslovakia tried to use the Czech-Slovak contradictions in their advantage. The author formulated his own judgments about role and significance of the document in Slovak national-state life.

 

Borovets, I. (2019). Pittsburgh Czech-Slovak Declaration of 1918: Political and Historiographic Interpretations. Mìžnarodnì zv’âzki Ukraïni: naukovì pošuki ì znahìdki – The International relations of Ukraine: scientific searches and findings, 28, 213-230 [in Ukrainian].

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Published
2019-12-05
How to Cite
Ivan Borovets. (2019). PITTSBURGH CZECH-SLOVAK DECLARATION OF 1918: POLITICAL AND HISTORIOGRAPHIC INTERPRETATIONS. International Relations of Ukraine: Scientific Searches and Findings, (28), 213-230. https://doi.org/10.15407/mzu2019.28.213