1 50 10 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/2b8aa9baaf206146d98754fc24025177.pdf e15f32c5dc1cf13cc3a1d9a02d354a18 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 119 Book Reviews Robin Okey. Eastern Europe 1740-1980: feudalism to Communism. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1982 . 264 pp . Attempting to write a general survey of Eastern European history is no m ean task . Indeed, a comprehensive overview within the confines of a book numbering less than three hundred pages is altogether impossible. Robin Okey offers an alternative to this dilemma in the form of an interpretive stud y . The author indicates that his purpose is to " present a perspecti ve rather than tell a story. " Focusing on the twin themes of modernization and na tionalism , he traces the evolution of the Central and Eastern European lands through two ce nturies of economic , political, and social change . It is his thesis that Eastern European nationalism arose as a response to the area ' s comparative backwardness in relation to the W est. In approaching thi s theme, Okey notes that feudalism came relatively late to this general area , and suggests that - at least until the sixteenth century - Eastern Europe enjoyed the potential of parallel development with W estern Europe. H e states, however , that dom estic fe udal forces were strong enough to reverse thi s trend . External forces - the Turkish invasion of the Balka ns a nd Hun gary a nd the H a bsburg conquest of rebelliou s Bohemia - are also cited as instrument al facto rs. Ei ghtee nth -century Eastern Europe is ch a racterized as havin g regimes which were ineffi cient even by feudal standards . The peasantry bore the brunt of resulta nt defi ciencies, but thriving popul ar cultures provided an impetu s for future revival. Okey states catego rically that the penetrati on of the Enli ghtenm ent represe nt s the first stages of ra pprochem ent with the W est. In a number of in sta nces th e process was characteri zed by reform from a bove, althou gh the role of th e cl ergy is also cited . In the latter case, the auth or specificall y mention s th e P ole K on a rski and th e Serb Obrad ovic; it is wo rth notin g th a t Bern ola k's contribution to th e Slovak rev ival is omitted . T he Eastern Eu ro pean Enli gh te nment faced the dil emm a th at the socia l premi ses of an al ternative order we re incomplete. Con sequentl y, conservatives were more ext reme and reformers more revolutionary tha n their cou n terpa rt s in the West. �120 SLOVAKIA Liberalism in Eastern Europe differed from the West insofar as members of the nobility were heavily involved in a process which put them in opposition to their own social strata. Okey characterizes Eastern European liberalism as "an elusive, complex creed"; it shared the heavy emotionalism of ideas from other lands , but was only partially emancipated from native traditions. He objects to the Marxist view of nationalism as a creed devised by ambitious bourgeois elements; instead, he cites the role of professional scholars as the vanguard of the national movements . The 1848 revolutionary experience led to a clash between liberalism and nationalism; the former was instrumental in abolishing the last vestiges of serfdom, but also failed to satisfy the national aspirations of subject peoples . The balance of the nineteenth century is treated as a period of ideological fragmentation. The advance of industrial capitalism caused a reaction against liberalism on the part of the Right as well as the Left , and the continued rise of mass nationalism splintered existing political parties along ethnic lines. In assessing the downfall of the old order during World War I , Okey concedes that not all tendencies could be related to the national question. But h e hastens to add that "only nationalism had a magnetism strong enough to draw the dislocated elements into an alternative political order the pattern of nation-states . '' Promoters of the new nation-states viewed their emergence as the culmination of humanist principles. Okey disagrees, and cites three general causes for the failure of Western-style liberalism in the interwar period . Most obviously, one of them is the continuity of ethnic conflict within the new states. Second, the Eastern European nations remained economically de pendent on foreign capital. Finally, both the leaders of the new states and their opponents repudiated democracy in their approach to the outstanding problems of the times. Okey views interwar nationalism as "short-sighted rather than fundamentall y misguided"; the outsider Hitler bore the greatest responsibility for the demise of these states. The author implies that national Communism was most successful in those countries where the Party remained in effective control of public life, and failed in Czechoslovakia because the regime capitulated ideologicall y to non-Party gro ups. Finally, Okey states that the rise of a mass int elli ge nt sia and the emerge nce of common social problem s with the West is indicative of a greater degree of syncopat ion. For the student of Slovak hi story, this book might prove disappointing. Indeed, a genuine weakness may be found in the fact that Okey cites so few examples of the Slovak experien ce which provide important contrasts with certain patterns. Okey ' s contention that Eastern European soc iety had already become "brutali zed" during World War II , and that the Communists were tailor-made representatives of the new age , borders on conjecture. Although the position of the J ews in Slovakia was precarious during the war , they were �SLOVAKIA 121 nevertheless afforded a certain "breathing space" denied to their kin smen in Poland, and the average citizen of the Slovak R epublic was by no m ean s terrorized. It was only during the 1944 risin g - in which Communists played a major role - that "brutalization" on a broad scale was affected . Okey's treatment of the " Prague Spring" also provides a case of omission: He correctly cites the straightj acket command economy model as a major facto r in Novotny's demise, but mentions the Slovak opposition only as merely inciden tal. But insofar as Slovakia may be viewed as an integral part of an Eastern European whole, this book has definite merit. It provides the reader with a concise, refreshing overview of the past two centuries, and the author skillfully employs anecdotal examples to compare and contrast specific national experiences. Okey's book is helpful to the student already well-grounded in general Eastern European history; it can also be useful to the instructor who wishes to co nvey a certain sense of ideological conflict inherent in the region . R. VLADIMIR BAUMGARTEN Easley, South Carolin a East Central Europe: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow. Edited by Milorad M. Drachkovitch. Stanford, Calif.: H oover Institution Press, 1982 . 41 7 pp . Thirteen of the seventeen papers contained in this volume were presented at a conferen ce organized by the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in January , 1980 . Due to the events in Poland in August , 1980 , publication of the symposium's proceedings was delayed so that individual authors could revise their contributions. According to the editor, Milorad M. Drachkovitch, readers of the book "will not find in it a ny pred ictions " and "will be offered facts and explan ations of recent events" (p. xi). This is true of most but not all of the essays. The latte r are largely analyt ical and of uneven quality. Among th e excellent contributions are Drachkovitch 's survey of the postwar political and economic developm ents in Yu goslavia, Leszek Kolakowski's " Ideology in Eastern Europe ," and the essays by J ohn Erickson, Hugh Seton-Watson, Peter J. Wiles, and Richard F. Staar. Also superb is the overview of developments in East Central Europe , " Present Situation and Principal Trends ," by Robert F. Byrnes. H e points out that '' the opinions of even our most expe rienced an alysts often reflect shallow hi stori cal knowledge , flight y analysis, and the ass umpti on that peoples of this area are far less in terested in independence and self-government than a re West �122 SLOVAKIA Europeans and Americans '' (p. 20). The flip-flops of George K ennan are cited as an example. Byrnes is a very perceptive observer who notices the connection between the election of Pope John Paul II , his visit to P oland in 1979, and the subsequent d evelopments in that country. In contrast , the essay on Poland by Jan T omasz Gross, " What Is Yet To Come," appears to be a rather superficial d escription of events leading up to the establishment of Solidarity in 1980 , claiming that " the impossible was inevitable " (p. 32 1). In the last section of the essay Gross sketches two different scenarios: first , Soviet military intervention ; second, the devolution of the Soviet imperium for which the price would be " m ost likely " the " ne utralization of Germany through unification and detachment from the Atlantic Alliance " (p. 325). As it happened , the imposition of martial law in D ecember 1981 proved his (and man y other observers') projections incorrect. On Alexander Dubcek 's behavior in 1968 Hugh Seton-Watson comments by asking a rhetorical question : How could the United States "defend people who would not defend themselves?" (p . 178). In contrast to it , Zdenek L. Suda, while concentrating mostly on the events in 1968 , is very a pologetic. H e writes: " The peaceful counterrevolution in the ve ry core of the Czechoslovak system must have caused more pani c in Moscow than the armed insurgency of Hungarian workers and soldiers in O ctober 1956 " (p. 258). Suda's cl aim is an undocumented assumption without an y foundation, and so is his interpretation of the events in Czechoslovkia when he writes that " the whole reform movement of 1968 could be defined simply as the application of rules and laws that long had been dead letters, but nt>:vertheless existed. It was precisely this greater respect for legality and constitutionality that sounded an alarm in the Soviet power center and triggered the intervention" (p. 256). Accordin g to Suda, "the Czechoslovak case differs from the Polish case because the Polish reform experim ent initiated in 1956 fa iled without direct Soviet intervent ion " (p. 252). Suda does not differentiate between intervention and in vasion . Soviet military presence in Poland ever since the end of World War II has constituted inter vention and h as m ade in vasion unnecessary. In fact, an invasion would have been cou nterproductive from the Soviet point of view. In contrast to it , by in vading Czechoslovakia in 1968 the Soviets h ave attained their military and strategic objecti ves. The "temporary" stationing of Soviet troops in Czechoslovakia has become " permanent. " The even ts in Poland in the earl y 1980s corroborate the view th at the Soviets had military a nd strategic reasons for the 1968 in vasion and that the in ternal de velopments , which certainly did not amount to a "counterrevoluti on" as Sud a and the Sov iets claim, were merely a pretext for the action whose a im was to extract a "consent " from the Czech and Slovak Communist leaders to the stati oning of Soviet troops in Czechoslovakia. L abeling people as " neo -Stalinists " a nd "dogmati cs," as �SLOVAKIA 123 Suda does, is meaningless. His lack of knowledge of history is reflected in the essay. For example, he writes that " the division of the world between the two superpowers into spheres of interest - made the eventual integration of Czechoslovakia into the system controlled by the Soviets virtually inevitable'' (p. 244). However , nothing was " inevitable" about the arrangements that Edvard Benes made in Moscow in D ecember , 1943 . It was his decision to sign the trea ty with the Soviet Union and to promise the Czech and Slovak Communist leaders in Moscow that their party would be the strongest element in the new regime and that he would always support it. Indeed , Professor Byrnes' comment on the " shallow historical knowledge" and " flighty analysis," cited above , is applicable to the two essays by the two sociologists on Czechoslovakia and Poland published in this volume . j OSEF KAL YODA Saint Joseph College W est H artford, Connecticut Rudolf Krajcovic. Svedectvo dejfn o slovencine . 2nd edition, corrected. Martin : Matica slovenska, 1980 . 268 pp. The second edi tion of Krajcovic's collection of linguistic eviden ce for the Slovak language is essentially the same as the first of 1977 . In these two edition s, the compiler strives to offer proof that the Slovak language has its own long and distinctive history. He is intent on demonstrating that Slovak is a " language of written documents ." He traces Slovak from the period of the Great Moravian Empire of the ninth century throu gh the "twilight of Hungarian feudalism" in the nineteenth century. For the conclusion of his stud y, Krajcovic gives examples of present-day dialectical variations of the Slovak lan guage. There are photographs of d ocuments u sed as evidence. Especially when documents are in script, Krajcovic has the writings reproduced in printed form for easier appreciat ion. Interspersed among the evidence are bl ac k a nd white as well as colored illu stration s of folk articles and pa intings on a folk theme. The illu st ra tions a re the better to con vey the a tmosphere and period of the docum ents presented. Documen ta ry evidence from the early periods , n a mel y from that of the Great M orav ia n Empire through that of the fifteenth century , is not really extensive. A hi storical lin gui st would find the m aterial interesti ng, perh a ps even intrigu ing , but not conclu sive or even substantial for a judgm ent. From the sixteenth century onwards , the material offered as evidence is increasin gly more substanti ve. Indeed , Krajcovic him self notes th at the m aterial from the sixtee nth ce ntury is of" great significance," because thi s was "when Slovak was �124 SLOVAKIA for the first time committed to written form." The expression " written form " is perhaps a poor choice of phrasing. (The expression is found in the brief Slovak, Russian, as well as English introductions to the documentary evidence for this period.) For virtually all the examples of Slovak in this book are written . By the expression "written form," Krajcovic's probably means that the extant documentary instances of Slovak become more extensive and so more able to be appreciated linguistically. In focusing on this poor phrasing and its alleged implication , I do not intend to impugn the long history and distinctiveness of Slovak that Krajcovic desires so clearly to demonstrate in his book. The reader, nonetheless, cannot help feeling that Krajcovic is straining very hard to do this. On the whole, the book is more a nicely illustrated survey of the Slovak language for the layperson rather than a serious academic study for the specialist. With the Slovak language and its related culture appreciated so little outside of Slovakia and the Czech lands, Krajcovic' s book could enhance to some degree a better understanding of this language and culture . This second edition is a ''corrected '' version of the first . This correcting involves stylistic and typographical errors, but especially a few attributions that include additions, deletions, or actual corrections. For example, Krajfovic has deleted the attribution of the 1648 Trnava dictionary as one used for Virgil's Aeneid. The attribution ofa folk article as coming from Kovafova pri Zvolene has been changed to Kral'ova. Krajcovic has added the name of the Austrian author of Klimko's rendition of Krizant und Daria - Gottfried Uhlich, rendered by Krajcovic as Ulrich . Also, the English text has at times questionable diction and stylistic phrasing. The Russian text has been improved for this edition in various places. Neither language should offer problems in Slovakia, for there are native speakers as well as numerous specialists who could be consulted for a third edition . Finally, the bibliography for this edition has been expanded by one item. The price of this survey of the Slovak language has remained the same as for the earlier edition . This should make the book a readily purchasable acquisition for any individual or institution. G ERALD] . SABO , S.J . John Carroll University Cleveland, Ohio I'.udovft Novak. K najstarsfm dejinam slovenskehojazyka . Bratislava: Veda, vydavatel'stvo Slovenskej adademie vied, 1980 . 352 pp. This important study of the earliest history of the Slovak language evolved out of a plan by I'.udovft Novak in the 1930s to supply the most up-to-date , complete, and detailed presentation of Slovak phonology from its earliest begin- �SLOVAKIA 125 nings . Methods of structu ral analysis were to be applied to the reconstructed phonologies of Slovak dialects . The origi nal ve rsion was begun in the last months of 1938 and earl y 1939 , a period of political turbulence. Over the intervening years, materials added to the original accumulated into several essays, thus resulting in two works. By reason of the a mount of accu mulated m ate rials , a recent decision to publi sh this monograph from just the original alone was ca rried out . The val ue of the original as a linguistic la ndm ark of the structural method in Slovakia was the deciding factor. Novak 's later theories are to be published in a separate volume which will be entitled "Vznik Praslovanov a ich jazyka. '' Four chapters in the book under review provide the most important linguistic phenomena in the d evelopment of the Slovak sou nd system , from the earliest period after the collapse of Common Slavic into the dialect differentiations of the Slovak area. They are: (a) the Slovak reflexes rat-, lat- from P ro to-Slavic *ort- , *oft -; (b) alterat ions in the consonant clusters dl, tl, and dn ; (c) reduced vowel "yer"-changes , the contraction phenomena, and the depalatalization of e( e)»a; and (d) the reconstruction of sound systems of Slovak dialects after the period of liquidation of Common Slavic co rrelations of '' syllabic soft ening. '' Novak is interested in whether (a) can be termed a "Yugoslavism" relating to a theory of colonization of Central Slovakia from the south . With respect to (b) he quotes rare documents of ancient dialect litera ture, gives phonetic a nd phonological ex plana tions , with examples of geographic ex tension of changes in W estern Slovak, and compares this with pa rallel types of like consonantal quantitat ive correlation s in a non-Slavic la nguage. For ( c) the a uthor defines the rapport of Central Slovak especially with East and Central Slavic languages, and refers to the chronology and locali zation of alterations in the Common Slavic dialect dom ai n. R egarding (d) he concen trates first on the contrac tion phenomena in Central Slovak with its chronology a nd that of other Slavic dialects, and then of other West Slavic la nguages . H e provides a n argu m ent for the explanation of the zenou-feminine-instrumental-singular type and a criticism of other theories. Most of the phonological changes in Old Slovak are viewed as occurring due to certain influences of external lan guages or of internal dialects. Hi s terminology illu strates certain developing periods of Old Slovak , for example, turkicizing, mongolization. The aut hor maintains one of several possible theories in lin guistic development. Hi s is an attempt to overcome difficulties connected with the immane nt development of the Slovak language. ova.k's structural approach as innovative and successful in the earl y period of lin gu ist ics is appla uded by colleagues m entioned in the foreword. H owever, his earl y theory is criticized as "one-sided" for three main reasons : fai lure to �126 SLOVAKIA calculate the comparison of internal contradictions; overemphasis on phonology without consideration of grammatical, morphemi c, morphological, or wordbuilding structures as lingui stic units; and finally a lack of regard for sociolin guistic chan ges . I'.udovft Novak is referred to as th e " Nestor of Slovak Linguistics " (p. 9) . This original work is viewed as a monument in the evolution of Slovak lin gu istics a nd is noteworthy, especially considering the period of its composition, the structural methods applied, with its new theoreti cal thought and insights. It is rightly considered the first synthetic conception of the earliest history of Slovak language founded on the development of the dialect sound systems. The dedication of the book is symbolic of its apparent inherent worth. Honored are three famous contributors to Slovak linguistics: to the history of the Slovak language (Trubetzkoy); to the comparative history of Slovak and Czech languages (Travnfcek), and to the foundation of modern Slovak linguistic geography with its Slovak historical dialectology (Vazny). Novak has provided the first synth etic method of structu ral applicat ion to the historical phonology of Slovak , a structural lin gui st ic milestone in Slovak lan guage study. JOHN M . KOCHIK Westmoreland County Community College Youngwood, Pennsyl vania Frantisek Kalesny. Habani na Slovensku. Bratislava: Tatran, 198 1. 376 pp. Scattered today over the prairies of the United States and Canada can be found settlements of a people known as Hutterites or Hutterian Brethren. The Brethren still retain the German language of their forefathers and practice a st ri ctly communitarian way of life. Their mode of collective farming is not th e outcome of economi c calculation ; it results from the Hutterit es' belief that Christ calls on his followers to renounce private property and have all things common . The H utterites originated in th e earl y 1530s as part of the Anabaptist movement that had begun in Central Europe around 1525. The M ennon ites tod ay also claim spiritual descent from this movement which represe nted a left wing of the Protestant R eformation. While onl y the Hutterites esta bli shed community o f goods, all its adherents practiced adult ba ptism (hence the n ame they acqu ired, Anabaptists) in order to stress the volunta ry character of their beli eve rs' church, in which only grown persons could participate meaningfull y. As Dr. Kales ny remarks in the preface to hi s fascinating study of Hutterite hi story, few Slovaks know about th e connection betwee n the Hutterites a nd Slovakia, where they li ved for over two hundred year . The descendants of those Hutterites, who in the mid -e ighteenth century acce pted forced �SLOVAKIA 127 recatholicization rather than have to emigrate, eve ntually lost their German speech and a re today completely assimilated to the Slovak popula tion. If memories of the Hutterites grew dim, the name which their Slovak neighbors gave these German settlers , " H abans " (Habani, H abaner) , has become widely known on acco unt of the beautiful ceramics produced by the Hutterite communities and their successors. These are now valued possessions of the museums of Czechoslovakia a nd Hun gary, and examples of the art form are also to be fo und elsewhere. H a ban folk a rt , according to K alesny (p.12), should be reckoned as an important asse t of Slovak '' n at ion al culture,'' for it was produced on the soil of Slovakia by people who, although of foreign origin , had put down deep roots there. The book , which is a wo rk of scholarship even though it lac ks footnotes, is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the history of the Hutterite communities from their inception down to the present d ay, with m ost a ttention given to their soj ourn in northwest Hungary (present -day Slovakia) . They first set up comm unities there around 1545: Their chief settlement a nd the seat of their " bi sh op" was a t Sobotiste. As in Moravia where the sect had started, h ere too it s ad herents we re welcomed by the landown ing nobility, Catholic as well as Protestant, who valued the Hu tterites as h ardworking and profitable tenants and consequently were prepared to overlook their religiou s peculiarities. After the battle of White Mountain in 1620 the H absburg ruler drove them out of M oravia, but the Moravian brethren also found a refuge on the estates of friendly Hun garia n landown ers. The endemic warfare of the seve nteenth century when Turkish, H absburg, and kuru c forces ravaged the Slovak countryside inflicted terrible suffering on the local population , including the Hutterites . On the eve of the disaster of 1620 the Hutterites in M oravia and Slovakia had numbered abo ut 25,000 persons, a tenfold increase sin ce 1545, which was due to the steady stream of newcomers from the T yrol a nd ot her pa rts of Ce n tral Europe seeking to join the brotherhood. Almost all these were of German speech , but a few adherents were of local origin. On page 46 , fo r instance, K alesny m entions "Wendel H olba ein Schlawak (Ve ndel H olba, Slovak)," who even becam e a Hu tterite minister. Whereas in north Hun gary the Hutterites abandoned their communitarian wa y of life in 1685 a nd were recatholicized under Maria Theresa in the nex t century (w hile still retaining for some time their separate legal identit y as H abaner), in Transylvania - where some Hutterites had settled in 1621 - they contin ued to lead the same life as before, until finally in 1767 the aut horit ies expelled those who would not conform . Ka les ny ch ron icles briefly their subseq uent wanderings, first via Wall ac hia to the Ukraine where they arrived in 1770 and then in 1874 across the Atlantic and on to the American West. After World War I most of the Hutterites moved across the border into Canada . Their later mi grat ions stemmed not from �128 SLOVAKIA religious persecution but from the threat posed to their pacifist principles by the introduction of universal miliary service. Kalesny prefaces his historical narrative, which for the most part does not add to what we already know , by an interestin g discussion of the name haban , the first authenticated m ention of which occurs in a document of 1667 now in the municipal archives of Bratislava. Originally a d erogatory term , it eventually lost its pejorative connotation and became the accepted way of describing the descendants of the former comm unitarians . Concerning the origin of the word no consensus exists among scholars. The latest theory is that of a German scholar who derives it from the H ebrew. D espite what the resumes say, Kalesn y seems to be somewhat sceptical about this. If the author deals rather briefly with the religious aspects of the Hutteri te way of life, h e devotes almost the whole of th e second part of the book to their social organization. The overwhelming majority of community m embers were artisans: Over forty crafts were bei ng practiced when the communities were at their peak. Of course, they also engaged in farming, which today is the chief occupation of the Hutterites. A strict discipline was imposed on members , expulsion from the brotherhood being the final sanction against those who did not conform. But this was not usually necessary since the brethren recognized the advantages of communal living over those of the outside world, despite any momentary attraction they might feel toward the latter. " The Hutterites had succeeded in creating an ordered society, socially egalitarian and materially secure, with high moral principles based on the community'' (p. 169) . Children of both sexes were taught at least to read and write - in an age when illiteracy prevailed among the masses . Great care was taken, too, to provide for the sick and aged, for pregnant women and for children of preschool age . The culture was perhaps narrow and th e aut horit y of the elders excessive, but this must be judged within the context of the times. Purely aesthetic values found no place among Hutterites. Yet their craftsmen succeeded in creatin g countless objects of beauty either for domestic use or for sale: Their pottery became famous throughout east central Europe and was eage rly bought up by the nobility a nd wealthy townspeople of the area. Kalesny, whose specialty is folk a rt , devotes th e third part of hi s book to the history and technology of'' H aban '' pottery. The making of faience , their most hi gly prized produ ct , had bee n introdu ced into th e Hutterite communit ies around 1580 by An a baptist immigra nts from northeas t Italy. Kales ny has included at the end I 09 full-page colored illu strat ion s of ceramics emanating from " H aban" workshops. The bibliography includes man y items in Slovak, Czech, a nd Hungarian that are unknown to North Ameri can scholars who have written on the Hutterites. Man y of these pi eces, it is true , deal with " Haban" ce ramics, but some �SLOVAKIA 129 are of more general interest. K alesny, on the other h and, h as obviously had difficulty in gaining access to sch olarship in the W est. He knows the work of the M ennonite sociologist , J ohn A. H ostetler. But h e does not, for example , appear to be acquainted either with the valua ble study by another M ennonite scholar , Victor J . Peters, All Things Common: The Hutterian Way of Life (Minneapoli s, 1965) , or with the numerous articles published in the United States by the leading authority on Hutterite history and culture, the late Robert Friedmann . Many of them were reprinted in his Hutterite Studies (Goshen , Indian a , 1961) . L et us hope that in future closer contacts can be established in the field of Hutterite studies between North American scholars and those working in Czechoslovakia and Hungary. K alesny is perhaps lucky in dealing with a group like the Hutterites who , while deeply religiou s, have at the same time been dedicated "communists," albeit of the Utopian variety. The T at ran press was able (so to speak) to roll out the red carpet for him . It h as published a volume that , with its excellent pa per, numerou s illu stration s, and tasteful design , is indeed a credit to book production in Slovakia. PETER BROCK University of T oronto Toronto , Canada August A. Skodacek. Lutherans in Slovakia . Pittsburgh : Slavia Printing Company, 1982. 242 pp. This acco unt of the rise and development of the Lutheran Church in Slovakia from the Reformation to the present redresses the oversight of many concern in g the role of the Lutheran Church in the historical development of Slovakia. This may b e a fl aw. The author would have us understand that Slovakia 's history in modern times is a con sequen ce n ot onl y of the R eformation but also of the influence of Lutheranism in Slovak social and political struggles. However, Skodacek does not su ffic ientl y analyze the historical facts a nd ci rcum stances to judge whether hi s claim , that without Lutheranism m od ern Slovakia would not be , is warranted. Skodacek chronciles the fa te and fort une of Lutherani sm in term s of fates and fortun es of the group's leaders. As they fared, so fared their group . Thus, this is a hi story of an in stitution al church and its great m en from a perspective of within the gro up . It uses synodical records to illu strate th e respon se of the Lutheran C hurch in Slovakia to outside social and political forces, na m ely the Roman Catholic C hu rch , the J esuits, and the variou s rulers allied with those two groups. Since there is little in -depth an alysis, thi s essay does not offer a ny new insights into the causes of man y of the events ch ro nicled. �130 SLOVAKIA In the main, it is a hagiographic account extolling historical individuals for their virtues and deeds done in the name of the cause. In describing the influences of a Thurzo , Lani , or Krman and others, Skodacek, interestingly enough, sees them as the real descendants of the missionaries Cyril and Methodius. Just as Cyril and Methodius introduced the Slavs to Christianity and hence to civilization ( of a kind) , so too the followers of Luther reintroduced Christianity and civilization to Slovakia even to the point of generating and maintaining a consciousness of Slovak nationalism. To this point, Skodacek writes that "the R eformation activated a conversion in Slovakia which gradually brought into the open a Slovak nationality; it spread the reformational ideology in an understandable native language and a democratic religious life'' (p. 66). Be this as it may, the book is a good source for anyone who wishes to do research in Slovak history but who does not know th e necessary languages. The volume provides translations of records and documents of the various synodical events which figured large in the life of the Slovak Lutheran Church. This point not withstanding, it is unfortunate that Skodacek did not see fit to describe and analyze the historical dynamics of the sociocultural and political forces beyond the activities of the Lutherans and the Roman Catholics. Not everyone, despite Skodacek's claim, was either a Lutheran or Roman Catholic. Some were Greek Catholic and some were Calvinists. These are never mentioned . Also, not everyone living in Slovakia was either a Slovak or a German . Another missing analytical point is that of socioeconomic class; from what class did the Lutheran leadership come? It is on these points that Skodacek could have given us some insight; perhaps he will irt another book . Although this vol ume is a good in-house version of a historical period and of what happened to the Lutherans in Slovakia , the lack of analysis of the sociocultural and political dynamics limits its effectiveness. ROBERT j. SKOVIRA Saint Vincent College Latrobe, Pennsylvania Paul R obert Magocsi . The Shaping of a National Identity: Subcarpathian Rus ', 1848-1948. Cambridge, Mass .: Harvard University Press, 1978 . 650 pp. P aul R. Magocsi. The Rusyn -Ukrainians of Czechoslovakia: An Historical Survey . Vienna: Wilhelm Braumi.iller Universitats-Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1983. 94 pp . The first of Professor Magocsi ' s books is the one we all dream of writing . The fruit of years of research, it is encyclopedic in its description of the cul- �SLOVAKIA 131 tu ral a nd political development of the territory which m ad e up Subcarpathian Ruthenia in the first C zechoslovak Republic. H e has used a rich array of sources - archives, published statistics, interviews , and most books and articles relating to the subj ect. It will stand for d ecades to com e as the basic referen ce work . Graduate students will be surpr ised to find a detached , obj ective approach in a volume devoted to an East European nationality group of less tha n a million people. It will be a required presence in the library of eve ryo ne who calls himself an Eas t European historian . Slovakists , in particular, will welcome Magocsi ' s dispassiona te understa ndin g of the sensibilities of the ripening Slovak national identity in Eastern Slovakia. The tex t is di vided into three parts. The first cove rs political and cultural hi story un til 19 18 . The second examines history, la nguage, literature , education , and reli gion between 19 18 and 1944. The final part discusses the political hi story from the end of W orld W ar I to the incorporation of the territory into the U krainia n Soviet R epublic at the end of W orld W ar II. This is followed by 4 a ppendices (82 pages), notes ( 106 pages), and bibliography ( 122 pages) . In his introduct ion , M agocsi promises to analyze how one ethnic group was exposed to na tionalism and how its leaders presen ted this new ideology to their people. H e points out that the leaders in what he calls " an embryonic sta te of na tional d evelopment " still did not agree on which national orientation to follow - Ru syn , Hun gari an , Slovak (and/o r C zech), Ukra inian , or Russian. H e then describes the elimination of each alternative until only Ukrainia n was left. With such a rich and well-organized presentation of d ata, it must seem churlish for a reviewer to take issue with the author . And ye t one has the impression tha t the author ' s desire to incl ude every las t piece of info rm ation has di st racted him fro m his original inte ntion of trying to discover the underl ying reaso ns fo r the fi nal victory of the U kra inia n orientation . The book becom es fi nall y a trad itional approach to East Eu ro pean history, albeit without the partisan coloring wh ich usually characterizes such work . H e outlines the failure of leaders of certa in national orien tations to attrac t adherents, or their willingness to sacrifice national fo r political gain. H e find s external factors decisive in dete rmining that the territory wo uld eventu ally become Ukrainian . In an area with such a n embryo nic ethnic and national identity, it seems odd tha t M agocsi limited his book terri to rially, acco rding to political bound aries which existed for onl y two decades . The fa ult m ay lie in his d efinition of ethn ic group as a popul ation that " in m ost cases possesses a distinct territory, com m on traditions, and related dialects. " Although he pays homage to the theories of K a rl D eutsch on natio nalism and social communicatio n , he fa il s in large pa rt to apply them . H e looks a t the intelligentsia in action , but not the intelligen tsia in formatio n . It would �132 SLOVAKIA have been possible, for instance, to examine the changing national composition of the students in the high schools (gymnazia) over time and through the various grades. This might have suggested underlying trends in national identification. Magocsi is quite right in saying it is impossible to explain why individuals join differing national orientations, but the totality of the changes can be very informative. It is quite conceivable that the socioeconomic development in the interwar period showed a trend toward a Ukrainian identity. This would help explain why the Soviet regime met so little opposition when it assigned a Ukrainian identification to the population at the end of the war. After the depth of research and evaluation which characterized the first book , the second volume is a disappointment. While those interested in Slovak history will find useful material here on the political, socioeconomic, and cultural history of what Magocsi calls the "Rusyn-Ukrainians" of Czechoslovakia, there also is a disappointing tendency to blame every difficulty faced by this national grouping on national discrimination. This stands in considerable contrast to his conclusion (p . 270) in the larger volume . OWEN V . JOHNSON Indiana University Bloomington , Indiana Jubilea Matice slovenskej. Compiled by Vojtech Sarluska. "Seria: Monografie - Vyskum dejfn Matice slovenskej, zv. 9." Martin: Matica slovenska, 1980. 130 pp . The volume under review is a compendium of articles resulting from a seminar devoted to the commemoration of the sixtieth anniversary of the Matica slovenska's reconstitution ( 1919) and its silver anniversary as the Slovak National Library ( 1954 ). The essays discuss various aspects of the Matica's present contributions in the fields of research and education. Themes analyzed include : the Matica ' s efforts in library acquisition, preservation, and dissemination; planning and organization of its activities and resources; bibliographic development over the past quarter century; activities of the Literary Archives; programs of the Literary Museum; efforts of the Biographical Office; activities of the Matica's Office of Slovaks Abroad ; and the Matica ' s publishing activities. The section prepared by Stefan Krivus, the Matica' s present director , sets the tone for the other essays . Krivus traces the Matica's history through interwar Czechoslovakia, its activities during World War II, its place in the resurrected R epublic, and its role in Socialist Slovakia. He describes each period as a step in the Matica's maturation process. Both Krivus and the other contributors make it quite clear that the Matica of 1979 is not the Matica of 1919 ; �SLOVAKIA 133 it has continually changed in response to the demands placed on it as Slovakia' s premier national cultural institution. It is a pity that this publication , which offers much valuable information on the Matica slovenska's vital role in past and contemporary Slovak cultural life , was printed in a limited edition and "only for internal use" by professional scholars, thus making it unavailable to the much wider readership which it deserves . JOHN A . BERTA Middletown, Pennsylvania I1 mondo slavo. Saggi e contributi slavistici a cura del Centro Studi Europ a Orientale di Padova . Volume VIII. Edited by Milan S. Durica. Padova: CESEO-Liviana, 1982 . 318 pp. Professor Milan S. Durica has taken the opportunity of his editorship of this volume of I1 mondo slavo to present a number of studies which help to identify Slovak ethnic consciousness in its language and history and to distinguish it clearly from assimilative Czechoslovak linguistic and political tendencies. In his own article, which offers a historical-philological profile of the Slovak language, he traces the evolution of the Slovak language in Slavic ethnogeny. The Slovak glottogenetic process of isoglosses is delineable on Slovak ethnic territory . This position is butressed by (1) Slovakocentricity - the expression of geometric distance proportional to linguistic elements and (2) the most recent studies on fundamental Slavic lexical patrimony revealing its highest in Slovak . Durica' s ' profile' establishes that the research of historical and comparative lexicology fortifies the theory of the Slovak proto-Slavic glottogenesis. His synthesis of recent· research is a valuable contribution to the thesis that Slovak is an independent Slavic language . Stefan V ragas presents historical and linguistic highlights of the development of the Slovak literary language from 1918 to 1979. A significant portion of his article centers on the linguistic politics of "Czechoslovakism ," i.e. , the linguistic and political claim of one Czechoslovak language and nation , in opposition to any contention of on e separate and individual Slovak language and nation . The author demonstrates that Slovak experts succeeded in counteracting the opposition by applying the facts of history to linguistics and courageously weathering political humiliations as did , for example, Eudovft Novak , author of K najstarsfm dejinam slovenskehojazyka. Vragas must be commended for his definition of Czechoslovakism and for his timely exposition of some generally unknown linguistic-political humiliations of Slovak scholars, especially in the 1950s a nd part of the 1960s. �134 SLOVAKIA The history of Slovak translations on Slovak ethnic territory to 1939 is the subject of the article by Agostino Visco. Brief mention is made of translations into contemporary Slavic during the Great Moravian era and some initial translations into Latin . It was not until the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that extensive translation was made from Latin into the Slovak national language, mainly by Catholics. From Greek and Latin some classics and religious works were translated: ancient poetry, meditations, the Bible . Later, translations began from West European authors, then from East European ones, until the abortive years 1848-1849, when translations declined . After 1918 and in the early twentieth century translations resumed . They steadily progressed after 1933, when the Matica slovenska established a translation group , thus institutionalizing and perfecting translations. Visco considers the Slovak R epublic era (1939-1945) as the most important period for translations . Inasmuch as translations have so much influenced both Slovak poetry and prose, they represent an important facet of Slovak literature. Mirella De Martini Tihany examines the emigration of Italian laborers from Venetia and Lombardy to Slovakia in the second half of the nineteenth century . Parish registers of Slovak localities along the main railroad line from Kosice (Slovakia) to Bohumfn (Moravia) are the principal sources of research, especially those found in the State and District Archives of Bytca. Because of mineral transports from central Slovakia, railroads were needed in Slovakia . Historically, the Kosice-Bohumfn line construction in 1870 was urgent for connecting eastern Slovakia with Berlin . In this construction , the temporary Italian immigration initially entered . For some workers it meant death from epidemic , for others it was an occasion for marriage and baptisms. In her article Tihanyi provides a brief insight into Slovak interaction with the emigrants and also a sad commentary on the plight of Italian workers neglected by their non-Slovak contractors . Finally , Lisa Guarda Nardini considers the sole syndicate in Czechoslovakia, the "ROH" - Revolutionary Trade Union Movement. It is studied as an exemplary illustration of the statute of the organization which institutionally represents all workers in a country which claims that labor is paramount and the workers govern . The author proceeds from a relatively brief introduction about members , duties, structure, and other considerations to a translation of the ROH statute with its fifty articles. The m erit of this article is the translation of the ROH statute into Italian from Slovak. Volume III of IJ mondo slavo can be recommended to the readers of Slovakia for its wealth of information on fascinating Slovak topics. JOHN M. KOCHIK Westmoreland County Community College Youngwood, Pennsylvania �SLOVAKIA 135 Josef Korbel. Twentieth-Century Czechoslovakia: The Meanings of Its History. New York: Columbia University Press , 1977 . 346 pp. A rich and varied background prepared the late Professor Josef Korbel for this twentieth-century history of a small country in Central Europe . He was closely associated with the University of Denver, where he served as Dean of the Graduate School oflnternational Studies, Director of the Social Science Foundation , and Andrew W . Mellon Professor of International Studies. He was the author of several books on Central Europe. Prior to his academic career, Korbel had been the Czechoslovak ambassador to Yugoslavia . He also had held a number of other important diplomatic posts and was a personal acquaintance of both Edvard Benes and Jan Masaryk . Twentieth -Century Czechoslovakia begins with the Hussite period. By tracing the "roots" of Czech thought from Jan Hus to the subsequent suppression by the Catholic Habsburgs, and through the era of the Enlightenment, the author demonstrates how the Czech ideal of humanity evolved. He compares concepts derived from Frantisek Palacky and Karel Havlfcek to Tomas G. Masaryk's "Czech humanism. " All three were witnesses to the Hussite influence . A quick glance at opposing interpretations of Czech history by Josef Pekar and Ferdinand Peroutka and their criticism ofT.G. Masaryk's philosophy leads Korbel to the observation that " in times of assured statehood the Czech people strove for the ideals of humanity; in times of peril, they lowered their heads to save the national body" (p. 24). Korbel expands this thought throughout the rest of the book. Beginning with July 6, 1915, the 500th anniversary of the death of Jan Hus , Tomas G. Masaryk is depicted as voicing a vision about to become a reality. As the author discusses the historical formation of Czechoslovakia, he dwells primarily on the Czech leadership. He skillfully paints portraits of national hopes , problems of administration, mistakes in judgment, and fears for the future. Throughout the twenties and thirties these events led to the final breakup of the first Czechoslovakia. By analyzing the Munich crisis and World War II as it affected this Central European victim state, Korbel clearly shows that the Czechs " lowered their heads to save the national body." As he searches for the mea ning of the postwar years in the revitalized Czechoslovak state, he refers to them as " The Sisyphean Years," the title of his last and perhaps most intriguing chapter. With T.G . M asaryk, he believes that " the nation will take up again its active role in mankind's neyer-ending struggle for freedom and social justice" (p. 320). Written in an engaging style, Korbel's story of Czechoslovakia's rise and fall will fascinate not only the student of history but also a ny reader interested �136 SLOVAKIA in learning about Central Europe during the twentieth century. Unfortunately, the author does exhibit a bias against the Slovaks. This is especially apparent in his reference to the well-loved and respected Slovak leader Father Andrej Hlinka as being "fanatic. " Furthermore, while the Czechoslovak state could not exist without the Slovaks, Korbel devotes a mere 25-30 pages to them in a book of 346 pages. His admiration for Tomas G. Masaryk is deep, his respect for Jan Masaryk is genuine, and his evaluation of Edvard Benes appears objective. Had it been possible to apply historical honesty to all aspects of Czechoslovakia's growth from its inception to its dissolution and rebirth, such an account might have added significantly to the rapidly increasing literature in that area of research. One can only conclude that this historical account was written from the so-called Czechoslovak point of view. If this is understood, the reader will enjoy Twentieth-Century Czechoslovakia but will continue to look for "The Meanings of Its History" in other books dealing far more adequately with Slovakia and the Slovaks . M. EVANGELA LUBEK, 0 .S.B. Bishop Noll Institute Hammond, Indiana Martin R . Myant. Socialism and Democracy in Czechoslovakia, 1945-1948. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981. 302 pp. The three years that preceded the Communist takeover of Czechoslovakia at the end of the Second World War have been generally understood in the West as a lull in which all the indications of what would happen in February 1948 were present. Although Martin Myant does not contradict this approach, he offers in this study, above all, an examination of the political situation in Czechoslovakia in which the Communist Party was just one of many players until mid-194 7, when a power struggle erupted leading to the Communist victory a few months later. What we have here, according to the author, is a polity which sought to achieve a socialist society by democratic means. It is an interesting thesis that reflects to a great extent the approach that Communist scholars took to this period in the 1960s and which found some sympathy among Western scholars. The book is divided into ten chapters that begin with a rapid overview of the development of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia . The next five chapters are devoted to an analysis of the political situation in the Czech lands, with one chapter on Slovakia . In three more chapters the author looks at the power struggle which culminated in the February crisis . The final chapter �SLOVAKIA 137 examines post-February Czechoslovakia, in particular those events that announced the imposition of a more radical line by the Kremlin . It is clear from Myant 's story that World War II had brought about major changes in the Czech lands. In the postwar world, Czech political life reflected a general consensus that Czech society wanted its government to implement socialist changes because the prewar order had been destroyed during the hostilities . As an organized resistance group, the Communists played a major part in setting the framework for a socialist transformation . They were by far the most cohesive and organized party. Until mid-1947 they were also willing to collaborate - and indeed did so - with the non-Communist parties in implem enting new policies . The author gives a thorough analysis not only of the platforms of all parties, but also of the political activities of the Communist Party. When the struggle for power broke out, the Communists aimed at nothing more than victory and then used whatever means they could get away with to achieve that end. But for Myant - unlike for Paul Zinner and Josef Korbel, who also wrote on this period - the interest lies in the pre-mid 1947 period where, as he writes, "for all its faults, the National Front system established in May 1945 provided a possible basis for the development of socialism in Czechoslovakia" (p. 242). Despite the author's thorough analysis, this reviewer is not convinced that the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia could have played according to democratic rules in an advanced society. Although Myant attributes the shift that occurred in mid-1947 to the international situation and Cominform directives , the fact remains that the Communist Party was willing in the last analysis to abandon democratic means in favor of one-party rule. There is no evidence that the Party offered the Kremlin any resistance . Had its commitment to democracy really existed, it could have defied Moscow since there were no Soviet troops in the country and it is doubtful that Moscow would have risked a war to impose its will . The pre-mid-1947 experience may be interesting for those who still hanker after a form of" democratic socialism"; for m e it merely shows that a Communist Party will also play the democratic game if it brings it closer to its goal of total power, but it does not show a commitment to democracy . The author's treatment of Slovakia is inadequate . He approaches it from the same point of view as the Czech lands , namely that the Slovaks were also headed for socialist transformation. To take this approach is to ignore not only the legacy of prewar Slovak politics, but also the major impact the Slovak R epublic had on the Slovaks. His accusation that Slovakia was backward is both unfair and unfortunate; it is a Czech point of view that was arti~ulated quite openly from 1945 on, especially in the Communist Party. This view was also imposed on Slovak Communists, who accepted it after their defeat in the May 1946 elections. The author does, however, point out that the Communist �138 SLOVAKIA Party was unwilling to embark on a different and distinct Slovak policy, if only not to alienate its Czech constituency. The position of Slovakia in postwar Czechoslovakia was very critical. Forced without consultation into a state where they would be a minority, Slovaks then saw most instruments of autonomous government progressively taken away from them . The non-Communist leadership was weak and faced not only Communist opposition but also Czech resistance to any status beyond minimal autonomy . Thus Slovak political life centered once again on Slovakia ' s role in Czechoslovakia, not on socialist transformation . As time went on, it was clear to most Slovaks that they mattered very little in Czechoslovak politics and were expected to be merely compliant to Prague . In this respect, Myant writes unfairly about President Tiso's execution in 1947 that "its announcement in Slovakia was met with no visible unrest" (p. 158). The truth of the matter is that the army and Czech police had been sent to Slovakia to make sure that there was no unrest. For the same reason the attempted Communist coup in Bratislava failed that autumn. The game had to be played out in Prague. This is a well-researched study that is thorough in its presentation for the Czech lands . It is highly unsatisfactory for Slovakia. For this reason, as well as the author's ideological predelictions, it is regrettably incomplete and, therefore, disappointing. STANISLAV J. KIRSCHBAUM Glendon College, York University Toronto, Canada Leon Noel. La Tchecoslovaquie d'avant Munich. Paris: Institut d'etudes slaves, 1982. 208 pp. J.F.N. Bradley. Politics in Czechoslovakia, 1945-1971. Washington, D.C .: University Press of America, 1981. 225 pp. There are few Central European states that have had as turbulent a history as Czechoslovakia. It was created by the Western Powers on the morrow of World War I, only to be abandoned two decades later to German expansionism and another ten years later to Soviet imperialism. Paradoxically, Western scholarship has yet to produce a good history on either the First Republic or on the postwar Communist period. The two volumes under review, while they seek to give us an overview of each period, are also unsatisfactory. Leon Noel was France's Minister to Czechoslovakia from 1932 to 1935. His book constitutes a sort of memoir of the three years he spent in Prague. To this account he added a few chapters that deal with the origins of the state , �SLOVAKIA 139 some of its leading personalities, the Slovaks, the Germans and the Hungarians, the Catholic Church, and the political parties . None is very good , and the chapters on the Slovaks and the political parties are particularly poor. It becomes quickly very clear that this French diplomat understood very little the country in which he represented France . The main impression that one gets is that he was interested above all in maintaining excellent diplomatic relations between Prague and Paris . This he seems to have done, given the number of positive comments about himself by Czechoslovakia's leaders that he quotes . But one does not get any idea what were the main currents in FrancoCzechoslovak relations. It is only when he evaluates the leading personalities in Prague of the common state of the Czechs and Slovaks that he is interesting. That is one of the redeeming features of his book . If this book is at all interesting , it is becau se it reflects French perceptions of Czechoslovakia in the interwar period . The state was to a great extent a French creation, and Czechoslovakia's centralist system of government was modelled on that of France. Paris supported Prague on the German and the Slovak questions with the result that neither French diplomats nor French scholars paid any attention to anyone but the Czechs and accepted everything Prague told them. Noel ' s book is therefore not different from those published in the interwar years. It is a pity that he did not learn from subsequent events about which much has been written to give us a more critical appreciation of the country where he clearly spent three interesting years of his life . The Bradley volume is more in line with contemporary scholarship. But it is a peculiar book. The author has done some thorough research in a number of areas, yet he does not succeed in giving us an adequate overall picture of Communist politics in Czechoslovakia. The greatest flaw is his lack of treatment of the Slovak question, which he does not seem to have understood at all. There are two them es to the book: government and politics. The author gives a thorough description of Czechoslovakia's Communist government structure , examining in turn its constitutions, parliaments , governments, the judiciary , and security. Hi s chapter on the central government for 1948-1968 is rather good . He analyzes well the main problems of any Communist government, namely political domination and efficient administration. As he points out: "Even the most capable administrators among these politicans would have found it impossible to run central ministries efficiently with the politicallyreliable but admi nistratively unfit officials at their disposal" (p. 123) . When it comes to analyzing Communist politics , the author devotes only two chapters, one on the Dubcek era and the other on the Husak period of normalization. Both are somewhat disappointing. The overall result is that at the end of the book the reader is still left wondering what Czechoslovak politics were all about for the period 1948-1971. �140 SLOVAKIA The major flaw of Bradley's book is its treatment of the Slovak question. Clearly the author belongs to that category of Western scholars who do not consider Czech-Slovak relations to have been, and still to be, the focal point of the survival of the common state of these two nations. It is not surprising to come across such a statement as : "The Slovaks, who had apparently been enjoying equality and autonomy since 1948, began to voice their demands for new constitutional arrangements within the Czechoslovak Republic" (p. 183), with no further explanation. The final chapter, on Husak's federalism , is also inadequate in analyzing the new relationship between the two nations, let alone explaining why this formerly centralist state had been transformed into a federation . Neither book fulfills the mission its title suggests . Nevertheless in each there are some aspects of interest which may help the specialist and the interested reader on Czechoslovakia to get a better insight into this troubled common state of the Czechs and Slovaks. STANISLAV J. KIRSCHBAUM Glendon College, York University Toronto, Canada Zdenek L. Suda. Zealots and Rebels: A History of the Ruling Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. Stanford, Calif. : Hoover Institution Press , 1980 . 412 pp . This first history of the Czechoslovak Communist Party in English, from its beginnings in November, 1917 , in Revolutionary Russia and its foundation in November , 1921, up to the late 1970s, is an impressive achievement. Professor Suda, a sociologist at the University in Pittsburgh, selected some of the best scholarly works written in the West on various topics or periods of his target and complemented them with a few basic books and articles published at different times in Czechoslovakia. Although his opus is based almost exclusively on secondary sources and, surprisingly, does not even mention authors whose work should have been consulted (e .g ., Machonin, Borkenau, Taborsky, Zinner, Horak , Jancar, Korbel, Tigrid) , it is worth reading and including in private as well as public libraries. It is a solid work and excels in its capable and systematic review of major events in the history of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. Its organization is clear, and the writer consistently pays attention to domestic developments as well as to Soviet or other Communist parties' history . In Suda' s concluding words , what matters is "the development of the Soviet core to which the CPCS, for the greater part of its existence, has only been peripheral" (p. 380). �SLOVAKIA 141 Suda's main contribution is to be found in his judicious summary of some sixty years in the life of a movement, in his sensible comments, and in his perspicuous analysis. One half of the book is devoted to the Party's history before it came to power in 1945 . There is a certain imbalance in Suda's treatment of the foundation of the CPCS (50 pages) or of its history until 1929 (70 pages) and his discussion of the crucial year of 1968 (only 20 pages) . The later story is much better known that the first two so that it does not constitute any major weakness, especially since the author keeps stressing interesting parallels between different periods of Party history . Basically, it was and is a foreign element brought into a state whose traditions , both cultural and political, have been .at variance with it . Suda devotes a substantial part of his book to developments in the Communist Party of Slovakia and to its asymmetric position in a basically centralist party and state. He rightly considers the unsolved problems of national minorities - and many Slovaks refused to think of themselves as equal partners in a "Czechoslovak" nation - to be the weak point of the whole edifice . The German problem is also systematically studied, and so are the Hungarian and Ruthenian ethnic communities. Paradoxically, even the establishment of a federal state in 1968 did not put an end to Prague centralism, although the general secretary of the Party since 1968 has been a Slovak. The lack of a detailed study of primary sources and of many crucial scholarly works , unfortunately , is responsible for some, mostly minor, mistakes in an otherwise well-printed and well-proofread work. For instance, Trotsky's secret message to disarm the Czechoslovak Corps in Russia is not mentioned; Tomas G . Masaryk is wrongly characterized as "never a socialist" (p. 12); the important role of G eneral Vlasov and his armed units in the Prague uprising in 1945 is omitted; for some reason, the Cominform and Comintern are both spelled with a ' K '; there is nothing on substantial workers' unrest in 1948 and 1949 ; Richta's leadership of a scientific Party commission is assigned to Mlynar , who was in charge of another one about whose existence the author does not seem to have known (p. 328); the Manifesto of 2000 Words was published simultaneously in four Prague papers and not just in one (p. 391) - a fact which was important for the Soviet audience since the pressure group was clearly well organized! Furthermore, the periodical Listy was not a "bimonthly" (p. 367) but rather appeared monthly. In disagreement with the author's statement on page 261, Zapotocky was criticized at Politboro meetings for his relaxation of forced collectivization of agriculture . What is more important, Suda sometimes accepts the terminology of his Communist sources and then refers, for instance , to the "progressive elite " (p. 120) when he discusses individuals who were responsible for bringing shame and enslave- �142 SLOVAKIA ment upon their own nations. Although the author believes that only a small minority of Social Democrats refused to join the CPCS in the year of forced amalgamation (p. 225), the truth is that less than one third of them joined the Communist Party! Also, his description of workers' acceptance of the Slansky trial is only partially true because, according even to Communist sources, after the initial passage of favorable resolutions, there was resolute criticism of the whole Party and state leadership, often calling for their dismissal. Finally , the 1968 meetings at Cierna nad Tisou did not take place in the Soviet train (p . 340) but - with the exception of Dubcek's visit to the "ailing" Brezhev in a railwaymen's club on Czechoslovak territory. There is a good analysis of voting patterns in 1925 but, somewhat surprisingly for a sociologist, the author does not include any analysis and statistics (which are available) of the social or class composition of the CPCS in its period of absolute power. All these and a few other errors and omissions can be easily corrected in an eventual second edition of this pioneering and generally very successful work . PETER R. HRUBY Western Australian Institute of Technology Perth , Australia Frantisek Bielik a kolektfv. Slovaci vo svete. Volume II. Martin : Matica slovenska, 1980. 320 pp . This second volume of Slovaci vo svete is a general survey of pre-World War II Slovak immigration to countries throughout the world. It is a collaborative effort. However, except for the separate sections on Slovak immigrant culture and involvement in labor activities in the United States and the Slovak immigration to Canada and France , Frantisek Bielik is the principal author of the book. Bielik first discusses the general causes of Slovak emigration and its impact on Hungary and later Czechoslovakia. The work is then divided into geographical categories by country. Within each geographical division, the authors adopt a standard, almost monotonous , procedure of chronicling the formation and sporadic activities of various Slovak organizations . They provide brief descriptions of Slovak fraternal societies , schools, newspapers, labor organizations, and cultural associations . In addition, they discuss the political and labor activities of some Slovak immigrants in the different countries. Slovaci vo svete is a useful addition to the literature on Slovak immigration, because it contains tables and statistics as well as literary material that have not been readily available in a single source. The inclusion of sources would have improved the usefulness of the tables. The work is also important �SLOVAKIA 143 because it offers some different perspectives on the Slovak immigration experience . For example, Bielik properly stresses that the United States was the major but not the sole destination of Slovak emigrants . To emphasize this point, the book includes brief sketches of Slovak immigration to New Zealand, Asia, and Africa - countries not commonly associated with the Slovak emigration movement. Also, by discussing Slovak involvement in labor unions and Socialist organizations, the authors offer a different profile of Slovak immigrant laborers than that depicted in earlier literature. Ivan Poljak and Eva Fordinalova, who contributed the segment on Slovak union and work-related activities in the United States, would agree with Victor Greene that Slovak workers were not simply meek laborers whose docility prevented them from becoming actively involved in labor unions and strife. Moreover, their religiosity did not prevent all Slovaks in the United States and elsewhere from flirting with Socialist or Communist ideas and joining Socialist or Communist parties. Despite such points, Slovaci vo svete is marred by serious weaknesses. As a synthesis , the book is far too general and institutionally oriented. Even the lengthier discussion of Slovak immigrants in the United States is primarily a chronicle narrative of various immigrant organizations and newspapers. The treatment of Slovak immigration to other countries serves little more than as a reminder that the United States was not the sole destination of this immigrant group. No attempt is made to offer a comparative analysis of Slovak adjustment to various countries. Rather, Bielik and the other contributors seem content to resort to perfunctory , isolated discussions of Slovaks and their organizations in the several countries. While they are to be commended for the attempt to describe the work life of Slovak laborers, the discussions of this topic suffer from overgeneralizations, oversimplifications, and factual and interpretive errors. The· authors try desperately to show that Slovaks almost naturally harbor Socialist sympathies . They use the participation by Slovaks in labor unions or strikes as examples of these natural sympathies. Typically the authors do not provide sufficient or convincing evidence for their generalizations. For example, they make no attempt even to estimate the number of Slovaks actually involved in the various " Socialist " and labor activities they describe . Unfortunately, Slovaci vo svete is further harmed because the authors overlook some obviously important aspects of Slovak immigrant life in the United States and perhaps in other countries as well. Despite the claim that the book is offering a description of immigrant life , much of the material actually focuses on the activities of prominent Slovaks, not ordinary immigrants . Slovak churches and their role in American Slovak communities are ignored. Overall, Slovaci vo svete is too brief to treat adequately the complex aspects of Slovak immigration to the United States and to other countries. Still, this work does raise questions that merit closer analysis b y students of Slovak �144 SLOVAKIA immigration and of labor and political history. The contributors also do provide a general, institutional history of Slovak immigration throughout the world. This volume does not rank as the definitive study of Slovak immigration, but it is a synthesis that scholars in Czechoslovakia and in those countries where Slovak immigrants have gone will find useful. JUNE GRANATIR ALEXANDER The Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio Elena Jakesova . Vyst'ahovalectvo Slovakov do Kanady. Bratislava : Veda, vydavatel'stvo Slovenskej akademie vied, 1981. 160 pp . In recent years there has been a great renewed interest in ethnic and immigration history on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. To the growing list of scholarly studies in this field can be added Elenajakesova's present monograph . Jakesova presents a concise, statistical account of Slovak immigration to Canada from the 1870s to 1938. The book is divided into two sections, one covering the years from the 18 70s to 1914, and the second from 1922 to 1938 . She gives the reasons for Slovak immigration from Hungary, and later from Czechoslovakia, and also an excellent outline of the individual Slovak settlements in Canada. Other chapters or sections are devoted to the development of the Slovak press in Canada and to the rise of Slovak fraternal societies. Separate sections describe Slovak mining settlements in Western Canada, agricultural communities in Central Canada, and urban settlements in Eastern Canada in later years . This is a well-organized and well-written book . The research and documentation are most impressive . The author made use of archival material from Slovak district archives in Slovakia, from the Haus-Hof-und Staatsarchiv in Vienna, and from the Magyar Orszagos Leveltar in Budapest. Most of the periodical literature and monographic studies dealing with Canadian Slovaks were also used. In short, few stones were left unturned . The volume is also enriched by graphs and charts which help clarify the history of Slovak immigration to Canada. Even the illustrations were well selected and add interest to the subject. , Two serious shortcomings of the book arejakesova's treatment of Canadian Slovak societies and churches. Among societies the importance of the Slovak workers' movement was overemphasized . Her account of it was informative and interesting, but the movement itself was of decidedly minor significance. The Canadian Slovak League and Canadian-Slovak Support Society were and remain the largest Canadian-Slovak organizations . More should �SLOVAKIA 145 have been said about these groups and the great work and sacrifices of such individuals as Andrej Kucera and Andrej Potocky, founders of the Canadian Slovak League . In general, more attention should have been devoted to the experiences of Canadian Slovaks - their joys and sufferings - and to the history of their churches, which were not covered at all. Aside from these drawbacks , the work has many merits and can be recomm ended to anyone seeking a general survey of Slovak immigration to Canada. X. SUTHERLAND Stoney Point, New York ANTHONY Engelbert Zobl and Hertha A. Zobl. Holzbaukunst in der Slowakei. Vienna : Fachjournalverlagsgesellschaft, 1978. 92 pp. This unpretentious little paperback volume bears witness to what seems to be a growing interest among enthusiasts in western Europe to " uncover " the art of traditional wooden architecture in the Carpathian region of Slovakia. H ence, since the appearance of the book under review , two more ambitious volumes have appeared: Wooden Churches in th e Carpathians: The Photographic Legacy of Florian Zapletal (Vienna, 1982) by Paul R. Magoci and the monumental Wooden Churches of Eastern Europe (Cambridge , 1981) by David Buxton , both of which contain numerous photograp hs of structures in northeastern Slovakia. In contrast to these two subsequent works , the book by Engelbert and Hertha Zobl seems more of an architectural travel reportage put together as a guide for Austrian and West German tourists who still flock each summer to Czechoslovakia in search of the ostensibly more exotic cultural stimuli of the "east." This is not to suggest that such popular books are without value or that the Zobls have not done a competent job . In fact, as is evident from the albeit self-indulgent autobiographical data (complete with photographs of the whole family), the husband and wife Zobl team have degrees, respectively , in architecture and the a pplied arts. And as the lavishly-illustrated book reveals , they both have a keen sensitivity for the aesthetic as well as technical aspects of their subject. The book is basically divided into five chapters : belfries, wooden churches, wooden crosses, secular wooden architecture, and architectural ornamentation. The appendices include a list of all belfries and churches with their date of construct ion (in most , but not all instances); a map showing the travel route fo llowed by the authors in 1976 with each place indicated that appears in the book ; an index of placenames; and a brief bibliography . The latter indicates a few basi c German, Czech, and Slovak works, but omi ts two recent �146 SLOVAKIA Ukraini an-langu age studies from C zechoslovakia th at deal with the subj ect: an encyclopedia of wooden churches (past and present) in northeastern Slovakia by B. K ovafo vyfova-Puskarova and I. Pu skar , D erev 'jani cerk vy schidnoho obrjadu na Slo vaccyni (Bratislava and Presov, 1971) and a survey of secular architecture in the same region by M . Sopolyha , Narodn a architektura ukrajinciv Schidnoji Slovaccyn y (Svidnfk, 1976) . Each chapter in the book by the Zobls is preceded by a very brief introduction , and each of the 110 photograph s carries a caption. There are also 41 line drawings of structures and ground plans. By far , the largest portion of the book - a to tal of 72 illu strations - d epicts structures from villages inhabited by C a rpatho-Ru syns in the very northea stern part of Slovakia. Thi s is not surprising, since that area had economicall y always been the m ost underdeveloped and , therefore, traditional life-style and architecture have been preserved there the longest. Also , the authors seem ed to have become enchanted by the clusters of wood en churches north of Svidnfk and northea st of Snina, whose almost perfect form a nd balance m ake them stand out aesthetically, in particular when juxta posed to wooden architecture throughout all of eastern Europe, as is evident from the compara tive survey b y David Buxton mentioned above. The photographs are, in fact , the highlight of the Zobl ' s book . They were all ta ken in 1976, were well executed and often provide different views of a given structure, and have been reproduced clearly in the printing process. With the exception of a few iconostases in side Byzantine-rite churches, the photographs are almost all exterior shots. Pa rti cul arl y striking are 39 photograph s in color , am ong the best of which a re the wooden church in Mi rol'a, the cem etary crosses in D etva, and the decoration on hou ses in Zdi ar . All in all , W ooden Architecture in Slovakia is an excellent introd uction to the beauties of trad itional cultu re that still can be found in Slovaki a tod ay. As a serious guide for tourists, it would be pa rticula rl y useful if a n E ngli sh ed ition could be p repa red fo r the increasin g numbers of Am ericans of Slovak a nd Carpatho-Ru syn descent who visit the ancestral hom eland . P AUL R . M AGOCSI Uni versity of T oronto T oronto, Ca nada A tlas CSSR . Brat islava: Slove nska kartografi a, 1980 . This school atlas is obviously intended for student s at about the hi gh school level. It has no accompan yin g text or explana tory m a terial and is even devoid of a n introdu ction. Con sequentl y, the u ser is give n no idea regardin g the in tended audience or the goal s of thi s volume of m aps. �SLOVAKIA 147 There are 42 pages of maps; there are more actual maps, howeve r , because numerous inset (larger scale) maps are displayed on various themes. The first quarter of the atlas is d evoted to physical/environmental subjects temperature, precipitation , geological structure , soils, forests , etc. The remainder of the volume contains social, cultural, and especially economic maps . The physical maps are of standard type, although the last of this group is an interesting map of conservation sites, such as parks and botanical stations. The demographic maps (pages 12 to 15) are interesting because included are maps on density , fertility , mortality , national population growth rates , labor force, and the nationalities. Most of the m aps suffer as a result of the inappropriate scale employed and poor use of color. The nationalities sheet is particularly poor because the combination of colors and patterns to locate and quantify minority groups is a total failure. The economic maps (pages 16-27) again are standard and include maps of minerals , manufacturing, agriculture , crops , transport and more for the entire country. Detailed political/ physical maps of the Czech and Slovak R epublics are then followed by similar economic maps for the two areas. The atlas is rounded out with a set of maps of "regional types" at the micro-scale. There are six of these, including types such as the High Tatra a rea and a section of industrial Ostrava. There are also 10 exam ples of "settlement types," including Nitra and a Czech resort town. The final three maps are interesting cultural maps, including one of higher and middle schools, medical institutions, and historical/cultural monuments. Unfortunately , these maps are of very limited use because they are drawn at a scale ( 1 :4,000,000) which obliterates any detail. In general, the Atlas CSSR is an adequate school level tool. It would have been much better and useful, however , if sharper color had been used and if more reasonable scales had been chosen for many of the maps. The bulkiness (23 cm. x 55 cm .) and the inferior quality of the binding also detract from the Atlas ' value. In sum , a poten tiall y lively collection of maps has bee n rendered into a disappointing volume of no particular distinction. GEORGE J. D EMKO U.S. Department of State W ashington , D .C. Peter Balaz, Miloslav Darovec, and H eather Trebaticka. Slovak for Slavicists . Brat islava: Slovenske pedagogicke nakladatel'stvo, 1976. 302 pp. Students who have some background in another Slavic langu age, as well as those who possess a rudimentary knowledge of Slovak , will find this text- �148 SLOVAKIA book useful. It was written for the intermediate classes at the Studia Academica Slovaca (Summer Seminar of Slovak Language and Culture in Bratislava), and was also intended for use as a textbook in university-level courses abroad . The authors point out in the preface that it is not a handbook for those studying Slovak without a teacher ; however , it can be used in this way if the student's goal is to gain only a reading knowledge of Slovak, and particularly if Slovak is not his/ her first Slavic language. The book contains 27 lessons in addition to the Slovak-English/English-Slovak glossaries . The bilingual d esignation of the section headings in the table of contents and in the lessons themselves is a very desirable feature of the book . It serves the immediate pedagogical purpose of teaching these items in Slovak as well as enabling the student who wishes to augment the explanations in the textbook with those from Slovak sources to find easily the desired items in the Slovak books . Lesson 1 is devoted to a brief discussion of the alphabet and pronunciation . The Slovak letters ii, c, dz, s, z, t', d', 1' are characterized as palatalized consonants (p. 17) , which might well confuse those students who have studied Ru ssian . They would be better described in English as palatals. Furthermore, since regressive voice assimilatio n before nasals and liquids characterizes Slovak sandhi rules in contrast to some of the other Slavic languages, it would be well to include that information in the section on pronunciation . The remaining lessons have the following general format : introductory text , questions , vocabulary, grammatical section , exercises , grammatical section, exercises, translation exercise, and pronunciation exercise. The exercises a re well constructed and provide immediate reinforcement of the concepts just introduced . The notes and notice markers which call attention to exceptions or to features which differ significantly in English are also very effective . R eview exercises, spaced at appropriate intervals throughout the book which would combine the information presented in the various grammatical sections up to that point , would enhance the efficacy of the textbook (e.g., inclusion of a review exercise following Lesson 6 after most declensional paradigms have been introduced) . The introductory texts conta in a vocabulary which is very useful for those students who will be in Bratislava . Howeve r, to those who have never been there , as well as to the newly arrived , certain words such as miestenka are mystifying and a note of explanation would be helpful. Lesson 8 has an informal letter to a friend as the introductory text. The forms of ty are correctly capitalized. H owever , there is no note of explanation on how vy (polite singular/plural) should be written. Since this is one of the areas in which the Slavic languages differ , it would be well to include a note on T /V capitalization in letters. It might be more useful to include a thank- yo u note or a formal letter for exam- �SLOVAKIA 149 pie, to a professor requesting a consultation, because these are the kinds of letters that a more advanced student is likely to be writing . In general the texts are of a very practical nature and provide the student with an adequate vocabulary for functioning in Slovak society. They could be made more effective by deleting some, such as Lesson 4, or editing them, so that they would be more appropriate for and interesting to university students. While it is possible to draw up a list of additions that one would wish to insert into the book, that in no way detracts from its value. It is certainly the best textbook available today for teaching Slovak to English-speaking students at the university level, and we can only hope that it will be expanded and enlarged in future editions. LOUISE B. HAMMER Bloomington , Indiana JozefMistrfk . Basic Slovak . Bratislava : Slovenske pedagogicke nakladatel'stvo, 1981. 160 pp . This textbook is designed for English-speaking students who want to learn the fundamental grammatical phenomena and 800 of the most frequently occurring vocabularly items in Slovak without wading through the complexities that most traditional grammars present. Its focus is on learning to speak Slovak (American speakers of English should be forewarned that the pronunciation equivalents between English and Slovak given in Lesson 1 are based on British English), not on gaining a passive reading knowledge of the language, and it is not designed to be used without a teacher . Therefore, rules are given but exceptions to the rules are introduced into the discussion only when they occur frequently . This approach is based on the theory that second language acquisition, like first language acquisition, requires a knowledge of the productive grammatical rules of a language, i.e. , those patterns that a learner encounters over and over again in everyday usage. Since this textbook is designed for the one-month Studia Academica Slovaca summer school course as an introductory textbook, it alone would not suffice for a traditional American two-year college program; however, even in a more extended course, the texts which begin each chapter , as well as the exercises at the ends of the lessons, could serve as useful supplementary material . The book contains fifteen lessons , paradigm tables, Slovak-English and English-Slovak vocabularies, and a dictionary of linguistic terms . Beginning with the second, each lesson consists of four parts : text, vocabulary, grammar, and exercises. The texts are interest ing from the sociolinguistic point of view because they frequently have as their themes social events which a re common �150 SLOVAKIA in contemporary Slovak life, such as presenting flowers to someone arriving at the station, waiting in line to buy things, the extended family living together, friends sharing their experiences over a glass of wine . These texts serve to familiarize American students with Slovak culture and appropriate language usage in that culture. Each text introduces the vocabulary items which are listed just after it. This section is followed by grammatical explanations which are simple and concise, and are easily understood by learners with a minimal background in traditional grammar . The exercises require the student to create new forms based on the rules and data presented in the preceding sections . In addition to fillin g in blanks , the students are required to form sentences. Since a bilingual text is given in all of the lessons after the fifth , the student is able to check his/her progress in sentence construction . Features of Slovak which are absent in English and are, therefore , troublesome for English-speaking students are re-introduced in the texts or exercises of subsequent lessons; for example, the prefixed forms of ist' are introduced in Lesson 10 and are exemplified in the exercises in Lesson 12 . The last item in the exercises is a list of words to be read aloud for pronunciation purposes. These words do not appear in the glossary at the end of the book. The glossary does possess an attr~ctive feature: It indicates after every word the number of the lesson in which the word was introdu ced . As is usual in a first printing , some errors are to be found in the book (e.g., a few of the r ' s in th e glossary have been deleted , and some of the s's have been transposed into the s section). There are also minor errors in the English text : " present " in stead of " represent" (p. 11) ; "shorting" instead of " shortening" (p . 66) ; "The both forms are possible" (p . 74 ). one of these lead s to misunderstanding ; however, occasionally, as in " byvam dlho h are" (p . 3 1) ( = " not to sleep"), the E nglish m eaning is not immedia tely clear. On the whole , P rofessor Mi strfk 's book successfully fulfills the goals which he set in writing it , and any teacher or student of Slovak will find it a u seful addition to his/her library. L OU ISE B . HAMM ER Blooming ton , Indian a Abel Kral'. Slovenska vyslovn ost'. Banska Bys trica: U cebne pomocky, 1979. 8 stereo phonograph records with accom pan ying text , 173 pp. These high-quality recordings were produced by Abel Kral' , the head of the Phonetics D epartment a t Com enius University, and national artist V . Zaborsky , for u se in seconda ry schools and la ngu age institutes in Slovakia in �SLOVAKIA 151 order to teach students the neutral pronunciation style of standard literary Slovak . In the introduction Kral' explains the theoretical assumptions on which the presentation is based and suggests various ways in which the records can be used effectively. The recordings contain sections on the vowels, diphthongs, consonants, and consonant clusters . In addition there are excellent exercises on gemminated consonants, rhythmic shortening, and particularly on voicing assimilation in the various environments. The last record has a well-exemplifed discussion of sentence intonation. Each section begins with an introduction in which the terminology is defined, the particular sound or sounds under consideration are d escribed, and incorrect pronunciation is sometimes identified. Then the correct pronunciation is given. It is repeated twice with pauses between the utterances so that the student is able to practice the pronunciation and compare it to the record. These sections would be valuable for beginning students, while the more advanced students would additionally gain from hearing the spoken Slovak of the explanations as well as from their content. These recordings would be a very useful teaching aid for non-native speakers who teach Slovak or for Slovaks who speak a dialect and would like to acquire the standard pronunciation . Every student of Slovak who wishes to acquire a good speaking command of the language will benefit from the use of these recordings. They are in fact a very solid course in Slovak phonetics, and selections from the recordings would be ideal material for the pronunciation section of a typical language course. LOUISE B. HAMMER Bloomington , Indiana Vojtech Mihalik . Erotikon. Subor l'ubostn ej lyriky. Bratislava : Slovensky spisovatel' , 1981. Vojtech Mihalik is the grand old m an of Czechoslovak letters , and specifically of Slovak poetry, if this title could apply to a m a n who is only 55 years old. He is undoubtedly the most outstanding poet of the generation which came to the fore after the Second World War. Born in 1926 , Michalik for many years worked as the editor-in-chief of the main publishing house in Bra tislava . A former long-time president of the Association of Slovak Writers, he is at presen t the director of the publi shing house Slovensky spisovatel'. His first selection of poems appeared shortly after the war. H e has published 13 more volumes of poetry as well as numerous essays a nd translations. In 1978 he received the title of Nat ion al Artist, one of the highest literary honors in Czechoslovakia. �152 SLOVAKIA This, his latest volume, contains a selection of poems written at various periods of the author's life. As far as the erotic content of the book is concerned, it is much smaller than could be expected by Western standards . Mihalik is prima rily a romantic poet , a poet of love and emotion . H e puts less stress on the physical aspects of passion than would most of his W estern colleagues . In this he remains firmly rooted in the native Slovak tradition, where the appeal is to the feeling and sentiment , and where the exploitation of sexual aspects is subdued by a sense of decorum. Thus Mihalik ' s main effort in his love is to capture the fl eeting moments of love: the minute of mutual silence, a tree rising against the sun as the lovers embrace , the sorrows and the ecstasies of deep emotion. Mihalik is ve ry conscious of nature . Like most Slovak poets, he lives spiritually in the countryside , with its peasant cottages, lush gardens, orchards full of ripe fruit, meadows suffused by the rays of sun . His erotic imagery refers almost exclu sively to nature. A lonely lover is compared to earth which gave away its beautiful perfume to strolling winds. Lovemaking is perceived by the author in term s of entering a rose garden , searching for a star in the silent sky, or walking unharmed in the midst of a swarm of bees . The metaphors are so intricately ornate that they would be reminiscent of oriental poetry, were it not for the absence of explicitness so characteristic of Arabic and Persian verse. Each poem is a parable of nature sustained to the very end , where in the last lines it unravels into a love poem . If it were not for the last couple of lines, an inexperienced reader might take the poems at their face value of m elancholy or ecstatic descriptions of landscape . Each poem is thus a higly complex and elegantly written puzzle, the m eaning of which has to be d eciphered on two levels , the natural and the erotic. Mihalik 's poems are usually short. His favorite form is the sonnet, whose stylish elegance suits perfectly his method of expression . Some of the poem s are cast in the form of a dialogue, which is a mode deeply rooted in Slovak folk poetry. Mihalik m ay be a romantic lover accordin g to the Slovak tradition , but he is by no means a patient one. If hi s passion does not m eet with a quick response , he rebels. H e sees love as a confusing passion because there is so little understanding between man and woman. Woman is always an outsider in hi s poems. She may be courted, coveted , responsive, submi ssive, or cold , but she always remain s incomprehen sible. Mihalik 's attitude toward women is quite traditional . They are the ones who suffer, who bear the burden of broken relationships, and who carry the whole burden of parental responsibility. Mih alik admires women , feels sorry for them, but he seems to accept their lot as a na tural thing. A s he gets older, Mihalik finds it increasingly difficult to accept the new �SLOVAKIA 153 world around him . It is a world where the traditional values become rejected, where children of living parents become orphans because of desertion , where wives are leaving incompatible husbands , where families becom e broken for no apparent reason. The poet sees the world around him as full of suffering and unhappiness which he can only record, without being able to alleviate them . H e becomes a witness for a new generation that is growing up unloved and unlovable . His poems lose their spontaneous enchantment with life, as life becomes increasingly complex and difficult and as the poet finds he cannot turn to love to provide him with a sense of the m eaning of existence. The only an swer that seem s to emerge from Mihalik 's later poems is the implicit message to endure , to go on, and to do one's best. And in this message, as in so many aspects of hi s poetry, Mihalik shows himself again as the true son of his peopl e, the patient, enduring, and long-suffering people of Slovakia. YVONNE GRABOWSKI York University Downsview, Canada Vincent Sikula. Liesky. Bratislava: Smena, 1980. The novelette Liesky is in many respects firml y embedded in the Slovak literary tradition. Like so many books produced in Slovakia in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it describes the trials and tribulations of a country boy on his way toward education and recognition. The chief character is a student at the conservatory who hopes to become a forest horn player and who persists in hi s path in spite of loneliness and abject poverty. The form of the novelette is also an old favorite, a first person narrative. The genre itself has been successfully transplanted from the Russian literature of the Golden Age and has fl ourished in Czechoslovakia since there was a favorable ground for its reception in Czech and Slovak folklore . What saves the story from becoming a typical hardship case narration , so characteristic of Slovak literature, is Sikula's humorous approach. The humor is intensified by the aut hor's use of the skaz technique. The predicam ents of the hero m ay be pathetic, but they are at the same time highly amusing. When the hero describes his family, we learn that his parents had so many children that the y hardly noticed if several of them were missing. The young man 's landlady can carry a conversation only with her cat - she is stone deaf. The hero has to practice music by drumming on the table because he cannot afford an instrument. When he finally gets the opportunity to practice on a real piano, he ruefully notes that it does not sou nd to him as good as the table. The narration thus proceeds at a lively pace, in a jolly animated style, �154 SLOVAKIA full of slan g, colloquiali sm s, and peasant speech m annerism s. It m akes fo r ea sy and pleasant readin g. Yet Sikula is mu ch m ore th an a skillful na rrator . Hi s m astery of style is evident as the story gradually reveals the narrator 's character , his a rtistic strivings , and his sexu al awakening. Sikula possesses a superb sense of n ature. M an is never alone in hi s book. All his ac tion s and feelings ta ke place in a na tural setting of which he is a n integral part. N a ture blends with the action , and the cha n ge of seasons accompanies ch a n ges of life . Thus the story starts with a beautiful description of winter and ends with an equally beautiful episode of picking fresh twigs from bu sh es. The story is deliberatel y left unfinished since Sikula aim s a t portrayin g but one stage in th e hero 's life . W e will never learn what is goin g to ha ppen in the future to the human twig picked from the bu sh of country life, a nd we are not m eant to know. Sikula presen ts u s with a vignette of life in the m a kin g. W e a re expected to enj oy the beaut y and the immediacy of the vignette portrayed b y an exquisite painter and not to look beyond it. Sikula has both the talen t of a pa inter a nd a poe t. Althou gh the story is written in p rose, it read s like a poem , di splayin g the author 's rem arka ble powe r ove r la nguage. Its m easured cad en ces a nd sen se of rhythm give the reader a unique poetic experience. It is the beaut y of style which gives to Liesk y its most definite imprin t. YVONNE G R ABOWS KI Y ork Uni versity D own sview, C anada �SLOVAKIA 155 BOOK NOTE Charles Wojatsek . From Trianon to the First Vienna Arbitral Award: The Hungarian Minority in th e First Czechoslovak Republic, 1918-1938. Montreal: Institute of Comparative Civilizations, 1981. 229 pp . Time and time again Mr. Wojatsek attempted to publish his manuscript through academic and commercial presses , only to have it repea tedly rejected because of its poor quality . Finally, when nothing else could be done, he published the book him self, under the spu rious auspices of the " In stitute of Comparative Civilizations, Montreal." This book is not worth serious consideration. It was written with the patriotic fervor of a true believer, and its reading makes for cruel and unusual punishment, deserved only by other nationalists of Wojatsek's type. This reviewer wishes to warn the unsu specting public: Beware 1 You may jeopardize your time, your money, and your nerves! Y ESHA Y AHU JELINEK Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Beer-Sheba, Israel �� SLOVAKIA 119 Book Reviews Robin Okey. Eastern Europe 1740-1980: feudalism to Communism. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1982 . 264 pp . Attempting to write a general survey of Eastern European history is no m ean task . Indeed, a comprehensive overview within the confines of a book numbering less than three hundred pages is altogether impossible. Robin Okey offers an alternative to this dilemma in the form of an interpretive stud y . The author indicates that his purpose is to " present a perspecti ve rather than tell a story. " Focusing on the twin themes of modernization and na tionalism , he traces the evolution of the Central and Eastern European lands through two ce nturies of economic , political, and social change . It is his thesis that Eastern European nationalism arose as a response to the area ' s comparative backwardness in relation to the W est. In approaching thi s theme, Okey notes that feudalism came relatively late to this general area , and suggests that - at least until the sixteenth century - Eastern Europe enjoyed the potential of parallel development with W estern Europe. H e states, however , that dom estic fe udal forces were strong enough to reverse thi s trend . External forces - the Turkish invasion of the Balka ns a nd Hun gary a nd the H a bsburg conquest of rebelliou s Bohemia - are also cited as instrument al facto rs. Ei ghtee nth -century Eastern Europe is ch a racterized as havin g regimes which were ineffi cient even by feudal standards . The peasantry bore the brunt of resulta nt defi ciencies, but thriving popul ar cultures provided an impetu s for future revival. Okey states catego rically that the penetrati on of the Enli ghtenm ent represe nt s the first stages of ra pprochem ent with the W est. In a number of in sta nces th e process was characteri zed by reform from a bove, althou gh the role of th e cl ergy is also cited . In the latter case, the auth or specificall y mention s th e P ole K on a rski and th e Serb Obrad ovic; it is wo rth notin g th a t Bern ola k's contribution to th e Slovak rev ival is omitted . T he Eastern Eu ro pean Enli gh te nment faced the dil emm a th at the socia l premi ses of an al ternative order we re incomplete. Con sequentl y, conservatives were more ext reme and reformers more revolutionary tha n their cou n terpa rt s in the West. �120 SLOVAKIA Liberalism in Eastern Europe differed from the West insofar as members of the nobility were heavily involved in a process which put them in opposition to their own social strata. Okey characterizes Eastern European liberalism as "an elusive, complex creed"; it shared the heavy emotionalism of ideas from other lands , but was only partially emancipated from native traditions. He objects to the Marxist view of nationalism as a creed devised by ambitious bourgeois elements; instead, he cites the role of professional scholars as the vanguard of the national movements . The 1848 revolutionary experience led to a clash between liberalism and nationalism; the former was instrumental in abolishing the last vestiges of serfdom, but also failed to satisfy the national aspirations of subject peoples . The balance of the nineteenth century is treated as a period of ideological fragmentation. The advance of industrial capitalism caused a reaction against liberalism on the part of the Right as well as the Left , and the continued rise of mass nationalism splintered existing political parties along ethnic lines. In assessing the downfall of the old order during World War I , Okey concedes that not all tendencies could be related to the national question. But h e hastens to add that "only nationalism had a magnetism strong enough to draw the dislocated elements into an alternative political order the pattern of nation-states . '' Promoters of the new nation-states viewed their emergence as the culmination of humanist principles. Okey disagrees, and cites three general causes for the failure of Western-style liberalism in the interwar period . Most obviously, one of them is the continuity of ethnic conflict within the new states. Second, the Eastern European nations remained economically de pendent on foreign capital. Finally, both the leaders of the new states and their opponents repudiated democracy in their approach to the outstanding problems of the times. Okey views interwar nationalism as "short-sighted rather than fundamentall y misguided"; the outsider Hitler bore the greatest responsibility for the demise of these states. The author implies that national Communism was most successful in those countries where the Party remained in effective control of public life, and failed in Czechoslovakia because the regime capitulated ideologicall y to non-Party gro ups. Finally, Okey states that the rise of a mass int elli ge nt sia and the emerge nce of common social problem s with the West is indicative of a greater degree of syncopat ion. For the student of Slovak hi story, this book might prove disappointing. Indeed, a genuine weakness may be found in the fact that Okey cites so few examples of the Slovak experien ce which provide important contrasts with certain patterns. Okey ' s contention that Eastern European soc iety had already become "brutali zed" during World War II , and that the Communists were tailor-made representatives of the new age , borders on conjecture. Although the position of the J ews in Slovakia was precarious during the war , they were �SLOVAKIA 121 nevertheless afforded a certain "breathing space" denied to their kin smen in Poland, and the average citizen of the Slovak R epublic was by no m ean s terrorized. It was only during the 1944 risin g - in which Communists played a major role - that "brutalization" on a broad scale was affected . Okey's treatment of the " Prague Spring" also provides a case of omission: He correctly cites the straightj acket command economy model as a major facto r in Novotny's demise, but mentions the Slovak opposition only as merely inciden tal. But insofar as Slovakia may be viewed as an integral part of an Eastern European whole, this book has definite merit. It provides the reader with a concise, refreshing overview of the past two centuries, and the author skillfully employs anecdotal examples to compare and contrast specific national experiences. Okey's book is helpful to the student already well-grounded in general Eastern European history; it can also be useful to the instructor who wishes to co nvey a certain sense of ideological conflict inherent in the region . R. VLADIMIR BAUMGARTEN Easley, South Carolin a East Central Europe: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow. Edited by Milorad M. Drachkovitch. Stanford, Calif.: H oover Institution Press, 1982 . 41 7 pp . Thirteen of the seventeen papers contained in this volume were presented at a conferen ce organized by the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in January , 1980 . Due to the events in Poland in August , 1980 , publication of the symposium's proceedings was delayed so that individual authors could revise their contributions. According to the editor, Milorad M. Drachkovitch, readers of the book "will not find in it a ny pred ictions " and "will be offered facts and explan ations of recent events" (p. xi). This is true of most but not all of the essays. The latte r are largely analyt ical and of uneven quality. Among th e excellent contributions are Drachkovitch 's survey of the postwar political and economic developm ents in Yu goslavia, Leszek Kolakowski's " Ideology in Eastern Europe ," and the essays by J ohn Erickson, Hugh Seton-Watson, Peter J. Wiles, and Richard F. Staar. Also superb is the overview of developments in East Central Europe , " Present Situation and Principal Trends ," by Robert F. Byrnes. H e points out that '' the opinions of even our most expe rienced an alysts often reflect shallow hi stori cal knowledge , flight y analysis, and the ass umpti on that peoples of this area are far less in terested in independence and self-government than a re West �122 SLOVAKIA Europeans and Americans '' (p. 20). The flip-flops of George K ennan are cited as an example. Byrnes is a very perceptive observer who notices the connection between the election of Pope John Paul II , his visit to P oland in 1979, and the subsequent d evelopments in that country. In contrast , the essay on Poland by Jan T omasz Gross, " What Is Yet To Come," appears to be a rather superficial d escription of events leading up to the establishment of Solidarity in 1980 , claiming that " the impossible was inevitable " (p. 32 1). In the last section of the essay Gross sketches two different scenarios: first , Soviet military intervention ; second, the devolution of the Soviet imperium for which the price would be " m ost likely " the " ne utralization of Germany through unification and detachment from the Atlantic Alliance " (p. 325). As it happened , the imposition of martial law in D ecember 1981 proved his (and man y other observers') projections incorrect. On Alexander Dubcek 's behavior in 1968 Hugh Seton-Watson comments by asking a rhetorical question : How could the United States "defend people who would not defend themselves?" (p . 178). In contrast to it , Zdenek L. Suda, while concentrating mostly on the events in 1968 , is very a pologetic. H e writes: " The peaceful counterrevolution in the ve ry core of the Czechoslovak system must have caused more pani c in Moscow than the armed insurgency of Hungarian workers and soldiers in O ctober 1956 " (p. 258). Suda's cl aim is an undocumented assumption without an y foundation, and so is his interpretation of the events in Czechoslovkia when he writes that " the whole reform movement of 1968 could be defined simply as the application of rules and laws that long had been dead letters, but nt>:vertheless existed. It was precisely this greater respect for legality and constitutionality that sounded an alarm in the Soviet power center and triggered the intervention" (p. 256). Accordin g to Suda, "the Czechoslovak case differs from the Polish case because the Polish reform experim ent initiated in 1956 fa iled without direct Soviet intervent ion " (p. 252). Suda does not differentiate between intervention and in vasion . Soviet military presence in Poland ever since the end of World War II has constituted inter vention and h as m ade in vasion unnecessary. In fact, an invasion would have been cou nterproductive from the Soviet point of view. In contrast to it , by in vading Czechoslovakia in 1968 the Soviets h ave attained their military and strategic objecti ves. The "temporary" stationing of Soviet troops in Czechoslovakia has become " permanent. " The even ts in Poland in the earl y 1980s corroborate the view th at the Soviets had military a nd strategic reasons for the 1968 in vasion and that the in ternal de velopments , which certainly did not amount to a "counterrevoluti on" as Sud a and the Sov iets claim, were merely a pretext for the action whose a im was to extract a "consent " from the Czech and Slovak Communist leaders to the stati oning of Soviet troops in Czechoslovakia. L abeling people as " neo -Stalinists " a nd "dogmati cs," as �SLOVAKIA 123 Suda does, is meaningless. His lack of knowledge of history is reflected in the essay. For example, he writes that " the division of the world between the two superpowers into spheres of interest - made the eventual integration of Czechoslovakia into the system controlled by the Soviets virtually inevitable'' (p. 244). However , nothing was " inevitable" about the arrangements that Edvard Benes made in Moscow in D ecember , 1943 . It was his decision to sign the trea ty with the Soviet Union and to promise the Czech and Slovak Communist leaders in Moscow that their party would be the strongest element in the new regime and that he would always support it. Indeed , Professor Byrnes' comment on the " shallow historical knowledge" and " flighty analysis," cited above , is applicable to the two essays by the two sociologists on Czechoslovakia and Poland published in this volume . j OSEF KAL YODA Saint Joseph College W est H artford, Connecticut Rudolf Krajcovic. Svedectvo dejfn o slovencine . 2nd edition, corrected. Martin : Matica slovenska, 1980 . 268 pp. The second edi tion of Krajcovic's collection of linguistic eviden ce for the Slovak language is essentially the same as the first of 1977 . In these two edition s, the compiler strives to offer proof that the Slovak language has its own long and distinctive history. He is intent on demonstrating that Slovak is a " language of written documents ." He traces Slovak from the period of the Great Moravian Empire of the ninth century throu gh the "twilight of Hungarian feudalism" in the nineteenth century. For the conclusion of his stud y, Krajcovic gives examples of present-day dialectical variations of the Slovak lan guage. There are photographs of d ocuments u sed as evidence. Especially when documents are in script, Krajcovic has the writings reproduced in printed form for easier appreciat ion. Interspersed among the evidence are bl ac k a nd white as well as colored illu stration s of folk articles and pa intings on a folk theme. The illu st ra tions a re the better to con vey the a tmosphere and period of the docum ents presented. Documen ta ry evidence from the early periods , n a mel y from that of the Great M orav ia n Empire through that of the fifteenth century , is not really extensive. A hi storical lin gui st would find the m aterial interesti ng, perh a ps even intrigu ing , but not conclu sive or even substantial for a judgm ent. From the sixteenth century onwards , the material offered as evidence is increasin gly more substanti ve. Indeed , Krajcovic him self notes th at the m aterial from the sixtee nth ce ntury is of" great significance," because thi s was "when Slovak was �124 SLOVAKIA for the first time committed to written form." The expression " written form " is perhaps a poor choice of phrasing. (The expression is found in the brief Slovak, Russian, as well as English introductions to the documentary evidence for this period.) For virtually all the examples of Slovak in this book are written . By the expression "written form," Krajcovic's probably means that the extant documentary instances of Slovak become more extensive and so more able to be appreciated linguistically. In focusing on this poor phrasing and its alleged implication , I do not intend to impugn the long history and distinctiveness of Slovak that Krajcovic desires so clearly to demonstrate in his book. The reader, nonetheless, cannot help feeling that Krajcovic is straining very hard to do this. On the whole, the book is more a nicely illustrated survey of the Slovak language for the layperson rather than a serious academic study for the specialist. With the Slovak language and its related culture appreciated so little outside of Slovakia and the Czech lands, Krajcovic' s book could enhance to some degree a better understanding of this language and culture . This second edition is a ''corrected '' version of the first . This correcting involves stylistic and typographical errors, but especially a few attributions that include additions, deletions, or actual corrections. For example, Krajfovic has deleted the attribution of the 1648 Trnava dictionary as one used for Virgil's Aeneid. The attribution ofa folk article as coming from Kovafova pri Zvolene has been changed to Kral'ova. Krajcovic has added the name of the Austrian author of Klimko's rendition of Krizant und Daria - Gottfried Uhlich, rendered by Krajcovic as Ulrich . Also, the English text has at times questionable diction and stylistic phrasing. The Russian text has been improved for this edition in various places. Neither language should offer problems in Slovakia, for there are native speakers as well as numerous specialists who could be consulted for a third edition . Finally, the bibliography for this edition has been expanded by one item. The price of this survey of the Slovak language has remained the same as for the earlier edition . This should make the book a readily purchasable acquisition for any individual or institution. G ERALD] . SABO , S.J . John Carroll University Cleveland, Ohio I'.udovft Novak. K najstarsfm dejinam slovenskehojazyka . Bratislava: Veda, vydavatel'stvo Slovenskej adademie vied, 1980 . 352 pp. This important study of the earliest history of the Slovak language evolved out of a plan by I'.udovft Novak in the 1930s to supply the most up-to-date , complete, and detailed presentation of Slovak phonology from its earliest begin- �SLOVAKIA 125 nings . Methods of structu ral analysis were to be applied to the reconstructed phonologies of Slovak dialects . The origi nal ve rsion was begun in the last months of 1938 and earl y 1939 , a period of political turbulence. Over the intervening years, materials added to the original accumulated into several essays, thus resulting in two works. By reason of the a mount of accu mulated m ate rials , a recent decision to publi sh this monograph from just the original alone was ca rried out . The val ue of the original as a linguistic la ndm ark of the structural method in Slovakia was the deciding factor. Novak 's later theories are to be published in a separate volume which will be entitled "Vznik Praslovanov a ich jazyka. '' Four chapters in the book under review provide the most important linguistic phenomena in the d evelopment of the Slovak sou nd system , from the earliest period after the collapse of Common Slavic into the dialect differentiations of the Slovak area. They are: (a) the Slovak reflexes rat-, lat- from P ro to-Slavic *ort- , *oft -; (b) alterat ions in the consonant clusters dl, tl, and dn ; (c) reduced vowel "yer"-changes , the contraction phenomena, and the depalatalization of e( e)»a; and (d) the reconstruction of sound systems of Slovak dialects after the period of liquidation of Common Slavic co rrelations of '' syllabic soft ening. '' Novak is interested in whether (a) can be termed a "Yugoslavism" relating to a theory of colonization of Central Slovakia from the south . With respect to (b) he quotes rare documents of ancient dialect litera ture, gives phonetic a nd phonological ex plana tions , with examples of geographic ex tension of changes in W estern Slovak, and compares this with pa rallel types of like consonantal quantitat ive correlation s in a non-Slavic la nguage. For ( c) the a uthor defines the rapport of Central Slovak especially with East and Central Slavic languages, and refers to the chronology and locali zation of alterations in the Common Slavic dialect dom ai n. R egarding (d) he concen trates first on the contrac tion phenomena in Central Slovak with its chronology a nd that of other Slavic dialects, and then of other West Slavic la nguages . H e provides a n argu m ent for the explanation of the zenou-feminine-instrumental-singular type and a criticism of other theories. Most of the phonological changes in Old Slovak are viewed as occurring due to certain influences of external lan guages or of internal dialects. Hi s terminology illu strates certain developing periods of Old Slovak , for example, turkicizing, mongolization. The aut hor maintains one of several possible theories in lin guistic development. Hi s is an attempt to overcome difficulties connected with the immane nt development of the Slovak language. ova.k's structural approach as innovative and successful in the earl y period of lin gu ist ics is appla uded by colleagues m entioned in the foreword. H owever, his earl y theory is criticized as "one-sided" for three main reasons : fai lure to �126 SLOVAKIA calculate the comparison of internal contradictions; overemphasis on phonology without consideration of grammatical, morphemi c, morphological, or wordbuilding structures as lingui stic units; and finally a lack of regard for sociolin guistic chan ges . I'.udovft Novak is referred to as th e " Nestor of Slovak Linguistics " (p. 9) . This original work is viewed as a monument in the evolution of Slovak lin gu istics a nd is noteworthy, especially considering the period of its composition, the structural methods applied, with its new theoreti cal thought and insights. It is rightly considered the first synthetic conception of the earliest history of Slovak language founded on the development of the dialect sound systems. The dedication of the book is symbolic of its apparent inherent worth. Honored are three famous contributors to Slovak linguistics: to the history of the Slovak language (Trubetzkoy); to the comparative history of Slovak and Czech languages (Travnfcek), and to the foundation of modern Slovak linguistic geography with its Slovak historical dialectology (Vazny). Novak has provided the first synth etic method of structu ral applicat ion to the historical phonology of Slovak , a structural lin gui st ic milestone in Slovak lan guage study. JOHN M . KOCHIK Westmoreland County Community College Youngwood, Pennsyl vania Frantisek Kalesny. Habani na Slovensku. Bratislava: Tatran, 198 1. 376 pp. Scattered today over the prairies of the United States and Canada can be found settlements of a people known as Hutterites or Hutterian Brethren. The Brethren still retain the German language of their forefathers and practice a st ri ctly communitarian way of life. Their mode of collective farming is not th e outcome of economi c calculation ; it results from the Hutterit es' belief that Christ calls on his followers to renounce private property and have all things common . The H utterites originated in th e earl y 1530s as part of the Anabaptist movement that had begun in Central Europe around 1525. The M ennon ites tod ay also claim spiritual descent from this movement which represe nted a left wing of the Protestant R eformation. While onl y the Hutterites esta bli shed community o f goods, all its adherents practiced adult ba ptism (hence the n ame they acqu ired, Anabaptists) in order to stress the volunta ry character of their beli eve rs' church, in which only grown persons could participate meaningfull y. As Dr. Kales ny remarks in the preface to hi s fascinating study of Hutterite hi story, few Slovaks know about th e connection betwee n the Hutterites a nd Slovakia, where they li ved for over two hundred year . The descendants of those Hutterites, who in the mid -e ighteenth century acce pted forced �SLOVAKIA 127 recatholicization rather than have to emigrate, eve ntually lost their German speech and a re today completely assimilated to the Slovak popula tion. If memories of the Hutterites grew dim, the name which their Slovak neighbors gave these German settlers , " H abans " (Habani, H abaner) , has become widely known on acco unt of the beautiful ceramics produced by the Hutterite communities and their successors. These are now valued possessions of the museums of Czechoslovakia a nd Hun gary, and examples of the art form are also to be fo und elsewhere. H a ban folk a rt , according to K alesny (p.12), should be reckoned as an important asse t of Slovak '' n at ion al culture,'' for it was produced on the soil of Slovakia by people who, although of foreign origin , had put down deep roots there. The book , which is a wo rk of scholarship even though it lac ks footnotes, is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the history of the Hutterite communities from their inception down to the present d ay, with m ost a ttention given to their soj ourn in northwest Hungary (present -day Slovakia) . They first set up comm unities there around 1545: Their chief settlement a nd the seat of their " bi sh op" was a t Sobotiste. As in Moravia where the sect had started, h ere too it s ad herents we re welcomed by the landown ing nobility, Catholic as well as Protestant, who valued the Hu tterites as h ardworking and profitable tenants and consequently were prepared to overlook their religiou s peculiarities. After the battle of White Mountain in 1620 the H absburg ruler drove them out of M oravia, but the Moravian brethren also found a refuge on the estates of friendly Hun garia n landown ers. The endemic warfare of the seve nteenth century when Turkish, H absburg, and kuru c forces ravaged the Slovak countryside inflicted terrible suffering on the local population , including the Hutterites . On the eve of the disaster of 1620 the Hutterites in M oravia and Slovakia had numbered abo ut 25,000 persons, a tenfold increase sin ce 1545, which was due to the steady stream of newcomers from the T yrol a nd ot her pa rts of Ce n tral Europe seeking to join the brotherhood. Almost all these were of German speech , but a few adherents were of local origin. On page 46 , fo r instance, K alesny m entions "Wendel H olba ein Schlawak (Ve ndel H olba, Slovak)," who even becam e a Hu tterite minister. Whereas in north Hun gary the Hutterites abandoned their communitarian wa y of life in 1685 a nd were recatholicized under Maria Theresa in the nex t century (w hile still retaining for some time their separate legal identit y as H abaner), in Transylvania - where some Hutterites had settled in 1621 - they contin ued to lead the same life as before, until finally in 1767 the aut horit ies expelled those who would not conform . Ka les ny ch ron icles briefly their subseq uent wanderings, first via Wall ac hia to the Ukraine where they arrived in 1770 and then in 1874 across the Atlantic and on to the American West. After World War I most of the Hutterites moved across the border into Canada . Their later mi grat ions stemmed not from �128 SLOVAKIA religious persecution but from the threat posed to their pacifist principles by the introduction of universal miliary service. Kalesny prefaces his historical narrative, which for the most part does not add to what we already know , by an interestin g discussion of the name haban , the first authenticated m ention of which occurs in a document of 1667 now in the municipal archives of Bratislava. Originally a d erogatory term , it eventually lost its pejorative connotation and became the accepted way of describing the descendants of the former comm unitarians . Concerning the origin of the word no consensus exists among scholars. The latest theory is that of a German scholar who derives it from the H ebrew. D espite what the resumes say, Kalesn y seems to be somewhat sceptical about this. If the author deals rather briefly with the religious aspects of the Hutteri te way of life, h e devotes almost the whole of th e second part of the book to their social organization. The overwhelming majority of community m embers were artisans: Over forty crafts were bei ng practiced when the communities were at their peak. Of course, they also engaged in farming, which today is the chief occupation of the Hutterites. A strict discipline was imposed on members , expulsion from the brotherhood being the final sanction against those who did not conform. But this was not usually necessary since the brethren recognized the advantages of communal living over those of the outside world, despite any momentary attraction they might feel toward the latter. " The Hutterites had succeeded in creating an ordered society, socially egalitarian and materially secure, with high moral principles based on the community'' (p. 169) . Children of both sexes were taught at least to read and write - in an age when illiteracy prevailed among the masses . Great care was taken, too, to provide for the sick and aged, for pregnant women and for children of preschool age . The culture was perhaps narrow and th e aut horit y of the elders excessive, but this must be judged within the context of the times. Purely aesthetic values found no place among Hutterites. Yet their craftsmen succeeded in creatin g countless objects of beauty either for domestic use or for sale: Their pottery became famous throughout east central Europe and was eage rly bought up by the nobility a nd wealthy townspeople of the area. Kalesny, whose specialty is folk a rt , devotes th e third part of hi s book to the history and technology of'' H aban '' pottery. The making of faience , their most hi gly prized produ ct , had bee n introdu ced into th e Hutterite communit ies around 1580 by An a baptist immigra nts from northeas t Italy. Kales ny has included at the end I 09 full-page colored illu strat ion s of ceramics emanating from " H aban" workshops. The bibliography includes man y items in Slovak, Czech, a nd Hungarian that are unknown to North Ameri can scholars who have written on the Hutterites. Man y of these pi eces, it is true , deal with " Haban" ce ramics, but some �SLOVAKIA 129 are of more general interest. K alesny, on the other h and, h as obviously had difficulty in gaining access to sch olarship in the W est. He knows the work of the M ennonite sociologist , J ohn A. H ostetler. But h e does not, for example , appear to be acquainted either with the valua ble study by another M ennonite scholar , Victor J . Peters, All Things Common: The Hutterian Way of Life (Minneapoli s, 1965) , or with the numerous articles published in the United States by the leading authority on Hutterite history and culture, the late Robert Friedmann . Many of them were reprinted in his Hutterite Studies (Goshen , Indian a , 1961) . L et us hope that in future closer contacts can be established in the field of Hutterite studies between North American scholars and those working in Czechoslovakia and Hungary. K alesny is perhaps lucky in dealing with a group like the Hutterites who , while deeply religiou s, have at the same time been dedicated "communists," albeit of the Utopian variety. The T at ran press was able (so to speak) to roll out the red carpet for him . It h as published a volume that , with its excellent pa per, numerou s illu stration s, and tasteful design , is indeed a credit to book production in Slovakia. PETER BROCK University of T oronto Toronto , Canada August A. Skodacek. Lutherans in Slovakia . Pittsburgh : Slavia Printing Company, 1982. 242 pp. This acco unt of the rise and development of the Lutheran Church in Slovakia from the Reformation to the present redresses the oversight of many concern in g the role of the Lutheran Church in the historical development of Slovakia. This may b e a fl aw. The author would have us understand that Slovakia 's history in modern times is a con sequen ce n ot onl y of the R eformation but also of the influence of Lutheranism in Slovak social and political struggles. However, Skodacek does not su ffic ientl y analyze the historical facts a nd ci rcum stances to judge whether hi s claim , that without Lutheranism m od ern Slovakia would not be , is warranted. Skodacek chronciles the fa te and fort une of Lutherani sm in term s of fates and fortun es of the group's leaders. As they fared, so fared their group . Thus, this is a hi story of an in stitution al church and its great m en from a perspective of within the gro up . It uses synodical records to illu strate th e respon se of the Lutheran C hurch in Slovakia to outside social and political forces, na m ely the Roman Catholic C hu rch , the J esuits, and the variou s rulers allied with those two groups. Since there is little in -depth an alysis, thi s essay does not offer a ny new insights into the causes of man y of the events ch ro nicled. �130 SLOVAKIA In the main, it is a hagiographic account extolling historical individuals for their virtues and deeds done in the name of the cause. In describing the influences of a Thurzo , Lani , or Krman and others, Skodacek, interestingly enough, sees them as the real descendants of the missionaries Cyril and Methodius. Just as Cyril and Methodius introduced the Slavs to Christianity and hence to civilization ( of a kind) , so too the followers of Luther reintroduced Christianity and civilization to Slovakia even to the point of generating and maintaining a consciousness of Slovak nationalism. To this point, Skodacek writes that "the R eformation activated a conversion in Slovakia which gradually brought into the open a Slovak nationality; it spread the reformational ideology in an understandable native language and a democratic religious life'' (p. 66). Be this as it may, the book is a good source for anyone who wishes to do research in Slovak history but who does not know th e necessary languages. The volume provides translations of records and documents of the various synodical events which figured large in the life of the Slovak Lutheran Church. This point not withstanding, it is unfortunate that Skodacek did not see fit to describe and analyze the historical dynamics of the sociocultural and political forces beyond the activities of the Lutherans and the Roman Catholics. Not everyone, despite Skodacek's claim, was either a Lutheran or Roman Catholic. Some were Greek Catholic and some were Calvinists. These are never mentioned . Also, not everyone living in Slovakia was either a Slovak or a German . Another missing analytical point is that of socioeconomic class; from what class did the Lutheran leadership come? It is on these points that Skodacek could have given us some insight; perhaps he will irt another book . Although this vol ume is a good in-house version of a historical period and of what happened to the Lutherans in Slovakia , the lack of analysis of the sociocultural and political dynamics limits its effectiveness. ROBERT j. SKOVIRA Saint Vincent College Latrobe, Pennsylvania Paul R obert Magocsi . The Shaping of a National Identity: Subcarpathian Rus ', 1848-1948. Cambridge, Mass .: Harvard University Press, 1978 . 650 pp. P aul R. Magocsi. The Rusyn -Ukrainians of Czechoslovakia: An Historical Survey . Vienna: Wilhelm Braumi.iller Universitats-Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1983. 94 pp . The first of Professor Magocsi ' s books is the one we all dream of writing . The fruit of years of research, it is encyclopedic in its description of the cul- �SLOVAKIA 131 tu ral a nd political development of the territory which m ad e up Subcarpathian Ruthenia in the first C zechoslovak Republic. H e has used a rich array of sources - archives, published statistics, interviews , and most books and articles relating to the subj ect. It will stand for d ecades to com e as the basic referen ce work . Graduate students will be surpr ised to find a detached , obj ective approach in a volume devoted to an East European nationality group of less tha n a million people. It will be a required presence in the library of eve ryo ne who calls himself an Eas t European historian . Slovakists , in particular, will welcome Magocsi ' s dispassiona te understa ndin g of the sensibilities of the ripening Slovak national identity in Eastern Slovakia. The tex t is di vided into three parts. The first cove rs political and cultural hi story un til 19 18 . The second examines history, la nguage, literature , education , and reli gion between 19 18 and 1944. The final part discusses the political hi story from the end of W orld W ar I to the incorporation of the territory into the U krainia n Soviet R epublic at the end of W orld W ar II. This is followed by 4 a ppendices (82 pages), notes ( 106 pages), and bibliography ( 122 pages) . In his introduct ion , M agocsi promises to analyze how one ethnic group was exposed to na tionalism and how its leaders presen ted this new ideology to their people. H e points out that the leaders in what he calls " an embryonic sta te of na tional d evelopment " still did not agree on which national orientation to follow - Ru syn , Hun gari an , Slovak (and/o r C zech), Ukra inian , or Russian. H e then describes the elimination of each alternative until only Ukrainia n was left. With such a rich and well-organized presentation of d ata, it must seem churlish for a reviewer to take issue with the author . And ye t one has the impression tha t the author ' s desire to incl ude every las t piece of info rm ation has di st racted him fro m his original inte ntion of trying to discover the underl ying reaso ns fo r the fi nal victory of the U kra inia n orientation . The book becom es fi nall y a trad itional approach to East Eu ro pean history, albeit without the partisan coloring wh ich usually characterizes such work . H e outlines the failure of leaders of certa in national orien tations to attrac t adherents, or their willingness to sacrifice national fo r political gain. H e find s external factors decisive in dete rmining that the territory wo uld eventu ally become Ukrainian . In an area with such a n embryo nic ethnic and national identity, it seems odd tha t M agocsi limited his book terri to rially, acco rding to political bound aries which existed for onl y two decades . The fa ult m ay lie in his d efinition of ethn ic group as a popul ation that " in m ost cases possesses a distinct territory, com m on traditions, and related dialects. " Although he pays homage to the theories of K a rl D eutsch on natio nalism and social communicatio n , he fa il s in large pa rt to apply them . H e looks a t the intelligentsia in action , but not the intelligen tsia in formatio n . It would �132 SLOVAKIA have been possible, for instance, to examine the changing national composition of the students in the high schools (gymnazia) over time and through the various grades. This might have suggested underlying trends in national identification. Magocsi is quite right in saying it is impossible to explain why individuals join differing national orientations, but the totality of the changes can be very informative. It is quite conceivable that the socioeconomic development in the interwar period showed a trend toward a Ukrainian identity. This would help explain why the Soviet regime met so little opposition when it assigned a Ukrainian identification to the population at the end of the war. After the depth of research and evaluation which characterized the first book , the second volume is a disappointment. While those interested in Slovak history will find useful material here on the political, socioeconomic, and cultural history of what Magocsi calls the "Rusyn-Ukrainians" of Czechoslovakia, there also is a disappointing tendency to blame every difficulty faced by this national grouping on national discrimination. This stands in considerable contrast to his conclusion (p . 270) in the larger volume . OWEN V . JOHNSON Indiana University Bloomington , Indiana Jubilea Matice slovenskej. Compiled by Vojtech Sarluska. "Seria: Monografie - Vyskum dejfn Matice slovenskej, zv. 9." Martin: Matica slovenska, 1980. 130 pp . The volume under review is a compendium of articles resulting from a seminar devoted to the commemoration of the sixtieth anniversary of the Matica slovenska's reconstitution ( 1919) and its silver anniversary as the Slovak National Library ( 1954 ). The essays discuss various aspects of the Matica's present contributions in the fields of research and education. Themes analyzed include : the Matica ' s efforts in library acquisition, preservation, and dissemination; planning and organization of its activities and resources; bibliographic development over the past quarter century; activities of the Literary Archives; programs of the Literary Museum; efforts of the Biographical Office; activities of the Matica's Office of Slovaks Abroad ; and the Matica ' s publishing activities. The section prepared by Stefan Krivus, the Matica' s present director , sets the tone for the other essays . Krivus traces the Matica's history through interwar Czechoslovakia, its activities during World War II, its place in the resurrected R epublic, and its role in Socialist Slovakia. He describes each period as a step in the Matica's maturation process. Both Krivus and the other contributors make it quite clear that the Matica of 1979 is not the Matica of 1919 ; �SLOVAKIA 133 it has continually changed in response to the demands placed on it as Slovakia' s premier national cultural institution. It is a pity that this publication , which offers much valuable information on the Matica slovenska's vital role in past and contemporary Slovak cultural life , was printed in a limited edition and "only for internal use" by professional scholars, thus making it unavailable to the much wider readership which it deserves . JOHN A . BERTA Middletown, Pennsylvania I1 mondo slavo. Saggi e contributi slavistici a cura del Centro Studi Europ a Orientale di Padova . Volume VIII. Edited by Milan S. Durica. Padova: CESEO-Liviana, 1982 . 318 pp. Professor Milan S. Durica has taken the opportunity of his editorship of this volume of I1 mondo slavo to present a number of studies which help to identify Slovak ethnic consciousness in its language and history and to distinguish it clearly from assimilative Czechoslovak linguistic and political tendencies. In his own article, which offers a historical-philological profile of the Slovak language, he traces the evolution of the Slovak language in Slavic ethnogeny. The Slovak glottogenetic process of isoglosses is delineable on Slovak ethnic territory . This position is butressed by (1) Slovakocentricity - the expression of geometric distance proportional to linguistic elements and (2) the most recent studies on fundamental Slavic lexical patrimony revealing its highest in Slovak . Durica' s ' profile' establishes that the research of historical and comparative lexicology fortifies the theory of the Slovak proto-Slavic glottogenesis. His synthesis of recent· research is a valuable contribution to the thesis that Slovak is an independent Slavic language . Stefan V ragas presents historical and linguistic highlights of the development of the Slovak literary language from 1918 to 1979. A significant portion of his article centers on the linguistic politics of "Czechoslovakism ," i.e. , the linguistic and political claim of one Czechoslovak language and nation , in opposition to any contention of on e separate and individual Slovak language and nation . The author demonstrates that Slovak experts succeeded in counteracting the opposition by applying the facts of history to linguistics and courageously weathering political humiliations as did , for example, Eudovft Novak , author of K najstarsfm dejinam slovenskehojazyka. Vragas must be commended for his definition of Czechoslovakism and for his timely exposition of some generally unknown linguistic-political humiliations of Slovak scholars, especially in the 1950s a nd part of the 1960s. �134 SLOVAKIA The history of Slovak translations on Slovak ethnic territory to 1939 is the subject of the article by Agostino Visco. Brief mention is made of translations into contemporary Slavic during the Great Moravian era and some initial translations into Latin . It was not until the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that extensive translation was made from Latin into the Slovak national language, mainly by Catholics. From Greek and Latin some classics and religious works were translated: ancient poetry, meditations, the Bible . Later, translations began from West European authors, then from East European ones, until the abortive years 1848-1849, when translations declined . After 1918 and in the early twentieth century translations resumed . They steadily progressed after 1933, when the Matica slovenska established a translation group , thus institutionalizing and perfecting translations. Visco considers the Slovak R epublic era (1939-1945) as the most important period for translations . Inasmuch as translations have so much influenced both Slovak poetry and prose, they represent an important facet of Slovak literature. Mirella De Martini Tihany examines the emigration of Italian laborers from Venetia and Lombardy to Slovakia in the second half of the nineteenth century . Parish registers of Slovak localities along the main railroad line from Kosice (Slovakia) to Bohumfn (Moravia) are the principal sources of research, especially those found in the State and District Archives of Bytca. Because of mineral transports from central Slovakia, railroads were needed in Slovakia . Historically, the Kosice-Bohumfn line construction in 1870 was urgent for connecting eastern Slovakia with Berlin . In this construction , the temporary Italian immigration initially entered . For some workers it meant death from epidemic , for others it was an occasion for marriage and baptisms. In her article Tihanyi provides a brief insight into Slovak interaction with the emigrants and also a sad commentary on the plight of Italian workers neglected by their non-Slovak contractors . Finally , Lisa Guarda Nardini considers the sole syndicate in Czechoslovakia, the "ROH" - Revolutionary Trade Union Movement. It is studied as an exemplary illustration of the statute of the organization which institutionally represents all workers in a country which claims that labor is paramount and the workers govern . The author proceeds from a relatively brief introduction about members , duties, structure, and other considerations to a translation of the ROH statute with its fifty articles. The m erit of this article is the translation of the ROH statute into Italian from Slovak. Volume III of IJ mondo slavo can be recommended to the readers of Slovakia for its wealth of information on fascinating Slovak topics. JOHN M. KOCHIK Westmoreland County Community College Youngwood, Pennsylvania �SLOVAKIA 135 Josef Korbel. Twentieth-Century Czechoslovakia: The Meanings of Its History. New York: Columbia University Press , 1977 . 346 pp. A rich and varied background prepared the late Professor Josef Korbel for this twentieth-century history of a small country in Central Europe . He was closely associated with the University of Denver, where he served as Dean of the Graduate School oflnternational Studies, Director of the Social Science Foundation , and Andrew W . Mellon Professor of International Studies. He was the author of several books on Central Europe. Prior to his academic career, Korbel had been the Czechoslovak ambassador to Yugoslavia . He also had held a number of other important diplomatic posts and was a personal acquaintance of both Edvard Benes and Jan Masaryk . Twentieth -Century Czechoslovakia begins with the Hussite period. By tracing the "roots" of Czech thought from Jan Hus to the subsequent suppression by the Catholic Habsburgs, and through the era of the Enlightenment, the author demonstrates how the Czech ideal of humanity evolved. He compares concepts derived from Frantisek Palacky and Karel Havlfcek to Tomas G. Masaryk's "Czech humanism. " All three were witnesses to the Hussite influence . A quick glance at opposing interpretations of Czech history by Josef Pekar and Ferdinand Peroutka and their criticism ofT.G. Masaryk's philosophy leads Korbel to the observation that " in times of assured statehood the Czech people strove for the ideals of humanity; in times of peril, they lowered their heads to save the national body" (p. 24). Korbel expands this thought throughout the rest of the book. Beginning with July 6, 1915, the 500th anniversary of the death of Jan Hus , Tomas G. Masaryk is depicted as voicing a vision about to become a reality. As the author discusses the historical formation of Czechoslovakia, he dwells primarily on the Czech leadership. He skillfully paints portraits of national hopes , problems of administration, mistakes in judgment, and fears for the future. Throughout the twenties and thirties these events led to the final breakup of the first Czechoslovakia. By analyzing the Munich crisis and World War II as it affected this Central European victim state, Korbel clearly shows that the Czechs " lowered their heads to save the national body." As he searches for the mea ning of the postwar years in the revitalized Czechoslovak state, he refers to them as " The Sisyphean Years," the title of his last and perhaps most intriguing chapter. With T.G . M asaryk, he believes that " the nation will take up again its active role in mankind's neyer-ending struggle for freedom and social justice" (p. 320). Written in an engaging style, Korbel's story of Czechoslovakia's rise and fall will fascinate not only the student of history but also a ny reader interested �136 SLOVAKIA in learning about Central Europe during the twentieth century. Unfortunately, the author does exhibit a bias against the Slovaks. This is especially apparent in his reference to the well-loved and respected Slovak leader Father Andrej Hlinka as being "fanatic. " Furthermore, while the Czechoslovak state could not exist without the Slovaks, Korbel devotes a mere 25-30 pages to them in a book of 346 pages. His admiration for Tomas G. Masaryk is deep, his respect for Jan Masaryk is genuine, and his evaluation of Edvard Benes appears objective. Had it been possible to apply historical honesty to all aspects of Czechoslovakia's growth from its inception to its dissolution and rebirth, such an account might have added significantly to the rapidly increasing literature in that area of research. One can only conclude that this historical account was written from the so-called Czechoslovak point of view. If this is understood, the reader will enjoy Twentieth-Century Czechoslovakia but will continue to look for "The Meanings of Its History" in other books dealing far more adequately with Slovakia and the Slovaks . M. EVANGELA LUBEK, 0 .S.B. Bishop Noll Institute Hammond, Indiana Martin R . Myant. Socialism and Democracy in Czechoslovakia, 1945-1948. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981. 302 pp. The three years that preceded the Communist takeover of Czechoslovakia at the end of the Second World War have been generally understood in the West as a lull in which all the indications of what would happen in February 1948 were present. Although Martin Myant does not contradict this approach, he offers in this study, above all, an examination of the political situation in Czechoslovakia in which the Communist Party was just one of many players until mid-194 7, when a power struggle erupted leading to the Communist victory a few months later. What we have here, according to the author, is a polity which sought to achieve a socialist society by democratic means. It is an interesting thesis that reflects to a great extent the approach that Communist scholars took to this period in the 1960s and which found some sympathy among Western scholars. The book is divided into ten chapters that begin with a rapid overview of the development of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia . The next five chapters are devoted to an analysis of the political situation in the Czech lands, with one chapter on Slovakia . In three more chapters the author looks at the power struggle which culminated in the February crisis . The final chapter �SLOVAKIA 137 examines post-February Czechoslovakia, in particular those events that announced the imposition of a more radical line by the Kremlin . It is clear from Myant 's story that World War II had brought about major changes in the Czech lands. In the postwar world, Czech political life reflected a general consensus that Czech society wanted its government to implement socialist changes because the prewar order had been destroyed during the hostilities . As an organized resistance group, the Communists played a major part in setting the framework for a socialist transformation . They were by far the most cohesive and organized party. Until mid-1947 they were also willing to collaborate - and indeed did so - with the non-Communist parties in implem enting new policies . The author gives a thorough analysis not only of the platforms of all parties, but also of the political activities of the Communist Party. When the struggle for power broke out, the Communists aimed at nothing more than victory and then used whatever means they could get away with to achieve that end. But for Myant - unlike for Paul Zinner and Josef Korbel, who also wrote on this period - the interest lies in the pre-mid 1947 period where, as he writes, "for all its faults, the National Front system established in May 1945 provided a possible basis for the development of socialism in Czechoslovakia" (p. 242). Despite the author's thorough analysis, this reviewer is not convinced that the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia could have played according to democratic rules in an advanced society. Although Myant attributes the shift that occurred in mid-1947 to the international situation and Cominform directives , the fact remains that the Communist Party was willing in the last analysis to abandon democratic means in favor of one-party rule. There is no evidence that the Party offered the Kremlin any resistance . Had its commitment to democracy really existed, it could have defied Moscow since there were no Soviet troops in the country and it is doubtful that Moscow would have risked a war to impose its will . The pre-mid-1947 experience may be interesting for those who still hanker after a form of" democratic socialism"; for m e it merely shows that a Communist Party will also play the democratic game if it brings it closer to its goal of total power, but it does not show a commitment to democracy . The author's treatment of Slovakia is inadequate . He approaches it from the same point of view as the Czech lands , namely that the Slovaks were also headed for socialist transformation. To take this approach is to ignore not only the legacy of prewar Slovak politics, but also the major impact the Slovak R epublic had on the Slovaks. His accusation that Slovakia was backward is both unfair and unfortunate; it is a Czech point of view that was arti~ulated quite openly from 1945 on, especially in the Communist Party. This view was also imposed on Slovak Communists, who accepted it after their defeat in the May 1946 elections. The author does, however, point out that the Communist �138 SLOVAKIA Party was unwilling to embark on a different and distinct Slovak policy, if only not to alienate its Czech constituency. The position of Slovakia in postwar Czechoslovakia was very critical. Forced without consultation into a state where they would be a minority, Slovaks then saw most instruments of autonomous government progressively taken away from them . The non-Communist leadership was weak and faced not only Communist opposition but also Czech resistance to any status beyond minimal autonomy . Thus Slovak political life centered once again on Slovakia ' s role in Czechoslovakia, not on socialist transformation . As time went on, it was clear to most Slovaks that they mattered very little in Czechoslovak politics and were expected to be merely compliant to Prague . In this respect, Myant writes unfairly about President Tiso's execution in 1947 that "its announcement in Slovakia was met with no visible unrest" (p. 158). The truth of the matter is that the army and Czech police had been sent to Slovakia to make sure that there was no unrest. For the same reason the attempted Communist coup in Bratislava failed that autumn. The game had to be played out in Prague. This is a well-researched study that is thorough in its presentation for the Czech lands . It is highly unsatisfactory for Slovakia. For this reason, as well as the author's ideological predelictions, it is regrettably incomplete and, therefore, disappointing. STANISLAV J. KIRSCHBAUM Glendon College, York University Toronto, Canada Leon Noel. La Tchecoslovaquie d'avant Munich. Paris: Institut d'etudes slaves, 1982. 208 pp. J.F.N. Bradley. Politics in Czechoslovakia, 1945-1971. Washington, D.C .: University Press of America, 1981. 225 pp. There are few Central European states that have had as turbulent a history as Czechoslovakia. It was created by the Western Powers on the morrow of World War I, only to be abandoned two decades later to German expansionism and another ten years later to Soviet imperialism. Paradoxically, Western scholarship has yet to produce a good history on either the First Republic or on the postwar Communist period. The two volumes under review, while they seek to give us an overview of each period, are also unsatisfactory. Leon Noel was France's Minister to Czechoslovakia from 1932 to 1935. His book constitutes a sort of memoir of the three years he spent in Prague. To this account he added a few chapters that deal with the origins of the state , �SLOVAKIA 139 some of its leading personalities, the Slovaks, the Germans and the Hungarians, the Catholic Church, and the political parties . None is very good , and the chapters on the Slovaks and the political parties are particularly poor. It becomes quickly very clear that this French diplomat understood very little the country in which he represented France . The main impression that one gets is that he was interested above all in maintaining excellent diplomatic relations between Prague and Paris . This he seems to have done, given the number of positive comments about himself by Czechoslovakia's leaders that he quotes . But one does not get any idea what were the main currents in FrancoCzechoslovak relations. It is only when he evaluates the leading personalities in Prague of the common state of the Czechs and Slovaks that he is interesting. That is one of the redeeming features of his book . If this book is at all interesting , it is becau se it reflects French perceptions of Czechoslovakia in the interwar period . The state was to a great extent a French creation, and Czechoslovakia's centralist system of government was modelled on that of France. Paris supported Prague on the German and the Slovak questions with the result that neither French diplomats nor French scholars paid any attention to anyone but the Czechs and accepted everything Prague told them. Noel ' s book is therefore not different from those published in the interwar years. It is a pity that he did not learn from subsequent events about which much has been written to give us a more critical appreciation of the country where he clearly spent three interesting years of his life . The Bradley volume is more in line with contemporary scholarship. But it is a peculiar book. The author has done some thorough research in a number of areas, yet he does not succeed in giving us an adequate overall picture of Communist politics in Czechoslovakia. The greatest flaw is his lack of treatment of the Slovak question, which he does not seem to have understood at all. There are two them es to the book: government and politics. The author gives a thorough description of Czechoslovakia's Communist government structure , examining in turn its constitutions, parliaments , governments, the judiciary , and security. Hi s chapter on the central government for 1948-1968 is rather good . He analyzes well the main problems of any Communist government, namely political domination and efficient administration. As he points out: "Even the most capable administrators among these politicans would have found it impossible to run central ministries efficiently with the politicallyreliable but admi nistratively unfit officials at their disposal" (p. 123) . When it comes to analyzing Communist politics , the author devotes only two chapters, one on the Dubcek era and the other on the Husak period of normalization. Both are somewhat disappointing. The overall result is that at the end of the book the reader is still left wondering what Czechoslovak politics were all about for the period 1948-1971. �140 SLOVAKIA The major flaw of Bradley's book is its treatment of the Slovak question. Clearly the author belongs to that category of Western scholars who do not consider Czech-Slovak relations to have been, and still to be, the focal point of the survival of the common state of these two nations. It is not surprising to come across such a statement as : "The Slovaks, who had apparently been enjoying equality and autonomy since 1948, began to voice their demands for new constitutional arrangements within the Czechoslovak Republic" (p. 183), with no further explanation. The final chapter, on Husak's federalism , is also inadequate in analyzing the new relationship between the two nations, let alone explaining why this formerly centralist state had been transformed into a federation . Neither book fulfills the mission its title suggests . Nevertheless in each there are some aspects of interest which may help the specialist and the interested reader on Czechoslovakia to get a better insight into this troubled common state of the Czechs and Slovaks. STANISLAV J. KIRSCHBAUM Glendon College, York University Toronto, Canada Zdenek L. Suda. Zealots and Rebels: A History of the Ruling Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. Stanford, Calif. : Hoover Institution Press , 1980 . 412 pp . This first history of the Czechoslovak Communist Party in English, from its beginnings in November, 1917 , in Revolutionary Russia and its foundation in November , 1921, up to the late 1970s, is an impressive achievement. Professor Suda, a sociologist at the University in Pittsburgh, selected some of the best scholarly works written in the West on various topics or periods of his target and complemented them with a few basic books and articles published at different times in Czechoslovakia. Although his opus is based almost exclusively on secondary sources and, surprisingly, does not even mention authors whose work should have been consulted (e .g ., Machonin, Borkenau, Taborsky, Zinner, Horak , Jancar, Korbel, Tigrid) , it is worth reading and including in private as well as public libraries. It is a solid work and excels in its capable and systematic review of major events in the history of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. Its organization is clear, and the writer consistently pays attention to domestic developments as well as to Soviet or other Communist parties' history . In Suda' s concluding words , what matters is "the development of the Soviet core to which the CPCS, for the greater part of its existence, has only been peripheral" (p. 380). �SLOVAKIA 141 Suda's main contribution is to be found in his judicious summary of some sixty years in the life of a movement, in his sensible comments, and in his perspicuous analysis. One half of the book is devoted to the Party's history before it came to power in 1945 . There is a certain imbalance in Suda's treatment of the foundation of the CPCS (50 pages) or of its history until 1929 (70 pages) and his discussion of the crucial year of 1968 (only 20 pages) . The later story is much better known that the first two so that it does not constitute any major weakness, especially since the author keeps stressing interesting parallels between different periods of Party history . Basically, it was and is a foreign element brought into a state whose traditions , both cultural and political, have been .at variance with it . Suda devotes a substantial part of his book to developments in the Communist Party of Slovakia and to its asymmetric position in a basically centralist party and state. He rightly considers the unsolved problems of national minorities - and many Slovaks refused to think of themselves as equal partners in a "Czechoslovak" nation - to be the weak point of the whole edifice . The German problem is also systematically studied, and so are the Hungarian and Ruthenian ethnic communities. Paradoxically, even the establishment of a federal state in 1968 did not put an end to Prague centralism, although the general secretary of the Party since 1968 has been a Slovak. The lack of a detailed study of primary sources and of many crucial scholarly works , unfortunately , is responsible for some, mostly minor, mistakes in an otherwise well-printed and well-proofread work. For instance, Trotsky's secret message to disarm the Czechoslovak Corps in Russia is not mentioned; Tomas G . Masaryk is wrongly characterized as "never a socialist" (p. 12); the important role of G eneral Vlasov and his armed units in the Prague uprising in 1945 is omitted; for some reason, the Cominform and Comintern are both spelled with a ' K '; there is nothing on substantial workers' unrest in 1948 and 1949 ; Richta's leadership of a scientific Party commission is assigned to Mlynar , who was in charge of another one about whose existence the author does not seem to have known (p. 328); the Manifesto of 2000 Words was published simultaneously in four Prague papers and not just in one (p. 391) - a fact which was important for the Soviet audience since the pressure group was clearly well organized! Furthermore, the periodical Listy was not a "bimonthly" (p. 367) but rather appeared monthly. In disagreement with the author's statement on page 261, Zapotocky was criticized at Politboro meetings for his relaxation of forced collectivization of agriculture . What is more important, Suda sometimes accepts the terminology of his Communist sources and then refers, for instance , to the "progressive elite " (p. 120) when he discusses individuals who were responsible for bringing shame and enslave- �142 SLOVAKIA ment upon their own nations. Although the author believes that only a small minority of Social Democrats refused to join the CPCS in the year of forced amalgamation (p. 225), the truth is that less than one third of them joined the Communist Party! Also, his description of workers' acceptance of the Slansky trial is only partially true because, according even to Communist sources, after the initial passage of favorable resolutions, there was resolute criticism of the whole Party and state leadership, often calling for their dismissal. Finally , the 1968 meetings at Cierna nad Tisou did not take place in the Soviet train (p . 340) but - with the exception of Dubcek's visit to the "ailing" Brezhev in a railwaymen's club on Czechoslovak territory. There is a good analysis of voting patterns in 1925 but, somewhat surprisingly for a sociologist, the author does not include any analysis and statistics (which are available) of the social or class composition of the CPCS in its period of absolute power. All these and a few other errors and omissions can be easily corrected in an eventual second edition of this pioneering and generally very successful work . PETER R. HRUBY Western Australian Institute of Technology Perth , Australia Frantisek Bielik a kolektfv. Slovaci vo svete. Volume II. Martin : Matica slovenska, 1980. 320 pp . This second volume of Slovaci vo svete is a general survey of pre-World War II Slovak immigration to countries throughout the world. It is a collaborative effort. However, except for the separate sections on Slovak immigrant culture and involvement in labor activities in the United States and the Slovak immigration to Canada and France , Frantisek Bielik is the principal author of the book. Bielik first discusses the general causes of Slovak emigration and its impact on Hungary and later Czechoslovakia. The work is then divided into geographical categories by country. Within each geographical division, the authors adopt a standard, almost monotonous , procedure of chronicling the formation and sporadic activities of various Slovak organizations . They provide brief descriptions of Slovak fraternal societies , schools, newspapers, labor organizations, and cultural associations . In addition, they discuss the political and labor activities of some Slovak immigrants in the different countries. Slovaci vo svete is a useful addition to the literature on Slovak immigration, because it contains tables and statistics as well as literary material that have not been readily available in a single source. The inclusion of sources would have improved the usefulness of the tables. The work is also important �SLOVAKIA 143 because it offers some different perspectives on the Slovak immigration experience . For example, Bielik properly stresses that the United States was the major but not the sole destination of Slovak emigrants . To emphasize this point, the book includes brief sketches of Slovak immigration to New Zealand, Asia, and Africa - countries not commonly associated with the Slovak emigration movement. Also, by discussing Slovak involvement in labor unions and Socialist organizations, the authors offer a different profile of Slovak immigrant laborers than that depicted in earlier literature. Ivan Poljak and Eva Fordinalova, who contributed the segment on Slovak union and work-related activities in the United States, would agree with Victor Greene that Slovak workers were not simply meek laborers whose docility prevented them from becoming actively involved in labor unions and strife. Moreover, their religiosity did not prevent all Slovaks in the United States and elsewhere from flirting with Socialist or Communist ideas and joining Socialist or Communist parties. Despite such points, Slovaci vo svete is marred by serious weaknesses. As a synthesis , the book is far too general and institutionally oriented. Even the lengthier discussion of Slovak immigrants in the United States is primarily a chronicle narrative of various immigrant organizations and newspapers. The treatment of Slovak immigration to other countries serves little more than as a reminder that the United States was not the sole destination of this immigrant group. No attempt is made to offer a comparative analysis of Slovak adjustment to various countries. Rather, Bielik and the other contributors seem content to resort to perfunctory , isolated discussions of Slovaks and their organizations in the several countries. While they are to be commended for the attempt to describe the work life of Slovak laborers, the discussions of this topic suffer from overgeneralizations, oversimplifications, and factual and interpretive errors. The· authors try desperately to show that Slovaks almost naturally harbor Socialist sympathies . They use the participation by Slovaks in labor unions or strikes as examples of these natural sympathies. Typically the authors do not provide sufficient or convincing evidence for their generalizations. For example, they make no attempt even to estimate the number of Slovaks actually involved in the various " Socialist " and labor activities they describe . Unfortunately, Slovaci vo svete is further harmed because the authors overlook some obviously important aspects of Slovak immigrant life in the United States and perhaps in other countries as well. Despite the claim that the book is offering a description of immigrant life , much of the material actually focuses on the activities of prominent Slovaks, not ordinary immigrants . Slovak churches and their role in American Slovak communities are ignored. Overall, Slovaci vo svete is too brief to treat adequately the complex aspects of Slovak immigration to the United States and to other countries. Still, this work does raise questions that merit closer analysis b y students of Slovak �144 SLOVAKIA immigration and of labor and political history. The contributors also do provide a general, institutional history of Slovak immigration throughout the world. This volume does not rank as the definitive study of Slovak immigration, but it is a synthesis that scholars in Czechoslovakia and in those countries where Slovak immigrants have gone will find useful. JUNE GRANATIR ALEXANDER The Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio Elena Jakesova . Vyst'ahovalectvo Slovakov do Kanady. Bratislava : Veda, vydavatel'stvo Slovenskej akademie vied, 1981. 160 pp . In recent years there has been a great renewed interest in ethnic and immigration history on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. To the growing list of scholarly studies in this field can be added Elenajakesova's present monograph . Jakesova presents a concise, statistical account of Slovak immigration to Canada from the 1870s to 1938. The book is divided into two sections, one covering the years from the 18 70s to 1914, and the second from 1922 to 1938 . She gives the reasons for Slovak immigration from Hungary, and later from Czechoslovakia, and also an excellent outline of the individual Slovak settlements in Canada. Other chapters or sections are devoted to the development of the Slovak press in Canada and to the rise of Slovak fraternal societies. Separate sections describe Slovak mining settlements in Western Canada, agricultural communities in Central Canada, and urban settlements in Eastern Canada in later years . This is a well-organized and well-written book . The research and documentation are most impressive . The author made use of archival material from Slovak district archives in Slovakia, from the Haus-Hof-und Staatsarchiv in Vienna, and from the Magyar Orszagos Leveltar in Budapest. Most of the periodical literature and monographic studies dealing with Canadian Slovaks were also used. In short, few stones were left unturned . The volume is also enriched by graphs and charts which help clarify the history of Slovak immigration to Canada. Even the illustrations were well selected and add interest to the subject. , Two serious shortcomings of the book arejakesova's treatment of Canadian Slovak societies and churches. Among societies the importance of the Slovak workers' movement was overemphasized . Her account of it was informative and interesting, but the movement itself was of decidedly minor significance. The Canadian Slovak League and Canadian-Slovak Support Society were and remain the largest Canadian-Slovak organizations . More should �SLOVAKIA 145 have been said about these groups and the great work and sacrifices of such individuals as Andrej Kucera and Andrej Potocky, founders of the Canadian Slovak League . In general, more attention should have been devoted to the experiences of Canadian Slovaks - their joys and sufferings - and to the history of their churches, which were not covered at all. Aside from these drawbacks , the work has many merits and can be recomm ended to anyone seeking a general survey of Slovak immigration to Canada. X. SUTHERLAND Stoney Point, New York ANTHONY Engelbert Zobl and Hertha A. Zobl. Holzbaukunst in der Slowakei. Vienna : Fachjournalverlagsgesellschaft, 1978. 92 pp. This unpretentious little paperback volume bears witness to what seems to be a growing interest among enthusiasts in western Europe to " uncover " the art of traditional wooden architecture in the Carpathian region of Slovakia. H ence, since the appearance of the book under review , two more ambitious volumes have appeared: Wooden Churches in th e Carpathians: The Photographic Legacy of Florian Zapletal (Vienna, 1982) by Paul R. Magoci and the monumental Wooden Churches of Eastern Europe (Cambridge , 1981) by David Buxton , both of which contain numerous photograp hs of structures in northeastern Slovakia. In contrast to these two subsequent works , the book by Engelbert and Hertha Zobl seems more of an architectural travel reportage put together as a guide for Austrian and West German tourists who still flock each summer to Czechoslovakia in search of the ostensibly more exotic cultural stimuli of the "east." This is not to suggest that such popular books are without value or that the Zobls have not done a competent job . In fact, as is evident from the albeit self-indulgent autobiographical data (complete with photographs of the whole family), the husband and wife Zobl team have degrees, respectively , in architecture and the a pplied arts. And as the lavishly-illustrated book reveals , they both have a keen sensitivity for the aesthetic as well as technical aspects of their subject. The book is basically divided into five chapters : belfries, wooden churches, wooden crosses, secular wooden architecture, and architectural ornamentation. The appendices include a list of all belfries and churches with their date of construct ion (in most , but not all instances); a map showing the travel route fo llowed by the authors in 1976 with each place indicated that appears in the book ; an index of placenames; and a brief bibliography . The latter indicates a few basi c German, Czech, and Slovak works, but omi ts two recent �146 SLOVAKIA Ukraini an-langu age studies from C zechoslovakia th at deal with the subj ect: an encyclopedia of wooden churches (past and present) in northeastern Slovakia by B. K ovafo vyfova-Puskarova and I. Pu skar , D erev 'jani cerk vy schidnoho obrjadu na Slo vaccyni (Bratislava and Presov, 1971) and a survey of secular architecture in the same region by M . Sopolyha , Narodn a architektura ukrajinciv Schidnoji Slovaccyn y (Svidnfk, 1976) . Each chapter in the book by the Zobls is preceded by a very brief introduction , and each of the 110 photograph s carries a caption. There are also 41 line drawings of structures and ground plans. By far , the largest portion of the book - a to tal of 72 illu strations - d epicts structures from villages inhabited by C a rpatho-Ru syns in the very northea stern part of Slovakia. Thi s is not surprising, since that area had economicall y always been the m ost underdeveloped and , therefore, traditional life-style and architecture have been preserved there the longest. Also , the authors seem ed to have become enchanted by the clusters of wood en churches north of Svidnfk and northea st of Snina, whose almost perfect form a nd balance m ake them stand out aesthetically, in particular when juxta posed to wooden architecture throughout all of eastern Europe, as is evident from the compara tive survey b y David Buxton mentioned above. The photographs are, in fact , the highlight of the Zobl ' s book . They were all ta ken in 1976, were well executed and often provide different views of a given structure, and have been reproduced clearly in the printing process. With the exception of a few iconostases in side Byzantine-rite churches, the photographs are almost all exterior shots. Pa rti cul arl y striking are 39 photograph s in color , am ong the best of which a re the wooden church in Mi rol'a, the cem etary crosses in D etva, and the decoration on hou ses in Zdi ar . All in all , W ooden Architecture in Slovakia is an excellent introd uction to the beauties of trad itional cultu re that still can be found in Slovaki a tod ay. As a serious guide for tourists, it would be pa rticula rl y useful if a n E ngli sh ed ition could be p repa red fo r the increasin g numbers of Am ericans of Slovak a nd Carpatho-Ru syn descent who visit the ancestral hom eland . P AUL R . M AGOCSI Uni versity of T oronto T oronto, Ca nada A tlas CSSR . Brat islava: Slove nska kartografi a, 1980 . This school atlas is obviously intended for student s at about the hi gh school level. It has no accompan yin g text or explana tory m a terial and is even devoid of a n introdu ction. Con sequentl y, the u ser is give n no idea regardin g the in tended audience or the goal s of thi s volume of m aps. �SLOVAKIA 147 There are 42 pages of maps; there are more actual maps, howeve r , because numerous inset (larger scale) maps are displayed on various themes. The first quarter of the atlas is d evoted to physical/environmental subjects temperature, precipitation , geological structure , soils, forests , etc. The remainder of the volume contains social, cultural, and especially economic maps . The physical maps are of standard type, although the last of this group is an interesting map of conservation sites, such as parks and botanical stations. The demographic maps (pages 12 to 15) are interesting because included are maps on density , fertility , mortality , national population growth rates , labor force, and the nationalities. Most of the m aps suffer as a result of the inappropriate scale employed and poor use of color. The nationalities sheet is particularly poor because the combination of colors and patterns to locate and quantify minority groups is a total failure. The economic maps (pages 16-27) again are standard and include maps of minerals , manufacturing, agriculture , crops , transport and more for the entire country. Detailed political/ physical maps of the Czech and Slovak R epublics are then followed by similar economic maps for the two areas. The atlas is rounded out with a set of maps of "regional types" at the micro-scale. There are six of these, including types such as the High Tatra a rea and a section of industrial Ostrava. There are also 10 exam ples of "settlement types," including Nitra and a Czech resort town. The final three maps are interesting cultural maps, including one of higher and middle schools, medical institutions, and historical/cultural monuments. Unfortunately , these maps are of very limited use because they are drawn at a scale ( 1 :4,000,000) which obliterates any detail. In general, the Atlas CSSR is an adequate school level tool. It would have been much better and useful, however , if sharper color had been used and if more reasonable scales had been chosen for many of the maps. The bulkiness (23 cm. x 55 cm .) and the inferior quality of the binding also detract from the Atlas ' value. In sum , a poten tiall y lively collection of maps has bee n rendered into a disappointing volume of no particular distinction. GEORGE J. D EMKO U.S. Department of State W ashington , D .C. Peter Balaz, Miloslav Darovec, and H eather Trebaticka. Slovak for Slavicists . Brat islava: Slovenske pedagogicke nakladatel'stvo, 1976. 302 pp. Students who have some background in another Slavic langu age, as well as those who possess a rudimentary knowledge of Slovak , will find this text- �148 SLOVAKIA book useful. It was written for the intermediate classes at the Studia Academica Slovaca (Summer Seminar of Slovak Language and Culture in Bratislava), and was also intended for use as a textbook in university-level courses abroad . The authors point out in the preface that it is not a handbook for those studying Slovak without a teacher ; however , it can be used in this way if the student's goal is to gain only a reading knowledge of Slovak, and particularly if Slovak is not his/ her first Slavic language. The book contains 27 lessons in addition to the Slovak-English/English-Slovak glossaries . The bilingual d esignation of the section headings in the table of contents and in the lessons themselves is a very desirable feature of the book . It serves the immediate pedagogical purpose of teaching these items in Slovak as well as enabling the student who wishes to augment the explanations in the textbook with those from Slovak sources to find easily the desired items in the Slovak books . Lesson 1 is devoted to a brief discussion of the alphabet and pronunciation . The Slovak letters ii, c, dz, s, z, t', d', 1' are characterized as palatalized consonants (p. 17) , which might well confuse those students who have studied Ru ssian . They would be better described in English as palatals. Furthermore, since regressive voice assimilatio n before nasals and liquids characterizes Slovak sandhi rules in contrast to some of the other Slavic languages, it would be well to include that information in the section on pronunciation . The remaining lessons have the following general format : introductory text , questions , vocabulary, grammatical section , exercises , grammatical section, exercises, translation exercise, and pronunciation exercise. The exercises a re well constructed and provide immediate reinforcement of the concepts just introduced . The notes and notice markers which call attention to exceptions or to features which differ significantly in English are also very effective . R eview exercises, spaced at appropriate intervals throughout the book which would combine the information presented in the various grammatical sections up to that point , would enhance the efficacy of the textbook (e.g., inclusion of a review exercise following Lesson 6 after most declensional paradigms have been introduced) . The introductory texts conta in a vocabulary which is very useful for those students who will be in Bratislava . Howeve r, to those who have never been there , as well as to the newly arrived , certain words such as miestenka are mystifying and a note of explanation would be helpful. Lesson 8 has an informal letter to a friend as the introductory text. The forms of ty are correctly capitalized. H owever , there is no note of explanation on how vy (polite singular/plural) should be written. Since this is one of the areas in which the Slavic languages differ , it would be well to include a note on T /V capitalization in letters. It might be more useful to include a thank- yo u note or a formal letter for exam- �SLOVAKIA 149 pie, to a professor requesting a consultation, because these are the kinds of letters that a more advanced student is likely to be writing . In general the texts are of a very practical nature and provide the student with an adequate vocabulary for functioning in Slovak society. They could be made more effective by deleting some, such as Lesson 4, or editing them, so that they would be more appropriate for and interesting to university students. While it is possible to draw up a list of additions that one would wish to insert into the book, that in no way detracts from its value. It is certainly the best textbook available today for teaching Slovak to English-speaking students at the university level, and we can only hope that it will be expanded and enlarged in future editions. LOUISE B. HAMMER Bloomington , Indiana JozefMistrfk . Basic Slovak . Bratislava : Slovenske pedagogicke nakladatel'stvo, 1981. 160 pp . This textbook is designed for English-speaking students who want to learn the fundamental grammatical phenomena and 800 of the most frequently occurring vocabularly items in Slovak without wading through the complexities that most traditional grammars present. Its focus is on learning to speak Slovak (American speakers of English should be forewarned that the pronunciation equivalents between English and Slovak given in Lesson 1 are based on British English), not on gaining a passive reading knowledge of the language, and it is not designed to be used without a teacher . Therefore, rules are given but exceptions to the rules are introduced into the discussion only when they occur frequently . This approach is based on the theory that second language acquisition, like first language acquisition, requires a knowledge of the productive grammatical rules of a language, i.e. , those patterns that a learner encounters over and over again in everyday usage. Since this textbook is designed for the one-month Studia Academica Slovaca summer school course as an introductory textbook, it alone would not suffice for a traditional American two-year college program; however, even in a more extended course, the texts which begin each chapter , as well as the exercises at the ends of the lessons, could serve as useful supplementary material . The book contains fifteen lessons , paradigm tables, Slovak-English and English-Slovak vocabularies, and a dictionary of linguistic terms . Beginning with the second, each lesson consists of four parts : text, vocabulary, grammar, and exercises. The texts are interest ing from the sociolinguistic point of view because they frequently have as their themes social events which a re common �150 SLOVAKIA in contemporary Slovak life, such as presenting flowers to someone arriving at the station, waiting in line to buy things, the extended family living together, friends sharing their experiences over a glass of wine . These texts serve to familiarize American students with Slovak culture and appropriate language usage in that culture. Each text introduces the vocabulary items which are listed just after it. This section is followed by grammatical explanations which are simple and concise, and are easily understood by learners with a minimal background in traditional grammar . The exercises require the student to create new forms based on the rules and data presented in the preceding sections . In addition to fillin g in blanks , the students are required to form sentences. Since a bilingual text is given in all of the lessons after the fifth , the student is able to check his/her progress in sentence construction . Features of Slovak which are absent in English and are, therefore , troublesome for English-speaking students are re-introduced in the texts or exercises of subsequent lessons; for example, the prefixed forms of ist' are introduced in Lesson 10 and are exemplified in the exercises in Lesson 12 . The last item in the exercises is a list of words to be read aloud for pronunciation purposes. These words do not appear in the glossary at the end of the book. The glossary does possess an attr~ctive feature: It indicates after every word the number of the lesson in which the word was introdu ced . As is usual in a first printing , some errors are to be found in the book (e.g., a few of the r ' s in th e glossary have been deleted , and some of the s's have been transposed into the s section). There are also minor errors in the English text : " present " in stead of " represent" (p. 11) ; "shorting" instead of " shortening" (p . 66) ; "The both forms are possible" (p . 74 ). one of these lead s to misunderstanding ; however, occasionally, as in " byvam dlho h are" (p . 3 1) ( = " not to sleep"), the E nglish m eaning is not immedia tely clear. On the whole , P rofessor Mi strfk 's book successfully fulfills the goals which he set in writing it , and any teacher or student of Slovak will find it a u seful addition to his/her library. L OU ISE B . HAMM ER Blooming ton , Indian a Abel Kral'. Slovenska vyslovn ost'. Banska Bys trica: U cebne pomocky, 1979. 8 stereo phonograph records with accom pan ying text , 173 pp. These high-quality recordings were produced by Abel Kral' , the head of the Phonetics D epartment a t Com enius University, and national artist V . Zaborsky , for u se in seconda ry schools and la ngu age institutes in Slovakia in �SLOVAKIA 151 order to teach students the neutral pronunciation style of standard literary Slovak . In the introduction Kral' explains the theoretical assumptions on which the presentation is based and suggests various ways in which the records can be used effectively. The recordings contain sections on the vowels, diphthongs, consonants, and consonant clusters . In addition there are excellent exercises on gemminated consonants, rhythmic shortening, and particularly on voicing assimilation in the various environments. The last record has a well-exemplifed discussion of sentence intonation. Each section begins with an introduction in which the terminology is defined, the particular sound or sounds under consideration are d escribed, and incorrect pronunciation is sometimes identified. Then the correct pronunciation is given. It is repeated twice with pauses between the utterances so that the student is able to practice the pronunciation and compare it to the record. These sections would be valuable for beginning students, while the more advanced students would additionally gain from hearing the spoken Slovak of the explanations as well as from their content. These recordings would be a very useful teaching aid for non-native speakers who teach Slovak or for Slovaks who speak a dialect and would like to acquire the standard pronunciation . Every student of Slovak who wishes to acquire a good speaking command of the language will benefit from the use of these recordings. They are in fact a very solid course in Slovak phonetics, and selections from the recordings would be ideal material for the pronunciation section of a typical language course. LOUISE B. HAMMER Bloomington , Indiana Vojtech Mihalik . Erotikon. Subor l'ubostn ej lyriky. Bratislava : Slovensky spisovatel' , 1981. Vojtech Mihalik is the grand old m an of Czechoslovak letters , and specifically of Slovak poetry, if this title could apply to a m a n who is only 55 years old. He is undoubtedly the most outstanding poet of the generation which came to the fore after the Second World War. Born in 1926 , Michalik for many years worked as the editor-in-chief of the main publishing house in Bra tislava . A former long-time president of the Association of Slovak Writers, he is at presen t the director of the publi shing house Slovensky spisovatel'. His first selection of poems appeared shortly after the war. H e has published 13 more volumes of poetry as well as numerous essays a nd translations. In 1978 he received the title of Nat ion al Artist, one of the highest literary honors in Czechoslovakia. �152 SLOVAKIA This, his latest volume, contains a selection of poems written at various periods of the author's life. As far as the erotic content of the book is concerned, it is much smaller than could be expected by Western standards . Mihalik is prima rily a romantic poet , a poet of love and emotion . H e puts less stress on the physical aspects of passion than would most of his W estern colleagues . In this he remains firmly rooted in the native Slovak tradition, where the appeal is to the feeling and sentiment , and where the exploitation of sexual aspects is subdued by a sense of decorum. Thus Mihalik ' s main effort in his love is to capture the fl eeting moments of love: the minute of mutual silence, a tree rising against the sun as the lovers embrace , the sorrows and the ecstasies of deep emotion. Mihalik is ve ry conscious of nature . Like most Slovak poets, he lives spiritually in the countryside , with its peasant cottages, lush gardens, orchards full of ripe fruit, meadows suffused by the rays of sun . His erotic imagery refers almost exclu sively to nature. A lonely lover is compared to earth which gave away its beautiful perfume to strolling winds. Lovemaking is perceived by the author in term s of entering a rose garden , searching for a star in the silent sky, or walking unharmed in the midst of a swarm of bees . The metaphors are so intricately ornate that they would be reminiscent of oriental poetry, were it not for the absence of explicitness so characteristic of Arabic and Persian verse. Each poem is a parable of nature sustained to the very end , where in the last lines it unravels into a love poem . If it were not for the last couple of lines, an inexperienced reader might take the poems at their face value of m elancholy or ecstatic descriptions of landscape . Each poem is thus a higly complex and elegantly written puzzle, the m eaning of which has to be d eciphered on two levels , the natural and the erotic. Mihalik 's poems are usually short. His favorite form is the sonnet, whose stylish elegance suits perfectly his method of expression . Some of the poem s are cast in the form of a dialogue, which is a mode deeply rooted in Slovak folk poetry. Mihalik m ay be a romantic lover accordin g to the Slovak tradition , but he is by no means a patient one. If hi s passion does not m eet with a quick response , he rebels. H e sees love as a confusing passion because there is so little understanding between man and woman. Woman is always an outsider in hi s poems. She may be courted, coveted , responsive, submi ssive, or cold , but she always remain s incomprehen sible. Mihalik 's attitude toward women is quite traditional . They are the ones who suffer, who bear the burden of broken relationships, and who carry the whole burden of parental responsibility. Mih alik admires women , feels sorry for them, but he seems to accept their lot as a na tural thing. A s he gets older, Mihalik finds it increasingly difficult to accept the new �SLOVAKIA 153 world around him . It is a world where the traditional values become rejected, where children of living parents become orphans because of desertion , where wives are leaving incompatible husbands , where families becom e broken for no apparent reason. The poet sees the world around him as full of suffering and unhappiness which he can only record, without being able to alleviate them . H e becomes a witness for a new generation that is growing up unloved and unlovable . His poems lose their spontaneous enchantment with life, as life becomes increasingly complex and difficult and as the poet finds he cannot turn to love to provide him with a sense of the m eaning of existence. The only an swer that seem s to emerge from Mihalik 's later poems is the implicit message to endure , to go on, and to do one's best. And in this message, as in so many aspects of hi s poetry, Mihalik shows himself again as the true son of his peopl e, the patient, enduring, and long-suffering people of Slovakia. YVONNE GRABOWSKI York University Downsview, Canada Vincent Sikula. Liesky. Bratislava: Smena, 1980. The novelette Liesky is in many respects firml y embedded in the Slovak literary tradition. Like so many books produced in Slovakia in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it describes the trials and tribulations of a country boy on his way toward education and recognition. The chief character is a student at the conservatory who hopes to become a forest horn player and who persists in hi s path in spite of loneliness and abject poverty. The form of the novelette is also an old favorite, a first person narrative. The genre itself has been successfully transplanted from the Russian literature of the Golden Age and has fl ourished in Czechoslovakia since there was a favorable ground for its reception in Czech and Slovak folklore . What saves the story from becoming a typical hardship case narration , so characteristic of Slovak literature, is Sikula's humorous approach. The humor is intensified by the aut hor's use of the skaz technique. The predicam ents of the hero m ay be pathetic, but they are at the same time highly amusing. When the hero describes his family, we learn that his parents had so many children that the y hardly noticed if several of them were missing. The young man 's landlady can carry a conversation only with her cat - she is stone deaf. The hero has to practice music by drumming on the table because he cannot afford an instrument. When he finally gets the opportunity to practice on a real piano, he ruefully notes that it does not sou nd to him as good as the table. The narration thus proceeds at a lively pace, in a jolly animated style, �154 SLOVAKIA full of slan g, colloquiali sm s, and peasant speech m annerism s. It m akes fo r ea sy and pleasant readin g. Yet Sikula is mu ch m ore th an a skillful na rrator . Hi s m astery of style is evident as the story gradually reveals the narrator 's character , his a rtistic strivings , and his sexu al awakening. Sikula possesses a superb sense of n ature. M an is never alone in hi s book. All his ac tion s and feelings ta ke place in a na tural setting of which he is a n integral part. N a ture blends with the action , and the cha n ge of seasons accompanies ch a n ges of life . Thus the story starts with a beautiful description of winter and ends with an equally beautiful episode of picking fresh twigs from bu sh es. The story is deliberatel y left unfinished since Sikula aim s a t portrayin g but one stage in th e hero 's life . W e will never learn what is goin g to ha ppen in the future to the human twig picked from the bu sh of country life, a nd we are not m eant to know. Sikula presen ts u s with a vignette of life in the m a kin g. W e a re expected to enj oy the beaut y and the immediacy of the vignette portrayed b y an exquisite painter and not to look beyond it. Sikula has both the talen t of a pa inter a nd a poe t. Althou gh the story is written in p rose, it read s like a poem , di splayin g the author 's rem arka ble powe r ove r la nguage. Its m easured cad en ces a nd sen se of rhythm give the reader a unique poetic experience. It is the beaut y of style which gives to Liesk y its most definite imprin t. YVONNE G R ABOWS KI Y ork Uni versity D own sview, C anada �SLOVAKIA 155 BOOK NOTE Charles Wojatsek . From Trianon to the First Vienna Arbitral Award: The Hungarian Minority in th e First Czechoslovak Republic, 1918-1938. Montreal: Institute of Comparative Civilizations, 1981. 229 pp . Time and time again Mr. Wojatsek attempted to publish his manuscript through academic and commercial presses , only to have it repea tedly rejected because of its poor quality . Finally, when nothing else could be done, he published the book him self, under the spu rious auspices of the " In stitute of Comparative Civilizations, Montreal." This book is not worth serious consideration. It was written with the patriotic fervor of a true believer, and its reading makes for cruel and unusual punishment, deserved only by other nationalists of Wojatsek's type. This reviewer wishes to warn the unsu specting public: Beware 1 You may jeopardize your time, your money, and your nerves! Y ESHA Y AHU JELINEK Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Beer-Sheba, Israel �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1984, Vol. 31 Description An account of the resource Vol. 31 (No. 57), 1984. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 119 Book Reviews Robin Okey. Eastern Europe 1740-1980: feudalism to Communism. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1982 . 264 pp . Attempting to write a general survey of Eastern European history is no m ean task . Indeed, a comprehensive overview within the confines of a book numbering less than three hundred pages is altogether impossible. Robin Okey offers an alternative to this dilemma in the form of an interpretive stud y . The author indicates that his purpose is to " present a perspecti ve rather than tell a story. " Focusing on the twin themes of modernization and na tionalism , he traces the evolution of the Central and Eastern European lands through two ce nturies of economic , political, and social change . It is his thesis that Eastern European nationalism arose as a response to the area ' s comparative backwardness in relation to the W est. In approaching thi s theme, Okey notes that feudalism came relatively late to this general area , and suggests that - at least until the sixteenth century - Eastern Europe enjoyed the potential of parallel development with W estern Europe. H e states, however , that dom estic fe udal forces were strong enough to reverse thi s trend . External forces - the Turkish invasion of the Balka ns a nd Hun gary a nd the H a bsburg conquest of rebelliou s Bohemia - are also cited as instrument al facto rs. Ei ghtee nth -century Eastern Europe is ch a racterized as havin g regimes which were ineffi cient even by feudal standards . The peasantry bore the brunt of resulta nt defi ciencies, but thriving popul ar cultures provided an impetu s for future revival. Okey states catego rically that the penetrati on of the Enli ghtenm ent represe nt s the first stages of ra pprochem ent with the W est. In a number of in sta nces th e process was characteri zed by reform from a bove, althou gh the role of th e cl ergy is also cited . In the latter case, the auth or specificall y mention s th e P ole K on a rski and th e Serb Obrad ovic; it is wo rth notin g th a t Bern ola k's contribution to th e Slovak rev ival is omitted . T he Eastern Eu ro pean Enli gh te nment faced the dil emm a th at the socia l premi ses of an al ternative order we re incomplete. Con sequentl y, conservatives were more ext reme and reformers more revolutionary tha n their cou n terpa rt s in the West. 120 SLOVAKIA Liberalism in Eastern Europe differed from the West insofar as members of the nobility were heavily involved in a process which put them in opposition to their own social strata. Okey characterizes Eastern European liberalism as "an elusive, complex creed"; it shared the heavy emotionalism of ideas from other lands , but was only partially emancipated from native traditions. He objects to the Marxist view of nationalism as a creed devised by ambitious bourgeois elements; instead, he cites the role of professional scholars as the vanguard of the national movements . The 1848 revolutionary experience led to a clash between liberalism and nationalism; the former was instrumental in abolishing the last vestiges of serfdom, but also failed to satisfy the national aspirations of subject peoples . The balance of the nineteenth century is treated as a period of ideological fragmentation. The advance of industrial capitalism caused a reaction against liberalism on the part of the Right as well as the Left , and the continued rise of mass nationalism splintered existing political parties along ethnic lines. In assessing the downfall of the old order during World War I , Okey concedes that not all tendencies could be related to the national question. But h e hastens to add that "only nationalism had a magnetism strong enough to draw the dislocated elements into an alternative political order the pattern of nation-states . '' Promoters of the new nation-states viewed their emergence as the culmination of humanist principles. Okey disagrees, and cites three general causes for the failure of Western-style liberalism in the interwar period . Most obviously, one of them is the continuity of ethnic conflict within the new states. Second, the Eastern European nations remained economically de pendent on foreign capital. Finally, both the leaders of the new states and their opponents repudiated democracy in their approach to the outstanding problems of the times. Okey views interwar nationalism as "short-sighted rather than fundamentall y misguided"; the outsider Hitler bore the greatest responsibility for the demise of these states. The author implies that national Communism was most successful in those countries where the Party remained in effective control of public life, and failed in Czechoslovakia because the regime capitulated ideologicall y to non-Party gro ups. Finally, Okey states that the rise of a mass int elli ge nt sia and the emerge nce of common social problem s with the West is indicative of a greater degree of syncopat ion. For the student of Slovak hi story, this book might prove disappointing. Indeed, a genuine weakness may be found in the fact that Okey cites so few examples of the Slovak experien ce which provide important contrasts with certain patterns. Okey ' s contention that Eastern European soc iety had already become "brutali zed" during World War II , and that the Communists were tailor-made representatives of the new age , borders on conjecture. Although the position of the J ews in Slovakia was precarious during the war , they were SLOVAKIA 121 nevertheless afforded a certain "breathing space" denied to their kin smen in Poland, and the average citizen of the Slovak R epublic was by no m ean s terrorized. It was only during the 1944 risin g - in which Communists played a major role - that "brutalization" on a broad scale was affected . Okey's treatment of the " Prague Spring" also provides a case of omission: He correctly cites the straightj acket command economy model as a major facto r in Novotny's demise, but mentions the Slovak opposition only as merely inciden tal. But insofar as Slovakia may be viewed as an integral part of an Eastern European whole, this book has definite merit. It provides the reader with a concise, refreshing overview of the past two centuries, and the author skillfully employs anecdotal examples to compare and contrast specific national experiences. Okey's book is helpful to the student already well-grounded in general Eastern European history; it can also be useful to the instructor who wishes to co nvey a certain sense of ideological conflict inherent in the region . R. VLADIMIR BAUMGARTEN Easley, South Carolin a East Central Europe: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow. Edited by Milorad M. Drachkovitch. Stanford, Calif.: H oover Institution Press, 1982 . 41 7 pp . Thirteen of the seventeen papers contained in this volume were presented at a conferen ce organized by the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in January , 1980 . Due to the events in Poland in August , 1980 , publication of the symposium's proceedings was delayed so that individual authors could revise their contributions. According to the editor, Milorad M. Drachkovitch, readers of the book "will not find in it a ny pred ictions " and "will be offered facts and explan ations of recent events" (p. xi). This is true of most but not all of the essays. The latte r are largely analyt ical and of uneven quality. Among th e excellent contributions are Drachkovitch 's survey of the postwar political and economic developm ents in Yu goslavia, Leszek Kolakowski's " Ideology in Eastern Europe ," and the essays by J ohn Erickson, Hugh Seton-Watson, Peter J. Wiles, and Richard F. Staar. Also superb is the overview of developments in East Central Europe , " Present Situation and Principal Trends ," by Robert F. Byrnes. H e points out that '' the opinions of even our most expe rienced an alysts often reflect shallow hi stori cal knowledge , flight y analysis, and the ass umpti on that peoples of this area are far less in terested in independence and self-government than a re West 122 SLOVAKIA Europeans and Americans '' (p. 20). The flip-flops of George K ennan are cited as an example. Byrnes is a very perceptive observer who notices the connection between the election of Pope John Paul II , his visit to P oland in 1979, and the subsequent d evelopments in that country. In contrast , the essay on Poland by Jan T omasz Gross, " What Is Yet To Come," appears to be a rather superficial d escription of events leading up to the establishment of Solidarity in 1980 , claiming that " the impossible was inevitable " (p. 32 1). In the last section of the essay Gross sketches two different scenarios: first , Soviet military intervention ; second, the devolution of the Soviet imperium for which the price would be " m ost likely " the " ne utralization of Germany through unification and detachment from the Atlantic Alliance " (p. 325). As it happened , the imposition of martial law in D ecember 1981 proved his (and man y other observers') projections incorrect. On Alexander Dubcek 's behavior in 1968 Hugh Seton-Watson comments by asking a rhetorical question : How could the United States "defend people who would not defend themselves?" (p . 178). In contrast to it , Zdenek L. Suda, while concentrating mostly on the events in 1968 , is very a pologetic. H e writes: " The peaceful counterrevolution in the ve ry core of the Czechoslovak system must have caused more pani c in Moscow than the armed insurgency of Hungarian workers and soldiers in O ctober 1956 " (p. 258). Suda's cl aim is an undocumented assumption without an y foundation, and so is his interpretation of the events in Czechoslovkia when he writes that " the whole reform movement of 1968 could be defined simply as the application of rules and laws that long had been dead letters, but nt>:vertheless existed. It was precisely this greater respect for legality and constitutionality that sounded an alarm in the Soviet power center and triggered the intervention" (p. 256). Accordin g to Suda, "the Czechoslovak case differs from the Polish case because the Polish reform experim ent initiated in 1956 fa iled without direct Soviet intervent ion " (p. 252). Suda does not differentiate between intervention and in vasion . Soviet military presence in Poland ever since the end of World War II has constituted inter vention and h as m ade in vasion unnecessary. In fact, an invasion would have been cou nterproductive from the Soviet point of view. In contrast to it , by in vading Czechoslovakia in 1968 the Soviets h ave attained their military and strategic objecti ves. The "temporary" stationing of Soviet troops in Czechoslovakia has become " permanent. " The even ts in Poland in the earl y 1980s corroborate the view th at the Soviets had military a nd strategic reasons for the 1968 in vasion and that the in ternal de velopments , which certainly did not amount to a "counterrevoluti on" as Sud a and the Sov iets claim, were merely a pretext for the action whose a im was to extract a "consent " from the Czech and Slovak Communist leaders to the stati oning of Soviet troops in Czechoslovakia. L abeling people as " neo -Stalinists " a nd "dogmati cs," as SLOVAKIA 123 Suda does, is meaningless. His lack of knowledge of history is reflected in the essay. For example, he writes that " the division of the world between the two superpowers into spheres of interest - made the eventual integration of Czechoslovakia into the system controlled by the Soviets virtually inevitable'' (p. 244). However , nothing was " inevitable" about the arrangements that Edvard Benes made in Moscow in D ecember , 1943 . It was his decision to sign the trea ty with the Soviet Union and to promise the Czech and Slovak Communist leaders in Moscow that their party would be the strongest element in the new regime and that he would always support it. Indeed , Professor Byrnes' comment on the " shallow historical knowledge" and " flighty analysis," cited above , is applicable to the two essays by the two sociologists on Czechoslovakia and Poland published in this volume . j OSEF KAL YODA Saint Joseph College W est H artford, Connecticut Rudolf Krajcovic. Svedectvo dejfn o slovencine . 2nd edition, corrected. Martin : Matica slovenska, 1980 . 268 pp. The second edi tion of Krajcovic's collection of linguistic eviden ce for the Slovak language is essentially the same as the first of 1977 . In these two edition s, the compiler strives to offer proof that the Slovak language has its own long and distinctive history. He is intent on demonstrating that Slovak is a " language of written documents ." He traces Slovak from the period of the Great Moravian Empire of the ninth century throu gh the "twilight of Hungarian feudalism" in the nineteenth century. For the conclusion of his stud y, Krajcovic gives examples of present-day dialectical variations of the Slovak lan guage. There are photographs of d ocuments u sed as evidence. Especially when documents are in script, Krajcovic has the writings reproduced in printed form for easier appreciat ion. Interspersed among the evidence are bl ac k a nd white as well as colored illu stration s of folk articles and pa intings on a folk theme. The illu st ra tions a re the better to con vey the a tmosphere and period of the docum ents presented. Documen ta ry evidence from the early periods , n a mel y from that of the Great M orav ia n Empire through that of the fifteenth century , is not really extensive. A hi storical lin gui st would find the m aterial interesti ng, perh a ps even intrigu ing , but not conclu sive or even substantial for a judgm ent. From the sixteenth century onwards , the material offered as evidence is increasin gly more substanti ve. Indeed , Krajcovic him self notes th at the m aterial from the sixtee nth ce ntury is of" great significance," because thi s was "when Slovak was 124 SLOVAKIA for the first time committed to written form." The expression " written form " is perhaps a poor choice of phrasing. (The expression is found in the brief Slovak, Russian, as well as English introductions to the documentary evidence for this period.) For virtually all the examples of Slovak in this book are written . By the expression "written form," Krajcovic's probably means that the extant documentary instances of Slovak become more extensive and so more able to be appreciated linguistically. In focusing on this poor phrasing and its alleged implication , I do not intend to impugn the long history and distinctiveness of Slovak that Krajcovic desires so clearly to demonstrate in his book. The reader, nonetheless, cannot help feeling that Krajcovic is straining very hard to do this. On the whole, the book is more a nicely illustrated survey of the Slovak language for the layperson rather than a serious academic study for the specialist. With the Slovak language and its related culture appreciated so little outside of Slovakia and the Czech lands, Krajcovic' s book could enhance to some degree a better understanding of this language and culture . This second edition is a ''corrected '' version of the first . This correcting involves stylistic and typographical errors, but especially a few attributions that include additions, deletions, or actual corrections. For example, Krajfovic has deleted the attribution of the 1648 Trnava dictionary as one used for Virgil's Aeneid. The attribution ofa folk article as coming from Kovafova pri Zvolene has been changed to Kral'ova. Krajcovic has added the name of the Austrian author of Klimko's rendition of Krizant und Daria - Gottfried Uhlich, rendered by Krajcovic as Ulrich . Also, the English text has at times questionable diction and stylistic phrasing. The Russian text has been improved for this edition in various places. Neither language should offer problems in Slovakia, for there are native speakers as well as numerous specialists who could be consulted for a third edition . Finally, the bibliography for this edition has been expanded by one item. The price of this survey of the Slovak language has remained the same as for the earlier edition . This should make the book a readily purchasable acquisition for any individual or institution. G ERALD] . SABO , S.J . John Carroll University Cleveland, Ohio I'.udovft Novak. K najstarsfm dejinam slovenskehojazyka . Bratislava: Veda, vydavatel'stvo Slovenskej adademie vied, 1980 . 352 pp. This important study of the earliest history of the Slovak language evolved out of a plan by I'.udovft Novak in the 1930s to supply the most up-to-date , complete, and detailed presentation of Slovak phonology from its earliest begin- SLOVAKIA 125 nings . Methods of structu ral analysis were to be applied to the reconstructed phonologies of Slovak dialects . The origi nal ve rsion was begun in the last months of 1938 and earl y 1939 , a period of political turbulence. Over the intervening years, materials added to the original accumulated into several essays, thus resulting in two works. By reason of the a mount of accu mulated m ate rials , a recent decision to publi sh this monograph from just the original alone was ca rried out . The val ue of the original as a linguistic la ndm ark of the structural method in Slovakia was the deciding factor. Novak 's later theories are to be published in a separate volume which will be entitled "Vznik Praslovanov a ich jazyka. '' Four chapters in the book under review provide the most important linguistic phenomena in the d evelopment of the Slovak sou nd system , from the earliest period after the collapse of Common Slavic into the dialect differentiations of the Slovak area. They are: (a) the Slovak reflexes rat-, lat- from P ro to-Slavic *ort- , *oft -; (b) alterat ions in the consonant clusters dl, tl, and dn ; (c) reduced vowel "yer"-changes , the contraction phenomena, and the depalatalization of e( e)»a; and (d) the reconstruction of sound systems of Slovak dialects after the period of liquidation of Common Slavic co rrelations of '' syllabic soft ening. '' Novak is interested in whether (a) can be termed a "Yugoslavism" relating to a theory of colonization of Central Slovakia from the south . With respect to (b) he quotes rare documents of ancient dialect litera ture, gives phonetic a nd phonological ex plana tions , with examples of geographic ex tension of changes in W estern Slovak, and compares this with pa rallel types of like consonantal quantitat ive correlation s in a non-Slavic la nguage. For ( c) the a uthor defines the rapport of Central Slovak especially with East and Central Slavic languages, and refers to the chronology and locali zation of alterations in the Common Slavic dialect dom ai n. R egarding (d) he concen trates first on the contrac tion phenomena in Central Slovak with its chronology a nd that of other Slavic dialects, and then of other West Slavic la nguages . H e provides a n argu m ent for the explanation of the zenou-feminine-instrumental-singular type and a criticism of other theories. Most of the phonological changes in Old Slovak are viewed as occurring due to certain influences of external lan guages or of internal dialects. Hi s terminology illu strates certain developing periods of Old Slovak , for example, turkicizing, mongolization. The aut hor maintains one of several possible theories in lin guistic development. Hi s is an attempt to overcome difficulties connected with the immane nt development of the Slovak language. ova.k's structural approach as innovative and successful in the earl y period of lin gu ist ics is appla uded by colleagues m entioned in the foreword. H owever, his earl y theory is criticized as "one-sided" for three main reasons : fai lure to 126 SLOVAKIA calculate the comparison of internal contradictions; overemphasis on phonology without consideration of grammatical, morphemi c, morphological, or wordbuilding structures as lingui stic units; and finally a lack of regard for sociolin guistic chan ges . I'.udovft Novak is referred to as th e " Nestor of Slovak Linguistics " (p. 9) . This original work is viewed as a monument in the evolution of Slovak lin gu istics a nd is noteworthy, especially considering the period of its composition, the structural methods applied, with its new theoreti cal thought and insights. It is rightly considered the first synthetic conception of the earliest history of Slovak language founded on the development of the dialect sound systems. The dedication of the book is symbolic of its apparent inherent worth. Honored are three famous contributors to Slovak linguistics: to the history of the Slovak language (Trubetzkoy); to the comparative history of Slovak and Czech languages (Travnfcek), and to the foundation of modern Slovak linguistic geography with its Slovak historical dialectology (Vazny). Novak has provided the first synth etic method of structu ral applicat ion to the historical phonology of Slovak , a structural lin gui st ic milestone in Slovak lan guage study. JOHN M . KOCHIK Westmoreland County Community College Youngwood, Pennsyl vania Frantisek Kalesny. Habani na Slovensku. Bratislava: Tatran, 198 1. 376 pp. Scattered today over the prairies of the United States and Canada can be found settlements of a people known as Hutterites or Hutterian Brethren. The Brethren still retain the German language of their forefathers and practice a st ri ctly communitarian way of life. Their mode of collective farming is not th e outcome of economi c calculation ; it results from the Hutterit es' belief that Christ calls on his followers to renounce private property and have all things common . The H utterites originated in th e earl y 1530s as part of the Anabaptist movement that had begun in Central Europe around 1525. The M ennon ites tod ay also claim spiritual descent from this movement which represe nted a left wing of the Protestant R eformation. While onl y the Hutterites esta bli shed community o f goods, all its adherents practiced adult ba ptism (hence the n ame they acqu ired, Anabaptists) in order to stress the volunta ry character of their beli eve rs' church, in which only grown persons could participate meaningfull y. As Dr. Kales ny remarks in the preface to hi s fascinating study of Hutterite hi story, few Slovaks know about th e connection betwee n the Hutterites a nd Slovakia, where they li ved for over two hundred year . The descendants of those Hutterites, who in the mid -e ighteenth century acce pted forced SLOVAKIA 127 recatholicization rather than have to emigrate, eve ntually lost their German speech and a re today completely assimilated to the Slovak popula tion. If memories of the Hutterites grew dim, the name which their Slovak neighbors gave these German settlers , " H abans " (Habani, H abaner) , has become widely known on acco unt of the beautiful ceramics produced by the Hutterite communities and their successors. These are now valued possessions of the museums of Czechoslovakia a nd Hun gary, and examples of the art form are also to be fo und elsewhere. H a ban folk a rt , according to K alesny (p.12), should be reckoned as an important asse t of Slovak '' n at ion al culture,'' for it was produced on the soil of Slovakia by people who, although of foreign origin , had put down deep roots there. The book , which is a wo rk of scholarship even though it lac ks footnotes, is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the history of the Hutterite communities from their inception down to the present d ay, with m ost a ttention given to their soj ourn in northwest Hungary (present -day Slovakia) . They first set up comm unities there around 1545: Their chief settlement a nd the seat of their " bi sh op" was a t Sobotiste. As in Moravia where the sect had started, h ere too it s ad herents we re welcomed by the landown ing nobility, Catholic as well as Protestant, who valued the Hu tterites as h ardworking and profitable tenants and consequently were prepared to overlook their religiou s peculiarities. After the battle of White Mountain in 1620 the H absburg ruler drove them out of M oravia, but the Moravian brethren also found a refuge on the estates of friendly Hun garia n landown ers. The endemic warfare of the seve nteenth century when Turkish, H absburg, and kuru c forces ravaged the Slovak countryside inflicted terrible suffering on the local population , including the Hutterites . On the eve of the disaster of 1620 the Hutterites in M oravia and Slovakia had numbered abo ut 25,000 persons, a tenfold increase sin ce 1545, which was due to the steady stream of newcomers from the T yrol a nd ot her pa rts of Ce n tral Europe seeking to join the brotherhood. Almost all these were of German speech , but a few adherents were of local origin. On page 46 , fo r instance, K alesny m entions "Wendel H olba ein Schlawak (Ve ndel H olba, Slovak)," who even becam e a Hu tterite minister. Whereas in north Hun gary the Hutterites abandoned their communitarian wa y of life in 1685 a nd were recatholicized under Maria Theresa in the nex t century (w hile still retaining for some time their separate legal identit y as H abaner), in Transylvania - where some Hutterites had settled in 1621 - they contin ued to lead the same life as before, until finally in 1767 the aut horit ies expelled those who would not conform . Ka les ny ch ron icles briefly their subseq uent wanderings, first via Wall ac hia to the Ukraine where they arrived in 1770 and then in 1874 across the Atlantic and on to the American West. After World War I most of the Hutterites moved across the border into Canada . Their later mi grat ions stemmed not from 128 SLOVAKIA religious persecution but from the threat posed to their pacifist principles by the introduction of universal miliary service. Kalesny prefaces his historical narrative, which for the most part does not add to what we already know , by an interestin g discussion of the name haban , the first authenticated m ention of which occurs in a document of 1667 now in the municipal archives of Bratislava. Originally a d erogatory term , it eventually lost its pejorative connotation and became the accepted way of describing the descendants of the former comm unitarians . Concerning the origin of the word no consensus exists among scholars. The latest theory is that of a German scholar who derives it from the H ebrew. D espite what the resumes say, Kalesn y seems to be somewhat sceptical about this. If the author deals rather briefly with the religious aspects of the Hutteri te way of life, h e devotes almost the whole of th e second part of the book to their social organization. The overwhelming majority of community m embers were artisans: Over forty crafts were bei ng practiced when the communities were at their peak. Of course, they also engaged in farming, which today is the chief occupation of the Hutterites. A strict discipline was imposed on members , expulsion from the brotherhood being the final sanction against those who did not conform. But this was not usually necessary since the brethren recognized the advantages of communal living over those of the outside world, despite any momentary attraction they might feel toward the latter. " The Hutterites had succeeded in creating an ordered society, socially egalitarian and materially secure, with high moral principles based on the community'' (p. 169) . Children of both sexes were taught at least to read and write - in an age when illiteracy prevailed among the masses . Great care was taken, too, to provide for the sick and aged, for pregnant women and for children of preschool age . The culture was perhaps narrow and th e aut horit y of the elders excessive, but this must be judged within the context of the times. Purely aesthetic values found no place among Hutterites. Yet their craftsmen succeeded in creatin g countless objects of beauty either for domestic use or for sale: Their pottery became famous throughout east central Europe and was eage rly bought up by the nobility a nd wealthy townspeople of the area. Kalesny, whose specialty is folk a rt , devotes th e third part of hi s book to the history and technology of'' H aban '' pottery. The making of faience , their most hi gly prized produ ct , had bee n introdu ced into th e Hutterite communit ies around 1580 by An a baptist immigra nts from northeas t Italy. Kales ny has included at the end I 09 full-page colored illu strat ion s of ceramics emanating from " H aban" workshops. The bibliography includes man y items in Slovak, Czech, a nd Hungarian that are unknown to North Ameri can scholars who have written on the Hutterites. Man y of these pi eces, it is true , deal with " Haban" ce ramics, but some SLOVAKIA 129 are of more general interest. K alesny, on the other h and, h as obviously had difficulty in gaining access to sch olarship in the W est. He knows the work of the M ennonite sociologist , J ohn A. H ostetler. But h e does not, for example , appear to be acquainted either with the valua ble study by another M ennonite scholar , Victor J . Peters, All Things Common: The Hutterian Way of Life (Minneapoli s, 1965) , or with the numerous articles published in the United States by the leading authority on Hutterite history and culture, the late Robert Friedmann . Many of them were reprinted in his Hutterite Studies (Goshen , Indian a , 1961) . L et us hope that in future closer contacts can be established in the field of Hutterite studies between North American scholars and those working in Czechoslovakia and Hungary. K alesny is perhaps lucky in dealing with a group like the Hutterites who , while deeply religiou s, have at the same time been dedicated "communists," albeit of the Utopian variety. The T at ran press was able (so to speak) to roll out the red carpet for him . It h as published a volume that , with its excellent pa per, numerou s illu stration s, and tasteful design , is indeed a credit to book production in Slovakia. PETER BROCK University of T oronto Toronto , Canada August A. Skodacek. Lutherans in Slovakia . Pittsburgh : Slavia Printing Company, 1982. 242 pp. This acco unt of the rise and development of the Lutheran Church in Slovakia from the Reformation to the present redresses the oversight of many concern in g the role of the Lutheran Church in the historical development of Slovakia. This may b e a fl aw. The author would have us understand that Slovakia 's history in modern times is a con sequen ce n ot onl y of the R eformation but also of the influence of Lutheranism in Slovak social and political struggles. However, Skodacek does not su ffic ientl y analyze the historical facts a nd ci rcum stances to judge whether hi s claim , that without Lutheranism m od ern Slovakia would not be , is warranted. Skodacek chronciles the fa te and fort une of Lutherani sm in term s of fates and fortun es of the group's leaders. As they fared, so fared their group . Thus, this is a hi story of an in stitution al church and its great m en from a perspective of within the gro up . It uses synodical records to illu strate th e respon se of the Lutheran C hurch in Slovakia to outside social and political forces, na m ely the Roman Catholic C hu rch , the J esuits, and the variou s rulers allied with those two groups. Since there is little in -depth an alysis, thi s essay does not offer a ny new insights into the causes of man y of the events ch ro nicled. 130 SLOVAKIA In the main, it is a hagiographic account extolling historical individuals for their virtues and deeds done in the name of the cause. In describing the influences of a Thurzo , Lani , or Krman and others, Skodacek, interestingly enough, sees them as the real descendants of the missionaries Cyril and Methodius. Just as Cyril and Methodius introduced the Slavs to Christianity and hence to civilization ( of a kind) , so too the followers of Luther reintroduced Christianity and civilization to Slovakia even to the point of generating and maintaining a consciousness of Slovak nationalism. To this point, Skodacek writes that "the R eformation activated a conversion in Slovakia which gradually brought into the open a Slovak nationality; it spread the reformational ideology in an understandable native language and a democratic religious life'' (p. 66). Be this as it may, the book is a good source for anyone who wishes to do research in Slovak history but who does not know th e necessary languages. The volume provides translations of records and documents of the various synodical events which figured large in the life of the Slovak Lutheran Church. This point not withstanding, it is unfortunate that Skodacek did not see fit to describe and analyze the historical dynamics of the sociocultural and political forces beyond the activities of the Lutherans and the Roman Catholics. Not everyone, despite Skodacek's claim, was either a Lutheran or Roman Catholic. Some were Greek Catholic and some were Calvinists. These are never mentioned . Also, not everyone living in Slovakia was either a Slovak or a German . Another missing analytical point is that of socioeconomic class; from what class did the Lutheran leadership come? It is on these points that Skodacek could have given us some insight; perhaps he will irt another book . Although this vol ume is a good in-house version of a historical period and of what happened to the Lutherans in Slovakia , the lack of analysis of the sociocultural and political dynamics limits its effectiveness. ROBERT j. SKOVIRA Saint Vincent College Latrobe, Pennsylvania Paul R obert Magocsi . The Shaping of a National Identity: Subcarpathian Rus ', 1848-1948. Cambridge, Mass .: Harvard University Press, 1978 . 650 pp. P aul R. Magocsi. The Rusyn -Ukrainians of Czechoslovakia: An Historical Survey . Vienna: Wilhelm Braumi.iller Universitats-Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1983. 94 pp . The first of Professor Magocsi ' s books is the one we all dream of writing . The fruit of years of research, it is encyclopedic in its description of the cul- SLOVAKIA 131 tu ral a nd political development of the territory which m ad e up Subcarpathian Ruthenia in the first C zechoslovak Republic. H e has used a rich array of sources - archives, published statistics, interviews , and most books and articles relating to the subj ect. It will stand for d ecades to com e as the basic referen ce work . Graduate students will be surpr ised to find a detached , obj ective approach in a volume devoted to an East European nationality group of less tha n a million people. It will be a required presence in the library of eve ryo ne who calls himself an Eas t European historian . Slovakists , in particular, will welcome Magocsi ' s dispassiona te understa ndin g of the sensibilities of the ripening Slovak national identity in Eastern Slovakia. The tex t is di vided into three parts. The first cove rs political and cultural hi story un til 19 18 . The second examines history, la nguage, literature , education , and reli gion between 19 18 and 1944. The final part discusses the political hi story from the end of W orld W ar I to the incorporation of the territory into the U krainia n Soviet R epublic at the end of W orld W ar II. This is followed by 4 a ppendices (82 pages), notes ( 106 pages), and bibliography ( 122 pages) . In his introduct ion , M agocsi promises to analyze how one ethnic group was exposed to na tionalism and how its leaders presen ted this new ideology to their people. H e points out that the leaders in what he calls " an embryonic sta te of na tional d evelopment " still did not agree on which national orientation to follow - Ru syn , Hun gari an , Slovak (and/o r C zech), Ukra inian , or Russian. H e then describes the elimination of each alternative until only Ukrainia n was left. With such a rich and well-organized presentation of d ata, it must seem churlish for a reviewer to take issue with the author . And ye t one has the impression tha t the author ' s desire to incl ude every las t piece of info rm ation has di st racted him fro m his original inte ntion of trying to discover the underl ying reaso ns fo r the fi nal victory of the U kra inia n orientation . The book becom es fi nall y a trad itional approach to East Eu ro pean history, albeit without the partisan coloring wh ich usually characterizes such work . H e outlines the failure of leaders of certa in national orien tations to attrac t adherents, or their willingness to sacrifice national fo r political gain. H e find s external factors decisive in dete rmining that the territory wo uld eventu ally become Ukrainian . In an area with such a n embryo nic ethnic and national identity, it seems odd tha t M agocsi limited his book terri to rially, acco rding to political bound aries which existed for onl y two decades . The fa ult m ay lie in his d efinition of ethn ic group as a popul ation that " in m ost cases possesses a distinct territory, com m on traditions, and related dialects. " Although he pays homage to the theories of K a rl D eutsch on natio nalism and social communicatio n , he fa il s in large pa rt to apply them . H e looks a t the intelligentsia in action , but not the intelligen tsia in formatio n . It would 132 SLOVAKIA have been possible, for instance, to examine the changing national composition of the students in the high schools (gymnazia) over time and through the various grades. This might have suggested underlying trends in national identification. Magocsi is quite right in saying it is impossible to explain why individuals join differing national orientations, but the totality of the changes can be very informative. It is quite conceivable that the socioeconomic development in the interwar period showed a trend toward a Ukrainian identity. This would help explain why the Soviet regime met so little opposition when it assigned a Ukrainian identification to the population at the end of the war. After the depth of research and evaluation which characterized the first book , the second volume is a disappointment. While those interested in Slovak history will find useful material here on the political, socioeconomic, and cultural history of what Magocsi calls the "Rusyn-Ukrainians" of Czechoslovakia, there also is a disappointing tendency to blame every difficulty faced by this national grouping on national discrimination. This stands in considerable contrast to his conclusion (p . 270) in the larger volume . OWEN V . JOHNSON Indiana University Bloomington , Indiana Jubilea Matice slovenskej. Compiled by Vojtech Sarluska. "Seria: Monografie - Vyskum dejfn Matice slovenskej, zv. 9." Martin: Matica slovenska, 1980. 130 pp . The volume under review is a compendium of articles resulting from a seminar devoted to the commemoration of the sixtieth anniversary of the Matica slovenska's reconstitution ( 1919) and its silver anniversary as the Slovak National Library ( 1954 ). The essays discuss various aspects of the Matica's present contributions in the fields of research and education. Themes analyzed include : the Matica ' s efforts in library acquisition, preservation, and dissemination; planning and organization of its activities and resources; bibliographic development over the past quarter century; activities of the Literary Archives; programs of the Literary Museum; efforts of the Biographical Office; activities of the Matica's Office of Slovaks Abroad ; and the Matica ' s publishing activities. The section prepared by Stefan Krivus, the Matica' s present director , sets the tone for the other essays . Krivus traces the Matica's history through interwar Czechoslovakia, its activities during World War II, its place in the resurrected R epublic, and its role in Socialist Slovakia. He describes each period as a step in the Matica's maturation process. Both Krivus and the other contributors make it quite clear that the Matica of 1979 is not the Matica of 1919 ; SLOVAKIA 133 it has continually changed in response to the demands placed on it as Slovakia' s premier national cultural institution. It is a pity that this publication , which offers much valuable information on the Matica slovenska's vital role in past and contemporary Slovak cultural life , was printed in a limited edition and "only for internal use" by professional scholars, thus making it unavailable to the much wider readership which it deserves . JOHN A . BERTA Middletown, Pennsylvania I1 mondo slavo. Saggi e contributi slavistici a cura del Centro Studi Europ a Orientale di Padova . Volume VIII. Edited by Milan S. Durica. Padova: CESEO-Liviana, 1982 . 318 pp. Professor Milan S. Durica has taken the opportunity of his editorship of this volume of I1 mondo slavo to present a number of studies which help to identify Slovak ethnic consciousness in its language and history and to distinguish it clearly from assimilative Czechoslovak linguistic and political tendencies. In his own article, which offers a historical-philological profile of the Slovak language, he traces the evolution of the Slovak language in Slavic ethnogeny. The Slovak glottogenetic process of isoglosses is delineable on Slovak ethnic territory . This position is butressed by (1) Slovakocentricity - the expression of geometric distance proportional to linguistic elements and (2) the most recent studies on fundamental Slavic lexical patrimony revealing its highest in Slovak . Durica' s ' profile' establishes that the research of historical and comparative lexicology fortifies the theory of the Slovak proto-Slavic glottogenesis. His synthesis of recent· research is a valuable contribution to the thesis that Slovak is an independent Slavic language . Stefan V ragas presents historical and linguistic highlights of the development of the Slovak literary language from 1918 to 1979. A significant portion of his article centers on the linguistic politics of "Czechoslovakism ," i.e. , the linguistic and political claim of one Czechoslovak language and nation , in opposition to any contention of on e separate and individual Slovak language and nation . The author demonstrates that Slovak experts succeeded in counteracting the opposition by applying the facts of history to linguistics and courageously weathering political humiliations as did , for example, Eudovft Novak , author of K najstarsfm dejinam slovenskehojazyka. Vragas must be commended for his definition of Czechoslovakism and for his timely exposition of some generally unknown linguistic-political humiliations of Slovak scholars, especially in the 1950s a nd part of the 1960s. 134 SLOVAKIA The history of Slovak translations on Slovak ethnic territory to 1939 is the subject of the article by Agostino Visco. Brief mention is made of translations into contemporary Slavic during the Great Moravian era and some initial translations into Latin . It was not until the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that extensive translation was made from Latin into the Slovak national language, mainly by Catholics. From Greek and Latin some classics and religious works were translated: ancient poetry, meditations, the Bible . Later, translations began from West European authors, then from East European ones, until the abortive years 1848-1849, when translations declined . After 1918 and in the early twentieth century translations resumed . They steadily progressed after 1933, when the Matica slovenska established a translation group , thus institutionalizing and perfecting translations. Visco considers the Slovak R epublic era (1939-1945) as the most important period for translations . Inasmuch as translations have so much influenced both Slovak poetry and prose, they represent an important facet of Slovak literature. Mirella De Martini Tihany examines the emigration of Italian laborers from Venetia and Lombardy to Slovakia in the second half of the nineteenth century . Parish registers of Slovak localities along the main railroad line from Kosice (Slovakia) to Bohumfn (Moravia) are the principal sources of research, especially those found in the State and District Archives of Bytca. Because of mineral transports from central Slovakia, railroads were needed in Slovakia . Historically, the Kosice-Bohumfn line construction in 1870 was urgent for connecting eastern Slovakia with Berlin . In this construction , the temporary Italian immigration initially entered . For some workers it meant death from epidemic , for others it was an occasion for marriage and baptisms. In her article Tihanyi provides a brief insight into Slovak interaction with the emigrants and also a sad commentary on the plight of Italian workers neglected by their non-Slovak contractors . Finally , Lisa Guarda Nardini considers the sole syndicate in Czechoslovakia, the "ROH" - Revolutionary Trade Union Movement. It is studied as an exemplary illustration of the statute of the organization which institutionally represents all workers in a country which claims that labor is paramount and the workers govern . The author proceeds from a relatively brief introduction about members , duties, structure, and other considerations to a translation of the ROH statute with its fifty articles. The m erit of this article is the translation of the ROH statute into Italian from Slovak. Volume III of IJ mondo slavo can be recommended to the readers of Slovakia for its wealth of information on fascinating Slovak topics. JOHN M. KOCHIK Westmoreland County Community College Youngwood, Pennsylvania SLOVAKIA 135 Josef Korbel. Twentieth-Century Czechoslovakia: The Meanings of Its History. New York: Columbia University Press , 1977 . 346 pp. A rich and varied background prepared the late Professor Josef Korbel for this twentieth-century history of a small country in Central Europe . He was closely associated with the University of Denver, where he served as Dean of the Graduate School oflnternational Studies, Director of the Social Science Foundation , and Andrew W . Mellon Professor of International Studies. He was the author of several books on Central Europe. Prior to his academic career, Korbel had been the Czechoslovak ambassador to Yugoslavia . He also had held a number of other important diplomatic posts and was a personal acquaintance of both Edvard Benes and Jan Masaryk . Twentieth -Century Czechoslovakia begins with the Hussite period. By tracing the "roots" of Czech thought from Jan Hus to the subsequent suppression by the Catholic Habsburgs, and through the era of the Enlightenment, the author demonstrates how the Czech ideal of humanity evolved. He compares concepts derived from Frantisek Palacky and Karel Havlfcek to Tomas G. Masaryk's "Czech humanism. " All three were witnesses to the Hussite influence . A quick glance at opposing interpretations of Czech history by Josef Pekar and Ferdinand Peroutka and their criticism ofT.G. Masaryk's philosophy leads Korbel to the observation that " in times of assured statehood the Czech people strove for the ideals of humanity; in times of peril, they lowered their heads to save the national body" (p. 24). Korbel expands this thought throughout the rest of the book. Beginning with July 6, 1915, the 500th anniversary of the death of Jan Hus , Tomas G. Masaryk is depicted as voicing a vision about to become a reality. As the author discusses the historical formation of Czechoslovakia, he dwells primarily on the Czech leadership. He skillfully paints portraits of national hopes , problems of administration, mistakes in judgment, and fears for the future. Throughout the twenties and thirties these events led to the final breakup of the first Czechoslovakia. By analyzing the Munich crisis and World War II as it affected this Central European victim state, Korbel clearly shows that the Czechs " lowered their heads to save the national body." As he searches for the mea ning of the postwar years in the revitalized Czechoslovak state, he refers to them as " The Sisyphean Years," the title of his last and perhaps most intriguing chapter. With T.G . M asaryk, he believes that " the nation will take up again its active role in mankind's neyer-ending struggle for freedom and social justice" (p. 320). Written in an engaging style, Korbel's story of Czechoslovakia's rise and fall will fascinate not only the student of history but also a ny reader interested 136 SLOVAKIA in learning about Central Europe during the twentieth century. Unfortunately, the author does exhibit a bias against the Slovaks. This is especially apparent in his reference to the well-loved and respected Slovak leader Father Andrej Hlinka as being "fanatic. " Furthermore, while the Czechoslovak state could not exist without the Slovaks, Korbel devotes a mere 25-30 pages to them in a book of 346 pages. His admiration for Tomas G. Masaryk is deep, his respect for Jan Masaryk is genuine, and his evaluation of Edvard Benes appears objective. Had it been possible to apply historical honesty to all aspects of Czechoslovakia's growth from its inception to its dissolution and rebirth, such an account might have added significantly to the rapidly increasing literature in that area of research. One can only conclude that this historical account was written from the so-called Czechoslovak point of view. If this is understood, the reader will enjoy Twentieth-Century Czechoslovakia but will continue to look for "The Meanings of Its History" in other books dealing far more adequately with Slovakia and the Slovaks . M. EVANGELA LUBEK, 0 .S.B. Bishop Noll Institute Hammond, Indiana Martin R . Myant. Socialism and Democracy in Czechoslovakia, 1945-1948. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981. 302 pp. The three years that preceded the Communist takeover of Czechoslovakia at the end of the Second World War have been generally understood in the West as a lull in which all the indications of what would happen in February 1948 were present. Although Martin Myant does not contradict this approach, he offers in this study, above all, an examination of the political situation in Czechoslovakia in which the Communist Party was just one of many players until mid-194 7, when a power struggle erupted leading to the Communist victory a few months later. What we have here, according to the author, is a polity which sought to achieve a socialist society by democratic means. It is an interesting thesis that reflects to a great extent the approach that Communist scholars took to this period in the 1960s and which found some sympathy among Western scholars. The book is divided into ten chapters that begin with a rapid overview of the development of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia . The next five chapters are devoted to an analysis of the political situation in the Czech lands, with one chapter on Slovakia . In three more chapters the author looks at the power struggle which culminated in the February crisis . The final chapter SLOVAKIA 137 examines post-February Czechoslovakia, in particular those events that announced the imposition of a more radical line by the Kremlin . It is clear from Myant 's story that World War II had brought about major changes in the Czech lands. In the postwar world, Czech political life reflected a general consensus that Czech society wanted its government to implement socialist changes because the prewar order had been destroyed during the hostilities . As an organized resistance group, the Communists played a major part in setting the framework for a socialist transformation . They were by far the most cohesive and organized party. Until mid-1947 they were also willing to collaborate - and indeed did so - with the non-Communist parties in implem enting new policies . The author gives a thorough analysis not only of the platforms of all parties, but also of the political activities of the Communist Party. When the struggle for power broke out, the Communists aimed at nothing more than victory and then used whatever means they could get away with to achieve that end. But for Myant - unlike for Paul Zinner and Josef Korbel, who also wrote on this period - the interest lies in the pre-mid 1947 period where, as he writes, "for all its faults, the National Front system established in May 1945 provided a possible basis for the development of socialism in Czechoslovakia" (p. 242). Despite the author's thorough analysis, this reviewer is not convinced that the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia could have played according to democratic rules in an advanced society. Although Myant attributes the shift that occurred in mid-1947 to the international situation and Cominform directives , the fact remains that the Communist Party was willing in the last analysis to abandon democratic means in favor of one-party rule. There is no evidence that the Party offered the Kremlin any resistance . Had its commitment to democracy really existed, it could have defied Moscow since there were no Soviet troops in the country and it is doubtful that Moscow would have risked a war to impose its will . The pre-mid-1947 experience may be interesting for those who still hanker after a form of" democratic socialism"; for m e it merely shows that a Communist Party will also play the democratic game if it brings it closer to its goal of total power, but it does not show a commitment to democracy . The author's treatment of Slovakia is inadequate . He approaches it from the same point of view as the Czech lands , namely that the Slovaks were also headed for socialist transformation. To take this approach is to ignore not only the legacy of prewar Slovak politics, but also the major impact the Slovak R epublic had on the Slovaks. His accusation that Slovakia was backward is both unfair and unfortunate; it is a Czech point of view that was arti~ulated quite openly from 1945 on, especially in the Communist Party. This view was also imposed on Slovak Communists, who accepted it after their defeat in the May 1946 elections. The author does, however, point out that the Communist 138 SLOVAKIA Party was unwilling to embark on a different and distinct Slovak policy, if only not to alienate its Czech constituency. The position of Slovakia in postwar Czechoslovakia was very critical. Forced without consultation into a state where they would be a minority, Slovaks then saw most instruments of autonomous government progressively taken away from them . The non-Communist leadership was weak and faced not only Communist opposition but also Czech resistance to any status beyond minimal autonomy . Thus Slovak political life centered once again on Slovakia ' s role in Czechoslovakia, not on socialist transformation . As time went on, it was clear to most Slovaks that they mattered very little in Czechoslovak politics and were expected to be merely compliant to Prague . In this respect, Myant writes unfairly about President Tiso's execution in 1947 that "its announcement in Slovakia was met with no visible unrest" (p. 158). The truth of the matter is that the army and Czech police had been sent to Slovakia to make sure that there was no unrest. For the same reason the attempted Communist coup in Bratislava failed that autumn. The game had to be played out in Prague. This is a well-researched study that is thorough in its presentation for the Czech lands . It is highly unsatisfactory for Slovakia. For this reason, as well as the author's ideological predelictions, it is regrettably incomplete and, therefore, disappointing. STANISLAV J. KIRSCHBAUM Glendon College, York University Toronto, Canada Leon Noel. La Tchecoslovaquie d'avant Munich. Paris: Institut d'etudes slaves, 1982. 208 pp. J.F.N. Bradley. Politics in Czechoslovakia, 1945-1971. Washington, D.C .: University Press of America, 1981. 225 pp. There are few Central European states that have had as turbulent a history as Czechoslovakia. It was created by the Western Powers on the morrow of World War I, only to be abandoned two decades later to German expansionism and another ten years later to Soviet imperialism. Paradoxically, Western scholarship has yet to produce a good history on either the First Republic or on the postwar Communist period. The two volumes under review, while they seek to give us an overview of each period, are also unsatisfactory. Leon Noel was France's Minister to Czechoslovakia from 1932 to 1935. His book constitutes a sort of memoir of the three years he spent in Prague. To this account he added a few chapters that deal with the origins of the state , SLOVAKIA 139 some of its leading personalities, the Slovaks, the Germans and the Hungarians, the Catholic Church, and the political parties . None is very good , and the chapters on the Slovaks and the political parties are particularly poor. It becomes quickly very clear that this French diplomat understood very little the country in which he represented France . The main impression that one gets is that he was interested above all in maintaining excellent diplomatic relations between Prague and Paris . This he seems to have done, given the number of positive comments about himself by Czechoslovakia's leaders that he quotes . But one does not get any idea what were the main currents in FrancoCzechoslovak relations. It is only when he evaluates the leading personalities in Prague of the common state of the Czechs and Slovaks that he is interesting. That is one of the redeeming features of his book . If this book is at all interesting , it is becau se it reflects French perceptions of Czechoslovakia in the interwar period . The state was to a great extent a French creation, and Czechoslovakia's centralist system of government was modelled on that of France. Paris supported Prague on the German and the Slovak questions with the result that neither French diplomats nor French scholars paid any attention to anyone but the Czechs and accepted everything Prague told them. Noel ' s book is therefore not different from those published in the interwar years. It is a pity that he did not learn from subsequent events about which much has been written to give us a more critical appreciation of the country where he clearly spent three interesting years of his life . The Bradley volume is more in line with contemporary scholarship. But it is a peculiar book. The author has done some thorough research in a number of areas, yet he does not succeed in giving us an adequate overall picture of Communist politics in Czechoslovakia. The greatest flaw is his lack of treatment of the Slovak question, which he does not seem to have understood at all. There are two them es to the book: government and politics. The author gives a thorough description of Czechoslovakia's Communist government structure , examining in turn its constitutions, parliaments , governments, the judiciary , and security. Hi s chapter on the central government for 1948-1968 is rather good . He analyzes well the main problems of any Communist government, namely political domination and efficient administration. As he points out: "Even the most capable administrators among these politicans would have found it impossible to run central ministries efficiently with the politicallyreliable but admi nistratively unfit officials at their disposal" (p. 123) . When it comes to analyzing Communist politics , the author devotes only two chapters, one on the Dubcek era and the other on the Husak period of normalization. Both are somewhat disappointing. The overall result is that at the end of the book the reader is still left wondering what Czechoslovak politics were all about for the period 1948-1971. 140 SLOVAKIA The major flaw of Bradley's book is its treatment of the Slovak question. Clearly the author belongs to that category of Western scholars who do not consider Czech-Slovak relations to have been, and still to be, the focal point of the survival of the common state of these two nations. It is not surprising to come across such a statement as : "The Slovaks, who had apparently been enjoying equality and autonomy since 1948, began to voice their demands for new constitutional arrangements within the Czechoslovak Republic" (p. 183), with no further explanation. The final chapter, on Husak's federalism , is also inadequate in analyzing the new relationship between the two nations, let alone explaining why this formerly centralist state had been transformed into a federation . Neither book fulfills the mission its title suggests . Nevertheless in each there are some aspects of interest which may help the specialist and the interested reader on Czechoslovakia to get a better insight into this troubled common state of the Czechs and Slovaks. STANISLAV J. KIRSCHBAUM Glendon College, York University Toronto, Canada Zdenek L. Suda. Zealots and Rebels: A History of the Ruling Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. Stanford, Calif. : Hoover Institution Press , 1980 . 412 pp . This first history of the Czechoslovak Communist Party in English, from its beginnings in November, 1917 , in Revolutionary Russia and its foundation in November , 1921, up to the late 1970s, is an impressive achievement. Professor Suda, a sociologist at the University in Pittsburgh, selected some of the best scholarly works written in the West on various topics or periods of his target and complemented them with a few basic books and articles published at different times in Czechoslovakia. Although his opus is based almost exclusively on secondary sources and, surprisingly, does not even mention authors whose work should have been consulted (e .g ., Machonin, Borkenau, Taborsky, Zinner, Horak , Jancar, Korbel, Tigrid) , it is worth reading and including in private as well as public libraries. It is a solid work and excels in its capable and systematic review of major events in the history of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. Its organization is clear, and the writer consistently pays attention to domestic developments as well as to Soviet or other Communist parties' history . In Suda' s concluding words , what matters is "the development of the Soviet core to which the CPCS, for the greater part of its existence, has only been peripheral" (p. 380). SLOVAKIA 141 Suda's main contribution is to be found in his judicious summary of some sixty years in the life of a movement, in his sensible comments, and in his perspicuous analysis. One half of the book is devoted to the Party's history before it came to power in 1945 . There is a certain imbalance in Suda's treatment of the foundation of the CPCS (50 pages) or of its history until 1929 (70 pages) and his discussion of the crucial year of 1968 (only 20 pages) . The later story is much better known that the first two so that it does not constitute any major weakness, especially since the author keeps stressing interesting parallels between different periods of Party history . Basically, it was and is a foreign element brought into a state whose traditions , both cultural and political, have been .at variance with it . Suda devotes a substantial part of his book to developments in the Communist Party of Slovakia and to its asymmetric position in a basically centralist party and state. He rightly considers the unsolved problems of national minorities - and many Slovaks refused to think of themselves as equal partners in a "Czechoslovak" nation - to be the weak point of the whole edifice . The German problem is also systematically studied, and so are the Hungarian and Ruthenian ethnic communities. Paradoxically, even the establishment of a federal state in 1968 did not put an end to Prague centralism, although the general secretary of the Party since 1968 has been a Slovak. The lack of a detailed study of primary sources and of many crucial scholarly works , unfortunately , is responsible for some, mostly minor, mistakes in an otherwise well-printed and well-proofread work. For instance, Trotsky's secret message to disarm the Czechoslovak Corps in Russia is not mentioned; Tomas G . Masaryk is wrongly characterized as "never a socialist" (p. 12); the important role of G eneral Vlasov and his armed units in the Prague uprising in 1945 is omitted; for some reason, the Cominform and Comintern are both spelled with a ' K '; there is nothing on substantial workers' unrest in 1948 and 1949 ; Richta's leadership of a scientific Party commission is assigned to Mlynar , who was in charge of another one about whose existence the author does not seem to have known (p. 328); the Manifesto of 2000 Words was published simultaneously in four Prague papers and not just in one (p. 391) - a fact which was important for the Soviet audience since the pressure group was clearly well organized! Furthermore, the periodical Listy was not a "bimonthly" (p. 367) but rather appeared monthly. In disagreement with the author's statement on page 261, Zapotocky was criticized at Politboro meetings for his relaxation of forced collectivization of agriculture . What is more important, Suda sometimes accepts the terminology of his Communist sources and then refers, for instance , to the "progressive elite " (p. 120) when he discusses individuals who were responsible for bringing shame and enslave- 142 SLOVAKIA ment upon their own nations. Although the author believes that only a small minority of Social Democrats refused to join the CPCS in the year of forced amalgamation (p. 225), the truth is that less than one third of them joined the Communist Party! Also, his description of workers' acceptance of the Slansky trial is only partially true because, according even to Communist sources, after the initial passage of favorable resolutions, there was resolute criticism of the whole Party and state leadership, often calling for their dismissal. Finally , the 1968 meetings at Cierna nad Tisou did not take place in the Soviet train (p . 340) but - with the exception of Dubcek's visit to the "ailing" Brezhev in a railwaymen's club on Czechoslovak territory. There is a good analysis of voting patterns in 1925 but, somewhat surprisingly for a sociologist, the author does not include any analysis and statistics (which are available) of the social or class composition of the CPCS in its period of absolute power. All these and a few other errors and omissions can be easily corrected in an eventual second edition of this pioneering and generally very successful work . PETER R. HRUBY Western Australian Institute of Technology Perth , Australia Frantisek Bielik a kolektfv. Slovaci vo svete. Volume II. Martin : Matica slovenska, 1980. 320 pp . This second volume of Slovaci vo svete is a general survey of pre-World War II Slovak immigration to countries throughout the world. It is a collaborative effort. However, except for the separate sections on Slovak immigrant culture and involvement in labor activities in the United States and the Slovak immigration to Canada and France , Frantisek Bielik is the principal author of the book. Bielik first discusses the general causes of Slovak emigration and its impact on Hungary and later Czechoslovakia. The work is then divided into geographical categories by country. Within each geographical division, the authors adopt a standard, almost monotonous , procedure of chronicling the formation and sporadic activities of various Slovak organizations . They provide brief descriptions of Slovak fraternal societies , schools, newspapers, labor organizations, and cultural associations . In addition, they discuss the political and labor activities of some Slovak immigrants in the different countries. Slovaci vo svete is a useful addition to the literature on Slovak immigration, because it contains tables and statistics as well as literary material that have not been readily available in a single source. The inclusion of sources would have improved the usefulness of the tables. The work is also important SLOVAKIA 143 because it offers some different perspectives on the Slovak immigration experience . For example, Bielik properly stresses that the United States was the major but not the sole destination of Slovak emigrants . To emphasize this point, the book includes brief sketches of Slovak immigration to New Zealand, Asia, and Africa - countries not commonly associated with the Slovak emigration movement. Also, by discussing Slovak involvement in labor unions and Socialist organizations, the authors offer a different profile of Slovak immigrant laborers than that depicted in earlier literature. Ivan Poljak and Eva Fordinalova, who contributed the segment on Slovak union and work-related activities in the United States, would agree with Victor Greene that Slovak workers were not simply meek laborers whose docility prevented them from becoming actively involved in labor unions and strife. Moreover, their religiosity did not prevent all Slovaks in the United States and elsewhere from flirting with Socialist or Communist ideas and joining Socialist or Communist parties. Despite such points, Slovaci vo svete is marred by serious weaknesses. As a synthesis , the book is far too general and institutionally oriented. Even the lengthier discussion of Slovak immigrants in the United States is primarily a chronicle narrative of various immigrant organizations and newspapers. The treatment of Slovak immigration to other countries serves little more than as a reminder that the United States was not the sole destination of this immigrant group. No attempt is made to offer a comparative analysis of Slovak adjustment to various countries. Rather, Bielik and the other contributors seem content to resort to perfunctory , isolated discussions of Slovaks and their organizations in the several countries. While they are to be commended for the attempt to describe the work life of Slovak laborers, the discussions of this topic suffer from overgeneralizations, oversimplifications, and factual and interpretive errors. The· authors try desperately to show that Slovaks almost naturally harbor Socialist sympathies . They use the participation by Slovaks in labor unions or strikes as examples of these natural sympathies. Typically the authors do not provide sufficient or convincing evidence for their generalizations. For example, they make no attempt even to estimate the number of Slovaks actually involved in the various " Socialist " and labor activities they describe . Unfortunately, Slovaci vo svete is further harmed because the authors overlook some obviously important aspects of Slovak immigrant life in the United States and perhaps in other countries as well. Despite the claim that the book is offering a description of immigrant life , much of the material actually focuses on the activities of prominent Slovaks, not ordinary immigrants . Slovak churches and their role in American Slovak communities are ignored. Overall, Slovaci vo svete is too brief to treat adequately the complex aspects of Slovak immigration to the United States and to other countries. Still, this work does raise questions that merit closer analysis b y students of Slovak 144 SLOVAKIA immigration and of labor and political history. The contributors also do provide a general, institutional history of Slovak immigration throughout the world. This volume does not rank as the definitive study of Slovak immigration, but it is a synthesis that scholars in Czechoslovakia and in those countries where Slovak immigrants have gone will find useful. JUNE GRANATIR ALEXANDER The Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio Elena Jakesova . Vyst'ahovalectvo Slovakov do Kanady. Bratislava : Veda, vydavatel'stvo Slovenskej akademie vied, 1981. 160 pp . In recent years there has been a great renewed interest in ethnic and immigration history on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. To the growing list of scholarly studies in this field can be added Elenajakesova's present monograph . Jakesova presents a concise, statistical account of Slovak immigration to Canada from the 1870s to 1938. The book is divided into two sections, one covering the years from the 18 70s to 1914, and the second from 1922 to 1938 . She gives the reasons for Slovak immigration from Hungary, and later from Czechoslovakia, and also an excellent outline of the individual Slovak settlements in Canada. Other chapters or sections are devoted to the development of the Slovak press in Canada and to the rise of Slovak fraternal societies. Separate sections describe Slovak mining settlements in Western Canada, agricultural communities in Central Canada, and urban settlements in Eastern Canada in later years . This is a well-organized and well-written book . The research and documentation are most impressive . The author made use of archival material from Slovak district archives in Slovakia, from the Haus-Hof-und Staatsarchiv in Vienna, and from the Magyar Orszagos Leveltar in Budapest. Most of the periodical literature and monographic studies dealing with Canadian Slovaks were also used. In short, few stones were left unturned . The volume is also enriched by graphs and charts which help clarify the history of Slovak immigration to Canada. Even the illustrations were well selected and add interest to the subject. , Two serious shortcomings of the book arejakesova's treatment of Canadian Slovak societies and churches. Among societies the importance of the Slovak workers' movement was overemphasized . Her account of it was informative and interesting, but the movement itself was of decidedly minor significance. The Canadian Slovak League and Canadian-Slovak Support Society were and remain the largest Canadian-Slovak organizations . More should SLOVAKIA 145 have been said about these groups and the great work and sacrifices of such individuals as Andrej Kucera and Andrej Potocky, founders of the Canadian Slovak League . In general, more attention should have been devoted to the experiences of Canadian Slovaks - their joys and sufferings - and to the history of their churches, which were not covered at all. Aside from these drawbacks , the work has many merits and can be recomm ended to anyone seeking a general survey of Slovak immigration to Canada. X. SUTHERLAND Stoney Point, New York ANTHONY Engelbert Zobl and Hertha A. Zobl. Holzbaukunst in der Slowakei. Vienna : Fachjournalverlagsgesellschaft, 1978. 92 pp. This unpretentious little paperback volume bears witness to what seems to be a growing interest among enthusiasts in western Europe to " uncover " the art of traditional wooden architecture in the Carpathian region of Slovakia. H ence, since the appearance of the book under review , two more ambitious volumes have appeared: Wooden Churches in th e Carpathians: The Photographic Legacy of Florian Zapletal (Vienna, 1982) by Paul R. Magoci and the monumental Wooden Churches of Eastern Europe (Cambridge , 1981) by David Buxton , both of which contain numerous photograp hs of structures in northeastern Slovakia. In contrast to these two subsequent works , the book by Engelbert and Hertha Zobl seems more of an architectural travel reportage put together as a guide for Austrian and West German tourists who still flock each summer to Czechoslovakia in search of the ostensibly more exotic cultural stimuli of the "east." This is not to suggest that such popular books are without value or that the Zobls have not done a competent job . In fact, as is evident from the albeit self-indulgent autobiographical data (complete with photographs of the whole family), the husband and wife Zobl team have degrees, respectively , in architecture and the a pplied arts. And as the lavishly-illustrated book reveals , they both have a keen sensitivity for the aesthetic as well as technical aspects of their subject. The book is basically divided into five chapters : belfries, wooden churches, wooden crosses, secular wooden architecture, and architectural ornamentation. The appendices include a list of all belfries and churches with their date of construct ion (in most , but not all instances); a map showing the travel route fo llowed by the authors in 1976 with each place indicated that appears in the book ; an index of placenames; and a brief bibliography . The latter indicates a few basi c German, Czech, and Slovak works, but omi ts two recent 146 SLOVAKIA Ukraini an-langu age studies from C zechoslovakia th at deal with the subj ect: an encyclopedia of wooden churches (past and present) in northeastern Slovakia by B. K ovafo vyfova-Puskarova and I. Pu skar , D erev 'jani cerk vy schidnoho obrjadu na Slo vaccyni (Bratislava and Presov, 1971) and a survey of secular architecture in the same region by M . Sopolyha , Narodn a architektura ukrajinciv Schidnoji Slovaccyn y (Svidnfk, 1976) . Each chapter in the book by the Zobls is preceded by a very brief introduction , and each of the 110 photograph s carries a caption. There are also 41 line drawings of structures and ground plans. By far , the largest portion of the book - a to tal of 72 illu strations - d epicts structures from villages inhabited by C a rpatho-Ru syns in the very northea stern part of Slovakia. Thi s is not surprising, since that area had economicall y always been the m ost underdeveloped and , therefore, traditional life-style and architecture have been preserved there the longest. Also , the authors seem ed to have become enchanted by the clusters of wood en churches north of Svidnfk and northea st of Snina, whose almost perfect form a nd balance m ake them stand out aesthetically, in particular when juxta posed to wooden architecture throughout all of eastern Europe, as is evident from the compara tive survey b y David Buxton mentioned above. The photographs are, in fact , the highlight of the Zobl ' s book . They were all ta ken in 1976, were well executed and often provide different views of a given structure, and have been reproduced clearly in the printing process. With the exception of a few iconostases in side Byzantine-rite churches, the photographs are almost all exterior shots. Pa rti cul arl y striking are 39 photograph s in color , am ong the best of which a re the wooden church in Mi rol'a, the cem etary crosses in D etva, and the decoration on hou ses in Zdi ar . All in all , W ooden Architecture in Slovakia is an excellent introd uction to the beauties of trad itional cultu re that still can be found in Slovaki a tod ay. As a serious guide for tourists, it would be pa rticula rl y useful if a n E ngli sh ed ition could be p repa red fo r the increasin g numbers of Am ericans of Slovak a nd Carpatho-Ru syn descent who visit the ancestral hom eland . P AUL R . M AGOCSI Uni versity of T oronto T oronto, Ca nada A tlas CSSR . Brat islava: Slove nska kartografi a, 1980 . This school atlas is obviously intended for student s at about the hi gh school level. It has no accompan yin g text or explana tory m a terial and is even devoid of a n introdu ction. Con sequentl y, the u ser is give n no idea regardin g the in tended audience or the goal s of thi s volume of m aps. SLOVAKIA 147 There are 42 pages of maps; there are more actual maps, howeve r , because numerous inset (larger scale) maps are displayed on various themes. The first quarter of the atlas is d evoted to physical/environmental subjects temperature, precipitation , geological structure , soils, forests , etc. The remainder of the volume contains social, cultural, and especially economic maps . The physical maps are of standard type, although the last of this group is an interesting map of conservation sites, such as parks and botanical stations. The demographic maps (pages 12 to 15) are interesting because included are maps on density , fertility , mortality , national population growth rates , labor force, and the nationalities. Most of the m aps suffer as a result of the inappropriate scale employed and poor use of color. The nationalities sheet is particularly poor because the combination of colors and patterns to locate and quantify minority groups is a total failure. The economic maps (pages 16-27) again are standard and include maps of minerals , manufacturing, agriculture , crops , transport and more for the entire country. Detailed political/ physical maps of the Czech and Slovak R epublics are then followed by similar economic maps for the two areas. The atlas is rounded out with a set of maps of "regional types" at the micro-scale. There are six of these, including types such as the High Tatra a rea and a section of industrial Ostrava. There are also 10 exam ples of "settlement types," including Nitra and a Czech resort town. The final three maps are interesting cultural maps, including one of higher and middle schools, medical institutions, and historical/cultural monuments. Unfortunately , these maps are of very limited use because they are drawn at a scale ( 1 :4,000,000) which obliterates any detail. In general, the Atlas CSSR is an adequate school level tool. It would have been much better and useful, however , if sharper color had been used and if more reasonable scales had been chosen for many of the maps. The bulkiness (23 cm. x 55 cm .) and the inferior quality of the binding also detract from the Atlas ' value. In sum , a poten tiall y lively collection of maps has bee n rendered into a disappointing volume of no particular distinction. GEORGE J. D EMKO U.S. Department of State W ashington , D .C. Peter Balaz, Miloslav Darovec, and H eather Trebaticka. Slovak for Slavicists . Brat islava: Slovenske pedagogicke nakladatel'stvo, 1976. 302 pp. Students who have some background in another Slavic langu age, as well as those who possess a rudimentary knowledge of Slovak , will find this text- 148 SLOVAKIA book useful. It was written for the intermediate classes at the Studia Academica Slovaca (Summer Seminar of Slovak Language and Culture in Bratislava), and was also intended for use as a textbook in university-level courses abroad . The authors point out in the preface that it is not a handbook for those studying Slovak without a teacher ; however , it can be used in this way if the student's goal is to gain only a reading knowledge of Slovak, and particularly if Slovak is not his/ her first Slavic language. The book contains 27 lessons in addition to the Slovak-English/English-Slovak glossaries . The bilingual d esignation of the section headings in the table of contents and in the lessons themselves is a very desirable feature of the book . It serves the immediate pedagogical purpose of teaching these items in Slovak as well as enabling the student who wishes to augment the explanations in the textbook with those from Slovak sources to find easily the desired items in the Slovak books . Lesson 1 is devoted to a brief discussion of the alphabet and pronunciation . The Slovak letters ii, c, dz, s, z, t', d', 1' are characterized as palatalized consonants (p. 17) , which might well confuse those students who have studied Ru ssian . They would be better described in English as palatals. Furthermore, since regressive voice assimilatio n before nasals and liquids characterizes Slovak sandhi rules in contrast to some of the other Slavic languages, it would be well to include that information in the section on pronunciation . The remaining lessons have the following general format : introductory text , questions , vocabulary, grammatical section , exercises , grammatical section, exercises, translation exercise, and pronunciation exercise. The exercises a re well constructed and provide immediate reinforcement of the concepts just introduced . The notes and notice markers which call attention to exceptions or to features which differ significantly in English are also very effective . R eview exercises, spaced at appropriate intervals throughout the book which would combine the information presented in the various grammatical sections up to that point , would enhance the efficacy of the textbook (e.g., inclusion of a review exercise following Lesson 6 after most declensional paradigms have been introduced) . The introductory texts conta in a vocabulary which is very useful for those students who will be in Bratislava . Howeve r, to those who have never been there , as well as to the newly arrived , certain words such as miestenka are mystifying and a note of explanation would be helpful. Lesson 8 has an informal letter to a friend as the introductory text. The forms of ty are correctly capitalized. H owever , there is no note of explanation on how vy (polite singular/plural) should be written. Since this is one of the areas in which the Slavic languages differ , it would be well to include a note on T /V capitalization in letters. It might be more useful to include a thank- yo u note or a formal letter for exam- SLOVAKIA 149 pie, to a professor requesting a consultation, because these are the kinds of letters that a more advanced student is likely to be writing . In general the texts are of a very practical nature and provide the student with an adequate vocabulary for functioning in Slovak society. They could be made more effective by deleting some, such as Lesson 4, or editing them, so that they would be more appropriate for and interesting to university students. While it is possible to draw up a list of additions that one would wish to insert into the book, that in no way detracts from its value. It is certainly the best textbook available today for teaching Slovak to English-speaking students at the university level, and we can only hope that it will be expanded and enlarged in future editions. LOUISE B. HAMMER Bloomington , Indiana JozefMistrfk . Basic Slovak . Bratislava : Slovenske pedagogicke nakladatel'stvo, 1981. 160 pp . This textbook is designed for English-speaking students who want to learn the fundamental grammatical phenomena and 800 of the most frequently occurring vocabularly items in Slovak without wading through the complexities that most traditional grammars present. Its focus is on learning to speak Slovak (American speakers of English should be forewarned that the pronunciation equivalents between English and Slovak given in Lesson 1 are based on British English), not on gaining a passive reading knowledge of the language, and it is not designed to be used without a teacher . Therefore, rules are given but exceptions to the rules are introduced into the discussion only when they occur frequently . This approach is based on the theory that second language acquisition, like first language acquisition, requires a knowledge of the productive grammatical rules of a language, i.e. , those patterns that a learner encounters over and over again in everyday usage. Since this textbook is designed for the one-month Studia Academica Slovaca summer school course as an introductory textbook, it alone would not suffice for a traditional American two-year college program; however, even in a more extended course, the texts which begin each chapter , as well as the exercises at the ends of the lessons, could serve as useful supplementary material . The book contains fifteen lessons , paradigm tables, Slovak-English and English-Slovak vocabularies, and a dictionary of linguistic terms . Beginning with the second, each lesson consists of four parts : text, vocabulary, grammar, and exercises. The texts are interest ing from the sociolinguistic point of view because they frequently have as their themes social events which a re common 150 SLOVAKIA in contemporary Slovak life, such as presenting flowers to someone arriving at the station, waiting in line to buy things, the extended family living together, friends sharing their experiences over a glass of wine . These texts serve to familiarize American students with Slovak culture and appropriate language usage in that culture. Each text introduces the vocabulary items which are listed just after it. This section is followed by grammatical explanations which are simple and concise, and are easily understood by learners with a minimal background in traditional grammar . The exercises require the student to create new forms based on the rules and data presented in the preceding sections . In addition to fillin g in blanks , the students are required to form sentences. Since a bilingual text is given in all of the lessons after the fifth , the student is able to check his/her progress in sentence construction . Features of Slovak which are absent in English and are, therefore , troublesome for English-speaking students are re-introduced in the texts or exercises of subsequent lessons; for example, the prefixed forms of ist' are introduced in Lesson 10 and are exemplified in the exercises in Lesson 12 . The last item in the exercises is a list of words to be read aloud for pronunciation purposes. These words do not appear in the glossary at the end of the book. The glossary does possess an attr~ctive feature: It indicates after every word the number of the lesson in which the word was introdu ced . As is usual in a first printing , some errors are to be found in the book (e.g., a few of the r ' s in th e glossary have been deleted , and some of the s's have been transposed into the s section). There are also minor errors in the English text : " present " in stead of " represent" (p. 11) ; "shorting" instead of " shortening" (p . 66) ; "The both forms are possible" (p . 74 ). one of these lead s to misunderstanding ; however, occasionally, as in " byvam dlho h are" (p . 3 1) ( = " not to sleep"), the E nglish m eaning is not immedia tely clear. On the whole , P rofessor Mi strfk 's book successfully fulfills the goals which he set in writing it , and any teacher or student of Slovak will find it a u seful addition to his/her library. L OU ISE B . HAMM ER Blooming ton , Indian a Abel Kral'. Slovenska vyslovn ost'. Banska Bys trica: U cebne pomocky, 1979. 8 stereo phonograph records with accom pan ying text , 173 pp. These high-quality recordings were produced by Abel Kral' , the head of the Phonetics D epartment a t Com enius University, and national artist V . Zaborsky , for u se in seconda ry schools and la ngu age institutes in Slovakia in SLOVAKIA 151 order to teach students the neutral pronunciation style of standard literary Slovak . In the introduction Kral' explains the theoretical assumptions on which the presentation is based and suggests various ways in which the records can be used effectively. The recordings contain sections on the vowels, diphthongs, consonants, and consonant clusters . In addition there are excellent exercises on gemminated consonants, rhythmic shortening, and particularly on voicing assimilation in the various environments. The last record has a well-exemplifed discussion of sentence intonation. Each section begins with an introduction in which the terminology is defined, the particular sound or sounds under consideration are d escribed, and incorrect pronunciation is sometimes identified. Then the correct pronunciation is given. It is repeated twice with pauses between the utterances so that the student is able to practice the pronunciation and compare it to the record. These sections would be valuable for beginning students, while the more advanced students would additionally gain from hearing the spoken Slovak of the explanations as well as from their content. These recordings would be a very useful teaching aid for non-native speakers who teach Slovak or for Slovaks who speak a dialect and would like to acquire the standard pronunciation . Every student of Slovak who wishes to acquire a good speaking command of the language will benefit from the use of these recordings. They are in fact a very solid course in Slovak phonetics, and selections from the recordings would be ideal material for the pronunciation section of a typical language course. LOUISE B. HAMMER Bloomington , Indiana Vojtech Mihalik . Erotikon. Subor l'ubostn ej lyriky. Bratislava : Slovensky spisovatel' , 1981. Vojtech Mihalik is the grand old m an of Czechoslovak letters , and specifically of Slovak poetry, if this title could apply to a m a n who is only 55 years old. He is undoubtedly the most outstanding poet of the generation which came to the fore after the Second World War. Born in 1926 , Michalik for many years worked as the editor-in-chief of the main publishing house in Bra tislava . A former long-time president of the Association of Slovak Writers, he is at presen t the director of the publi shing house Slovensky spisovatel'. His first selection of poems appeared shortly after the war. H e has published 13 more volumes of poetry as well as numerous essays a nd translations. In 1978 he received the title of Nat ion al Artist, one of the highest literary honors in Czechoslovakia. 152 SLOVAKIA This, his latest volume, contains a selection of poems written at various periods of the author's life. As far as the erotic content of the book is concerned, it is much smaller than could be expected by Western standards . Mihalik is prima rily a romantic poet , a poet of love and emotion . H e puts less stress on the physical aspects of passion than would most of his W estern colleagues . In this he remains firmly rooted in the native Slovak tradition, where the appeal is to the feeling and sentiment , and where the exploitation of sexual aspects is subdued by a sense of decorum. Thus Mihalik ' s main effort in his love is to capture the fl eeting moments of love: the minute of mutual silence, a tree rising against the sun as the lovers embrace , the sorrows and the ecstasies of deep emotion. Mihalik is ve ry conscious of nature . Like most Slovak poets, he lives spiritually in the countryside , with its peasant cottages, lush gardens, orchards full of ripe fruit, meadows suffused by the rays of sun . His erotic imagery refers almost exclu sively to nature. A lonely lover is compared to earth which gave away its beautiful perfume to strolling winds. Lovemaking is perceived by the author in term s of entering a rose garden , searching for a star in the silent sky, or walking unharmed in the midst of a swarm of bees . The metaphors are so intricately ornate that they would be reminiscent of oriental poetry, were it not for the absence of explicitness so characteristic of Arabic and Persian verse. Each poem is a parable of nature sustained to the very end , where in the last lines it unravels into a love poem . If it were not for the last couple of lines, an inexperienced reader might take the poems at their face value of m elancholy or ecstatic descriptions of landscape . Each poem is thus a higly complex and elegantly written puzzle, the m eaning of which has to be d eciphered on two levels , the natural and the erotic. Mihalik 's poems are usually short. His favorite form is the sonnet, whose stylish elegance suits perfectly his method of expression . Some of the poem s are cast in the form of a dialogue, which is a mode deeply rooted in Slovak folk poetry. Mihalik m ay be a romantic lover accordin g to the Slovak tradition , but he is by no means a patient one. If hi s passion does not m eet with a quick response , he rebels. H e sees love as a confusing passion because there is so little understanding between man and woman. Woman is always an outsider in hi s poems. She may be courted, coveted , responsive, submi ssive, or cold , but she always remain s incomprehen sible. Mihalik 's attitude toward women is quite traditional . They are the ones who suffer, who bear the burden of broken relationships, and who carry the whole burden of parental responsibility. Mih alik admires women , feels sorry for them, but he seems to accept their lot as a na tural thing. A s he gets older, Mihalik finds it increasingly difficult to accept the new SLOVAKIA 153 world around him . It is a world where the traditional values become rejected, where children of living parents become orphans because of desertion , where wives are leaving incompatible husbands , where families becom e broken for no apparent reason. The poet sees the world around him as full of suffering and unhappiness which he can only record, without being able to alleviate them . H e becomes a witness for a new generation that is growing up unloved and unlovable . His poems lose their spontaneous enchantment with life, as life becomes increasingly complex and difficult and as the poet finds he cannot turn to love to provide him with a sense of the m eaning of existence. The only an swer that seem s to emerge from Mihalik 's later poems is the implicit message to endure , to go on, and to do one's best. And in this message, as in so many aspects of hi s poetry, Mihalik shows himself again as the true son of his peopl e, the patient, enduring, and long-suffering people of Slovakia. YVONNE GRABOWSKI York University Downsview, Canada Vincent Sikula. Liesky. Bratislava: Smena, 1980. The novelette Liesky is in many respects firml y embedded in the Slovak literary tradition. Like so many books produced in Slovakia in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it describes the trials and tribulations of a country boy on his way toward education and recognition. The chief character is a student at the conservatory who hopes to become a forest horn player and who persists in hi s path in spite of loneliness and abject poverty. The form of the novelette is also an old favorite, a first person narrative. The genre itself has been successfully transplanted from the Russian literature of the Golden Age and has fl ourished in Czechoslovakia since there was a favorable ground for its reception in Czech and Slovak folklore . What saves the story from becoming a typical hardship case narration , so characteristic of Slovak literature, is Sikula's humorous approach. The humor is intensified by the aut hor's use of the skaz technique. The predicam ents of the hero m ay be pathetic, but they are at the same time highly amusing. When the hero describes his family, we learn that his parents had so many children that the y hardly noticed if several of them were missing. The young man 's landlady can carry a conversation only with her cat - she is stone deaf. The hero has to practice music by drumming on the table because he cannot afford an instrument. When he finally gets the opportunity to practice on a real piano, he ruefully notes that it does not sou nd to him as good as the table. The narration thus proceeds at a lively pace, in a jolly animated style, 154 SLOVAKIA full of slan g, colloquiali sm s, and peasant speech m annerism s. It m akes fo r ea sy and pleasant readin g. Yet Sikula is mu ch m ore th an a skillful na rrator . Hi s m astery of style is evident as the story gradually reveals the narrator 's character , his a rtistic strivings , and his sexu al awakening. Sikula possesses a superb sense of n ature. M an is never alone in hi s book. All his ac tion s and feelings ta ke place in a na tural setting of which he is a n integral part. N a ture blends with the action , and the cha n ge of seasons accompanies ch a n ges of life . Thus the story starts with a beautiful description of winter and ends with an equally beautiful episode of picking fresh twigs from bu sh es. The story is deliberatel y left unfinished since Sikula aim s a t portrayin g but one stage in th e hero 's life . W e will never learn what is goin g to ha ppen in the future to the human twig picked from the bu sh of country life, a nd we are not m eant to know. Sikula presen ts u s with a vignette of life in the m a kin g. W e a re expected to enj oy the beaut y and the immediacy of the vignette portrayed b y an exquisite painter and not to look beyond it. Sikula has both the talen t of a pa inter a nd a poe t. Althou gh the story is written in p rose, it read s like a poem , di splayin g the author 's rem arka ble powe r ove r la nguage. Its m easured cad en ces a nd sen se of rhythm give the reader a unique poetic experience. It is the beaut y of style which gives to Liesk y its most definite imprin t. YVONNE G R ABOWS KI Y ork Uni versity D own sview, C anada SLOVAKIA 155 BOOK NOTE Charles Wojatsek . From Trianon to the First Vienna Arbitral Award: The Hungarian Minority in th e First Czechoslovak Republic, 1918-1938. Montreal: Institute of Comparative Civilizations, 1981. 229 pp . Time and time again Mr. Wojatsek attempted to publish his manuscript through academic and commercial presses , only to have it repea tedly rejected because of its poor quality . Finally, when nothing else could be done, he published the book him self, under the spu rious auspices of the " In stitute of Comparative Civilizations, Montreal." This book is not worth serious consideration. It was written with the patriotic fervor of a true believer, and its reading makes for cruel and unusual punishment, deserved only by other nationalists of Wojatsek's type. This reviewer wishes to warn the unsu specting public: Beware 1 You may jeopardize your time, your money, and your nerves! Y ESHA Y AHU JELINEK Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Beer-Sheba, Israel  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Book Reviews, Slovakia, Vol. 31 (No. 57) Description An account of the resource includes:<br /><ul><li>Robin Okey, <em>Eastern Europe, 1740-1980</em> (R. Vladimir Baumgarten), p. 119</li> <li>Milorad M. Drachkovitch, ed., <em>East Central Europe</em> (Josef Kalvoda), p. 121</li> <li>Rudolf Krajčovič, <em>Svedectvo dejín o slovenčine</em> (Gerald J. Sabo), p. 123</li> <li>Ľudovít Novák, <em>K najstarším dejinám slovenského jazyka</em> (John M. Kochik), p. 124</li> <li>František Kalesný, <em>Habáni na Slovensku</em> (Peter Brock), p. 126</li> <li>August A. Skodacek, <em>Lutherans in Slovakia</em> (Robert J. Skovira), p. 129</li> <li>Paul Robert Magocsi, <em>The Shaping of a National Identity and The Rusyn-Ukrainians of Czechoslovakia</em> (Owen V. Johnson), p. 130</li> <li>Vojtech Šarluška, comp., <em>Jubileá Matice slovenskej</em> (John A. Berta), p. 132</li> <li>Milan S. Ďurica, ed., <em>Il mondo slavo</em>. Volume VIII. (John M. Kochik), p. 133</li> <li>Josef Korbel, <em>Twentieth-Century Czechoslovakia</em> (M. Evangela Lubek), p. 135</li> <li>Martin R. Myant, <em>Socialism and Democracy in Czechoslovakia</em> (Stanislav J. Kirschbaum), p. 136</li> <li>Léon Noël, <em>La Tchécoslovaquie ďavant Munich and J.F.N. Bradley, Politics in Czechoslovakia</em> (Stanislav J. Kirschbaum), p. 138</li> <li>Zdenek L. Suda, <em>Zealots and Rebels</em> (Peter R. Hruby), p. 140</li> <li>František Bielik, et. al., <em>Slováci vo svete</em>. Volume II. (June Granatir Alexander), p. 142</li> <li>Elena Jakešová, <em>Vysťahovalectvo Slovákov do Kanady</em> (Anthony X. Sutherland), p. 144</li> <li>Engelbert and Hertha Zobl, <em>Holzbaukunst in der Slowakei</em> (Paul R. Magocsi), p. 145</li> <li><em>Atlas ČSSR</em> (George J. Demko), p. 146</li> <li>Peter Baláž et. al., <em>Slovak for Slavicists</em> (Louise B. Hammer), p. 147</li> <li>Jozef Mistrík, <em>Basic Slovak</em> (Louise B. Hammer), p. 149</li> <li>Ábel Kráľ, <em>Slovenská výslovnosť</em> (Louise B. Hammer), p. 150</li> <li>Vojtech Mihálik, <em>Erotikon</em> (Yvonne Grabowski), p. 151</li> <li>Vincent Šikula, <em>Liesky</em> (Yvonne Grabowski), p. 153</li> <li>Charles Wojatsek, <em>From Trianon to the First Vienna Arbitral Award</em> (Yeshayahu Jelinek), p. 155</li> </ul> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Alexander, June Granatir, 1948- Baumgarten, R. Vladimir Berta, John A. Brock, Peter, 1920-2006 Demko, George J., 1933- Grabowski, Yvonne, 1929-1989 Hammer, Louise B., 1940- Hrubý, Petr, 1921-2017 Jelínek, Yešhayahu A., 1933-2016 Johnson, Owen V. Kalvoda, Josef, 1923-1999 Kirschbaum, Stanislav J., 1942- Kochik, John Michael Lubek, Sister M. Evangela, SS.C.M. Magocsi, Paul Robert, 1945- Sabo, Gerald J., 1945–2020 Skovira, Robert J. Sutherland, Anthony X. (Anthony Xavier) LCNAF LCNAF+dates name SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/b194a94420b8280836a000cff9bdc153.pdf efe5228e5c66ec4d035069e682d78be1 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 1984 Published By THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA ��SLOVAKIA VOLUME XXXI NUMBER 57 1984 A schola rl y annu al devoted to the hi story, lit erature, and culture of Slovaks the world over Edi1or M . MARK STOLARIK The Ba lch I nstitute for Ethni c Studies A ssocia1e Edilor THOMAS D . MARZ IK Saint J ose ph 's Universit y Editorial Board GEORGE J DEMKO U.S. De partm ent of Sta te MI C HA EL NOVA K Am eri ca n Enterprise In stitute DAVID P . DA N I EL Co ncord ia Theological Seminary STANLEY Z. PECH Universi ty of British Colu mbia OWEN V JOH NSON India na Uni,·ersity NO RMA L. RU DI NS KY Oregon State U ni ve rsit y S/01·;,k League Ad,·isory Boa rd EDWARDJ DRAGA D IV INS KA J OSEPH C KRAJSA BEH UNC IK JOH N A . H OLY DAN I EL F. TANZONE Pu blisher Th e Slo,·a k League of Ameri ca c/o J ohn A. H oly, Sec retary -Treas urer 870 Ri0 e Camp R oad W est Paterson, N .J . 07424 Inquiries regarding subscrip ti o ns should be add ressed to J o hn H oly M an uscript s fo r possible publication an d boo ks for re,· iew sho uld be se nt to M . M a rk Stola rik , Edit or, S!o ,·a kia, 700 Penfie ld Ave., H a,-cnow n , Pa . 19083. ��SLOVAKIA A Message from the President Again it is my pleasure to introduce another issue of our highlyregarded scholarly a nnual, Slovakia. W e welcome Dr. Thomas D. Marzik, Associate Professor of History at St. J oseph 's University in Philadelphia, Pennsylva nia, as our associate edito r. H e is a n established scholar who has done ex tensive research in Slovakia, and I a m co nfide nt th a t h e will a bl y assist our ed itor , Dr. M . M ark Stola rik , in editin g our schola rly journal. Afte r an enthusiastic response, with many positive rev iews , of our las t " literary " issu e of Slovakia, edited by Mrs. Norma Rudin sky, we a re returnin g to our regular format. Our Slovak-American youth is p a rticularly urged to take advan tage of the opportunities presented by Dr. Stolarik and his editorial board to become bette r acquainted with our ri ch Slovak heritage. W e are members of a n ancient ethni c group which, in God 's good tim e , will ac hieve its ri ghtful pl ace in the family of na tions. Among the Slovak League's purposes in publishing Slovakia, a nd issuing other docum ents su ch as resolutions and memoranda , is to have the non-Slovak world learn about the people be neath the Tatra mountains ( a nd their diaspora), their culture, history and traditions. Many of the sc holars who con tribute to Slovakia play a n active role in conferences of the American Association for the Advan ce m e nt of Slavic Studies, held a nnu all y in American cities. These gatherings provide our youth with a nother opportunity to learn about Slovak history and culture. While we all recognize that the Slovak nation rightfully aspires, with our su pport , to achieve self-determination in a political system of its own choos in g, we also recognize that this will not co m e about until the hold of the Soviet Union upon our people in Czecho-Slovakia weakens. Meanwhile, one of the best ways for u s to kee p the Slova k cause alive a nd �4 SLOVAKIA in the eyes of the ge neral public is to suppo rt such important publicati ons a s Slovakia. By encouraging, and publishin g, seriou s works of scholarship on the Slovak people, we will continu e to win th e respect of schol ars, journalists and politi cians and pave the way for future co nsiderations of Slovak self-determination in the world fo rum . In thi s way we will remain tru e to the m andate esta blished by our ancestors who fo unded the Slovak League of America in Cleveland , Ohio in 1907 . They helped liberate our nation from Hun garian oppression in 1918 and , with G od 's help , we will m ake a similar co n tributi on in the fu ture. EDWARD J. BE HUN C IK , President Slovak League of Ameri ca �SLOVAKIA 5 Table of Contents A M essage from the President Edward]. B ehun cik . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 HISTORY Mi grant R esponses to the City: The Neighborhood , Case Studies in Blac k and White, 1870-1940 J am es and Susan Borch ert 8 The Mati ca slovenska and Its Relation to the Development of Sl ovak Litera ture N orm a L . Rudinsk y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 The M od ernization of Slovakia: The R ole of V ocational High Schools , 1918-1938 Owen V. J ohnson 59 LITERATURE Excerpt from " In Due Season " Paul Wilkes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 My Grandfather ' s Silence Patricia Ondek L auren ce .. . . .... .... . . . .. . .. .. . . . .. . ... 101 Bro ken Line Ca rol T o warnick y 107 REVIEW ARTICLE ' Audi Alteram Pa rtem ': Eva Slavkovska, " V zt'ah sta tu k cirkvam v prvyc h rokoch vystavby socializmu na Slovensku" Th eodoric ]. Zubek . ............... . ........ . .. . .. . ... 11 3 REVIEWS R obin Okey, Ea stern Europ e, 1740-1980 (R . Vladimir Baumgarten) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Milorad M . Drachkovitch , ed . , East Central Europe U ose[ K alvoda) .. . .. .. .. . . .. ........... . ... . . . . . ... . . 121 �6 SLOVAKIA Rudolf Kraj covic, S vedectvo dejfn o slo ven cine (G erald J. Sabo) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 r.udovft Novak, K n ajstarsfm dejinam slo ven skeh o j azyka U ohn M . K ochik) .. . . . ......................... . . . ... 124 Frantisek K alesny , H abani na Sloven sku (Peter Brock) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Au gust A . Skodacek, Luth eran s in Slo vakia (R obert J. Sko vira) .............. . . . ..... .. .......... . 129 Paul R obert M agocsi, Th e Sh aping of a Na tional Identity and T h e Rusyn- Ukrainians of Czech oslo vakia (O wen V. J ohn son) .......... . ............ .. .. . ... .. .. 130 V oj tec h Sarlu ska, comp. , J ubilea M atice slo ven sk ej (John A . B erta) .. . .. . ... . . . ........ . ..... . .... . ...... 132 Mil an S. Durica, ed ., IJ m ondo sla vo . Volume VIII. (John M . K ochik) .......................... ... ... ... . 133 J osef K orbel, Twentieth-Century Czechoslovakia (M . E vangela Lubek) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Martin R . M yant , Socialism and D em ocracy in C zechoslovakia (Stanisla v J. Kirschbaum) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Leon Noel , L a T ch ecoslo vaquie d'avant Munich a nd J.F .N . Bradley, Politics in Czech oslovakia (Stanisla v J. Kirschbaum) . . .... .. . . . . ... . ...... . . . ..... 138 Zdenek L. Suda, Z ealots and R ebels (Peter R . Hrub y) ........................... .. ... . . .. . 140 Franti sek Bielik et. al ., Slovaci VO svete. Volume II . Uun e Gran atir A lexan der) ... . . . . .. ...... ..... ... . .... .. 142 Elena J akesova, Vyst'ah ovalectvo Slo vak ov do K anad y (Anthon y X. S uth erland) . . .... .. . ... .. . ..... .... . . . .... 144 Engelbert a nd H ertha Zobl , H olzbaukun st in der Slowak ei (Paul R . M agocs1) ............................... . .... 145 Atlas CSSR (Geo rge J. D emko) . ......... . .... . ......... ... ... .... 146 Peter Balaz et. al ., Slovak fo r Sla vicists (L o uise B . H ammer) .. . .......... . .. . . .... .. .. . ... .. .. 147 �SLOVAKIA 7 Jozef Mistrfk, Basic Slovak (Louise B . Hammer) ...... .... ... . ................... . 149 Abel Kral', Slovenska vyslovnost' (Louise B. Hammer) ................. . .... . ..... ..... . 150 Vojtech Mihalik , Erotikon (Yvonne Grabowski) 151 Vincent Sikula, Liesky (Yvonne Grabowski) 153 Book Note: Charles Wojatsek, From Trianon to the First Vienna Arbitral A ward (Yeshayahu J elinek) ................... . .. . . ........... 155 Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 7 Guidelines for Manuscripts ....... . ..... . .. . ..... . ... . .... .. 158 � SLOVAKIA 1984 Published By THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA ��SLOVAKIA VOLUME XXXI NUMBER 57 1984 A schola rl y annu al devoted to the hi story, lit erature, and culture of Slovaks the world over Edi1or M . MARK STOLARIK The Ba lch I nstitute for Ethni c Studies A ssocia1e Edilor THOMAS D . MARZ IK Saint J ose ph 's Universit y Editorial Board GEORGE J DEMKO U.S. De partm ent of Sta te MI C HA EL NOVA K Am eri ca n Enterprise In stitute DAVID P . DA N I EL Co ncord ia Theological Seminary STANLEY Z. PECH Universi ty of British Colu mbia OWEN V JOH NSON India na Uni,·ersity NO RMA L. RU DI NS KY Oregon State U ni ve rsit y S/01·;,k League Ad,·isory Boa rd EDWARDJ DRAGA D IV INS KA J OSEPH C KRAJSA BEH UNC IK JOH N A . H OLY DAN I EL F. TANZONE Pu blisher Th e Slo,·a k League of Ameri ca c/o J ohn A. H oly, Sec retary -Treas urer 870 Ri0 e Camp R oad W est Paterson, N .J . 07424 Inquiries regarding subscrip ti o ns should be add ressed to J o hn H oly M an uscript s fo r possible publication an d boo ks for re,· iew sho uld be se nt to M . M a rk Stola rik , Edit or, S!o ,·a kia, 700 Penfie ld Ave., H a,-cnow n , Pa . 19083. ��SLOVAKIA A Message from the President Again it is my pleasure to introduce another issue of our highlyregarded scholarly a nnual, Slovakia. W e welcome Dr. Thomas D. Marzik, Associate Professor of History at St. J oseph 's University in Philadelphia, Pennsylva nia, as our associate edito r. H e is a n established scholar who has done ex tensive research in Slovakia, and I a m co nfide nt th a t h e will a bl y assist our ed itor , Dr. M . M ark Stola rik , in editin g our schola rly journal. Afte r an enthusiastic response, with many positive rev iews , of our las t " literary " issu e of Slovakia, edited by Mrs. Norma Rudin sky, we a re returnin g to our regular format. Our Slovak-American youth is p a rticularly urged to take advan tage of the opportunities presented by Dr. Stolarik and his editorial board to become bette r acquainted with our ri ch Slovak heritage. W e are members of a n ancient ethni c group which, in God 's good tim e , will ac hieve its ri ghtful pl ace in the family of na tions. Among the Slovak League's purposes in publishing Slovakia, a nd issuing other docum ents su ch as resolutions and memoranda , is to have the non-Slovak world learn about the people be neath the Tatra mountains ( a nd their diaspora), their culture, history and traditions. Many of the sc holars who con tribute to Slovakia play a n active role in conferences of the American Association for the Advan ce m e nt of Slavic Studies, held a nnu all y in American cities. These gatherings provide our youth with a nother opportunity to learn about Slovak history and culture. While we all recognize that the Slovak nation rightfully aspires, with our su pport , to achieve self-determination in a political system of its own choos in g, we also recognize that this will not co m e about until the hold of the Soviet Union upon our people in Czecho-Slovakia weakens. Meanwhile, one of the best ways for u s to kee p the Slova k cause alive a nd �4 SLOVAKIA in the eyes of the ge neral public is to suppo rt such important publicati ons a s Slovakia. By encouraging, and publishin g, seriou s works of scholarship on the Slovak people, we will continu e to win th e respect of schol ars, journalists and politi cians and pave the way for future co nsiderations of Slovak self-determination in the world fo rum . In thi s way we will remain tru e to the m andate esta blished by our ancestors who fo unded the Slovak League of America in Cleveland , Ohio in 1907 . They helped liberate our nation from Hun garian oppression in 1918 and , with G od 's help , we will m ake a similar co n tributi on in the fu ture. EDWARD J. BE HUN C IK , President Slovak League of Ameri ca �SLOVAKIA 5 Table of Contents A M essage from the President Edward]. B ehun cik . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 HISTORY Mi grant R esponses to the City: The Neighborhood , Case Studies in Blac k and White, 1870-1940 J am es and Susan Borch ert 8 The Mati ca slovenska and Its Relation to the Development of Sl ovak Litera ture N orm a L . Rudinsk y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 The M od ernization of Slovakia: The R ole of V ocational High Schools , 1918-1938 Owen V. J ohnson 59 LITERATURE Excerpt from " In Due Season " Paul Wilkes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 My Grandfather ' s Silence Patricia Ondek L auren ce .. . . .... .... . . . .. . .. .. . . . .. . ... 101 Bro ken Line Ca rol T o warnick y 107 REVIEW ARTICLE ' Audi Alteram Pa rtem ': Eva Slavkovska, " V zt'ah sta tu k cirkvam v prvyc h rokoch vystavby socializmu na Slovensku" Th eodoric ]. Zubek . ............... . ........ . .. . .. . ... 11 3 REVIEWS R obin Okey, Ea stern Europ e, 1740-1980 (R . Vladimir Baumgarten) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Milorad M . Drachkovitch , ed . , East Central Europe U ose[ K alvoda) .. . .. .. .. . . .. ........... . ... . . . . . ... . . 121 �6 SLOVAKIA Rudolf Kraj covic, S vedectvo dejfn o slo ven cine (G erald J. Sabo) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 r.udovft Novak, K n ajstarsfm dejinam slo ven skeh o j azyka U ohn M . K ochik) .. . . . ......................... . . . ... 124 Frantisek K alesny , H abani na Sloven sku (Peter Brock) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Au gust A . Skodacek, Luth eran s in Slo vakia (R obert J. Sko vira) .............. . . . ..... .. .......... . 129 Paul R obert M agocsi, Th e Sh aping of a Na tional Identity and T h e Rusyn- Ukrainians of Czech oslo vakia (O wen V. J ohn son) .......... . ............ .. .. . ... .. .. 130 V oj tec h Sarlu ska, comp. , J ubilea M atice slo ven sk ej (John A . B erta) .. . .. . ... . . . ........ . ..... . .... . ...... 132 Mil an S. Durica, ed ., IJ m ondo sla vo . Volume VIII. (John M . K ochik) .......................... ... ... ... . 133 J osef K orbel, Twentieth-Century Czechoslovakia (M . E vangela Lubek) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Martin R . M yant , Socialism and D em ocracy in C zechoslovakia (Stanisla v J. Kirschbaum) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Leon Noel , L a T ch ecoslo vaquie d'avant Munich a nd J.F .N . Bradley, Politics in Czech oslovakia (Stanisla v J. Kirschbaum) . . .... .. . . . . ... . ...... . . . ..... 138 Zdenek L. Suda, Z ealots and R ebels (Peter R . Hrub y) ........................... .. ... . . .. . 140 Franti sek Bielik et. al ., Slovaci VO svete. Volume II . Uun e Gran atir A lexan der) ... . . . . .. ...... ..... ... . .... .. 142 Elena J akesova, Vyst'ah ovalectvo Slo vak ov do K anad y (Anthon y X. S uth erland) . . .... .. . ... .. . ..... .... . . . .... 144 Engelbert a nd H ertha Zobl , H olzbaukun st in der Slowak ei (Paul R . M agocs1) ............................... . .... 145 Atlas CSSR (Geo rge J. D emko) . ......... . .... . ......... ... ... .... 146 Peter Balaz et. al ., Slovak fo r Sla vicists (L o uise B . H ammer) .. . .......... . .. . . .... .. .. . ... .. .. 147 �SLOVAKIA 7 Jozef Mistrfk, Basic Slovak (Louise B . Hammer) ...... .... ... . ................... . 149 Abel Kral', Slovenska vyslovnost' (Louise B. Hammer) ................. . .... . ..... ..... . 150 Vojtech Mihalik , Erotikon (Yvonne Grabowski) 151 Vincent Sikula, Liesky (Yvonne Grabowski) 153 Book Note: Charles Wojatsek, From Trianon to the First Vienna Arbitral A ward (Yeshayahu J elinek) ................... . .. . . ........... 155 Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 7 Guidelines for Manuscripts ....... . ..... . .. . ..... . ... . .... .. 158 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1984, Vol. 31 Description An account of the resource Vol. 31 (No. 57), 1984. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 1984 Published By THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA SLOVAKIA VOLUME XXXI NUMBER 57 1984 A schola rl y annu al devoted to the hi story, lit erature, and culture of Slovaks the world over Edi1or M . MARK STOLARIK The Ba lch I nstitute for Ethni c Studies A ssocia1e Edilor THOMAS D . MARZ IK Saint J ose ph 's Universit y Editorial Board GEORGE J DEMKO U.S. De partm ent of Sta te MI C HA EL NOVA K Am eri ca n Enterprise In stitute DAVID P . DA N I EL Co ncord ia Theological Seminary STANLEY Z. PECH Universi ty of British Colu mbia OWEN V JOH NSON India na Uni,·ersity NO RMA L. RU DI NS KY Oregon State U ni ve rsit y S/01·;,k League Ad,·isory Boa rd EDWARDJ DRAGA D IV INS KA J OSEPH C KRAJSA BEH UNC IK JOH N A . H OLY DAN I EL F. TANZONE Pu blisher Th e Slo,·a k League of Ameri ca c/o J ohn A. H oly, Sec retary -Treas urer 870 Ri0 e Camp R oad W est Paterson, N .J . 07424 Inquiries regarding subscrip ti o ns should be add ressed to J o hn H oly M an uscript s fo r possible publication an d boo ks for re,· iew sho uld be se nt to M . M a rk Stola rik , Edit or, S!o ,·a kia, 700 Penfie ld Ave., H a,-cnow n , Pa . 19083. SLOVAKIA A Message from the President Again it is my pleasure to introduce another issue of our highlyregarded scholarly a nnual, Slovakia. W e welcome Dr. Thomas D. Marzik, Associate Professor of History at St. J oseph 's University in Philadelphia, Pennsylva nia, as our associate edito r. H e is a n established scholar who has done ex tensive research in Slovakia, and I a m co nfide nt th a t h e will a bl y assist our ed itor , Dr. M . M ark Stola rik , in editin g our schola rly journal. Afte r an enthusiastic response, with many positive rev iews , of our las t " literary " issu e of Slovakia, edited by Mrs. Norma Rudin sky, we a re returnin g to our regular format. Our Slovak-American youth is p a rticularly urged to take advan tage of the opportunities presented by Dr. Stolarik and his editorial board to become bette r acquainted with our ri ch Slovak heritage. W e are members of a n ancient ethni c group which, in God 's good tim e , will ac hieve its ri ghtful pl ace in the family of na tions. Among the Slovak League's purposes in publishing Slovakia, a nd issuing other docum ents su ch as resolutions and memoranda , is to have the non-Slovak world learn about the people be neath the Tatra mountains ( a nd their diaspora), their culture, history and traditions. Many of the sc holars who con tribute to Slovakia play a n active role in conferences of the American Association for the Advan ce m e nt of Slavic Studies, held a nnu all y in American cities. These gatherings provide our youth with a nother opportunity to learn about Slovak history and culture. While we all recognize that the Slovak nation rightfully aspires, with our su pport , to achieve self-determination in a political system of its own choos in g, we also recognize that this will not co m e about until the hold of the Soviet Union upon our people in Czecho-Slovakia weakens. Meanwhile, one of the best ways for u s to kee p the Slova k cause alive a nd 4 SLOVAKIA in the eyes of the ge neral public is to suppo rt such important publicati ons a s Slovakia. By encouraging, and publishin g, seriou s works of scholarship on the Slovak people, we will continu e to win th e respect of schol ars, journalists and politi cians and pave the way for future co nsiderations of Slovak self-determination in the world fo rum . In thi s way we will remain tru e to the m andate esta blished by our ancestors who fo unded the Slovak League of America in Cleveland , Ohio in 1907 . They helped liberate our nation from Hun garian oppression in 1918 and , with G od 's help , we will m ake a similar co n tributi on in the fu ture. EDWARD J. BE HUN C IK , President Slovak League of Ameri ca SLOVAKIA 5 Table of Contents A M essage from the President Edward]. B ehun cik . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 HISTORY Mi grant R esponses to the City: The Neighborhood , Case Studies in Blac k and White, 1870-1940 J am es and Susan Borch ert 8 The Mati ca slovenska and Its Relation to the Development of Sl ovak Litera ture N orm a L . Rudinsk y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 The M od ernization of Slovakia: The R ole of V ocational High Schools , 1918-1938 Owen V. J ohnson 59 LITERATURE Excerpt from " In Due Season " Paul Wilkes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 My Grandfather ' s Silence Patricia Ondek L auren ce .. . . .... .... . . . .. . .. .. . . . .. . ... 101 Bro ken Line Ca rol T o warnick y 107 REVIEW ARTICLE ' Audi Alteram Pa rtem ': Eva Slavkovska, " V zt'ah sta tu k cirkvam v prvyc h rokoch vystavby socializmu na Slovensku" Th eodoric ]. Zubek . ............... . ........ . .. . .. . ... 11 3 REVIEWS R obin Okey, Ea stern Europ e, 1740-1980 (R . Vladimir Baumgarten) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Milorad M . Drachkovitch , ed . , East Central Europe U ose[ K alvoda) .. . .. .. .. . . .. ........... . ... . . . . . ... . . 121 6 SLOVAKIA Rudolf Kraj covic, S vedectvo dejfn o slo ven cine (G erald J. Sabo) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 r.udovft Novak, K n ajstarsfm dejinam slo ven skeh o j azyka U ohn M . K ochik) .. . . . ......................... . . . ... 124 Frantisek K alesny , H abani na Sloven sku (Peter Brock) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Au gust A . Skodacek, Luth eran s in Slo vakia (R obert J. Sko vira) .............. . . . ..... .. .......... . 129 Paul R obert M agocsi, Th e Sh aping of a Na tional Identity and T h e Rusyn- Ukrainians of Czech oslo vakia (O wen V. J ohn son) .......... . ............ .. .. . ... .. .. 130 V oj tec h Sarlu ska, comp. , J ubilea M atice slo ven sk ej (John A . B erta) .. . .. . ... . . . ........ . ..... . .... . ...... 132 Mil an S. Durica, ed ., IJ m ondo sla vo . Volume VIII. (John M . K ochik) .......................... ... ... ... . 133 J osef K orbel, Twentieth-Century Czechoslovakia (M . E vangela Lubek) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Martin R . M yant , Socialism and D em ocracy in C zechoslovakia (Stanisla v J. Kirschbaum) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Leon Noel , L a T ch ecoslo vaquie d'avant Munich a nd J.F .N . Bradley, Politics in Czech oslovakia (Stanisla v J. Kirschbaum) . . .... .. . . . . ... . ...... . . . ..... 138 Zdenek L. Suda, Z ealots and R ebels (Peter R . Hrub y) ........................... .. ... . . .. . 140 Franti sek Bielik et. al ., Slovaci VO svete. Volume II . Uun e Gran atir A lexan der) ... . . . . .. ...... ..... ... . .... .. 142 Elena J akesova, Vyst'ah ovalectvo Slo vak ov do K anad y (Anthon y X. S uth erland) . . .... .. . ... .. . ..... .... . . . .... 144 Engelbert a nd H ertha Zobl , H olzbaukun st in der Slowak ei (Paul R . M agocs1) ............................... . .... 145 Atlas CSSR (Geo rge J. D emko) . ......... . .... . ......... ... ... .... 146 Peter Balaz et. al ., Slovak fo r Sla vicists (L o uise B . H ammer) .. . .......... . .. . . .... .. .. . ... .. .. 147 SLOVAKIA 7 Jozef Mistrfk, Basic Slovak (Louise B . Hammer) ...... .... ... . ................... . 149 Abel Kral', Slovenska vyslovnost' (Louise B. Hammer) ................. . .... . ..... ..... . 150 Vojtech Mihalik , Erotikon (Yvonne Grabowski) 151 Vincent Sikula, Liesky (Yvonne Grabowski) 153 Book Note: Charles Wojatsek, From Trianon to the First Vienna Arbitral A ward (Yeshayahu J elinek) ................... . .. . . ........... 155 Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 7 Guidelines for Manuscripts ....... . ..... . .. . ..... . ... . .... .. 158  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Front Matter, Slovakia, Vol. 31 (No. 57) Description An account of the resource includes A Message from the President (Edward J. Behuncik) Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Behuncik, Edward J. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/087ee42d27cbceeadc3364c8bed177a7.pdf e27f8bd5d3768bdaec78ee01b75d1158 PDF Text Text " Logan Place." September 26, 1935. All ey Dwellin g Authority. Nati onal Capital H ousin g Authorit y Collection . Library, D e pa rtm ent of H ou sin g and Com munit y D evelo pm ent. W as hin gto n, D .C . ► ► ;,::; ...... < 0 L' (/) 0::, �SLOVAKIA 9 Migrant Responses To The City: The Neighborhood, Case Studies in Black and White, 1870-1940* James Borchert and Susan Danziger-Borchert Th ey tend to reproduce spontaneously the home community and to live in it. L etters show that they frequently reply to inquiries from home for a description of America, " I have yet been able to see America." W.I. Thomas, "The Immigrant Community" Students of migration to American cities have, over the years, produ ced a large library of studies. The greatest outpouring of work has co ncentra ted on the migration of southern and eastern European immigrants during the years from 1880 to 1920, and the "great migrati o n " of blacks from the rural South. This profusion of work has not produced any final conclusions on the migrant experience, although there a re a number of schools of thought about what happen ed to migrants . Th e first group of scholars who considered European migrants of this pe riod concl uded that d espite efforts to re- establish their rural ways of life, the city proved too poor a soil for such institutions to ta ke root. Thus extended family , kinship network , neighborhood , and community 1 • A ve rsio n of this paper was prese nted a t th e Nin ety-Seve nth Annu al M ee tin g of th e Am eri ca n Hi sto ri cal Associa ti o n held in Washin gton, D .C. in D ece mb er 198 2. The authors are indebted to th e Am erican Hi to ri cal Associati on for a n Albert J. Beveridge M em o ri a l Fund Grant and the Smithson ian In sti tuti on for a fellowship, whi ch provided esse nti al fundin g in conn ec tion with th e preparation of th e original presenta tion. �10 SLOVAKIA withered ; a pe riod of disorde r a nd co nfu sion foll owed u nt il mi grant s discovered the " urba n way of life. " 1 Accordin g to the theory, thi s d iscovery , synonymous with the beginnings of assimil a tion a nd accultu ration, provided migrants with the form s of order a nd organization tha t would m ake success in America (and cities) possible and p rob able . After a n appropriate period of apprenticeship in the " zon e in transition " a nd the " zone of workingmen ' s homes, " the urba nized mi grant began to m ove to middle-class status a nd suburban h om es. 3 M ore recent scholars, a n alyzing a ggregate cen sus d a ta (fo r indi ces of di ssimil a rity) a nd city directories (for spa tial a nd occupa tional m obility), have questioned the notion that European mi gra nts spent mu ch tim e in the zon e in tran sition . Based on this d a ta, they contend tha t individu al m igra nts from diffe rent immi grant groups lived widely scattered acro ss workin g-class residential a reas . Few con centration s we re great e nou gh to permit the development of urba n vill ages or ghet toes. Where they ex isted, mi grant s passed through so quickl y th a t their importa n ce as a n institution was minimized for most. 4 In contrast , until recently , most observers of black migran ts in the city concluded tha t folk breakdown was extensive. Moreover , whil e new bl ack residents seem ed to m ove as frequ ently as white mi gra nts, they did so within a n increasingly restrictive ghetto area . 5 Thu s, whe re a disorganized ghetto confronted black migrants, white migrants ex peri en ced greater spa tial and (implicitly) m ore occupa tional mobility. Whi te migrants m elted to gether into a working cl ass div ided by reli gion (P rotestant , Catholi c, and J ew) , 6 while blacks confronted a n earl y caste-like experien ce. 7 The m ost recent work by students of Eu ro pean a nd bl ack mi gra nt s of the 1880 to 1930 period h as b egun to challen ge som e of these findin gs . Students of urba n bl ack communi ties h ave foc u sed on the exte nsive presen ce of fo rm al organi zati ons to dem onstra te the exten t of order in black life. 8 Simila rl y, studies of E u rop ean immi grant group s h ave demon stra ted the persisten ce of ethni c life in th e city throu gh the in stituti on s of church , b e nevolen t groups, lod ges, politi cal ac tivity, a nd a n active press. 9 M oreove r , both se ts of studi es presum e th e prese nce of a recogni zable geogra phical b ase upon whi ch these fo rm al or gani zations operate . In the case of black communities, the ghetto explicity fo rm s the b ounda ries; fo r white immi gra nt s, th e pa rish or" immi gran t n eighborhood " implicitly serves as the turf around which the story of organi za- �SLOVAKIA 11 tional life unfolds. Unfortunately, in either case, the empirical demonstration of this critical base and its role is often assumed as given. Few have sought to consider the role of neighborhood and community development as a crucial framework for their analyses. 10 • Because this literature provides little basis for analysis or comparison, it is necessary to turn to the work of sociologists for a framework. 11 While there is little work on scale and its impact on the nature of neighborhood, 11 more has been done on neighborhood typologies. Gerald Suttles suggests three: the defended neighborhood, the community oflimited liability, and the contrived community. The first is most pertinent to the discussion here: "a residential group which seals itself off through the efforts of delinquent gangs, . . . by sharp boundaries, or by forbidding reputation." 13 The elements of the defended community are: "a recognizable identity, a consensus among residents of a common fate, and a 'positive' and sentimental attachment to neighbors, local establishments, and local traditions to the exclusion of other persons, establishments, and traditions . '' 14 Another set of issues that the current literature ignores concerns the distinction between primary or informal groups (family, neighborhood, community) and formal organization. Historians' concentration on formal group life represents a great limitation on their work, since these groups represent only one level of response migrants made to the city. 15 In part, these formal groups reflect most fully the experiences of the most successful: those who are largely "a-typical" of the larger group's experience. 16 More importantly, informal groups played a critical role in the life of the folk migrants prior to their move to the city. 17 Their presence and roles in the city represent important elements to test to determine the nature and extent of changes that resulted from migration, urbanization, industrialization, and modernization. Since earlier observers pointed to these informal groups as the institutions that underwent the most complete and severe change, with formal groups replacing them, it seems central to the discussion of the persistency of ethnic group life that primary group life be given careful analysis. This is especially so since it is the family, neighborhood, and community that are so central for the socialization and identity of the young. 18 There are other reasons for considering the issue of informal group life. Recent studies of both European and black migrant areas have reported population turnover that was thought to undermine the develop- �12 SLOVAKIA ment and impact of ethnic enclaves; proximity to many other groups diminished European ethnicity to one of the three major religions. While recent studies demonstrate the importance of chain-migration for both black and white migrants, little effort has been made to determine what effect this chain migration had on the formation of groups in the city. 19 In contrast, the presence ( or absence) of a neighborhood in proximity to formal institutions of an ethnic group represents theoretically a very different experience than that postulated by studies of movement and mobility . Rather than seemingly random movement, it would be possible to hypothesize the informal neighborhood providing important sets of support for the church (parish), businesses, beneficial organizations, press, and national organizations. While it may be difficult to determine which came first, it seems likely that informal neighborhood lies at the base of the ethnic urban village. Moreover, despite the mobility, the presence of an ethnic village that provides important goods and services for "members," whatever the place of residence, plays an important role in the "maintenance" of ethnicity and identity. 20 Thus, while it may have have served every member of a given ethnic group in its particular part of the city, the neighborhood/urban village fostered important networks of institutions for migrants; dominance of a section of the city permitted residents a chance to be "themselves" within the confines of a turf dominated by persons from the same kin network, town, region, and country. In these neighborhoods, residents hammered out their own identities, consciousness, and relations with the larger world. Without this envelope, it is hard to imagine how so many informal and formal groups could have persisted and prospered . 21 It is the purpose of this article to examine the development of residential neighborhoods and communities by two different groups of migrants in different environments. While these are far from "random" selections, 22 we do feel that they represent two different kinds of migrant settlements, one very small, the other fairly large. Both neighborhoods conform roughly to Suttles' definition of a defended neighborhood; both represent an important migrant response to the urban environment, a response that has been passed over all too briefly by past work. The article focuses on the efforts of two different groups of folk migrants to establish a "turf" in the city: Black migrants settled in the inhabited alleys of Washington, D .C ., and the eastern European migrants settled in the "Bird's Nest" on the fringe of Cleveland, Ohio. �SLOVAKIA 13 In m a ny ways the social co nditions migrants faced in these two environments were dramatically different; each cam e with a different set of experie nces and cultural baggage, and each faced very different conditions in the cities they settled despite the fact that both entered the urban marketpl ace at the ' 'bottom .' ' 23 While these differences are critical to understand what happened to each group, it is also important to see in general term s what migrants shared in their struggle with the urban-industrial environment. The article begins with a consideration of similarities and differences between the two communities in terms of physical form , population , occupations, and living conditions. The major part of the article focuses on the development and form each neighborhood took . The conclusions seek to compa re these two experien ces and suggest their implicat ions for othe r migrant experien ces and for the study of migrants . II. Descriptive Comparison of Neighborhoods: Alley Communities and The Bird 's Nest Physical Form and Isolation . Alley communities of Washington, like their counterparts throughout the urban United States and Europe , were small, relatively circumscribed , and isola ted neighborhoods spread throu ghout the central city 24 (see Map 1) . In Washington , alley house co nstru ction fell largely in the period from the end of the Civil War until 1892, when Congress banned new construction. D eveloped on narrow st reets or alleys inside a large city block , the tiny, two-story fram e or brick row houses faced inwa rd onto the interior alley, while larger, more expensive row houses lined the outside of the block and faced onto the street (M ap 2). W ell-to-do residents of the street-front property were separated from their poor and often black, backyard neighbors physically, sociall y, and culturally. D evelopers and owne rs of alley property , often well to do , generally lived outside the immediate section of the city where their all ey property was located, thus furth er isolating the alley n eighborhood . 25 The Bird 's N est, a single neighborhood , was equ ally isolated , but shared much more in co mmon with the la rge ethnic enclaves in urban indu st ri al areas throu ghout the United States. In 1892 , a land company sub sidary (Pleasant Hill L and Company-PHLC) of the National Carbon Company laid out the eight n a rrow stree ts (five n a m ed for birds), a nd 424 lots to provide hous in g for workers at its new facto ry n earby. 26 �SLOVAKIA 14 INHABITED ALLEYS 1897 POPUATION 0 1- ,. 0 0 0 JOO - ... 0 RKE • • 0 MAP 1 - 1/l or mor, 81,il(: k 2/lormor,\Nhct C ommi ssione rs of the District of Columbia, Annual R eport (W ashin gton , 189 7), 195-202. 1897 �SLOVAKIA 15 N STREET [ fr" I l'Fif =! .J.Jo . a--1 II ' ' .. ~ • II - '-M STREET L STREET D BUILDINGS HEADS Of HOUSEHOLD Native Born Whites S.ablo Foreign Born \\'hites (born outside Ncw1h America or p,uenc~ born outside Othe<Buldir@ Store o, AmYm Shop North Amtfil:a) • •• !lacks ~ (when lhan l) more MAP 2 - Sanborn Map Publishin g Company, In surance M aps of Washington , D .C. (New York , N . Y., 1888) ; and Fed eral Populat ion Census Schedules, I 880 W ashington , D .C., V ol. 2 pan 2, R eco rd Group 29 National Archi ves. �SLOVAKIA 16 \~ PART Of" L.\I(E,ro on .>. ' -~ I I .A 11 LE 1 1 ROCKPORT TOWNSHIP. \~_. ~':. ~ \" \ ... ~7;:... MAP .3 - Pleasa nt Hill La nd C ompan y subdi vision of th e " Bird 's Nes t " a nd th e adjoining Na ti on al Ca rbon Facto r y, 1898 . Thom as Fl ynn , Ott o Ba rth el, R .H . Bunni ng , and Thomas H assa n , Atlas o[ th e Suburbs o[ Cleveland, Ohio ( Phil ad elphia , 1898), Plate 24 . �SLOVAKIA 17 The neighborhood was circumscribed by railroad tracks, th e factory , a nd a wood s (later d eveloped for a factory and park) on three sides; the fourth side, a secondary comme rcial artery, p ermitted some overflow into the immediate n eighborhood to the north (see Map 3). While Bird's Nest workers were able to gain ownership of the area, it remained isolated from the surrounding area which was developin g as a middl e-class suburb. 2 7 Like the inward facing alley, th e neighborhood also turned in ward with its " main street," Plover , being the most isol a ted of its streets. 28 Migration and Neighborhood Size. Black migrants from the surrounding states of Virginia and Maryland, coming largely in cha ins of family, fri ends , and neighbors, settled into the alley communities. 29 Predominantl y from rural areas, these mi grants mainta ined ties to the countryside a nd encouraged furth er m ove me nt from those areas . While rural migrants had a number of differe nt res id enti al environm e nts to chose from in the city, a nd often m oved b ack a nd forth betwee n these , m an y se ttled initially in the alleys . Alley popu lations varied co nsiderabl y in size within a given year and over tim e . The smallest held one or two famil ies, the largest ove r 400 peopl e (see Map 1). Most all eys fell so m ewhere in be tween , with the average all ey size in 1880 bein g 50 residents ; at the peak of alley population in 1897, when there were nearl y 20 ,000 all ey res idents living in 240 all eys, th e average all ey size was 73. Th ese were, th e n , very small , face-to-face co mmunities of bl ack rural migrants. 3° In contrast, migra nts to the Bird 's N es t cam e from rural a reas in Easte rn Europe; most id entifi ed th emselves as " Hun garian Slovaks ," alth ou gh some were from P ola nd a nd Ru ss ia . 31 Th ey also mi grated in cha in s of relat ives, fri end s, and n eighbors as well as by region. 32 Like bl ack mi gra ti on to th e all eys, th e re was cons iderab le movem ent back a nd forth betwee n th e Old W o rld a nd th e New. Un like th e all ey populat ion th at reached its peak in 1900 a nd began to drop off, with each alley being a small isola ted community onto itself, the Bird 's N est populati on of 429 in 1900 in creased fi ve -fold by 19 10 a nd then doubled by 1920 at its peak ( see T able 1.) Thi s represe nts a different kind of ethni c encl ave with pote nti al for m o re sub sta nti ve inst itu tion al d evelopme nt. Occupations and Workplace. Black residents of W ashin gton alleys co nfronted profound limita ti ons in their search for work. R ac ism limi ted �18 SLOVAKIA employment of black males largely to day labor and black women to dom estic or laundry work; none had access to the limited industrial occupations in Washington 33 (see Table 2). The employment open to alley dwell ers, then, represented the worst paid , least secure, and often the m ost physically demanding and dangerous positions available. Moreover, despite long residence in the ci ty, black alley dwellers experienced little if any upward occupational mobility ; a color bar en sured that any movem ent would be minimal. 3 4 In contrast , while migrants from Eastern Europe came with similar skills as rural blacks , they often found industrial employment available to them, even though it was nearly always at the bottom . In 1900, most male residents of the Bird 's Nest were laborers working at the adjacent National Carbon factory; by 1910, a number of residents had gained som e mobility by gaining access to semi-skilled industrial occupations. Moreover, a number of women were able to gain indu strial employment, although usually a t the lowest levels ; many others earn ed incom e by runnin g boarding houses or taking in boarders. While this work was long, hard , physically demanding , and often dangerous , it was also more secure and better paying than anything available to alley dwellers . By 1940 , em ployed male a nd female workers of the Bird 's Nest were concentrated in semi-skilled pos itions ( 44 percent), with another 10 percent skilled and 13 percent proprietarial or white collar employees; only a third remained as unskill ed or service workers 35 (see Table 3). Living Conditions. Living conditions in most D .C. alleys were far from wholesome; crowding, poorly maintained buildings and outhouses, piles of uncollected trash in alleys, and the co nstant d anger of contagious disease plagued residents. D espite the limited space inside the two-story 12x30 foot alley house, man y were shared by more than one hou sehold unit ; in some cases four family units lived in one small room each . 36 These crowded cond itions made residents m ore susceptible to di sease, while landl ord s' lack of co ncern for maintenance and the city's di sinterest in coll ect in g trash from the alleys exposed residents to di sease in other ways. Limited and unstable income restricted diets while d angerou s, outdoor work further taxed alley dwellers' health . Ultimately these cond iti ons led to death rates for alley dwell ers th at were twice th at for residents of the streets; the major causes were diseases that cou ld clearly be linked to socio-economic status . 3 7 Children under the age of one year acco unted for much of the high death rate. 38 �SLOVAKIA 19 While the Bird's Nest developed in a suburban setting and lacked the extreme density of the alley community, living conditions were little better. While outside the multi-family homes "everything was mud," inside the long, narrow two - and three-story buildings many families lived in tiny cold water flats 39 (see Map 4) . Whereas alley dwellers had to go outside for water and toilets, Bird's Nesters shared "indoor water closets .' ' 40 Residents of the latter community, however, were more likely to share their tiny apartments with boarders; 32 percent of households had boarders in 1910 (boarders made up one-fourth of the total population), 41 while only 13 percent of 1880 alley households were augmented. 41 The crowded living conditions in the Bird's Nest, along with the long hours at work and limited income, led to high death rates, especially for the very young. 43 In 1900, women reported over one-fourth of the children they had borne were dead, 44 a condition that continued in later years. There are, then, substantial similarities between the two populations; Both came into the urban marketplace at the bottom; both lived in housing conditions that were crowded and dangerous ; the "communities" were isolated physically and socially from the surrounding populations; both were made up of groups that had migrated in chains to the city. Nevertheless , residents of the Bird's Nest did have access to industrial jobs that were more stable and better paying; and these positions permitted some mobility from unskilled labor to semi- and eventually skilled jobs. In addition, where alley communities were largely limited in size by the number of houses built in each alley , and ultimately by the limited interior space of the block itself, the Bird's Nest faced less spatial constriction. This afforded the potential for more complete development. Finally, while alley dwellers seldom had the resources to purchase their alley homes from absentee landlords , res idents of the Bird's Nest were encouraged to do so by the industrial developer of their community . Where ownership always remained external to the alley community , the Bird 's N est quickly becam e locally owned. Despite these differences, each area developed a se ries of informal groups that provided the base for the formation of a neighborhood . That neighborhood , in turn , provided the foundation for the d evelopment of more formal organizations. Given the differe nt resources and scale, however, residents d eveloped different kinds of ne ighborhoods. �10 FAM ILY UNtTS .I H oward Whipple G ree n , Plan es of Living in C uyah oga County: as D epicted by th e R eal Property Survey (C leveland , 1940), 65. Bird ' s Nest = LW18 MAP 4 - e 6.5 o/o OF ALL FAMILY UNITS 2 1,953 IN COUNT Y COLD WATER FLATS ~ ► ~ < >- 0 r< (./J 0 �SLOVAKIA 21 III. Neighborhoods Alley Communities. Black migrants who came to Washington alleys re-established their kin and friendship networks in the alley; they continued to use these networks for emotional and financial support. Because their resources were so marginal, only reliance on these groups made survival more likely. Each alley then, had several or more such networks into which "fictive kin" were also drawn. They provided the most basic form of social organization, albeit informal, in the alley . 45 It was the alley neighborhood, itself, that brought these kin groups together into a loose , but cohesive unit . Since alleys were isolated from the surrounding neighborhood and often some distance from the emerging black enclaves of the city where the major institutions of black life were located, alley residents often had to fall back on themselves for help and support. Drawing on their rural experience, migrants constructed informal defended neighborhoods to provide for their needs. In many respects, however, this informal community became much more important in the city because residents were more dependent on each other, especially in the period just following their migration. Since migration to the city (and alleys) continued throughout the period, and since there were always some "native" alley residents as well as some migrants who had lived in a given alley for many years, new migrants did not have to confront the urban environment alone . New neighbors, kin, and old friends helped ease the transition from country to city. 46 The alley itself' 7 was the center of the alley community; residents congregated there, save in the worst weather, to meet with friends and neighbors. 48 A major location for informal meeting took place at the intersection of the two main alleys . All residents passed this point on their way into and out of the alleys; neighbors met each other here as they returned home from work each day, or hung out there during the day if there was no work available . In addition , residents generally sat in front of their homes and talked to neighbors who joined them on the steps, benches, or chairs set out for this purpose . 49 It is impossible to overestimate the value and import of this activity, for virtually every aspect of the alley community was based on this interaction . If neighboring provided an important element of entertainment, it also provided information on which neighbors needed help and where jobs were available. A critical function of the alley community �22 SLOVAKIA involved help and support for those in need; neighbors aided each other by providing money, food, and shelter while in some cases they took in friends' children and cared for them, in others they let neighborhood children sleep at their house '' because they had more room.'' 50 A third function neighboring and the alley community provided was the maintenance of internal social control. Part of this came as a result of the positive support neighbors gave each other; they also used gossip and more formal sanctions to maintain order. 51 Ultimately, these daily discussions about ' ' appropriate behavior'' by residents resulted in the hammering out of a common philosophy and world view; a world view that was shared by members of the community and differed from that of outsiders. 52 Finally, alley dwellers defended their neighborhood against outsiders . Part of this resulted from their intensive use of alley space for neighboring , thus discouraging others from entering the area . When outsiders did enter they were confronted by residents and watched throughout their alley visit, an experience that unnerved many observers of alley life. 53 Alley dwellers had good reason to watch "outsiders"; other Washingtonians, black and white, generally viewed residents of the alleys with great disdain. While the police were especially harsh in their attempts to control alley populations, other residents, though less overt in their actions, expressed nearly universal condemnation of alley dwellers. 54 This external hostility helped hold the alley community together, despite its internal dissension . Disputes over life style dominated these schisms, but the small scale of the neighborhood, the necessity to cooperate to survive, and the external threats effectively held residents together. Because of its small size and very limited resources, however, the alley community was not able to develop or support a very extensive set of formal organizations. It did provide an excellent medium for small alley churches, which were simply alley houses residents rented "for Jesus. " They were kept going by neighbors' contributions and the pastors ' earnings from "doing occasional laundry" or other work . 55 While most alleys seem to have had at least one of these churches, their small size - "Ten chairs and a pulpit, and an improvised altar" - makes the extent of participation problematic . 56 Alley businesses were equally marginal, and often involved in illegal activity. Like the semi-formal alley church, these businesses required conversion of part ofan alley house into a " speak-easy" or "fac- �SLOVAKIA 23 tory" for the m a nufacture of illegal alcohol , or oft en both . While these were cl early ill egal and we re often closed down by law e nforcem ent offi cia ls, th ey provided an importa nt service for the alley ne ighborhood in representin g a " proto " ne ighborhood tave rn a nd community ce nter where residents co uld m eet. 57 The Bird 's Nest. A s earl y as 1889 , Slovak mi gran ts b egan work on the construction of the n ew National Carbon factory . 58 After the factory was co mpl eted , these worke rs and their fri ends were hired to work in th e factory . 59 Like alley dwellers, initial settle rs in the Bird 's N est began a cha in mi gration , at first drawing from the oth er Slovak enclaves throughout the city and eventuall y reaching back to Hun gary. This process resu lted in ex tended kin n etworks bein g refo rmul a ted in th e n ew neighborhood . In a number of cases, this reformu la tion extended to Old World v ill age pa rishes. Within th e fir st few years, m a n y of the core famili es had m oved in and esta blished them selves. Fri end s, ne ighbors, a nd co -reli gionists followed . As o ne oral history repo rted, " m a n y times the m en came along first , leaving wives a nd children behind in Slovakia, until they h ad found work a nd could send back for th eir families. When they cam e first, they sought out others from the sam e village who were alread y" in the neighborhood . 60 The most criti cal form of organization , however, was the neighborhood it self. Like the all ey community , the n eighborhood rem a ined largely inform al; initiall y it w as a grouping of kin n etworks largely of Slovak a n cestry. Y e t this inform a l " institution " p rovided the precon dition s necessary for the con structio n of other aspects of the community. In large p a rt the migrants es tablished th eir co ntrol over th e ne ighborhood in the first years of settle m e nt , 1892- 1900 . A lthough the a rea was th en only sli ghtl y bigge r tha n th e largest all ey, these earl y migrants a nd th eir famili es esta blish ed a beachhead that was neve r chall en ged . Unlike alley dwell ers who neve r gained ow nership of th eir ne ighborhood , res idents of the Bird 's N est quickly bou ght up th e small parcels o f la nd (wheth er simpl y cl eared b y the PHLC, or built upon ) , 6 1 as soo n as th eir fin ances m ad e it possibl e. 61 A lon g Pl ove r , migrant s purch ased 43 perce nt of the lots prior to 1900; o nl y three of th e 35 lots o n the street m ay h ave been ini tiall y purchased by non-Sl avs. 63 R es id ent s gain ed ow ners hi p o f m ost of th e 424 lots in the subdi vion s on initi a l sale; w ith few exce ptio n s, th ey eve ntuall y ga in ed co ntrol ove r th e rem a ining o nes as well. �24 SLOVAKIA P e rhaps the most striking aspect of n eighborhood d evelopment is the extent to which residents drew on each other's skill s and resources to construct houses, stores, a nd shops. Of the 171 lots for which information is available on th e initial con struction , 92 perce nt of the owners were alread y residents of the neighborhood. While m a n y built their own hom e (or a building to rent), those owners who hired a builde r to co nstruct their houses overwhelmingly chose a resident of the neighborhood (64 percent). Many of the non-resident builders were also of Slavic origin , but lived in one of the other encl aves spread throughout the city. 64 T o an impressive ex tent , th en , residents bought up the neighbo rhood la nd, and per son ally built th eir own hom e or a home to sell to more rece nt migra nts ; when they did not do their own co nstru ction they hired neighbors . In doing so, they establi shed an impress ive investm ent upon which they could draw or build on in the future. 65 H av in g es tablish ed a turf a nd access to employ m ent , residents encouraged n ew migra nt s to join them. Whe reas the m ajo rity of th e first res idents ha d migrated to the United Sta tes in the ten years prior to the building of th e factory, the massive influx of n ew migrants in the fir st two d ecad es of the twenti eth century cam e direc tl y to the n eigh bo rhood. Slovaks continu ed their d omination of the n eighborhood (70 perce nt) , whil e Slovak was the most common la ngu age. 66 One of the key attractions of thi s N ew Slovak/ Slav ic village, in a d dition to the presen ce of fri ends , relatives, and an ethni c ne ighborhood , was the prese nce of employm ent possibilities in industry. H av ing mad e important inroads from th e beginnin g of the constru ction o f the new factory, Slovaks , a nd to a lesse r extent P oles a nd Ru ssians, dominated the lowest level of empl oym e nt in the facto ry. 67 Th ere is so m e indi cation th a t the original pl a nt o n the east side of Clevela nd may also h ave empl oyed workers from a nearb y Slovak e nclave. These employees m ay have been attrac ted to th e new factory b y the avail ab ilit y of la nd ; a disastrous fire a t the old e r pl a nt in 1893 m ay well have speed ed up this process. 68 Wh a teve r the initi a l co nnection, Slovaks a nd oth er Sl av ic mi gra nt s establi shed a beachh ead in th e factory from th e beginnin g b y drawin g o n th eir inform a l networks . 69 Jun e Alexand er found a similar co nditio n for Slovaks in Pittsburgh , namely that "factori es relied o n their fore m e n to hire workers and foreme n, in turn, reli ed o n th e ir workers as intermedi a ries to find la borers. " 70 As mi grants worked their way slowly up the ranks to semi-skilled a nd occasion all y forem en positions , th ey �SLOVAKIA 25 gain ed m ore direct access to the hiring process. With the informal neighborhood networks , Slovaks came to dominate both workplace and neighborhood . 7 1 Whil e info rm al social cont rol and aid permeated th e early years of the Bird's N est as it did in the alleys, the ra pid growth of the neighborhood in the first decade of the twentieth cen tury permitted the developme nt of m ore form al organiza tions . R esidents of different reli gious persuas ion s m et sepa rately; initially these m ee tings, like the alley church , were worshi p serv ices held in co-reli gioni sts' hom es. Eve ntu ally these m eetin gs led to the fo rmation of lod ges and other m ore form al organizations designed to bring about the formation of a parish and the building of a church . 72 The first parish , Sts. Peter and P aul Lutheran , was offi cially form ed in 1901 ( church building-1 902/school som e years later) ; it was followed by Sts. Cyril and M ethod ius R om an Catholic Church in 1903 (church building and school-1905); St. Gregory ' s Byzantine Rite Catholic Church in 1905 ( chu rch building 1906/school som e years later); and the C alvin Presbyterian C hurch in 19 17 (church buildin g-19 2 1) . Ca lvin Presbyte ri a n C h urch in th e foreg round occupi es th e first sit e of Sts. Pe te r a nd Pau l Luth era n C hurch . In th e b ac kg round is St . Grego ry's Byza nti e n Rit e Ca th oli c C hurch . (Ph ot0g ra ph by a ut ho rs, J a nu a ry , 1984). �26 SLOVAKIA Sts. Peter and Paul Luthera n. (Photograph by au thors, January, 1984). SS. Cyril a nd M eth odi us R om an Ca th oli c C hurch . (Ph otog raph by au th ors, J anua ry, I 984). �SLOVAKIA 27 These "predominantly" Slovak parishes were joined by those of the other ethnic groups sharing the neighborhood, the first of which was St. Hedwig's Church (Roman Catholic Polish Parish) in 1905 ( church building-l 914/school-1926). Because residents took the initiative in the formation of these parishes and schools, they often had considerable control over their direction, especially in the early years. 73 These parishes made the neighborhood even more attractive to potential migrants; their founding at the beginning of the decade undoubtedly encouraged many others to migrate. Religious schools provided another incentive, especially to Slovaks who witnessed their own schools closed or "converted for Magyarization" in the homeland. For residents in the Bird's Nest, these schools represented a way to avoid efforts at Americanization promoted by the public schools. As a result many children from the neighborhood attended these parochial schools. 74 Drawing on their growing neighborhood and its greater resources (compared to alley communities), residents of the Bird's Nest also started an incredible number of businesses. While most of these were small stores and shops that served the immediate neighborhood , several developed into substantial businesses that provided necessary goods and services for ethnic and religious needs . 75 Most important, however, was the formation of Eagle Building and Loan Company in 1911 . Controlled from within the neighborhood, residents built an institution that made possible complete acquisition and building of the area, and expansion beyond . 76 The building and loan was critical since over fifty percent of the neighborhood's lots were sold by the PHLC during the 1910s, while the period from 1912 to 191 7 was the period of greatest home construction. 77 Although the neighborhood was divided by ethnicity, religion, and class , as well as by very different attitudes on assimilation, 78 these divisions were subsumed by the needs of the neighborhood and the workings of informal groups. For some, the community revolved around the parish ; Peter Glovna remembered that "it was just like a little village, and the pillar was St. Cyril. " 79 Nevertheless , they were a series of co mmunity-wide activities that drew residents together. 80 Most important , " the first settlers tried to reconstruct , as closely as possible , the village system they were so accustomed to in Poland , Russia, and Slovakia. The close-knit warmth a nd familiarity of the village provided security and a sense of home to the recently displaced immigrants. " 81 �28 SLOVAKIA Ultimately , residents used the neighborhood as alley residents did theirs; everyone knew everyone else and interaction on the streets, front yards, and porches was extensive, especially in warm weather. 82 This neighboring activity , largely through informal, small groups of relatives and friends, made up a critical element in the neighborhood life . It provided the first level (past kin network) of organization, one that replicated itself as formal groups began in the churches, lodges, and benevolent associations as well as the workplace. These primary groups provided members with an immediate sense of belonging, a connection with larger, more formal organizations, and a way by which members of the primary group could collectively continue to co nstru ct a world view, maintain social control , and provide help and support for the needy. 83 Like the alley community, the Bird's Nest found that the external threat was often sufficient to contain internal conflict. Hostility , both formal (from police and other official sources) and informal (from personal prejudice directed at residents), was extensive throughout the period. Outsiders, as in the case of alley communities, targeted the neighborhood as an eyesore and danger to the rest of the community; and police exercised their authority to "maintain social control by overenforcing the law .' ' 84 IV. Conclusions Based on these examples, it seems clear that migrants, via chain migration and efforts to gain entry/control over admission to a j ob market , began to establish residential enclaves. 85 If the process of neighborhood formation appears to have begun almost unconsciously, its development was quite conscious. While the presence of such neighborhoods is taken as given to most studies, what stands out in these two examples is the extent to which migrants took over their respective turfs, defended them, and built informal and formal institutions around them. In fact , the clustering provided the necessary context for virtually every further institutional development. If some or many migrants eventually passed through and out of the neighborhood , it remained(s) an important focal point in the lives of many , even those who could "escape" to more affluent suburban settlements. 86 The neighborhood , then , must be taken more fully into account as one, if not the most critical, of migrant institutions. �SLOVAKI A 29 T hese neighborhood s provided the b ase fo r su rvival in the new urban en vironment. They were the source of housing, employm ent , mutual aid , p rotection , famil y, and friends . They permitted pa rents to raise their children in a n en v iro nment a nd throu gh in stitutio n s ove r w hich the fam ili es exerted som e co ntrol. They also provided a safe ha rbor from whi ch m igrants confro n ted the confu sin g city . M o reove r , ne ighbor s worked out their respo n ses to the issu es o f ethnicity, accultu ratio n , a nd ass im il at ion in this con text of everyd ay life. If n eighbo r s chose diver ging path s, they were n eve rtheless path s th a t d evelo ped w ithin the confines a nd con text of the ethnic en clave. R a ther th a n the stilted b ackwaters th a t R o bert P a rk a nd other s saw, th ese e ncl aves we re vibrant wi th conflicts over life style, ch a n gin g ethnic ide n tity, a d a pta tion , a nd eve n interna tio n al issu es . 8 7 T hu s, to under stand migrant organization s a nd the role they played in accul tu rat io n and et h nic ident ity, it is necessary to con sider th e first in st ituti on m igran ts created in th e city, th e neighbo rhood . 88 W hile these two n eigh borhood s were dram aticall y d ifferent, they both fi t well into Suttles' d efinition of a defended neighbo rhood . I t seem s q uite likely tha t m os t imm igrant e nclaves also fit thi s descri ption , even in cases where the areas was no t so highly segregated fro m the surroundin g city b y either physical ba rrier s or class differen ces. A number o f rece nt studies d em o n stra te tha t d efended n eighborhood s can hold up without these two elem ents. 89 H oweve r , wha t seem s m ost important here is the signifi cance of scale . Becau se alley neighbo rhood s we re sm all a nd u nable to develop ex ten sive for m al o rganizat io n s d oes no t m ean tha t they we re a n y less impor tant for m a inta inin g a nd d evelopin g a n e thnic consciousness and way of life. R a ther, wha t the alley neighborhood seem s to suggest is that smal l scale e nclaves, w hethe r hidden in alleys, or scatte red alo n g stree t fro nt s, co n tin ue to have fl ouri shin g p r im a ry group li fe : in tern al orde r and co n trol, social serv ice act ivities, a nd eve n som e p roto in stitu tio n al li fe. M oreove r , it is likely tha t ethnic identity is heigh te ned in those situ at io ns w hen other groups are in su ch close proxim ity . 90 In the case of the Bi rd 's Nest o r la rge r ethnic co mmuni ties,9 1 the sig nifi cance of the ne ighborhood is often overlooked because of the exte n t of ethni c organ izat io n al a nd b u siness li fe. H oweve r , it is the pop u la ti o n scale tha t makes poss ible this d evelopment. Nevert heless, these a reas con tinue to be marked by extensive informal groups ; their aggregate �30 SLOVAKIA makes the neighborhood and keeps it operating, althou gh formal associations play an important role. Ultimately, then , we should exp ect smalle r settlem ents to develop strong informal groups but few formal ones; the larger the co mmunity , the greater the potential for formal organizations to develop , although infor mal group life rema ins active and important. It may well be, as Fischer suggests, that ethnic ide ntity is greatest in these smaller areas, less able to adapt or adjust to the n ew world . In larger enclaves, migrants have more space to consider alternatives , to pick and chose from diverging paths, m ore a bility to ad a pt or adjust to things "Am e rican " b y in corporating them into their repertoire a nd making them " their own. " 91 Finally, in addition to the observations con ce rnin g the importance of neighborhood as a mi grant institution , it is worth noting the different conditions white and bl ack migrants confronted. The caste barrier blacks confronted in Washington as well as the severely restricted housing m arket limited the potential for comm unity d evelopment. Alley dwellers utilized highly creative methods to circumvent the nearly impossible conditions they confronted . To surv ive in this enviro nment was success. In contrast, Slovak men and women were able to gain e nt ry to more stable a nd be tte r paying industrial jobs; eventu ally they secured so me m ovemen t into semi- a nd even skilled positions as a resu lt of their tenacious hold over jobs in their neighborhood. By doing so, they es ta blished ethnic occupation al beachheads for their kin a nd progeny , whil e blacks we re limited to day la bor a nd positions in the secondary labor market. 93 Similarly, Slovaks a nd other white ethnics through considerable personal and fami ly sacrifice were able to purchase their turf; few black alley dwellers were ever so fort un a te. In short , Bird Nesters could use their ethnic ties to establish and maintain occupational and property turf; blacks were "permitted " those jobs and hou sin g no one else wanted. D ominance of these turfs, occupational and residential, were always transitory, requiring incred ible hum an effort to m ainta in th em or develop n ew ones. They seldom permitted a n opportunity to grow or expand. �SLOVAKIA 31 NOTES ' O scar Handlin concludes that "wherever the immigrants went , th ere was one com mon ex peri ence th ey shared: nowhere could they transplant the European village . Wh atever th e va riati ons among environments in America , none was familiar. The pressure of th at stran geness exe rted a dee p influence upon th e character of rese ttlement , upon the usual forms of behavior , and upon the notes of communal action th a t emerged as th e immigrants beca me Americans .'' Th e Uprooted (2nd edn., Boston, 1973) , 129 . ' Loui s Wirth noted that the "shift from a rural to a predominantly urban society .. has bee n acco mpa ni ed by profound changes in virtually every phase of social life, '' with th e "substituti on of seconda ry for primary contacts , th e weakening of bonds of kin ship , and the declining social significance of the famil y, the disappearance of the neighborhood , and th e undermining of the tradition al bas is of social solidarity." On Cities and Social Life , ed . by Albert R eiss, Jr . (Chicago, 1964) , 79-80. See also Wirth, " Urbanism as a Way of Life , " American Journal of Sociology, 44 Ouly , 1938) , 1-24 . ' Ernes t Burgess , who devised the co nce ntri c zone th eory from which this co mes, concluded th a t ' 'disorganization as preliminary to reorgani za ti on of attitud es and condu ct is almost invariably th e lot of th e newcomer to the cit y.'' ' ' The Growth of the City," in Robert E. Park a nd Ernest Burgess, Th e City (Chicago, 1967), 54, 47-62 . • Howa rd Chudacoff found th at while foreign born migrants " m ay have retained their social , eco nomic , and religious commun iti es, their incidence of move ment out of th e old neighborhoods and a round the city make residential coherence a ve ry temporary experience." " A New Look at Ethnic Neighborhoods: Residential Dispersion and th e Concept of Visibilit y in a M edium-Sized City,'' Journal of America n History , 60 Oune , 1973), 91. See also Chudacoff, Mobile Americans: Residential and Social Mobility in Om ah a, 1880- 1920 (New York , 1972), 154-55; Humbert S . N elli, The Italians in Chicago: 1880-1 930( N ew York, 1970), xi i-xiii; Sam Bass Warner and Colin B. Burke, " Cultural Change and th e Ghetto," Journal of Contempnrary History, 4 (O ctober , 1969) , 173 -88 ; David W ard, " The Internal Spatial Different iat ion of Immi grant R esiden ti al Distri cts ,'' in Geographic Perspectives on America's Past , ed. by Dav id Ward ( ew York , 1979) , 335 -43; and Ward , " The Emergence of Central Immi gra nt Ghettoes in American Cities: 1840-1920, " Annals of th e A ssociation of America n Geographers , 38 ( 1968) , 343-59. ' The most class ic stateme nt of this positi on was that of E . Franklin Fraz ier: Southern black mi gra nts to north ern cities los t " res tra ints imposed by a simple folk culture" and creat ed a "class of rovi ng Negroes who will li ve a lawless sex a nd quasi-family life ." " The Impac t of U rba n Civilization upon Negro Family Life, " American Sociological R el'iew , 2 (October , 1937), 6 18. See also Frazier's The Negro Family in the United States (Chicago, 1966), 207-92; Cl yd e Vernon Ki se r , Sea Island co City ( New York, 1968), 223; Gilbert O sofsky, H arlem : Th e Making of a Ghetro (N ew York , 1964) , 135-49 ; Allen H . Spear, Black Chicago: Th e M aking of a Negro Gherto (C hi cago , 1967), 167-80 , x; Constance M cLaughlin Green, Th e Secret Ciry �32 SLOVAKIA (Prince ton, 1967); a nd D av id K atzm a n , Befor e th e Gh etto (U rba na, 1973). 6 W a rn er notes that reli gious co nfli cts in Am eri ca n cities "forced a ll cit y dwellers to think of th em selves either as Protestant s o r Ca th olics ' ' o r J ews, not as members of spec ific ethni c group s. " Cu ltural Cha nge a nd Ghett o," 178. See also Will H erberg, Prot estant , Cath olic, J ew (New York , 1955). ' G ilbert O sofsky, " The Endurin g Ghetto," J ournal of Am erica n History, 55 (September , 1968). ' 8 K enn eth Ku smer , A Ghetto T ak es Shap e: Black C leveland 1870- 1930 (Urbana, Ill ., 1976); D ou glas D a ni els, Pioneer Urbanites: A Social and C ultural History of Black San Fran cisco (Philadelphi a, 1980); and Thomas Cox , Bla cks in T op ek a, K ansas : A Social History (Baton R ouge, La., 1982). 9 Josef J. Barton , Peasants and Strangers: Italians, Rumanians, and Slovaks in an Am erica n C ity, 1890-1950 (Cambrid ge , M ass. , 1975), 64-90 ; M . Mark Stola rik , " Immigration a nd Urban izati on: The Slova k Experi ence, 1870-1 9 18" (Ph .D . di sse rtat ion, Universit y of Minneso ta , 1974), 69 -109; Sylvia June G ranatir Al exander , "The Immi gra nt C hurch a nd Co mmunit y: The Forma ti o n of Pittsburgh 's Slova k R eli gio us In stitution s, 1880- 19 14" (Ph .D . disse rta ti on, Uni vers it y of Minneso ta , 1980), 209-355, 443-5 18 ; Al exa nder , " Stay in g Togeth er : Chain Mi gration and Pattern s of Slovak Settl em ent in Pittsburgh Prio r to World W ar I , '' J ournal of Am erican Echnic History, I (Fall, 198 1), 56-83; K athleen Neils Conze n, Immigrant Milwa ukee: 1836-1 860 (Cambridge, M ass., 19 76) , 154-191 ; and V irginia Vans-M cLaughlin , Family and Commu nicy: Italian Immigranc s in Buffalo, 1880- 1930 (Ith aca, N. Y ., 1977). 0 A numb er of studi es do develop th e role of famil y life in mi gra nt se ttlements; thi s wo rk represe nts a m ajo r co ntribution to th e a nalys is of " inform al" o r prim ary gro up life in th e cit y. For exa mple , see T ama ra K . H a reve n , " Th e Histo ri cal Study of th e Fa mil y in Urban Society , " J ourn al of Urba n History , I (M ay , 1975 ). Unfortuna tely, such studi es neglect th e relati on ship of fa mil y a nd extended kin netwo rk to other inform al-primary groups of neighbo rh ood a nd communit y. Wh at is mi ss in g here is a discussion of th e informal social organi zat ion that makes up the nei ghborh ood . Fo r m o re co mpl ete ana lyses of social netwo rk s, see J . C lyde Mit chell , ed. , Social N ecworks in Urban Situation (M anches ter, 1969); Eli zabet h Bott , Family and Social N etwork (N ew Yo rk , 197 1); and C la ud e S. Fischer, To Dwell Among Friends: Personal N etwo rk s in T own and Cicy (C hi cago, 1982). " For exa mp le, see K a thl ee n Neil s Co nze n , " Commentary: Immi grants , Im mi g ra nt Neighborhoods, and Ethni c Identit y: Histo ri cal Issues, " J ourn al or Am erica n History, 66 (D ece mbe r, 1979), 603 -15. " Su za nn e Keller , Th e Urba n N eig hborh ood (N ew Yo rk , 1968). " Gera ld Sut tl es , Tn e S ocial Constru ction or Communicies (C hi cago, I 972 ), 2 I , 3- I 07 . " R o m a n A. C ybri ws ky, "Soc ia l Aspec ts of Ne ighbo rh ood Change ," Annals or th e Associa tion of Am erica n Geograph ers, 68 ( I 978) , 2 7. In co ntras t , th e co nce pt of th e co mmunit y of limi ted liab ilit y, o ri ginall y developed by M o rri s j a now it z, emp hasizes " th e int enti o na l, vo lunt a ry, a nd es peciall y, th e pa rtial a nd d ifferenti ated in vo lve- �SLOVAKIA 33 ment of res ident s in th eir local comm uniti es.'' Suttles, Social Construction of Communities , 47 , 44-81. See also Morris J anow it z, Th e Community Press in an Urban Setting: The Social Elements of Urbanism (Chicago, 1952). The contrived community is one that is pla nn ed , at leas t in part, with a d es ign to prom ote a ce rt ain kind of co mmunit y. New towns probabl y fall most closely in to thi s catego ry. See Suttles, Social Constru ction of Commun ities, 82-107 . " Formal o rgan ization is an assoc iation th at " is more or less purposefully created for th e at ta inmen t of rela tiv ely specific and limi ted goals.'' M a rvin E. Olsen , Th e Process of Social Organization (New York , 1968) , 92. M em bers are only partiall y involved a nd co mmitted to such " limited-li a bilit y" o rga ni zati on s; th ey rela te to each oth er largely in terms of the organization and th eir spec ific interest in its goals. Whi le members m ay beco m e " fri end s, " impl yin g a mu ch m ore inten se relations hip , and perh aps the development of a prima ry group or netwo rk , thi s is not the goal of the formal o rgani zati on . Primary or inform al gro up s, on th e ot her hand , are " those characteri zed by intimate, face-to-face aswciati on and co-operation, " i.e., " the family , th e play-group of children , a nd th e neighbo rh ood o r co mmunit y of elders. ' ' C ha rl es Cooley, Social Organization (New Yo rk , 1923), 23, 24. Fo r a rev iew of th e significant roles of informal groups, see Elihu K atz and Paul Lazarsfeld , Personal Influen ces (New York, 1955), 3 1-42. 16 For a discussion of this point , see J am es Bo rchert , " Urban Neighborhood and Communit y: Informal Group Life, 1850-1970, ' ' Journ al of Interdisciplin ary History , 11 (Sprin g, 1981 ), 607-3 1; Floyd Dodson, " Pa tt ern s of Volu nta ry Association among W o rkin g-C lass Families," America n Sociological R evie w , 16 (1951), 687-93; and Benn ett Berge r , W orking Class Suburb (Berkeley, Ca. , 1971 ) , 59-73. " R obert R edfi eld , "The Folk Society ," America njournal of Sociology, 52 Qanua ry, 1947) , 293-308. Thi s is not to su gges t that mi gra nts had no experience with forma l groups prior to mi gra ti on. As Ba rt o n , Stola rik , and oth ers have demonstrated , migrants brought both forma l and in formal group s with them. Whil e few have m ade d irec t comp a ri so ns of formal group s in th eir two se ttings (Ba rt on is an importa nt pa rti al except io n here), virtua ll y no o ne has co mpared informal grou ps. " J a m es S. Pil an t, Th e Envelope: A Study of the Imp act of th e World upon th e C hild (New Yo rk , 1950); Suttles, Th e Social Constru ction of Communities, 2 1- 43. 19 C hain migrat ion has bee n defin ed as " th at m ove m ent in which prospecti ve mi grants lea rn of oppo rtuniti es, a re provided with transporta ti on , and have initi al accommodati on and employment a rranged by m ea ns of primary social relationships with previous migra nts" (aut hors' itali cs). J ohn S. M acdon ald a nd Leatri ce D. M acdonald , "Chain Mi gra ti on , Ethn ic Neighborhood Fo rm ati on , and Social Netwo rks," Milbank M emorial Fund Quart erly, 42 Q anu a ry, 1964) , 82. 0 T hese vary, of course , by ethni c gro ups, circum stances , a nd over time , as well as by cl ass. Specia l foods a nd restaurants a re probably th e most obviou s exa mpl es, but churches and lodges a re probably the m ost uni ve rsal ''se rvices. '' Profess ionals a nd ethni c bu siness a re also important elements of th e urba n village, especiall y fun eral homes; th ey con tinu e to draw former res idents a nd th eir children bac k to th e urba n ' �34 SLOVAKIA vi llage, a t leas t on special occasions. Finall y, ma ny wh o left th e "village" continu e to own buildings there; their rental income made "escape" easier; it di d nm , however, break th e ties. " See Suttles, T he Social C onstru ction of C ommunities, 2 1-43. " These environments a re strikin gly different ; th e two group s a re eve n more different in term s of their past ex peri ences, institutional life, and cultural baggage. Co mparison, th en , prese nts considerable problems; limited da ta make thi s eve n more problema ti c. " For oth er effort s to co mpa re th e bl ac k and white ex peri ence, see ta nl ey Lieberso n , A Piece of th e Pie: Black s and Whit e Immigranrs Since 1880 ( Berkeley, Ca ., 1980); J ohn Bodn a r , Michael W eber , and R oge r Simon , " Mi gra ti on , Kin ship , a nd U rba n Adjustm ent : Blac ks a nd Poles in Pitt sb urgh , 1900- 1930," j ournal o f America n History, 66 (Dece mber , 19 79) , 548-565; a nd Bodnar , Sim on , W eber , Lives o f th eir Own : Black s, Italians, and Poles in Piusburgh , 1900- 1960 (Urbana, Ill. , 1982). " For a more compl ete di scussion, ee Borchert, Alley Life in W ashing ton ( Urbana , Ill. , 1980) . For a d iscussion of alleys else wh ere, see 223-37 , 3 12- 17. " Ibid . , 1-56 . ' 6 C u yahoga C ount y Treasure r's Depa rtm ent T ax Duplica tes , I 894- 1923 . C uyahoga Count y Archi ves; M a rgare t M anor Bu tle r, Th e Lakewood tory ( ew York , 1949); 228 ; " City Plays Vital R ole," newspa per clipping-source unkn ow n , M ay 5, 1955 . Lakewood Historical Society; " ati onal Carbon C om pany," C leveland Plain D ealer , September 10, 19 77 . The neighbo rhood has been kn own by a se ri es of names; Bird's Nes t and Bird T own deri ve from th e predominance of stree t with bi rd na me . Other na mes suggest how th e neighborh ood has bee n viewed by outsid er : T he Settl ement, th e Village , " Dago Forum , " C a rbon T own , " Little Slova ki a," a nd th e Carbon Distri ct. John Fedor , "Ju st Loo k at th e Stree t Signs to Find Bird T own ," Lakewood L edger , Dece mber 14, 1967; Butler, Lakewood Story, 188, 228-29; Butler, R om ance in Lakewood Streets (C leve la nd , 1962), 41 ; C ynthi a A. Rud e r, " Th e Imprint of C ultura l V alues on Birdtow n , La kewood, Ohio, " un publi shed typesc ript , M ay 1, 1978. Lakewood Hi stori cal Society. " C uyahoga Count y Au d ito r's T ax M aps , Cuyahoga Coun ty Adm inistrat ion Bu ild ing. Vol. 35-C it y of La kewood. 1890- 1982. " Fed or , " Just Loo k a t th e tree t igns " R eco rd s of th e Distri ct of Colu mb ia , Reco rd Grou p 35 1. Na ti onal Archi ves. Boa rd of C hi ldren ' s Guardi ans, C hildren 's History , I ll : I 129, I 162 , 1392; IV: 158 1. See also Bo rchert , " Survivin g th e C it y: Persistence a nd C ha nge in Bl ac k Folkways of Life in a N ew Environment ," pa per prese nt ed a t th e Associa ti on for th e Stud y of Afro-Ameri ca n Life a nd Hi sto ry, O ctober 2 1- 24, 1982, Baltim ore, M a ryla nd, 8. '° 31 Federal Population Ce nsus Schedul es, 1880, W ashin gto n , D .C., R eco rd Group 29 . ati onal Archi ves; a nd Com missioner of th e Di trict of Colum bia , Ann ual R ep orc -1897 (W as hin gto n , 1897), 195-202. Fed eral Popul ati on C ensus ched ul es, 19 I 0 , La kewood, Ohio. at ional Archives . See also Fed eral Popula ti on Ce nsus Sched ul es, 1900 , Lakewood, Ohio . ational Ar- �SLOVAKIA 35 chi ves. The less precise category "country of origin" makes it impossible to know , oth er than Hun ga ry, where migra nts came from. The 1910 ce nsus clea rs this matter up through more precise desi gnati on ; in this case 70 perce nt listed th emselves as " Hunga rian Slovaks" rath er th a n merely" Hun gary," as in 1900 . "Language" also permit s more precise determination . " While J osef Barton has co ncluded that Slovak migration to C leveland was from more gene rall y dispersed areas in Slovakia, migrating more by district than personal or village chains, oth er studies report considerably more personal co ntacts in the migrati on process, both generally a mong lovak migra nts and specificall y for Cleveland. Peasa ncs and Strangers , 50-51, 54, 59, 63. Emily Greene Balch reports that nearly 99 percent of Slovaks en terin g the United States in 1907-1908 planned to join relatives or friends . Our Slavic Fellow Citizens (New York , 1910), 433. Al exander repo rts that whi le Slovak mi gran ts to Pittsburgh did mi grate in cha ins either by village, or by th e more loose " district" pattern Ba rton found, th e selecti on of one's res idence in a give n cit y was strongly influenced by fri end s and rela tives . " Th e Immi grant C hurch ," 55, 68. M a rk Stolarik also found "Slovaks in the Un ited States and Canada originall y reside(d) in distinct neighborhoods nea r their parish ch urches . most of these in each co ngregation ha iled from the same cluster of villages in the old country." " Immi grat ion a nd Urbanization, " 40. Stolarik a nd his co-authors of a st ud y of C leveland Slovaks reported simila r findings for th at cit y. Susi Megles, Mark Stolarik, and Martina Tybor, Slovak Americans and th eir Communities of Cleveland (C levela nd , 1979), 132. M ore importa nt for this study, Stolarik's analysis of parish reco rds of one Bird 's Nest church found 68 percent were from the ext reme end of one Slovak county; " nearly ha lf of the group was from . . three neighboring villages . " " Immi grat ion a nd Urbanization, " 41. For other informa ti on on chain mi gra ti on of Bird 's Nest residents, see Mary Towarni cky, " Helping One Another in the New Land: The Old Timers R emem ber," in SS. Cyril and M ethodius Church , Diamond Jubilee, 1903 -1 978 (La kewood, 1978), 67; and Common Pleas Court, Records of Declaration of Intention , Cuyahoga County Archives. Vo ls. 1- 30, Octobe r 10 , 1906-Sep tember 8, 19 13. " Lo renzo] . Greene and Myra Colso n Callis, The Employment of Negroes in th e District of Columbia (Washington, I 930), 65. " Borchert, Alley Life, 166-77. " Fed eral Popu lat ion Ce nsus Schedul es, I 900, 1910, La kewood, Ohio ; U.S . Bureau of th e Ce nsus, Population and H ousing- 1940: Cleveland, Ohio and Adjacent Area (Was hin gto n , 1942), 106. This is not to suggest that co nditions were easy o r wages hi gh. J an Pa nku ch notes that " during the first years their wages barely met their needs .'' Dejin y Clevelandskych a Lakewoodsk ych Slovakov (C leveland, 1930), 24. ' 6 Borchert, Alley Life, 85. " Ibid., l 83. The impact of a lley co nditions can be seen most clearly in co mparison to nati onal statisti cs. In 1910 the death rate for urban whit es was 14.6 per thousand ; for urba n blacks, 24.3. James H. Jones , Bad Blood ( ew York, 198 I), 37 . For street �36 SLOVAKIA dwelling W ashin gtoni an s (whit e and black), the dea th rate per thousand was 17 .56 ; for alley residents it was 30 .09 . Willia m H enry J ones, Th e H ousing of Negroes in W ashington , D.C. (Washington, 1929), 45 . " Borchert , Alley Life, 183 . 39 ' 0 41 Albina M olek, " Builders of the Spirit ," C leveland News, November 18, 1949 ; H oward Whipple Green , Plan es of Living in C uyah oga Co unty: as D epicted by th e Real Prop erty Survey (Cleveland , 1940), 65 . Green, Planes of Living, 58. Federal Population C ensu s Schedul es, 1910, Lakewood , Ohio. " Fed eral Population Census Schedul es, 1880, W as hin gton , D .C. See Borchert , Alley Life , 68. 43 Butler, Lakewood Story, 188. " Federal Populaton Census Schedul es, 19 10 , Lakewood, Ohio. In 1911 , residents of the larger community , led by a prominent member of the Rhodes family , established a clinic in the neighborhood becau se of the seve re health conditions, es peciall y the hi gh infant mortality . " Dispensary," in " History of Lakewood ," C lipping fil e, Lakewood Histo rical Society; a nd Butler , L ak ewood Story, 188-89. 45 Borchert , Alley Life , 69-85. •• It is important to note th a t the household unit , whi ch is usually considered th e base of the urban nei ghborh ood , was only part of a m ore important ex tend ed kin ship network whi ch included fi ctive kin adopted in the count rys ide or city. These ext ra- household units ti e re sidents of the alley together into " cliques" th at m ake up the large r alley communit y. Alley residents were linked together in other ways ; marriage of two alley residents linked two fa mil ies and kin networks together . After so me tim e , it is possible that mos t lon g-term residents in a given alley were linked by kinship to each ot her in multiple ways. 47 Becau se th e alley neighb orh ood/comm unity rema ined an informal inst itut ion with no " reco rd s" of its act ivities, it is ve ry difficult to determin e the full ex tent of neighborhood act ivities and their import . Nevertheless , some as pects do seem to stand out : neighborin g a nd ent erta inin g, a id to the needy, commo n action on com munit y need s, intern al social co nt rol, a nd defense of the neighborhood again st outsiders. 48 For a desc ription of the alley as meeting place , see W as hin gton National lnte1ligencer , Jul y 25, 1865; W ashington Times, Septembe r 11, 1904; Washington S tar , Jun e 6, 1930; W ashin gton D aily N ews, April 15, 1954; Charles W eller , Neglected Neighbors (Philadelphi a, 1909), 17 , 82; Wilbur V . Mallalieu , "A W ashin gton Alley," Survey , 28 (October 19, 19 12), 71; Gladys Sellew, A D eviant Social Situation: A Cou rr (Washin gton , 1938), 17 ; a nd D a ni el D. Swinney, " Alley Dwellings a nd H ousing R eform in the Di stri ct of Columbia " (M .A . th esis, University of C hi cago, 1938) , 141 -42. During the winter , several homes in a give n all ey see m to have se rved as mee ting spots. Dora Bessie Somerville , " A Study of a Group of Negro C hildren Li ving in an Alley C ulture" (M.A. th esis, Cat holic U ni ve rsit y of Ameri ca, 1941 ), 20. These homes usually di spensed liquor , oft en homemade , providing resid ents wit h a social �SLOVAKIA 37 ce nt er a nd tenants with a "second in co me . " For a discu ssio n based on a n a nalysis o f histori cal photog raphs , see " Photographs a nd th e Study of th e Pas t, " in Borchert, Alley Life , 291-93; Borche rt , "Analysis of Histo ri cal Photographs," Srudies in Visual Communication, 7 (Fall , 1981 ), 51-56; and Borchert , " Alley Landscapes of Washington, " Landscape , 23 (No. 3, 1979), 6-8. 0 ' Marion M . Ratigan, A Sociological Survey of Disease in Four Alleys in the National Capital (Was hin gton , 1946), 59 ; Mary R edempta Fores tall , "Trend s in Housing, Delinquency, and H ealth in the Central Northwest Area in Washington, D.C." (M.A . th es is , Catholic University of Ame ri ca, 1938), 32; Grace Vawter Bicknell , The Inhabited Alleys o f Washington, D .C. (W ashington , 1912), 31; Well er, Neglected Neighbors, 47 ; Leonise Ruth Aubry, "A mbitions of Youth in a Poo r Economic Status " (M.A. thes is , Catholic University of America, 1938), 3; Sellew, Deviant Social Siruarion, 46, 54; Sommerville, " Study of a Group of Negro Children," 24; Washington Daily News, Augu st 29, 1941; Swinney , "Alley Dwellings and Housin g R efo rm, " 50, 73; Leono r Enriquez Pablo , " The Housing Needs and Social Problems of Residen ts in a Deteriorated Area" (M .S.W. thesis , Catholic University of America , I 953), 56; Board of Children's Guardians , Children's History, I-VII (see especia ll y I:2 33-34 ; II : 657, 667, 801); Washington National R ep ublican , March 24 , 1862 ; a nd Washington Times , September 11, 1904 . " Whil e it is impossible to recreate co nversations between res idents from the ex isting hi sto ri cal records, it is clear from a large body of literatu re in sociology and anthropology that goss ip plays a critical role in the ma intena nce of order as well as the development of a commo n world view. Scholars of black rural and small town life in th e South noted th e importance of goss ip; CharlesJohnson found that "communit y gossi p exercises restraint . . There are limits ... and when th ese limits are reached violators a re treated with unmi stakable group disapproval.'' Shadow of the Plan cation (Chicago, I 94 1), 81, 82. Similarly , H ylan Lewis concluded that " gossip, or th e possibility of gossip " m a kes residents " more careful of th eir behavior." Blackways of Kent (New H ave n , Conn., 1962) , 193. " Those who show signs of group status de via tion . . are subject of a kind of gro up pressure marked by resentment and cri ti cism." Ibid ., 191 . " See Al. L. Epstein , " Gossip , Norms , a nd Social Network," in Social Networks in Urban Situ ations, 117-27. " For example , see Swinney , "Alley Dwellings and H ous in g R efo rm , " 136-37; and Pablo, " H ousin g Needs and Social Problems," 42. " Bo rchert , "U rban Neighborhood a nd Community," 615-18. " Swinney, " Alley Dwellings and H ousin g R eform, " 121 . " Ibid.; W ashington Post , D ece mber 26, 1948; Well er , Neglected Neighbors, 17, 22, 97 ; Mallalieu, " Washington Alley , " 71 ; a nd the R ev . Daniel O'Connell, "The Inhabit ed Alleys of Washington and the Early Social Hi story of One Alley" (M .A. thesis, Ca th oli c University of Ameri ca , 1953) , 110 . It is importa nt to note that attendan ce in the rural South does not seem to have been especially la rge based on Lewi s' findin gs for K ent . Lewis, B/ackways of Kent , 129-30. �38 SLOVAKIA " Borchert, Alley Life, 185-86. 58 Pankuch, Dejiny , 22. " Ibid .; Mary Towarnicky , "Slovak Newcomers to America, " in SS. Cyril and Methodius Church, Diamondjubilee, 1903-1978 (Lakewood, 1978), 66; Towarnicky , " Helping One Another," 67 . 60 Towarnicky, " Helping One Another," 67. 61 The Pleasant Hill Land Company was owned and run by Washington H. Lawrence, the president of the National Carbon Company. It seems clear that Lawrence purchased an extra large parcel ofland from the Case Estate with the intention of developing a residential area for workers . Butler, Lakewood Story, 228; "C ity Plays Vital Role, " "National Carbon Company," Plain Dealer; and G . Frederick Wright, Representative Citizens of Ohio: Memorial-Biographical (Cleveland, 1914) , 181-84. Since the factory was well outside the built-up parts of C leveland, Lawrence may well have considered this development a necessity to attract workers; he must also have planned to make a good return on his investment. The difficulty of the commute from in-city residences to the plant prior to the completion of a street car line in 1898 was incredible . For examples, see "City Plays a Vital Role" and Pankuch , Dejiny, 23. 61 Initially the early buildings were rented to workers; however, the PHLC sold off most of the improved lots within a couple years of construction. Cuyahoga County Treasurer's Tax Duplicates , 1894- 1923. There is some indication that the Na tional Carbon Company (via PHLC) "sold lots to ... immigrants on installments. " Loretta l vany, " 'Birdtown' Became C ity's Ethnic Center," Sun Post , Jun e 30, 1979 . •• Cuyahoga County Auditor's Tax Maps, Cuyahoga County Administration Building. Migrants bought up lots on Plover first because they were cheaper du e to their proximity to th e railroad tracks. Pankuch, Dejiny , 23. R esidents not only bought up land in the neighborhood as soon as they could afford to, they also held on to th e land, passing it on to relatives or selling it with in the community. Paul Wrobel found a sim ila r practice when he did an extensive participant-observation study of a Polish-American parish in D etroit. Our Way: Family, Parish and Neighborhood in a Polish-American Community (Notre Dame, Ind ., 1979), 5. 6 ' City of Lakewood, Building Department, Building Permits , 1900(?)-1982. It is interesting to note that no building permits a ppear to have been taken out by the PHLC, des pite the fact that they clea rl y improved and built on one-fifth of th e lots over the thirt y year period before the last lot was sold ( 1923). Although the city records are incomplete , and use of building permits seems to have been casual in the earl y years, as well as the fact th at many early reco rd s have not survived, it is strange that no PHLC perm its remain in the records. Insurance maps and descriptive sources do confirm the com pany 's activity in th is area prior to 1900. Thomas Flynn, Otto Barthel, R.H. Bunning, and Thomas H assan , Atlas of the Suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio (Philadelphia, 1898), Plate 24; M argaret Butler, R omance in Lakewood's Streets 41; lvany, " 'Birdtown' Became City's Ethnic Center"; and Cynthia A. Rud er , "The Imprint of Cultural Values.'' �SLOVAKIA 39 " As Stephan Thernstrom found in Newburyport , however, home ownership came a t a high price : " To cut family co nsumption expenditures to the bone was one such sac rifice. To withdraw the children from school and to put them to work at the age of ten or twelve was another.'' Poverty and Progress: Social Mobility in a Nin eteenth Century City (New York , 1969), 155. 66 Federal Population Census Schedules, 1910, Lakewood , Ohio. 67 Pankuch , D ejin y, 22; Towarnicky, "Slova k Newcomers to America," 66 ; Towarnicky, " H elping One An other," 67; and Ivany, " 'Birdtown' Became City's Ethnic Center . " 68 M egles, Stolarik , and T ybor, Slo vak Americans and their Communities, 132; Sts. Peter and Paul Lutheran Church , Seventy-Fifth Anniversary (Lakewood, 1976), 3; and Towarnicky , " H elping One Another," 67. 6 ' One of the first Slovak employees recalled th at he " ' got a job in the construction of the . factory. After I had worked th ere for a couple days, the boss told me to bring in a couple more men. I asked him how many I should bring; he answered as man y as I could, even a dozen would do, he said . So I called up my brothers: Juraj, and J an, also Jan andJuraj Nemec, A. Chovana and a bunch of others; Michael Urban and A. Goda all got hired. All the Scerbas; J an Scerba, Jan Scerba, Jr. , Adam Scerba, Andrej R yba nik and many others ca me in later.' " Andrej Babej, quoted in Pank uch, Dejin y, 22. ' 0 Alexander, "The Immigrant Church and Community, " 56-57. More importantl y she notes that "at tim es, when firms desperately needed labor, foremen promised jobs to employees' fri end s or relati ves if th ey would send for them." Ibid ., 57. " Ibid ., 57. She also notes that "Slovaks and other immigra nt groups came to rely on a sys tem of personal relationships in order to get jobs. '' Ibid. For more recent discussions of this process, see Ri chard M yer, " Interpersonal R elations in the Building Indu stry," Man , Work , and Society, ed . by Sigmond Nosow and William Form (New York , 1962) and William K ornblum , Blue Collar Community (C hi cago, 1974). " Sts . Pete r and Paul Lutheran Church, Seventy-Fifth Anniversary , 2-3; Megles , Stolarik , and Tybor, Slovak Americans and their Communities , 13 3; Peter M . Glovna, Sr., " Hi story of SS. Cyril and Methodius Pari sh ," in SS. Cyril and Methodius Church , Diamond Jubilee, 33; " Sts. Peter and Paul Russian Orthodox Church, " undat ed news paper clipping in Margaret Butler, " Hi story of Churches" fil e, Lakewood Hi storical Society; " Ukrainian Church Ded ication Is Set ," undated newspaper clipping in Butl er, ' ' Hi sto ry of Churches . ' ' " Stolarik , " Immigration and Urbanization, " 85-97. It is usefu l to note here that three of the first four Slovak churches in the neighborhood still have services in Slovak, althou gh the y have th em in English as well. " Ru de r , " Imprint of Cultural Values" ; Butler, Lakewood Story, 20,7. In a fine stud y of Slova k Cat holi c lead ers' at titud es toward public ed uca ti on , Mark Stolarik found th ey "valued parochial schools above all else worried mu ch m ore about their children 's moral a nd national upbringing th a n about social mobility . . had no u se �40 SLOVAKIA for publi c schools . . (which) ' den a ti onali ze ou r children . ' " " Immi gra ti on , Education, and the Social Mobilit y of Slova ks, 1870- 1930, " in R a nd all M. Mill e r a nd Thomas D . Marzik, ed s., Immigrants and R eligion in Urban America (Phil adelphia, 19 77) , 107 , 106 . Both Ba rton and Stolarik report th a t 60 to 80 percent of Slovak children a ttended parochi al schools. Ba rto n, Peasa nts and Strangers, 145-46; Stola rik , " Immi grati on and Urban ization ," 165-66. Th e public elem ent a ry school in th e Bird ' s Nest had no teachers wh o co uld speak Slovak ; of those children who did att end , few, if any , spoke Engli sh. Rud e r , "Imprint of C ultural V alu es." 75 The 1930 City Directory includes over 75 bu sinesses (17 local groce rs) and 16 profess ionals a nd se rvi ces avai lable to th e neighborh ood run by local res id ent s (or fo rme r resid ent s). C leveland Directory Compan y, C leveland, Ohio C ity Directory- I 930 (C levela nd , 1930). 76 Inspec to r , Building and Loa n Associat io n , 22nd Annual R ep ort far th e Y ea r Ending D ecember 31, 19 12 (Springfi eld , Ohio, 19 13) , 165 . Oro! Buildin g and Loa n Co. The founding preside nt a nd sec re tary both li ved on Plover , while o nl y th e treas ure r li ved outsid e th e immediat e neighborh ood. H e li ved , howeve r , ju st on th e o th e r sid e (north) of Madison Ave nu e, an a rea th a t Slova ks a nd other mi g ra nt s expand ed int o. Panku ch noted that th e Sav ings a nd Loa n wa s in ex ist ence by 1902 , so it may well have been operating to help res idents long before its offi cial cha rt er in 19 11 . D ejin y, 24. 77 Cuyahoga Count y Treasu re r 's Tax Duplica tes a nd Ci ty of La kewood, Building Permits. 78 For a n excellent discu ssion o n th e conflict be twee n "accult u ra ti o ni sts a nd tradition ali sts , " sec Howard F . Stein , " An Ethnohistory of Slova k-Am e ri ca n R eli gio us and Frate rnal Associations: A Study in Cultural M eanin g, Group Identit y, and Soc ial Instituti o ns," Slo va kia, 29 ( 1980-1 98 1) , 53 -101 . 19 Peter Glovna, as quoted in l vany, " ' Birdtown ' Beca me City 's Ethn ic Center ." G lovna's fath e r m oved to the neighborhood in 1893 a nd was a founder of SS. Cyril and M e thodius , whi le hi s son li ved on Plove r for 40 yea rs. D es pite hi s rece nt m ove out of the area, he still maint ains contacts and serves as pa rish hi sto ri a n . Glovna, "H istory of SS . Cyril and M e th odiu s Pa rish. " 0 " R esidents of Birdtown also enjoyed neighborh ood picnics a nd dancing to th e sound s of bands which were se t up on M a gee and M adison Av enu es.' ' l va ny , '' ' Birdt own ' Beca m e C ity's Ethnic Center.' ' 81 Ruder, " Im print of Cultural Valu es," 5. See also l van y , " ' Birdtown ' Beca me C it y's Ethni c Center ," and 1941 survey quoted extensively in Butler , L akewood St an ·, 229. ' " Rud e r, " Imprint of Cultural V alu es," 18. " Al exa nd e r ' s comment cit ed ea rli e r th a t Slovaks ca m e to rely o n a sys te m of pe rsonal relationships in order to get j obs (see not e 70) needs to be put in a la rge con text he re. Social scienti sts have not ed the impo rt a nce of informal groups in a variety of settings from factory, army, stree t co rn e r gang , a nd neighbo rh ood . Fo r exa mpl e , see F.j . R oet hli sberger a nd W.J . Dickson, M an agem ent and th e W orker (Cam bridge , M ass., 1939); Samuel A. Stoffe r , et. al . , Th e America n Soldier: Studies in Social Psvcholog1· �SLOVAKIA 41 in W orld W ar II , 2 vols (P rin ceto n , .J ., 1949); Edwa rd Shil s, " Prima ry Groups in th e Am eri can Arm y," in R obert M erton and Paul Laza rsfeld, ed s., Studies in ch e S cope and M ech od ofch e " Th e American Soldier " (Gl enoce, Ill. , 1951) ; W . Ll oyd Warn er and Paul S. Lunt , Th e S ocial Life of a M od ern C ommunicy (New H ave n , C onn . , 1941 ); Willi a m Foote Wh yte, Screet Com er Sociecy (Chicago, 1943); a nd K ornblum , Blue Collar Community. 14 Butler, Lakewood S cory , 228 , 188; C leveland Press , M ay 13 , 1947 ; and Rud er, " Imprint of Cultural V alues," 1, 3, 18 . " An impo rtant pa rt of th e p rocess, of course, invol ved co mpetiti o n for hou sing with oth er groups, a res tri cted housin g m a rket accessible to mi g rant s a nd their work . 16 M a ny form er res ident s of th e neighbo rh ood return a t least once a week fo r religious se rvices on Sunday; m a n y d o so m o re often . See al so Wrobel, Our Wa y. " R obert Park obse rved th at "certain urban neighborhoods suffer from isolation ." "The Ci ty," in Park and Burgess , Th e C it y, 8 . Fo r a different view, see Alfr ed Kazin , A W alk er in ch e C ic y (New Yo rk , 195 1). " The persistence of these a reas, outli vin g in som e cases th e in stituti ons th at ca m e aft er th em , att es ts to th eir vit alit y. " In th e Bird 's Nes t th e co ntinuin g prese nce of churches of eac h ethni c group suggests th e continuin g vit alit y of each group . Fo r other exampl es, see Cybriwsky, " Social Aspec ts of N eighbo rhood C ha nge"; Cybriwsky and D avid Ley, " Urba n Graffiti as T erri tori al M a rkers,'' Annals of ch e A ssociacion of American Geographers, 64 (1974) , 475-505; and K ornblum , Blue Collar Community . Some older studies infer the same conclu sion s: H elen L. Wilson and Eunice W . Smith , " Chicago H ou sin g Conditions, VIII : Am ong th e Slova ks in th e Twenti eth Ward ," America n j ourn al of S ociology, 20 (September , 19 14), 145-69 ; Emil y W. Dinwiddie, H ousing Condicions in Philadelphia (Philadelphi a, 1904); J a net K emp , R epore of ch e T en em enc H ouse Commission o f L ouisville (Loui sville, 1_909); Ulf H a nn erz, S ou/side ( ew Yo rk , 1969) ; and Wh yte, Scree/ Corn er Sociecy. •o Sec C la ud e Fi sc her , Th e Urban Experien ce ( ew Yo rk , 19 76) . In hi s m o re recent stud y, Fi sc her has fo un d th e current cit y '' a m osaic of inten se ethni c wo rld s rather th a n . . a la ndsca pe of ethni c di sintegra tion ." M o reo ver , " urba ni sm - or at least th e co nce ntrati o n of spec ific ethni c g roup s - m o re oft en bolsters th a n brea ks down ethni cit y. As the urbani sm of th e communit y increased , respo nd ent s were m ore likely to be ' ethni cs.' " T o Dwell Am ong Friends, 204 , 206 . " For example , H am tramck is an ex treme case where Polish-Am eri cans developed their ow n co mmunit y o n a m ass ive scale . In 1950 , 70 perce nt of th e 44 ,000 res idents of thi s inde pend ent co mmunit y in D etro it were of Poli sh-Am eri ca n ancestry. Arthur Eva ns W ood , H amcram ck : A S ociological Scudy of a Polish -America n Communicy (New H ave n , Conn ., 1955) , 13-28 . " Fisc her, T o D well Among Friends, 207 . See also Peter R ose, S crangers in Th eir Midsc: Small T own J ews and T h eir Neigh bors (M erri ck , New Yo rk , 1977). " Sec note 23. �SLOVAKIA 42 TABLE 1 Bird's Nest Population 1900-1940 Population i900· 1910 .. 429 2,186 1920 ± 4, 145 19.30t 3,729 1940# 3,125 •M a nusc ript Census- Federal Po pul atio n Census Sched ules , 1900 La kewood, O hio . '"Ma nuscript Census-Federal Popula ti o n Census Schedul es, 19 10 Lakewood , O hio . ± Federal Po pulation C ensus Schedules, 1920 Lakewood, O hio for census trac t LW 18. Unfo rtu na tely. the cen· su s tract leaves out one side of one stree t in the neighbo rh ood . tFede ral Po pul ati on C ensus Schedul es , 1930 La kewood, O hio fo r census tract LW1 8. U nfo rtun ately. the cen· sus tract leaves out one side Of one stree t in the neighborhood . #Bu rea u of the Census, Popula tion and H ousing - 1940: Cle,·eland. O hio and Adj acent Arca (Washingto n , 1941), 106. U nfo rtun a tely, the ce nsus trac t leaves out o ne side of one street in 1hc neighborhood . �SLOVAKIA 43 TABLE 2 Occupations of Alley Dwellers 1880 Federal Population Census Schedules , 1880 . Washington, D .C. Record Group 29. National Archives Occupations , 1880 • Adult Males (16 or older) Occupacion N % Unski lled Service Semi-skilled Skilled White-collar Proprieto r (and self-employed) Professional Agriculture/Fishing None 1,641 251 318 233 50 112 28 17 124 59 TOTAL 2,774 100 N % 9 12 8 2 4 4 Adule Females (16 or older) Occupacion Unskilled Service Semi-skilled Skilled White-collar Proprietor None (includes "at home ," "keeping house , " and "at school" ) TOTAL 4 1,742 70 6 10 8 49 1, 780 49 3 ,620 100 2 •Th e substanti al numbe rs of a lley d we ll ers in skilled throu gh professi onal ac tivities is th e res ult of a classifica1io n system th at is ma rk edl y diffe re nt fro m the ones ge nerall y used . It was used here to detec t " class" differen ces within the alley po pula ti on . Thu s, ba rbers a re class ified as skilled , while a number of " proprietors " a rc , in fac 1,ju nkmen . V irtu all y all the adult alley po pula ti o n sho uld fall in the unskilled , se rvice, o r semi- skilled a reas. See Bo rchert, Alley Life, 306-08 . �SLOVAKIA 44 TABLE 3 Occupations of Residents of the Bird 's Nest 1900 A. Adult Males - 15 yea rs of age or older. Occupation Unskill ed .. . . . . . . .. .. .. .. ........ . . . . ... .. ... .... . Service ............ . .... . ... . . . . .... . .. . .. .. .. . . . Semi-skilled .. . ... . . ... . . . . . . . . Skilled ... . . ... .. .... . . . White-collar Proprietor Professional Agricultural T otal B. Adult W omen - Number Percent 147 92 % 3 2 0 5 0 3 2 0 3 2 160 15 yea rs of age or older . Occupation Number 2 2 Unskilled Service ... Semi- skill ed Skill ed White-colla r Proprietor Agri cultural Percent 50 % 50 % 0 0 0 0 0 T otal 4 100 % TABLE 3 Occupations of Residents of the Bird's Nest 1910 A . Adult M ales - 15 yea rs of age or older. Occupation Number Un skill ed 79 1 Se rvice 19 Semi-skilled . .. .. . . .... .. ... . ...... . .. . ... ... .... . 38 Skill ed ...... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 White-co ll a r 10 P roprietor 11 P rofessional 1 Agri cul tural To tal 949 Percent 84 % 2 4 8 100 % �SLOVAKIA B. Ad u lt Wom en - 45 15 ye ars of age or olde r. Occupation Number 75 Un ski lled ....... . . Service Semi- ski lled Ski lled W hi te-coll ar P ro prieto r Profess io nal Agricultu ral 33 Percent 66 % 29 % 0 4 4 1 0 0 0 11 3 T otal 100 % TABLE 3 Occupations of Residents of the Bird 's Nest 1940 Occupations Number O cc u pa ti ons not repo rt ed U nskilled Service wo rkers D om es ti c se rvi ce wo rkers Opera ti ves a nd kind red wo rkers C ra ft sm en , fo rem en , a nd kindred wo rkers . ... . .... . . . .. . . . C leri cal, sales , and kind red wo rkers . .. . . P ro pri etors, m a nage rs, and offi cials . ... . .. . Se mi -pro fess io nal Pro fess ional T otal Percent 2 184 83 98 17% 8 9 478 44 105 10 9 3 96 29 4 13 1,092 100 % Bu reau of the Ce nsus, Populat ion and Housing - 1940: Cleveland , Ohio and Adjacent A rea (W as hin gton , 1942) , 106 . Ce nsus tract leaves o ut o ne side of one street of neighbo rhood . �� " Logan Place." September 26, 1935. All ey Dwellin g Authority. Nati onal Capital H ousin g Authorit y Collection . Library, D e pa rtm ent of H ou sin g and Com munit y D evelo pm ent. W as hin gto n, D .C . ► ► ;,::; ...... < 0 L' (/) 0::, �SLOVAKIA 9 Migrant Responses To The City: The Neighborhood, Case Studies in Black and White, 1870-1940* James Borchert and Susan Danziger-Borchert Th ey tend to reproduce spontaneously the home community and to live in it. L etters show that they frequently reply to inquiries from home for a description of America, " I have yet been able to see America." W.I. Thomas, "The Immigrant Community" Students of migration to American cities have, over the years, produ ced a large library of studies. The greatest outpouring of work has co ncentra ted on the migration of southern and eastern European immigrants during the years from 1880 to 1920, and the "great migrati o n " of blacks from the rural South. This profusion of work has not produced any final conclusions on the migrant experience, although there a re a number of schools of thought about what happen ed to migrants . Th e first group of scholars who considered European migrants of this pe riod concl uded that d espite efforts to re- establish their rural ways of life, the city proved too poor a soil for such institutions to ta ke root. Thus extended family , kinship network , neighborhood , and community 1 • A ve rsio n of this paper was prese nted a t th e Nin ety-Seve nth Annu al M ee tin g of th e Am eri ca n Hi sto ri cal Associa ti o n held in Washin gton, D .C. in D ece mb er 198 2. The authors are indebted to th e Am erican Hi to ri cal Associati on for a n Albert J. Beveridge M em o ri a l Fund Grant and the Smithson ian In sti tuti on for a fellowship, whi ch provided esse nti al fundin g in conn ec tion with th e preparation of th e original presenta tion. �10 SLOVAKIA withered ; a pe riod of disorde r a nd co nfu sion foll owed u nt il mi grant s discovered the " urba n way of life. " 1 Accordin g to the theory, thi s d iscovery , synonymous with the beginnings of assimil a tion a nd accultu ration, provided migrants with the form s of order a nd organization tha t would m ake success in America (and cities) possible and p rob able . After a n appropriate period of apprenticeship in the " zon e in transition " a nd the " zone of workingmen ' s homes, " the urba nized mi grant began to m ove to middle-class status a nd suburban h om es. 3 M ore recent scholars, a n alyzing a ggregate cen sus d a ta (fo r indi ces of di ssimil a rity) a nd city directories (for spa tial a nd occupa tional m obility), have questioned the notion that European mi gra nts spent mu ch tim e in the zon e in tran sition . Based on this d a ta, they contend tha t individu al m igra nts from diffe rent immi grant groups lived widely scattered acro ss workin g-class residential a reas . Few con centration s we re great e nou gh to permit the development of urba n vill ages or ghet toes. Where they ex isted, mi grant s passed through so quickl y th a t their importa n ce as a n institution was minimized for most. 4 In contrast , until recently , most observers of black migran ts in the city concluded tha t folk breakdown was extensive. Moreover , whil e new bl ack residents seem ed to m ove as frequ ently as white mi gra nts, they did so within a n increasingly restrictive ghetto area . 5 Thu s, whe re a disorganized ghetto confronted black migrants, white migrants ex peri en ced greater spa tial and (implicitly) m ore occupa tional mobility. Whi te migrants m elted to gether into a working cl ass div ided by reli gion (P rotestant , Catholi c, and J ew) , 6 while blacks confronted a n earl y caste-like experien ce. 7 The m ost recent work by students of Eu ro pean a nd bl ack mi gra nt s of the 1880 to 1930 period h as b egun to challen ge som e of these findin gs . Students of urba n bl ack communi ties h ave foc u sed on the exte nsive presen ce of fo rm al organi zati ons to dem onstra te the exten t of order in black life. 8 Simila rl y, studies of E u rop ean immi grant group s h ave demon stra ted the persisten ce of ethni c life in th e city throu gh the in stituti on s of church , b e nevolen t groups, lod ges, politi cal ac tivity, a nd a n active press. 9 M oreove r , both se ts of studi es presum e th e prese nce of a recogni zable geogra phical b ase upon whi ch these fo rm al or gani zations operate . In the case of black communities, the ghetto explicity fo rm s the b ounda ries; fo r white immi gra nt s, th e pa rish or" immi gran t n eighborhood " implicitly serves as the turf around which the story of organi za- �SLOVAKIA 11 tional life unfolds. Unfortunately, in either case, the empirical demonstration of this critical base and its role is often assumed as given. Few have sought to consider the role of neighborhood and community development as a crucial framework for their analyses. 10 • Because this literature provides little basis for analysis or comparison, it is necessary to turn to the work of sociologists for a framework. 11 While there is little work on scale and its impact on the nature of neighborhood, 11 more has been done on neighborhood typologies. Gerald Suttles suggests three: the defended neighborhood, the community oflimited liability, and the contrived community. The first is most pertinent to the discussion here: "a residential group which seals itself off through the efforts of delinquent gangs, . . . by sharp boundaries, or by forbidding reputation." 13 The elements of the defended community are: "a recognizable identity, a consensus among residents of a common fate, and a 'positive' and sentimental attachment to neighbors, local establishments, and local traditions to the exclusion of other persons, establishments, and traditions . '' 14 Another set of issues that the current literature ignores concerns the distinction between primary or informal groups (family, neighborhood, community) and formal organization. Historians' concentration on formal group life represents a great limitation on their work, since these groups represent only one level of response migrants made to the city. 15 In part, these formal groups reflect most fully the experiences of the most successful: those who are largely "a-typical" of the larger group's experience. 16 More importantly, informal groups played a critical role in the life of the folk migrants prior to their move to the city. 17 Their presence and roles in the city represent important elements to test to determine the nature and extent of changes that resulted from migration, urbanization, industrialization, and modernization. Since earlier observers pointed to these informal groups as the institutions that underwent the most complete and severe change, with formal groups replacing them, it seems central to the discussion of the persistency of ethnic group life that primary group life be given careful analysis. This is especially so since it is the family, neighborhood, and community that are so central for the socialization and identity of the young. 18 There are other reasons for considering the issue of informal group life. Recent studies of both European and black migrant areas have reported population turnover that was thought to undermine the develop- �12 SLOVAKIA ment and impact of ethnic enclaves; proximity to many other groups diminished European ethnicity to one of the three major religions. While recent studies demonstrate the importance of chain-migration for both black and white migrants, little effort has been made to determine what effect this chain migration had on the formation of groups in the city. 19 In contrast, the presence ( or absence) of a neighborhood in proximity to formal institutions of an ethnic group represents theoretically a very different experience than that postulated by studies of movement and mobility . Rather than seemingly random movement, it would be possible to hypothesize the informal neighborhood providing important sets of support for the church (parish), businesses, beneficial organizations, press, and national organizations. While it may be difficult to determine which came first, it seems likely that informal neighborhood lies at the base of the ethnic urban village. Moreover, despite the mobility, the presence of an ethnic village that provides important goods and services for "members," whatever the place of residence, plays an important role in the "maintenance" of ethnicity and identity. 20 Thus, while it may have have served every member of a given ethnic group in its particular part of the city, the neighborhood/urban village fostered important networks of institutions for migrants; dominance of a section of the city permitted residents a chance to be "themselves" within the confines of a turf dominated by persons from the same kin network, town, region, and country. In these neighborhoods, residents hammered out their own identities, consciousness, and relations with the larger world. Without this envelope, it is hard to imagine how so many informal and formal groups could have persisted and prospered . 21 It is the purpose of this article to examine the development of residential neighborhoods and communities by two different groups of migrants in different environments. While these are far from "random" selections, 22 we do feel that they represent two different kinds of migrant settlements, one very small, the other fairly large. Both neighborhoods conform roughly to Suttles' definition of a defended neighborhood; both represent an important migrant response to the urban environment, a response that has been passed over all too briefly by past work. The article focuses on the efforts of two different groups of folk migrants to establish a "turf" in the city: Black migrants settled in the inhabited alleys of Washington, D .C ., and the eastern European migrants settled in the "Bird's Nest" on the fringe of Cleveland, Ohio. �SLOVAKIA 13 In m a ny ways the social co nditions migrants faced in these two environments were dramatically different; each cam e with a different set of experie nces and cultural baggage, and each faced very different conditions in the cities they settled despite the fact that both entered the urban marketpl ace at the ' 'bottom .' ' 23 While these differences are critical to understand what happened to each group, it is also important to see in general term s what migrants shared in their struggle with the urban-industrial environment. The article begins with a consideration of similarities and differences between the two communities in terms of physical form , population , occupations, and living conditions. The major part of the article focuses on the development and form each neighborhood took . The conclusions seek to compa re these two experien ces and suggest their implicat ions for othe r migrant experien ces and for the study of migrants . II. Descriptive Comparison of Neighborhoods: Alley Communities and The Bird 's Nest Physical Form and Isolation . Alley communities of Washington, like their counterparts throughout the urban United States and Europe , were small, relatively circumscribed , and isola ted neighborhoods spread throu ghout the central city 24 (see Map 1) . In Washington , alley house co nstru ction fell largely in the period from the end of the Civil War until 1892, when Congress banned new construction. D eveloped on narrow st reets or alleys inside a large city block , the tiny, two-story fram e or brick row houses faced inwa rd onto the interior alley, while larger, more expensive row houses lined the outside of the block and faced onto the street (M ap 2). W ell-to-do residents of the street-front property were separated from their poor and often black, backyard neighbors physically, sociall y, and culturally. D evelopers and owne rs of alley property , often well to do , generally lived outside the immediate section of the city where their all ey property was located, thus furth er isolating the alley n eighborhood . 25 The Bird 's N est, a single neighborhood , was equ ally isolated , but shared much more in co mmon with the la rge ethnic enclaves in urban indu st ri al areas throu ghout the United States. In 1892 , a land company sub sidary (Pleasant Hill L and Company-PHLC) of the National Carbon Company laid out the eight n a rrow stree ts (five n a m ed for birds), a nd 424 lots to provide hous in g for workers at its new facto ry n earby. 26 �SLOVAKIA 14 INHABITED ALLEYS 1897 POPUATION 0 1- ,. 0 0 0 JOO - ... 0 RKE • • 0 MAP 1 - 1/l or mor, 81,il(: k 2/lormor,\Nhct C ommi ssione rs of the District of Columbia, Annual R eport (W ashin gton , 189 7), 195-202. 1897 �SLOVAKIA 15 N STREET [ fr" I l'Fif =! .J.Jo . a--1 II ' ' .. ~ • II - '-M STREET L STREET D BUILDINGS HEADS Of HOUSEHOLD Native Born Whites S.ablo Foreign Born \\'hites (born outside Ncw1h America or p,uenc~ born outside Othe<Buldir@ Store o, AmYm Shop North Amtfil:a) • •• !lacks ~ (when lhan l) more MAP 2 - Sanborn Map Publishin g Company, In surance M aps of Washington , D .C. (New York , N . Y., 1888) ; and Fed eral Populat ion Census Schedules, I 880 W ashington , D .C., V ol. 2 pan 2, R eco rd Group 29 National Archi ves. �SLOVAKIA 16 \~ PART Of" L.\I(E,ro on .>. ' -~ I I .A 11 LE 1 1 ROCKPORT TOWNSHIP. \~_. ~':. ~ \" \ ... ~7;:... MAP .3 - Pleasa nt Hill La nd C ompan y subdi vision of th e " Bird 's Nes t " a nd th e adjoining Na ti on al Ca rbon Facto r y, 1898 . Thom as Fl ynn , Ott o Ba rth el, R .H . Bunni ng , and Thomas H assa n , Atlas o[ th e Suburbs o[ Cleveland, Ohio ( Phil ad elphia , 1898), Plate 24 . �SLOVAKIA 17 The neighborhood was circumscribed by railroad tracks, th e factory , a nd a wood s (later d eveloped for a factory and park) on three sides; the fourth side, a secondary comme rcial artery, p ermitted some overflow into the immediate n eighborhood to the north (see Map 3). While Bird's Nest workers were able to gain ownership of the area, it remained isolated from the surrounding area which was developin g as a middl e-class suburb. 2 7 Like the inward facing alley, th e neighborhood also turned in ward with its " main street," Plover , being the most isol a ted of its streets. 28 Migration and Neighborhood Size. Black migrants from the surrounding states of Virginia and Maryland, coming largely in cha ins of family, fri ends , and neighbors, settled into the alley communities. 29 Predominantl y from rural areas, these mi grants mainta ined ties to the countryside a nd encouraged furth er m ove me nt from those areas . While rural migrants had a number of differe nt res id enti al environm e nts to chose from in the city, a nd often m oved b ack a nd forth betwee n these , m an y se ttled initially in the alleys . Alley popu lations varied co nsiderabl y in size within a given year and over tim e . The smallest held one or two famil ies, the largest ove r 400 peopl e (see Map 1). Most all eys fell so m ewhere in be tween , with the average all ey size in 1880 bein g 50 residents ; at the peak of alley population in 1897, when there were nearl y 20 ,000 all ey res idents living in 240 all eys, th e average all ey size was 73. Th ese were, th e n , very small , face-to-face co mmunities of bl ack rural migrants. 3° In contrast, migra nts to the Bird 's N es t cam e from rural a reas in Easte rn Europe; most id entifi ed th emselves as " Hun garian Slovaks ," alth ou gh some were from P ola nd a nd Ru ss ia . 31 Th ey also mi grated in cha in s of relat ives, fri end s, and n eighbors as well as by region. 32 Like bl ack mi gra ti on to th e all eys, th e re was cons iderab le movem ent back a nd forth betwee n th e Old W o rld a nd th e New. Un like th e all ey populat ion th at reached its peak in 1900 a nd began to drop off, with each alley being a small isola ted community onto itself, the Bird 's N est populati on of 429 in 1900 in creased fi ve -fold by 19 10 a nd then doubled by 1920 at its peak ( see T able 1.) Thi s represe nts a different kind of ethni c encl ave with pote nti al for m o re sub sta nti ve inst itu tion al d evelopme nt. Occupations and Workplace. Black residents of W ashin gton alleys co nfronted profound limita ti ons in their search for work. R ac ism limi ted �18 SLOVAKIA employment of black males largely to day labor and black women to dom estic or laundry work; none had access to the limited industrial occupations in Washington 33 (see Table 2). The employment open to alley dwell ers, then, represented the worst paid , least secure, and often the m ost physically demanding and dangerous positions available. Moreover, despite long residence in the ci ty, black alley dwellers experienced little if any upward occupational mobility ; a color bar en sured that any movem ent would be minimal. 3 4 In contrast , while migrants from Eastern Europe came with similar skills as rural blacks , they often found industrial employment available to them, even though it was nearly always at the bottom . In 1900, most male residents of the Bird 's Nest were laborers working at the adjacent National Carbon factory; by 1910, a number of residents had gained som e mobility by gaining access to semi-skilled industrial occupations. Moreover, a number of women were able to gain indu strial employment, although usually a t the lowest levels ; many others earn ed incom e by runnin g boarding houses or taking in boarders. While this work was long, hard , physically demanding , and often dangerous , it was also more secure and better paying than anything available to alley dwellers . By 1940 , em ployed male a nd female workers of the Bird 's Nest were concentrated in semi-skilled pos itions ( 44 percent), with another 10 percent skilled and 13 percent proprietarial or white collar employees; only a third remained as unskill ed or service workers 35 (see Table 3). Living Conditions. Living conditions in most D .C. alleys were far from wholesome; crowding, poorly maintained buildings and outhouses, piles of uncollected trash in alleys, and the co nstant d anger of contagious disease plagued residents. D espite the limited space inside the two-story 12x30 foot alley house, man y were shared by more than one hou sehold unit ; in some cases four family units lived in one small room each . 36 These crowded cond itions made residents m ore susceptible to di sease, while landl ord s' lack of co ncern for maintenance and the city's di sinterest in coll ect in g trash from the alleys exposed residents to di sease in other ways. Limited and unstable income restricted diets while d angerou s, outdoor work further taxed alley dwellers' health . Ultimately these cond iti ons led to death rates for alley dwell ers th at were twice th at for residents of the streets; the major causes were diseases that cou ld clearly be linked to socio-economic status . 3 7 Children under the age of one year acco unted for much of the high death rate. 38 �SLOVAKIA 19 While the Bird's Nest developed in a suburban setting and lacked the extreme density of the alley community, living conditions were little better. While outside the multi-family homes "everything was mud," inside the long, narrow two - and three-story buildings many families lived in tiny cold water flats 39 (see Map 4) . Whereas alley dwellers had to go outside for water and toilets, Bird's Nesters shared "indoor water closets .' ' 40 Residents of the latter community, however, were more likely to share their tiny apartments with boarders; 32 percent of households had boarders in 1910 (boarders made up one-fourth of the total population), 41 while only 13 percent of 1880 alley households were augmented. 41 The crowded living conditions in the Bird's Nest, along with the long hours at work and limited income, led to high death rates, especially for the very young. 43 In 1900, women reported over one-fourth of the children they had borne were dead, 44 a condition that continued in later years. There are, then, substantial similarities between the two populations; Both came into the urban marketplace at the bottom; both lived in housing conditions that were crowded and dangerous ; the "communities" were isolated physically and socially from the surrounding populations; both were made up of groups that had migrated in chains to the city. Nevertheless , residents of the Bird's Nest did have access to industrial jobs that were more stable and better paying; and these positions permitted some mobility from unskilled labor to semi- and eventually skilled jobs. In addition, where alley communities were largely limited in size by the number of houses built in each alley , and ultimately by the limited interior space of the block itself, the Bird's Nest faced less spatial constriction. This afforded the potential for more complete development. Finally, while alley dwellers seldom had the resources to purchase their alley homes from absentee landlords , res idents of the Bird's Nest were encouraged to do so by the industrial developer of their community . Where ownership always remained external to the alley community , the Bird 's N est quickly becam e locally owned. Despite these differences, each area developed a se ries of informal groups that provided the base for the formation of a neighborhood . That neighborhood , in turn , provided the foundation for the d evelopment of more formal organizations. Given the differe nt resources and scale, however, residents d eveloped different kinds of ne ighborhoods. �10 FAM ILY UNtTS .I H oward Whipple G ree n , Plan es of Living in C uyah oga County: as D epicted by th e R eal Property Survey (C leveland , 1940), 65. Bird ' s Nest = LW18 MAP 4 - e 6.5 o/o OF ALL FAMILY UNITS 2 1,953 IN COUNT Y COLD WATER FLATS ~ ► ~ < >- 0 r< (./J 0 �SLOVAKIA 21 III. Neighborhoods Alley Communities. Black migrants who came to Washington alleys re-established their kin and friendship networks in the alley; they continued to use these networks for emotional and financial support. Because their resources were so marginal, only reliance on these groups made survival more likely. Each alley then, had several or more such networks into which "fictive kin" were also drawn. They provided the most basic form of social organization, albeit informal, in the alley . 45 It was the alley neighborhood, itself, that brought these kin groups together into a loose , but cohesive unit . Since alleys were isolated from the surrounding neighborhood and often some distance from the emerging black enclaves of the city where the major institutions of black life were located, alley residents often had to fall back on themselves for help and support. Drawing on their rural experience, migrants constructed informal defended neighborhoods to provide for their needs. In many respects, however, this informal community became much more important in the city because residents were more dependent on each other, especially in the period just following their migration. Since migration to the city (and alleys) continued throughout the period, and since there were always some "native" alley residents as well as some migrants who had lived in a given alley for many years, new migrants did not have to confront the urban environment alone . New neighbors, kin, and old friends helped ease the transition from country to city. 46 The alley itself' 7 was the center of the alley community; residents congregated there, save in the worst weather, to meet with friends and neighbors. 48 A major location for informal meeting took place at the intersection of the two main alleys . All residents passed this point on their way into and out of the alleys; neighbors met each other here as they returned home from work each day, or hung out there during the day if there was no work available . In addition , residents generally sat in front of their homes and talked to neighbors who joined them on the steps, benches, or chairs set out for this purpose . 49 It is impossible to overestimate the value and import of this activity, for virtually every aspect of the alley community was based on this interaction . If neighboring provided an important element of entertainment, it also provided information on which neighbors needed help and where jobs were available. A critical function of the alley community �22 SLOVAKIA involved help and support for those in need; neighbors aided each other by providing money, food, and shelter while in some cases they took in friends' children and cared for them, in others they let neighborhood children sleep at their house '' because they had more room.'' 50 A third function neighboring and the alley community provided was the maintenance of internal social control. Part of this came as a result of the positive support neighbors gave each other; they also used gossip and more formal sanctions to maintain order. 51 Ultimately, these daily discussions about ' ' appropriate behavior'' by residents resulted in the hammering out of a common philosophy and world view; a world view that was shared by members of the community and differed from that of outsiders. 52 Finally, alley dwellers defended their neighborhood against outsiders . Part of this resulted from their intensive use of alley space for neighboring , thus discouraging others from entering the area . When outsiders did enter they were confronted by residents and watched throughout their alley visit, an experience that unnerved many observers of alley life. 53 Alley dwellers had good reason to watch "outsiders"; other Washingtonians, black and white, generally viewed residents of the alleys with great disdain. While the police were especially harsh in their attempts to control alley populations, other residents, though less overt in their actions, expressed nearly universal condemnation of alley dwellers. 54 This external hostility helped hold the alley community together, despite its internal dissension . Disputes over life style dominated these schisms, but the small scale of the neighborhood, the necessity to cooperate to survive, and the external threats effectively held residents together. Because of its small size and very limited resources, however, the alley community was not able to develop or support a very extensive set of formal organizations. It did provide an excellent medium for small alley churches, which were simply alley houses residents rented "for Jesus. " They were kept going by neighbors' contributions and the pastors ' earnings from "doing occasional laundry" or other work . 55 While most alleys seem to have had at least one of these churches, their small size - "Ten chairs and a pulpit, and an improvised altar" - makes the extent of participation problematic . 56 Alley businesses were equally marginal, and often involved in illegal activity. Like the semi-formal alley church, these businesses required conversion of part ofan alley house into a " speak-easy" or "fac- �SLOVAKIA 23 tory" for the m a nufacture of illegal alcohol , or oft en both . While these were cl early ill egal and we re often closed down by law e nforcem ent offi cia ls, th ey provided an importa nt service for the alley ne ighborhood in representin g a " proto " ne ighborhood tave rn a nd community ce nter where residents co uld m eet. 57 The Bird 's Nest. A s earl y as 1889 , Slovak mi gran ts b egan work on the construction of the n ew National Carbon factory . 58 After the factory was co mpl eted , these worke rs and their fri ends were hired to work in th e factory . 59 Like alley dwellers, initial settle rs in the Bird 's N est began a cha in mi gration , at first drawing from the oth er Slovak enclaves throughout the city and eventuall y reaching back to Hun gary. This process resu lted in ex tended kin n etworks bein g refo rmul a ted in th e n ew neighborhood . In a number of cases, this reformu la tion extended to Old World v ill age pa rishes. Within th e fir st few years, m a n y of the core famili es had m oved in and esta blished them selves. Fri end s, ne ighbors, a nd co -reli gionists followed . As o ne oral history repo rted, " m a n y times the m en came along first , leaving wives a nd children behind in Slovakia, until they h ad found work a nd could send back for th eir families. When they cam e first, they sought out others from the sam e village who were alread y" in the neighborhood . 60 The most criti cal form of organization , however, was the neighborhood it self. Like the all ey community , the n eighborhood rem a ined largely inform al; initiall y it w as a grouping of kin n etworks largely of Slovak a n cestry. Y e t this inform a l " institution " p rovided the precon dition s necessary for the con structio n of other aspects of the community. In large p a rt the migrants es tablished th eir co ntrol over th e ne ighborhood in the first years of settle m e nt , 1892- 1900 . A lthough the a rea was th en only sli ghtl y bigge r tha n th e largest all ey, these earl y migrants a nd th eir famili es esta blish ed a beachhead that was neve r chall en ged . Unlike alley dwell ers who neve r gained ow nership of th eir ne ighborhood , res idents of the Bird 's N est quickly bou ght up th e small parcels o f la nd (wheth er simpl y cl eared b y the PHLC, or built upon ) , 6 1 as soo n as th eir fin ances m ad e it possibl e. 61 A lon g Pl ove r , migrant s purch ased 43 perce nt of the lots prior to 1900; o nl y three of th e 35 lots o n the street m ay h ave been ini tiall y purchased by non-Sl avs. 63 R es id ent s gain ed ow ners hi p o f m ost of th e 424 lots in the subdi vion s on initi a l sale; w ith few exce ptio n s, th ey eve ntuall y ga in ed co ntrol ove r th e rem a ining o nes as well. �24 SLOVAKIA P e rhaps the most striking aspect of n eighborhood d evelopment is the extent to which residents drew on each other's skill s and resources to construct houses, stores, a nd shops. Of the 171 lots for which information is available on th e initial con struction , 92 perce nt of the owners were alread y residents of the neighborhood. While m a n y built their own hom e (or a building to rent), those owners who hired a builde r to co nstruct their houses overwhelmingly chose a resident of the neighborhood (64 percent). Many of the non-resident builders were also of Slavic origin , but lived in one of the other encl aves spread throughout the city. 64 T o an impressive ex tent , th en , residents bought up the neighbo rhood la nd, and per son ally built th eir own hom e or a home to sell to more rece nt migra nts ; when they did not do their own co nstru ction they hired neighbors . In doing so, they establi shed an impress ive investm ent upon which they could draw or build on in the future. 65 H av in g es tablish ed a turf a nd access to employ m ent , residents encouraged n ew migra nt s to join them. Whe reas the m ajo rity of th e first res idents ha d migrated to the United Sta tes in the ten years prior to the building of th e factory, the massive influx of n ew migrants in the fir st two d ecad es of the twenti eth century cam e direc tl y to the n eigh bo rhood. Slovaks continu ed their d omination of the n eighborhood (70 perce nt) , whil e Slovak was the most common la ngu age. 66 One of the key attractions of thi s N ew Slovak/ Slav ic village, in a d dition to the presen ce of fri ends , relatives, and an ethni c ne ighborhood , was the prese nce of employm ent possibilities in industry. H av ing mad e important inroads from th e beginnin g of the constru ction o f the new factory, Slovaks , a nd to a lesse r extent P oles a nd Ru ssians, dominated the lowest level of empl oym e nt in the facto ry. 67 Th ere is so m e indi cation th a t the original pl a nt o n the east side of Clevela nd may also h ave empl oyed workers from a nearb y Slovak e nclave. These employees m ay have been attrac ted to th e new factory b y the avail ab ilit y of la nd ; a disastrous fire a t the old e r pl a nt in 1893 m ay well have speed ed up this process. 68 Wh a teve r the initi a l co nnection, Slovaks a nd oth er Sl av ic mi gra nt s establi shed a beachh ead in th e factory from th e beginnin g b y drawin g o n th eir inform a l networks . 69 Jun e Alexand er found a similar co nditio n for Slovaks in Pittsburgh , namely that "factori es relied o n their fore m e n to hire workers and foreme n, in turn, reli ed o n th e ir workers as intermedi a ries to find la borers. " 70 As mi grants worked their way slowly up the ranks to semi-skilled a nd occasion all y forem en positions , th ey �SLOVAKIA 25 gain ed m ore direct access to the hiring process. With the informal neighborhood networks , Slovaks came to dominate both workplace and neighborhood . 7 1 Whil e info rm al social cont rol and aid permeated th e early years of the Bird's N est as it did in the alleys, the ra pid growth of the neighborhood in the first decade of the twentieth cen tury permitted the developme nt of m ore form al organiza tions . R esidents of different reli gious persuas ion s m et sepa rately; initially these m ee tings, like the alley church , were worshi p serv ices held in co-reli gioni sts' hom es. Eve ntu ally these m eetin gs led to the fo rmation of lod ges and other m ore form al organizations designed to bring about the formation of a parish and the building of a church . 72 The first parish , Sts. Peter and P aul Lutheran , was offi cially form ed in 1901 ( church building-1 902/school som e years later) ; it was followed by Sts. Cyril and M ethod ius R om an Catholic Church in 1903 (church building and school-1905); St. Gregory ' s Byzantine Rite Catholic Church in 1905 ( chu rch building 1906/school som e years later); and the C alvin Presbyterian C hurch in 19 17 (church buildin g-19 2 1) . Ca lvin Presbyte ri a n C h urch in th e foreg round occupi es th e first sit e of Sts. Pe te r a nd Pau l Luth era n C hurch . In th e b ac kg round is St . Grego ry's Byza nti e n Rit e Ca th oli c C hurch . (Ph ot0g ra ph by a ut ho rs, J a nu a ry , 1984). �26 SLOVAKIA Sts. Peter and Paul Luthera n. (Photograph by au thors, January, 1984). SS. Cyril a nd M eth odi us R om an Ca th oli c C hurch . (Ph otog raph by au th ors, J anua ry, I 984). �SLOVAKIA 27 These "predominantly" Slovak parishes were joined by those of the other ethnic groups sharing the neighborhood, the first of which was St. Hedwig's Church (Roman Catholic Polish Parish) in 1905 ( church building-l 914/school-1926). Because residents took the initiative in the formation of these parishes and schools, they often had considerable control over their direction, especially in the early years. 73 These parishes made the neighborhood even more attractive to potential migrants; their founding at the beginning of the decade undoubtedly encouraged many others to migrate. Religious schools provided another incentive, especially to Slovaks who witnessed their own schools closed or "converted for Magyarization" in the homeland. For residents in the Bird's Nest, these schools represented a way to avoid efforts at Americanization promoted by the public schools. As a result many children from the neighborhood attended these parochial schools. 74 Drawing on their growing neighborhood and its greater resources (compared to alley communities), residents of the Bird's Nest also started an incredible number of businesses. While most of these were small stores and shops that served the immediate neighborhood , several developed into substantial businesses that provided necessary goods and services for ethnic and religious needs . 75 Most important, however, was the formation of Eagle Building and Loan Company in 1911 . Controlled from within the neighborhood, residents built an institution that made possible complete acquisition and building of the area, and expansion beyond . 76 The building and loan was critical since over fifty percent of the neighborhood's lots were sold by the PHLC during the 1910s, while the period from 1912 to 191 7 was the period of greatest home construction. 77 Although the neighborhood was divided by ethnicity, religion, and class , as well as by very different attitudes on assimilation, 78 these divisions were subsumed by the needs of the neighborhood and the workings of informal groups. For some, the community revolved around the parish ; Peter Glovna remembered that "it was just like a little village, and the pillar was St. Cyril. " 79 Nevertheless , they were a series of co mmunity-wide activities that drew residents together. 80 Most important , " the first settlers tried to reconstruct , as closely as possible , the village system they were so accustomed to in Poland , Russia, and Slovakia. The close-knit warmth a nd familiarity of the village provided security and a sense of home to the recently displaced immigrants. " 81 �28 SLOVAKIA Ultimately , residents used the neighborhood as alley residents did theirs; everyone knew everyone else and interaction on the streets, front yards, and porches was extensive, especially in warm weather. 82 This neighboring activity , largely through informal, small groups of relatives and friends, made up a critical element in the neighborhood life . It provided the first level (past kin network) of organization, one that replicated itself as formal groups began in the churches, lodges, and benevolent associations as well as the workplace. These primary groups provided members with an immediate sense of belonging, a connection with larger, more formal organizations, and a way by which members of the primary group could collectively continue to co nstru ct a world view, maintain social control , and provide help and support for the needy. 83 Like the alley community, the Bird's Nest found that the external threat was often sufficient to contain internal conflict. Hostility , both formal (from police and other official sources) and informal (from personal prejudice directed at residents), was extensive throughout the period. Outsiders, as in the case of alley communities, targeted the neighborhood as an eyesore and danger to the rest of the community; and police exercised their authority to "maintain social control by overenforcing the law .' ' 84 IV. Conclusions Based on these examples, it seems clear that migrants, via chain migration and efforts to gain entry/control over admission to a j ob market , began to establish residential enclaves. 85 If the process of neighborhood formation appears to have begun almost unconsciously, its development was quite conscious. While the presence of such neighborhoods is taken as given to most studies, what stands out in these two examples is the extent to which migrants took over their respective turfs, defended them, and built informal and formal institutions around them. In fact , the clustering provided the necessary context for virtually every further institutional development. If some or many migrants eventually passed through and out of the neighborhood , it remained(s) an important focal point in the lives of many , even those who could "escape" to more affluent suburban settlements. 86 The neighborhood , then , must be taken more fully into account as one, if not the most critical, of migrant institutions. �SLOVAKI A 29 T hese neighborhood s provided the b ase fo r su rvival in the new urban en vironment. They were the source of housing, employm ent , mutual aid , p rotection , famil y, and friends . They permitted pa rents to raise their children in a n en v iro nment a nd throu gh in stitutio n s ove r w hich the fam ili es exerted som e co ntrol. They also provided a safe ha rbor from whi ch m igrants confro n ted the confu sin g city . M o reove r , ne ighbor s worked out their respo n ses to the issu es o f ethnicity, accultu ratio n , a nd ass im il at ion in this con text of everyd ay life. If n eighbo r s chose diver ging path s, they were n eve rtheless path s th a t d evelo ped w ithin the confines a nd con text of the ethnic en clave. R a ther th a n the stilted b ackwaters th a t R o bert P a rk a nd other s saw, th ese e ncl aves we re vibrant wi th conflicts over life style, ch a n gin g ethnic ide n tity, a d a pta tion , a nd eve n interna tio n al issu es . 8 7 T hu s, to under stand migrant organization s a nd the role they played in accul tu rat io n and et h nic ident ity, it is necessary to con sider th e first in st ituti on m igran ts created in th e city, th e neighbo rhood . 88 W hile these two n eigh borhood s were dram aticall y d ifferent, they both fi t well into Suttles' d efinition of a defended neighbo rhood . I t seem s q uite likely tha t m os t imm igrant e nclaves also fit thi s descri ption , even in cases where the areas was no t so highly segregated fro m the surroundin g city b y either physical ba rrier s or class differen ces. A number o f rece nt studies d em o n stra te tha t d efended n eighborhood s can hold up without these two elem ents. 89 H oweve r , wha t seem s m ost important here is the signifi cance of scale . Becau se alley neighbo rhood s we re sm all a nd u nable to develop ex ten sive for m al o rganizat io n s d oes no t m ean tha t they we re a n y less impor tant for m a inta inin g a nd d evelopin g a n e thnic consciousness and way of life. R a ther, wha t the alley neighborhood seem s to suggest is that smal l scale e nclaves, w hethe r hidden in alleys, or scatte red alo n g stree t fro nt s, co n tin ue to have fl ouri shin g p r im a ry group li fe : in tern al orde r and co n trol, social serv ice act ivities, a nd eve n som e p roto in stitu tio n al li fe. M oreove r , it is likely tha t ethnic identity is heigh te ned in those situ at io ns w hen other groups are in su ch close proxim ity . 90 In the case of the Bi rd 's Nest o r la rge r ethnic co mmuni ties,9 1 the sig nifi cance of the ne ighborhood is often overlooked because of the exte n t of ethni c organ izat io n al a nd b u siness li fe. H oweve r , it is the pop u la ti o n scale tha t makes poss ible this d evelopment. Nevert heless, these a reas con tinue to be marked by extensive informal groups ; their aggregate �30 SLOVAKIA makes the neighborhood and keeps it operating, althou gh formal associations play an important role. Ultimately, then , we should exp ect smalle r settlem ents to develop strong informal groups but few formal ones; the larger the co mmunity , the greater the potential for formal organizations to develop , although infor mal group life rema ins active and important. It may well be, as Fischer suggests, that ethnic ide ntity is greatest in these smaller areas, less able to adapt or adjust to the n ew world . In larger enclaves, migrants have more space to consider alternatives , to pick and chose from diverging paths, m ore a bility to ad a pt or adjust to things "Am e rican " b y in corporating them into their repertoire a nd making them " their own. " 91 Finally, in addition to the observations con ce rnin g the importance of neighborhood as a mi grant institution , it is worth noting the different conditions white and bl ack migrants confronted. The caste barrier blacks confronted in Washington as well as the severely restricted housing m arket limited the potential for comm unity d evelopment. Alley dwellers utilized highly creative methods to circumvent the nearly impossible conditions they confronted . To surv ive in this enviro nment was success. In contrast, Slovak men and women were able to gain e nt ry to more stable a nd be tte r paying industrial jobs; eventu ally they secured so me m ovemen t into semi- a nd even skilled positions as a resu lt of their tenacious hold over jobs in their neighborhood. By doing so, they es ta blished ethnic occupation al beachheads for their kin a nd progeny , whil e blacks we re limited to day la bor a nd positions in the secondary labor market. 93 Similarly, Slovaks a nd other white ethnics through considerable personal and fami ly sacrifice were able to purchase their turf; few black alley dwellers were ever so fort un a te. In short , Bird Nesters could use their ethnic ties to establish and maintain occupational and property turf; blacks were "permitted " those jobs and hou sin g no one else wanted. D ominance of these turfs, occupational and residential, were always transitory, requiring incred ible hum an effort to m ainta in th em or develop n ew ones. They seldom permitted a n opportunity to grow or expand. �SLOVAKIA 31 NOTES ' O scar Handlin concludes that "wherever the immigrants went , th ere was one com mon ex peri ence th ey shared: nowhere could they transplant the European village . Wh atever th e va riati ons among environments in America , none was familiar. The pressure of th at stran geness exe rted a dee p influence upon th e character of rese ttlement , upon the usual forms of behavior , and upon the notes of communal action th a t emerged as th e immigrants beca me Americans .'' Th e Uprooted (2nd edn., Boston, 1973) , 129 . ' Loui s Wirth noted that the "shift from a rural to a predominantly urban society .. has bee n acco mpa ni ed by profound changes in virtually every phase of social life, '' with th e "substituti on of seconda ry for primary contacts , th e weakening of bonds of kin ship , and the declining social significance of the famil y, the disappearance of the neighborhood , and th e undermining of the tradition al bas is of social solidarity." On Cities and Social Life , ed . by Albert R eiss, Jr . (Chicago, 1964) , 79-80. See also Wirth, " Urbanism as a Way of Life , " American Journal of Sociology, 44 Ouly , 1938) , 1-24 . ' Ernes t Burgess , who devised the co nce ntri c zone th eory from which this co mes, concluded th a t ' 'disorganization as preliminary to reorgani za ti on of attitud es and condu ct is almost invariably th e lot of th e newcomer to the cit y.'' ' ' The Growth of the City," in Robert E. Park a nd Ernest Burgess, Th e City (Chicago, 1967), 54, 47-62 . • Howa rd Chudacoff found th at while foreign born migrants " m ay have retained their social , eco nomic , and religious commun iti es, their incidence of move ment out of th e old neighborhoods and a round the city make residential coherence a ve ry temporary experience." " A New Look at Ethnic Neighborhoods: Residential Dispersion and th e Concept of Visibilit y in a M edium-Sized City,'' Journal of America n History , 60 Oune , 1973), 91. See also Chudacoff, Mobile Americans: Residential and Social Mobility in Om ah a, 1880- 1920 (New York , 1972), 154-55; Humbert S . N elli, The Italians in Chicago: 1880-1 930( N ew York, 1970), xi i-xiii; Sam Bass Warner and Colin B. Burke, " Cultural Change and th e Ghetto," Journal of Contempnrary History, 4 (O ctober , 1969) , 173 -88 ; David W ard, " The Internal Spatial Different iat ion of Immi grant R esiden ti al Distri cts ,'' in Geographic Perspectives on America's Past , ed. by Dav id Ward ( ew York , 1979) , 335 -43; and Ward , " The Emergence of Central Immi gra nt Ghettoes in American Cities: 1840-1920, " Annals of th e A ssociation of America n Geographers , 38 ( 1968) , 343-59. ' The most class ic stateme nt of this positi on was that of E . Franklin Fraz ier: Southern black mi gra nts to north ern cities los t " res tra ints imposed by a simple folk culture" and creat ed a "class of rovi ng Negroes who will li ve a lawless sex a nd quasi-family life ." " The Impac t of U rba n Civilization upon Negro Family Life, " American Sociological R el'iew , 2 (October , 1937), 6 18. See also Frazier's The Negro Family in the United States (Chicago, 1966), 207-92; Cl yd e Vernon Ki se r , Sea Island co City ( New York, 1968), 223; Gilbert O sofsky, H arlem : Th e Making of a Ghetro (N ew York , 1964) , 135-49 ; Allen H . Spear, Black Chicago: Th e M aking of a Negro Gherto (C hi cago , 1967), 167-80 , x; Constance M cLaughlin Green, Th e Secret Ciry �32 SLOVAKIA (Prince ton, 1967); a nd D av id K atzm a n , Befor e th e Gh etto (U rba na, 1973). 6 W a rn er notes that reli gious co nfli cts in Am eri ca n cities "forced a ll cit y dwellers to think of th em selves either as Protestant s o r Ca th olics ' ' o r J ews, not as members of spec ific ethni c group s. " Cu ltural Cha nge a nd Ghett o," 178. See also Will H erberg, Prot estant , Cath olic, J ew (New York , 1955). ' G ilbert O sofsky, " The Endurin g Ghetto," J ournal of Am erica n History, 55 (September , 1968). ' 8 K enn eth Ku smer , A Ghetto T ak es Shap e: Black C leveland 1870- 1930 (Urbana, Ill ., 1976); D ou glas D a ni els, Pioneer Urbanites: A Social and C ultural History of Black San Fran cisco (Philadelphi a, 1980); and Thomas Cox , Bla cks in T op ek a, K ansas : A Social History (Baton R ouge, La., 1982). 9 Josef J. Barton , Peasants and Strangers: Italians, Rumanians, and Slovaks in an Am erica n C ity, 1890-1950 (Cambrid ge , M ass. , 1975), 64-90 ; M . Mark Stola rik , " Immigration a nd Urban izati on: The Slova k Experi ence, 1870-1 9 18" (Ph .D . di sse rtat ion, Universit y of Minneso ta , 1974), 69 -109; Sylvia June G ranatir Al exander , "The Immi gra nt C hurch a nd Co mmunit y: The Forma ti o n of Pittsburgh 's Slova k R eli gio us In stitution s, 1880- 19 14" (Ph .D . disse rta ti on, Uni vers it y of Minneso ta , 1980), 209-355, 443-5 18 ; Al exa nder , " Stay in g Togeth er : Chain Mi gration and Pattern s of Slovak Settl em ent in Pittsburgh Prio r to World W ar I , '' J ournal of Am erican Echnic History, I (Fall, 198 1), 56-83; K athleen Neils Conze n, Immigrant Milwa ukee: 1836-1 860 (Cambridge, M ass., 19 76) , 154-191 ; and V irginia Vans-M cLaughlin , Family and Commu nicy: Italian Immigranc s in Buffalo, 1880- 1930 (Ith aca, N. Y ., 1977). 0 A numb er of studi es do develop th e role of famil y life in mi gra nt se ttlements; thi s wo rk represe nts a m ajo r co ntribution to th e a nalys is of " inform al" o r prim ary gro up life in th e cit y. For exa mple , see T ama ra K . H a reve n , " Th e Histo ri cal Study of th e Fa mil y in Urban Society , " J ourn al of Urba n History , I (M ay , 1975 ). Unfortuna tely, such studi es neglect th e relati on ship of fa mil y a nd extended kin netwo rk to other inform al-primary groups of neighbo rh ood a nd communit y. Wh at is mi ss in g here is a discussion of th e informal social organi zat ion that makes up the nei ghborh ood . Fo r m o re co mpl ete ana lyses of social netwo rk s, see J . C lyde Mit chell , ed. , Social N ecworks in Urban Situation (M anches ter, 1969); Eli zabet h Bott , Family and Social N etwork (N ew Yo rk , 197 1); and C la ud e S. Fischer, To Dwell Among Friends: Personal N etwo rk s in T own and Cicy (C hi cago, 1982). " For exa mp le, see K a thl ee n Neil s Co nze n , " Commentary: Immi grants , Im mi g ra nt Neighborhoods, and Ethni c Identit y: Histo ri cal Issues, " J ourn al or Am erica n History, 66 (D ece mbe r, 1979), 603 -15. " Su za nn e Keller , Th e Urba n N eig hborh ood (N ew Yo rk , 1968). " Gera ld Sut tl es , Tn e S ocial Constru ction or Communicies (C hi cago, I 972 ), 2 I , 3- I 07 . " R o m a n A. C ybri ws ky, "Soc ia l Aspec ts of Ne ighbo rh ood Change ," Annals or th e Associa tion of Am erica n Geograph ers, 68 ( I 978) , 2 7. In co ntras t , th e co nce pt of th e co mmunit y of limi ted liab ilit y, o ri ginall y developed by M o rri s j a now it z, emp hasizes " th e int enti o na l, vo lunt a ry, a nd es peciall y, th e pa rtial a nd d ifferenti ated in vo lve- �SLOVAKIA 33 ment of res ident s in th eir local comm uniti es.'' Suttles, Social Construction of Communities , 47 , 44-81. See also Morris J anow it z, Th e Community Press in an Urban Setting: The Social Elements of Urbanism (Chicago, 1952). The contrived community is one that is pla nn ed , at leas t in part, with a d es ign to prom ote a ce rt ain kind of co mmunit y. New towns probabl y fall most closely in to thi s catego ry. See Suttles, Social Constru ction of Commun ities, 82-107 . " Formal o rgan ization is an assoc iation th at " is more or less purposefully created for th e at ta inmen t of rela tiv ely specific and limi ted goals.'' M a rvin E. Olsen , Th e Process of Social Organization (New York , 1968) , 92. M em bers are only partiall y involved a nd co mmitted to such " limited-li a bilit y" o rga ni zati on s; th ey rela te to each oth er largely in terms of the organization and th eir spec ific interest in its goals. Whi le members m ay beco m e " fri end s, " impl yin g a mu ch m ore inten se relations hip , and perh aps the development of a prima ry group or netwo rk , thi s is not the goal of the formal o rgani zati on . Primary or inform al gro up s, on th e ot her hand , are " those characteri zed by intimate, face-to-face aswciati on and co-operation, " i.e., " the family , th e play-group of children , a nd th e neighbo rh ood o r co mmunit y of elders. ' ' C ha rl es Cooley, Social Organization (New Yo rk , 1923), 23, 24. Fo r a rev iew of th e significant roles of informal groups, see Elihu K atz and Paul Lazarsfeld , Personal Influen ces (New York, 1955), 3 1-42. 16 For a discussion of this point , see J am es Bo rchert , " Urban Neighborhood and Communit y: Informal Group Life, 1850-1970, ' ' Journ al of Interdisciplin ary History , 11 (Sprin g, 1981 ), 607-3 1; Floyd Dodson, " Pa tt ern s of Volu nta ry Association among W o rkin g-C lass Families," America n Sociological R evie w , 16 (1951), 687-93; and Benn ett Berge r , W orking Class Suburb (Berkeley, Ca. , 1971 ) , 59-73. " R obert R edfi eld , "The Folk Society ," America njournal of Sociology, 52 Qanua ry, 1947) , 293-308. Thi s is not to su gges t that mi gra nts had no experience with forma l groups prior to mi gra ti on. As Ba rt o n , Stola rik , and oth ers have demonstrated , migrants brought both forma l and in formal group s with them. Whil e few have m ade d irec t comp a ri so ns of formal group s in th eir two se ttings (Ba rt on is an importa nt pa rti al except io n here), virtua ll y no o ne has co mpared informal grou ps. " J a m es S. Pil an t, Th e Envelope: A Study of the Imp act of th e World upon th e C hild (New Yo rk , 1950); Suttles, Th e Social Constru ction of Communities, 2 1- 43. 19 C hain migrat ion has bee n defin ed as " th at m ove m ent in which prospecti ve mi grants lea rn of oppo rtuniti es, a re provided with transporta ti on , and have initi al accommodati on and employment a rranged by m ea ns of primary social relationships with previous migra nts" (aut hors' itali cs). J ohn S. M acdon ald a nd Leatri ce D. M acdonald , "Chain Mi gra ti on , Ethn ic Neighborhood Fo rm ati on , and Social Netwo rks," Milbank M emorial Fund Quart erly, 42 Q anu a ry, 1964) , 82. 0 T hese vary, of course , by ethni c gro ups, circum stances , a nd over time , as well as by cl ass. Specia l foods a nd restaurants a re probably th e most obviou s exa mpl es, but churches and lodges a re probably the m ost uni ve rsal ''se rvices. '' Profess ionals a nd ethni c bu siness a re also important elements of th e urba n village, especiall y fun eral homes; th ey con tinu e to draw former res idents a nd th eir children bac k to th e urba n ' �34 SLOVAKIA vi llage, a t leas t on special occasions. Finall y, ma ny wh o left th e "village" continu e to own buildings there; their rental income made "escape" easier; it di d nm , however, break th e ties. " See Suttles, T he Social C onstru ction of C ommunities, 2 1-43. " These environments a re strikin gly different ; th e two group s a re eve n more different in term s of their past ex peri ences, institutional life, and cultural baggage. Co mparison, th en , prese nts considerable problems; limited da ta make thi s eve n more problema ti c. " For oth er effort s to co mpa re th e bl ac k and white ex peri ence, see ta nl ey Lieberso n , A Piece of th e Pie: Black s and Whit e Immigranrs Since 1880 ( Berkeley, Ca ., 1980); J ohn Bodn a r , Michael W eber , and R oge r Simon , " Mi gra ti on , Kin ship , a nd U rba n Adjustm ent : Blac ks a nd Poles in Pitt sb urgh , 1900- 1930," j ournal o f America n History, 66 (Dece mber , 19 79) , 548-565; a nd Bodnar , Sim on , W eber , Lives o f th eir Own : Black s, Italians, and Poles in Piusburgh , 1900- 1960 (Urbana, Ill. , 1982). " For a more compl ete di scussion, ee Borchert, Alley Life in W ashing ton ( Urbana , Ill. , 1980) . For a d iscussion of alleys else wh ere, see 223-37 , 3 12- 17. " Ibid . , 1-56 . ' 6 C u yahoga C ount y Treasure r's Depa rtm ent T ax Duplica tes , I 894- 1923 . C uyahoga Count y Archi ves; M a rgare t M anor Bu tle r, Th e Lakewood tory ( ew York , 1949); 228 ; " City Plays Vital R ole," newspa per clipping-source unkn ow n , M ay 5, 1955 . Lakewood Historical Society; " ati onal Carbon C om pany," C leveland Plain D ealer , September 10, 19 77 . The neighbo rhood has been kn own by a se ri es of names; Bird's Nes t and Bird T own deri ve from th e predominance of stree t with bi rd na me . Other na mes suggest how th e neighborh ood has bee n viewed by outsid er : T he Settl ement, th e Village , " Dago Forum , " C a rbon T own , " Little Slova ki a," a nd th e Carbon Distri ct. John Fedor , "Ju st Loo k at th e Stree t Signs to Find Bird T own ," Lakewood L edger , Dece mber 14, 1967; Butler, Lakewood Story, 188, 228-29; Butler, R om ance in Lakewood Streets (C leve la nd , 1962), 41 ; C ynthi a A. Rud e r, " Th e Imprint of C ultura l V alues on Birdtow n , La kewood, Ohio, " un publi shed typesc ript , M ay 1, 1978. Lakewood Hi stori cal Society. " C uyahoga Count y Au d ito r's T ax M aps , Cuyahoga Coun ty Adm inistrat ion Bu ild ing. Vol. 35-C it y of La kewood. 1890- 1982. " Fed or , " Just Loo k a t th e tree t igns " R eco rd s of th e Distri ct of Colu mb ia , Reco rd Grou p 35 1. Na ti onal Archi ves. Boa rd of C hi ldren ' s Guardi ans, C hildren 's History , I ll : I 129, I 162 , 1392; IV: 158 1. See also Bo rchert , " Survivin g th e C it y: Persistence a nd C ha nge in Bl ac k Folkways of Life in a N ew Environment ," pa per prese nt ed a t th e Associa ti on for th e Stud y of Afro-Ameri ca n Life a nd Hi sto ry, O ctober 2 1- 24, 1982, Baltim ore, M a ryla nd, 8. '° 31 Federal Population Ce nsus Schedul es, 1880, W ashin gto n , D .C., R eco rd Group 29 . ati onal Archi ves; a nd Com missioner of th e Di trict of Colum bia , Ann ual R ep orc -1897 (W as hin gto n , 1897), 195-202. Fed eral Popul ati on C ensus ched ul es, 19 I 0 , La kewood, Ohio. at ional Archives . See also Fed eral Popula ti on Ce nsus Sched ul es, 1900 , Lakewood, Ohio . ational Ar- �SLOVAKIA 35 chi ves. The less precise category "country of origin" makes it impossible to know , oth er than Hun ga ry, where migra nts came from. The 1910 ce nsus clea rs this matter up through more precise desi gnati on ; in this case 70 perce nt listed th emselves as " Hunga rian Slovaks" rath er th a n merely" Hun gary," as in 1900 . "Language" also permit s more precise determination . " While J osef Barton has co ncluded that Slovak migration to C leveland was from more gene rall y dispersed areas in Slovakia, migrating more by district than personal or village chains, oth er studies report considerably more personal co ntacts in the migrati on process, both generally a mong lovak migra nts and specificall y for Cleveland. Peasa ncs and Strangers , 50-51, 54, 59, 63. Emily Greene Balch reports that nearly 99 percent of Slovaks en terin g the United States in 1907-1908 planned to join relatives or friends . Our Slavic Fellow Citizens (New York , 1910), 433. Al exander repo rts that whi le Slovak mi gran ts to Pittsburgh did mi grate in cha ins either by village, or by th e more loose " district" pattern Ba rton found, th e selecti on of one's res idence in a give n cit y was strongly influenced by fri end s and rela tives . " Th e Immi grant C hurch ," 55, 68. M a rk Stolarik also found "Slovaks in the Un ited States and Canada originall y reside(d) in distinct neighborhoods nea r their parish ch urches . most of these in each co ngregation ha iled from the same cluster of villages in the old country." " Immi grat ion a nd Urbanization, " 40. Stolarik a nd his co-authors of a st ud y of C leveland Slovaks reported simila r findings for th at cit y. Susi Megles, Mark Stolarik, and Martina Tybor, Slovak Americans and th eir Communities of Cleveland (C levela nd , 1979), 132. M ore importa nt for this study, Stolarik's analysis of parish reco rds of one Bird 's Nest church found 68 percent were from the ext reme end of one Slovak county; " nearly ha lf of the group was from . . three neighboring villages . " " Immi grat ion a nd Urbanization, " 41. For other informa ti on on chain mi gra ti on of Bird 's Nest residents, see Mary Towarni cky, " Helping One Another in the New Land: The Old Timers R emem ber," in SS. Cyril and M ethodius Church , Diamond Jubilee, 1903 -1 978 (La kewood, 1978), 67; and Common Pleas Court, Records of Declaration of Intention , Cuyahoga County Archives. Vo ls. 1- 30, Octobe r 10 , 1906-Sep tember 8, 19 13. " Lo renzo] . Greene and Myra Colso n Callis, The Employment of Negroes in th e District of Columbia (Washington, I 930), 65. " Borchert, Alley Life, 166-77. " Fed eral Popu lat ion Ce nsus Schedul es, I 900, 1910, La kewood, Ohio ; U.S . Bureau of th e Ce nsus, Population and H ousing- 1940: Cleveland, Ohio and Adjacent Area (Was hin gto n , 1942), 106. This is not to suggest that co nditions were easy o r wages hi gh. J an Pa nku ch notes that " during the first years their wages barely met their needs .'' Dejin y Clevelandskych a Lakewoodsk ych Slovakov (C leveland, 1930), 24. ' 6 Borchert, Alley Life, 85. " Ibid., l 83. The impact of a lley co nditions can be seen most clearly in co mparison to nati onal statisti cs. In 1910 the death rate for urban whit es was 14.6 per thousand ; for urba n blacks, 24.3. James H. Jones , Bad Blood ( ew York, 198 I), 37 . For street �36 SLOVAKIA dwelling W ashin gtoni an s (whit e and black), the dea th rate per thousand was 17 .56 ; for alley residents it was 30 .09 . Willia m H enry J ones, Th e H ousing of Negroes in W ashington , D.C. (Washington, 1929), 45 . " Borchert , Alley Life, 183 . 39 ' 0 41 Albina M olek, " Builders of the Spirit ," C leveland News, November 18, 1949 ; H oward Whipple Green , Plan es of Living in C uyah oga Co unty: as D epicted by th e Real Prop erty Survey (Cleveland , 1940), 65 . Green, Planes of Living, 58. Federal Population C ensu s Schedul es, 1910, Lakewood , Ohio. " Fed eral Population Census Schedul es, 1880, W as hin gton , D .C. See Borchert , Alley Life , 68. 43 Butler, Lakewood Story, 188. " Federal Populaton Census Schedul es, 19 10 , Lakewood, Ohio. In 1911 , residents of the larger community , led by a prominent member of the Rhodes family , established a clinic in the neighborhood becau se of the seve re health conditions, es peciall y the hi gh infant mortality . " Dispensary," in " History of Lakewood ," C lipping fil e, Lakewood Histo rical Society; a nd Butler , L ak ewood Story, 188-89. 45 Borchert , Alley Life , 69-85. •• It is important to note th a t the household unit , whi ch is usually considered th e base of the urban nei ghborh ood , was only part of a m ore important ex tend ed kin ship network whi ch included fi ctive kin adopted in the count rys ide or city. These ext ra- household units ti e re sidents of the alley together into " cliques" th at m ake up the large r alley communit y. Alley residents were linked together in other ways ; marriage of two alley residents linked two fa mil ies and kin networks together . After so me tim e , it is possible that mos t lon g-term residents in a given alley were linked by kinship to each ot her in multiple ways. 47 Becau se th e alley neighb orh ood/comm unity rema ined an informal inst itut ion with no " reco rd s" of its act ivities, it is ve ry difficult to determin e the full ex tent of neighborhood act ivities and their import . Nevertheless , some as pects do seem to stand out : neighborin g a nd ent erta inin g, a id to the needy, commo n action on com munit y need s, intern al social co nt rol, a nd defense of the neighborhood again st outsiders. 48 For a desc ription of the alley as meeting place , see W as hin gton National lnte1ligencer , Jul y 25, 1865; W ashington Times, Septembe r 11, 1904; Washington S tar , Jun e 6, 1930; W ashin gton D aily N ews, April 15, 1954; Charles W eller , Neglected Neighbors (Philadelphi a, 1909), 17 , 82; Wilbur V . Mallalieu , "A W ashin gton Alley," Survey , 28 (October 19, 19 12), 71; Gladys Sellew, A D eviant Social Situation: A Cou rr (Washin gton , 1938), 17 ; a nd D a ni el D. Swinney, " Alley Dwellings a nd H ousing R eform in the Di stri ct of Columbia " (M .A . th esis, University of C hi cago, 1938) , 141 -42. During the winter , several homes in a give n all ey see m to have se rved as mee ting spots. Dora Bessie Somerville , " A Study of a Group of Negro C hildren Li ving in an Alley C ulture" (M.A. th esis, Cat holic U ni ve rsit y of Ameri ca, 1941 ), 20. These homes usually di spensed liquor , oft en homemade , providing resid ents wit h a social �SLOVAKIA 37 ce nt er a nd tenants with a "second in co me . " For a discu ssio n based on a n a nalysis o f histori cal photog raphs , see " Photographs a nd th e Study of th e Pas t, " in Borchert, Alley Life , 291-93; Borche rt , "Analysis of Histo ri cal Photographs," Srudies in Visual Communication, 7 (Fall , 1981 ), 51-56; and Borchert , " Alley Landscapes of Washington, " Landscape , 23 (No. 3, 1979), 6-8. 0 ' Marion M . Ratigan, A Sociological Survey of Disease in Four Alleys in the National Capital (Was hin gton , 1946), 59 ; Mary R edempta Fores tall , "Trend s in Housing, Delinquency, and H ealth in the Central Northwest Area in Washington, D.C." (M.A . th es is , Catholic University of Ame ri ca, 1938), 32; Grace Vawter Bicknell , The Inhabited Alleys o f Washington, D .C. (W ashington , 1912), 31; Well er, Neglected Neighbors, 47 ; Leonise Ruth Aubry, "A mbitions of Youth in a Poo r Economic Status " (M.A. thes is , Catholic University of America, 1938), 3; Sellew, Deviant Social Siruarion, 46, 54; Sommerville, " Study of a Group of Negro Children," 24; Washington Daily News, Augu st 29, 1941; Swinney , "Alley Dwellings and Housin g R efo rm, " 50, 73; Leono r Enriquez Pablo , " The Housing Needs and Social Problems of Residen ts in a Deteriorated Area" (M .S.W. thesis , Catholic University of America , I 953), 56; Board of Children's Guardians , Children's History, I-VII (see especia ll y I:2 33-34 ; II : 657, 667, 801); Washington National R ep ublican , March 24 , 1862 ; a nd Washington Times , September 11, 1904 . " Whil e it is impossible to recreate co nversations between res idents from the ex isting hi sto ri cal records, it is clear from a large body of literatu re in sociology and anthropology that goss ip plays a critical role in the ma intena nce of order as well as the development of a commo n world view. Scholars of black rural and small town life in th e South noted th e importance of goss ip; CharlesJohnson found that "communit y gossi p exercises restraint . . There are limits ... and when th ese limits are reached violators a re treated with unmi stakable group disapproval.'' Shadow of the Plan cation (Chicago, I 94 1), 81, 82. Similarly , H ylan Lewis concluded that " gossip, or th e possibility of gossip " m a kes residents " more careful of th eir behavior." Blackways of Kent (New H ave n , Conn., 1962) , 193. " Those who show signs of group status de via tion . . are subject of a kind of gro up pressure marked by resentment and cri ti cism." Ibid ., 191 . " See Al. L. Epstein , " Gossip , Norms , a nd Social Network," in Social Networks in Urban Situ ations, 117-27. " For example , see Swinney , "Alley Dwellings and H ous in g R efo rm , " 136-37; and Pablo, " H ousin g Needs and Social Problems," 42. " Bo rchert , "U rban Neighborhood a nd Community," 615-18. " Swinney, " Alley Dwellings and H ousin g R eform, " 121 . " Ibid.; W ashington Post , D ece mber 26, 1948; Well er , Neglected Neighbors, 17, 22, 97 ; Mallalieu, " Washington Alley , " 71 ; a nd the R ev . Daniel O'Connell, "The Inhabit ed Alleys of Washington and the Early Social Hi story of One Alley" (M .A. thesis, Ca th oli c University of Ameri ca , 1953) , 110 . It is importa nt to note that attendan ce in the rural South does not seem to have been especially la rge based on Lewi s' findin gs for K ent . Lewis, B/ackways of Kent , 129-30. �38 SLOVAKIA " Borchert, Alley Life, 185-86. 58 Pankuch, Dejiny , 22. " Ibid .; Mary Towarnicky , "Slovak Newcomers to America, " in SS. Cyril and Methodius Church, Diamondjubilee, 1903-1978 (Lakewood, 1978), 66; Towarnicky , " Helping One Another," 67 . 60 Towarnicky, " Helping One Another," 67. 61 The Pleasant Hill Land Company was owned and run by Washington H. Lawrence, the president of the National Carbon Company. It seems clear that Lawrence purchased an extra large parcel ofland from the Case Estate with the intention of developing a residential area for workers . Butler, Lakewood Story, 228; "C ity Plays Vital Role, " "National Carbon Company," Plain Dealer; and G . Frederick Wright, Representative Citizens of Ohio: Memorial-Biographical (Cleveland, 1914) , 181-84. Since the factory was well outside the built-up parts of C leveland, Lawrence may well have considered this development a necessity to attract workers; he must also have planned to make a good return on his investment. The difficulty of the commute from in-city residences to the plant prior to the completion of a street car line in 1898 was incredible . For examples, see "City Plays a Vital Role" and Pankuch , Dejiny, 23. 61 Initially the early buildings were rented to workers; however, the PHLC sold off most of the improved lots within a couple years of construction. Cuyahoga County Treasurer's Tax Duplicates , 1894- 1923. There is some indication that the Na tional Carbon Company (via PHLC) "sold lots to ... immigrants on installments. " Loretta l vany, " 'Birdtown' Became C ity's Ethnic Center," Sun Post , Jun e 30, 1979 . •• Cuyahoga County Auditor's Tax Maps, Cuyahoga County Administration Building. Migrants bought up lots on Plover first because they were cheaper du e to their proximity to th e railroad tracks. Pankuch, Dejiny , 23. R esidents not only bought up land in the neighborhood as soon as they could afford to, they also held on to th e land, passing it on to relatives or selling it with in the community. Paul Wrobel found a sim ila r practice when he did an extensive participant-observation study of a Polish-American parish in D etroit. Our Way: Family, Parish and Neighborhood in a Polish-American Community (Notre Dame, Ind ., 1979), 5. 6 ' City of Lakewood, Building Department, Building Permits , 1900(?)-1982. It is interesting to note that no building permits a ppear to have been taken out by the PHLC, des pite the fact that they clea rl y improved and built on one-fifth of th e lots over the thirt y year period before the last lot was sold ( 1923). Although the city records are incomplete , and use of building permits seems to have been casual in the earl y years, as well as the fact th at many early reco rd s have not survived, it is strange that no PHLC perm its remain in the records. Insurance maps and descriptive sources do confirm the com pany 's activity in th is area prior to 1900. Thomas Flynn, Otto Barthel, R.H. Bunning, and Thomas H assan , Atlas of the Suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio (Philadelphia, 1898), Plate 24; M argaret Butler, R omance in Lakewood's Streets 41; lvany, " 'Birdtown' Became City's Ethnic Center"; and Cynthia A. Rud er , "The Imprint of Cultural Values.'' �SLOVAKIA 39 " As Stephan Thernstrom found in Newburyport , however, home ownership came a t a high price : " To cut family co nsumption expenditures to the bone was one such sac rifice. To withdraw the children from school and to put them to work at the age of ten or twelve was another.'' Poverty and Progress: Social Mobility in a Nin eteenth Century City (New York , 1969), 155. 66 Federal Population Census Schedules, 1910, Lakewood , Ohio. 67 Pankuch , D ejin y, 22; Towarnicky, "Slova k Newcomers to America," 66 ; Towarnicky, " H elping One An other," 67; and Ivany, " 'Birdtown' Became City's Ethnic Center . " 68 M egles, Stolarik , and T ybor, Slo vak Americans and their Communities, 132; Sts. Peter and Paul Lutheran Church , Seventy-Fifth Anniversary (Lakewood, 1976), 3; and Towarnicky , " H elping One Another," 67. 6 ' One of the first Slovak employees recalled th at he " ' got a job in the construction of the . factory. After I had worked th ere for a couple days, the boss told me to bring in a couple more men. I asked him how many I should bring; he answered as man y as I could, even a dozen would do, he said . So I called up my brothers: Juraj, and J an, also Jan andJuraj Nemec, A. Chovana and a bunch of others; Michael Urban and A. Goda all got hired. All the Scerbas; J an Scerba, Jan Scerba, Jr. , Adam Scerba, Andrej R yba nik and many others ca me in later.' " Andrej Babej, quoted in Pank uch, Dejin y, 22. ' 0 Alexander, "The Immigrant Church and Community, " 56-57. More importantl y she notes that "at tim es, when firms desperately needed labor, foremen promised jobs to employees' fri end s or relati ves if th ey would send for them." Ibid ., 57. " Ibid ., 57. She also notes that "Slovaks and other immigra nt groups came to rely on a sys tem of personal relationships in order to get jobs. '' Ibid. For more recent discussions of this process, see Ri chard M yer, " Interpersonal R elations in the Building Indu stry," Man , Work , and Society, ed . by Sigmond Nosow and William Form (New York , 1962) and William K ornblum , Blue Collar Community (C hi cago, 1974). " Sts . Pete r and Paul Lutheran Church, Seventy-Fifth Anniversary , 2-3; Megles , Stolarik , and Tybor, Slovak Americans and their Communities , 13 3; Peter M . Glovna, Sr., " Hi story of SS. Cyril and Methodius Pari sh ," in SS. Cyril and Methodius Church , Diamond Jubilee, 33; " Sts. Peter and Paul Russian Orthodox Church, " undat ed news paper clipping in Margaret Butler, " Hi story of Churches" fil e, Lakewood Hi storical Society; " Ukrainian Church Ded ication Is Set ," undated newspaper clipping in Butl er, ' ' Hi sto ry of Churches . ' ' " Stolarik , " Immigration and Urbanization, " 85-97. It is usefu l to note here that three of the first four Slovak churches in the neighborhood still have services in Slovak, althou gh the y have th em in English as well. " Ru de r , " Imprint of Cultural Values" ; Butler, Lakewood Story, 20,7. In a fine stud y of Slova k Cat holi c lead ers' at titud es toward public ed uca ti on , Mark Stolarik found th ey "valued parochial schools above all else worried mu ch m ore about their children 's moral a nd national upbringing th a n about social mobility . . had no u se �40 SLOVAKIA for publi c schools . . (which) ' den a ti onali ze ou r children . ' " " Immi gra ti on , Education, and the Social Mobilit y of Slova ks, 1870- 1930, " in R a nd all M. Mill e r a nd Thomas D . Marzik, ed s., Immigrants and R eligion in Urban America (Phil adelphia, 19 77) , 107 , 106 . Both Ba rton and Stolarik report th a t 60 to 80 percent of Slovak children a ttended parochi al schools. Ba rto n, Peasa nts and Strangers, 145-46; Stola rik , " Immi grati on and Urban ization ," 165-66. Th e public elem ent a ry school in th e Bird ' s Nest had no teachers wh o co uld speak Slovak ; of those children who did att end , few, if any , spoke Engli sh. Rud e r , "Imprint of C ultural V alu es." 75 The 1930 City Directory includes over 75 bu sinesses (17 local groce rs) and 16 profess ionals a nd se rvi ces avai lable to th e neighborh ood run by local res id ent s (or fo rme r resid ent s). C leveland Directory Compan y, C leveland, Ohio C ity Directory- I 930 (C levela nd , 1930). 76 Inspec to r , Building and Loa n Associat io n , 22nd Annual R ep ort far th e Y ea r Ending D ecember 31, 19 12 (Springfi eld , Ohio, 19 13) , 165 . Oro! Buildin g and Loa n Co. The founding preside nt a nd sec re tary both li ved on Plover , while o nl y th e treas ure r li ved outsid e th e immediat e neighborh ood. H e li ved , howeve r , ju st on th e o th e r sid e (north) of Madison Ave nu e, an a rea th a t Slova ks a nd other mi g ra nt s expand ed int o. Panku ch noted that th e Sav ings a nd Loa n wa s in ex ist ence by 1902 , so it may well have been operating to help res idents long before its offi cial cha rt er in 19 11 . D ejin y, 24. 77 Cuyahoga Count y Treasu re r 's Tax Duplica tes a nd Ci ty of La kewood, Building Permits. 78 For a n excellent discu ssion o n th e conflict be twee n "accult u ra ti o ni sts a nd tradition ali sts , " sec Howard F . Stein , " An Ethnohistory of Slova k-Am e ri ca n R eli gio us and Frate rnal Associations: A Study in Cultural M eanin g, Group Identit y, and Soc ial Instituti o ns," Slo va kia, 29 ( 1980-1 98 1) , 53 -101 . 19 Peter Glovna, as quoted in l vany, " ' Birdtown ' Beca me City 's Ethn ic Center ." G lovna's fath e r m oved to the neighborhood in 1893 a nd was a founder of SS. Cyril and M e thodius , whi le hi s son li ved on Plove r for 40 yea rs. D es pite hi s rece nt m ove out of the area, he still maint ains contacts and serves as pa rish hi sto ri a n . Glovna, "H istory of SS . Cyril and M e th odiu s Pa rish. " 0 " R esidents of Birdtown also enjoyed neighborh ood picnics a nd dancing to th e sound s of bands which were se t up on M a gee and M adison Av enu es.' ' l va ny , '' ' Birdt own ' Beca m e C ity's Ethnic Center.' ' 81 Ruder, " Im print of Cultural Valu es," 5. See also l van y , " ' Birdtown ' Beca me C it y's Ethni c Center ," and 1941 survey quoted extensively in Butler , L akewood St an ·, 229. ' " Rud e r, " Imprint of Cultural V alu es," 18. " Al exa nd e r ' s comment cit ed ea rli e r th a t Slovaks ca m e to rely o n a sys te m of pe rsonal relationships in order to get j obs (see not e 70) needs to be put in a la rge con text he re. Social scienti sts have not ed the impo rt a nce of informal groups in a variety of settings from factory, army, stree t co rn e r gang , a nd neighbo rh ood . Fo r exa mpl e , see F.j . R oet hli sberger a nd W.J . Dickson, M an agem ent and th e W orker (Cam bridge , M ass., 1939); Samuel A. Stoffe r , et. al . , Th e America n Soldier: Studies in Social Psvcholog1· �SLOVAKIA 41 in W orld W ar II , 2 vols (P rin ceto n , .J ., 1949); Edwa rd Shil s, " Prima ry Groups in th e Am eri can Arm y," in R obert M erton and Paul Laza rsfeld, ed s., Studies in ch e S cope and M ech od ofch e " Th e American Soldier " (Gl enoce, Ill. , 1951) ; W . Ll oyd Warn er and Paul S. Lunt , Th e S ocial Life of a M od ern C ommunicy (New H ave n , C onn . , 1941 ); Willi a m Foote Wh yte, Screet Com er Sociecy (Chicago, 1943); a nd K ornblum , Blue Collar Community. 14 Butler, Lakewood S cory , 228 , 188; C leveland Press , M ay 13 , 1947 ; and Rud er, " Imprint of Cultural V alues," 1, 3, 18 . " An impo rtant pa rt of th e p rocess, of course, invol ved co mpetiti o n for hou sing with oth er groups, a res tri cted housin g m a rket accessible to mi g rant s a nd their work . 16 M a ny form er res ident s of th e neighbo rh ood return a t least once a week fo r religious se rvices on Sunday; m a n y d o so m o re often . See al so Wrobel, Our Wa y. " R obert Park obse rved th at "certain urban neighborhoods suffer from isolation ." "The Ci ty," in Park and Burgess , Th e C it y, 8 . Fo r a different view, see Alfr ed Kazin , A W alk er in ch e C ic y (New Yo rk , 195 1). " The persistence of these a reas, outli vin g in som e cases th e in stituti ons th at ca m e aft er th em , att es ts to th eir vit alit y. " In th e Bird 's Nes t th e co ntinuin g prese nce of churches of eac h ethni c group suggests th e continuin g vit alit y of each group . Fo r other exampl es, see Cybriwsky, " Social Aspec ts of N eighbo rhood C ha nge"; Cybriwsky and D avid Ley, " Urba n Graffiti as T erri tori al M a rkers,'' Annals of ch e A ssociacion of American Geographers, 64 (1974) , 475-505; and K ornblum , Blue Collar Community . Some older studies infer the same conclu sion s: H elen L. Wilson and Eunice W . Smith , " Chicago H ou sin g Conditions, VIII : Am ong th e Slova ks in th e Twenti eth Ward ," America n j ourn al of S ociology, 20 (September , 19 14), 145-69 ; Emil y W. Dinwiddie, H ousing Condicions in Philadelphia (Philadelphi a, 1904); J a net K emp , R epore of ch e T en em enc H ouse Commission o f L ouisville (Loui sville, 1_909); Ulf H a nn erz, S ou/side ( ew Yo rk , 1969) ; and Wh yte, Scree/ Corn er Sociecy. •o Sec C la ud e Fi sc her , Th e Urban Experien ce ( ew Yo rk , 19 76) . In hi s m o re recent stud y, Fi sc her has fo un d th e current cit y '' a m osaic of inten se ethni c wo rld s rather th a n . . a la ndsca pe of ethni c di sintegra tion ." M o reo ver , " urba ni sm - or at least th e co nce ntrati o n of spec ific ethni c g roup s - m o re oft en bolsters th a n brea ks down ethni cit y. As the urbani sm of th e communit y increased , respo nd ent s were m ore likely to be ' ethni cs.' " T o Dwell Am ong Friends, 204 , 206 . " For example , H am tramck is an ex treme case where Polish-Am eri cans developed their ow n co mmunit y o n a m ass ive scale . In 1950 , 70 perce nt of th e 44 ,000 res idents of thi s inde pend ent co mmunit y in D etro it were of Poli sh-Am eri ca n ancestry. Arthur Eva ns W ood , H amcram ck : A S ociological Scudy of a Polish -America n Communicy (New H ave n , Conn ., 1955) , 13-28 . " Fisc her, T o D well Among Friends, 207 . See also Peter R ose, S crangers in Th eir Midsc: Small T own J ews and T h eir Neigh bors (M erri ck , New Yo rk , 1977). " Sec note 23. �SLOVAKIA 42 TABLE 1 Bird's Nest Population 1900-1940 Population i900· 1910 .. 429 2,186 1920 ± 4, 145 19.30t 3,729 1940# 3,125 •M a nusc ript Census- Federal Po pul atio n Census Sched ules , 1900 La kewood, O hio . '"Ma nuscript Census-Federal Popula ti o n Census Schedul es, 19 10 Lakewood , O hio . ± Federal Po pulation C ensus Schedules, 1920 Lakewood, O hio for census trac t LW 18. Unfo rtu na tely. the cen· su s tract leaves out one side of one stree t in the neighbo rh ood . tFede ral Po pul ati on C ensus Schedul es , 1930 La kewood, O hio fo r census tract LW1 8. U nfo rtun ately. the cen· sus tract leaves out one side Of one stree t in the neighborhood . #Bu rea u of the Census, Popula tion and H ousing - 1940: Cle,·eland. O hio and Adj acent Arca (Washingto n , 1941), 106. U nfo rtun a tely, the ce nsus trac t leaves out o ne side of one street in 1hc neighborhood . �SLOVAKIA 43 TABLE 2 Occupations of Alley Dwellers 1880 Federal Population Census Schedules , 1880 . Washington, D .C. Record Group 29. National Archives Occupations , 1880 • Adult Males (16 or older) Occupacion N % Unski lled Service Semi-skilled Skilled White-collar Proprieto r (and self-employed) Professional Agriculture/Fishing None 1,641 251 318 233 50 112 28 17 124 59 TOTAL 2,774 100 N % 9 12 8 2 4 4 Adule Females (16 or older) Occupacion Unskilled Service Semi-skilled Skilled White-collar Proprietor None (includes "at home ," "keeping house , " and "at school" ) TOTAL 4 1,742 70 6 10 8 49 1, 780 49 3 ,620 100 2 •Th e substanti al numbe rs of a lley d we ll ers in skilled throu gh professi onal ac tivities is th e res ult of a classifica1io n system th at is ma rk edl y diffe re nt fro m the ones ge nerall y used . It was used here to detec t " class" differen ces within the alley po pula ti on . Thu s, ba rbers a re class ified as skilled , while a number of " proprietors " a rc , in fac 1,ju nkmen . V irtu all y all the adult alley po pula ti o n sho uld fall in the unskilled , se rvice, o r semi- skilled a reas. See Bo rchert, Alley Life, 306-08 . �SLOVAKIA 44 TABLE 3 Occupations of Residents of the Bird 's Nest 1900 A. Adult Males - 15 yea rs of age or older. Occupation Unskill ed .. . . . . . . .. .. .. .. ........ . . . . ... .. ... .... . Service ............ . .... . ... . . . . .... . .. . .. .. .. . . . Semi-skilled .. . ... . . ... . . . . . . . . Skilled ... . . ... .. .... . . . White-collar Proprietor Professional Agricultural T otal B. Adult W omen - Number Percent 147 92 % 3 2 0 5 0 3 2 0 3 2 160 15 yea rs of age or older . Occupation Number 2 2 Unskilled Service ... Semi- skill ed Skill ed White-colla r Proprietor Agri cultural Percent 50 % 50 % 0 0 0 0 0 T otal 4 100 % TABLE 3 Occupations of Residents of the Bird's Nest 1910 A . Adult M ales - 15 yea rs of age or older. Occupation Number Un skill ed 79 1 Se rvice 19 Semi-skilled . .. .. . . .... .. ... . ...... . .. . ... ... .... . 38 Skill ed ...... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 White-co ll a r 10 P roprietor 11 P rofessional 1 Agri cul tural To tal 949 Percent 84 % 2 4 8 100 % �SLOVAKIA B. Ad u lt Wom en - 45 15 ye ars of age or olde r. Occupation Number 75 Un ski lled ....... . . Service Semi- ski lled Ski lled W hi te-coll ar P ro prieto r Profess io nal Agricultu ral 33 Percent 66 % 29 % 0 4 4 1 0 0 0 11 3 T otal 100 % TABLE 3 Occupations of Residents of the Bird 's Nest 1940 Occupations Number O cc u pa ti ons not repo rt ed U nskilled Service wo rkers D om es ti c se rvi ce wo rkers Opera ti ves a nd kind red wo rkers C ra ft sm en , fo rem en , a nd kindred wo rkers . ... . .... . . . .. . . . C leri cal, sales , and kind red wo rkers . .. . . P ro pri etors, m a nage rs, and offi cials . ... . .. . Se mi -pro fess io nal Pro fess ional T otal Percent 2 184 83 98 17% 8 9 478 44 105 10 9 3 96 29 4 13 1,092 100 % Bu reau of the Ce nsus, Populat ion and Housing - 1940: Cleveland , Ohio and Adjacent A rea (W as hin gton , 1942) , 106 . Ce nsus tract leaves o ut o ne side of one street of neighbo rhood . �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1984, Vol. 31 Description An account of the resource Vol. 31 (No. 57), 1984. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document " Logan Place." September 26, 1935. All ey Dwellin g Authority. Nati onal Capital H ousin g Authorit y Collection . Library, D e pa rtm ent of H ou sin g and Com munit y D evelo pm ent. W as hin gto n, D .C . ► ► ;,::; ...... < 0 L' (/) 0::, SLOVAKIA 9 Migrant Responses To The City: The Neighborhood, Case Studies in Black and White, 1870-1940* James Borchert and Susan Danziger-Borchert Th ey tend to reproduce spontaneously the home community and to live in it. L etters show that they frequently reply to inquiries from home for a description of America, " I have yet been able to see America." W.I. Thomas, "The Immigrant Community" Students of migration to American cities have, over the years, produ ced a large library of studies. The greatest outpouring of work has co ncentra ted on the migration of southern and eastern European immigrants during the years from 1880 to 1920, and the "great migrati o n " of blacks from the rural South. This profusion of work has not produced any final conclusions on the migrant experience, although there a re a number of schools of thought about what happen ed to migrants . Th e first group of scholars who considered European migrants of this pe riod concl uded that d espite efforts to re- establish their rural ways of life, the city proved too poor a soil for such institutions to ta ke root. Thus extended family , kinship network , neighborhood , and community 1 • A ve rsio n of this paper was prese nted a t th e Nin ety-Seve nth Annu al M ee tin g of th e Am eri ca n Hi sto ri cal Associa ti o n held in Washin gton, D .C. in D ece mb er 198 2. The authors are indebted to th e Am erican Hi to ri cal Associati on for a n Albert J. Beveridge M em o ri a l Fund Grant and the Smithson ian In sti tuti on for a fellowship, whi ch provided esse nti al fundin g in conn ec tion with th e preparation of th e original presenta tion. 10 SLOVAKIA withered ; a pe riod of disorde r a nd co nfu sion foll owed u nt il mi grant s discovered the " urba n way of life. " 1 Accordin g to the theory, thi s d iscovery , synonymous with the beginnings of assimil a tion a nd accultu ration, provided migrants with the form s of order a nd organization tha t would m ake success in America (and cities) possible and p rob able . After a n appropriate period of apprenticeship in the " zon e in transition " a nd the " zone of workingmen ' s homes, " the urba nized mi grant began to m ove to middle-class status a nd suburban h om es. 3 M ore recent scholars, a n alyzing a ggregate cen sus d a ta (fo r indi ces of di ssimil a rity) a nd city directories (for spa tial a nd occupa tional m obility), have questioned the notion that European mi gra nts spent mu ch tim e in the zon e in tran sition . Based on this d a ta, they contend tha t individu al m igra nts from diffe rent immi grant groups lived widely scattered acro ss workin g-class residential a reas . Few con centration s we re great e nou gh to permit the development of urba n vill ages or ghet toes. Where they ex isted, mi grant s passed through so quickl y th a t their importa n ce as a n institution was minimized for most. 4 In contrast , until recently , most observers of black migran ts in the city concluded tha t folk breakdown was extensive. Moreover , whil e new bl ack residents seem ed to m ove as frequ ently as white mi gra nts, they did so within a n increasingly restrictive ghetto area . 5 Thu s, whe re a disorganized ghetto confronted black migrants, white migrants ex peri en ced greater spa tial and (implicitly) m ore occupa tional mobility. Whi te migrants m elted to gether into a working cl ass div ided by reli gion (P rotestant , Catholi c, and J ew) , 6 while blacks confronted a n earl y caste-like experien ce. 7 The m ost recent work by students of Eu ro pean a nd bl ack mi gra nt s of the 1880 to 1930 period h as b egun to challen ge som e of these findin gs . Students of urba n bl ack communi ties h ave foc u sed on the exte nsive presen ce of fo rm al organi zati ons to dem onstra te the exten t of order in black life. 8 Simila rl y, studies of E u rop ean immi grant group s h ave demon stra ted the persisten ce of ethni c life in th e city throu gh the in stituti on s of church , b e nevolen t groups, lod ges, politi cal ac tivity, a nd a n active press. 9 M oreove r , both se ts of studi es presum e th e prese nce of a recogni zable geogra phical b ase upon whi ch these fo rm al or gani zations operate . In the case of black communities, the ghetto explicity fo rm s the b ounda ries; fo r white immi gra nt s, th e pa rish or" immi gran t n eighborhood " implicitly serves as the turf around which the story of organi za- SLOVAKIA 11 tional life unfolds. Unfortunately, in either case, the empirical demonstration of this critical base and its role is often assumed as given. Few have sought to consider the role of neighborhood and community development as a crucial framework for their analyses. 10 • Because this literature provides little basis for analysis or comparison, it is necessary to turn to the work of sociologists for a framework. 11 While there is little work on scale and its impact on the nature of neighborhood, 11 more has been done on neighborhood typologies. Gerald Suttles suggests three: the defended neighborhood, the community oflimited liability, and the contrived community. The first is most pertinent to the discussion here: "a residential group which seals itself off through the efforts of delinquent gangs, . . . by sharp boundaries, or by forbidding reputation." 13 The elements of the defended community are: "a recognizable identity, a consensus among residents of a common fate, and a 'positive' and sentimental attachment to neighbors, local establishments, and local traditions to the exclusion of other persons, establishments, and traditions . '' 14 Another set of issues that the current literature ignores concerns the distinction between primary or informal groups (family, neighborhood, community) and formal organization. Historians' concentration on formal group life represents a great limitation on their work, since these groups represent only one level of response migrants made to the city. 15 In part, these formal groups reflect most fully the experiences of the most successful: those who are largely "a-typical" of the larger group's experience. 16 More importantly, informal groups played a critical role in the life of the folk migrants prior to their move to the city. 17 Their presence and roles in the city represent important elements to test to determine the nature and extent of changes that resulted from migration, urbanization, industrialization, and modernization. Since earlier observers pointed to these informal groups as the institutions that underwent the most complete and severe change, with formal groups replacing them, it seems central to the discussion of the persistency of ethnic group life that primary group life be given careful analysis. This is especially so since it is the family, neighborhood, and community that are so central for the socialization and identity of the young. 18 There are other reasons for considering the issue of informal group life. Recent studies of both European and black migrant areas have reported population turnover that was thought to undermine the develop- 12 SLOVAKIA ment and impact of ethnic enclaves; proximity to many other groups diminished European ethnicity to one of the three major religions. While recent studies demonstrate the importance of chain-migration for both black and white migrants, little effort has been made to determine what effect this chain migration had on the formation of groups in the city. 19 In contrast, the presence ( or absence) of a neighborhood in proximity to formal institutions of an ethnic group represents theoretically a very different experience than that postulated by studies of movement and mobility . Rather than seemingly random movement, it would be possible to hypothesize the informal neighborhood providing important sets of support for the church (parish), businesses, beneficial organizations, press, and national organizations. While it may be difficult to determine which came first, it seems likely that informal neighborhood lies at the base of the ethnic urban village. Moreover, despite the mobility, the presence of an ethnic village that provides important goods and services for "members," whatever the place of residence, plays an important role in the "maintenance" of ethnicity and identity. 20 Thus, while it may have have served every member of a given ethnic group in its particular part of the city, the neighborhood/urban village fostered important networks of institutions for migrants; dominance of a section of the city permitted residents a chance to be "themselves" within the confines of a turf dominated by persons from the same kin network, town, region, and country. In these neighborhoods, residents hammered out their own identities, consciousness, and relations with the larger world. Without this envelope, it is hard to imagine how so many informal and formal groups could have persisted and prospered . 21 It is the purpose of this article to examine the development of residential neighborhoods and communities by two different groups of migrants in different environments. While these are far from "random" selections, 22 we do feel that they represent two different kinds of migrant settlements, one very small, the other fairly large. Both neighborhoods conform roughly to Suttles' definition of a defended neighborhood; both represent an important migrant response to the urban environment, a response that has been passed over all too briefly by past work. The article focuses on the efforts of two different groups of folk migrants to establish a "turf" in the city: Black migrants settled in the inhabited alleys of Washington, D .C ., and the eastern European migrants settled in the "Bird's Nest" on the fringe of Cleveland, Ohio. SLOVAKIA 13 In m a ny ways the social co nditions migrants faced in these two environments were dramatically different; each cam e with a different set of experie nces and cultural baggage, and each faced very different conditions in the cities they settled despite the fact that both entered the urban marketpl ace at the ' 'bottom .' ' 23 While these differences are critical to understand what happened to each group, it is also important to see in general term s what migrants shared in their struggle with the urban-industrial environment. The article begins with a consideration of similarities and differences between the two communities in terms of physical form , population , occupations, and living conditions. The major part of the article focuses on the development and form each neighborhood took . The conclusions seek to compa re these two experien ces and suggest their implicat ions for othe r migrant experien ces and for the study of migrants . II. Descriptive Comparison of Neighborhoods: Alley Communities and The Bird 's Nest Physical Form and Isolation . Alley communities of Washington, like their counterparts throughout the urban United States and Europe , were small, relatively circumscribed , and isola ted neighborhoods spread throu ghout the central city 24 (see Map 1) . In Washington , alley house co nstru ction fell largely in the period from the end of the Civil War until 1892, when Congress banned new construction. D eveloped on narrow st reets or alleys inside a large city block , the tiny, two-story fram e or brick row houses faced inwa rd onto the interior alley, while larger, more expensive row houses lined the outside of the block and faced onto the street (M ap 2). W ell-to-do residents of the street-front property were separated from their poor and often black, backyard neighbors physically, sociall y, and culturally. D evelopers and owne rs of alley property , often well to do , generally lived outside the immediate section of the city where their all ey property was located, thus furth er isolating the alley n eighborhood . 25 The Bird 's N est, a single neighborhood , was equ ally isolated , but shared much more in co mmon with the la rge ethnic enclaves in urban indu st ri al areas throu ghout the United States. In 1892 , a land company sub sidary (Pleasant Hill L and Company-PHLC) of the National Carbon Company laid out the eight n a rrow stree ts (five n a m ed for birds), a nd 424 lots to provide hous in g for workers at its new facto ry n earby. 26 SLOVAKIA 14 INHABITED ALLEYS 1897 POPUATION 0 1- ,. 0 0 0 JOO - ... 0 RKE • • 0 MAP 1 - 1/l or mor, 81,il(: k 2/lormor,\Nhct C ommi ssione rs of the District of Columbia, Annual R eport (W ashin gton , 189 7), 195-202. 1897 SLOVAKIA 15 N STREET [ fr" I l'Fif =! .J.Jo . a--1 II ' ' .. ~ • II - '-M STREET L STREET D BUILDINGS HEADS Of HOUSEHOLD Native Born Whites S.ablo Foreign Born \\'hites (born outside Ncw1h America or p,uenc~ born outside Othe<Buldir@ Store o, AmYm Shop North Amtfil:a) • •• !lacks ~ (when lhan l) more MAP 2 - Sanborn Map Publishin g Company, In surance M aps of Washington , D .C. (New York , N . Y., 1888) ; and Fed eral Populat ion Census Schedules, I 880 W ashington , D .C., V ol. 2 pan 2, R eco rd Group 29 National Archi ves. SLOVAKIA 16 \~ PART Of" L.\I(E,ro on .>. ' -~ I I .A 11 LE 1 1 ROCKPORT TOWNSHIP. \~_. ~':. ~ \" \ ... ~7;:... MAP .3 - Pleasa nt Hill La nd C ompan y subdi vision of th e " Bird 's Nes t " a nd th e adjoining Na ti on al Ca rbon Facto r y, 1898 . Thom as Fl ynn , Ott o Ba rth el, R .H . Bunni ng , and Thomas H assa n , Atlas o[ th e Suburbs o[ Cleveland, Ohio ( Phil ad elphia , 1898), Plate 24 . SLOVAKIA 17 The neighborhood was circumscribed by railroad tracks, th e factory , a nd a wood s (later d eveloped for a factory and park) on three sides; the fourth side, a secondary comme rcial artery, p ermitted some overflow into the immediate n eighborhood to the north (see Map 3). While Bird's Nest workers were able to gain ownership of the area, it remained isolated from the surrounding area which was developin g as a middl e-class suburb. 2 7 Like the inward facing alley, th e neighborhood also turned in ward with its " main street," Plover , being the most isol a ted of its streets. 28 Migration and Neighborhood Size. Black migrants from the surrounding states of Virginia and Maryland, coming largely in cha ins of family, fri ends , and neighbors, settled into the alley communities. 29 Predominantl y from rural areas, these mi grants mainta ined ties to the countryside a nd encouraged furth er m ove me nt from those areas . While rural migrants had a number of differe nt res id enti al environm e nts to chose from in the city, a nd often m oved b ack a nd forth betwee n these , m an y se ttled initially in the alleys . Alley popu lations varied co nsiderabl y in size within a given year and over tim e . The smallest held one or two famil ies, the largest ove r 400 peopl e (see Map 1). Most all eys fell so m ewhere in be tween , with the average all ey size in 1880 bein g 50 residents ; at the peak of alley population in 1897, when there were nearl y 20 ,000 all ey res idents living in 240 all eys, th e average all ey size was 73. Th ese were, th e n , very small , face-to-face co mmunities of bl ack rural migrants. 3° In contrast, migra nts to the Bird 's N es t cam e from rural a reas in Easte rn Europe; most id entifi ed th emselves as " Hun garian Slovaks ," alth ou gh some were from P ola nd a nd Ru ss ia . 31 Th ey also mi grated in cha in s of relat ives, fri end s, and n eighbors as well as by region. 32 Like bl ack mi gra ti on to th e all eys, th e re was cons iderab le movem ent back a nd forth betwee n th e Old W o rld a nd th e New. Un like th e all ey populat ion th at reached its peak in 1900 a nd began to drop off, with each alley being a small isola ted community onto itself, the Bird 's N est populati on of 429 in 1900 in creased fi ve -fold by 19 10 a nd then doubled by 1920 at its peak ( see T able 1.) Thi s represe nts a different kind of ethni c encl ave with pote nti al for m o re sub sta nti ve inst itu tion al d evelopme nt. Occupations and Workplace. Black residents of W ashin gton alleys co nfronted profound limita ti ons in their search for work. R ac ism limi ted 18 SLOVAKIA employment of black males largely to day labor and black women to dom estic or laundry work; none had access to the limited industrial occupations in Washington 33 (see Table 2). The employment open to alley dwell ers, then, represented the worst paid , least secure, and often the m ost physically demanding and dangerous positions available. Moreover, despite long residence in the ci ty, black alley dwellers experienced little if any upward occupational mobility ; a color bar en sured that any movem ent would be minimal. 3 4 In contrast , while migrants from Eastern Europe came with similar skills as rural blacks , they often found industrial employment available to them, even though it was nearly always at the bottom . In 1900, most male residents of the Bird 's Nest were laborers working at the adjacent National Carbon factory; by 1910, a number of residents had gained som e mobility by gaining access to semi-skilled industrial occupations. Moreover, a number of women were able to gain indu strial employment, although usually a t the lowest levels ; many others earn ed incom e by runnin g boarding houses or taking in boarders. While this work was long, hard , physically demanding , and often dangerous , it was also more secure and better paying than anything available to alley dwellers . By 1940 , em ployed male a nd female workers of the Bird 's Nest were concentrated in semi-skilled pos itions ( 44 percent), with another 10 percent skilled and 13 percent proprietarial or white collar employees; only a third remained as unskill ed or service workers 35 (see Table 3). Living Conditions. Living conditions in most D .C. alleys were far from wholesome; crowding, poorly maintained buildings and outhouses, piles of uncollected trash in alleys, and the co nstant d anger of contagious disease plagued residents. D espite the limited space inside the two-story 12x30 foot alley house, man y were shared by more than one hou sehold unit ; in some cases four family units lived in one small room each . 36 These crowded cond itions made residents m ore susceptible to di sease, while landl ord s' lack of co ncern for maintenance and the city's di sinterest in coll ect in g trash from the alleys exposed residents to di sease in other ways. Limited and unstable income restricted diets while d angerou s, outdoor work further taxed alley dwellers' health . Ultimately these cond iti ons led to death rates for alley dwell ers th at were twice th at for residents of the streets; the major causes were diseases that cou ld clearly be linked to socio-economic status . 3 7 Children under the age of one year acco unted for much of the high death rate. 38 SLOVAKIA 19 While the Bird's Nest developed in a suburban setting and lacked the extreme density of the alley community, living conditions were little better. While outside the multi-family homes "everything was mud," inside the long, narrow two - and three-story buildings many families lived in tiny cold water flats 39 (see Map 4) . Whereas alley dwellers had to go outside for water and toilets, Bird's Nesters shared "indoor water closets .' ' 40 Residents of the latter community, however, were more likely to share their tiny apartments with boarders; 32 percent of households had boarders in 1910 (boarders made up one-fourth of the total population), 41 while only 13 percent of 1880 alley households were augmented. 41 The crowded living conditions in the Bird's Nest, along with the long hours at work and limited income, led to high death rates, especially for the very young. 43 In 1900, women reported over one-fourth of the children they had borne were dead, 44 a condition that continued in later years. There are, then, substantial similarities between the two populations; Both came into the urban marketplace at the bottom; both lived in housing conditions that were crowded and dangerous ; the "communities" were isolated physically and socially from the surrounding populations; both were made up of groups that had migrated in chains to the city. Nevertheless , residents of the Bird's Nest did have access to industrial jobs that were more stable and better paying; and these positions permitted some mobility from unskilled labor to semi- and eventually skilled jobs. In addition, where alley communities were largely limited in size by the number of houses built in each alley , and ultimately by the limited interior space of the block itself, the Bird's Nest faced less spatial constriction. This afforded the potential for more complete development. Finally, while alley dwellers seldom had the resources to purchase their alley homes from absentee landlords , res idents of the Bird's Nest were encouraged to do so by the industrial developer of their community . Where ownership always remained external to the alley community , the Bird 's N est quickly becam e locally owned. Despite these differences, each area developed a se ries of informal groups that provided the base for the formation of a neighborhood . That neighborhood , in turn , provided the foundation for the d evelopment of more formal organizations. Given the differe nt resources and scale, however, residents d eveloped different kinds of ne ighborhoods. 10 FAM ILY UNtTS .I H oward Whipple G ree n , Plan es of Living in C uyah oga County: as D epicted by th e R eal Property Survey (C leveland , 1940), 65. Bird ' s Nest = LW18 MAP 4 - e 6.5 o/o OF ALL FAMILY UNITS 2 1,953 IN COUNT Y COLD WATER FLATS ~ ► ~ < >- 0 r< (./J 0 SLOVAKIA 21 III. Neighborhoods Alley Communities. Black migrants who came to Washington alleys re-established their kin and friendship networks in the alley; they continued to use these networks for emotional and financial support. Because their resources were so marginal, only reliance on these groups made survival more likely. Each alley then, had several or more such networks into which "fictive kin" were also drawn. They provided the most basic form of social organization, albeit informal, in the alley . 45 It was the alley neighborhood, itself, that brought these kin groups together into a loose , but cohesive unit . Since alleys were isolated from the surrounding neighborhood and often some distance from the emerging black enclaves of the city where the major institutions of black life were located, alley residents often had to fall back on themselves for help and support. Drawing on their rural experience, migrants constructed informal defended neighborhoods to provide for their needs. In many respects, however, this informal community became much more important in the city because residents were more dependent on each other, especially in the period just following their migration. Since migration to the city (and alleys) continued throughout the period, and since there were always some "native" alley residents as well as some migrants who had lived in a given alley for many years, new migrants did not have to confront the urban environment alone . New neighbors, kin, and old friends helped ease the transition from country to city. 46 The alley itself' 7 was the center of the alley community; residents congregated there, save in the worst weather, to meet with friends and neighbors. 48 A major location for informal meeting took place at the intersection of the two main alleys . All residents passed this point on their way into and out of the alleys; neighbors met each other here as they returned home from work each day, or hung out there during the day if there was no work available . In addition , residents generally sat in front of their homes and talked to neighbors who joined them on the steps, benches, or chairs set out for this purpose . 49 It is impossible to overestimate the value and import of this activity, for virtually every aspect of the alley community was based on this interaction . If neighboring provided an important element of entertainment, it also provided information on which neighbors needed help and where jobs were available. A critical function of the alley community 22 SLOVAKIA involved help and support for those in need; neighbors aided each other by providing money, food, and shelter while in some cases they took in friends' children and cared for them, in others they let neighborhood children sleep at their house '' because they had more room.'' 50 A third function neighboring and the alley community provided was the maintenance of internal social control. Part of this came as a result of the positive support neighbors gave each other; they also used gossip and more formal sanctions to maintain order. 51 Ultimately, these daily discussions about ' ' appropriate behavior'' by residents resulted in the hammering out of a common philosophy and world view; a world view that was shared by members of the community and differed from that of outsiders. 52 Finally, alley dwellers defended their neighborhood against outsiders . Part of this resulted from their intensive use of alley space for neighboring , thus discouraging others from entering the area . When outsiders did enter they were confronted by residents and watched throughout their alley visit, an experience that unnerved many observers of alley life. 53 Alley dwellers had good reason to watch "outsiders"; other Washingtonians, black and white, generally viewed residents of the alleys with great disdain. While the police were especially harsh in their attempts to control alley populations, other residents, though less overt in their actions, expressed nearly universal condemnation of alley dwellers. 54 This external hostility helped hold the alley community together, despite its internal dissension . Disputes over life style dominated these schisms, but the small scale of the neighborhood, the necessity to cooperate to survive, and the external threats effectively held residents together. Because of its small size and very limited resources, however, the alley community was not able to develop or support a very extensive set of formal organizations. It did provide an excellent medium for small alley churches, which were simply alley houses residents rented "for Jesus. " They were kept going by neighbors' contributions and the pastors ' earnings from "doing occasional laundry" or other work . 55 While most alleys seem to have had at least one of these churches, their small size - "Ten chairs and a pulpit, and an improvised altar" - makes the extent of participation problematic . 56 Alley businesses were equally marginal, and often involved in illegal activity. Like the semi-formal alley church, these businesses required conversion of part ofan alley house into a " speak-easy" or "fac- SLOVAKIA 23 tory" for the m a nufacture of illegal alcohol , or oft en both . While these were cl early ill egal and we re often closed down by law e nforcem ent offi cia ls, th ey provided an importa nt service for the alley ne ighborhood in representin g a " proto " ne ighborhood tave rn a nd community ce nter where residents co uld m eet. 57 The Bird 's Nest. A s earl y as 1889 , Slovak mi gran ts b egan work on the construction of the n ew National Carbon factory . 58 After the factory was co mpl eted , these worke rs and their fri ends were hired to work in th e factory . 59 Like alley dwellers, initial settle rs in the Bird 's N est began a cha in mi gration , at first drawing from the oth er Slovak enclaves throughout the city and eventuall y reaching back to Hun gary. This process resu lted in ex tended kin n etworks bein g refo rmul a ted in th e n ew neighborhood . In a number of cases, this reformu la tion extended to Old World v ill age pa rishes. Within th e fir st few years, m a n y of the core famili es had m oved in and esta blished them selves. Fri end s, ne ighbors, a nd co -reli gionists followed . As o ne oral history repo rted, " m a n y times the m en came along first , leaving wives a nd children behind in Slovakia, until they h ad found work a nd could send back for th eir families. When they cam e first, they sought out others from the sam e village who were alread y" in the neighborhood . 60 The most criti cal form of organization , however, was the neighborhood it self. Like the all ey community , the n eighborhood rem a ined largely inform al; initiall y it w as a grouping of kin n etworks largely of Slovak a n cestry. Y e t this inform a l " institution " p rovided the precon dition s necessary for the con structio n of other aspects of the community. In large p a rt the migrants es tablished th eir co ntrol over th e ne ighborhood in the first years of settle m e nt , 1892- 1900 . A lthough the a rea was th en only sli ghtl y bigge r tha n th e largest all ey, these earl y migrants a nd th eir famili es esta blish ed a beachhead that was neve r chall en ged . Unlike alley dwell ers who neve r gained ow nership of th eir ne ighborhood , res idents of the Bird 's N est quickly bou ght up th e small parcels o f la nd (wheth er simpl y cl eared b y the PHLC, or built upon ) , 6 1 as soo n as th eir fin ances m ad e it possibl e. 61 A lon g Pl ove r , migrant s purch ased 43 perce nt of the lots prior to 1900; o nl y three of th e 35 lots o n the street m ay h ave been ini tiall y purchased by non-Sl avs. 63 R es id ent s gain ed ow ners hi p o f m ost of th e 424 lots in the subdi vion s on initi a l sale; w ith few exce ptio n s, th ey eve ntuall y ga in ed co ntrol ove r th e rem a ining o nes as well. 24 SLOVAKIA P e rhaps the most striking aspect of n eighborhood d evelopment is the extent to which residents drew on each other's skill s and resources to construct houses, stores, a nd shops. Of the 171 lots for which information is available on th e initial con struction , 92 perce nt of the owners were alread y residents of the neighborhood. While m a n y built their own hom e (or a building to rent), those owners who hired a builde r to co nstruct their houses overwhelmingly chose a resident of the neighborhood (64 percent). Many of the non-resident builders were also of Slavic origin , but lived in one of the other encl aves spread throughout the city. 64 T o an impressive ex tent , th en , residents bought up the neighbo rhood la nd, and per son ally built th eir own hom e or a home to sell to more rece nt migra nts ; when they did not do their own co nstru ction they hired neighbors . In doing so, they establi shed an impress ive investm ent upon which they could draw or build on in the future. 65 H av in g es tablish ed a turf a nd access to employ m ent , residents encouraged n ew migra nt s to join them. Whe reas the m ajo rity of th e first res idents ha d migrated to the United Sta tes in the ten years prior to the building of th e factory, the massive influx of n ew migrants in the fir st two d ecad es of the twenti eth century cam e direc tl y to the n eigh bo rhood. Slovaks continu ed their d omination of the n eighborhood (70 perce nt) , whil e Slovak was the most common la ngu age. 66 One of the key attractions of thi s N ew Slovak/ Slav ic village, in a d dition to the presen ce of fri ends , relatives, and an ethni c ne ighborhood , was the prese nce of employm ent possibilities in industry. H av ing mad e important inroads from th e beginnin g of the constru ction o f the new factory, Slovaks , a nd to a lesse r extent P oles a nd Ru ssians, dominated the lowest level of empl oym e nt in the facto ry. 67 Th ere is so m e indi cation th a t the original pl a nt o n the east side of Clevela nd may also h ave empl oyed workers from a nearb y Slovak e nclave. These employees m ay have been attrac ted to th e new factory b y the avail ab ilit y of la nd ; a disastrous fire a t the old e r pl a nt in 1893 m ay well have speed ed up this process. 68 Wh a teve r the initi a l co nnection, Slovaks a nd oth er Sl av ic mi gra nt s establi shed a beachh ead in th e factory from th e beginnin g b y drawin g o n th eir inform a l networks . 69 Jun e Alexand er found a similar co nditio n for Slovaks in Pittsburgh , namely that "factori es relied o n their fore m e n to hire workers and foreme n, in turn, reli ed o n th e ir workers as intermedi a ries to find la borers. " 70 As mi grants worked their way slowly up the ranks to semi-skilled a nd occasion all y forem en positions , th ey SLOVAKIA 25 gain ed m ore direct access to the hiring process. With the informal neighborhood networks , Slovaks came to dominate both workplace and neighborhood . 7 1 Whil e info rm al social cont rol and aid permeated th e early years of the Bird's N est as it did in the alleys, the ra pid growth of the neighborhood in the first decade of the twentieth cen tury permitted the developme nt of m ore form al organiza tions . R esidents of different reli gious persuas ion s m et sepa rately; initially these m ee tings, like the alley church , were worshi p serv ices held in co-reli gioni sts' hom es. Eve ntu ally these m eetin gs led to the fo rmation of lod ges and other m ore form al organizations designed to bring about the formation of a parish and the building of a church . 72 The first parish , Sts. Peter and P aul Lutheran , was offi cially form ed in 1901 ( church building-1 902/school som e years later) ; it was followed by Sts. Cyril and M ethod ius R om an Catholic Church in 1903 (church building and school-1905); St. Gregory ' s Byzantine Rite Catholic Church in 1905 ( chu rch building 1906/school som e years later); and the C alvin Presbyterian C hurch in 19 17 (church buildin g-19 2 1) . Ca lvin Presbyte ri a n C h urch in th e foreg round occupi es th e first sit e of Sts. Pe te r a nd Pau l Luth era n C hurch . In th e b ac kg round is St . Grego ry's Byza nti e n Rit e Ca th oli c C hurch . (Ph ot0g ra ph by a ut ho rs, J a nu a ry , 1984). 26 SLOVAKIA Sts. Peter and Paul Luthera n. (Photograph by au thors, January, 1984). SS. Cyril a nd M eth odi us R om an Ca th oli c C hurch . (Ph otog raph by au th ors, J anua ry, I 984). SLOVAKIA 27 These "predominantly" Slovak parishes were joined by those of the other ethnic groups sharing the neighborhood, the first of which was St. Hedwig's Church (Roman Catholic Polish Parish) in 1905 ( church building-l 914/school-1926). Because residents took the initiative in the formation of these parishes and schools, they often had considerable control over their direction, especially in the early years. 73 These parishes made the neighborhood even more attractive to potential migrants; their founding at the beginning of the decade undoubtedly encouraged many others to migrate. Religious schools provided another incentive, especially to Slovaks who witnessed their own schools closed or "converted for Magyarization" in the homeland. For residents in the Bird's Nest, these schools represented a way to avoid efforts at Americanization promoted by the public schools. As a result many children from the neighborhood attended these parochial schools. 74 Drawing on their growing neighborhood and its greater resources (compared to alley communities), residents of the Bird's Nest also started an incredible number of businesses. While most of these were small stores and shops that served the immediate neighborhood , several developed into substantial businesses that provided necessary goods and services for ethnic and religious needs . 75 Most important, however, was the formation of Eagle Building and Loan Company in 1911 . Controlled from within the neighborhood, residents built an institution that made possible complete acquisition and building of the area, and expansion beyond . 76 The building and loan was critical since over fifty percent of the neighborhood's lots were sold by the PHLC during the 1910s, while the period from 1912 to 191 7 was the period of greatest home construction. 77 Although the neighborhood was divided by ethnicity, religion, and class , as well as by very different attitudes on assimilation, 78 these divisions were subsumed by the needs of the neighborhood and the workings of informal groups. For some, the community revolved around the parish ; Peter Glovna remembered that "it was just like a little village, and the pillar was St. Cyril. " 79 Nevertheless , they were a series of co mmunity-wide activities that drew residents together. 80 Most important , " the first settlers tried to reconstruct , as closely as possible , the village system they were so accustomed to in Poland , Russia, and Slovakia. The close-knit warmth a nd familiarity of the village provided security and a sense of home to the recently displaced immigrants. " 81 28 SLOVAKIA Ultimately , residents used the neighborhood as alley residents did theirs; everyone knew everyone else and interaction on the streets, front yards, and porches was extensive, especially in warm weather. 82 This neighboring activity , largely through informal, small groups of relatives and friends, made up a critical element in the neighborhood life . It provided the first level (past kin network) of organization, one that replicated itself as formal groups began in the churches, lodges, and benevolent associations as well as the workplace. These primary groups provided members with an immediate sense of belonging, a connection with larger, more formal organizations, and a way by which members of the primary group could collectively continue to co nstru ct a world view, maintain social control , and provide help and support for the needy. 83 Like the alley community, the Bird's Nest found that the external threat was often sufficient to contain internal conflict. Hostility , both formal (from police and other official sources) and informal (from personal prejudice directed at residents), was extensive throughout the period. Outsiders, as in the case of alley communities, targeted the neighborhood as an eyesore and danger to the rest of the community; and police exercised their authority to "maintain social control by overenforcing the law .' ' 84 IV. Conclusions Based on these examples, it seems clear that migrants, via chain migration and efforts to gain entry/control over admission to a j ob market , began to establish residential enclaves. 85 If the process of neighborhood formation appears to have begun almost unconsciously, its development was quite conscious. While the presence of such neighborhoods is taken as given to most studies, what stands out in these two examples is the extent to which migrants took over their respective turfs, defended them, and built informal and formal institutions around them. In fact , the clustering provided the necessary context for virtually every further institutional development. If some or many migrants eventually passed through and out of the neighborhood , it remained(s) an important focal point in the lives of many , even those who could "escape" to more affluent suburban settlements. 86 The neighborhood , then , must be taken more fully into account as one, if not the most critical, of migrant institutions. SLOVAKI A 29 T hese neighborhood s provided the b ase fo r su rvival in the new urban en vironment. They were the source of housing, employm ent , mutual aid , p rotection , famil y, and friends . They permitted pa rents to raise their children in a n en v iro nment a nd throu gh in stitutio n s ove r w hich the fam ili es exerted som e co ntrol. They also provided a safe ha rbor from whi ch m igrants confro n ted the confu sin g city . M o reove r , ne ighbor s worked out their respo n ses to the issu es o f ethnicity, accultu ratio n , a nd ass im il at ion in this con text of everyd ay life. If n eighbo r s chose diver ging path s, they were n eve rtheless path s th a t d evelo ped w ithin the confines a nd con text of the ethnic en clave. R a ther th a n the stilted b ackwaters th a t R o bert P a rk a nd other s saw, th ese e ncl aves we re vibrant wi th conflicts over life style, ch a n gin g ethnic ide n tity, a d a pta tion , a nd eve n interna tio n al issu es . 8 7 T hu s, to under stand migrant organization s a nd the role they played in accul tu rat io n and et h nic ident ity, it is necessary to con sider th e first in st ituti on m igran ts created in th e city, th e neighbo rhood . 88 W hile these two n eigh borhood s were dram aticall y d ifferent, they both fi t well into Suttles' d efinition of a defended neighbo rhood . I t seem s q uite likely tha t m os t imm igrant e nclaves also fit thi s descri ption , even in cases where the areas was no t so highly segregated fro m the surroundin g city b y either physical ba rrier s or class differen ces. A number o f rece nt studies d em o n stra te tha t d efended n eighborhood s can hold up without these two elem ents. 89 H oweve r , wha t seem s m ost important here is the signifi cance of scale . Becau se alley neighbo rhood s we re sm all a nd u nable to develop ex ten sive for m al o rganizat io n s d oes no t m ean tha t they we re a n y less impor tant for m a inta inin g a nd d evelopin g a n e thnic consciousness and way of life. R a ther, wha t the alley neighborhood seem s to suggest is that smal l scale e nclaves, w hethe r hidden in alleys, or scatte red alo n g stree t fro nt s, co n tin ue to have fl ouri shin g p r im a ry group li fe : in tern al orde r and co n trol, social serv ice act ivities, a nd eve n som e p roto in stitu tio n al li fe. M oreove r , it is likely tha t ethnic identity is heigh te ned in those situ at io ns w hen other groups are in su ch close proxim ity . 90 In the case of the Bi rd 's Nest o r la rge r ethnic co mmuni ties,9 1 the sig nifi cance of the ne ighborhood is often overlooked because of the exte n t of ethni c organ izat io n al a nd b u siness li fe. H oweve r , it is the pop u la ti o n scale tha t makes poss ible this d evelopment. Nevert heless, these a reas con tinue to be marked by extensive informal groups ; their aggregate 30 SLOVAKIA makes the neighborhood and keeps it operating, althou gh formal associations play an important role. Ultimately, then , we should exp ect smalle r settlem ents to develop strong informal groups but few formal ones; the larger the co mmunity , the greater the potential for formal organizations to develop , although infor mal group life rema ins active and important. It may well be, as Fischer suggests, that ethnic ide ntity is greatest in these smaller areas, less able to adapt or adjust to the n ew world . In larger enclaves, migrants have more space to consider alternatives , to pick and chose from diverging paths, m ore a bility to ad a pt or adjust to things "Am e rican " b y in corporating them into their repertoire a nd making them " their own. " 91 Finally, in addition to the observations con ce rnin g the importance of neighborhood as a mi grant institution , it is worth noting the different conditions white and bl ack migrants confronted. The caste barrier blacks confronted in Washington as well as the severely restricted housing m arket limited the potential for comm unity d evelopment. Alley dwellers utilized highly creative methods to circumvent the nearly impossible conditions they confronted . To surv ive in this enviro nment was success. In contrast, Slovak men and women were able to gain e nt ry to more stable a nd be tte r paying industrial jobs; eventu ally they secured so me m ovemen t into semi- a nd even skilled positions as a resu lt of their tenacious hold over jobs in their neighborhood. By doing so, they es ta blished ethnic occupation al beachheads for their kin a nd progeny , whil e blacks we re limited to day la bor a nd positions in the secondary labor market. 93 Similarly, Slovaks a nd other white ethnics through considerable personal and fami ly sacrifice were able to purchase their turf; few black alley dwellers were ever so fort un a te. In short , Bird Nesters could use their ethnic ties to establish and maintain occupational and property turf; blacks were "permitted " those jobs and hou sin g no one else wanted. D ominance of these turfs, occupational and residential, were always transitory, requiring incred ible hum an effort to m ainta in th em or develop n ew ones. They seldom permitted a n opportunity to grow or expand. SLOVAKIA 31 NOTES ' O scar Handlin concludes that "wherever the immigrants went , th ere was one com mon ex peri ence th ey shared: nowhere could they transplant the European village . Wh atever th e va riati ons among environments in America , none was familiar. The pressure of th at stran geness exe rted a dee p influence upon th e character of rese ttlement , upon the usual forms of behavior , and upon the notes of communal action th a t emerged as th e immigrants beca me Americans .'' Th e Uprooted (2nd edn., Boston, 1973) , 129 . ' Loui s Wirth noted that the "shift from a rural to a predominantly urban society .. has bee n acco mpa ni ed by profound changes in virtually every phase of social life, '' with th e "substituti on of seconda ry for primary contacts , th e weakening of bonds of kin ship , and the declining social significance of the famil y, the disappearance of the neighborhood , and th e undermining of the tradition al bas is of social solidarity." On Cities and Social Life , ed . by Albert R eiss, Jr . (Chicago, 1964) , 79-80. See also Wirth, " Urbanism as a Way of Life , " American Journal of Sociology, 44 Ouly , 1938) , 1-24 . ' Ernes t Burgess , who devised the co nce ntri c zone th eory from which this co mes, concluded th a t ' 'disorganization as preliminary to reorgani za ti on of attitud es and condu ct is almost invariably th e lot of th e newcomer to the cit y.'' ' ' The Growth of the City," in Robert E. Park a nd Ernest Burgess, Th e City (Chicago, 1967), 54, 47-62 . • Howa rd Chudacoff found th at while foreign born migrants " m ay have retained their social , eco nomic , and religious commun iti es, their incidence of move ment out of th e old neighborhoods and a round the city make residential coherence a ve ry temporary experience." " A New Look at Ethnic Neighborhoods: Residential Dispersion and th e Concept of Visibilit y in a M edium-Sized City,'' Journal of America n History , 60 Oune , 1973), 91. See also Chudacoff, Mobile Americans: Residential and Social Mobility in Om ah a, 1880- 1920 (New York , 1972), 154-55; Humbert S . N elli, The Italians in Chicago: 1880-1 930( N ew York, 1970), xi i-xiii; Sam Bass Warner and Colin B. Burke, " Cultural Change and th e Ghetto," Journal of Contempnrary History, 4 (O ctober , 1969) , 173 -88 ; David W ard, " The Internal Spatial Different iat ion of Immi grant R esiden ti al Distri cts ,'' in Geographic Perspectives on America's Past , ed. by Dav id Ward ( ew York , 1979) , 335 -43; and Ward , " The Emergence of Central Immi gra nt Ghettoes in American Cities: 1840-1920, " Annals of th e A ssociation of America n Geographers , 38 ( 1968) , 343-59. ' The most class ic stateme nt of this positi on was that of E . Franklin Fraz ier: Southern black mi gra nts to north ern cities los t " res tra ints imposed by a simple folk culture" and creat ed a "class of rovi ng Negroes who will li ve a lawless sex a nd quasi-family life ." " The Impac t of U rba n Civilization upon Negro Family Life, " American Sociological R el'iew , 2 (October , 1937), 6 18. See also Frazier's The Negro Family in the United States (Chicago, 1966), 207-92; Cl yd e Vernon Ki se r , Sea Island co City ( New York, 1968), 223; Gilbert O sofsky, H arlem : Th e Making of a Ghetro (N ew York , 1964) , 135-49 ; Allen H . Spear, Black Chicago: Th e M aking of a Negro Gherto (C hi cago , 1967), 167-80 , x; Constance M cLaughlin Green, Th e Secret Ciry 32 SLOVAKIA (Prince ton, 1967); a nd D av id K atzm a n , Befor e th e Gh etto (U rba na, 1973). 6 W a rn er notes that reli gious co nfli cts in Am eri ca n cities "forced a ll cit y dwellers to think of th em selves either as Protestant s o r Ca th olics ' ' o r J ews, not as members of spec ific ethni c group s. " Cu ltural Cha nge a nd Ghett o," 178. See also Will H erberg, Prot estant , Cath olic, J ew (New York , 1955). ' G ilbert O sofsky, " The Endurin g Ghetto," J ournal of Am erica n History, 55 (September , 1968). ' 8 K enn eth Ku smer , A Ghetto T ak es Shap e: Black C leveland 1870- 1930 (Urbana, Ill ., 1976); D ou glas D a ni els, Pioneer Urbanites: A Social and C ultural History of Black San Fran cisco (Philadelphi a, 1980); and Thomas Cox , Bla cks in T op ek a, K ansas : A Social History (Baton R ouge, La., 1982). 9 Josef J. Barton , Peasants and Strangers: Italians, Rumanians, and Slovaks in an Am erica n C ity, 1890-1950 (Cambrid ge , M ass. , 1975), 64-90 ; M . Mark Stola rik , " Immigration a nd Urban izati on: The Slova k Experi ence, 1870-1 9 18" (Ph .D . di sse rtat ion, Universit y of Minneso ta , 1974), 69 -109; Sylvia June G ranatir Al exander , "The Immi gra nt C hurch a nd Co mmunit y: The Forma ti o n of Pittsburgh 's Slova k R eli gio us In stitution s, 1880- 19 14" (Ph .D . disse rta ti on, Uni vers it y of Minneso ta , 1980), 209-355, 443-5 18 ; Al exa nder , " Stay in g Togeth er : Chain Mi gration and Pattern s of Slovak Settl em ent in Pittsburgh Prio r to World W ar I , '' J ournal of Am erican Echnic History, I (Fall, 198 1), 56-83; K athleen Neils Conze n, Immigrant Milwa ukee: 1836-1 860 (Cambridge, M ass., 19 76) , 154-191 ; and V irginia Vans-M cLaughlin , Family and Commu nicy: Italian Immigranc s in Buffalo, 1880- 1930 (Ith aca, N. Y ., 1977). 0 A numb er of studi es do develop th e role of famil y life in mi gra nt se ttlements; thi s wo rk represe nts a m ajo r co ntribution to th e a nalys is of " inform al" o r prim ary gro up life in th e cit y. For exa mple , see T ama ra K . H a reve n , " Th e Histo ri cal Study of th e Fa mil y in Urban Society , " J ourn al of Urba n History , I (M ay , 1975 ). Unfortuna tely, such studi es neglect th e relati on ship of fa mil y a nd extended kin netwo rk to other inform al-primary groups of neighbo rh ood a nd communit y. Wh at is mi ss in g here is a discussion of th e informal social organi zat ion that makes up the nei ghborh ood . Fo r m o re co mpl ete ana lyses of social netwo rk s, see J . C lyde Mit chell , ed. , Social N ecworks in Urban Situation (M anches ter, 1969); Eli zabet h Bott , Family and Social N etwork (N ew Yo rk , 197 1); and C la ud e S. Fischer, To Dwell Among Friends: Personal N etwo rk s in T own and Cicy (C hi cago, 1982). " For exa mp le, see K a thl ee n Neil s Co nze n , " Commentary: Immi grants , Im mi g ra nt Neighborhoods, and Ethni c Identit y: Histo ri cal Issues, " J ourn al or Am erica n History, 66 (D ece mbe r, 1979), 603 -15. " Su za nn e Keller , Th e Urba n N eig hborh ood (N ew Yo rk , 1968). " Gera ld Sut tl es , Tn e S ocial Constru ction or Communicies (C hi cago, I 972 ), 2 I , 3- I 07 . " R o m a n A. C ybri ws ky, "Soc ia l Aspec ts of Ne ighbo rh ood Change ," Annals or th e Associa tion of Am erica n Geograph ers, 68 ( I 978) , 2 7. In co ntras t , th e co nce pt of th e co mmunit y of limi ted liab ilit y, o ri ginall y developed by M o rri s j a now it z, emp hasizes " th e int enti o na l, vo lunt a ry, a nd es peciall y, th e pa rtial a nd d ifferenti ated in vo lve- SLOVAKIA 33 ment of res ident s in th eir local comm uniti es.'' Suttles, Social Construction of Communities , 47 , 44-81. See also Morris J anow it z, Th e Community Press in an Urban Setting: The Social Elements of Urbanism (Chicago, 1952). The contrived community is one that is pla nn ed , at leas t in part, with a d es ign to prom ote a ce rt ain kind of co mmunit y. New towns probabl y fall most closely in to thi s catego ry. See Suttles, Social Constru ction of Commun ities, 82-107 . " Formal o rgan ization is an assoc iation th at " is more or less purposefully created for th e at ta inmen t of rela tiv ely specific and limi ted goals.'' M a rvin E. Olsen , Th e Process of Social Organization (New York , 1968) , 92. M em bers are only partiall y involved a nd co mmitted to such " limited-li a bilit y" o rga ni zati on s; th ey rela te to each oth er largely in terms of the organization and th eir spec ific interest in its goals. Whi le members m ay beco m e " fri end s, " impl yin g a mu ch m ore inten se relations hip , and perh aps the development of a prima ry group or netwo rk , thi s is not the goal of the formal o rgani zati on . Primary or inform al gro up s, on th e ot her hand , are " those characteri zed by intimate, face-to-face aswciati on and co-operation, " i.e., " the family , th e play-group of children , a nd th e neighbo rh ood o r co mmunit y of elders. ' ' C ha rl es Cooley, Social Organization (New Yo rk , 1923), 23, 24. Fo r a rev iew of th e significant roles of informal groups, see Elihu K atz and Paul Lazarsfeld , Personal Influen ces (New York, 1955), 3 1-42. 16 For a discussion of this point , see J am es Bo rchert , " Urban Neighborhood and Communit y: Informal Group Life, 1850-1970, ' ' Journ al of Interdisciplin ary History , 11 (Sprin g, 1981 ), 607-3 1; Floyd Dodson, " Pa tt ern s of Volu nta ry Association among W o rkin g-C lass Families," America n Sociological R evie w , 16 (1951), 687-93; and Benn ett Berge r , W orking Class Suburb (Berkeley, Ca. , 1971 ) , 59-73. " R obert R edfi eld , "The Folk Society ," America njournal of Sociology, 52 Qanua ry, 1947) , 293-308. Thi s is not to su gges t that mi gra nts had no experience with forma l groups prior to mi gra ti on. As Ba rt o n , Stola rik , and oth ers have demonstrated , migrants brought both forma l and in formal group s with them. Whil e few have m ade d irec t comp a ri so ns of formal group s in th eir two se ttings (Ba rt on is an importa nt pa rti al except io n here), virtua ll y no o ne has co mpared informal grou ps. " J a m es S. Pil an t, Th e Envelope: A Study of the Imp act of th e World upon th e C hild (New Yo rk , 1950); Suttles, Th e Social Constru ction of Communities, 2 1- 43. 19 C hain migrat ion has bee n defin ed as " th at m ove m ent in which prospecti ve mi grants lea rn of oppo rtuniti es, a re provided with transporta ti on , and have initi al accommodati on and employment a rranged by m ea ns of primary social relationships with previous migra nts" (aut hors' itali cs). J ohn S. M acdon ald a nd Leatri ce D. M acdonald , "Chain Mi gra ti on , Ethn ic Neighborhood Fo rm ati on , and Social Netwo rks," Milbank M emorial Fund Quart erly, 42 Q anu a ry, 1964) , 82. 0 T hese vary, of course , by ethni c gro ups, circum stances , a nd over time , as well as by cl ass. Specia l foods a nd restaurants a re probably th e most obviou s exa mpl es, but churches and lodges a re probably the m ost uni ve rsal ''se rvices. '' Profess ionals a nd ethni c bu siness a re also important elements of th e urba n village, especiall y fun eral homes; th ey con tinu e to draw former res idents a nd th eir children bac k to th e urba n ' 34 SLOVAKIA vi llage, a t leas t on special occasions. Finall y, ma ny wh o left th e "village" continu e to own buildings there; their rental income made "escape" easier; it di d nm , however, break th e ties. " See Suttles, T he Social C onstru ction of C ommunities, 2 1-43. " These environments a re strikin gly different ; th e two group s a re eve n more different in term s of their past ex peri ences, institutional life, and cultural baggage. Co mparison, th en , prese nts considerable problems; limited da ta make thi s eve n more problema ti c. " For oth er effort s to co mpa re th e bl ac k and white ex peri ence, see ta nl ey Lieberso n , A Piece of th e Pie: Black s and Whit e Immigranrs Since 1880 ( Berkeley, Ca ., 1980); J ohn Bodn a r , Michael W eber , and R oge r Simon , " Mi gra ti on , Kin ship , a nd U rba n Adjustm ent : Blac ks a nd Poles in Pitt sb urgh , 1900- 1930," j ournal o f America n History, 66 (Dece mber , 19 79) , 548-565; a nd Bodnar , Sim on , W eber , Lives o f th eir Own : Black s, Italians, and Poles in Piusburgh , 1900- 1960 (Urbana, Ill. , 1982). " For a more compl ete di scussion, ee Borchert, Alley Life in W ashing ton ( Urbana , Ill. , 1980) . For a d iscussion of alleys else wh ere, see 223-37 , 3 12- 17. " Ibid . , 1-56 . ' 6 C u yahoga C ount y Treasure r's Depa rtm ent T ax Duplica tes , I 894- 1923 . C uyahoga Count y Archi ves; M a rgare t M anor Bu tle r, Th e Lakewood tory ( ew York , 1949); 228 ; " City Plays Vital R ole," newspa per clipping-source unkn ow n , M ay 5, 1955 . Lakewood Historical Society; " ati onal Carbon C om pany," C leveland Plain D ealer , September 10, 19 77 . The neighbo rhood has been kn own by a se ri es of names; Bird's Nes t and Bird T own deri ve from th e predominance of stree t with bi rd na me . Other na mes suggest how th e neighborh ood has bee n viewed by outsid er : T he Settl ement, th e Village , " Dago Forum , " C a rbon T own , " Little Slova ki a," a nd th e Carbon Distri ct. John Fedor , "Ju st Loo k at th e Stree t Signs to Find Bird T own ," Lakewood L edger , Dece mber 14, 1967; Butler, Lakewood Story, 188, 228-29; Butler, R om ance in Lakewood Streets (C leve la nd , 1962), 41 ; C ynthi a A. Rud e r, " Th e Imprint of C ultura l V alues on Birdtow n , La kewood, Ohio, " un publi shed typesc ript , M ay 1, 1978. Lakewood Hi stori cal Society. " C uyahoga Count y Au d ito r's T ax M aps , Cuyahoga Coun ty Adm inistrat ion Bu ild ing. Vol. 35-C it y of La kewood. 1890- 1982. " Fed or , " Just Loo k a t th e tree t igns " R eco rd s of th e Distri ct of Colu mb ia , Reco rd Grou p 35 1. Na ti onal Archi ves. Boa rd of C hi ldren ' s Guardi ans, C hildren 's History , I ll : I 129, I 162 , 1392; IV: 158 1. See also Bo rchert , " Survivin g th e C it y: Persistence a nd C ha nge in Bl ac k Folkways of Life in a N ew Environment ," pa per prese nt ed a t th e Associa ti on for th e Stud y of Afro-Ameri ca n Life a nd Hi sto ry, O ctober 2 1- 24, 1982, Baltim ore, M a ryla nd, 8. '° 31 Federal Population Ce nsus Schedul es, 1880, W ashin gto n , D .C., R eco rd Group 29 . ati onal Archi ves; a nd Com missioner of th e Di trict of Colum bia , Ann ual R ep orc -1897 (W as hin gto n , 1897), 195-202. Fed eral Popul ati on C ensus ched ul es, 19 I 0 , La kewood, Ohio. at ional Archives . See also Fed eral Popula ti on Ce nsus Sched ul es, 1900 , Lakewood, Ohio . ational Ar- SLOVAKIA 35 chi ves. The less precise category "country of origin" makes it impossible to know , oth er than Hun ga ry, where migra nts came from. The 1910 ce nsus clea rs this matter up through more precise desi gnati on ; in this case 70 perce nt listed th emselves as " Hunga rian Slovaks" rath er th a n merely" Hun gary," as in 1900 . "Language" also permit s more precise determination . " While J osef Barton has co ncluded that Slovak migration to C leveland was from more gene rall y dispersed areas in Slovakia, migrating more by district than personal or village chains, oth er studies report considerably more personal co ntacts in the migrati on process, both generally a mong lovak migra nts and specificall y for Cleveland. Peasa ncs and Strangers , 50-51, 54, 59, 63. Emily Greene Balch reports that nearly 99 percent of Slovaks en terin g the United States in 1907-1908 planned to join relatives or friends . Our Slavic Fellow Citizens (New York , 1910), 433. Al exander repo rts that whi le Slovak mi gran ts to Pittsburgh did mi grate in cha ins either by village, or by th e more loose " district" pattern Ba rton found, th e selecti on of one's res idence in a give n cit y was strongly influenced by fri end s and rela tives . " Th e Immi grant C hurch ," 55, 68. M a rk Stolarik also found "Slovaks in the Un ited States and Canada originall y reside(d) in distinct neighborhoods nea r their parish ch urches . most of these in each co ngregation ha iled from the same cluster of villages in the old country." " Immi grat ion a nd Urbanization, " 40. Stolarik a nd his co-authors of a st ud y of C leveland Slovaks reported simila r findings for th at cit y. Susi Megles, Mark Stolarik, and Martina Tybor, Slovak Americans and th eir Communities of Cleveland (C levela nd , 1979), 132. M ore importa nt for this study, Stolarik's analysis of parish reco rds of one Bird 's Nest church found 68 percent were from the ext reme end of one Slovak county; " nearly ha lf of the group was from . . three neighboring villages . " " Immi grat ion a nd Urbanization, " 41. For other informa ti on on chain mi gra ti on of Bird 's Nest residents, see Mary Towarni cky, " Helping One Another in the New Land: The Old Timers R emem ber," in SS. Cyril and M ethodius Church , Diamond Jubilee, 1903 -1 978 (La kewood, 1978), 67; and Common Pleas Court, Records of Declaration of Intention , Cuyahoga County Archives. Vo ls. 1- 30, Octobe r 10 , 1906-Sep tember 8, 19 13. " Lo renzo] . Greene and Myra Colso n Callis, The Employment of Negroes in th e District of Columbia (Washington, I 930), 65. " Borchert, Alley Life, 166-77. " Fed eral Popu lat ion Ce nsus Schedul es, I 900, 1910, La kewood, Ohio ; U.S . Bureau of th e Ce nsus, Population and H ousing- 1940: Cleveland, Ohio and Adjacent Area (Was hin gto n , 1942), 106. This is not to suggest that co nditions were easy o r wages hi gh. J an Pa nku ch notes that " during the first years their wages barely met their needs .'' Dejin y Clevelandskych a Lakewoodsk ych Slovakov (C leveland, 1930), 24. ' 6 Borchert, Alley Life, 85. " Ibid., l 83. The impact of a lley co nditions can be seen most clearly in co mparison to nati onal statisti cs. In 1910 the death rate for urban whit es was 14.6 per thousand ; for urba n blacks, 24.3. James H. Jones , Bad Blood ( ew York, 198 I), 37 . For street 36 SLOVAKIA dwelling W ashin gtoni an s (whit e and black), the dea th rate per thousand was 17 .56 ; for alley residents it was 30 .09 . Willia m H enry J ones, Th e H ousing of Negroes in W ashington , D.C. (Washington, 1929), 45 . " Borchert , Alley Life, 183 . 39 ' 0 41 Albina M olek, " Builders of the Spirit ," C leveland News, November 18, 1949 ; H oward Whipple Green , Plan es of Living in C uyah oga Co unty: as D epicted by th e Real Prop erty Survey (Cleveland , 1940), 65 . Green, Planes of Living, 58. Federal Population C ensu s Schedul es, 1910, Lakewood , Ohio. " Fed eral Population Census Schedul es, 1880, W as hin gton , D .C. See Borchert , Alley Life , 68. 43 Butler, Lakewood Story, 188. " Federal Populaton Census Schedul es, 19 10 , Lakewood, Ohio. In 1911 , residents of the larger community , led by a prominent member of the Rhodes family , established a clinic in the neighborhood becau se of the seve re health conditions, es peciall y the hi gh infant mortality . " Dispensary," in " History of Lakewood ," C lipping fil e, Lakewood Histo rical Society; a nd Butler , L ak ewood Story, 188-89. 45 Borchert , Alley Life , 69-85. •• It is important to note th a t the household unit , whi ch is usually considered th e base of the urban nei ghborh ood , was only part of a m ore important ex tend ed kin ship network whi ch included fi ctive kin adopted in the count rys ide or city. These ext ra- household units ti e re sidents of the alley together into " cliques" th at m ake up the large r alley communit y. Alley residents were linked together in other ways ; marriage of two alley residents linked two fa mil ies and kin networks together . After so me tim e , it is possible that mos t lon g-term residents in a given alley were linked by kinship to each ot her in multiple ways. 47 Becau se th e alley neighb orh ood/comm unity rema ined an informal inst itut ion with no " reco rd s" of its act ivities, it is ve ry difficult to determin e the full ex tent of neighborhood act ivities and their import . Nevertheless , some as pects do seem to stand out : neighborin g a nd ent erta inin g, a id to the needy, commo n action on com munit y need s, intern al social co nt rol, a nd defense of the neighborhood again st outsiders. 48 For a desc ription of the alley as meeting place , see W as hin gton National lnte1ligencer , Jul y 25, 1865; W ashington Times, Septembe r 11, 1904; Washington S tar , Jun e 6, 1930; W ashin gton D aily N ews, April 15, 1954; Charles W eller , Neglected Neighbors (Philadelphi a, 1909), 17 , 82; Wilbur V . Mallalieu , "A W ashin gton Alley," Survey , 28 (October 19, 19 12), 71; Gladys Sellew, A D eviant Social Situation: A Cou rr (Washin gton , 1938), 17 ; a nd D a ni el D. Swinney, " Alley Dwellings a nd H ousing R eform in the Di stri ct of Columbia " (M .A . th esis, University of C hi cago, 1938) , 141 -42. During the winter , several homes in a give n all ey see m to have se rved as mee ting spots. Dora Bessie Somerville , " A Study of a Group of Negro C hildren Li ving in an Alley C ulture" (M.A. th esis, Cat holic U ni ve rsit y of Ameri ca, 1941 ), 20. These homes usually di spensed liquor , oft en homemade , providing resid ents wit h a social SLOVAKIA 37 ce nt er a nd tenants with a "second in co me . " For a discu ssio n based on a n a nalysis o f histori cal photog raphs , see " Photographs a nd th e Study of th e Pas t, " in Borchert, Alley Life , 291-93; Borche rt , "Analysis of Histo ri cal Photographs," Srudies in Visual Communication, 7 (Fall , 1981 ), 51-56; and Borchert , " Alley Landscapes of Washington, " Landscape , 23 (No. 3, 1979), 6-8. 0 ' Marion M . Ratigan, A Sociological Survey of Disease in Four Alleys in the National Capital (Was hin gton , 1946), 59 ; Mary R edempta Fores tall , "Trend s in Housing, Delinquency, and H ealth in the Central Northwest Area in Washington, D.C." (M.A . th es is , Catholic University of Ame ri ca, 1938), 32; Grace Vawter Bicknell , The Inhabited Alleys o f Washington, D .C. (W ashington , 1912), 31; Well er, Neglected Neighbors, 47 ; Leonise Ruth Aubry, "A mbitions of Youth in a Poo r Economic Status " (M.A. thes is , Catholic University of America, 1938), 3; Sellew, Deviant Social Siruarion, 46, 54; Sommerville, " Study of a Group of Negro Children," 24; Washington Daily News, Augu st 29, 1941; Swinney , "Alley Dwellings and Housin g R efo rm, " 50, 73; Leono r Enriquez Pablo , " The Housing Needs and Social Problems of Residen ts in a Deteriorated Area" (M .S.W. thesis , Catholic University of America , I 953), 56; Board of Children's Guardians , Children's History, I-VII (see especia ll y I:2 33-34 ; II : 657, 667, 801); Washington National R ep ublican , March 24 , 1862 ; a nd Washington Times , September 11, 1904 . " Whil e it is impossible to recreate co nversations between res idents from the ex isting hi sto ri cal records, it is clear from a large body of literatu re in sociology and anthropology that goss ip plays a critical role in the ma intena nce of order as well as the development of a commo n world view. Scholars of black rural and small town life in th e South noted th e importance of goss ip; CharlesJohnson found that "communit y gossi p exercises restraint . . There are limits ... and when th ese limits are reached violators a re treated with unmi stakable group disapproval.'' Shadow of the Plan cation (Chicago, I 94 1), 81, 82. Similarly , H ylan Lewis concluded that " gossip, or th e possibility of gossip " m a kes residents " more careful of th eir behavior." Blackways of Kent (New H ave n , Conn., 1962) , 193. " Those who show signs of group status de via tion . . are subject of a kind of gro up pressure marked by resentment and cri ti cism." Ibid ., 191 . " See Al. L. Epstein , " Gossip , Norms , a nd Social Network," in Social Networks in Urban Situ ations, 117-27. " For example , see Swinney , "Alley Dwellings and H ous in g R efo rm , " 136-37; and Pablo, " H ousin g Needs and Social Problems," 42. " Bo rchert , "U rban Neighborhood a nd Community," 615-18. " Swinney, " Alley Dwellings and H ousin g R eform, " 121 . " Ibid.; W ashington Post , D ece mber 26, 1948; Well er , Neglected Neighbors, 17, 22, 97 ; Mallalieu, " Washington Alley , " 71 ; a nd the R ev . Daniel O'Connell, "The Inhabit ed Alleys of Washington and the Early Social Hi story of One Alley" (M .A. thesis, Ca th oli c University of Ameri ca , 1953) , 110 . It is importa nt to note that attendan ce in the rural South does not seem to have been especially la rge based on Lewi s' findin gs for K ent . Lewis, B/ackways of Kent , 129-30. 38 SLOVAKIA " Borchert, Alley Life, 185-86. 58 Pankuch, Dejiny , 22. " Ibid .; Mary Towarnicky , "Slovak Newcomers to America, " in SS. Cyril and Methodius Church, Diamondjubilee, 1903-1978 (Lakewood, 1978), 66; Towarnicky , " Helping One Another," 67 . 60 Towarnicky, " Helping One Another," 67. 61 The Pleasant Hill Land Company was owned and run by Washington H. Lawrence, the president of the National Carbon Company. It seems clear that Lawrence purchased an extra large parcel ofland from the Case Estate with the intention of developing a residential area for workers . Butler, Lakewood Story, 228; "C ity Plays Vital Role, " "National Carbon Company," Plain Dealer; and G . Frederick Wright, Representative Citizens of Ohio: Memorial-Biographical (Cleveland, 1914) , 181-84. Since the factory was well outside the built-up parts of C leveland, Lawrence may well have considered this development a necessity to attract workers; he must also have planned to make a good return on his investment. The difficulty of the commute from in-city residences to the plant prior to the completion of a street car line in 1898 was incredible . For examples, see "City Plays a Vital Role" and Pankuch , Dejiny, 23. 61 Initially the early buildings were rented to workers; however, the PHLC sold off most of the improved lots within a couple years of construction. Cuyahoga County Treasurer's Tax Duplicates , 1894- 1923. There is some indication that the Na tional Carbon Company (via PHLC) "sold lots to ... immigrants on installments. " Loretta l vany, " 'Birdtown' Became C ity's Ethnic Center," Sun Post , Jun e 30, 1979 . •• Cuyahoga County Auditor's Tax Maps, Cuyahoga County Administration Building. Migrants bought up lots on Plover first because they were cheaper du e to their proximity to th e railroad tracks. Pankuch, Dejiny , 23. R esidents not only bought up land in the neighborhood as soon as they could afford to, they also held on to th e land, passing it on to relatives or selling it with in the community. Paul Wrobel found a sim ila r practice when he did an extensive participant-observation study of a Polish-American parish in D etroit. Our Way: Family, Parish and Neighborhood in a Polish-American Community (Notre Dame, Ind ., 1979), 5. 6 ' City of Lakewood, Building Department, Building Permits , 1900(?)-1982. It is interesting to note that no building permits a ppear to have been taken out by the PHLC, des pite the fact that they clea rl y improved and built on one-fifth of th e lots over the thirt y year period before the last lot was sold ( 1923). Although the city records are incomplete , and use of building permits seems to have been casual in the earl y years, as well as the fact th at many early reco rd s have not survived, it is strange that no PHLC perm its remain in the records. Insurance maps and descriptive sources do confirm the com pany 's activity in th is area prior to 1900. Thomas Flynn, Otto Barthel, R.H. Bunning, and Thomas H assan , Atlas of the Suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio (Philadelphia, 1898), Plate 24; M argaret Butler, R omance in Lakewood's Streets 41; lvany, " 'Birdtown' Became City's Ethnic Center"; and Cynthia A. Rud er , "The Imprint of Cultural Values.'' SLOVAKIA 39 " As Stephan Thernstrom found in Newburyport , however, home ownership came a t a high price : " To cut family co nsumption expenditures to the bone was one such sac rifice. To withdraw the children from school and to put them to work at the age of ten or twelve was another.'' Poverty and Progress: Social Mobility in a Nin eteenth Century City (New York , 1969), 155. 66 Federal Population Census Schedules, 1910, Lakewood , Ohio. 67 Pankuch , D ejin y, 22; Towarnicky, "Slova k Newcomers to America," 66 ; Towarnicky, " H elping One An other," 67; and Ivany, " 'Birdtown' Became City's Ethnic Center . " 68 M egles, Stolarik , and T ybor, Slo vak Americans and their Communities, 132; Sts. Peter and Paul Lutheran Church , Seventy-Fifth Anniversary (Lakewood, 1976), 3; and Towarnicky , " H elping One Another," 67. 6 ' One of the first Slovak employees recalled th at he " ' got a job in the construction of the . factory. After I had worked th ere for a couple days, the boss told me to bring in a couple more men. I asked him how many I should bring; he answered as man y as I could, even a dozen would do, he said . So I called up my brothers: Juraj, and J an, also Jan andJuraj Nemec, A. Chovana and a bunch of others; Michael Urban and A. Goda all got hired. All the Scerbas; J an Scerba, Jan Scerba, Jr. , Adam Scerba, Andrej R yba nik and many others ca me in later.' " Andrej Babej, quoted in Pank uch, Dejin y, 22. ' 0 Alexander, "The Immigrant Church and Community, " 56-57. More importantl y she notes that "at tim es, when firms desperately needed labor, foremen promised jobs to employees' fri end s or relati ves if th ey would send for them." Ibid ., 57. " Ibid ., 57. She also notes that "Slovaks and other immigra nt groups came to rely on a sys tem of personal relationships in order to get jobs. '' Ibid. For more recent discussions of this process, see Ri chard M yer, " Interpersonal R elations in the Building Indu stry," Man , Work , and Society, ed . by Sigmond Nosow and William Form (New York , 1962) and William K ornblum , Blue Collar Community (C hi cago, 1974). " Sts . Pete r and Paul Lutheran Church, Seventy-Fifth Anniversary , 2-3; Megles , Stolarik , and Tybor, Slovak Americans and their Communities , 13 3; Peter M . Glovna, Sr., " Hi story of SS. Cyril and Methodius Pari sh ," in SS. Cyril and Methodius Church , Diamond Jubilee, 33; " Sts. Peter and Paul Russian Orthodox Church, " undat ed news paper clipping in Margaret Butler, " Hi story of Churches" fil e, Lakewood Hi storical Society; " Ukrainian Church Ded ication Is Set ," undated newspaper clipping in Butl er, ' ' Hi sto ry of Churches . ' ' " Stolarik , " Immigration and Urbanization, " 85-97. It is usefu l to note here that three of the first four Slovak churches in the neighborhood still have services in Slovak, althou gh the y have th em in English as well. " Ru de r , " Imprint of Cultural Values" ; Butler, Lakewood Story, 20,7. In a fine stud y of Slova k Cat holi c lead ers' at titud es toward public ed uca ti on , Mark Stolarik found th ey "valued parochial schools above all else worried mu ch m ore about their children 's moral a nd national upbringing th a n about social mobility . . had no u se 40 SLOVAKIA for publi c schools . . (which) ' den a ti onali ze ou r children . ' " " Immi gra ti on , Education, and the Social Mobilit y of Slova ks, 1870- 1930, " in R a nd all M. Mill e r a nd Thomas D . Marzik, ed s., Immigrants and R eligion in Urban America (Phil adelphia, 19 77) , 107 , 106 . Both Ba rton and Stolarik report th a t 60 to 80 percent of Slovak children a ttended parochi al schools. Ba rto n, Peasa nts and Strangers, 145-46; Stola rik , " Immi grati on and Urban ization ," 165-66. Th e public elem ent a ry school in th e Bird ' s Nest had no teachers wh o co uld speak Slovak ; of those children who did att end , few, if any , spoke Engli sh. Rud e r , "Imprint of C ultural V alu es." 75 The 1930 City Directory includes over 75 bu sinesses (17 local groce rs) and 16 profess ionals a nd se rvi ces avai lable to th e neighborh ood run by local res id ent s (or fo rme r resid ent s). C leveland Directory Compan y, C leveland, Ohio C ity Directory- I 930 (C levela nd , 1930). 76 Inspec to r , Building and Loa n Associat io n , 22nd Annual R ep ort far th e Y ea r Ending D ecember 31, 19 12 (Springfi eld , Ohio, 19 13) , 165 . Oro! Buildin g and Loa n Co. The founding preside nt a nd sec re tary both li ved on Plover , while o nl y th e treas ure r li ved outsid e th e immediat e neighborh ood. H e li ved , howeve r , ju st on th e o th e r sid e (north) of Madison Ave nu e, an a rea th a t Slova ks a nd other mi g ra nt s expand ed int o. Panku ch noted that th e Sav ings a nd Loa n wa s in ex ist ence by 1902 , so it may well have been operating to help res idents long before its offi cial cha rt er in 19 11 . D ejin y, 24. 77 Cuyahoga Count y Treasu re r 's Tax Duplica tes a nd Ci ty of La kewood, Building Permits. 78 For a n excellent discu ssion o n th e conflict be twee n "accult u ra ti o ni sts a nd tradition ali sts , " sec Howard F . Stein , " An Ethnohistory of Slova k-Am e ri ca n R eli gio us and Frate rnal Associations: A Study in Cultural M eanin g, Group Identit y, and Soc ial Instituti o ns," Slo va kia, 29 ( 1980-1 98 1) , 53 -101 . 19 Peter Glovna, as quoted in l vany, " ' Birdtown ' Beca me City 's Ethn ic Center ." G lovna's fath e r m oved to the neighborhood in 1893 a nd was a founder of SS. Cyril and M e thodius , whi le hi s son li ved on Plove r for 40 yea rs. D es pite hi s rece nt m ove out of the area, he still maint ains contacts and serves as pa rish hi sto ri a n . Glovna, "H istory of SS . Cyril and M e th odiu s Pa rish. " 0 " R esidents of Birdtown also enjoyed neighborh ood picnics a nd dancing to th e sound s of bands which were se t up on M a gee and M adison Av enu es.' ' l va ny , '' ' Birdt own ' Beca m e C ity's Ethnic Center.' ' 81 Ruder, " Im print of Cultural Valu es," 5. See also l van y , " ' Birdtown ' Beca me C it y's Ethni c Center ," and 1941 survey quoted extensively in Butler , L akewood St an ·, 229. ' " Rud e r, " Imprint of Cultural V alu es," 18. " Al exa nd e r ' s comment cit ed ea rli e r th a t Slovaks ca m e to rely o n a sys te m of pe rsonal relationships in order to get j obs (see not e 70) needs to be put in a la rge con text he re. Social scienti sts have not ed the impo rt a nce of informal groups in a variety of settings from factory, army, stree t co rn e r gang , a nd neighbo rh ood . Fo r exa mpl e , see F.j . R oet hli sberger a nd W.J . Dickson, M an agem ent and th e W orker (Cam bridge , M ass., 1939); Samuel A. Stoffe r , et. al . , Th e America n Soldier: Studies in Social Psvcholog1· SLOVAKIA 41 in W orld W ar II , 2 vols (P rin ceto n , .J ., 1949); Edwa rd Shil s, " Prima ry Groups in th e Am eri can Arm y," in R obert M erton and Paul Laza rsfeld, ed s., Studies in ch e S cope and M ech od ofch e " Th e American Soldier " (Gl enoce, Ill. , 1951) ; W . Ll oyd Warn er and Paul S. Lunt , Th e S ocial Life of a M od ern C ommunicy (New H ave n , C onn . , 1941 ); Willi a m Foote Wh yte, Screet Com er Sociecy (Chicago, 1943); a nd K ornblum , Blue Collar Community. 14 Butler, Lakewood S cory , 228 , 188; C leveland Press , M ay 13 , 1947 ; and Rud er, " Imprint of Cultural V alues," 1, 3, 18 . " An impo rtant pa rt of th e p rocess, of course, invol ved co mpetiti o n for hou sing with oth er groups, a res tri cted housin g m a rket accessible to mi g rant s a nd their work . 16 M a ny form er res ident s of th e neighbo rh ood return a t least once a week fo r religious se rvices on Sunday; m a n y d o so m o re often . See al so Wrobel, Our Wa y. " R obert Park obse rved th at "certain urban neighborhoods suffer from isolation ." "The Ci ty," in Park and Burgess , Th e C it y, 8 . Fo r a different view, see Alfr ed Kazin , A W alk er in ch e C ic y (New Yo rk , 195 1). " The persistence of these a reas, outli vin g in som e cases th e in stituti ons th at ca m e aft er th em , att es ts to th eir vit alit y. " In th e Bird 's Nes t th e co ntinuin g prese nce of churches of eac h ethni c group suggests th e continuin g vit alit y of each group . Fo r other exampl es, see Cybriwsky, " Social Aspec ts of N eighbo rhood C ha nge"; Cybriwsky and D avid Ley, " Urba n Graffiti as T erri tori al M a rkers,'' Annals of ch e A ssociacion of American Geographers, 64 (1974) , 475-505; and K ornblum , Blue Collar Community . Some older studies infer the same conclu sion s: H elen L. Wilson and Eunice W . Smith , " Chicago H ou sin g Conditions, VIII : Am ong th e Slova ks in th e Twenti eth Ward ," America n j ourn al of S ociology, 20 (September , 19 14), 145-69 ; Emil y W. Dinwiddie, H ousing Condicions in Philadelphia (Philadelphi a, 1904); J a net K emp , R epore of ch e T en em enc H ouse Commission o f L ouisville (Loui sville, 1_909); Ulf H a nn erz, S ou/side ( ew Yo rk , 1969) ; and Wh yte, Scree/ Corn er Sociecy. •o Sec C la ud e Fi sc her , Th e Urban Experien ce ( ew Yo rk , 19 76) . In hi s m o re recent stud y, Fi sc her has fo un d th e current cit y '' a m osaic of inten se ethni c wo rld s rather th a n . . a la ndsca pe of ethni c di sintegra tion ." M o reo ver , " urba ni sm - or at least th e co nce ntrati o n of spec ific ethni c g roup s - m o re oft en bolsters th a n brea ks down ethni cit y. As the urbani sm of th e communit y increased , respo nd ent s were m ore likely to be ' ethni cs.' " T o Dwell Am ong Friends, 204 , 206 . " For example , H am tramck is an ex treme case where Polish-Am eri cans developed their ow n co mmunit y o n a m ass ive scale . In 1950 , 70 perce nt of th e 44 ,000 res idents of thi s inde pend ent co mmunit y in D etro it were of Poli sh-Am eri ca n ancestry. Arthur Eva ns W ood , H amcram ck : A S ociological Scudy of a Polish -America n Communicy (New H ave n , Conn ., 1955) , 13-28 . " Fisc her, T o D well Among Friends, 207 . See also Peter R ose, S crangers in Th eir Midsc: Small T own J ews and T h eir Neigh bors (M erri ck , New Yo rk , 1977). " Sec note 23. SLOVAKIA 42 TABLE 1 Bird's Nest Population 1900-1940 Population i900· 1910 .. 429 2,186 1920 ± 4, 145 19.30t 3,729 1940# 3,125 •M a nusc ript Census- Federal Po pul atio n Census Sched ules , 1900 La kewood, O hio . '"Ma nuscript Census-Federal Popula ti o n Census Schedul es, 19 10 Lakewood , O hio . ± Federal Po pulation C ensus Schedules, 1920 Lakewood, O hio for census trac t LW 18. Unfo rtu na tely. the cen· su s tract leaves out one side of one stree t in the neighbo rh ood . tFede ral Po pul ati on C ensus Schedul es , 1930 La kewood, O hio fo r census tract LW1 8. U nfo rtun ately. the cen· sus tract leaves out one side Of one stree t in the neighborhood . #Bu rea u of the Census, Popula tion and H ousing - 1940: Cle,·eland. O hio and Adj acent Arca (Washingto n , 1941), 106. U nfo rtun a tely, the ce nsus trac t leaves out o ne side of one street in 1hc neighborhood . SLOVAKIA 43 TABLE 2 Occupations of Alley Dwellers 1880 Federal Population Census Schedules , 1880 . Washington, D .C. Record Group 29. National Archives Occupations , 1880 • Adult Males (16 or older) Occupacion N % Unski lled Service Semi-skilled Skilled White-collar Proprieto r (and self-employed) Professional Agriculture/Fishing None 1,641 251 318 233 50 112 28 17 124 59 TOTAL 2,774 100 N % 9 12 8 2 4 4 Adule Females (16 or older) Occupacion Unskilled Service Semi-skilled Skilled White-collar Proprietor None (includes "at home ," "keeping house , " and "at school" ) TOTAL 4 1,742 70 6 10 8 49 1, 780 49 3 ,620 100 2 •Th e substanti al numbe rs of a lley d we ll ers in skilled throu gh professi onal ac tivities is th e res ult of a classifica1io n system th at is ma rk edl y diffe re nt fro m the ones ge nerall y used . It was used here to detec t " class" differen ces within the alley po pula ti on . Thu s, ba rbers a re class ified as skilled , while a number of " proprietors " a rc , in fac 1,ju nkmen . V irtu all y all the adult alley po pula ti o n sho uld fall in the unskilled , se rvice, o r semi- skilled a reas. See Bo rchert, Alley Life, 306-08 . SLOVAKIA 44 TABLE 3 Occupations of Residents of the Bird 's Nest 1900 A. Adult Males - 15 yea rs of age or older. Occupation Unskill ed .. . . . . . . .. .. .. .. ........ . . . . ... .. ... .... . Service ............ . .... . ... . . . . .... . .. . .. .. .. . . . Semi-skilled .. . ... . . ... . . . . . . . . Skilled ... . . ... .. .... . . . White-collar Proprietor Professional Agricultural T otal B. Adult W omen - Number Percent 147 92 % 3 2 0 5 0 3 2 0 3 2 160 15 yea rs of age or older . Occupation Number 2 2 Unskilled Service ... Semi- skill ed Skill ed White-colla r Proprietor Agri cultural Percent 50 % 50 % 0 0 0 0 0 T otal 4 100 % TABLE 3 Occupations of Residents of the Bird's Nest 1910 A . Adult M ales - 15 yea rs of age or older. Occupation Number Un skill ed 79 1 Se rvice 19 Semi-skilled . .. .. . . .... .. ... . ...... . .. . ... ... .... . 38 Skill ed ...... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 White-co ll a r 10 P roprietor 11 P rofessional 1 Agri cul tural To tal 949 Percent 84 % 2 4 8 100 % SLOVAKIA B. Ad u lt Wom en - 45 15 ye ars of age or olde r. Occupation Number 75 Un ski lled ....... . . Service Semi- ski lled Ski lled W hi te-coll ar P ro prieto r Profess io nal Agricultu ral 33 Percent 66 % 29 % 0 4 4 1 0 0 0 11 3 T otal 100 % TABLE 3 Occupations of Residents of the Bird 's Nest 1940 Occupations Number O cc u pa ti ons not repo rt ed U nskilled Service wo rkers D om es ti c se rvi ce wo rkers Opera ti ves a nd kind red wo rkers C ra ft sm en , fo rem en , a nd kindred wo rkers . ... . .... . . . .. . . . C leri cal, sales , and kind red wo rkers . .. . . P ro pri etors, m a nage rs, and offi cials . ... . .. . Se mi -pro fess io nal Pro fess ional T otal Percent 2 184 83 98 17% 8 9 478 44 105 10 9 3 96 29 4 13 1,092 100 % Bu reau of the Ce nsus, Populat ion and Housing - 1940: Cleveland , Ohio and Adjacent A rea (W as hin gton , 1942) , 106 . Ce nsus tract leaves o ut o ne side of one street of neighbo rhood .  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Migrant Responses to the City: The Neighborhood, Case Studies in Black and White, 1870-1940 Description An account of the resource James and Susan Borchert Slovakia, Vol. 31 (No. 57), 1984 pp. 8-45 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Borchert, James, 1941- Borchert, Susan, 1947- Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/47653971ccea679e235420b8cd96add1.pdf ddcc5581d104a68b08c9accfa8e408c9 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 59 The Modernization of Slovakia: The Role of Vocational High Schools, 1918-1938 Owen V . Johnson Most of the modern nations and nationalities in Eastern Europe began as cultural movements. Writers and teachers were among their earliest leaders. As these movements grew in size, they turned into political movements , with lawyers playing increasingly important roles. 1 Most of the research on East European national development has focused on these changes . None of these developing nations could long survive, however, without an adequate industrial , commercial, and modern agricultural base. Such development has been the thread of continuity in twentieth-century Eastern Europe behind the facade of radical political change. This article examines the basis of economic change which was laid down in three types of secondary schools in interwar Slovakia, the commercial academies, and the industrial and agricultural high schools. That they were not a top priority of the new Czechoslovak government is indicated by the fact that none was opened until the fall of 1919, nearly a year after the creation of the new Republic , while the first Slovak gymnazium had opened its doors only two weeks after the seizure of power by the new state. The common tie of these three types of schools was that they were more likely to draw their students from the middle schools , in contrast to the gymnazium, which usually admitted students directly from primary schools to its eight-year curriculum. In part this is explained by the fact that these schools attracted a different type of student , on e who was interested not in becoming a lawyer, a doctor , or a teacher - those people went to the gymnazia or the teacher training institutions - but the one who wanted to become an ' ' independent entrepreneur.'' �60 SLOVA KIA Each of th ese schools will b e di scu ssed se parately. Like the o the r vocatio na l seco nda ry schools, the co mm e rcial acad e mies perform ed a du a l fun ction . Their four- year curriculum was des igned partially to prepa re student s to a ssum e respo n sible positio n s in bu sin ess or b a nking offi ces (e.g., two fore ign la n gu ages, incl udin g G erm a n , were in the curriculum) a nd pa rtially to prepa re those students who wished to study a t an institutio n of higher learning . The course was ge n era l, with no provisio n for specializa tio n . 2 G radu a tes we re eli gible to study a t the V ysoka o bchodn a skola (C o mme rcial College) in Pragu e, o r , e ffective 192 4 , a ft er pass in g the supplem entary exam (s) (give n in Slovakia o nly in Bra ti slava) in L a tin a nd philosophical proped eu tika, a t the L a w F aculty in Brno . 3 Beginnin g in 193 4 , they we re also eli gible to a ttend milita ry offi ce r s' school. G radu a tes who did no t go o n for furth e r edu cation h ad the right , a fter o ne year 's practice, to the " indepe nde nt m a n age m e nt of a business. " 4 M os t oft e n , howeve r , they becam e officials in b a nkin g or com me rce, o r gained employ m ent in the sta te bureau cracy. 5 The e ntra nce requirem e nts to these schools we re th e sam e as fo r o ther vocatio na l schools. The prospective a pplicant e ith er ha d to be a t leas t age 14 a nd h ave co mple ted four years a t a realka o r som e kind of gymnazium , o r be a g radu a te of the middl e school, with a pp ro pria te gra des. Preferen ce was give n to a pplicants with bu siness experie nce . 6 T hose pe rso ns who h ad passed the ir gymnazium m aturita una nimou sly or with distinctio n could take a o ne-year post -g rad u a te course a t a co mme rcial acad emy ( o ne su ch course was se t up a t Bra ti slava); those w ho had rece ived a "with m ajo rity" mark would be accepted o nly if there was roo m . Gymnazium gradua tes could al so enter the third year of the co mme rcial acade m y o n a tentat ive bas is, hav in g ho weve r to ta ke seve ra l supple m e nta ry exa m s by Christm as . 7 T he traditio nal Hun gari a n d isd a in fo r co mme rce, a nd he nce, fo r comm ercial edu cati o n , le ft it s imp r int on public a ttitudes toward th e bu siness academies. When the Bra ti slava Commercial Acade m y opened for bu sin ess in th e fall of 19 19, nearly a third of the regul a rl y enro ll ed stude nts we re Czec hs. Czechs were in the majo rit y at the a ttached post-gradu a te co urse. 8 It took time to ove rco me the negat ive attitudes, time for these schools to d em o nstra te the ir wo rth . A s a ch ro nicle r at the K os ice Com m e rcial Acad e m y no ted , the sc hool " ove rco m es the mi stake n trad itio n in the �SLOVAKIA 61 Slovak people that only the hi gh school, specifically the gymnazium and not a commercial school, can insure the Slovak son or daughter a regular functional edu cation .' ' 9 In those early years, it was often necessary to personally con vince the parents of prospective students of the value of the commercial education. One means of persuasion was money in the form of scholarships . In the early years, however, state aid was not very generous, about one grant per school. 10 It appears that the total amount of support rose significantly beginning with the 1928/29 school year. An increasingly important source was the regional Slovak government. Ove rall , government assistance for the commercial academies generally is a carbon copy of the assistance to the gymnazia. The old Hungarian schools operated uninterrupted through the 1918/9 school year. By the following fall, two schools had been closed , at Hume nne and Revuca , for lack of students; the rest were taken over by the state. Because there were no Slovaks qualified to teach in this field, Czechs were brought in to serve as both professors and principals. The old three-year pattern of instruction was continued until the passage of a new law on February 15, 1922, which formally established fouryear academies at Bratislava , Kosice, and Martin . By fall, a fourth academy was opened at Banska Bystrica. The close proximity of the last two named schools soon led to an apparent superfluity of places , and the school at Martin was forced to close , doing so one grade at a time , beginning in 1923/4. 11 The postwar recession and the deindustrialization of Slovakia which accompanied it , coupled with an essentially rural population, were surely the major causes. They discouraged parents who might otherwise have thought of enrolling their children. 12 The recovery which soon followed led to a n ew interest in this type of school , leading to the establishment of an institution at Nitra in 1926/7 - considered a replacement for Martin - and at Trencfn and (once again) Martin in 1927/8 . Job offers were now two or three times higher than the number of graduates . 13 Although the Depression forestalled the establi shm ent of any add itional schools for n early a d ecade, the number of students continued to rise steadily , except for a slight fall occasioned by the com ing of age of the tiny World War I generation. In common with the expansion in the number of gymnazia just before the outbreak of World War II , a commercial academ y was set up at Humen ne in the 1937/8 school year, where there h ad once been a Hungarian school. �62 SLOVAKIA The importance of the gove rnment 's role in fos te rin g commercial education is demonstrated by the fact that all of the commercial academies in Slovakia were state institutio ns. Only two of the approxima tely thirty other school s in the Republic were owned a nd ope rated b y the sta te . The commercial academies had a reputa tion of quality both at home and abroad because they enrolled a highly select group of students chosen from amon g man y a pplicants . The teacher s we re highly qualified , attracted by high pay . Even teachers of general educa tional subj ects earned more th an they would in a gymnazium or a realka. The o nly additional requirem ent was tha t they n eeded to have some minimal knowledge of business. 14 The curriculum was evenly divided between subjects of general instru ction (with a heavy d ose of la n gu ages) and business subj ects. Strictly speakin g, study a t the commercial acad emies did n o t end with a m aturita exam. 15 Even thou gh the examina tion was op tional, m ost stude nts took it b ecau se it was n ecessary for admi ssion to the univer sity , a nd it could m ean a hi gh er pos ition or rate o f pay on m a n y jobs . (It should be n oted tha t a hi gher p rece ntage of commercial acad em y students went on for additional studies tha n did students from the indu strial hi gh schools. y 6 In an effort to encourage students to go into bu siness for them selves upo n gradu a tion rather than takin g up an admini st ration j ob , the comm e rcial acad e mies d evelop ed a p rogram in which studen ts would spend their summers wo rking in various shops . Local banks, district and county gove rnm ents, a nd ch a mber s o f commerce r a ised the m on ey to pay the students for the experien ce. The D epression forced a cutback in the program . Ther e is no ev ide n ce that the program achieved its goal. 17 Like the indu strial high sch ools, the co mmercial acad e mies actu ally we re onl y the a n chor s of la rger edu cation al in sti t utio n s. In all ca ses, there was a two -year bu sin ess sch ool a ttach ed . A cco rdin g to Cve rcko, ' ' Students showed a preference fo r the two-year b usiness schools becau se they prov ided edu cation al oppo rtunities fo r stu d ent s from th e poo rer famili es and fo r youn g wom en w ho d es ired employm e n t in offi ces . ' ' 18 In so m e in stan ces, these bu siness schools, wh en located in pl aces other tha n a t a co mmercial acad em y, the m selves se rved as ce nte rs for sho rter term bu siness cou rses . 19 T he sch ool a t Brat islava was even m ore co mplex becau se it h ad bo th Czechoslovak a nd Hun garia n divisio ns. Published statistics on the commercial acad emies n ormally in cl uded d a ta o n both the acad emies a nd the a tt ach ed sch ools, m a kin g it m ore �SLOVAKIA 63 difficult to study the makeup of the student body of the academies alone. N evertheless, some observati on s can be made , especiall y whe n the published sta tewide statistics a re considered in conjun ction with the a nalysis of the sta tistics from the a nnu al repo rts published by the schools ( also see Fi gure 1 a nd T able 1) . One of the more interesting aspects is the presen ce of a slowly increasing number of women in these schools. This contrasts strongly with th e indu stri al hi gh school s. Whil e the postwa r recession n early wipes out a n initi al fem ale enrollment of b etter tha n ten percent, a gradual improve m ent whi ch began in the mid-twenties continued to the end of the R epublic, so tha t by the 1936/7 school year , more tha n a fifth of the stud ents we re women . The pe rce ntage of wo men gradu a tes , in line with the ge ne ral tre nd , was several percent less. At Nit ra, th e student s we re prima ril y children of white-collar worke rs, teachers, professors, doctors, lawyers, businessmen , and shopkeepers, in other words , the better situ ated elem ents of the society . About on e third of the student s cam e from workin g cl ass famili es. Jo INDUSTRIAL HIGH SCHOOLS Th e indu stri al hi gh school (priem yselna skola), with a fo ur- year curriculum , witnessed a slow developm ent ove r the hi story of the first C zechoslovak R epubli c. A s was the case with vocation al second a ry schools in gen eral , th ere were n ot ve ry man y of th em. Anton Stefa nek, who as R eferent fo r Edu cation in Slova ki a helped established th e school system, reali zed th e n eed for these schools, but recogni zed th e publi c ha d littl e apprec ia tio n fo r th em : It is n ecessary th a t Slovaks understa nd the value of technical , indu stri al a nd commercial schools. Yes, second a ry schools th ere mu st b e, gymnazia a nd realky, but all peopl e cann o t be gentlem e n with te nd er h a nd s.J 1 Al thou gh seve ral of these in stituti o n s h ad peen in ex isten ce durin g Hun gari an rule, they were in the large r cities, where the Slovak presence was sm all. Further , they lacked do rmito ries, m a kin g a tte nd a nce so m ewh a t diffi cult for o th er th a n city res id ents. 21 Three Czechoslovak in d u stri al hi gh schools o pen ed in th e fall of 19 19, with th e fi rs t grad u a tes em ergin g in 1923 . T wo we re in Bra tislava, a m ech a ni cal en gin ee rin g school (s trojnick a) a nd a buildin g or �64 SLOVAKIA civil engineerin g school (stavitel'ska), sharing the same facili ties. Kosice had a dual language engineering school. A chemical high school opened in Banska Stiavnica in 1921 , foll owed by a second buildin g school in Presov in 1931. The final institution to open its doors was the electrotechni cal hi gh school in Banska Byst rica , commen cing operations in the fall of 1936. Study at each institution, partially general a nd partially technical , ended with a maturita examination. The mech a nical e ngineering school was design ed to provide "gen eral and profess ional education , such as needed by managers of smaller engin eering firms or factories with enginee ring systems, or by technical officials.'' The course lasted four years. Applica nts for the school need ed to have co mpl eted four years of gymnazium studies, or middle school plus the one-year supplem entary " naukobeh ." Students with only three years of gym nazium or who h ad completed middle school edu cation with a grade of at leas t "good ," and who cou ld prove they had at least one year of on-the-job experience , cou ld also be admitted. 23 Preference went to those with practi cal experience. An entran ce exam was required. Like the co mmercial academi es, vocat ional schools of shorter duration were attached to each industrial high school. Th e goals of the other types of indu strial high schools were similar - to train the students for skill ed managerial and technical jobs, or for university study; the admission requireme nts were nearly the same , too. Th e civil engin eering hi gh school was designed to provide theoretical and practi cal instruction for future ind ependent owners of construction firm s, especiall y those dealing in concrete, rein forced co ncrete, a nd ca rpentry, as well as for private or state technical offic ials. 14 Graduates were ex pected to be abl e to construct a dwelli ng. The chem ical high school's a im was th e provision of gen eral a nd speciali zed education in combination with practical experience for future factory owners , administrators, and factory offi cials for various chemi cal plants, such as dye-works, printing, bleach or soap pla nts, glassworks, fertili ze r faciliti es, etc. 15 The electrotechni cal school , which had no graduates in its short existence, was also to give both ge neral a nd speciali zed inst ru ction combined with practi cal experie nce, to owners or managers of mach in e or electrotechni cal factories , or ot her factories with machine systems, and for technical offic ials of th e larger private or state engineerin g organizations. 26 The graduates of industrial hi gh schools could , aft er passing a sup- �SLOVAKIA 65 plementary exam, also study a t the technical universiti es, although few did, both because of the exam , a nd becau se, until the fall of 1938, there was no technical university in Slovakia, a fact which also h and icapped th ese schools in the ir efforts to a ttract students. 27 In th e fall of 1934, a transport division was added to the con struction high school in Bratislava , the ex press a im of the change b eing to facilitiate graduate placem ent, particularly in the m edium-sized and small firm s. J8 Th e practical n a ture of the study at the indu strial high schools required that no private students be all owed . Forty applicants were to be admitted each year at each school, except for the chemi cal hi gh school, to whi ch a maximum of thirty were all owed . If an aspirin g student passed th e entran ce examination at a parti cular school , but was not admitted because of lack of sufficient pl aces , he cou ld seek admission elsewhere in the R epublic .J 9 When the schools opened in the fall of 1919 , applicants from Slovakia were few . A call was sent out to the Czech students in the overcrowded industrial hi gh schools of Bohemia and Moravia to come to Slovakia. The re were promises of travel a nd ot her support, anything to help ra ise th e enrollm ent. 3° Of th e 77 students who enroll ed at the two schools in Bratislava , 42 were Slovak and 26 were Czech. 31 Th e total number of students experienced a steady, but slow climb upward because with th e opening of each new sc hool , approximately one cl ass was open ed each year (see Figure 2 and Table 2). In 1925, howeve r, the Ministry of Edu cation an noun ced plans to gradually close th e ch emical high school " because th e prese nt conditions in th e chem ical industry in no way ass ure the stude nts the fulfillm e nt of the amb ition s which lead them to the school.' ' The Ministry of Education (Msano) backed down , however, a nd agreed to co ntinu e to operate the school , provided first yea r enrollment reached 20 stud ents. 3J O verall , th e number of appli cations to all th e schools was mod erate until the mid-thirties, when both the expansion of industry in Slovakia a nd th e immin ent openin g of th e techni cal uni ve rsity led to a n explo sion of inte res t in these schools. At Banska Bystrica, for in sta nce, th e numbe r of appli cat io n s exceed ed th e number of admi ss ion s by 4 or 5 to 1. A simil a r jump in in terest developed in Bra ti slava abo u t the sa m e tim e . Earli er, nea rl y everyo ne who p assed the e ntran ce exam was admitted . (About one-th ird of th e a pplicants fail ed th e tes t.) Alth ough th ere has been no research o n th e subj ect, it is prob able �66 SLOVAKIA that the limited number of these schools was a hindrance in the expansion of the number of students, not only because there was a limited number of places, but also because students from a large part of the more Slovak areas of Slovakia could attend these schools only if they could afford to pay room and board. The schools themselves did not have their own dormitories, although the two Bratislava schools had access to up to 100 places in the city's Secondary School dormitory . 33 The founding of the electrotechnical school at Banska Bystrica provides some fine examples of the government ' s general attitudes toward the need for industrial education in Slovakia. The campaign for the establishment of the school was led by the Banska Bystrica City Council and by the Central Slovak Chamber of Commerce . The latter made the initial move in May 1934, urging the city council to join forces . The Chamber pointed out the lack of this particular kind of education in Slovakia. Two months later, the City Council wrote to the Ministry of Education , stressing how the creation of this school would further the development of Slovakia: The continuing electrification of Slovakia is not yet finish ed ; thus , not only would many jobs in this area await the graduates of the school, but the power-stations in Slovakia have a continuing lack of well-educated Slovaks . 34 The Ministry of Education responded the following spring, expressing doubt that there would be a sufficient number of students with the requisite preparatory education, and suggesting doubt that, in view of the economic crisis , the graduates could be placed. The economic upswing which was even then beginning apparently erased all doubts . The flood of applications had proved Prague wrong , at least on a delayed basis. H With the exception of the chemical high school, very few girls enrolled in the industrial high schools, the total reaching a high of 6 ½ percent in 1929/30 and 1930/1. There is no obvious explanation for the chemical school exception. Information on scholarship aid is too skimpy to make any judgments. AG RI CULTURAL HIGH SCHOOLS The two schools known as higher agricultural schools showed the least change of any of the secondary level institutions in Slovakia dur- �SLOVAKIA 67 ing the interwar Republic. One was the higher agricultural (or farming) school in Kosice, founded on the ruins of a prewar college level Hungarian Academy, and the other the higher forestry school in Banska Stiavnica. There also had been a Forestry Academy there, although its building fell to the industrial high school. Both agricultural schools were administered by the Ministry of Agriculture through an inspector of agricultural instruction in Bratislava, one of six such offices in Czechoslovakia. 36 The school in Kosice was one of more than a dozen higher farming schools in the Republic, that in Banska Stiavnica one of four higher forestry schools (one of three Czechoslovak) in Czechoslovakia. 3 1 Both schools opened in the fall of 1919 and graduated their first classes in the spring of 1923. The faculty consisted almost entirely of Czechs . 3 8 The goal of the Farming School at Kosice was the education of' 'independent agricultural entrepreneurs" as well as officials who could handle agricultural affairs for the government or serve cooperatives in an office capacity. 39 The curriculum sought to make of the student an '' agricultural intelligent who could learn not to limit himself to that which is generally known, but who would also try to look for new ways and methods; in short, that it kindle and nurture in the young man the skill of application and, as much as possible, initiative.' ' 40 Students, of whom 30 were admitted each year, had to be at least 15 years of age, and to have completed either middle school, or the first four years of a gymnazium. In addition, boys and girls who had completed the shorter twoyear peasant school course with distinction could be admitted. Preference was to be given to those from peasant families who would be farming independently. 41 Originally three years in length, the school was converted to four years in 1920/ 1 (Ministry of Agriculture 21308/ 1920). The expanded curriculum permitted an expansion of general education and a deepening of technical subjects, as well as greater emphasis on the practical element of instruction . In addition, new subjects were added to prepare the students better for the modern world, including civics, business, typewriting, the cooperative movement, and milk processing. 42 The program of study ended with the maturita exam. Graduates, after passing supplementary exams , could study at the College of Agriculture, the College of Veterinary Medicine, Commercial Colleges, �68 SLOVAKIA or the Military Academy . A Provincial Institute of Agriculture R esearch was attached to the school. Applicants for the higher forestry high school also needed to be 15 years of age, and have completed the lower four years of a gymnazium , or a middle school plus the one-year continuation course (nauk obeh). Preference was given to sons of forestry employees and workers . No women were allowed. All graduates of secondary schools could pass directly into the second year of the school and, if they passed the required examination, advance directly into the third year of study. 43 The entering class was at first limited to 30 students, a figure later cut to 20. Only in exceptio n al cases were students from Bohemia and Moravia to be admitted. They had to be able to prove that a job would be await in g them upon graduation . 4 4 The goal of the school was to provide education for an efficient forest service and for the admin istration of smaller forest properties or the lumber business and industry and to provide an education correspond in g to the general level of advanced secondary education. The four-year course concluded with maturita exams . Graduates could attend the forestry division of the College of Agriculture after completing suppleme ntary exams in language and mathematical subjects. 4 5 Those who wished to enter state service directly (which was th e rule) were required to pass a state exam in the appropriate field. There is some irony in the generally held assumption that "through the incorporation of agricultural Slovakia, the Czechoslovak Republic has become nearly self-supporting as regards the supply of agricultural produce, " 46 yet so little attent ion was given to developing an advanced system of agricu ltural education in Slovakia. Part of the answer lies in the small size of so many of the land holdings, which would make further education superfluous. Prior to 1918, these two schools, existing on the level of junior colleges, had turned out offic ials and employees to manage the great estates of the Hungarian magnates. In fact, interest in attending the Czechoslovak school does not seem to have been overwhelming. For one thing , social attitudes worked against it. One stu dent remembered first enrollin g at a teacher training institute , then persuading hi s father that employment possibilities after graduat ion from the Farming School wou ld be much better. His mother and sister, however, were appalled by his withdrawal from the teacher training institute, and insisted he go back to it, which he did. 47 The R eferent for Agriculture, �SLOVAKIA 69 Pavel Blaho, had to take special pains to insure that there were enough students at all in the first years. 48 The school in Kosice had particular trouble attracting Slovak students. In 1920/1 , only 7 of 23 first year students were Slovak . 49 In that same year, only 21 of 48 students at Banska Stiavnica had parents living in Slovakia. 50 There were more Czechs than Slovaks in the first forestry graduating class. 51 Further discouraging the establishment of more schools was the argument that Slovaks were eligible to attend similar institutions in the Czech lands. Because these schools were both '' one of a kind'' they drew students from all over Slovakia. For instance, Kosice, in 1929/3 0, had representatives from more than half the counties of Slovakia. 52 This made the provision of housing important. Initially, Kosice had a dormitory for 45 students. It was replaced in the 1923/2 4 school year by the Ministry of Agriculture with a building which housed 120. A temporary dormitory was established at Banska Stiavnica in 1920 within the school itself. 53 However , once the school had reached its full complement of four classes in the fall of 1922 , the need for classrooms forced the dormitory's closing. Between a half and two-thirds of the students received financial aid, the m ajority of which, after 1929 , came from the regional government in Bratislava. Prior to that time , the counties and districts frequently gave support. 54 State aid was channeled through the Ministry of Agriculture . 55 Financial aid on the average was about twice as large for the students in Kosice as in Banska Stiavnica . Total enrollment at the two schools remained constant between 160 and 200 students (see Tables 3 and 4) . Girls were eligible to attend the school in Kosice , but hardly any did . Between 90 and 95 percent of the enrollment consisted of Czech and Slovak students, with a sprinkling of Ruthenians (particularly in the more accessible Kosice), Germans, and Hungarians. The percentage of students who were Catholic initially was very high (88 percent), but by 1925 declined to a level of about 70 percent , at which it remained. The percentage of Lutherans , at first very low, rose to 15-20 percent by 1925. The fact that the Lutheran pe rcentage was slightly higher than in the population as a whole can be attributed largely to the fact that Banska Stiavnica was situated in a more strongly Protestant area. There also were regularly small numbers of Orthodox , Greek Catholic, and Jewish students. Students at both Banska Stiavnica and Kosice te nded to be well a bove the minimum age, with the largest number in the 19-20 year old �70 SLOVAKIA range. Those from agricultural families were in the majority at Kosice and usually in the minority at Banska Stiavnica. In addition, if from agricultural backgrounds those at Kosice were more likely to come from larger landholders. 56 HIGHER COOPERATIVE AG RI CULTURAL SCHOOL An additional specialized school, the Higher Cooperative Agricultural School, a private institution , was opened in Bratislava in the fall of 1936. The goal of the school's four-semester course was to provide ''professional theoretical and practical preparation or development in cooperative consciousness and education for capable cooperative officials and functionaries for Slovakia, as well as for friends of the cooperative idea. " 57 Prior to the opening of the Slovak school, the cooperative officials had been drawn from the graduates of the commercial academies and agricultural schools, as well as from officials of financial institutions . The Central Cooperative Council ran a similar school in Prague, but it was not able to accept all applicants from Slovakia. Stipends for students from Slovakia had been made available on the basis of reciprocity , i.e., service in Slovakia. The Bratislava branch of the Cooperative Council lacked funds as well as a building to start its own school. When the latter problem was solved, the former became available. 58 Three groups were eligible for admission. The majority were to have completed a high school education, with preference given to graduates of the higher agricultural school in Kosice and the commercial academies, as well as those who had cooperative experience. A second group was drawn from those who had completed with success at least the first four years of high school or middle school, and who had also successfully completed agricultural or business school and had at least two years of cooperative experience . This group required entrance exams. A third group, persons not citizens of Czechoslovakia, could be admitted in special cases. The total from the second and third groups was not to exceed 8 places in the class of 24 . 59 In the two years the school was in operation, about half of the 22 students were age 23 and older; they came from many different districts across Slovakia . From a religious standpoint, the Lutherans were over-represented (see Table 5), with 35 percent the first year and 45 percent the second year. The parents of about two-thirds of the students �SLOVAKIA 71 had agricultural occupations. There is n o reference to the sex of the stude nts, although it can b e presumed that all were m en . 60 CONCLUSION It is un avoidable that some of the information presen ted in this article represents what might be called " microhistory ." In it are catalogued various beginnings and small changes . It is b ecause these changes have previously not been recorded in an organized fashion that certain processes of n ational d evelopment in twentieth-century Slovakia have not been properly understood. It is generally recognized that too few students in developing countries study mathematics or the scientific professions. 61 In many ways, Slovakia was an undeveloped country . Consideration mu st be given , however, to priorities in national form ation . Given the necessity of creating an intelligentsia within a national grouping, the most immediate and most important con cern is for an intelligentsia which will be visible to the public. Slovak-speaking lawye rs to ha ndle legal and administrative affairs, Slovak-speaking doctors to minister to the public, and Slovak-speaking teachers to teach Slovak culture were far m ore important a t the outset than the development of a technical intelligentsia for developin g a Slovak n ation al consciousn ess . Certainly the opportunities in the interwar republic to employ the skills gained in the vocational high schools were rather limited for a variety of reasons related to the formation of a n ew state-system in Eastern Europe . The lack of a n adequately trained agricultural , comme rcial, and industri al intelligentsia became painfully visible during the shortlived existence of the Slovak state ( 1939-1945). But , if it were not for the modest accompli shments in this field by the so-called bourgeois republic , the rapid growth begun in the Slovak state and continued in the renewed postwar Czechoslovak R epublic would n ot h ave been so dramatic . NOTES ' Th is peri od iza tion is outl in ed, a mong others, by Sta nl ey Z . Pech , " Ri ght, Left , and C entre in Eastern Europe 1869-1 940 : A cross-N ational Profile," C an adian journal of History , V ol. 16 , No. 2 ( 198 1), pp . 23 7-262. �72 SLOVAKIA ' For the cu rri culum of the commercial academy, see Vestnfk Ministerstva skolstvf a narodnf osvety (Msano), 13, No. 5 ( 15 May 1931), 18 1. 3 Vestnfk Msano , 6, No. 3 ( 15 M arch 1924), 100. Philosophical propedeutike consisted of a" . .. sy nthesis of knowledge from all subjects; acquaintance with the principal methods of philosophic solutions of problems. Thorough realization of the laws of intellec tual life and appreciation of th e major qu estions and tasks of philosophy. Survey of the intellec tual development of hum an ity." Vojtech Andie, "A Comparative Study of Education in Czechoslovakia for th e Periods of 1918 to 1938 and 1948 to 1953" (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation , New York University , 1954) , p . 128. • Ida Zubacka, "Prfspevok k dejinam strednych odbornych skol v Nitre v rokoch 1918- 1938," Zbornfk Pedagogick ej fakulty v Nitre, 2 1 (1973)-Spolocenske ved ydejepis-zemepis, p. 104. 1 " Strucny informacnf pi'ehled o skolstvf narodnfm , sti'ednfm a odbornem , " Vestnfk Msano , 6, No. 5 ( 15 May 1924), 273-4. 6 Antonin Bohac, "Padesat let ceskoslovenskeho skolstvf ," Pedagogika, 18, No. 5 ( 1968), 675. ' Vestnfk Msano, 7, No. 6 ( 15 Jun e 1925), 183-4. 8 Eduard Weis, "Zprava stat isti cka o skolstvf v Bratisl ave na pocatku sk. r . 1919/20 a srovnanf dat o skolach eleme ntarnfch s kon ce m sk. r. 1918/ 19, 16 December 191 9. Fond 7 Minister s plnou moci pre Slovensku (M/pm), Statny ustredny archfv Slovenskej socialistickej republiky (SUA SSR) Bra ti slava. • Yea rl y R eport, K osice Obchodna Akademia 1919/2 0-20/ 1, p. 6. ' 0 Vestnfk Msano , 6, No . 12 ( 15 D ece mber 1924), 592-3. '' J . Fuksa et al. , eds. , Almanach obchodnfho skolstvf ceskos/ovenske republiky 1918- 1928 (Prague : Statnf nakladatelst vf, 1938), p. 23 . " The i upan of Spis doubted hi s population 's " understanding for th e practical ed ucation of (its) youth ." His comments cited by M / pm as one of th e reasons to deny commercial academy to K ezmarok-M/ pm 14634/2 1 Adm . III of 20 October 192 1 in Spisska zupa 691/1921 in Statny archfv-Levoca. The principal in K osice had no doubts th at the population in that city did not value a commercial edu ca tion. Yearly R eport, 19 19/20-20/ 1, p . 36 . 13 Yearly R eport, Brat islava OA 1928/9, p. 15. 14 Bohac , "Padesat let, " p . 678. 11 Ibid ., p . 675. 16 Ibid. 11 Yea rl y R eport , Banska Bystri ca OA 1927 /8 , p. 7; 1928/9, p. 20; 193 1/ 2, p. 9; and 1932 /3, p. 11. " Sister M. Joan Cvercko , " Schools of Slova ki a: Histori cal Study of Secondary Technical-Vocational Education 1918-1 948" (Unpublished M .A. thesis, The Catholic University of America, 1972), p. 62. �SLOVAKIA 19 ' 0 73 Fuksa, Almanach , pp . 125-4 7, describes in detail the various combinations of schools as th ey were in 1928. Zubacka, " Prfspevok," p. 105. " Literarny archiv Matice slovenskej (LAMS) 42 VIII 23, "Priemyselne a odborne skoly v r. 1919/ 1920, " p. 10. " Yearly Report, Bratislava Priemyselna skola 1919/20, p. 11. " H. J a nus , " Sedemdesiat' rokov priemyselnej skoly v Bratislave ," Jednotna skola, 26, No. 2 (February 1974), 181. " Yea rly Report , Bratislava Priemyselna skola 1919/ 20, p. 1. " Julius Bartak , Vyvin Jesnickeho skolstva na Slovensku v ramci hospodarskych pomerov (Bratislava: Lesnfcka a dreva rska ustredna, 1942), p. 303. ,. Yea rl y R eport , Banska Bystri ca Statna odborna skola 1936/7, p . 3. " Bohac , "Padesat let ," p. 675. According to " Strucny ," pp . 260-1 , no supplementary exam was required; a successful maturitant could study in th e technical or mining colleges in th e sam e field he had done his high school work ; according to Anton Benda , "Statn a cs!. priemyselna skola s mad'arskymi pobockami V Kosiciach, " in A .S. Zitavsky, Pamiitnik slovensk eho skolstva za ucinkovania Prezidenta T.G. Masaryk a (Bratislava: V yd avatel'stvo pamii.tnika Slovenskeho skolstva, (1936-7), V ol. I , p. 177 , "at leas t one" a year from his school went on for uni versity level study. " J a nus, "Sedemd esiat'," p. 182. Similar reasoning und erlay the creation of a post-gradu ate electrotechni cal course at Bra tisl ava in 1931/2, although the course seems only to have existed fo r a year. Yearl y R eport, Bratislava Priem yselna skola 1930/ 1, pp . 24-5 and 193 1/2, p. 25. " " Strucny," pp. 260-1. '° K om ensky, 46 , No. 24 (30 August 1919), 7. " LAMS 42 VIII 23 , " Priemyselne a odborne skoly v r. 1919/ 1920," p. 12. " Pohron ska zupa 3851/1925-SA-Banska Bys tri ca. " J. Smetana, "Statn a cs!. pri emyselna skola v Bratislave," in Zitavsky , Pamacnik , V ol. I , p. 163. " Brigita Simonova et. al. , Minulost', sucasnost', buducnost ': Jubilejny alman ach k 50. vyrociu sloven sk ej cechnick ej skoly v B anskej B ys trici (Banska Bystrica : Stredoslove nske vyd avatel'stvo , 1967) , pp. 34-5. " Ibid ., pp . I 04-7. " Edvard R eich , " V yvoj ze medelskeho skol stvf s hledi ska celostatniho, " in R eich & Vaclav Skoda , eds., Zem edelska osveta V R. C.S. (Prague: Ministerstvo skolstvi a narodni osvety, mini sterstvo ze m edelstvf a ze msky ufad , 1931), pp. 10- 12. " Th ere was so me va ri a nce: The tot al of ag ricultural schools fluctu ated between 13 and I 6 ( of whi ch I 0-12 were Czechoslovak). " r,udovft H am as, " V ychova pol'nohospodarov v rokoch neslobod y- 1938- 1945 na �74 SLOVAKIA Slovensku," Cykl. vytisk. KPU, Bratislava, as quoted in Zdenek Cernohorsky , Dejiny zemedelskeho skolstvi v Ceskoslovensku (Prague: SPN, 1980), pp. 5-1 . 39 ' 0 Jozef Babanek, Zemedel'ske skolstvo dl'a stavu roku 1927 (Bratislava: Slovenska knihtlaciaren, 1928), p. 30. Yearly Report, Kosice Vyssia hospodarska skola 1919-1929 and 1920/30, p. 5. " Eudovft Hamas, Z dejin pol'nohospodarskeho skolstva (Bratislava: SPN, 1967), p. 22 . " Ceskoslovenska statistika, Vol. 2, p . 11 • . 0 Bartik , V}'vin, p. 291. 44 Ibid., 290; and Ceskoslovenska Statistika, Vol. 2, p. ts• . " Babanek, Zemedel'ske, p. 60 . •• Vladislav Brdlik, "Agriculture," in Jozef Gruber, Czechoslovakia: A Survey of Economic and Social Conditions (New York: The Macmillan Co. , 1924), p. 28. " Vladimir Medek, "Krfdla do zivota," in Hudzovic , Sto rokov, p. 147. " See Yearly Report of Kosice Vyssia hospodarska skola 1919-1929 and 1929/30, p. 25. Perhaps the most seductive means was financial. In 1920/ 1, 26 students at Kosice received grants totalling 24,920 Kc . No other such school received more than eight grants . In the same year, 18 stipends and grants worth 15,900 Kc were awarded to Banska Stiavnica forestry students. The other three such schools in the Republic together had only 14 grants for 4900 Kc. Further evidence of Blaho ' s influence is that same year, nearly half of the students in Kosice were from his home country at the other end of Slovakia . The largest number of students at Banska Stiavnica were also from Nitra County. Ceskoslovenska statistika, Vol. 2, Tables V, VII. " Referent for Education to principals of all secondary schools in Slovakia, c. 30.927 / II of 8 June 1921-copy in Prievidza G, Spisy, Carton 1, Okresny archfv-Prievidza. '° Ceskoslovenska statistika, Vol. 2, Table IV. " Zelmfra Miillerova, "Lesnfcke knifoice na Slovensku , " Kniznicny zbornik , 1971, p. 182. The proportion of Slovaks increased only gradually . " Yearly Report, Kosice Vyssia hospodarska skola 1919-1929 and 1929/ 30 , pp. 74-6. " Students went on strike in December 1919 to force the establishment of the dormitory. Styridsat' rokov Lesnickej technickej skoly v Banskej Stiavnici 1919-1959 (Bratislava: Poverenfctvo Podohospodarstva, 1959), p. 15. " Archival records testify that the two schools actively solicited this aid . For example, see their letters to Podtatranska County. Podtatranska zupa c. 28405/ 1923, 33123/1924, and 4939/1925 Adm If-SA-Bytca. " Students were eligible for the coveted Pa.Iffy awards . These are described by Ivan Derer, "Spachala prvnf republika temei' genocidu Slovaku? " Literarni listy , I , No. 15 (6 June 1968), p. 4. 16 The place of agricultural education in Czechoslovak history is described extensivel y in Cernohorsky, Dejiny zemedelskeho . Most of his material is drawn from official sources . �SLOVAKIA 75 " Yearly R eport, Bratislava Vyssia zemedelska skola druzstevna 1936/7, p . 27. 51 Fedor Houdek, "Zahajovacia re(: pri otvoreni Vyssej zemedelskej skoly druzstevnej v Bratislave 1. okt6bra 1936," in Yearly Report , Bratislava Vyssia zemedelska skola druzstevna 1936/7, pp . 11 -13. " Yearl y R eport , Bratislava Vyssia zemedelska skola druzstevna 1936/7, pp . 27-8. 60 See the school 's yearly reports 1936/7 & 1937/8. 61 W . Arthur Lewis , The University in Less-Developed Countries (New York: International Council for Educational D evelopment , 1974), p . 17 . �19 19/20 z E :, .n ......, 0 '- g "Cl ,,, 'i:..., 500 1000 Figure 1 - 1929/30 Commercial Academy Enrollment Yea r 1937 /8 Women students Total students t""' ► ...... ► ~ < 0 r:.n --.J 0-, �SLOVAKIA T able 1 - 77 Com mercial Academies To tal Students 1919/20 1920/ 1 192 1/2 1922 /3 1923/4 1924/5 1925/6 1926/7 Rrati sl..n·a 146 I 74 150 134 133 so 93 103 124 63 33 134 105 I 19 17 132 18 112 103 151 78 130 Ran skil Rys1rica KuSin· T. S,·. !'vl anin 36 40 64 74 I 15 124 40 Nitra TrcnCin TOTAL u f wh ich womc- n Pcrccn1agc Stude n ts in sen ior dass o f which womc-n 222 31 13 .96 3 12 32 10 .26 0 0 Nationali1y Czcl·hos lu,·ak 346 367 21 6 .07 38 10 .35 24 40 343(93 . 5) Czec h Slova k German Jewi sh H ungarian Poli sh 17 74 392 68 17 .35 71 8 2 324(93.6) 370 SI 13 . 78 IO 7 375 58 15 .47 411 52 12 .65 88 9 372(61.69) 35(5 .80) 105(17 .41) 9( 1.49) 69( 11.44) 13(2 . 16) O th er Czec hoslov aks at H ungarian Schools Religion Roman Cathol ic Greek Cat holi c Czech Rn·thrcn Lu1 hcran Reform ed Onhodux Jewish Czec hosh),·ak Other Prott·s1an1 s Nunt· 208(60 . I ) 3 3 54(27 .69) 73(2 1. 1) 22( 11 .28) 35 I 119(61.03) 18 Parental Occupation Agrinilturt· lndu slry·ov,:n busim·ss Free Pruft: ss ions/ lnt elligcn sia S1att· Em plo yt·cs Comrnern· 'v\lorkcrs 97( 15 .23) Pl ace of Res idence Cum mut c Live with parent s or relatives in tuw n Li ve with guardians Birthplace City of School Other Slu,·akia 13(9 .49) 78(56 .93 ) Foreign Bcihemia '.\1orav ia/ Silcsia 4(2.92) 25( 18 .25) I 7( 12 .41 ) 94(30 . 13) 14(4 .49) 139(44 .55) 36( 11. 54 ) 29(9 .29) 384(58.45) �78 SLOVAKIA Table 1 - Commercial Academies 1927/8 1928/9 1929/30 1930/1 193 1/2 193 2/3 1933/4 1934/5 1935/6 1936/7 169 122 125 39 75 49 579 82 14 . 16 178 109 134 67 107 84 679 97 14 .29 188 122 133 94 125 118 780 121 15.51 202 132 133 119 125 155 866 137 15.8 1 228 147 136 124 127 150 912 160 17.54 22 1 150 140 123 136 154 924 177 19. 16 204 20 1 134 140 194 152 164 131 141 882 159 18 .03 909 163 17 .93 937 187 19.96 182 I 73 171 147 146 155 1024 224 21.88 193 31 185 27 185 36 214 32 205 32 190 35 867(92 .5) 23 32 193 7/8 221 205 973(95 .0) l061(76 .33) 10 1(7.27) 178( 12.81) 17 19( 1. 37) 28 4 8(0.58) 905(65.06) l04( 15.83) 7(1.07) 12(1.83) (includi ng Uniatc) I 10( 16 .74) 18(2 . 74) 18(2 . 74) 22(3 .35) 215( 15.46) 23( 1. 65) 16(1.15) 143( 10 .28) 53(3 .8 1) 36(2 .59) 111(17 .43 ) 16(2 .51) 204(32 .03) 145( 11.9 1) 6(0.49) 408(33 .53) 235( 19.31) 291(23 .91) 132(10.85) 180(28.26) 29(4.55) 604(52. 16) 264(22 .80) 290(25 .04) �"' E ..:J " :i z ... 0 3 ......"' "" i:: 1920/ 1 400 600 Figure 2 - 1929/30 Industrial High School Enrollment Year 1937 /8 Women students Total students t"" IC -..J > < > :,,:: 0 Ul �SLOVAKIA 80 Table 2 Total Students Brati slava- m ech. eng. -civil eng. Kos ice- m ech. eng. Ban ska Stiavnica-chemi cal Prefov-civil en g. TOTAL of which wome n• Student s in sen ior cl ass of whi ch wom en Nationality Czechoslovak Ru ss ian/ Ru th en ian/ U kra ini a n Hun ga ri a n G erm a n J ew ish Oth er Industrial High Schools 1919/20 1920/1 45 32 41 81 68 86 1921/2 1922/3 1923 /4 1924 / 5 1925/6 117 53 11 6 JO 118 235 3 296 2 52 131 79 136 27 128 88 130 52 126 105 144 79 11 2 120 138 82 373 2 398 454 11 55 0 452 75 I 211 3 270 2 4 16 4 18 Religion R oma n Ca tholic Greek Ca tholi c Czech Brethren Lutheran R eform ed Orthodox J ewish None • alm ost a ll women stu died a t Ba n skcl St iav ni ca 178 4 I 42 2 2 42 25 346 3 14 2 7 �SLOVAKIA Table 2 - 81 Industrial High Schools 1926/7 1927/8 1928/9 1929/30 1930/1 1931/2 1932/3 1933/4 1934/5 1935/6 1936/7 ll7 104 138 88 117 114 l 29 110 120 117 133 106 121 113 136 123 129 126 150 134 447 7 470 12 476 24 493 32 539 35 11 2 7 123 l 26 157 130 26 562 29 11 2 12 137 116 155 128 60 596 21 138 6 142 93 151 131 98 144 135 99 147 108 595 19 134 4 599 5 139 3 600 16 166 6 Ill 132 88 133 118 93 583 567 3 552 4 5 4 �82 SLOVAKIA Table 3 - Agricultural High Schools 1919/20 1920/1 1921/2 1922/3 1923/4 1924/5 1925/6 K o~ice- Agricultu ral School Banska StiavnicaForestry High School TOTAL of which women No. in senior class Nationality Czechoslovak Ru ssian/Ruthenian/U krainia n G erm an Hun garian J ewi sh Bul garian Unknown Other Religion Rom an Cathol ic Greek Catholic Czech Brethren Luthera n Reformed Orthodox J ew ish Czechoslovak Other None Fees Paid in Fall Fee W a iver Half Waiver 25 45 68 96 100 107 109 48 93 0 0 77 145 0 0 98 194 95 195 0 85 192 84 193 2 87 139 2 3 2 2 3 184 3 2 4 183 2 4 4 180 5 2 2 178 5 6 3 82 8 2 128 11 157 4 1 22 1 3 151 3 2 26 149 3 2 26 140 4 1 32 5 6 3 6 2 3 4 1 2 125 67 3 114 68 10 134 54 5 2 5 7 2 �SLOV AKIA Table 3 - 83 Agricultural High Schools 1926/7 1927/8 1928/9 1929/30 1930/ 1 1931/2 1932/3 1933/4 1934/5 1935/6 1936/7 96 94 105 104 108 104 107 108 112 72 67 161 0 71 176 0 73 177 0 81 189 0 80 184 0 77 184 84 192 85 197 42 45 168 155 3 3 167 4 3 2 77 85 199 192 2 35 190 2 183 2 3 3 132 8 130 7 13 1 5 137 7 127 9 37 37 37 6 6 I 33 2 3 4 2 45 5 6 34 2 2 5 4 4 2 162 5 3 2 7 4 4 11 3 3 114 2 120 3 124 4 31 25 34 5 9 2 7 9 10 6 4 3 3 107 57 4 109 50 2 178 2 114 176 2 3 2 147 3 2 5 176 5 2 4 I 115 I 41 196 2 5 2 I 2 5 88 21 83 105 5 89 �SLOVAKIA 84 Table 4 - Agricultural High Schools 1922/3 1921/2 K Socioeconomic Data BS K 1924/5 1923 / 4 BS K BS K BS Parental Occupation Owners u f land : JOO+ hc<:1arcs 20- 100 hcnan·s 5-20 hcnan:s k-ss than 5 h1.•1.·tarcs 8 22 15 18 3 16 3 19 12 18 14 II 12 13 7 46 Agriniltural or forc s,ry 1.· mplu y1.-c ur wor ke r offi c ia l Non-agricultural 25 14 15 31 II 36 14 16 49 9 41 14 50 52 Age - 16 17- 18 19-20 281 27 5' 2 1-22 6 81 3I 21 13 23 & abm-c 2 17 33 31 24 36 15 10 25 Scholarships S1atc-No. / V alm· Region al-Nu./Val uc 27/26,800 I 517,900 37/38,485 9/ 10,830 17 /8 ,900 9/ 4 ,629 Distri<·1- No ./ Va lu c Othcr-Nu ./ Va lu c (Values in KCs) 16/13 ,000 7/9,500 8/4,900 9/6, .1 00 29/ 39,800 18/17,400 Total Studcn1s rccei \' in g grant s No./Va lu c BS - Ban sk- a Stia\'nit·a K - K o~ in· - age 15 1 - ages 16- 18 54/ 54,215 27 / 18.829 9 33 38 12 8 65/ 41.81 0 27 29 16 18 23/15,900 8 33 40 17 9 7 1/ 37 ,600 24 29 20 10 34/15,580 �85 SLOVAKIA Table 4 - 1926/7 1925 /6 K BS K II 12 26 II 14 20 13 8 4 II 45 14 46 4 32 16 35 19 19 13 34 28 17 4 4 36 48 17 4 Agricultural High Schools - Socioeconomic Data 1927/8 BS K 1936/7 193516 BS K BS K 12 6 9 18 25 15 13 9 10 26 40 6 8 22 34 II 7 9 36 4 19 9 9 32 I 37 20 24 14 6 8 33 30 22 22 4 25 31 10 19 44 23 6 8/3, 100 4 /2 , 500 25/12 ,350 9/3,000 6 6 6 2 23 20 23 4/3,000 21700 55/33, 150 2017,790 53/30.750 13/11,650 58/27,400 2/5,200 36/16,050 8/5,500 BS 30 17 7 47 30 39 I7 22 27 27 14 17 6/4,200 15/ 12,700 10/3,350 1/962 5/2,300 7/4,200 1/500 32121,212 13/7 ,000 �86 SLOVAKIA Table 5 Higher Cooperative Agricultural School 1936/7 Total Students : 22 (all male); all graduated Nationality : 20 Czechoslovak, 2 Hungarian Age: I 17-18 , 5 19-20, 5 21-2, 5 23 & above Fees: 17 waived , 5 part waived Family O ccupations: 3 owners of 20-100 hectares, 10 owners of 5-20 hec tares, 2 agricultural or forest ry employees and workers , 7 non agricultural Scholarships: 3 from regional government totalling 4,000 Kc 16 others totalling 26,000 Kc � SLOVAKIA 59 The Modernization of Slovakia: The Role of Vocational High Schools, 1918-1938 Owen V . Johnson Most of the modern nations and nationalities in Eastern Europe began as cultural movements. Writers and teachers were among their earliest leaders. As these movements grew in size, they turned into political movements , with lawyers playing increasingly important roles. 1 Most of the research on East European national development has focused on these changes . None of these developing nations could long survive, however, without an adequate industrial , commercial, and modern agricultural base. Such development has been the thread of continuity in twentieth-century Eastern Europe behind the facade of radical political change. This article examines the basis of economic change which was laid down in three types of secondary schools in interwar Slovakia, the commercial academies, and the industrial and agricultural high schools. That they were not a top priority of the new Czechoslovak government is indicated by the fact that none was opened until the fall of 1919, nearly a year after the creation of the new Republic , while the first Slovak gymnazium had opened its doors only two weeks after the seizure of power by the new state. The common tie of these three types of schools was that they were more likely to draw their students from the middle schools , in contrast to the gymnazium, which usually admitted students directly from primary schools to its eight-year curriculum. In part this is explained by the fact that these schools attracted a different type of student , on e who was interested not in becoming a lawyer, a doctor , or a teacher - those people went to the gymnazia or the teacher training institutions - but the one who wanted to become an ' ' independent entrepreneur.'' �60 SLOVA KIA Each of th ese schools will b e di scu ssed se parately. Like the o the r vocatio na l seco nda ry schools, the co mm e rcial acad e mies perform ed a du a l fun ction . Their four- year curriculum was des igned partially to prepa re student s to a ssum e respo n sible positio n s in bu sin ess or b a nking offi ces (e.g., two fore ign la n gu ages, incl udin g G erm a n , were in the curriculum) a nd pa rtially to prepa re those students who wished to study a t an institutio n of higher learning . The course was ge n era l, with no provisio n for specializa tio n . 2 G radu a tes we re eli gible to study a t the V ysoka o bchodn a skola (C o mme rcial College) in Pragu e, o r , e ffective 192 4 , a ft er pass in g the supplem entary exam (s) (give n in Slovakia o nly in Bra ti slava) in L a tin a nd philosophical proped eu tika, a t the L a w F aculty in Brno . 3 Beginnin g in 193 4 , they we re also eli gible to a ttend milita ry offi ce r s' school. G radu a tes who did no t go o n for furth e r edu cation h ad the right , a fter o ne year 's practice, to the " indepe nde nt m a n age m e nt of a business. " 4 M os t oft e n , howeve r , they becam e officials in b a nkin g or com me rce, o r gained employ m ent in the sta te bureau cracy. 5 The e ntra nce requirem e nts to these schools we re th e sam e as fo r o ther vocatio na l schools. The prospective a pplicant e ith er ha d to be a t leas t age 14 a nd h ave co mple ted four years a t a realka o r som e kind of gymnazium , o r be a g radu a te of the middl e school, with a pp ro pria te gra des. Preferen ce was give n to a pplicants with bu siness experie nce . 6 T hose pe rso ns who h ad passed the ir gymnazium m aturita una nimou sly or with distinctio n could take a o ne-year post -g rad u a te course a t a co mme rcial acad emy ( o ne su ch course was se t up a t Bra ti slava); those w ho had rece ived a "with m ajo rity" mark would be accepted o nly if there was roo m . Gymnazium gradua tes could al so enter the third year of the co mme rcial acade m y o n a tentat ive bas is, hav in g ho weve r to ta ke seve ra l supple m e nta ry exa m s by Christm as . 7 T he traditio nal Hun gari a n d isd a in fo r co mme rce, a nd he nce, fo r comm ercial edu cati o n , le ft it s imp r int on public a ttitudes toward th e bu siness academies. When the Bra ti slava Commercial Acade m y opened for bu sin ess in th e fall of 19 19, nearly a third of the regul a rl y enro ll ed stude nts we re Czec hs. Czechs were in the majo rit y at the a ttached post-gradu a te co urse. 8 It took time to ove rco me the negat ive attitudes, time for these schools to d em o nstra te the ir wo rth . A s a ch ro nicle r at the K os ice Com m e rcial Acad e m y no ted , the sc hool " ove rco m es the mi stake n trad itio n in the �SLOVAKIA 61 Slovak people that only the hi gh school, specifically the gymnazium and not a commercial school, can insure the Slovak son or daughter a regular functional edu cation .' ' 9 In those early years, it was often necessary to personally con vince the parents of prospective students of the value of the commercial education. One means of persuasion was money in the form of scholarships . In the early years, however, state aid was not very generous, about one grant per school. 10 It appears that the total amount of support rose significantly beginning with the 1928/29 school year. An increasingly important source was the regional Slovak government. Ove rall , government assistance for the commercial academies generally is a carbon copy of the assistance to the gymnazia. The old Hungarian schools operated uninterrupted through the 1918/9 school year. By the following fall, two schools had been closed , at Hume nne and Revuca , for lack of students; the rest were taken over by the state. Because there were no Slovaks qualified to teach in this field, Czechs were brought in to serve as both professors and principals. The old three-year pattern of instruction was continued until the passage of a new law on February 15, 1922, which formally established fouryear academies at Bratislava , Kosice, and Martin . By fall, a fourth academy was opened at Banska Bystrica. The close proximity of the last two named schools soon led to an apparent superfluity of places , and the school at Martin was forced to close , doing so one grade at a time , beginning in 1923/4. 11 The postwar recession and the deindustrialization of Slovakia which accompanied it , coupled with an essentially rural population, were surely the major causes. They discouraged parents who might otherwise have thought of enrolling their children. 12 The recovery which soon followed led to a n ew interest in this type of school , leading to the establishment of an institution at Nitra in 1926/7 - considered a replacement for Martin - and at Trencfn and (once again) Martin in 1927/8 . Job offers were now two or three times higher than the number of graduates . 13 Although the Depression forestalled the establi shm ent of any add itional schools for n early a d ecade, the number of students continued to rise steadily , except for a slight fall occasioned by the com ing of age of the tiny World War I generation. In common with the expansion in the number of gymnazia just before the outbreak of World War II , a commercial academ y was set up at Humen ne in the 1937/8 school year, where there h ad once been a Hungarian school. �62 SLOVAKIA The importance of the gove rnment 's role in fos te rin g commercial education is demonstrated by the fact that all of the commercial academies in Slovakia were state institutio ns. Only two of the approxima tely thirty other school s in the Republic were owned a nd ope rated b y the sta te . The commercial academies had a reputa tion of quality both at home and abroad because they enrolled a highly select group of students chosen from amon g man y a pplicants . The teacher s we re highly qualified , attracted by high pay . Even teachers of general educa tional subj ects earned more th an they would in a gymnazium or a realka. The o nly additional requirem ent was tha t they n eeded to have some minimal knowledge of business. 14 The curriculum was evenly divided between subjects of general instru ction (with a heavy d ose of la n gu ages) and business subj ects. Strictly speakin g, study a t the commercial acad emies did n o t end with a m aturita exam. 15 Even thou gh the examina tion was op tional, m ost stude nts took it b ecau se it was n ecessary for admi ssion to the univer sity , a nd it could m ean a hi gh er pos ition or rate o f pay on m a n y jobs . (It should be n oted tha t a hi gher p rece ntage of commercial acad em y students went on for additional studies tha n did students from the indu strial hi gh schools. y 6 In an effort to encourage students to go into bu siness for them selves upo n gradu a tion rather than takin g up an admini st ration j ob , the comm e rcial acad e mies d evelop ed a p rogram in which studen ts would spend their summers wo rking in various shops . Local banks, district and county gove rnm ents, a nd ch a mber s o f commerce r a ised the m on ey to pay the students for the experien ce. The D epression forced a cutback in the program . Ther e is no ev ide n ce that the program achieved its goal. 17 Like the indu strial high sch ools, the co mmercial acad e mies actu ally we re onl y the a n chor s of la rger edu cation al in sti t utio n s. In all ca ses, there was a two -year bu sin ess sch ool a ttach ed . A cco rdin g to Cve rcko, ' ' Students showed a preference fo r the two-year b usiness schools becau se they prov ided edu cation al oppo rtunities fo r stu d ent s from th e poo rer famili es and fo r youn g wom en w ho d es ired employm e n t in offi ces . ' ' 18 In so m e in stan ces, these bu siness schools, wh en located in pl aces other tha n a t a co mmercial acad em y, the m selves se rved as ce nte rs for sho rter term bu siness cou rses . 19 T he sch ool a t Brat islava was even m ore co mplex becau se it h ad bo th Czechoslovak a nd Hun garia n divisio ns. Published statistics on the commercial acad emies n ormally in cl uded d a ta o n both the acad emies a nd the a tt ach ed sch ools, m a kin g it m ore �SLOVAKIA 63 difficult to study the makeup of the student body of the academies alone. N evertheless, some observati on s can be made , especiall y whe n the published sta tewide statistics a re considered in conjun ction with the a nalysis of the sta tistics from the a nnu al repo rts published by the schools ( also see Fi gure 1 a nd T able 1) . One of the more interesting aspects is the presen ce of a slowly increasing number of women in these schools. This contrasts strongly with th e indu stri al hi gh school s. Whil e the postwa r recession n early wipes out a n initi al fem ale enrollment of b etter tha n ten percent, a gradual improve m ent whi ch began in the mid-twenties continued to the end of the R epublic, so tha t by the 1936/7 school year , more tha n a fifth of the stud ents we re women . The pe rce ntage of wo men gradu a tes , in line with the ge ne ral tre nd , was several percent less. At Nit ra, th e student s we re prima ril y children of white-collar worke rs, teachers, professors, doctors, lawyers, businessmen , and shopkeepers, in other words , the better situ ated elem ents of the society . About on e third of the student s cam e from workin g cl ass famili es. Jo INDUSTRIAL HIGH SCHOOLS Th e indu stri al hi gh school (priem yselna skola), with a fo ur- year curriculum , witnessed a slow developm ent ove r the hi story of the first C zechoslovak R epubli c. A s was the case with vocation al second a ry schools in gen eral , th ere were n ot ve ry man y of th em. Anton Stefa nek, who as R eferent fo r Edu cation in Slova ki a helped established th e school system, reali zed th e n eed for these schools, but recogni zed th e publi c ha d littl e apprec ia tio n fo r th em : It is n ecessary th a t Slovaks understa nd the value of technical , indu stri al a nd commercial schools. Yes, second a ry schools th ere mu st b e, gymnazia a nd realky, but all peopl e cann o t be gentlem e n with te nd er h a nd s.J 1 Al thou gh seve ral of these in stituti o n s h ad peen in ex isten ce durin g Hun gari an rule, they were in the large r cities, where the Slovak presence was sm all. Further , they lacked do rmito ries, m a kin g a tte nd a nce so m ewh a t diffi cult for o th er th a n city res id ents. 21 Three Czechoslovak in d u stri al hi gh schools o pen ed in th e fall of 19 19, with th e fi rs t grad u a tes em ergin g in 1923 . T wo we re in Bra tislava, a m ech a ni cal en gin ee rin g school (s trojnick a) a nd a buildin g or �64 SLOVAKIA civil engineerin g school (stavitel'ska), sharing the same facili ties. Kosice had a dual language engineering school. A chemical high school opened in Banska Stiavnica in 1921 , foll owed by a second buildin g school in Presov in 1931. The final institution to open its doors was the electrotechni cal hi gh school in Banska Byst rica , commen cing operations in the fall of 1936. Study at each institution, partially general a nd partially technical , ended with a maturita examination. The mech a nical e ngineering school was design ed to provide "gen eral and profess ional education , such as needed by managers of smaller engin eering firms or factories with enginee ring systems, or by technical officials.'' The course lasted four years. Applica nts for the school need ed to have co mpl eted four years of gymnazium studies, or middle school plus the one-year supplem entary " naukobeh ." Students with only three years of gym nazium or who h ad completed middle school edu cation with a grade of at leas t "good ," and who cou ld prove they had at least one year of on-the-job experience , cou ld also be admitted. 23 Preference went to those with practi cal experience. An entran ce exam was required. Like the co mmercial academi es, vocat ional schools of shorter duration were attached to each industrial high school. Th e goals of the other types of indu strial high schools were similar - to train the students for skill ed managerial and technical jobs, or for university study; the admission requireme nts were nearly the same , too. Th e civil engin eering hi gh school was designed to provide theoretical and practi cal instruction for future ind ependent owners of construction firm s, especiall y those dealing in concrete, rein forced co ncrete, a nd ca rpentry, as well as for private or state technical offic ials. 14 Graduates were ex pected to be abl e to construct a dwelli ng. The chem ical high school's a im was th e provision of gen eral a nd speciali zed education in combination with practical experience for future factory owners , administrators, and factory offi cials for various chemi cal plants, such as dye-works, printing, bleach or soap pla nts, glassworks, fertili ze r faciliti es, etc. 15 The electrotechni cal school , which had no graduates in its short existence, was also to give both ge neral a nd speciali zed inst ru ction combined with practi cal experie nce, to owners or managers of mach in e or electrotechni cal factories , or ot her factories with machine systems, and for technical offic ials of th e larger private or state engineerin g organizations. 26 The graduates of industrial hi gh schools could , aft er passing a sup- �SLOVAKIA 65 plementary exam, also study a t the technical universiti es, although few did, both because of the exam , a nd becau se, until the fall of 1938, there was no technical university in Slovakia, a fact which also h and icapped th ese schools in the ir efforts to a ttract students. 27 In th e fall of 1934, a transport division was added to the con struction high school in Bratislava , the ex press a im of the change b eing to facilitiate graduate placem ent, particularly in the m edium-sized and small firm s. J8 Th e practical n a ture of the study at the indu strial high schools required that no private students be all owed . Forty applicants were to be admitted each year at each school, except for the chemi cal hi gh school, to whi ch a maximum of thirty were all owed . If an aspirin g student passed th e entran ce examination at a parti cular school , but was not admitted because of lack of sufficient pl aces , he cou ld seek admission elsewhere in the R epublic .J 9 When the schools opened in the fall of 1919 , applicants from Slovakia were few . A call was sent out to the Czech students in the overcrowded industrial hi gh schools of Bohemia and Moravia to come to Slovakia. The re were promises of travel a nd ot her support, anything to help ra ise th e enrollm ent. 3° Of th e 77 students who enroll ed at the two schools in Bratislava , 42 were Slovak and 26 were Czech. 31 Th e total number of students experienced a steady, but slow climb upward because with th e opening of each new sc hool , approximately one cl ass was open ed each year (see Figure 2 and Table 2). In 1925, howeve r, the Ministry of Edu cation an noun ced plans to gradually close th e ch emical high school " because th e prese nt conditions in th e chem ical industry in no way ass ure the stude nts the fulfillm e nt of the amb ition s which lead them to the school.' ' The Ministry of Education (Msano) backed down , however, a nd agreed to co ntinu e to operate the school , provided first yea r enrollment reached 20 stud ents. 3J O verall , th e number of appli cations to all th e schools was mod erate until the mid-thirties, when both the expansion of industry in Slovakia a nd th e immin ent openin g of th e techni cal uni ve rsity led to a n explo sion of inte res t in these schools. At Banska Bystrica, for in sta nce, th e numbe r of appli cat io n s exceed ed th e number of admi ss ion s by 4 or 5 to 1. A simil a r jump in in terest developed in Bra ti slava abo u t the sa m e tim e . Earli er, nea rl y everyo ne who p assed the e ntran ce exam was admitted . (About one-th ird of th e a pplicants fail ed th e tes t.) Alth ough th ere has been no research o n th e subj ect, it is prob able �66 SLOVAKIA that the limited number of these schools was a hindrance in the expansion of the number of students, not only because there was a limited number of places, but also because students from a large part of the more Slovak areas of Slovakia could attend these schools only if they could afford to pay room and board. The schools themselves did not have their own dormitories, although the two Bratislava schools had access to up to 100 places in the city's Secondary School dormitory . 33 The founding of the electrotechnical school at Banska Bystrica provides some fine examples of the government ' s general attitudes toward the need for industrial education in Slovakia. The campaign for the establishment of the school was led by the Banska Bystrica City Council and by the Central Slovak Chamber of Commerce . The latter made the initial move in May 1934, urging the city council to join forces . The Chamber pointed out the lack of this particular kind of education in Slovakia. Two months later, the City Council wrote to the Ministry of Education , stressing how the creation of this school would further the development of Slovakia: The continuing electrification of Slovakia is not yet finish ed ; thus , not only would many jobs in this area await the graduates of the school, but the power-stations in Slovakia have a continuing lack of well-educated Slovaks . 34 The Ministry of Education responded the following spring, expressing doubt that there would be a sufficient number of students with the requisite preparatory education, and suggesting doubt that, in view of the economic crisis , the graduates could be placed. The economic upswing which was even then beginning apparently erased all doubts . The flood of applications had proved Prague wrong , at least on a delayed basis. H With the exception of the chemical high school, very few girls enrolled in the industrial high schools, the total reaching a high of 6 ½ percent in 1929/30 and 1930/1. There is no obvious explanation for the chemical school exception. Information on scholarship aid is too skimpy to make any judgments. AG RI CULTURAL HIGH SCHOOLS The two schools known as higher agricultural schools showed the least change of any of the secondary level institutions in Slovakia dur- �SLOVAKIA 67 ing the interwar Republic. One was the higher agricultural (or farming) school in Kosice, founded on the ruins of a prewar college level Hungarian Academy, and the other the higher forestry school in Banska Stiavnica. There also had been a Forestry Academy there, although its building fell to the industrial high school. Both agricultural schools were administered by the Ministry of Agriculture through an inspector of agricultural instruction in Bratislava, one of six such offices in Czechoslovakia. 36 The school in Kosice was one of more than a dozen higher farming schools in the Republic, that in Banska Stiavnica one of four higher forestry schools (one of three Czechoslovak) in Czechoslovakia. 3 1 Both schools opened in the fall of 1919 and graduated their first classes in the spring of 1923. The faculty consisted almost entirely of Czechs . 3 8 The goal of the Farming School at Kosice was the education of' 'independent agricultural entrepreneurs" as well as officials who could handle agricultural affairs for the government or serve cooperatives in an office capacity. 39 The curriculum sought to make of the student an '' agricultural intelligent who could learn not to limit himself to that which is generally known, but who would also try to look for new ways and methods; in short, that it kindle and nurture in the young man the skill of application and, as much as possible, initiative.' ' 40 Students, of whom 30 were admitted each year, had to be at least 15 years of age, and to have completed either middle school, or the first four years of a gymnazium. In addition, boys and girls who had completed the shorter twoyear peasant school course with distinction could be admitted. Preference was to be given to those from peasant families who would be farming independently. 41 Originally three years in length, the school was converted to four years in 1920/ 1 (Ministry of Agriculture 21308/ 1920). The expanded curriculum permitted an expansion of general education and a deepening of technical subjects, as well as greater emphasis on the practical element of instruction . In addition, new subjects were added to prepare the students better for the modern world, including civics, business, typewriting, the cooperative movement, and milk processing. 42 The program of study ended with the maturita exam. Graduates, after passing supplementary exams , could study at the College of Agriculture, the College of Veterinary Medicine, Commercial Colleges, �68 SLOVAKIA or the Military Academy . A Provincial Institute of Agriculture R esearch was attached to the school. Applicants for the higher forestry high school also needed to be 15 years of age, and have completed the lower four years of a gymnazium , or a middle school plus the one-year continuation course (nauk obeh). Preference was given to sons of forestry employees and workers . No women were allowed. All graduates of secondary schools could pass directly into the second year of the school and, if they passed the required examination, advance directly into the third year of study. 43 The entering class was at first limited to 30 students, a figure later cut to 20. Only in exceptio n al cases were students from Bohemia and Moravia to be admitted. They had to be able to prove that a job would be await in g them upon graduation . 4 4 The goal of the school was to provide education for an efficient forest service and for the admin istration of smaller forest properties or the lumber business and industry and to provide an education correspond in g to the general level of advanced secondary education. The four-year course concluded with maturita exams . Graduates could attend the forestry division of the College of Agriculture after completing suppleme ntary exams in language and mathematical subjects. 4 5 Those who wished to enter state service directly (which was th e rule) were required to pass a state exam in the appropriate field. There is some irony in the generally held assumption that "through the incorporation of agricultural Slovakia, the Czechoslovak Republic has become nearly self-supporting as regards the supply of agricultural produce, " 46 yet so little attent ion was given to developing an advanced system of agricu ltural education in Slovakia. Part of the answer lies in the small size of so many of the land holdings, which would make further education superfluous. Prior to 1918, these two schools, existing on the level of junior colleges, had turned out offic ials and employees to manage the great estates of the Hungarian magnates. In fact, interest in attending the Czechoslovak school does not seem to have been overwhelming. For one thing , social attitudes worked against it. One stu dent remembered first enrollin g at a teacher training institute , then persuading hi s father that employment possibilities after graduat ion from the Farming School wou ld be much better. His mother and sister, however, were appalled by his withdrawal from the teacher training institute, and insisted he go back to it, which he did. 47 The R eferent for Agriculture, �SLOVAKIA 69 Pavel Blaho, had to take special pains to insure that there were enough students at all in the first years. 48 The school in Kosice had particular trouble attracting Slovak students. In 1920/1 , only 7 of 23 first year students were Slovak . 49 In that same year, only 21 of 48 students at Banska Stiavnica had parents living in Slovakia. 50 There were more Czechs than Slovaks in the first forestry graduating class. 51 Further discouraging the establishment of more schools was the argument that Slovaks were eligible to attend similar institutions in the Czech lands. Because these schools were both '' one of a kind'' they drew students from all over Slovakia. For instance, Kosice, in 1929/3 0, had representatives from more than half the counties of Slovakia. 52 This made the provision of housing important. Initially, Kosice had a dormitory for 45 students. It was replaced in the 1923/2 4 school year by the Ministry of Agriculture with a building which housed 120. A temporary dormitory was established at Banska Stiavnica in 1920 within the school itself. 53 However , once the school had reached its full complement of four classes in the fall of 1922 , the need for classrooms forced the dormitory's closing. Between a half and two-thirds of the students received financial aid, the m ajority of which, after 1929 , came from the regional government in Bratislava. Prior to that time , the counties and districts frequently gave support. 54 State aid was channeled through the Ministry of Agriculture . 55 Financial aid on the average was about twice as large for the students in Kosice as in Banska Stiavnica . Total enrollment at the two schools remained constant between 160 and 200 students (see Tables 3 and 4) . Girls were eligible to attend the school in Kosice , but hardly any did . Between 90 and 95 percent of the enrollment consisted of Czech and Slovak students, with a sprinkling of Ruthenians (particularly in the more accessible Kosice), Germans, and Hungarians. The percentage of students who were Catholic initially was very high (88 percent), but by 1925 declined to a level of about 70 percent , at which it remained. The percentage of Lutherans , at first very low, rose to 15-20 percent by 1925. The fact that the Lutheran pe rcentage was slightly higher than in the population as a whole can be attributed largely to the fact that Banska Stiavnica was situated in a more strongly Protestant area. There also were regularly small numbers of Orthodox , Greek Catholic, and Jewish students. Students at both Banska Stiavnica and Kosice te nded to be well a bove the minimum age, with the largest number in the 19-20 year old �70 SLOVAKIA range. Those from agricultural families were in the majority at Kosice and usually in the minority at Banska Stiavnica. In addition, if from agricultural backgrounds those at Kosice were more likely to come from larger landholders. 56 HIGHER COOPERATIVE AG RI CULTURAL SCHOOL An additional specialized school, the Higher Cooperative Agricultural School, a private institution , was opened in Bratislava in the fall of 1936. The goal of the school's four-semester course was to provide ''professional theoretical and practical preparation or development in cooperative consciousness and education for capable cooperative officials and functionaries for Slovakia, as well as for friends of the cooperative idea. " 57 Prior to the opening of the Slovak school, the cooperative officials had been drawn from the graduates of the commercial academies and agricultural schools, as well as from officials of financial institutions . The Central Cooperative Council ran a similar school in Prague, but it was not able to accept all applicants from Slovakia. Stipends for students from Slovakia had been made available on the basis of reciprocity , i.e., service in Slovakia. The Bratislava branch of the Cooperative Council lacked funds as well as a building to start its own school. When the latter problem was solved, the former became available. 58 Three groups were eligible for admission. The majority were to have completed a high school education, with preference given to graduates of the higher agricultural school in Kosice and the commercial academies, as well as those who had cooperative experience. A second group was drawn from those who had completed with success at least the first four years of high school or middle school, and who had also successfully completed agricultural or business school and had at least two years of cooperative experience . This group required entrance exams. A third group, persons not citizens of Czechoslovakia, could be admitted in special cases. The total from the second and third groups was not to exceed 8 places in the class of 24 . 59 In the two years the school was in operation, about half of the 22 students were age 23 and older; they came from many different districts across Slovakia . From a religious standpoint, the Lutherans were over-represented (see Table 5), with 35 percent the first year and 45 percent the second year. The parents of about two-thirds of the students �SLOVAKIA 71 had agricultural occupations. There is n o reference to the sex of the stude nts, although it can b e presumed that all were m en . 60 CONCLUSION It is un avoidable that some of the information presen ted in this article represents what might be called " microhistory ." In it are catalogued various beginnings and small changes . It is b ecause these changes have previously not been recorded in an organized fashion that certain processes of n ational d evelopment in twentieth-century Slovakia have not been properly understood. It is generally recognized that too few students in developing countries study mathematics or the scientific professions. 61 In many ways, Slovakia was an undeveloped country . Consideration mu st be given , however, to priorities in national form ation . Given the necessity of creating an intelligentsia within a national grouping, the most immediate and most important con cern is for an intelligentsia which will be visible to the public. Slovak-speaking lawye rs to ha ndle legal and administrative affairs, Slovak-speaking doctors to minister to the public, and Slovak-speaking teachers to teach Slovak culture were far m ore important a t the outset than the development of a technical intelligentsia for developin g a Slovak n ation al consciousn ess . Certainly the opportunities in the interwar republic to employ the skills gained in the vocational high schools were rather limited for a variety of reasons related to the formation of a n ew state-system in Eastern Europe . The lack of a n adequately trained agricultural , comme rcial, and industri al intelligentsia became painfully visible during the shortlived existence of the Slovak state ( 1939-1945). But , if it were not for the modest accompli shments in this field by the so-called bourgeois republic , the rapid growth begun in the Slovak state and continued in the renewed postwar Czechoslovak R epublic would n ot h ave been so dramatic . NOTES ' Th is peri od iza tion is outl in ed, a mong others, by Sta nl ey Z . Pech , " Ri ght, Left , and C entre in Eastern Europe 1869-1 940 : A cross-N ational Profile," C an adian journal of History , V ol. 16 , No. 2 ( 198 1), pp . 23 7-262. �72 SLOVAKIA ' For the cu rri culum of the commercial academy, see Vestnfk Ministerstva skolstvf a narodnf osvety (Msano), 13, No. 5 ( 15 May 1931), 18 1. 3 Vestnfk Msano , 6, No. 3 ( 15 M arch 1924), 100. Philosophical propedeutike consisted of a" . .. sy nthesis of knowledge from all subjects; acquaintance with the principal methods of philosophic solutions of problems. Thorough realization of the laws of intellec tual life and appreciation of th e major qu estions and tasks of philosophy. Survey of the intellec tual development of hum an ity." Vojtech Andie, "A Comparative Study of Education in Czechoslovakia for th e Periods of 1918 to 1938 and 1948 to 1953" (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation , New York University , 1954) , p . 128. • Ida Zubacka, "Prfspevok k dejinam strednych odbornych skol v Nitre v rokoch 1918- 1938," Zbornfk Pedagogick ej fakulty v Nitre, 2 1 (1973)-Spolocenske ved ydejepis-zemepis, p. 104. 1 " Strucny informacnf pi'ehled o skolstvf narodnfm , sti'ednfm a odbornem , " Vestnfk Msano , 6, No. 5 ( 15 May 1924), 273-4. 6 Antonin Bohac, "Padesat let ceskoslovenskeho skolstvf ," Pedagogika, 18, No. 5 ( 1968), 675. ' Vestnfk Msano, 7, No. 6 ( 15 Jun e 1925), 183-4. 8 Eduard Weis, "Zprava stat isti cka o skolstvf v Bratisl ave na pocatku sk. r . 1919/20 a srovnanf dat o skolach eleme ntarnfch s kon ce m sk. r. 1918/ 19, 16 December 191 9. Fond 7 Minister s plnou moci pre Slovensku (M/pm), Statny ustredny archfv Slovenskej socialistickej republiky (SUA SSR) Bra ti slava. • Yea rl y R eport, K osice Obchodna Akademia 1919/2 0-20/ 1, p. 6. ' 0 Vestnfk Msano , 6, No . 12 ( 15 D ece mber 1924), 592-3. '' J . Fuksa et al. , eds. , Almanach obchodnfho skolstvf ceskos/ovenske republiky 1918- 1928 (Prague : Statnf nakladatelst vf, 1938), p. 23 . " The i upan of Spis doubted hi s population 's " understanding for th e practical ed ucation of (its) youth ." His comments cited by M / pm as one of th e reasons to deny commercial academy to K ezmarok-M/ pm 14634/2 1 Adm . III of 20 October 192 1 in Spisska zupa 691/1921 in Statny archfv-Levoca. The principal in K osice had no doubts th at the population in that city did not value a commercial edu ca tion. Yearly R eport, 19 19/20-20/ 1, p . 36 . 13 Yearly R eport, Brat islava OA 1928/9, p. 15. 14 Bohac , "Padesat let, " p . 678. 11 Ibid ., p . 675. 16 Ibid. 11 Yea rl y R eport , Banska Bystri ca OA 1927 /8 , p. 7; 1928/9, p. 20; 193 1/ 2, p. 9; and 1932 /3, p. 11. " Sister M. Joan Cvercko , " Schools of Slova ki a: Histori cal Study of Secondary Technical-Vocational Education 1918-1 948" (Unpublished M .A. thesis, The Catholic University of America, 1972), p. 62. �SLOVAKIA 19 ' 0 73 Fuksa, Almanach , pp . 125-4 7, describes in detail the various combinations of schools as th ey were in 1928. Zubacka, " Prfspevok," p. 105. " Literarny archiv Matice slovenskej (LAMS) 42 VIII 23, "Priemyselne a odborne skoly v r. 1919/ 1920, " p. 10. " Yearly Report, Bratislava Priemyselna skola 1919/20, p. 11. " H. J a nus , " Sedemdesiat' rokov priemyselnej skoly v Bratislave ," Jednotna skola, 26, No. 2 (February 1974), 181. " Yea rly Report , Bratislava Priemyselna skola 1919/ 20, p. 1. " Julius Bartak , Vyvin Jesnickeho skolstva na Slovensku v ramci hospodarskych pomerov (Bratislava: Lesnfcka a dreva rska ustredna, 1942), p. 303. ,. Yea rl y R eport , Banska Bystri ca Statna odborna skola 1936/7, p . 3. " Bohac , "Padesat let ," p. 675. According to " Strucny ," pp . 260-1 , no supplementary exam was required; a successful maturitant could study in th e technical or mining colleges in th e sam e field he had done his high school work ; according to Anton Benda , "Statn a cs!. priemyselna skola s mad'arskymi pobockami V Kosiciach, " in A .S. Zitavsky, Pamiitnik slovensk eho skolstva za ucinkovania Prezidenta T.G. Masaryk a (Bratislava: V yd avatel'stvo pamii.tnika Slovenskeho skolstva, (1936-7), V ol. I , p. 177 , "at leas t one" a year from his school went on for uni versity level study. " J a nus, "Sedemd esiat'," p. 182. Similar reasoning und erlay the creation of a post-gradu ate electrotechni cal course at Bra tisl ava in 1931/2, although the course seems only to have existed fo r a year. Yearl y R eport, Bratislava Priem yselna skola 1930/ 1, pp . 24-5 and 193 1/2, p. 25. " " Strucny," pp. 260-1. '° K om ensky, 46 , No. 24 (30 August 1919), 7. " LAMS 42 VIII 23 , " Priemyselne a odborne skoly v r. 1919/ 1920," p. 12. " Pohron ska zupa 3851/1925-SA-Banska Bys tri ca. " J. Smetana, "Statn a cs!. pri emyselna skola v Bratislave," in Zitavsky , Pamacnik , V ol. I , p. 163. " Brigita Simonova et. al. , Minulost', sucasnost', buducnost ': Jubilejny alman ach k 50. vyrociu sloven sk ej cechnick ej skoly v B anskej B ys trici (Banska Bystrica : Stredoslove nske vyd avatel'stvo , 1967) , pp. 34-5. " Ibid ., pp . I 04-7. " Edvard R eich , " V yvoj ze medelskeho skol stvf s hledi ska celostatniho, " in R eich & Vaclav Skoda , eds., Zem edelska osveta V R. C.S. (Prague: Ministerstvo skolstvi a narodni osvety, mini sterstvo ze m edelstvf a ze msky ufad , 1931), pp. 10- 12. " Th ere was so me va ri a nce: The tot al of ag ricultural schools fluctu ated between 13 and I 6 ( of whi ch I 0-12 were Czechoslovak). " r,udovft H am as, " V ychova pol'nohospodarov v rokoch neslobod y- 1938- 1945 na �74 SLOVAKIA Slovensku," Cykl. vytisk. KPU, Bratislava, as quoted in Zdenek Cernohorsky , Dejiny zemedelskeho skolstvi v Ceskoslovensku (Prague: SPN, 1980), pp. 5-1 . 39 ' 0 Jozef Babanek, Zemedel'ske skolstvo dl'a stavu roku 1927 (Bratislava: Slovenska knihtlaciaren, 1928), p. 30. Yearly Report, Kosice Vyssia hospodarska skola 1919-1929 and 1920/30, p. 5. " Eudovft Hamas, Z dejin pol'nohospodarskeho skolstva (Bratislava: SPN, 1967), p. 22 . " Ceskoslovenska statistika, Vol. 2, p . 11 • . 0 Bartik , V}'vin, p. 291. 44 Ibid., 290; and Ceskoslovenska Statistika, Vol. 2, p. ts• . " Babanek, Zemedel'ske, p. 60 . •• Vladislav Brdlik, "Agriculture," in Jozef Gruber, Czechoslovakia: A Survey of Economic and Social Conditions (New York: The Macmillan Co. , 1924), p. 28. " Vladimir Medek, "Krfdla do zivota," in Hudzovic , Sto rokov, p. 147. " See Yearly Report of Kosice Vyssia hospodarska skola 1919-1929 and 1929/30, p. 25. Perhaps the most seductive means was financial. In 1920/ 1, 26 students at Kosice received grants totalling 24,920 Kc . No other such school received more than eight grants . In the same year, 18 stipends and grants worth 15,900 Kc were awarded to Banska Stiavnica forestry students. The other three such schools in the Republic together had only 14 grants for 4900 Kc. Further evidence of Blaho ' s influence is that same year, nearly half of the students in Kosice were from his home country at the other end of Slovakia . The largest number of students at Banska Stiavnica were also from Nitra County. Ceskoslovenska statistika, Vol. 2, Tables V, VII. " Referent for Education to principals of all secondary schools in Slovakia, c. 30.927 / II of 8 June 1921-copy in Prievidza G, Spisy, Carton 1, Okresny archfv-Prievidza. '° Ceskoslovenska statistika, Vol. 2, Table IV. " Zelmfra Miillerova, "Lesnfcke knifoice na Slovensku , " Kniznicny zbornik , 1971, p. 182. The proportion of Slovaks increased only gradually . " Yearly Report, Kosice Vyssia hospodarska skola 1919-1929 and 1929/ 30 , pp. 74-6. " Students went on strike in December 1919 to force the establishment of the dormitory. Styridsat' rokov Lesnickej technickej skoly v Banskej Stiavnici 1919-1959 (Bratislava: Poverenfctvo Podohospodarstva, 1959), p. 15. " Archival records testify that the two schools actively solicited this aid . For example, see their letters to Podtatranska County. Podtatranska zupa c. 28405/ 1923, 33123/1924, and 4939/1925 Adm If-SA-Bytca. " Students were eligible for the coveted Pa.Iffy awards . These are described by Ivan Derer, "Spachala prvnf republika temei' genocidu Slovaku? " Literarni listy , I , No. 15 (6 June 1968), p. 4. 16 The place of agricultural education in Czechoslovak history is described extensivel y in Cernohorsky, Dejiny zemedelskeho . Most of his material is drawn from official sources . �SLOVAKIA 75 " Yearly R eport, Bratislava Vyssia zemedelska skola druzstevna 1936/7, p . 27. 51 Fedor Houdek, "Zahajovacia re(: pri otvoreni Vyssej zemedelskej skoly druzstevnej v Bratislave 1. okt6bra 1936," in Yearly Report , Bratislava Vyssia zemedelska skola druzstevna 1936/7, pp . 11 -13. " Yearl y R eport , Bratislava Vyssia zemedelska skola druzstevna 1936/7, pp . 27-8. 60 See the school 's yearly reports 1936/7 & 1937/8. 61 W . Arthur Lewis , The University in Less-Developed Countries (New York: International Council for Educational D evelopment , 1974), p . 17 . �19 19/20 z E :, .n ......, 0 '- g "Cl ,,, 'i:..., 500 1000 Figure 1 - 1929/30 Commercial Academy Enrollment Yea r 1937 /8 Women students Total students t""' ► ...... ► ~ < 0 r:.n --.J 0-, �SLOVAKIA T able 1 - 77 Com mercial Academies To tal Students 1919/20 1920/ 1 192 1/2 1922 /3 1923/4 1924/5 1925/6 1926/7 Rrati sl..n·a 146 I 74 150 134 133 so 93 103 124 63 33 134 105 I 19 17 132 18 112 103 151 78 130 Ran skil Rys1rica KuSin· T. S,·. !'vl anin 36 40 64 74 I 15 124 40 Nitra TrcnCin TOTAL u f wh ich womc- n Pcrccn1agc Stude n ts in sen ior dass o f which womc-n 222 31 13 .96 3 12 32 10 .26 0 0 Nationali1y Czcl·hos lu,·ak 346 367 21 6 .07 38 10 .35 24 40 343(93 . 5) Czec h Slova k German Jewi sh H ungarian Poli sh 17 74 392 68 17 .35 71 8 2 324(93.6) 370 SI 13 . 78 IO 7 375 58 15 .47 411 52 12 .65 88 9 372(61.69) 35(5 .80) 105(17 .41) 9( 1.49) 69( 11.44) 13(2 . 16) O th er Czec hoslov aks at H ungarian Schools Religion Roman Cathol ic Greek Cat holi c Czech Rn·thrcn Lu1 hcran Reform ed Onhodux Jewish Czec hosh),·ak Other Prott·s1an1 s Nunt· 208(60 . I ) 3 3 54(27 .69) 73(2 1. 1) 22( 11 .28) 35 I 119(61.03) 18 Parental Occupation Agrinilturt· lndu slry·ov,:n busim·ss Free Pruft: ss ions/ lnt elligcn sia S1att· Em plo yt·cs Comrnern· 'v\lorkcrs 97( 15 .23) Pl ace of Res idence Cum mut c Live with parent s or relatives in tuw n Li ve with guardians Birthplace City of School Other Slu,·akia 13(9 .49) 78(56 .93 ) Foreign Bcihemia '.\1orav ia/ Silcsia 4(2.92) 25( 18 .25) I 7( 12 .41 ) 94(30 . 13) 14(4 .49) 139(44 .55) 36( 11. 54 ) 29(9 .29) 384(58.45) �78 SLOVAKIA Table 1 - Commercial Academies 1927/8 1928/9 1929/30 1930/1 193 1/2 193 2/3 1933/4 1934/5 1935/6 1936/7 169 122 125 39 75 49 579 82 14 . 16 178 109 134 67 107 84 679 97 14 .29 188 122 133 94 125 118 780 121 15.51 202 132 133 119 125 155 866 137 15.8 1 228 147 136 124 127 150 912 160 17.54 22 1 150 140 123 136 154 924 177 19. 16 204 20 1 134 140 194 152 164 131 141 882 159 18 .03 909 163 17 .93 937 187 19.96 182 I 73 171 147 146 155 1024 224 21.88 193 31 185 27 185 36 214 32 205 32 190 35 867(92 .5) 23 32 193 7/8 221 205 973(95 .0) l061(76 .33) 10 1(7.27) 178( 12.81) 17 19( 1. 37) 28 4 8(0.58) 905(65.06) l04( 15.83) 7(1.07) 12(1.83) (includi ng Uniatc) I 10( 16 .74) 18(2 . 74) 18(2 . 74) 22(3 .35) 215( 15.46) 23( 1. 65) 16(1.15) 143( 10 .28) 53(3 .8 1) 36(2 .59) 111(17 .43 ) 16(2 .51) 204(32 .03) 145( 11.9 1) 6(0.49) 408(33 .53) 235( 19.31) 291(23 .91) 132(10.85) 180(28.26) 29(4.55) 604(52. 16) 264(22 .80) 290(25 .04) �"' E ..:J " :i z ... 0 3 ......"' "" i:: 1920/ 1 400 600 Figure 2 - 1929/30 Industrial High School Enrollment Year 1937 /8 Women students Total students t"" IC -..J > < > :,,:: 0 Ul �SLOVAKIA 80 Table 2 Total Students Brati slava- m ech. eng. -civil eng. Kos ice- m ech. eng. Ban ska Stiavnica-chemi cal Prefov-civil en g. TOTAL of which wome n• Student s in sen ior cl ass of whi ch wom en Nationality Czechoslovak Ru ss ian/ Ru th en ian/ U kra ini a n Hun ga ri a n G erm a n J ew ish Oth er Industrial High Schools 1919/20 1920/1 45 32 41 81 68 86 1921/2 1922/3 1923 /4 1924 / 5 1925/6 117 53 11 6 JO 118 235 3 296 2 52 131 79 136 27 128 88 130 52 126 105 144 79 11 2 120 138 82 373 2 398 454 11 55 0 452 75 I 211 3 270 2 4 16 4 18 Religion R oma n Ca tholic Greek Ca tholi c Czech Brethren Lutheran R eform ed Orthodox J ewish None • alm ost a ll women stu died a t Ba n skcl St iav ni ca 178 4 I 42 2 2 42 25 346 3 14 2 7 �SLOVAKIA Table 2 - 81 Industrial High Schools 1926/7 1927/8 1928/9 1929/30 1930/1 1931/2 1932/3 1933/4 1934/5 1935/6 1936/7 ll7 104 138 88 117 114 l 29 110 120 117 133 106 121 113 136 123 129 126 150 134 447 7 470 12 476 24 493 32 539 35 11 2 7 123 l 26 157 130 26 562 29 11 2 12 137 116 155 128 60 596 21 138 6 142 93 151 131 98 144 135 99 147 108 595 19 134 4 599 5 139 3 600 16 166 6 Ill 132 88 133 118 93 583 567 3 552 4 5 4 �82 SLOVAKIA Table 3 - Agricultural High Schools 1919/20 1920/1 1921/2 1922/3 1923/4 1924/5 1925/6 K o~ice- Agricultu ral School Banska StiavnicaForestry High School TOTAL of which women No. in senior class Nationality Czechoslovak Ru ssian/Ruthenian/U krainia n G erm an Hun garian J ewi sh Bul garian Unknown Other Religion Rom an Cathol ic Greek Catholic Czech Brethren Luthera n Reformed Orthodox J ew ish Czechoslovak Other None Fees Paid in Fall Fee W a iver Half Waiver 25 45 68 96 100 107 109 48 93 0 0 77 145 0 0 98 194 95 195 0 85 192 84 193 2 87 139 2 3 2 2 3 184 3 2 4 183 2 4 4 180 5 2 2 178 5 6 3 82 8 2 128 11 157 4 1 22 1 3 151 3 2 26 149 3 2 26 140 4 1 32 5 6 3 6 2 3 4 1 2 125 67 3 114 68 10 134 54 5 2 5 7 2 �SLOV AKIA Table 3 - 83 Agricultural High Schools 1926/7 1927/8 1928/9 1929/30 1930/ 1 1931/2 1932/3 1933/4 1934/5 1935/6 1936/7 96 94 105 104 108 104 107 108 112 72 67 161 0 71 176 0 73 177 0 81 189 0 80 184 0 77 184 84 192 85 197 42 45 168 155 3 3 167 4 3 2 77 85 199 192 2 35 190 2 183 2 3 3 132 8 130 7 13 1 5 137 7 127 9 37 37 37 6 6 I 33 2 3 4 2 45 5 6 34 2 2 5 4 4 2 162 5 3 2 7 4 4 11 3 3 114 2 120 3 124 4 31 25 34 5 9 2 7 9 10 6 4 3 3 107 57 4 109 50 2 178 2 114 176 2 3 2 147 3 2 5 176 5 2 4 I 115 I 41 196 2 5 2 I 2 5 88 21 83 105 5 89 �SLOVAKIA 84 Table 4 - Agricultural High Schools 1922/3 1921/2 K Socioeconomic Data BS K 1924/5 1923 / 4 BS K BS K BS Parental Occupation Owners u f land : JOO+ hc<:1arcs 20- 100 hcnan·s 5-20 hcnan:s k-ss than 5 h1.•1.·tarcs 8 22 15 18 3 16 3 19 12 18 14 II 12 13 7 46 Agriniltural or forc s,ry 1.· mplu y1.-c ur wor ke r offi c ia l Non-agricultural 25 14 15 31 II 36 14 16 49 9 41 14 50 52 Age - 16 17- 18 19-20 281 27 5' 2 1-22 6 81 3I 21 13 23 & abm-c 2 17 33 31 24 36 15 10 25 Scholarships S1atc-No. / V alm· Region al-Nu./Val uc 27/26,800 I 517,900 37/38,485 9/ 10,830 17 /8 ,900 9/ 4 ,629 Distri<·1- No ./ Va lu c Othcr-Nu ./ Va lu c (Values in KCs) 16/13 ,000 7/9,500 8/4,900 9/6, .1 00 29/ 39,800 18/17,400 Total Studcn1s rccei \' in g grant s No./Va lu c BS - Ban sk- a Stia\'nit·a K - K o~ in· - age 15 1 - ages 16- 18 54/ 54,215 27 / 18.829 9 33 38 12 8 65/ 41.81 0 27 29 16 18 23/15,900 8 33 40 17 9 7 1/ 37 ,600 24 29 20 10 34/15,580 �85 SLOVAKIA Table 4 - 1926/7 1925 /6 K BS K II 12 26 II 14 20 13 8 4 II 45 14 46 4 32 16 35 19 19 13 34 28 17 4 4 36 48 17 4 Agricultural High Schools - Socioeconomic Data 1927/8 BS K 1936/7 193516 BS K BS K 12 6 9 18 25 15 13 9 10 26 40 6 8 22 34 II 7 9 36 4 19 9 9 32 I 37 20 24 14 6 8 33 30 22 22 4 25 31 10 19 44 23 6 8/3, 100 4 /2 , 500 25/12 ,350 9/3,000 6 6 6 2 23 20 23 4/3,000 21700 55/33, 150 2017,790 53/30.750 13/11,650 58/27,400 2/5,200 36/16,050 8/5,500 BS 30 17 7 47 30 39 I7 22 27 27 14 17 6/4,200 15/ 12,700 10/3,350 1/962 5/2,300 7/4,200 1/500 32121,212 13/7 ,000 �86 SLOVAKIA Table 5 Higher Cooperative Agricultural School 1936/7 Total Students : 22 (all male); all graduated Nationality : 20 Czechoslovak, 2 Hungarian Age: I 17-18 , 5 19-20, 5 21-2, 5 23 & above Fees: 17 waived , 5 part waived Family O ccupations: 3 owners of 20-100 hectares, 10 owners of 5-20 hec tares, 2 agricultural or forest ry employees and workers , 7 non agricultural Scholarships: 3 from regional government totalling 4,000 Kc 16 others totalling 26,000 Kc � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1984, Vol. 31 Description An account of the resource Vol. 31 (No. 57), 1984. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 59 The Modernization of Slovakia: The Role of Vocational High Schools, 1918-1938 Owen V . Johnson Most of the modern nations and nationalities in Eastern Europe began as cultural movements. Writers and teachers were among their earliest leaders. As these movements grew in size, they turned into political movements , with lawyers playing increasingly important roles. 1 Most of the research on East European national development has focused on these changes . None of these developing nations could long survive, however, without an adequate industrial , commercial, and modern agricultural base. Such development has been the thread of continuity in twentieth-century Eastern Europe behind the facade of radical political change. This article examines the basis of economic change which was laid down in three types of secondary schools in interwar Slovakia, the commercial academies, and the industrial and agricultural high schools. That they were not a top priority of the new Czechoslovak government is indicated by the fact that none was opened until the fall of 1919, nearly a year after the creation of the new Republic , while the first Slovak gymnazium had opened its doors only two weeks after the seizure of power by the new state. The common tie of these three types of schools was that they were more likely to draw their students from the middle schools , in contrast to the gymnazium, which usually admitted students directly from primary schools to its eight-year curriculum. In part this is explained by the fact that these schools attracted a different type of student , on e who was interested not in becoming a lawyer, a doctor , or a teacher - those people went to the gymnazia or the teacher training institutions - but the one who wanted to become an ' ' independent entrepreneur.'' 60 SLOVA KIA Each of th ese schools will b e di scu ssed se parately. Like the o the r vocatio na l seco nda ry schools, the co mm e rcial acad e mies perform ed a du a l fun ction . Their four- year curriculum was des igned partially to prepa re student s to a ssum e respo n sible positio n s in bu sin ess or b a nking offi ces (e.g., two fore ign la n gu ages, incl udin g G erm a n , were in the curriculum) a nd pa rtially to prepa re those students who wished to study a t an institutio n of higher learning . The course was ge n era l, with no provisio n for specializa tio n . 2 G radu a tes we re eli gible to study a t the V ysoka o bchodn a skola (C o mme rcial College) in Pragu e, o r , e ffective 192 4 , a ft er pass in g the supplem entary exam (s) (give n in Slovakia o nly in Bra ti slava) in L a tin a nd philosophical proped eu tika, a t the L a w F aculty in Brno . 3 Beginnin g in 193 4 , they we re also eli gible to a ttend milita ry offi ce r s' school. G radu a tes who did no t go o n for furth e r edu cation h ad the right , a fter o ne year 's practice, to the " indepe nde nt m a n age m e nt of a business. " 4 M os t oft e n , howeve r , they becam e officials in b a nkin g or com me rce, o r gained employ m ent in the sta te bureau cracy. 5 The e ntra nce requirem e nts to these schools we re th e sam e as fo r o ther vocatio na l schools. The prospective a pplicant e ith er ha d to be a t leas t age 14 a nd h ave co mple ted four years a t a realka o r som e kind of gymnazium , o r be a g radu a te of the middl e school, with a pp ro pria te gra des. Preferen ce was give n to a pplicants with bu siness experie nce . 6 T hose pe rso ns who h ad passed the ir gymnazium m aturita una nimou sly or with distinctio n could take a o ne-year post -g rad u a te course a t a co mme rcial acad emy ( o ne su ch course was se t up a t Bra ti slava); those w ho had rece ived a "with m ajo rity" mark would be accepted o nly if there was roo m . Gymnazium gradua tes could al so enter the third year of the co mme rcial acade m y o n a tentat ive bas is, hav in g ho weve r to ta ke seve ra l supple m e nta ry exa m s by Christm as . 7 T he traditio nal Hun gari a n d isd a in fo r co mme rce, a nd he nce, fo r comm ercial edu cati o n , le ft it s imp r int on public a ttitudes toward th e bu siness academies. When the Bra ti slava Commercial Acade m y opened for bu sin ess in th e fall of 19 19, nearly a third of the regul a rl y enro ll ed stude nts we re Czec hs. Czechs were in the majo rit y at the a ttached post-gradu a te co urse. 8 It took time to ove rco me the negat ive attitudes, time for these schools to d em o nstra te the ir wo rth . A s a ch ro nicle r at the K os ice Com m e rcial Acad e m y no ted , the sc hool " ove rco m es the mi stake n trad itio n in the SLOVAKIA 61 Slovak people that only the hi gh school, specifically the gymnazium and not a commercial school, can insure the Slovak son or daughter a regular functional edu cation .' ' 9 In those early years, it was often necessary to personally con vince the parents of prospective students of the value of the commercial education. One means of persuasion was money in the form of scholarships . In the early years, however, state aid was not very generous, about one grant per school. 10 It appears that the total amount of support rose significantly beginning with the 1928/29 school year. An increasingly important source was the regional Slovak government. Ove rall , government assistance for the commercial academies generally is a carbon copy of the assistance to the gymnazia. The old Hungarian schools operated uninterrupted through the 1918/9 school year. By the following fall, two schools had been closed , at Hume nne and Revuca , for lack of students; the rest were taken over by the state. Because there were no Slovaks qualified to teach in this field, Czechs were brought in to serve as both professors and principals. The old three-year pattern of instruction was continued until the passage of a new law on February 15, 1922, which formally established fouryear academies at Bratislava , Kosice, and Martin . By fall, a fourth academy was opened at Banska Bystrica. The close proximity of the last two named schools soon led to an apparent superfluity of places , and the school at Martin was forced to close , doing so one grade at a time , beginning in 1923/4. 11 The postwar recession and the deindustrialization of Slovakia which accompanied it , coupled with an essentially rural population, were surely the major causes. They discouraged parents who might otherwise have thought of enrolling their children. 12 The recovery which soon followed led to a n ew interest in this type of school , leading to the establishment of an institution at Nitra in 1926/7 - considered a replacement for Martin - and at Trencfn and (once again) Martin in 1927/8 . Job offers were now two or three times higher than the number of graduates . 13 Although the Depression forestalled the establi shm ent of any add itional schools for n early a d ecade, the number of students continued to rise steadily , except for a slight fall occasioned by the com ing of age of the tiny World War I generation. In common with the expansion in the number of gymnazia just before the outbreak of World War II , a commercial academ y was set up at Humen ne in the 1937/8 school year, where there h ad once been a Hungarian school. 62 SLOVAKIA The importance of the gove rnment 's role in fos te rin g commercial education is demonstrated by the fact that all of the commercial academies in Slovakia were state institutio ns. Only two of the approxima tely thirty other school s in the Republic were owned a nd ope rated b y the sta te . The commercial academies had a reputa tion of quality both at home and abroad because they enrolled a highly select group of students chosen from amon g man y a pplicants . The teacher s we re highly qualified , attracted by high pay . Even teachers of general educa tional subj ects earned more th an they would in a gymnazium or a realka. The o nly additional requirem ent was tha t they n eeded to have some minimal knowledge of business. 14 The curriculum was evenly divided between subjects of general instru ction (with a heavy d ose of la n gu ages) and business subj ects. Strictly speakin g, study a t the commercial acad emies did n o t end with a m aturita exam. 15 Even thou gh the examina tion was op tional, m ost stude nts took it b ecau se it was n ecessary for admi ssion to the univer sity , a nd it could m ean a hi gh er pos ition or rate o f pay on m a n y jobs . (It should be n oted tha t a hi gher p rece ntage of commercial acad em y students went on for additional studies tha n did students from the indu strial hi gh schools. y 6 In an effort to encourage students to go into bu siness for them selves upo n gradu a tion rather than takin g up an admini st ration j ob , the comm e rcial acad e mies d evelop ed a p rogram in which studen ts would spend their summers wo rking in various shops . Local banks, district and county gove rnm ents, a nd ch a mber s o f commerce r a ised the m on ey to pay the students for the experien ce. The D epression forced a cutback in the program . Ther e is no ev ide n ce that the program achieved its goal. 17 Like the indu strial high sch ools, the co mmercial acad e mies actu ally we re onl y the a n chor s of la rger edu cation al in sti t utio n s. In all ca ses, there was a two -year bu sin ess sch ool a ttach ed . A cco rdin g to Cve rcko, ' ' Students showed a preference fo r the two-year b usiness schools becau se they prov ided edu cation al oppo rtunities fo r stu d ent s from th e poo rer famili es and fo r youn g wom en w ho d es ired employm e n t in offi ces . ' ' 18 In so m e in stan ces, these bu siness schools, wh en located in pl aces other tha n a t a co mmercial acad em y, the m selves se rved as ce nte rs for sho rter term bu siness cou rses . 19 T he sch ool a t Brat islava was even m ore co mplex becau se it h ad bo th Czechoslovak a nd Hun garia n divisio ns. Published statistics on the commercial acad emies n ormally in cl uded d a ta o n both the acad emies a nd the a tt ach ed sch ools, m a kin g it m ore SLOVAKIA 63 difficult to study the makeup of the student body of the academies alone. N evertheless, some observati on s can be made , especiall y whe n the published sta tewide statistics a re considered in conjun ction with the a nalysis of the sta tistics from the a nnu al repo rts published by the schools ( also see Fi gure 1 a nd T able 1) . One of the more interesting aspects is the presen ce of a slowly increasing number of women in these schools. This contrasts strongly with th e indu stri al hi gh school s. Whil e the postwa r recession n early wipes out a n initi al fem ale enrollment of b etter tha n ten percent, a gradual improve m ent whi ch began in the mid-twenties continued to the end of the R epublic, so tha t by the 1936/7 school year , more tha n a fifth of the stud ents we re women . The pe rce ntage of wo men gradu a tes , in line with the ge ne ral tre nd , was several percent less. At Nit ra, th e student s we re prima ril y children of white-collar worke rs, teachers, professors, doctors, lawyers, businessmen , and shopkeepers, in other words , the better situ ated elem ents of the society . About on e third of the student s cam e from workin g cl ass famili es. Jo INDUSTRIAL HIGH SCHOOLS Th e indu stri al hi gh school (priem yselna skola), with a fo ur- year curriculum , witnessed a slow developm ent ove r the hi story of the first C zechoslovak R epubli c. A s was the case with vocation al second a ry schools in gen eral , th ere were n ot ve ry man y of th em. Anton Stefa nek, who as R eferent fo r Edu cation in Slova ki a helped established th e school system, reali zed th e n eed for these schools, but recogni zed th e publi c ha d littl e apprec ia tio n fo r th em : It is n ecessary th a t Slovaks understa nd the value of technical , indu stri al a nd commercial schools. Yes, second a ry schools th ere mu st b e, gymnazia a nd realky, but all peopl e cann o t be gentlem e n with te nd er h a nd s.J 1 Al thou gh seve ral of these in stituti o n s h ad peen in ex isten ce durin g Hun gari an rule, they were in the large r cities, where the Slovak presence was sm all. Further , they lacked do rmito ries, m a kin g a tte nd a nce so m ewh a t diffi cult for o th er th a n city res id ents. 21 Three Czechoslovak in d u stri al hi gh schools o pen ed in th e fall of 19 19, with th e fi rs t grad u a tes em ergin g in 1923 . T wo we re in Bra tislava, a m ech a ni cal en gin ee rin g school (s trojnick a) a nd a buildin g or 64 SLOVAKIA civil engineerin g school (stavitel'ska), sharing the same facili ties. Kosice had a dual language engineering school. A chemical high school opened in Banska Stiavnica in 1921 , foll owed by a second buildin g school in Presov in 1931. The final institution to open its doors was the electrotechni cal hi gh school in Banska Byst rica , commen cing operations in the fall of 1936. Study at each institution, partially general a nd partially technical , ended with a maturita examination. The mech a nical e ngineering school was design ed to provide "gen eral and profess ional education , such as needed by managers of smaller engin eering firms or factories with enginee ring systems, or by technical officials.'' The course lasted four years. Applica nts for the school need ed to have co mpl eted four years of gymnazium studies, or middle school plus the one-year supplem entary " naukobeh ." Students with only three years of gym nazium or who h ad completed middle school edu cation with a grade of at leas t "good ," and who cou ld prove they had at least one year of on-the-job experience , cou ld also be admitted. 23 Preference went to those with practi cal experience. An entran ce exam was required. Like the co mmercial academi es, vocat ional schools of shorter duration were attached to each industrial high school. Th e goals of the other types of indu strial high schools were similar - to train the students for skill ed managerial and technical jobs, or for university study; the admission requireme nts were nearly the same , too. Th e civil engin eering hi gh school was designed to provide theoretical and practi cal instruction for future ind ependent owners of construction firm s, especiall y those dealing in concrete, rein forced co ncrete, a nd ca rpentry, as well as for private or state technical offic ials. 14 Graduates were ex pected to be abl e to construct a dwelli ng. The chem ical high school's a im was th e provision of gen eral a nd speciali zed education in combination with practical experience for future factory owners , administrators, and factory offi cials for various chemi cal plants, such as dye-works, printing, bleach or soap pla nts, glassworks, fertili ze r faciliti es, etc. 15 The electrotechni cal school , which had no graduates in its short existence, was also to give both ge neral a nd speciali zed inst ru ction combined with practi cal experie nce, to owners or managers of mach in e or electrotechni cal factories , or ot her factories with machine systems, and for technical offic ials of th e larger private or state engineerin g organizations. 26 The graduates of industrial hi gh schools could , aft er passing a sup- SLOVAKIA 65 plementary exam, also study a t the technical universiti es, although few did, both because of the exam , a nd becau se, until the fall of 1938, there was no technical university in Slovakia, a fact which also h and icapped th ese schools in the ir efforts to a ttract students. 27 In th e fall of 1934, a transport division was added to the con struction high school in Bratislava , the ex press a im of the change b eing to facilitiate graduate placem ent, particularly in the m edium-sized and small firm s. J8 Th e practical n a ture of the study at the indu strial high schools required that no private students be all owed . Forty applicants were to be admitted each year at each school, except for the chemi cal hi gh school, to whi ch a maximum of thirty were all owed . If an aspirin g student passed th e entran ce examination at a parti cular school , but was not admitted because of lack of sufficient pl aces , he cou ld seek admission elsewhere in the R epublic .J 9 When the schools opened in the fall of 1919 , applicants from Slovakia were few . A call was sent out to the Czech students in the overcrowded industrial hi gh schools of Bohemia and Moravia to come to Slovakia. The re were promises of travel a nd ot her support, anything to help ra ise th e enrollm ent. 3° Of th e 77 students who enroll ed at the two schools in Bratislava , 42 were Slovak and 26 were Czech. 31 Th e total number of students experienced a steady, but slow climb upward because with th e opening of each new sc hool , approximately one cl ass was open ed each year (see Figure 2 and Table 2). In 1925, howeve r, the Ministry of Edu cation an noun ced plans to gradually close th e ch emical high school " because th e prese nt conditions in th e chem ical industry in no way ass ure the stude nts the fulfillm e nt of the amb ition s which lead them to the school.' ' The Ministry of Education (Msano) backed down , however, a nd agreed to co ntinu e to operate the school , provided first yea r enrollment reached 20 stud ents. 3J O verall , th e number of appli cations to all th e schools was mod erate until the mid-thirties, when both the expansion of industry in Slovakia a nd th e immin ent openin g of th e techni cal uni ve rsity led to a n explo sion of inte res t in these schools. At Banska Bystrica, for in sta nce, th e numbe r of appli cat io n s exceed ed th e number of admi ss ion s by 4 or 5 to 1. A simil a r jump in in terest developed in Bra ti slava abo u t the sa m e tim e . Earli er, nea rl y everyo ne who p assed the e ntran ce exam was admitted . (About one-th ird of th e a pplicants fail ed th e tes t.) Alth ough th ere has been no research o n th e subj ect, it is prob able 66 SLOVAKIA that the limited number of these schools was a hindrance in the expansion of the number of students, not only because there was a limited number of places, but also because students from a large part of the more Slovak areas of Slovakia could attend these schools only if they could afford to pay room and board. The schools themselves did not have their own dormitories, although the two Bratislava schools had access to up to 100 places in the city's Secondary School dormitory . 33 The founding of the electrotechnical school at Banska Bystrica provides some fine examples of the government ' s general attitudes toward the need for industrial education in Slovakia. The campaign for the establishment of the school was led by the Banska Bystrica City Council and by the Central Slovak Chamber of Commerce . The latter made the initial move in May 1934, urging the city council to join forces . The Chamber pointed out the lack of this particular kind of education in Slovakia. Two months later, the City Council wrote to the Ministry of Education , stressing how the creation of this school would further the development of Slovakia: The continuing electrification of Slovakia is not yet finish ed ; thus , not only would many jobs in this area await the graduates of the school, but the power-stations in Slovakia have a continuing lack of well-educated Slovaks . 34 The Ministry of Education responded the following spring, expressing doubt that there would be a sufficient number of students with the requisite preparatory education, and suggesting doubt that, in view of the economic crisis , the graduates could be placed. The economic upswing which was even then beginning apparently erased all doubts . The flood of applications had proved Prague wrong , at least on a delayed basis. H With the exception of the chemical high school, very few girls enrolled in the industrial high schools, the total reaching a high of 6 ½ percent in 1929/30 and 1930/1. There is no obvious explanation for the chemical school exception. Information on scholarship aid is too skimpy to make any judgments. AG RI CULTURAL HIGH SCHOOLS The two schools known as higher agricultural schools showed the least change of any of the secondary level institutions in Slovakia dur- SLOVAKIA 67 ing the interwar Republic. One was the higher agricultural (or farming) school in Kosice, founded on the ruins of a prewar college level Hungarian Academy, and the other the higher forestry school in Banska Stiavnica. There also had been a Forestry Academy there, although its building fell to the industrial high school. Both agricultural schools were administered by the Ministry of Agriculture through an inspector of agricultural instruction in Bratislava, one of six such offices in Czechoslovakia. 36 The school in Kosice was one of more than a dozen higher farming schools in the Republic, that in Banska Stiavnica one of four higher forestry schools (one of three Czechoslovak) in Czechoslovakia. 3 1 Both schools opened in the fall of 1919 and graduated their first classes in the spring of 1923. The faculty consisted almost entirely of Czechs . 3 8 The goal of the Farming School at Kosice was the education of' 'independent agricultural entrepreneurs" as well as officials who could handle agricultural affairs for the government or serve cooperatives in an office capacity. 39 The curriculum sought to make of the student an '' agricultural intelligent who could learn not to limit himself to that which is generally known, but who would also try to look for new ways and methods; in short, that it kindle and nurture in the young man the skill of application and, as much as possible, initiative.' ' 40 Students, of whom 30 were admitted each year, had to be at least 15 years of age, and to have completed either middle school, or the first four years of a gymnazium. In addition, boys and girls who had completed the shorter twoyear peasant school course with distinction could be admitted. Preference was to be given to those from peasant families who would be farming independently. 41 Originally three years in length, the school was converted to four years in 1920/ 1 (Ministry of Agriculture 21308/ 1920). The expanded curriculum permitted an expansion of general education and a deepening of technical subjects, as well as greater emphasis on the practical element of instruction . In addition, new subjects were added to prepare the students better for the modern world, including civics, business, typewriting, the cooperative movement, and milk processing. 42 The program of study ended with the maturita exam. Graduates, after passing supplementary exams , could study at the College of Agriculture, the College of Veterinary Medicine, Commercial Colleges, 68 SLOVAKIA or the Military Academy . A Provincial Institute of Agriculture R esearch was attached to the school. Applicants for the higher forestry high school also needed to be 15 years of age, and have completed the lower four years of a gymnazium , or a middle school plus the one-year continuation course (nauk obeh). Preference was given to sons of forestry employees and workers . No women were allowed. All graduates of secondary schools could pass directly into the second year of the school and, if they passed the required examination, advance directly into the third year of study. 43 The entering class was at first limited to 30 students, a figure later cut to 20. Only in exceptio n al cases were students from Bohemia and Moravia to be admitted. They had to be able to prove that a job would be await in g them upon graduation . 4 4 The goal of the school was to provide education for an efficient forest service and for the admin istration of smaller forest properties or the lumber business and industry and to provide an education correspond in g to the general level of advanced secondary education. The four-year course concluded with maturita exams . Graduates could attend the forestry division of the College of Agriculture after completing suppleme ntary exams in language and mathematical subjects. 4 5 Those who wished to enter state service directly (which was th e rule) were required to pass a state exam in the appropriate field. There is some irony in the generally held assumption that "through the incorporation of agricultural Slovakia, the Czechoslovak Republic has become nearly self-supporting as regards the supply of agricultural produce, " 46 yet so little attent ion was given to developing an advanced system of agricu ltural education in Slovakia. Part of the answer lies in the small size of so many of the land holdings, which would make further education superfluous. Prior to 1918, these two schools, existing on the level of junior colleges, had turned out offic ials and employees to manage the great estates of the Hungarian magnates. In fact, interest in attending the Czechoslovak school does not seem to have been overwhelming. For one thing , social attitudes worked against it. One stu dent remembered first enrollin g at a teacher training institute , then persuading hi s father that employment possibilities after graduat ion from the Farming School wou ld be much better. His mother and sister, however, were appalled by his withdrawal from the teacher training institute, and insisted he go back to it, which he did. 47 The R eferent for Agriculture, SLOVAKIA 69 Pavel Blaho, had to take special pains to insure that there were enough students at all in the first years. 48 The school in Kosice had particular trouble attracting Slovak students. In 1920/1 , only 7 of 23 first year students were Slovak . 49 In that same year, only 21 of 48 students at Banska Stiavnica had parents living in Slovakia. 50 There were more Czechs than Slovaks in the first forestry graduating class. 51 Further discouraging the establishment of more schools was the argument that Slovaks were eligible to attend similar institutions in the Czech lands. Because these schools were both '' one of a kind'' they drew students from all over Slovakia. For instance, Kosice, in 1929/3 0, had representatives from more than half the counties of Slovakia. 52 This made the provision of housing important. Initially, Kosice had a dormitory for 45 students. It was replaced in the 1923/2 4 school year by the Ministry of Agriculture with a building which housed 120. A temporary dormitory was established at Banska Stiavnica in 1920 within the school itself. 53 However , once the school had reached its full complement of four classes in the fall of 1922 , the need for classrooms forced the dormitory's closing. Between a half and two-thirds of the students received financial aid, the m ajority of which, after 1929 , came from the regional government in Bratislava. Prior to that time , the counties and districts frequently gave support. 54 State aid was channeled through the Ministry of Agriculture . 55 Financial aid on the average was about twice as large for the students in Kosice as in Banska Stiavnica . Total enrollment at the two schools remained constant between 160 and 200 students (see Tables 3 and 4) . Girls were eligible to attend the school in Kosice , but hardly any did . Between 90 and 95 percent of the enrollment consisted of Czech and Slovak students, with a sprinkling of Ruthenians (particularly in the more accessible Kosice), Germans, and Hungarians. The percentage of students who were Catholic initially was very high (88 percent), but by 1925 declined to a level of about 70 percent , at which it remained. The percentage of Lutherans , at first very low, rose to 15-20 percent by 1925. The fact that the Lutheran pe rcentage was slightly higher than in the population as a whole can be attributed largely to the fact that Banska Stiavnica was situated in a more strongly Protestant area. There also were regularly small numbers of Orthodox , Greek Catholic, and Jewish students. Students at both Banska Stiavnica and Kosice te nded to be well a bove the minimum age, with the largest number in the 19-20 year old 70 SLOVAKIA range. Those from agricultural families were in the majority at Kosice and usually in the minority at Banska Stiavnica. In addition, if from agricultural backgrounds those at Kosice were more likely to come from larger landholders. 56 HIGHER COOPERATIVE AG RI CULTURAL SCHOOL An additional specialized school, the Higher Cooperative Agricultural School, a private institution , was opened in Bratislava in the fall of 1936. The goal of the school's four-semester course was to provide ''professional theoretical and practical preparation or development in cooperative consciousness and education for capable cooperative officials and functionaries for Slovakia, as well as for friends of the cooperative idea. " 57 Prior to the opening of the Slovak school, the cooperative officials had been drawn from the graduates of the commercial academies and agricultural schools, as well as from officials of financial institutions . The Central Cooperative Council ran a similar school in Prague, but it was not able to accept all applicants from Slovakia. Stipends for students from Slovakia had been made available on the basis of reciprocity , i.e., service in Slovakia. The Bratislava branch of the Cooperative Council lacked funds as well as a building to start its own school. When the latter problem was solved, the former became available. 58 Three groups were eligible for admission. The majority were to have completed a high school education, with preference given to graduates of the higher agricultural school in Kosice and the commercial academies, as well as those who had cooperative experience. A second group was drawn from those who had completed with success at least the first four years of high school or middle school, and who had also successfully completed agricultural or business school and had at least two years of cooperative experience . This group required entrance exams. A third group, persons not citizens of Czechoslovakia, could be admitted in special cases. The total from the second and third groups was not to exceed 8 places in the class of 24 . 59 In the two years the school was in operation, about half of the 22 students were age 23 and older; they came from many different districts across Slovakia . From a religious standpoint, the Lutherans were over-represented (see Table 5), with 35 percent the first year and 45 percent the second year. The parents of about two-thirds of the students SLOVAKIA 71 had agricultural occupations. There is n o reference to the sex of the stude nts, although it can b e presumed that all were m en . 60 CONCLUSION It is un avoidable that some of the information presen ted in this article represents what might be called " microhistory ." In it are catalogued various beginnings and small changes . It is b ecause these changes have previously not been recorded in an organized fashion that certain processes of n ational d evelopment in twentieth-century Slovakia have not been properly understood. It is generally recognized that too few students in developing countries study mathematics or the scientific professions. 61 In many ways, Slovakia was an undeveloped country . Consideration mu st be given , however, to priorities in national form ation . Given the necessity of creating an intelligentsia within a national grouping, the most immediate and most important con cern is for an intelligentsia which will be visible to the public. Slovak-speaking lawye rs to ha ndle legal and administrative affairs, Slovak-speaking doctors to minister to the public, and Slovak-speaking teachers to teach Slovak culture were far m ore important a t the outset than the development of a technical intelligentsia for developin g a Slovak n ation al consciousn ess . Certainly the opportunities in the interwar republic to employ the skills gained in the vocational high schools were rather limited for a variety of reasons related to the formation of a n ew state-system in Eastern Europe . The lack of a n adequately trained agricultural , comme rcial, and industri al intelligentsia became painfully visible during the shortlived existence of the Slovak state ( 1939-1945). But , if it were not for the modest accompli shments in this field by the so-called bourgeois republic , the rapid growth begun in the Slovak state and continued in the renewed postwar Czechoslovak R epublic would n ot h ave been so dramatic . NOTES ' Th is peri od iza tion is outl in ed, a mong others, by Sta nl ey Z . Pech , " Ri ght, Left , and C entre in Eastern Europe 1869-1 940 : A cross-N ational Profile," C an adian journal of History , V ol. 16 , No. 2 ( 198 1), pp . 23 7-262. 72 SLOVAKIA ' For the cu rri culum of the commercial academy, see Vestnfk Ministerstva skolstvf a narodnf osvety (Msano), 13, No. 5 ( 15 May 1931), 18 1. 3 Vestnfk Msano , 6, No. 3 ( 15 M arch 1924), 100. Philosophical propedeutike consisted of a" . .. sy nthesis of knowledge from all subjects; acquaintance with the principal methods of philosophic solutions of problems. Thorough realization of the laws of intellec tual life and appreciation of th e major qu estions and tasks of philosophy. Survey of the intellec tual development of hum an ity." Vojtech Andie, "A Comparative Study of Education in Czechoslovakia for th e Periods of 1918 to 1938 and 1948 to 1953" (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation , New York University , 1954) , p . 128. • Ida Zubacka, "Prfspevok k dejinam strednych odbornych skol v Nitre v rokoch 1918- 1938," Zbornfk Pedagogick ej fakulty v Nitre, 2 1 (1973)-Spolocenske ved ydejepis-zemepis, p. 104. 1 " Strucny informacnf pi'ehled o skolstvf narodnfm , sti'ednfm a odbornem , " Vestnfk Msano , 6, No. 5 ( 15 May 1924), 273-4. 6 Antonin Bohac, "Padesat let ceskoslovenskeho skolstvf ," Pedagogika, 18, No. 5 ( 1968), 675. ' Vestnfk Msano, 7, No. 6 ( 15 Jun e 1925), 183-4. 8 Eduard Weis, "Zprava stat isti cka o skolstvf v Bratisl ave na pocatku sk. r . 1919/20 a srovnanf dat o skolach eleme ntarnfch s kon ce m sk. r. 1918/ 19, 16 December 191 9. Fond 7 Minister s plnou moci pre Slovensku (M/pm), Statny ustredny archfv Slovenskej socialistickej republiky (SUA SSR) Bra ti slava. • Yea rl y R eport, K osice Obchodna Akademia 1919/2 0-20/ 1, p. 6. ' 0 Vestnfk Msano , 6, No . 12 ( 15 D ece mber 1924), 592-3. '' J . Fuksa et al. , eds. , Almanach obchodnfho skolstvf ceskos/ovenske republiky 1918- 1928 (Prague : Statnf nakladatelst vf, 1938), p. 23 . " The i upan of Spis doubted hi s population 's " understanding for th e practical ed ucation of (its) youth ." His comments cited by M / pm as one of th e reasons to deny commercial academy to K ezmarok-M/ pm 14634/2 1 Adm . III of 20 October 192 1 in Spisska zupa 691/1921 in Statny archfv-Levoca. The principal in K osice had no doubts th at the population in that city did not value a commercial edu ca tion. Yearly R eport, 19 19/20-20/ 1, p . 36 . 13 Yearly R eport, Brat islava OA 1928/9, p. 15. 14 Bohac , "Padesat let, " p . 678. 11 Ibid ., p . 675. 16 Ibid. 11 Yea rl y R eport , Banska Bystri ca OA 1927 /8 , p. 7; 1928/9, p. 20; 193 1/ 2, p. 9; and 1932 /3, p. 11. " Sister M. Joan Cvercko , " Schools of Slova ki a: Histori cal Study of Secondary Technical-Vocational Education 1918-1 948" (Unpublished M .A. thesis, The Catholic University of America, 1972), p. 62. SLOVAKIA 19 ' 0 73 Fuksa, Almanach , pp . 125-4 7, describes in detail the various combinations of schools as th ey were in 1928. Zubacka, " Prfspevok," p. 105. " Literarny archiv Matice slovenskej (LAMS) 42 VIII 23, "Priemyselne a odborne skoly v r. 1919/ 1920, " p. 10. " Yearly Report, Bratislava Priemyselna skola 1919/20, p. 11. " H. J a nus , " Sedemdesiat' rokov priemyselnej skoly v Bratislave ," Jednotna skola, 26, No. 2 (February 1974), 181. " Yea rly Report , Bratislava Priemyselna skola 1919/ 20, p. 1. " Julius Bartak , Vyvin Jesnickeho skolstva na Slovensku v ramci hospodarskych pomerov (Bratislava: Lesnfcka a dreva rska ustredna, 1942), p. 303. ,. Yea rl y R eport , Banska Bystri ca Statna odborna skola 1936/7, p . 3. " Bohac , "Padesat let ," p. 675. According to " Strucny ," pp . 260-1 , no supplementary exam was required; a successful maturitant could study in th e technical or mining colleges in th e sam e field he had done his high school work ; according to Anton Benda , "Statn a cs!. priemyselna skola s mad'arskymi pobockami V Kosiciach, " in A .S. Zitavsky, Pamiitnik slovensk eho skolstva za ucinkovania Prezidenta T.G. Masaryk a (Bratislava: V yd avatel'stvo pamii.tnika Slovenskeho skolstva, (1936-7), V ol. I , p. 177 , "at leas t one" a year from his school went on for uni versity level study. " J a nus, "Sedemd esiat'," p. 182. Similar reasoning und erlay the creation of a post-gradu ate electrotechni cal course at Bra tisl ava in 1931/2, although the course seems only to have existed fo r a year. Yearl y R eport, Bratislava Priem yselna skola 1930/ 1, pp . 24-5 and 193 1/2, p. 25. " " Strucny," pp. 260-1. '° K om ensky, 46 , No. 24 (30 August 1919), 7. " LAMS 42 VIII 23 , " Priemyselne a odborne skoly v r. 1919/ 1920," p. 12. " Pohron ska zupa 3851/1925-SA-Banska Bys tri ca. " J. Smetana, "Statn a cs!. pri emyselna skola v Bratislave," in Zitavsky , Pamacnik , V ol. I , p. 163. " Brigita Simonova et. al. , Minulost', sucasnost', buducnost ': Jubilejny alman ach k 50. vyrociu sloven sk ej cechnick ej skoly v B anskej B ys trici (Banska Bystrica : Stredoslove nske vyd avatel'stvo , 1967) , pp. 34-5. " Ibid ., pp . I 04-7. " Edvard R eich , " V yvoj ze medelskeho skol stvf s hledi ska celostatniho, " in R eich & Vaclav Skoda , eds., Zem edelska osveta V R. C.S. (Prague: Ministerstvo skolstvi a narodni osvety, mini sterstvo ze m edelstvf a ze msky ufad , 1931), pp. 10- 12. " Th ere was so me va ri a nce: The tot al of ag ricultural schools fluctu ated between 13 and I 6 ( of whi ch I 0-12 were Czechoslovak). " r,udovft H am as, " V ychova pol'nohospodarov v rokoch neslobod y- 1938- 1945 na 74 SLOVAKIA Slovensku," Cykl. vytisk. KPU, Bratislava, as quoted in Zdenek Cernohorsky , Dejiny zemedelskeho skolstvi v Ceskoslovensku (Prague: SPN, 1980), pp. 5-1 . 39 ' 0 Jozef Babanek, Zemedel'ske skolstvo dl'a stavu roku 1927 (Bratislava: Slovenska knihtlaciaren, 1928), p. 30. Yearly Report, Kosice Vyssia hospodarska skola 1919-1929 and 1920/30, p. 5. " Eudovft Hamas, Z dejin pol'nohospodarskeho skolstva (Bratislava: SPN, 1967), p. 22 . " Ceskoslovenska statistika, Vol. 2, p . 11 • . 0 Bartik , V}'vin, p. 291. 44 Ibid., 290; and Ceskoslovenska Statistika, Vol. 2, p. ts• . " Babanek, Zemedel'ske, p. 60 . •• Vladislav Brdlik, "Agriculture," in Jozef Gruber, Czechoslovakia: A Survey of Economic and Social Conditions (New York: The Macmillan Co. , 1924), p. 28. " Vladimir Medek, "Krfdla do zivota," in Hudzovic , Sto rokov, p. 147. " See Yearly Report of Kosice Vyssia hospodarska skola 1919-1929 and 1929/30, p. 25. Perhaps the most seductive means was financial. In 1920/ 1, 26 students at Kosice received grants totalling 24,920 Kc . No other such school received more than eight grants . In the same year, 18 stipends and grants worth 15,900 Kc were awarded to Banska Stiavnica forestry students. The other three such schools in the Republic together had only 14 grants for 4900 Kc. Further evidence of Blaho ' s influence is that same year, nearly half of the students in Kosice were from his home country at the other end of Slovakia . The largest number of students at Banska Stiavnica were also from Nitra County. Ceskoslovenska statistika, Vol. 2, Tables V, VII. " Referent for Education to principals of all secondary schools in Slovakia, c. 30.927 / II of 8 June 1921-copy in Prievidza G, Spisy, Carton 1, Okresny archfv-Prievidza. '° Ceskoslovenska statistika, Vol. 2, Table IV. " Zelmfra Miillerova, "Lesnfcke knifoice na Slovensku , " Kniznicny zbornik , 1971, p. 182. The proportion of Slovaks increased only gradually . " Yearly Report, Kosice Vyssia hospodarska skola 1919-1929 and 1929/ 30 , pp. 74-6. " Students went on strike in December 1919 to force the establishment of the dormitory. Styridsat' rokov Lesnickej technickej skoly v Banskej Stiavnici 1919-1959 (Bratislava: Poverenfctvo Podohospodarstva, 1959), p. 15. " Archival records testify that the two schools actively solicited this aid . For example, see their letters to Podtatranska County. Podtatranska zupa c. 28405/ 1923, 33123/1924, and 4939/1925 Adm If-SA-Bytca. " Students were eligible for the coveted Pa.Iffy awards . These are described by Ivan Derer, "Spachala prvnf republika temei' genocidu Slovaku? " Literarni listy , I , No. 15 (6 June 1968), p. 4. 16 The place of agricultural education in Czechoslovak history is described extensivel y in Cernohorsky, Dejiny zemedelskeho . Most of his material is drawn from official sources . SLOVAKIA 75 " Yearly R eport, Bratislava Vyssia zemedelska skola druzstevna 1936/7, p . 27. 51 Fedor Houdek, "Zahajovacia re(: pri otvoreni Vyssej zemedelskej skoly druzstevnej v Bratislave 1. okt6bra 1936," in Yearly Report , Bratislava Vyssia zemedelska skola druzstevna 1936/7, pp . 11 -13. " Yearl y R eport , Bratislava Vyssia zemedelska skola druzstevna 1936/7, pp . 27-8. 60 See the school 's yearly reports 1936/7 & 1937/8. 61 W . Arthur Lewis , The University in Less-Developed Countries (New York: International Council for Educational D evelopment , 1974), p . 17 . 19 19/20 z E :, .n ......, 0 '- g "Cl ,,, 'i:..., 500 1000 Figure 1 - 1929/30 Commercial Academy Enrollment Yea r 1937 /8 Women students Total students t""' ► ...... ► ~ < 0 r:.n --.J 0-, SLOVAKIA T able 1 - 77 Com mercial Academies To tal Students 1919/20 1920/ 1 192 1/2 1922 /3 1923/4 1924/5 1925/6 1926/7 Rrati sl..n·a 146 I 74 150 134 133 so 93 103 124 63 33 134 105 I 19 17 132 18 112 103 151 78 130 Ran skil Rys1rica KuSin· T. S,·. !'vl anin 36 40 64 74 I 15 124 40 Nitra TrcnCin TOTAL u f wh ich womc- n Pcrccn1agc Stude n ts in sen ior dass o f which womc-n 222 31 13 .96 3 12 32 10 .26 0 0 Nationali1y Czcl·hos lu,·ak 346 367 21 6 .07 38 10 .35 24 40 343(93 . 5) Czec h Slova k German Jewi sh H ungarian Poli sh 17 74 392 68 17 .35 71 8 2 324(93.6) 370 SI 13 . 78 IO 7 375 58 15 .47 411 52 12 .65 88 9 372(61.69) 35(5 .80) 105(17 .41) 9( 1.49) 69( 11.44) 13(2 . 16) O th er Czec hoslov aks at H ungarian Schools Religion Roman Cathol ic Greek Cat holi c Czech Rn·thrcn Lu1 hcran Reform ed Onhodux Jewish Czec hosh),·ak Other Prott·s1an1 s Nunt· 208(60 . I ) 3 3 54(27 .69) 73(2 1. 1) 22( 11 .28) 35 I 119(61.03) 18 Parental Occupation Agrinilturt· lndu slry·ov,:n busim·ss Free Pruft: ss ions/ lnt elligcn sia S1att· Em plo yt·cs Comrnern· 'v\lorkcrs 97( 15 .23) Pl ace of Res idence Cum mut c Live with parent s or relatives in tuw n Li ve with guardians Birthplace City of School Other Slu,·akia 13(9 .49) 78(56 .93 ) Foreign Bcihemia '.\1orav ia/ Silcsia 4(2.92) 25( 18 .25) I 7( 12 .41 ) 94(30 . 13) 14(4 .49) 139(44 .55) 36( 11. 54 ) 29(9 .29) 384(58.45) 78 SLOVAKIA Table 1 - Commercial Academies 1927/8 1928/9 1929/30 1930/1 193 1/2 193 2/3 1933/4 1934/5 1935/6 1936/7 169 122 125 39 75 49 579 82 14 . 16 178 109 134 67 107 84 679 97 14 .29 188 122 133 94 125 118 780 121 15.51 202 132 133 119 125 155 866 137 15.8 1 228 147 136 124 127 150 912 160 17.54 22 1 150 140 123 136 154 924 177 19. 16 204 20 1 134 140 194 152 164 131 141 882 159 18 .03 909 163 17 .93 937 187 19.96 182 I 73 171 147 146 155 1024 224 21.88 193 31 185 27 185 36 214 32 205 32 190 35 867(92 .5) 23 32 193 7/8 221 205 973(95 .0) l061(76 .33) 10 1(7.27) 178( 12.81) 17 19( 1. 37) 28 4 8(0.58) 905(65.06) l04( 15.83) 7(1.07) 12(1.83) (includi ng Uniatc) I 10( 16 .74) 18(2 . 74) 18(2 . 74) 22(3 .35) 215( 15.46) 23( 1. 65) 16(1.15) 143( 10 .28) 53(3 .8 1) 36(2 .59) 111(17 .43 ) 16(2 .51) 204(32 .03) 145( 11.9 1) 6(0.49) 408(33 .53) 235( 19.31) 291(23 .91) 132(10.85) 180(28.26) 29(4.55) 604(52. 16) 264(22 .80) 290(25 .04) "' E ..:J " :i z ... 0 3 ......"' "" i:: 1920/ 1 400 600 Figure 2 - 1929/30 Industrial High School Enrollment Year 1937 /8 Women students Total students t"" IC -..J > < > :,,:: 0 Ul SLOVAKIA 80 Table 2 Total Students Brati slava- m ech. eng. -civil eng. Kos ice- m ech. eng. Ban ska Stiavnica-chemi cal Prefov-civil en g. TOTAL of which wome n• Student s in sen ior cl ass of whi ch wom en Nationality Czechoslovak Ru ss ian/ Ru th en ian/ U kra ini a n Hun ga ri a n G erm a n J ew ish Oth er Industrial High Schools 1919/20 1920/1 45 32 41 81 68 86 1921/2 1922/3 1923 /4 1924 / 5 1925/6 117 53 11 6 JO 118 235 3 296 2 52 131 79 136 27 128 88 130 52 126 105 144 79 11 2 120 138 82 373 2 398 454 11 55 0 452 75 I 211 3 270 2 4 16 4 18 Religion R oma n Ca tholic Greek Ca tholi c Czech Brethren Lutheran R eform ed Orthodox J ewish None • alm ost a ll women stu died a t Ba n skcl St iav ni ca 178 4 I 42 2 2 42 25 346 3 14 2 7 SLOVAKIA Table 2 - 81 Industrial High Schools 1926/7 1927/8 1928/9 1929/30 1930/1 1931/2 1932/3 1933/4 1934/5 1935/6 1936/7 ll7 104 138 88 117 114 l 29 110 120 117 133 106 121 113 136 123 129 126 150 134 447 7 470 12 476 24 493 32 539 35 11 2 7 123 l 26 157 130 26 562 29 11 2 12 137 116 155 128 60 596 21 138 6 142 93 151 131 98 144 135 99 147 108 595 19 134 4 599 5 139 3 600 16 166 6 Ill 132 88 133 118 93 583 567 3 552 4 5 4 82 SLOVAKIA Table 3 - Agricultural High Schools 1919/20 1920/1 1921/2 1922/3 1923/4 1924/5 1925/6 K o~ice- Agricultu ral School Banska StiavnicaForestry High School TOTAL of which women No. in senior class Nationality Czechoslovak Ru ssian/Ruthenian/U krainia n G erm an Hun garian J ewi sh Bul garian Unknown Other Religion Rom an Cathol ic Greek Catholic Czech Brethren Luthera n Reformed Orthodox J ew ish Czechoslovak Other None Fees Paid in Fall Fee W a iver Half Waiver 25 45 68 96 100 107 109 48 93 0 0 77 145 0 0 98 194 95 195 0 85 192 84 193 2 87 139 2 3 2 2 3 184 3 2 4 183 2 4 4 180 5 2 2 178 5 6 3 82 8 2 128 11 157 4 1 22 1 3 151 3 2 26 149 3 2 26 140 4 1 32 5 6 3 6 2 3 4 1 2 125 67 3 114 68 10 134 54 5 2 5 7 2 SLOV AKIA Table 3 - 83 Agricultural High Schools 1926/7 1927/8 1928/9 1929/30 1930/ 1 1931/2 1932/3 1933/4 1934/5 1935/6 1936/7 96 94 105 104 108 104 107 108 112 72 67 161 0 71 176 0 73 177 0 81 189 0 80 184 0 77 184 84 192 85 197 42 45 168 155 3 3 167 4 3 2 77 85 199 192 2 35 190 2 183 2 3 3 132 8 130 7 13 1 5 137 7 127 9 37 37 37 6 6 I 33 2 3 4 2 45 5 6 34 2 2 5 4 4 2 162 5 3 2 7 4 4 11 3 3 114 2 120 3 124 4 31 25 34 5 9 2 7 9 10 6 4 3 3 107 57 4 109 50 2 178 2 114 176 2 3 2 147 3 2 5 176 5 2 4 I 115 I 41 196 2 5 2 I 2 5 88 21 83 105 5 89 SLOVAKIA 84 Table 4 - Agricultural High Schools 1922/3 1921/2 K Socioeconomic Data BS K 1924/5 1923 / 4 BS K BS K BS Parental Occupation Owners u f land : JOO+ hc<:1arcs 20- 100 hcnan·s 5-20 hcnan:s k-ss than 5 h1.•1.·tarcs 8 22 15 18 3 16 3 19 12 18 14 II 12 13 7 46 Agriniltural or forc s,ry 1.· mplu y1.-c ur wor ke r offi c ia l Non-agricultural 25 14 15 31 II 36 14 16 49 9 41 14 50 52 Age - 16 17- 18 19-20 281 27 5' 2 1-22 6 81 3I 21 13 23 & abm-c 2 17 33 31 24 36 15 10 25 Scholarships S1atc-No. / V alm· Region al-Nu./Val uc 27/26,800 I 517,900 37/38,485 9/ 10,830 17 /8 ,900 9/ 4 ,629 Distri<·1- No ./ Va lu c Othcr-Nu ./ Va lu c (Values in KCs) 16/13 ,000 7/9,500 8/4,900 9/6, .1 00 29/ 39,800 18/17,400 Total Studcn1s rccei \' in g grant s No./Va lu c BS - Ban sk- a Stia\'nit·a K - K o~ in· - age 15 1 - ages 16- 18 54/ 54,215 27 / 18.829 9 33 38 12 8 65/ 41.81 0 27 29 16 18 23/15,900 8 33 40 17 9 7 1/ 37 ,600 24 29 20 10 34/15,580 85 SLOVAKIA Table 4 - 1926/7 1925 /6 K BS K II 12 26 II 14 20 13 8 4 II 45 14 46 4 32 16 35 19 19 13 34 28 17 4 4 36 48 17 4 Agricultural High Schools - Socioeconomic Data 1927/8 BS K 1936/7 193516 BS K BS K 12 6 9 18 25 15 13 9 10 26 40 6 8 22 34 II 7 9 36 4 19 9 9 32 I 37 20 24 14 6 8 33 30 22 22 4 25 31 10 19 44 23 6 8/3, 100 4 /2 , 500 25/12 ,350 9/3,000 6 6 6 2 23 20 23 4/3,000 21700 55/33, 150 2017,790 53/30.750 13/11,650 58/27,400 2/5,200 36/16,050 8/5,500 BS 30 17 7 47 30 39 I7 22 27 27 14 17 6/4,200 15/ 12,700 10/3,350 1/962 5/2,300 7/4,200 1/500 32121,212 13/7 ,000 86 SLOVAKIA Table 5 Higher Cooperative Agricultural School 1936/7 Total Students : 22 (all male); all graduated Nationality : 20 Czechoslovak, 2 Hungarian Age: I 17-18 , 5 19-20, 5 21-2, 5 23 & above Fees: 17 waived , 5 part waived Family O ccupations: 3 owners of 20-100 hectares, 10 owners of 5-20 hec tares, 2 agricultural or forest ry employees and workers , 7 non agricultural Scholarships: 3 from regional government totalling 4,000 Kc 16 others totalling 26,000 Kc  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Modernization of Slovakia: The Role of Vocational High Schools, 1918-1938 Description An account of the resource Owen V. Johnson Slovakia, Vol. 31 (No. 57), 1984 pp. 59-86 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Johnson, Owen V. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/7dc170348b1d1a6659e0e439571dabde.pdf f9c3aa85e2df22ad286ed5861f4ee185 PDF Text Text SLOVA KIA 101 My Grandfather's Silence Patricia Ondek Laurence* Before m y current academic interest in Slovaks and their view of work - gleaned from books - arose, there was " Dzedo ," my grandfather. H e died fourteen years ago, leaving only other people 's stories about him . Joseph P ancurak was a m an possessed with a quality that often characterizes immigrant Slovaks with their ability to shrug, to live to themselves; he offered little ancestral help with words, preferring to reap hi s life in silence . This stoical ability was not passed on to m e , and my eager questions about life in Slovakia and Pennsylvania in the first half of this century were m et with a stubborn silence. Or, the splat of tobacco juice in the spittoon near hi s favorite wicker chair which he used to ward off still the miner's thirst' and now the curious new-world children . " Butz tzicho," " be quiet , " he invariably said . But how could I learn from what had largely been a silent tradition ? Silent becau se of the distance between a grandfather and a granddau ghter who could barely speak each other's languages; silent because , by the time I had grown to articulate my own questions about m y grandparents' lives , they were too tired to answer with anything but a sigh and " ah, jaj, jaj, Maticka, " " Mother of God"; silent becau se of a tradition of quiet suffering more exp ressive of its endurance than articulate of compla int. From others, I had heard stories about my grandfather , who, they say, was a teller of tales when youn g. From them, I learned about his enterprisin g, inventive, and colorful ways. Never having spent a day in school, D zedo would always make a point of "rem emberin g, " and • I would like to th a nk my moth er , Ann Pancurak Ondek of Sa nj ose, California ; m y uncle, George Pence r of Palm Springs, C aliforni a; a nd m y aunt , M ary Pancurak Stetts of Linden , New J ersey, for telling me stories about m y gra ndfather. �102 SLOVAKIA would tell stories to his " krajania ," close friends and relatives, for hours . Uncle George remembers : Here is one thing Dad had . Something he had that we don't. We'd say, "Dad, tell us a story," and he would settle down with his pipe and tell us the most beautiful story. He could go on and on and fit the story to the occasion. A story about a mule giving a farmer a problem, or he would sing us a song about the neighborhood cat: "Oh, don't get married, who's going to catch our mice . ... '' Dzedo would tell them of Ruska Nova Yes, Slovakia, where he lived on a farm and worked in the forests, logging for the squire of the town, to earn money toward the yearned-for trip to America. Starting out across central Europe at the age of twenty-three in 1905 with John Hrobak, they walked three days and nights (fortified by a slab of bacon and a bottle of whiskey) through hills and mountains to escape the Austrian draft. Dzedo wore out a pair of new shoes, only to miss the boat from Hamburg, Germany, to America. A few weeks later, he found passage on another ship, and arrived, finally, in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania, a booming town with a population of 18,000, the heart of the anthracite coal region. Here he went to work in the Reading Coal Company mines - hazardous and strenuous work in 1906. During these years, Dzedo lived with a bruised , lacerated back earned as he crawled through narrow mining spaces, a back that ''Baba,'' my grandmother, would bathe each day as he sat in a wooden tub in the basement , a back that "never seemed to heal ." Dzedo earned $5.50 a day . He also worked part-time for a butcher, Mr . Gablik, who was crushed to death one day while loosening a log on a large timber pile . Purchase of the butcher business enabled Dzedo to escape the mines and "miner' s asthma," now called black lung disease, which, along with mining accidents, killed most of his mining friends before they were fifty . Always enterprising, he expanded the business in a short time by delivering meat to the outlying patches of houses in Gilberton, Maze! , and Frankfurt with a horse and buggy. Business flourished . One day his temper flared when a woman questioned the price and quality ofa slab of meat. Dzedo raised his large butcher's knife , slashed open a one-hundred pound sack of flour standing nearby, and created �SLOVAKIA 103 a cloud of dust and fear which sent the women customers flying. That made his prices stick. His business continued to expand, and his family grew . But tragedy struck. His young wife, Anna , had a heart condition and was rushed off to Ashland Hospital where she died a few weeks later. After a home wake - the deceased was packed in ice and placed on view in the home parlor for rel atives and fri ends - and a decent interval of time , Dzedo, according to Eastern European custom, married his wife's sister, Ilona . She cared for his two sons, George and Joe, and bore him nine children in her lifetime . Aunt Mary always says, " Boze moj!," "oh, my God!" "Dzedo had ideas and was always handy with machines ." When he could afford it , about 1916, he bought a Model-T Ford. He loved cars and would . proudly ride to church on Sundays in a carefully ironed , starched white shirt with his growing family beside him . But one d ay when putting gasoline in his Model-T , under the front seat, the car caught fire and all of the upholstery was burned. Instead of rebuilding the car , Dzedo decided to put a butcher wagon fram e over the chassis , and inventively converted the car into a butcher truck for his business and retired his horses to pasture . My mother says, " There wasn't anything that he couldn't do ." The day before the christening of my Aunt Mary in 1914, Baba told Dzedo that a larger table was needed for the specially prepared foods and the forty expected guests. That night Dzedo made a twenty-foot table , which was fill ed the next day with klobasy and ham from the butcher shop , and m y grandmother's piroh y, halusky, and kolace the u sual Slovak generosity with food. But in 1919 during a miner's strike when people seldom paid in cash , my grandfather overexte nded credit to cu stom ers in the butcher shop; he lost everythin g. Next, Dzedo bought a fifteen-acre farm in Locu st Valley, P ennsylvan ia, which had no barn and no running water. Uncle G eo rge rem embers this period from 191 9- 1925 v ividly a nd d esc ribes Dzedo as a master craftsman who rebu ilt the barn: H e was a master with hi s ha nd s, a nd could take a log, a tree, a nd with a double bit ax , just mark it a nd what we call hew it , a nd cut one sid e as if he cut it with a saw - th at's how accurate he was. �104 SLOVAKIA Dzedo was a patient man . One d ay when my grandfather and my Uncle George ("Jurko") were taking some timber to the saw mill to be cut into boards, the horse trailed off the road. The wheel of the wagon broke, and all the timber fell into a ditch . Uncle George, then eight years old , was upset , but my grandfather patiently explained that they would pick some of the timber and carry it to the mill and pick up the rest over the next few days . Dzedo told his son, in his broken English, " R emember, Jurko , through your lifetime you have many days like this. " After the barn was rebuilt , Dzedo bought two horses from Kayser 's Brewery and taught them how to plow. H e set up a small forge in the basement of the house, and made chains for the horses ' halters which were attached to the plow. Using the same forge, he also repaired a used furnace he found and installed pipes to heat the house for his family and pipes to irrigate his crops. Harvesting wheat, rye, and hay, and tending his cherry trees , he successfully built up the farm, but then , as the Depression approached, he was forced from his farm into industry. He returned to the mines and took part in the organization of the unions outside of Mahanoy City with Mr. Maholage. D zedo stayed until the late 1930s when most of the mines closed because the nation began using gas and oil for fuel. Then, looking for new work, he moved to New Jersey, and there, at the age of sixty-eight, became the last smithy in Linden , something he h ad always wanted to be . He forged horseshoes for fire, sanitation , and police department horses : a new trade for this logger, farmer, inventor , butcher, miner , union organizer, and now father of eleven n ew-world children . As a child , I remember trailing after Dzedo, somehow always watching him from behind . H e would enter Baba's warm kitchen , heated by the large cast-iron stove, where the chicken soup with the homem ade noodles and the piroh y were steaming. I see him stamping his feet from the cold , the cuffs of his baggy pants dragging; I hear the splat of tobacco in the spittoon near the door. H e reaches out to take the shot of whiskey and then the glass of beer that Ba ba hands him . Then he looks at me and says gruffly, " Dones moje susi," "get me my slippers," a phrase that my mother has duly taught m e sin ce D zedo had scolded her for not teachin g m e Slovak. I bring hi s slippers. H e si ts down in his wicker ch air and takes out his handkerchi ef. H e twi sts it and makes it jump for m e. It 's a rabbit . H e teaches me to watch his silent hands. �SLOVAKIA 105 NOTE Grandfather was a coal miner , and chewing a quid of tobacco was a habit in the mines and at home . Because of the amount of coal dust in the air in the mines, miners had dusty throats and were always thirsty: Chewing tobacco helped them to clear their throats, salivate, and expectorate . �� SLOVA KIA 101 My Grandfather's Silence Patricia Ondek Laurence* Before m y current academic interest in Slovaks and their view of work - gleaned from books - arose, there was " Dzedo ," my grandfather. H e died fourteen years ago, leaving only other people 's stories about him . Joseph P ancurak was a m an possessed with a quality that often characterizes immigrant Slovaks with their ability to shrug, to live to themselves; he offered little ancestral help with words, preferring to reap hi s life in silence . This stoical ability was not passed on to m e , and my eager questions about life in Slovakia and Pennsylvania in the first half of this century were m et with a stubborn silence. Or, the splat of tobacco juice in the spittoon near hi s favorite wicker chair which he used to ward off still the miner's thirst' and now the curious new-world children . " Butz tzicho," " be quiet , " he invariably said . But how could I learn from what had largely been a silent tradition ? Silent becau se of the distance between a grandfather and a granddau ghter who could barely speak each other's languages; silent because , by the time I had grown to articulate my own questions about m y grandparents' lives , they were too tired to answer with anything but a sigh and " ah, jaj, jaj, Maticka, " " Mother of God"; silent becau se of a tradition of quiet suffering more exp ressive of its endurance than articulate of compla int. From others, I had heard stories about my grandfather , who, they say, was a teller of tales when youn g. From them, I learned about his enterprisin g, inventive, and colorful ways. Never having spent a day in school, D zedo would always make a point of "rem emberin g, " and • I would like to th a nk my moth er , Ann Pancurak Ondek of Sa nj ose, California ; m y uncle, George Pence r of Palm Springs, C aliforni a; a nd m y aunt , M ary Pancurak Stetts of Linden , New J ersey, for telling me stories about m y gra ndfather. �102 SLOVAKIA would tell stories to his " krajania ," close friends and relatives, for hours . Uncle George remembers : Here is one thing Dad had . Something he had that we don't. We'd say, "Dad, tell us a story," and he would settle down with his pipe and tell us the most beautiful story. He could go on and on and fit the story to the occasion. A story about a mule giving a farmer a problem, or he would sing us a song about the neighborhood cat: "Oh, don't get married, who's going to catch our mice . ... '' Dzedo would tell them of Ruska Nova Yes, Slovakia, where he lived on a farm and worked in the forests, logging for the squire of the town, to earn money toward the yearned-for trip to America. Starting out across central Europe at the age of twenty-three in 1905 with John Hrobak, they walked three days and nights (fortified by a slab of bacon and a bottle of whiskey) through hills and mountains to escape the Austrian draft. Dzedo wore out a pair of new shoes, only to miss the boat from Hamburg, Germany, to America. A few weeks later, he found passage on another ship, and arrived, finally, in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania, a booming town with a population of 18,000, the heart of the anthracite coal region. Here he went to work in the Reading Coal Company mines - hazardous and strenuous work in 1906. During these years, Dzedo lived with a bruised , lacerated back earned as he crawled through narrow mining spaces, a back that ''Baba,'' my grandmother, would bathe each day as he sat in a wooden tub in the basement , a back that "never seemed to heal ." Dzedo earned $5.50 a day . He also worked part-time for a butcher, Mr . Gablik, who was crushed to death one day while loosening a log on a large timber pile . Purchase of the butcher business enabled Dzedo to escape the mines and "miner' s asthma," now called black lung disease, which, along with mining accidents, killed most of his mining friends before they were fifty . Always enterprising, he expanded the business in a short time by delivering meat to the outlying patches of houses in Gilberton, Maze! , and Frankfurt with a horse and buggy. Business flourished . One day his temper flared when a woman questioned the price and quality ofa slab of meat. Dzedo raised his large butcher's knife , slashed open a one-hundred pound sack of flour standing nearby, and created �SLOVAKIA 103 a cloud of dust and fear which sent the women customers flying. That made his prices stick. His business continued to expand, and his family grew . But tragedy struck. His young wife, Anna , had a heart condition and was rushed off to Ashland Hospital where she died a few weeks later. After a home wake - the deceased was packed in ice and placed on view in the home parlor for rel atives and fri ends - and a decent interval of time , Dzedo, according to Eastern European custom, married his wife's sister, Ilona . She cared for his two sons, George and Joe, and bore him nine children in her lifetime . Aunt Mary always says, " Boze moj!," "oh, my God!" "Dzedo had ideas and was always handy with machines ." When he could afford it , about 1916, he bought a Model-T Ford. He loved cars and would . proudly ride to church on Sundays in a carefully ironed , starched white shirt with his growing family beside him . But one d ay when putting gasoline in his Model-T , under the front seat, the car caught fire and all of the upholstery was burned. Instead of rebuilding the car , Dzedo decided to put a butcher wagon fram e over the chassis , and inventively converted the car into a butcher truck for his business and retired his horses to pasture . My mother says, " There wasn't anything that he couldn't do ." The day before the christening of my Aunt Mary in 1914, Baba told Dzedo that a larger table was needed for the specially prepared foods and the forty expected guests. That night Dzedo made a twenty-foot table , which was fill ed the next day with klobasy and ham from the butcher shop , and m y grandmother's piroh y, halusky, and kolace the u sual Slovak generosity with food. But in 1919 during a miner's strike when people seldom paid in cash , my grandfather overexte nded credit to cu stom ers in the butcher shop; he lost everythin g. Next, Dzedo bought a fifteen-acre farm in Locu st Valley, P ennsylvan ia, which had no barn and no running water. Uncle G eo rge rem embers this period from 191 9- 1925 v ividly a nd d esc ribes Dzedo as a master craftsman who rebu ilt the barn: H e was a master with hi s ha nd s, a nd could take a log, a tree, a nd with a double bit ax , just mark it a nd what we call hew it , a nd cut one sid e as if he cut it with a saw - th at's how accurate he was. �104 SLOVAKIA Dzedo was a patient man . One d ay when my grandfather and my Uncle George ("Jurko") were taking some timber to the saw mill to be cut into boards, the horse trailed off the road. The wheel of the wagon broke, and all the timber fell into a ditch . Uncle George, then eight years old , was upset , but my grandfather patiently explained that they would pick some of the timber and carry it to the mill and pick up the rest over the next few days . Dzedo told his son, in his broken English, " R emember, Jurko , through your lifetime you have many days like this. " After the barn was rebuilt , Dzedo bought two horses from Kayser 's Brewery and taught them how to plow. H e set up a small forge in the basement of the house, and made chains for the horses ' halters which were attached to the plow. Using the same forge, he also repaired a used furnace he found and installed pipes to heat the house for his family and pipes to irrigate his crops. Harvesting wheat, rye, and hay, and tending his cherry trees , he successfully built up the farm, but then , as the Depression approached, he was forced from his farm into industry. He returned to the mines and took part in the organization of the unions outside of Mahanoy City with Mr. Maholage. D zedo stayed until the late 1930s when most of the mines closed because the nation began using gas and oil for fuel. Then, looking for new work, he moved to New Jersey, and there, at the age of sixty-eight, became the last smithy in Linden , something he h ad always wanted to be . He forged horseshoes for fire, sanitation , and police department horses : a new trade for this logger, farmer, inventor , butcher, miner , union organizer, and now father of eleven n ew-world children . As a child , I remember trailing after Dzedo, somehow always watching him from behind . H e would enter Baba's warm kitchen , heated by the large cast-iron stove, where the chicken soup with the homem ade noodles and the piroh y were steaming. I see him stamping his feet from the cold , the cuffs of his baggy pants dragging; I hear the splat of tobacco in the spittoon near the door. H e reaches out to take the shot of whiskey and then the glass of beer that Ba ba hands him . Then he looks at me and says gruffly, " Dones moje susi," "get me my slippers," a phrase that my mother has duly taught m e sin ce D zedo had scolded her for not teachin g m e Slovak. I bring hi s slippers. H e si ts down in his wicker ch air and takes out his handkerchi ef. H e twi sts it and makes it jump for m e. It 's a rabbit . H e teaches me to watch his silent hands. �SLOVAKIA 105 NOTE Grandfather was a coal miner , and chewing a quid of tobacco was a habit in the mines and at home . Because of the amount of coal dust in the air in the mines, miners had dusty throats and were always thirsty: Chewing tobacco helped them to clear their throats, salivate, and expectorate . �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1984, Vol. 31 Description An account of the resource Vol. 31 (No. 57), 1984. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVA KIA 101 My Grandfather's Silence Patricia Ondek Laurence* Before m y current academic interest in Slovaks and their view of work - gleaned from books - arose, there was " Dzedo ," my grandfather. H e died fourteen years ago, leaving only other people 's stories about him . Joseph P ancurak was a m an possessed with a quality that often characterizes immigrant Slovaks with their ability to shrug, to live to themselves; he offered little ancestral help with words, preferring to reap hi s life in silence . This stoical ability was not passed on to m e , and my eager questions about life in Slovakia and Pennsylvania in the first half of this century were m et with a stubborn silence. Or, the splat of tobacco juice in the spittoon near hi s favorite wicker chair which he used to ward off still the miner's thirst' and now the curious new-world children . " Butz tzicho," " be quiet , " he invariably said . But how could I learn from what had largely been a silent tradition ? Silent becau se of the distance between a grandfather and a granddau ghter who could barely speak each other's languages; silent because , by the time I had grown to articulate my own questions about m y grandparents' lives , they were too tired to answer with anything but a sigh and " ah, jaj, jaj, Maticka, " " Mother of God"; silent becau se of a tradition of quiet suffering more exp ressive of its endurance than articulate of compla int. From others, I had heard stories about my grandfather , who, they say, was a teller of tales when youn g. From them, I learned about his enterprisin g, inventive, and colorful ways. Never having spent a day in school, D zedo would always make a point of "rem emberin g, " and • I would like to th a nk my moth er , Ann Pancurak Ondek of Sa nj ose, California ; m y uncle, George Pence r of Palm Springs, C aliforni a; a nd m y aunt , M ary Pancurak Stetts of Linden , New J ersey, for telling me stories about m y gra ndfather. 102 SLOVAKIA would tell stories to his " krajania ," close friends and relatives, for hours . Uncle George remembers : Here is one thing Dad had . Something he had that we don't. We'd say, "Dad, tell us a story," and he would settle down with his pipe and tell us the most beautiful story. He could go on and on and fit the story to the occasion. A story about a mule giving a farmer a problem, or he would sing us a song about the neighborhood cat: "Oh, don't get married, who's going to catch our mice . ... '' Dzedo would tell them of Ruska Nova Yes, Slovakia, where he lived on a farm and worked in the forests, logging for the squire of the town, to earn money toward the yearned-for trip to America. Starting out across central Europe at the age of twenty-three in 1905 with John Hrobak, they walked three days and nights (fortified by a slab of bacon and a bottle of whiskey) through hills and mountains to escape the Austrian draft. Dzedo wore out a pair of new shoes, only to miss the boat from Hamburg, Germany, to America. A few weeks later, he found passage on another ship, and arrived, finally, in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania, a booming town with a population of 18,000, the heart of the anthracite coal region. Here he went to work in the Reading Coal Company mines - hazardous and strenuous work in 1906. During these years, Dzedo lived with a bruised , lacerated back earned as he crawled through narrow mining spaces, a back that ''Baba,'' my grandmother, would bathe each day as he sat in a wooden tub in the basement , a back that "never seemed to heal ." Dzedo earned $5.50 a day . He also worked part-time for a butcher, Mr . Gablik, who was crushed to death one day while loosening a log on a large timber pile . Purchase of the butcher business enabled Dzedo to escape the mines and "miner' s asthma," now called black lung disease, which, along with mining accidents, killed most of his mining friends before they were fifty . Always enterprising, he expanded the business in a short time by delivering meat to the outlying patches of houses in Gilberton, Maze! , and Frankfurt with a horse and buggy. Business flourished . One day his temper flared when a woman questioned the price and quality ofa slab of meat. Dzedo raised his large butcher's knife , slashed open a one-hundred pound sack of flour standing nearby, and created SLOVAKIA 103 a cloud of dust and fear which sent the women customers flying. That made his prices stick. His business continued to expand, and his family grew . But tragedy struck. His young wife, Anna , had a heart condition and was rushed off to Ashland Hospital where she died a few weeks later. After a home wake - the deceased was packed in ice and placed on view in the home parlor for rel atives and fri ends - and a decent interval of time , Dzedo, according to Eastern European custom, married his wife's sister, Ilona . She cared for his two sons, George and Joe, and bore him nine children in her lifetime . Aunt Mary always says, " Boze moj!," "oh, my God!" "Dzedo had ideas and was always handy with machines ." When he could afford it , about 1916, he bought a Model-T Ford. He loved cars and would . proudly ride to church on Sundays in a carefully ironed , starched white shirt with his growing family beside him . But one d ay when putting gasoline in his Model-T , under the front seat, the car caught fire and all of the upholstery was burned. Instead of rebuilding the car , Dzedo decided to put a butcher wagon fram e over the chassis , and inventively converted the car into a butcher truck for his business and retired his horses to pasture . My mother says, " There wasn't anything that he couldn't do ." The day before the christening of my Aunt Mary in 1914, Baba told Dzedo that a larger table was needed for the specially prepared foods and the forty expected guests. That night Dzedo made a twenty-foot table , which was fill ed the next day with klobasy and ham from the butcher shop , and m y grandmother's piroh y, halusky, and kolace the u sual Slovak generosity with food. But in 1919 during a miner's strike when people seldom paid in cash , my grandfather overexte nded credit to cu stom ers in the butcher shop; he lost everythin g. Next, Dzedo bought a fifteen-acre farm in Locu st Valley, P ennsylvan ia, which had no barn and no running water. Uncle G eo rge rem embers this period from 191 9- 1925 v ividly a nd d esc ribes Dzedo as a master craftsman who rebu ilt the barn: H e was a master with hi s ha nd s, a nd could take a log, a tree, a nd with a double bit ax , just mark it a nd what we call hew it , a nd cut one sid e as if he cut it with a saw - th at's how accurate he was. 104 SLOVAKIA Dzedo was a patient man . One d ay when my grandfather and my Uncle George ("Jurko") were taking some timber to the saw mill to be cut into boards, the horse trailed off the road. The wheel of the wagon broke, and all the timber fell into a ditch . Uncle George, then eight years old , was upset , but my grandfather patiently explained that they would pick some of the timber and carry it to the mill and pick up the rest over the next few days . Dzedo told his son, in his broken English, " R emember, Jurko , through your lifetime you have many days like this. " After the barn was rebuilt , Dzedo bought two horses from Kayser 's Brewery and taught them how to plow. H e set up a small forge in the basement of the house, and made chains for the horses ' halters which were attached to the plow. Using the same forge, he also repaired a used furnace he found and installed pipes to heat the house for his family and pipes to irrigate his crops. Harvesting wheat, rye, and hay, and tending his cherry trees , he successfully built up the farm, but then , as the Depression approached, he was forced from his farm into industry. He returned to the mines and took part in the organization of the unions outside of Mahanoy City with Mr. Maholage. D zedo stayed until the late 1930s when most of the mines closed because the nation began using gas and oil for fuel. Then, looking for new work, he moved to New Jersey, and there, at the age of sixty-eight, became the last smithy in Linden , something he h ad always wanted to be . He forged horseshoes for fire, sanitation , and police department horses : a new trade for this logger, farmer, inventor , butcher, miner , union organizer, and now father of eleven n ew-world children . As a child , I remember trailing after Dzedo, somehow always watching him from behind . H e would enter Baba's warm kitchen , heated by the large cast-iron stove, where the chicken soup with the homem ade noodles and the piroh y were steaming. I see him stamping his feet from the cold , the cuffs of his baggy pants dragging; I hear the splat of tobacco in the spittoon near the door. H e reaches out to take the shot of whiskey and then the glass of beer that Ba ba hands him . Then he looks at me and says gruffly, " Dones moje susi," "get me my slippers," a phrase that my mother has duly taught m e sin ce D zedo had scolded her for not teachin g m e Slovak. I bring hi s slippers. H e si ts down in his wicker ch air and takes out his handkerchi ef. H e twi sts it and makes it jump for m e. It 's a rabbit . H e teaches me to watch his silent hands. SLOVAKIA 105 NOTE Grandfather was a coal miner , and chewing a quid of tobacco was a habit in the mines and at home . Because of the amount of coal dust in the air in the mines, miners had dusty throats and were always thirsty: Chewing tobacco helped them to clear their throats, salivate, and expectorate .  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource My Grandfather's Silence Description An account of the resource Patricia Ondek Laurence Slovakia, Vol. 31 (No. 57), 1984 pp. 101-105 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Laurence, Patricia Ondek, 1942- Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/6a5fe5a9fbf3474e5b7d9452af1925f3.pdf 8e833bf6d7fc053aa8f72888ebbe9c31 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 47 The Matica slovenska and Its Relation to the Development of Slovak Literature* Norma L. Rudin sky The distinctively Slavic institution of th e matica can perhaps b e best described as a national library, publishing house, university , scientific institute, acad emy of scholars, and nationalistic missionary society all in one. The earliest examples - the Matica srbska founded in 1826, Matice ceska in 1831, and Mati ce moravska in 1836 - were like the later Matica slovenska, founded in Turciansky Svaty Martin on August 4 , 1863, in playing an important role in literary development. 1 But the Slovak Matica assumed a special significance because of the much more desolate circumstan ces of the Slovaks in Hungary . This difference makes a particularly interesting study not only of the Slavic matica movement but also of the special place of literature in Slovak intellectual hi sto ry . In speaking of the relation of the Matica slovenska to Slovak literature, one has to distinguish between the effect of the actual institute as it existed (from its founding in 1863 to its closure by Magyar authorities in 1875 and since its reopening in 1919) and the effect of the spiritual/ psychological or symboli c nature of the Matica even when it did not exist , i.e ., 1875-1919 , and in a certain sense when it was "onl y" a national library without a membership base, from 195 1 to 1968 . One also has to consider the symbolic meaning whenever a Matica was established outsid e Slovakia , as ha s happened seve ral times . • Thi s is a rev ised ve rsio n of a pa per prese nt ed at th e panel " The M ati ca slove nsk a: 120 Yea rs of Survi va l" spo nso red by the Slova k Studies Associati on durin g th e Fiftee nth Nati onal C onve nti o n of th e Am eri can Association for th e Advan ce m ent of Slavic Studies held in Kan sas C it y, Mi ssouri in O ctober 1983 . �48 SLOVAKIA It is also necessary to distinguish the direct effects of the Matica from its indirect effects, that is , from all its general educational results, such as greater literacy and a higher cultural level that came from activities like publishing almanacs, setting up amateur theatricals, or dignifying folk literature by collecting and reciting it. By all such results the Matica contributed to the development of a social and intellect ual environment in which Slovak literature could arise. Literary works are always a response of an artist to a particular time and place; the general activities of the Matica provided a stimulus to literary talent and helped to secure an audience for that talent. But having mentioned this indirect effect, I shall confine myself to the direct effects of the Matica on Slovak literature, and first to those that occurred while the Matica actually existed. The special relation of the "t\1atica to both language and literature is indicated in the list of presidents and directors. The office of president (predseda), which until 1945 was an honorary position and could be held by two or three people at a time, has had over thirteen occupants; at least four were major writers Qan Francisci, Pavol OrszaghHviezdoslav, Ladislav Novomesky, and Vladimfr Minac - Novomesky having two terms, before and after his prison sentence), and five were literary historians or at least had strong literary interests (Stefan Moyses, Jozef Koza.eek , F.R. Osvald, Jur Janoska, and Marian Blaha). Of the seven directors (spravca), which is the chief administrative position , one was a major writer O. C. Hronsky) and three were major literary historians Qaroslav Vlcek, Jozef Skultety, and Jan Martak , who had two terms). 2 If the secretaries (tajomnfk) are added as major officers, they were all literary figures except Frantisek Hermansky, a lin gui st, and JozefCincik, an artist and art historian: Stefan Krcmery, RudolfKlacko, Hronsky ' Martak, and Stanislav Meciar. l It is hard to see much real effect upon literature from the first Matica, even though one of its functions was to publish and distribute literary works. The major Slovak writers of that tim e were only beginning to write and publish just before the Matica was closed. For example, Hviezdoslav's first poems were published in 1868 but in Skalica , not in Martin, as was also his journal Napred. Svetozar Hurban -Vajansky's first book, a coll ection of poems, came out in 1871 but again in Skalica, not Martin. Elena Mar6thy -Soltesova's first story was published in 1881, and Martin Kukucfn' s first story appeared in 1882 when th e Mati ca �SLOVAKIA 49 was cl osed . In fact , proba bl y the only reall y signifi cant literary work durin g the tim e of the first Matica was the collectio n a nd preservation of folk litera ture, the two-volume collection Sbornfk sloven sk ych n arod- nych piesnf, povestf, prfslovf, p orek adiel, hadok , hier, obycaj ov a povier in 1870 and 1874, the second volum e of which was edited by P avo) Dobsin sky. This work was, of course, ve ry impo rta n t in th e establishm ent of Slovak fo lk literature as well as ethnography. Otherwi se, however , the twelve issu es of the a nnu al publicatio n L etopis M atice slo vensk ej a nd the 44 books published by the M a tica carried so m e li te ra ry hi stor y but prima ril y in rela tion to la n gu age, no t liter a ture. 4 Afte r the M atica was reopened in 19 19, its fi rst offi cial li te rary divisio n was the Lite rary Hi sto r y D ep a rtment (Litera rn ohi sto ri cky odbor MS ), whi ch was form ed o n M ay 11 , 19 22 b y separat in g the hi sto ry of li te ra tu re secti on (hi sto rickoli terarn a sekcia) from the Hi story D epartm ent (Historicky od bo r M S). T he latter ha d bee n establ ished at the second ge ner al asse mbl y of the M at ica in Au gust, 1920 . T he fi rst offi cers of the Literary Hi story D epartme n t we re J a roslav V lcek as pres ide nt , Albert Prazak as vice- preside nt , a nd Stefan Krcm ery as secreta ry, S and they gave the depa rtment its basic to ne for the next decade. T he D epartm en t was enl a rged in Febru a ry, 1925 by adding to it m an y writers from the literary sectio n of th e Art s D ep a rtm e nt (U m elecky odbo r M S), a nd its na m e was ch a n ged to th e Liter a ry a nd Literar y Hi sto ry D ep a rtm ent (Litera rn y a literarn ohi sto ri cky odbor MS) . But the old n am e was taken again the nex t year , a nd it remain ed the Li te ra rnohi sto ricky odbo r 6 until it was ended in 1953, when its work was taken over by several in stitutes, such as the Li te ra rn y archfv M S a n d the In sti tu te of Slovak Liter ature in the Slovak Academy of Sciences (Ustav sloven skej li teratury SA V) in Brat islava . 7 T h is n a m e, in fac t , in d icated its m a in fu nct io n : it collected manu scrip ts b io-b ibli ograp hi es, m emoris , a nd the li ke. 8 O ne of its first act ivit ies was to coll ect a nd pu bli sh Vl ce k 's hi story of Slovak li te ra tu re in 1923, a nd it co ntribu ted to th e S bornfk Ma tice slovensk ej pre j azykospyt, narodopis, dejepis a literarnu historiu , whi ch , howeve r , eve n th ou gh ed ited fi rs t by V lcek, the n by S kul tety, in its first d ecade co n ta in ed m u ch m o re o n ethn ograp hy a nd la n gu age tha n on li te ratu re . 9 Also, m u ch of the work do ne the n de pended upon Czech scholars who - li ke V lce k hi r.1self, Prazak, a nd Flora Kl einsch nitzova - trea ted Slovak li te rat ure as a b ra n ch of Czech li terat ure, whi ch affected their research goals a nd in te rests . �50 SLOVAKIA It has bee n said b y Lubomfr Durovic that althou gh the first Czechoslovak Republic de jure challenged the existence of the Slovak nation by the official theory of the '' Czechoslovak n a tion ,'' it de facto saved th e n a tion by m eans of the great opportunities it provided compared to the Hunga ri a n period . 10 This can be seen very clearly in the ch a n ges that occurred in th e Matica after 1930 when a n ew generat ion of Slovak scholars h ad been trained whose chief interest was in Slovak, not Czech , cu lture and who wanted to co nsider its specificity and its relation to other Slavic cultures, not to Czech culture alone . In 1935 the Sbornfk was divided into specialized pa rts with individu al editors : Ludovft Nova k edited th e la n gu age secti on a nd Stanislav M eciar the lite rary sect ion . The a rrival of su ch a literary schol a r as Andrej Mraz in 1930 m eant , therefore, a cha n ge in em phasis not only from narodopis or et hn ography to literature, but also from bio-bibliographical works to criti cal a nd evalu ative studies and monographs on individual authors, su ch as j a nko Kral' , J a n K alinciak , Samo Chalupka, a nd Ivan Krasko . 11 In add ition , seve ral foreig n Slavists, such as the Ru ssian Dmitri C izevskij an d the Pole Wl ad yslaw Bobek , contributed to the Sbornfk seve ral co mparative studi es rela tin g Slovak literature to th e ge ne ral stream of Slavic literatures a nd in importa n t respects cha n gin g the inte rpreta tion a nd pe riodi zation of Vlcek , which had been follow ed also by Albert Prazak in th e d oze n or m ore wo rks on Slovak li terature h e publi shed in th e M atica in the 1920s a nd after 1932 in th e U ce na spolocnost' Safarikova. In fact , it is inte resting that the first effort to determine a real pe riodization of Slovak literature in itself, not in terms of the peri odization of Czech lite ra ture as Vlcek a nd Prazak h ad don e, was m ade by the P ole Bobek in 193 7; li ttle work was done again on the p eri odizati on of earl y Slovak lite rature until the M a rxist hi stori a ns did it in 1958 in the first volume of the Academy of Sciences literary hi story . i Apa rt from literary history , however , there was really little formal esthetic a n alysis or study of th e theo ry of lite rature. Th e major exce pti on (and it is trul y m ajor) was th e publication in 1939 of the book Vyvin slo vensk eh o versa od skoly Sturo vej by th e Ru ssia n-born forma li st and stru cturali st Mikul as Bakos, who d eveloped a more modern es th etic a n alysis tha n an yone else had done. Accordin g to P avo! Stevcek, it has "remained a book of cardin al importance" to thi s d ay. 13 Th e Sbornfk was not th e on ly literary journ al publi shed by th e M at ica, howeve r . M o re impo rt ant was Sloven sk e pohl'a dy, wh ich has 1 �SLOVAKIA 51 been, and still is, a sort of microcosm of Slovak cultural life since it was founded by JozefMiloslav Hurban in 1846. Hurban 's purpose in starting the periodical was " to apply consistently in Slovak cultural life the principles of science and criticism .'' 14 In the first six years of its existence (1846-52), it reflected the major events of Slovak intellectual life - including Hurban ' s defense of Stur's langu age codification in 1846 . Although halted by the censors and b y finan cial difficulties in 1852, it was resumed in M artin in 1881 and continued with first Vajansky as editor , then Jozef Skultety publishing and editing it until 1919 . In 1921 the M atica started it up again under the editorship of Stefan Krcmery, and it remained a monthly published by the Matica until 1953, when it was taken over b y the Slovak Writers' Union , whose organ it is today . In the Matica period, it was edited by Krcmery until illness forced his ret irem ent in 1932, then Andrej Mraz until 1938, and Stanislav M eciar until 1945; with a few exceptions in that period everyo ne published there: nationalists , internationalists, Catholics, Lutherans, Communists, realists, surrealists, social realists. 15 Unlike the Sbornfk, Slovenske pohl'ady always carried original works of literature - poetry and sto ries - as well as literary history and criticism . Thu s it contributed to the growth of literature itself, not just to literary criticism . Besides these two journals, however , the Literary History D epartm ent supported literature in another way: by republishin g the "classics" in collected editions, includin g all the works ofHviezdoslav, Vajansky, Kukucfn , Timrava, the Stur school , and also contemporary writers, such as janko j esensky , Hronsky , a nd M artin R azu s. 16 Unfortunately, these editions of the classics were not usually prepared accord ing to consistent, modern editorial principles, either in selection and arrange m ent of the m ate rial or in lin guistic and textual stand ards. Skultety , Mraz, and M eciar each followed his own editorial system , and editorial assistants acted even more freely. Numerous living authors complained about their treatm en t, and this was true after World War II as well as during and befo re. 17 Furthermore, the Matica did not always select fo r publication the best current works. It showed no interest in Kukucfn's Mat' vola (1 926-27) , published by G .A. Beza in Trnava, nor did it issue Milo Urban 's Zivy bic (Prague, 1927), which is generally rated as by far the best Slovak novel published in the 1920s. But this can be regarded as a sign of the times: In its early period the Matica could be in co ntact �52 SLOVAKIA with almost everything, but as Slovak opportunities grew geometrically with education and the other new advantages, the Matica and Martin could not hold everything in their own hands, and other literary centers were developing . Bratislava became the major competitor, not only because of the professors at the University, but also because of the newly-established Slovak Academy of Sciences and Arts (Slovenska akademia vied a umenf) in 1942, which eventually developed into the current Slovenska akademia vied. In fact, organizational changes in the Matica also became necessary to meet the increasingly specialized growth of knowledge itself in the second half of the twentieth century. 18 The changes in the Matica that occurred after World War II have to be seen in this context: No organization could continue as the sole cultural and scientific institution, as the arts and social sciences became much too complex to be governed in a single organization, especially an institute far away from the capital city, the chief metropolis, and the seat of the main university system. Major changes would have occurred even without the Communist takeover in 1948 or the Marxist-Leninist theories of internationalism and the leading role of the Party - all of which tended to diminish the importance of the Matica. When the law of 1954 reduced the Matica to the single function of a national library and bibliographic institute, I think the fact that it kept exactly its literary relations - its archival, bibliographic, library, and museum activities - is not at all surprising and indicated its basic function from the beginning . But with this point, we are faced with the symbolic meaning, the psychological/spiritual effect, of the Matica slovenska apart from its physical existence . This brings us to the second kind of effect upon literature the Matica has had . In the extreme Magyar persecution at the time of the Matica's early life, it became a sort of guardian and protector of the Slovak nation, which specifically came to mean the guardian of Slovak self-expression, of literature and language. Historians have recognized and shown how closely the Slovak sense of identity, the sense of self, is tied to language ; Peter Brock, for example, has called the Slovaks a "culturallinguistic nation.' ' 19 The Matica was literally the defender in the battle with Czech linguists over the Pravidla , and in the gathering of signatures of 128 writers - essentially all the practicing writers of the time - on a petition to request revision of the Pravidla, Slovaks were completely united on the language issue. The petition caused such bad feelings on �SLOVAKIA 53 co nfessional and political grounds between ''Czechoslovaks ' ' and "Slovaks" that the Catholic J.C . Hronsky (who had collected the signatures) and the Lutheran Elena Mar6thy-Soltesova published a soothing joint letter in N arodnie novin y. But there was no disagreement on the language issue itself. 20 This need to defend the Slovak la nguage stopped after the period of the Slovak R epublic a nd Czech acceptance of Slovak individuality in the Kosice Program of 1945 , and the linguistic " purism" stopped when it was no longer needed as a defense. 21 Although Slovak language and literature did not still have to be protected as such, the Literarny archfv and the Literarnomuzejne oddelenie were co ntinuing the guardianship of the past, as allowed by the law of 1954 . Such a narrow view of the Matica as guardian, howeve r, is apparently not sufficient to satisfy the Slovak image of the M atica, because demands were made for a change in the liberal 1960s , especially a t the hundred-year jubilee in 1963 . The restrictive law of 1954 was replaced by the law of 1968 , which resto red the Matica's membership base, gave it a biographical department, and made it responsible for cultural relations with foreigners of Slovak ancestry. The insults of Pres ident Antonfn Novotny against the M atica were taken by Slovaks as insults against the whole nation and used by the liberals (Czech as well as Slovak) in 1968-69 both to remove Novotny from office and to improve the status of the Matica . The book published then , Z vole l'udu obnovena, expresses this continuing view of the Matica as a response to the people's need . 22 Clearly, the hi sto rical and the current concept of the Matica includes its ability to propagate (not only to preserve) among Slovaks their sense of identity in their lan guage and literature. This mission can be seen in another way . I have said that one also has to co nsider the psychological effect of the M a tica as a moveable institute that can be established by Slovaks outside Slovakia. This first occurred in 1893 when the "Matica slovenska in America " was founded in Chicago by American Slovaks ce ntered around the R everend Stefan Furd ek 's j ednota and Gustav Marsall-Petrovsky's Slovak V Amerike . It published several works before it dissolved in 1897 , including a literary journal similar to Slovenske pohl'ady. 23 A "Matica slovenska in Yugoslavia" was established in 1932 in Petrovec, near Novi Sad, where a large and compact gro up of Slovaks had lived for two hundred years; it lasted until 1948. The Zahranicna Matica Slovenska , founded by Sta ni slav Meciar a nd J .C. Hronsky after World War II in Argentina , �54 SLOVAKIA with collaborators in the United States and Canada, still exists. In all three examples, the literary activity (both planned and actually carried out) followed the traditional lines ofMatica activity . For example, Meciar collected and published material on Martin Kukucfn while he lived in Chile and also reprinted and analyzed certain works by J .C. Hronsky . 24 Even while the Matica was closed from 187 5 to 1919, it seemed to produce various alternatives to fill its place . For example , the women's organization Zivena was founded in 1869, but it was not closed by Magyar officials since it was just a women's organization, and therefore was presumably insignificant. Its annual meeting occurred in August because it had been founded at the Matica general assembly, so the August m eetings of Zivena became a substitute for the banned August general assembly of the Matica. 2 5 Zivena also developed a publishing program and an almanach , L etopis Zi ven y, to fill the gap left by the closed Matica. This substitution became possible because the Slovak women's movement was primarily an arm of the national movem ent rather than a genuine feminist drive. In part this was true because the Slovak nationalists, such as Ambro Pietor, were instiga tors in founding the women's organization ; they were looking for help in the struggle against Magyar domination. But it was also true because the leader of the women's movement soon became Elena Mar6thy-Soltesova, daughter of a poet of the Stur school, and more of a nationalist herself than a feminist in her own fiction (unlike the fiction of Timrava, which was more nearly feminist). 26 Therefore, I think the work of Zivena can be said to belon g to the Matica tradition . In the same period, but outside Turciansky Sviity M a rtin , other nationalist centers began to develop among Rom a n Catholics, such as the Spolok sv. Vojtecha in Trnava . In addition, K arol Salva's press in Ruzomberok began to compete with the M atica, as did the journal Dennica, ed ited b y T erezia Vansova in Pila . 2 7 In referring to physical effects as opposed to symbolic effects, or maticas abroad and alternative institutions, it is clear that I am co nsidering a movement rather than only the maj or in stitute that movem ent produced . The Matica movement was and is bigger than the institute itself, and in fac t has spread, I think , much farther and deeper in Slovak literary life than the institute itself indicates . For exam ple, one can see evidence of the identification of Slovak selfhood with literature in the theory of comparativistics of Dionyz Durisin in the Institute of �SLOVAKIA 55 Literature of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, and also in the analysis of specifically Slovak elements in lyricized prose by Jan Stevcek of Comenius University . 18 I do not think it is stretching the point too much to say there is something distinctively Slovak about the ambitious attempt of the "Nitra School" of literary theory to utilize and adapt concepts from Czech and Polish structuralism and the Tartu semioticians to create what Edward Mozejko has called "the introduction of a new discipline - the poetics of metatexts . .. a universal metalanguage of art ... the investigation of so-called intersemiotic translation ... a new communicative poetics of literature and art. " 19 To conclude, therefore, the Matica slovenska as an institute resulted from the particular political situation of the Slovaks in Hungary, but it continued and has been periodically renewed because it is a symbol and a symptom of the historical Slovak self-identification with its language and literature. NOTES ' Sta nl ey B. Kimball , " The Serbian Marica - Prototype of Austro-Slav Litera ry Foundat ion s: The First Fifty Yea rs 1826-76 ," East European Quarterly, III (September l 969) , 353-70; Peter H errity, "The R ole of the M a ti ca a nd Similar Societies in the Development of the Slavoni c Literary Languages ,'' Slavon ic and East European R eview, LI Oul y 1973), 368-386 . ' John A. Bert a helped to compile this list; see also his " The Marica slovenska and Its R ole in Slovak Cultural D evelopment, 19 19- 1939" (Ph .D . disse rt a tion , SUNY Bingha mton , l 983). ' " M a ti ca slovenska, " En cyklopedia Slovenska, Vol. III (Bra tislava: SA V , 1979). • Peter Liba, V ydava tel'sk e die/a M a tice slovensk ej 1863-1954 (M artin : M ati ca slovenska , 1962) . ' T omas Winkler , M a rica slovensk a v rok och 1919- 1945: z p roblem ov a dokum entov ustredia MS (Martin: M ati ca slovenska, 1971 ), p . 149. ' Ibid ., p. 150. ' "Literarn ovedn y ustav Slovens kej akademie vied ," Encyklopedia S/ovenska , Vol. III. 8 Winkler, pp. 150-53. ' Ibid, pp. 152-53. �SLOVAKIA 56 10 L ' ubomir Durov ic, "Slovak, " in Th e Slavic Lieerary Languages: Formaeion and Developmene, eds. A .M . Schenker and E. Stankiewicz (New H ave n : Yale Conciliu m on Internati ona l and Area Studies, 1980), p . 222. Owen V. Johnson has shown to what ex tent an education class developed in thi s period in his " The slovak Intelligentsia 19 18- 1938" in Russian and Slavic Hisrory , ed . D .K . Rowney and G.E. Orchard (Columbu s: Slavica Publishers, Inc., 1977), and also in his Ph .D . dissertati on , " Sociocultural a nd National D evelo pment in Slovakia , 1918-1 938: Education and It s Impact" (University of Mi chigan , 1978). 11 Winkler, pp . 153-55. ll 13 Jan Misianik , "Uvodom," D ejin y searsej slo venskej lieerac ury, ed s. J a n Misianik , J ozef Mina rik, Milena Mi chalcova, and Andrej Melichercik , Vol. I (Bratislava: SAV, 1958) , 5-6. The introduction is dated Dece mber 30, 1956. See also Winkler, p . 155. P avo! Stevcek, Coneemporary Slovak Lieeraeure (Bra ti slava: Obzo r, 1980), p . 119 ; Stevcek says Bakos was th e "fou nd er of lit era ry theory ." See also Winkler , p. 156. " Vi ctor K ochol , in D ejin y slovenskej lit eratury: Lieeraeura narodn eho obrodenia , eds . Milan Pisut , K arol R ose nbaum , Victor Kochol, Vol. II (Bratislava: SAY , 1960) , pp . 466-67: "Hurban chcel v slovenskom kulturnom zivote dosled ne upl atn ova t' principy vedec kosti a kritickosti . . . . " 11 Winkler, pp . 157-59. See a lso V ladimir Petrik , "Slovenske pohl'ady 192 2- 1938 , " Slovenske pohl'ady , No. 7 (1964) , 8-14 , and Jozef Bzoch, "Slove nske pohl'ad y 1939- 1944, " Slo venske pohl'ady, o. 8 (1964), 6-9. 1 • See Liba , op . cir. 17 E.G., Iva n Ku sy, ed. , Timra va: Zobran e spisy, II (Bratisl ava: Slovenske vydavatel'stvo krasnej literatury , 1956), 287-88, and es pecially Marianna PridavkovaMinarikova , Textologicke a seylisticke problem y K.ukucinovho die/a (Bratislava: SA V, 1972), pp . 5, 13 , 15, and passim . " In 1935, for exa mpl e, th e lin guist r.udovit Novak argued for chan ges in th e Matica to provide greater finan cial support and to bring scientifi c freedom from political chan ges (Winkler , pp. 29-30 a nd 110- 12) ; in fact, th e J azy koved ny odbor had such ex treme organiza ti onal disagreements amo ng its members (especially Novak and H enri ch Ba rt ek) th a t once ( 1936) Hronsk y wanted to resign a nd later (1941) th e odbor was on th e verge of being di ssolved (see Winkler , pp . 30 a nd 131-32). On SA VU a nd SAV, see Slovenska ak adem ia vied (Bratislava: Vydavatcl'stvo SAV, 1969). " Peter Brock , The Slo,·ak National Awakenin g: An Essay in eh e lnt eJlecr ual Hiseory of Ease General Europe (Toronto a nd Buffalo: Universi ty of T oro nto Press, 1976), p. ix . Brock uses as a motto H ans Kohn's statement: " In Central and Eastern Europe it was the poe t, the phil ologist, and th e hi storian who crea ted th e nati onaliti es. " "' Elena Mar6th y-Soltcsova a nd J .C . H rons ky, " Slm-cnskej ve rej nos ti . Vysvetlenie vo veci podpisov pre navrh slov . spisova tcl'ov ," Narodnie novin y, May 1932 , p. 2. On th e Pra vidla , see Durovic, pp . 222-25 , and Robert Auty, " The R ole of Purism in th e Development of th e Sl avonic Lit erary Languages, " Slavonic R eview , LI Uul y 1973) , 335 -43. �SLOVAKIA 57 " 6urovic, pp . 225-26. " Z vole I'udu obnovena, ed s. Ivan Gegus and Mil os K ovacka (M a rtin : Matica slovenska , 1968 - ac tu all y 1969), pp. 6-9 a nd p assim . Novotnfs petty a nd tas teless behavior is outlin ed here also. " '' Matica slove nska v Amerike '' and '' Matica slovenska v J uh oslav ii ,' ' En cyklopedia Slovenska , Vol. III. On th e American Matica, see also K ons ta ntin C ul en , Slovenske casopisy ,· Amerike (Cleveland: Prva katolicka sloven ska jednota, 1970), pp . 19-21 , 52-53 , 70-71. " Stanislav M ecia r , Kukucfn if.ivy , 2 vols. ( Bu enos Aires: Knizni ca Slobodna Slovenska Kultu ra , 1958 and 1960) - stri ctl y speaking th ese books were no t published by the Matica but within that trad itio n; J. C. Hronsky , Poh ar z bruseneho skla , ed. S. Mcciar (Buenos Aires: Zahranicn a M ati ca Slovenska, 1964), and Na kriinych cescach , cd. S. Meciar (Bu enos Aires: Zahranicna Matica Sloven ska, 1966). " Stefana Yotrubova, Zivena. j ej osudy a praca (Martin: Zivena, 1931) , pp . 22-23; see a lso J a rmil a Tkadleckova-Yantuchova, Zivena-Spolok slovensk ych zien (Bra ti slava : Epocha , 1969). " See th e compariso n in An In cipienc Feminise: Slovak Scories by Timra, ·a , ed it ed and translated by No rm a Leigh Rudinsk y (Columbus: Slavica Publishers, In c. , in prep.). " J a n Tibensky , ed ., Slovensko: Dejiny (Bratislava: Obzor, 197 1), p . 543. " Dionyz Duri sin , Problem y Jic erarn ej komparacistik y (Bratislava: SA V, 1967), and Z dcjin a ce6rie Jicerarn ej kompara cisrik y (Bratislava: SA V , 1970) ; J an Stevcck, Nez badane pr6zy (Bratislava: Slovensky spisova tel' , 197 1), a nd L yrizovan a pr6za (B ra ti slava : Tatran , 1973). " Edwa rd Mozejko, " Survey: Slovak Theory of Litera ry Co mmuni ca ti on : Notes on th e Nitra School of Lit erary Criticism,' ' PTL: A j ourn al for Descripri,·e Poetics and Theory of Lircrarure , 4 (1979) , 37 1-8 4. �� SLOVAKIA 47 The Matica slovenska and Its Relation to the Development of Slovak Literature* Norma L. Rudin sky The distinctively Slavic institution of th e matica can perhaps b e best described as a national library, publishing house, university , scientific institute, acad emy of scholars, and nationalistic missionary society all in one. The earliest examples - the Matica srbska founded in 1826, Matice ceska in 1831, and Mati ce moravska in 1836 - were like the later Matica slovenska, founded in Turciansky Svaty Martin on August 4 , 1863, in playing an important role in literary development. 1 But the Slovak Matica assumed a special significance because of the much more desolate circumstan ces of the Slovaks in Hungary . This difference makes a particularly interesting study not only of the Slavic matica movement but also of the special place of literature in Slovak intellectual hi sto ry . In speaking of the relation of the Matica slovenska to Slovak literature, one has to distinguish between the effect of the actual institute as it existed (from its founding in 1863 to its closure by Magyar authorities in 1875 and since its reopening in 1919) and the effect of the spiritual/ psychological or symboli c nature of the Matica even when it did not exist , i.e ., 1875-1919 , and in a certain sense when it was "onl y" a national library without a membership base, from 195 1 to 1968 . One also has to consider the symbolic meaning whenever a Matica was established outsid e Slovakia , as ha s happened seve ral times . • Thi s is a rev ised ve rsio n of a pa per prese nt ed at th e panel " The M ati ca slove nsk a: 120 Yea rs of Survi va l" spo nso red by the Slova k Studies Associati on durin g th e Fiftee nth Nati onal C onve nti o n of th e Am eri can Association for th e Advan ce m ent of Slavic Studies held in Kan sas C it y, Mi ssouri in O ctober 1983 . �48 SLOVAKIA It is also necessary to distinguish the direct effects of the Matica from its indirect effects, that is , from all its general educational results, such as greater literacy and a higher cultural level that came from activities like publishing almanacs, setting up amateur theatricals, or dignifying folk literature by collecting and reciting it. By all such results the Matica contributed to the development of a social and intellect ual environment in which Slovak literature could arise. Literary works are always a response of an artist to a particular time and place; the general activities of the Matica provided a stimulus to literary talent and helped to secure an audience for that talent. But having mentioned this indirect effect, I shall confine myself to the direct effects of the Matica on Slovak literature, and first to those that occurred while the Matica actually existed. The special relation of the "t\1atica to both language and literature is indicated in the list of presidents and directors. The office of president (predseda), which until 1945 was an honorary position and could be held by two or three people at a time, has had over thirteen occupants; at least four were major writers Qan Francisci, Pavol OrszaghHviezdoslav, Ladislav Novomesky, and Vladimfr Minac - Novomesky having two terms, before and after his prison sentence), and five were literary historians or at least had strong literary interests (Stefan Moyses, Jozef Koza.eek , F.R. Osvald, Jur Janoska, and Marian Blaha). Of the seven directors (spravca), which is the chief administrative position , one was a major writer O. C. Hronsky) and three were major literary historians Qaroslav Vlcek, Jozef Skultety, and Jan Martak , who had two terms). 2 If the secretaries (tajomnfk) are added as major officers, they were all literary figures except Frantisek Hermansky, a lin gui st, and JozefCincik, an artist and art historian: Stefan Krcmery, RudolfKlacko, Hronsky ' Martak, and Stanislav Meciar. l It is hard to see much real effect upon literature from the first Matica, even though one of its functions was to publish and distribute literary works. The major Slovak writers of that tim e were only beginning to write and publish just before the Matica was closed. For example, Hviezdoslav's first poems were published in 1868 but in Skalica , not in Martin, as was also his journal Napred. Svetozar Hurban -Vajansky's first book, a coll ection of poems, came out in 1871 but again in Skalica, not Martin. Elena Mar6thy -Soltesova's first story was published in 1881, and Martin Kukucfn' s first story appeared in 1882 when th e Mati ca �SLOVAKIA 49 was cl osed . In fact , proba bl y the only reall y signifi cant literary work durin g the tim e of the first Matica was the collectio n a nd preservation of folk litera ture, the two-volume collection Sbornfk sloven sk ych n arod- nych piesnf, povestf, prfslovf, p orek adiel, hadok , hier, obycaj ov a povier in 1870 and 1874, the second volum e of which was edited by P avo) Dobsin sky. This work was, of course, ve ry impo rta n t in th e establishm ent of Slovak fo lk literature as well as ethnography. Otherwi se, however , the twelve issu es of the a nnu al publicatio n L etopis M atice slo vensk ej a nd the 44 books published by the M a tica carried so m e li te ra ry hi stor y but prima ril y in rela tion to la n gu age, no t liter a ture. 4 Afte r the M atica was reopened in 19 19, its fi rst offi cial li te rary divisio n was the Lite rary Hi sto r y D ep a rtment (Litera rn ohi sto ri cky odbor MS ), whi ch was form ed o n M ay 11 , 19 22 b y separat in g the hi sto ry of li te ra tu re secti on (hi sto rickoli terarn a sekcia) from the Hi story D epartm ent (Historicky od bo r M S). T he latter ha d bee n establ ished at the second ge ner al asse mbl y of the M at ica in Au gust, 1920 . T he fi rst offi cers of the Literary Hi story D epartme n t we re J a roslav V lcek as pres ide nt , Albert Prazak as vice- preside nt , a nd Stefan Krcm ery as secreta ry, S and they gave the depa rtment its basic to ne for the next decade. T he D epartm en t was enl a rged in Febru a ry, 1925 by adding to it m an y writers from the literary sectio n of th e Art s D ep a rtm e nt (U m elecky odbo r M S), a nd its na m e was ch a n ged to th e Liter a ry a nd Literar y Hi sto ry D ep a rtm ent (Litera rn y a literarn ohi sto ri cky odbor MS) . But the old n am e was taken again the nex t year , a nd it remain ed the Li te ra rnohi sto ricky odbo r 6 until it was ended in 1953, when its work was taken over by several in stitutes, such as the Li te ra rn y archfv M S a n d the In sti tu te of Slovak Liter ature in the Slovak Academy of Sciences (Ustav sloven skej li teratury SA V) in Brat islava . 7 T h is n a m e, in fac t , in d icated its m a in fu nct io n : it collected manu scrip ts b io-b ibli ograp hi es, m emoris , a nd the li ke. 8 O ne of its first act ivit ies was to coll ect a nd pu bli sh Vl ce k 's hi story of Slovak li te ra tu re in 1923, a nd it co ntribu ted to th e S bornfk Ma tice slovensk ej pre j azykospyt, narodopis, dejepis a literarnu historiu , whi ch , howeve r , eve n th ou gh ed ited fi rs t by V lcek, the n by S kul tety, in its first d ecade co n ta in ed m u ch m o re o n ethn ograp hy a nd la n gu age tha n on li te ratu re . 9 Also, m u ch of the work do ne the n de pended upon Czech scholars who - li ke V lce k hi r.1self, Prazak, a nd Flora Kl einsch nitzova - trea ted Slovak li te rat ure as a b ra n ch of Czech li terat ure, whi ch affected their research goals a nd in te rests . �50 SLOVAKIA It has bee n said b y Lubomfr Durovic that althou gh the first Czechoslovak Republic de jure challenged the existence of the Slovak nation by the official theory of the '' Czechoslovak n a tion ,'' it de facto saved th e n a tion by m eans of the great opportunities it provided compared to the Hunga ri a n period . 10 This can be seen very clearly in the ch a n ges that occurred in th e Matica after 1930 when a n ew generat ion of Slovak scholars h ad been trained whose chief interest was in Slovak, not Czech , cu lture and who wanted to co nsider its specificity and its relation to other Slavic cultures, not to Czech culture alone . In 1935 the Sbornfk was divided into specialized pa rts with individu al editors : Ludovft Nova k edited th e la n gu age secti on a nd Stanislav M eciar the lite rary sect ion . The a rrival of su ch a literary schol a r as Andrej Mraz in 1930 m eant , therefore, a cha n ge in em phasis not only from narodopis or et hn ography to literature, but also from bio-bibliographical works to criti cal a nd evalu ative studies and monographs on individual authors, su ch as j a nko Kral' , J a n K alinciak , Samo Chalupka, a nd Ivan Krasko . 11 In add ition , seve ral foreig n Slavists, such as the Ru ssian Dmitri C izevskij an d the Pole Wl ad yslaw Bobek , contributed to the Sbornfk seve ral co mparative studi es rela tin g Slovak literature to th e ge ne ral stream of Slavic literatures a nd in importa n t respects cha n gin g the inte rpreta tion a nd pe riodi zation of Vlcek , which had been follow ed also by Albert Prazak in th e d oze n or m ore wo rks on Slovak li terature h e publi shed in th e M atica in the 1920s a nd after 1932 in th e U ce na spolocnost' Safarikova. In fact , it is inte resting that the first effort to determine a real pe riodization of Slovak literature in itself, not in terms of the peri odization of Czech lite ra ture as Vlcek a nd Prazak h ad don e, was m ade by the P ole Bobek in 193 7; li ttle work was done again on the p eri odizati on of earl y Slovak lite rature until the M a rxist hi stori a ns did it in 1958 in the first volume of the Academy of Sciences literary hi story . i Apa rt from literary history , however , there was really little formal esthetic a n alysis or study of th e theo ry of lite rature. Th e major exce pti on (and it is trul y m ajor) was th e publication in 1939 of the book Vyvin slo vensk eh o versa od skoly Sturo vej by th e Ru ssia n-born forma li st and stru cturali st Mikul as Bakos, who d eveloped a more modern es th etic a n alysis tha n an yone else had done. Accordin g to P avo! Stevcek, it has "remained a book of cardin al importance" to thi s d ay. 13 Th e Sbornfk was not th e on ly literary journ al publi shed by th e M at ica, howeve r . M o re impo rt ant was Sloven sk e pohl'a dy, wh ich has 1 �SLOVAKIA 51 been, and still is, a sort of microcosm of Slovak cultural life since it was founded by JozefMiloslav Hurban in 1846. Hurban 's purpose in starting the periodical was " to apply consistently in Slovak cultural life the principles of science and criticism .'' 14 In the first six years of its existence (1846-52), it reflected the major events of Slovak intellectual life - including Hurban ' s defense of Stur's langu age codification in 1846 . Although halted by the censors and b y finan cial difficulties in 1852, it was resumed in M artin in 1881 and continued with first Vajansky as editor , then Jozef Skultety publishing and editing it until 1919 . In 1921 the M atica started it up again under the editorship of Stefan Krcmery, and it remained a monthly published by the Matica until 1953, when it was taken over b y the Slovak Writers' Union , whose organ it is today . In the Matica period, it was edited by Krcmery until illness forced his ret irem ent in 1932, then Andrej Mraz until 1938, and Stanislav M eciar until 1945; with a few exceptions in that period everyo ne published there: nationalists , internationalists, Catholics, Lutherans, Communists, realists, surrealists, social realists. 15 Unlike the Sbornfk, Slovenske pohl'ady always carried original works of literature - poetry and sto ries - as well as literary history and criticism . Thu s it contributed to the growth of literature itself, not just to literary criticism . Besides these two journals, however , the Literary History D epartm ent supported literature in another way: by republishin g the "classics" in collected editions, includin g all the works ofHviezdoslav, Vajansky, Kukucfn , Timrava, the Stur school , and also contemporary writers, such as janko j esensky , Hronsky , a nd M artin R azu s. 16 Unfortunately, these editions of the classics were not usually prepared accord ing to consistent, modern editorial principles, either in selection and arrange m ent of the m ate rial or in lin guistic and textual stand ards. Skultety , Mraz, and M eciar each followed his own editorial system , and editorial assistants acted even more freely. Numerous living authors complained about their treatm en t, and this was true after World War II as well as during and befo re. 17 Furthermore, the Matica did not always select fo r publication the best current works. It showed no interest in Kukucfn's Mat' vola (1 926-27) , published by G .A. Beza in Trnava, nor did it issue Milo Urban 's Zivy bic (Prague, 1927), which is generally rated as by far the best Slovak novel published in the 1920s. But this can be regarded as a sign of the times: In its early period the Matica could be in co ntact �52 SLOVAKIA with almost everything, but as Slovak opportunities grew geometrically with education and the other new advantages, the Matica and Martin could not hold everything in their own hands, and other literary centers were developing . Bratislava became the major competitor, not only because of the professors at the University, but also because of the newly-established Slovak Academy of Sciences and Arts (Slovenska akademia vied a umenf) in 1942, which eventually developed into the current Slovenska akademia vied. In fact, organizational changes in the Matica also became necessary to meet the increasingly specialized growth of knowledge itself in the second half of the twentieth century. 18 The changes in the Matica that occurred after World War II have to be seen in this context: No organization could continue as the sole cultural and scientific institution, as the arts and social sciences became much too complex to be governed in a single organization, especially an institute far away from the capital city, the chief metropolis, and the seat of the main university system. Major changes would have occurred even without the Communist takeover in 1948 or the Marxist-Leninist theories of internationalism and the leading role of the Party - all of which tended to diminish the importance of the Matica. When the law of 1954 reduced the Matica to the single function of a national library and bibliographic institute, I think the fact that it kept exactly its literary relations - its archival, bibliographic, library, and museum activities - is not at all surprising and indicated its basic function from the beginning . But with this point, we are faced with the symbolic meaning, the psychological/spiritual effect, of the Matica slovenska apart from its physical existence . This brings us to the second kind of effect upon literature the Matica has had . In the extreme Magyar persecution at the time of the Matica's early life, it became a sort of guardian and protector of the Slovak nation, which specifically came to mean the guardian of Slovak self-expression, of literature and language. Historians have recognized and shown how closely the Slovak sense of identity, the sense of self, is tied to language ; Peter Brock, for example, has called the Slovaks a "culturallinguistic nation.' ' 19 The Matica was literally the defender in the battle with Czech linguists over the Pravidla , and in the gathering of signatures of 128 writers - essentially all the practicing writers of the time - on a petition to request revision of the Pravidla, Slovaks were completely united on the language issue. The petition caused such bad feelings on �SLOVAKIA 53 co nfessional and political grounds between ''Czechoslovaks ' ' and "Slovaks" that the Catholic J.C . Hronsky (who had collected the signatures) and the Lutheran Elena Mar6thy-Soltesova published a soothing joint letter in N arodnie novin y. But there was no disagreement on the language issue itself. 20 This need to defend the Slovak la nguage stopped after the period of the Slovak R epublic a nd Czech acceptance of Slovak individuality in the Kosice Program of 1945 , and the linguistic " purism" stopped when it was no longer needed as a defense. 21 Although Slovak language and literature did not still have to be protected as such, the Literarny archfv and the Literarnomuzejne oddelenie were co ntinuing the guardianship of the past, as allowed by the law of 1954 . Such a narrow view of the Matica as guardian, howeve r, is apparently not sufficient to satisfy the Slovak image of the M atica, because demands were made for a change in the liberal 1960s , especially a t the hundred-year jubilee in 1963 . The restrictive law of 1954 was replaced by the law of 1968 , which resto red the Matica's membership base, gave it a biographical department, and made it responsible for cultural relations with foreigners of Slovak ancestry. The insults of Pres ident Antonfn Novotny against the M atica were taken by Slovaks as insults against the whole nation and used by the liberals (Czech as well as Slovak) in 1968-69 both to remove Novotny from office and to improve the status of the Matica . The book published then , Z vole l'udu obnovena, expresses this continuing view of the Matica as a response to the people's need . 22 Clearly, the hi sto rical and the current concept of the Matica includes its ability to propagate (not only to preserve) among Slovaks their sense of identity in their lan guage and literature. This mission can be seen in another way . I have said that one also has to co nsider the psychological effect of the M a tica as a moveable institute that can be established by Slovaks outside Slovakia. This first occurred in 1893 when the "Matica slovenska in America " was founded in Chicago by American Slovaks ce ntered around the R everend Stefan Furd ek 's j ednota and Gustav Marsall-Petrovsky's Slovak V Amerike . It published several works before it dissolved in 1897 , including a literary journal similar to Slovenske pohl'ady. 23 A "Matica slovenska in Yugoslavia" was established in 1932 in Petrovec, near Novi Sad, where a large and compact gro up of Slovaks had lived for two hundred years; it lasted until 1948. The Zahranicna Matica Slovenska , founded by Sta ni slav Meciar a nd J .C. Hronsky after World War II in Argentina , �54 SLOVAKIA with collaborators in the United States and Canada, still exists. In all three examples, the literary activity (both planned and actually carried out) followed the traditional lines ofMatica activity . For example, Meciar collected and published material on Martin Kukucfn while he lived in Chile and also reprinted and analyzed certain works by J .C. Hronsky . 24 Even while the Matica was closed from 187 5 to 1919, it seemed to produce various alternatives to fill its place . For example , the women's organization Zivena was founded in 1869, but it was not closed by Magyar officials since it was just a women's organization, and therefore was presumably insignificant. Its annual meeting occurred in August because it had been founded at the Matica general assembly, so the August m eetings of Zivena became a substitute for the banned August general assembly of the Matica. 2 5 Zivena also developed a publishing program and an almanach , L etopis Zi ven y, to fill the gap left by the closed Matica. This substitution became possible because the Slovak women's movement was primarily an arm of the national movem ent rather than a genuine feminist drive. In part this was true because the Slovak nationalists, such as Ambro Pietor, were instiga tors in founding the women's organization ; they were looking for help in the struggle against Magyar domination. But it was also true because the leader of the women's movement soon became Elena Mar6thy-Soltesova, daughter of a poet of the Stur school, and more of a nationalist herself than a feminist in her own fiction (unlike the fiction of Timrava, which was more nearly feminist). 26 Therefore, I think the work of Zivena can be said to belon g to the Matica tradition . In the same period, but outside Turciansky Sviity M a rtin , other nationalist centers began to develop among Rom a n Catholics, such as the Spolok sv. Vojtecha in Trnava . In addition, K arol Salva's press in Ruzomberok began to compete with the M atica, as did the journal Dennica, ed ited b y T erezia Vansova in Pila . 2 7 In referring to physical effects as opposed to symbolic effects, or maticas abroad and alternative institutions, it is clear that I am co nsidering a movement rather than only the maj or in stitute that movem ent produced . The Matica movement was and is bigger than the institute itself, and in fac t has spread, I think , much farther and deeper in Slovak literary life than the institute itself indicates . For exam ple, one can see evidence of the identification of Slovak selfhood with literature in the theory of comparativistics of Dionyz Durisin in the Institute of �SLOVAKIA 55 Literature of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, and also in the analysis of specifically Slovak elements in lyricized prose by Jan Stevcek of Comenius University . 18 I do not think it is stretching the point too much to say there is something distinctively Slovak about the ambitious attempt of the "Nitra School" of literary theory to utilize and adapt concepts from Czech and Polish structuralism and the Tartu semioticians to create what Edward Mozejko has called "the introduction of a new discipline - the poetics of metatexts . .. a universal metalanguage of art ... the investigation of so-called intersemiotic translation ... a new communicative poetics of literature and art. " 19 To conclude, therefore, the Matica slovenska as an institute resulted from the particular political situation of the Slovaks in Hungary, but it continued and has been periodically renewed because it is a symbol and a symptom of the historical Slovak self-identification with its language and literature. NOTES ' Sta nl ey B. Kimball , " The Serbian Marica - Prototype of Austro-Slav Litera ry Foundat ion s: The First Fifty Yea rs 1826-76 ," East European Quarterly, III (September l 969) , 353-70; Peter H errity, "The R ole of the M a ti ca a nd Similar Societies in the Development of the Slavoni c Literary Languages ,'' Slavon ic and East European R eview, LI Oul y 1973), 368-386 . ' John A. Bert a helped to compile this list; see also his " The Marica slovenska and Its R ole in Slovak Cultural D evelopment, 19 19- 1939" (Ph .D . disse rt a tion , SUNY Bingha mton , l 983). ' " M a ti ca slovenska, " En cyklopedia Slovenska, Vol. III (Bra tislava: SA V , 1979). • Peter Liba, V ydava tel'sk e die/a M a tice slovensk ej 1863-1954 (M artin : M ati ca slovenska , 1962) . ' T omas Winkler , M a rica slovensk a v rok och 1919- 1945: z p roblem ov a dokum entov ustredia MS (Martin: M ati ca slovenska, 1971 ), p . 149. ' Ibid ., p. 150. ' "Literarn ovedn y ustav Slovens kej akademie vied ," Encyklopedia S/ovenska , Vol. III. 8 Winkler, pp. 150-53. ' Ibid, pp. 152-53. �SLOVAKIA 56 10 L ' ubomir Durov ic, "Slovak, " in Th e Slavic Lieerary Languages: Formaeion and Developmene, eds. A .M . Schenker and E. Stankiewicz (New H ave n : Yale Conciliu m on Internati ona l and Area Studies, 1980), p . 222. Owen V. Johnson has shown to what ex tent an education class developed in thi s period in his " The slovak Intelligentsia 19 18- 1938" in Russian and Slavic Hisrory , ed . D .K . Rowney and G.E. Orchard (Columbu s: Slavica Publishers, Inc., 1977), and also in his Ph .D . dissertati on , " Sociocultural a nd National D evelo pment in Slovakia , 1918-1 938: Education and It s Impact" (University of Mi chigan , 1978). 11 Winkler, pp . 153-55. ll 13 Jan Misianik , "Uvodom," D ejin y searsej slo venskej lieerac ury, ed s. J a n Misianik , J ozef Mina rik, Milena Mi chalcova, and Andrej Melichercik , Vol. I (Bratislava: SAV, 1958) , 5-6. The introduction is dated Dece mber 30, 1956. See also Winkler, p . 155. P avo! Stevcek, Coneemporary Slovak Lieeraeure (Bra ti slava: Obzo r, 1980), p . 119 ; Stevcek says Bakos was th e "fou nd er of lit era ry theory ." See also Winkler , p. 156. " Vi ctor K ochol , in D ejin y slovenskej lit eratury: Lieeraeura narodn eho obrodenia , eds . Milan Pisut , K arol R ose nbaum , Victor Kochol, Vol. II (Bratislava: SAY , 1960) , pp . 466-67: "Hurban chcel v slovenskom kulturnom zivote dosled ne upl atn ova t' principy vedec kosti a kritickosti . . . . " 11 Winkler, pp . 157-59. See a lso V ladimir Petrik , "Slovenske pohl'ady 192 2- 1938 , " Slovenske pohl'ady , No. 7 (1964) , 8-14 , and Jozef Bzoch, "Slove nske pohl'ad y 1939- 1944, " Slo venske pohl'ady, o. 8 (1964), 6-9. 1 • See Liba , op . cir. 17 E.G., Iva n Ku sy, ed. , Timra va: Zobran e spisy, II (Bratisl ava: Slovenske vydavatel'stvo krasnej literatury , 1956), 287-88, and es pecially Marianna PridavkovaMinarikova , Textologicke a seylisticke problem y K.ukucinovho die/a (Bratislava: SA V, 1972), pp . 5, 13 , 15, and passim . " In 1935, for exa mpl e, th e lin guist r.udovit Novak argued for chan ges in th e Matica to provide greater finan cial support and to bring scientifi c freedom from political chan ges (Winkler , pp. 29-30 a nd 110- 12) ; in fact, th e J azy koved ny odbor had such ex treme organiza ti onal disagreements amo ng its members (especially Novak and H enri ch Ba rt ek) th a t once ( 1936) Hronsk y wanted to resign a nd later (1941) th e odbor was on th e verge of being di ssolved (see Winkler , pp . 30 a nd 131-32). On SA VU a nd SAV, see Slovenska ak adem ia vied (Bratislava: Vydavatcl'stvo SAV, 1969). " Peter Brock , The Slo,·ak National Awakenin g: An Essay in eh e lnt eJlecr ual Hiseory of Ease General Europe (Toronto a nd Buffalo: Universi ty of T oro nto Press, 1976), p. ix . Brock uses as a motto H ans Kohn's statement: " In Central and Eastern Europe it was the poe t, the phil ologist, and th e hi storian who crea ted th e nati onaliti es. " "' Elena Mar6th y-Soltcsova a nd J .C . H rons ky, " Slm-cnskej ve rej nos ti . Vysvetlenie vo veci podpisov pre navrh slov . spisova tcl'ov ," Narodnie novin y, May 1932 , p. 2. On th e Pra vidla , see Durovic, pp . 222-25 , and Robert Auty, " The R ole of Purism in th e Development of th e Sl avonic Lit erary Languages, " Slavonic R eview , LI Uul y 1973) , 335 -43. �SLOVAKIA 57 " 6urovic, pp . 225-26. " Z vole I'udu obnovena, ed s. Ivan Gegus and Mil os K ovacka (M a rtin : Matica slovenska , 1968 - ac tu all y 1969), pp. 6-9 a nd p assim . Novotnfs petty a nd tas teless behavior is outlin ed here also. " '' Matica slove nska v Amerike '' and '' Matica slovenska v J uh oslav ii ,' ' En cyklopedia Slovenska , Vol. III. On th e American Matica, see also K ons ta ntin C ul en , Slovenske casopisy ,· Amerike (Cleveland: Prva katolicka sloven ska jednota, 1970), pp . 19-21 , 52-53 , 70-71. " Stanislav M ecia r , Kukucfn if.ivy , 2 vols. ( Bu enos Aires: Knizni ca Slobodna Slovenska Kultu ra , 1958 and 1960) - stri ctl y speaking th ese books were no t published by the Matica but within that trad itio n; J. C. Hronsky , Poh ar z bruseneho skla , ed. S. Mcciar (Buenos Aires: Zahranicn a M ati ca Slovenska, 1964), and Na kriinych cescach , cd. S. Meciar (Bu enos Aires: Zahranicna Matica Sloven ska, 1966). " Stefana Yotrubova, Zivena. j ej osudy a praca (Martin: Zivena, 1931) , pp . 22-23; see a lso J a rmil a Tkadleckova-Yantuchova, Zivena-Spolok slovensk ych zien (Bra ti slava : Epocha , 1969). " See th e compariso n in An In cipienc Feminise: Slovak Scories by Timra, ·a , ed it ed and translated by No rm a Leigh Rudinsk y (Columbus: Slavica Publishers, In c. , in prep.). " J a n Tibensky , ed ., Slovensko: Dejiny (Bratislava: Obzor, 197 1), p . 543. " Dionyz Duri sin , Problem y Jic erarn ej komparacistik y (Bratislava: SA V, 1967), and Z dcjin a ce6rie Jicerarn ej kompara cisrik y (Bratislava: SA V , 1970) ; J an Stevcck, Nez badane pr6zy (Bratislava: Slovensky spisova tel' , 197 1), a nd L yrizovan a pr6za (B ra ti slava : Tatran , 1973). " Edwa rd Mozejko, " Survey: Slovak Theory of Litera ry Co mmuni ca ti on : Notes on th e Nitra School of Lit erary Criticism,' ' PTL: A j ourn al for Descripri,·e Poetics and Theory of Lircrarure , 4 (1979) , 37 1-8 4. �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1984, Vol. 31 Description An account of the resource Vol. 31 (No. 57), 1984. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 47 The Matica slovenska and Its Relation to the Development of Slovak Literature* Norma L. Rudin sky The distinctively Slavic institution of th e matica can perhaps b e best described as a national library, publishing house, university , scientific institute, acad emy of scholars, and nationalistic missionary society all in one. The earliest examples - the Matica srbska founded in 1826, Matice ceska in 1831, and Mati ce moravska in 1836 - were like the later Matica slovenska, founded in Turciansky Svaty Martin on August 4 , 1863, in playing an important role in literary development. 1 But the Slovak Matica assumed a special significance because of the much more desolate circumstan ces of the Slovaks in Hungary . This difference makes a particularly interesting study not only of the Slavic matica movement but also of the special place of literature in Slovak intellectual hi sto ry . In speaking of the relation of the Matica slovenska to Slovak literature, one has to distinguish between the effect of the actual institute as it existed (from its founding in 1863 to its closure by Magyar authorities in 1875 and since its reopening in 1919) and the effect of the spiritual/ psychological or symboli c nature of the Matica even when it did not exist , i.e ., 1875-1919 , and in a certain sense when it was "onl y" a national library without a membership base, from 195 1 to 1968 . One also has to consider the symbolic meaning whenever a Matica was established outsid e Slovakia , as ha s happened seve ral times . • Thi s is a rev ised ve rsio n of a pa per prese nt ed at th e panel " The M ati ca slove nsk a: 120 Yea rs of Survi va l" spo nso red by the Slova k Studies Associati on durin g th e Fiftee nth Nati onal C onve nti o n of th e Am eri can Association for th e Advan ce m ent of Slavic Studies held in Kan sas C it y, Mi ssouri in O ctober 1983 . 48 SLOVAKIA It is also necessary to distinguish the direct effects of the Matica from its indirect effects, that is , from all its general educational results, such as greater literacy and a higher cultural level that came from activities like publishing almanacs, setting up amateur theatricals, or dignifying folk literature by collecting and reciting it. By all such results the Matica contributed to the development of a social and intellect ual environment in which Slovak literature could arise. Literary works are always a response of an artist to a particular time and place; the general activities of the Matica provided a stimulus to literary talent and helped to secure an audience for that talent. But having mentioned this indirect effect, I shall confine myself to the direct effects of the Matica on Slovak literature, and first to those that occurred while the Matica actually existed. The special relation of the "t\1atica to both language and literature is indicated in the list of presidents and directors. The office of president (predseda), which until 1945 was an honorary position and could be held by two or three people at a time, has had over thirteen occupants; at least four were major writers Qan Francisci, Pavol OrszaghHviezdoslav, Ladislav Novomesky, and Vladimfr Minac - Novomesky having two terms, before and after his prison sentence), and five were literary historians or at least had strong literary interests (Stefan Moyses, Jozef Koza.eek , F.R. Osvald, Jur Janoska, and Marian Blaha). Of the seven directors (spravca), which is the chief administrative position , one was a major writer O. C. Hronsky) and three were major literary historians Qaroslav Vlcek, Jozef Skultety, and Jan Martak , who had two terms). 2 If the secretaries (tajomnfk) are added as major officers, they were all literary figures except Frantisek Hermansky, a lin gui st, and JozefCincik, an artist and art historian: Stefan Krcmery, RudolfKlacko, Hronsky ' Martak, and Stanislav Meciar. l It is hard to see much real effect upon literature from the first Matica, even though one of its functions was to publish and distribute literary works. The major Slovak writers of that tim e were only beginning to write and publish just before the Matica was closed. For example, Hviezdoslav's first poems were published in 1868 but in Skalica , not in Martin, as was also his journal Napred. Svetozar Hurban -Vajansky's first book, a coll ection of poems, came out in 1871 but again in Skalica, not Martin. Elena Mar6thy -Soltesova's first story was published in 1881, and Martin Kukucfn' s first story appeared in 1882 when th e Mati ca SLOVAKIA 49 was cl osed . In fact , proba bl y the only reall y signifi cant literary work durin g the tim e of the first Matica was the collectio n a nd preservation of folk litera ture, the two-volume collection Sbornfk sloven sk ych n arod- nych piesnf, povestf, prfslovf, p orek adiel, hadok , hier, obycaj ov a povier in 1870 and 1874, the second volum e of which was edited by P avo) Dobsin sky. This work was, of course, ve ry impo rta n t in th e establishm ent of Slovak fo lk literature as well as ethnography. Otherwi se, however , the twelve issu es of the a nnu al publicatio n L etopis M atice slo vensk ej a nd the 44 books published by the M a tica carried so m e li te ra ry hi stor y but prima ril y in rela tion to la n gu age, no t liter a ture. 4 Afte r the M atica was reopened in 19 19, its fi rst offi cial li te rary divisio n was the Lite rary Hi sto r y D ep a rtment (Litera rn ohi sto ri cky odbor MS ), whi ch was form ed o n M ay 11 , 19 22 b y separat in g the hi sto ry of li te ra tu re secti on (hi sto rickoli terarn a sekcia) from the Hi story D epartm ent (Historicky od bo r M S). T he latter ha d bee n establ ished at the second ge ner al asse mbl y of the M at ica in Au gust, 1920 . T he fi rst offi cers of the Literary Hi story D epartme n t we re J a roslav V lcek as pres ide nt , Albert Prazak as vice- preside nt , a nd Stefan Krcm ery as secreta ry, S and they gave the depa rtment its basic to ne for the next decade. T he D epartm en t was enl a rged in Febru a ry, 1925 by adding to it m an y writers from the literary sectio n of th e Art s D ep a rtm e nt (U m elecky odbo r M S), a nd its na m e was ch a n ged to th e Liter a ry a nd Literar y Hi sto ry D ep a rtm ent (Litera rn y a literarn ohi sto ri cky odbor MS) . But the old n am e was taken again the nex t year , a nd it remain ed the Li te ra rnohi sto ricky odbo r 6 until it was ended in 1953, when its work was taken over by several in stitutes, such as the Li te ra rn y archfv M S a n d the In sti tu te of Slovak Liter ature in the Slovak Academy of Sciences (Ustav sloven skej li teratury SA V) in Brat islava . 7 T h is n a m e, in fac t , in d icated its m a in fu nct io n : it collected manu scrip ts b io-b ibli ograp hi es, m emoris , a nd the li ke. 8 O ne of its first act ivit ies was to coll ect a nd pu bli sh Vl ce k 's hi story of Slovak li te ra tu re in 1923, a nd it co ntribu ted to th e S bornfk Ma tice slovensk ej pre j azykospyt, narodopis, dejepis a literarnu historiu , whi ch , howeve r , eve n th ou gh ed ited fi rs t by V lcek, the n by S kul tety, in its first d ecade co n ta in ed m u ch m o re o n ethn ograp hy a nd la n gu age tha n on li te ratu re . 9 Also, m u ch of the work do ne the n de pended upon Czech scholars who - li ke V lce k hi r.1self, Prazak, a nd Flora Kl einsch nitzova - trea ted Slovak li te rat ure as a b ra n ch of Czech li terat ure, whi ch affected their research goals a nd in te rests . 50 SLOVAKIA It has bee n said b y Lubomfr Durovic that althou gh the first Czechoslovak Republic de jure challenged the existence of the Slovak nation by the official theory of the '' Czechoslovak n a tion ,'' it de facto saved th e n a tion by m eans of the great opportunities it provided compared to the Hunga ri a n period . 10 This can be seen very clearly in the ch a n ges that occurred in th e Matica after 1930 when a n ew generat ion of Slovak scholars h ad been trained whose chief interest was in Slovak, not Czech , cu lture and who wanted to co nsider its specificity and its relation to other Slavic cultures, not to Czech culture alone . In 1935 the Sbornfk was divided into specialized pa rts with individu al editors : Ludovft Nova k edited th e la n gu age secti on a nd Stanislav M eciar the lite rary sect ion . The a rrival of su ch a literary schol a r as Andrej Mraz in 1930 m eant , therefore, a cha n ge in em phasis not only from narodopis or et hn ography to literature, but also from bio-bibliographical works to criti cal a nd evalu ative studies and monographs on individual authors, su ch as j a nko Kral' , J a n K alinciak , Samo Chalupka, a nd Ivan Krasko . 11 In add ition , seve ral foreig n Slavists, such as the Ru ssian Dmitri C izevskij an d the Pole Wl ad yslaw Bobek , contributed to the Sbornfk seve ral co mparative studi es rela tin g Slovak literature to th e ge ne ral stream of Slavic literatures a nd in importa n t respects cha n gin g the inte rpreta tion a nd pe riodi zation of Vlcek , which had been follow ed also by Albert Prazak in th e d oze n or m ore wo rks on Slovak li terature h e publi shed in th e M atica in the 1920s a nd after 1932 in th e U ce na spolocnost' Safarikova. In fact , it is inte resting that the first effort to determine a real pe riodization of Slovak literature in itself, not in terms of the peri odization of Czech lite ra ture as Vlcek a nd Prazak h ad don e, was m ade by the P ole Bobek in 193 7; li ttle work was done again on the p eri odizati on of earl y Slovak lite rature until the M a rxist hi stori a ns did it in 1958 in the first volume of the Academy of Sciences literary hi story . i Apa rt from literary history , however , there was really little formal esthetic a n alysis or study of th e theo ry of lite rature. Th e major exce pti on (and it is trul y m ajor) was th e publication in 1939 of the book Vyvin slo vensk eh o versa od skoly Sturo vej by th e Ru ssia n-born forma li st and stru cturali st Mikul as Bakos, who d eveloped a more modern es th etic a n alysis tha n an yone else had done. Accordin g to P avo! Stevcek, it has "remained a book of cardin al importance" to thi s d ay. 13 Th e Sbornfk was not th e on ly literary journ al publi shed by th e M at ica, howeve r . M o re impo rt ant was Sloven sk e pohl'a dy, wh ich has 1 SLOVAKIA 51 been, and still is, a sort of microcosm of Slovak cultural life since it was founded by JozefMiloslav Hurban in 1846. Hurban 's purpose in starting the periodical was " to apply consistently in Slovak cultural life the principles of science and criticism .'' 14 In the first six years of its existence (1846-52), it reflected the major events of Slovak intellectual life - including Hurban ' s defense of Stur's langu age codification in 1846 . Although halted by the censors and b y finan cial difficulties in 1852, it was resumed in M artin in 1881 and continued with first Vajansky as editor , then Jozef Skultety publishing and editing it until 1919 . In 1921 the M atica started it up again under the editorship of Stefan Krcmery, and it remained a monthly published by the Matica until 1953, when it was taken over b y the Slovak Writers' Union , whose organ it is today . In the Matica period, it was edited by Krcmery until illness forced his ret irem ent in 1932, then Andrej Mraz until 1938, and Stanislav M eciar until 1945; with a few exceptions in that period everyo ne published there: nationalists , internationalists, Catholics, Lutherans, Communists, realists, surrealists, social realists. 15 Unlike the Sbornfk, Slovenske pohl'ady always carried original works of literature - poetry and sto ries - as well as literary history and criticism . Thu s it contributed to the growth of literature itself, not just to literary criticism . Besides these two journals, however , the Literary History D epartm ent supported literature in another way: by republishin g the "classics" in collected editions, includin g all the works ofHviezdoslav, Vajansky, Kukucfn , Timrava, the Stur school , and also contemporary writers, such as janko j esensky , Hronsky , a nd M artin R azu s. 16 Unfortunately, these editions of the classics were not usually prepared accord ing to consistent, modern editorial principles, either in selection and arrange m ent of the m ate rial or in lin guistic and textual stand ards. Skultety , Mraz, and M eciar each followed his own editorial system , and editorial assistants acted even more freely. Numerous living authors complained about their treatm en t, and this was true after World War II as well as during and befo re. 17 Furthermore, the Matica did not always select fo r publication the best current works. It showed no interest in Kukucfn's Mat' vola (1 926-27) , published by G .A. Beza in Trnava, nor did it issue Milo Urban 's Zivy bic (Prague, 1927), which is generally rated as by far the best Slovak novel published in the 1920s. But this can be regarded as a sign of the times: In its early period the Matica could be in co ntact 52 SLOVAKIA with almost everything, but as Slovak opportunities grew geometrically with education and the other new advantages, the Matica and Martin could not hold everything in their own hands, and other literary centers were developing . Bratislava became the major competitor, not only because of the professors at the University, but also because of the newly-established Slovak Academy of Sciences and Arts (Slovenska akademia vied a umenf) in 1942, which eventually developed into the current Slovenska akademia vied. In fact, organizational changes in the Matica also became necessary to meet the increasingly specialized growth of knowledge itself in the second half of the twentieth century. 18 The changes in the Matica that occurred after World War II have to be seen in this context: No organization could continue as the sole cultural and scientific institution, as the arts and social sciences became much too complex to be governed in a single organization, especially an institute far away from the capital city, the chief metropolis, and the seat of the main university system. Major changes would have occurred even without the Communist takeover in 1948 or the Marxist-Leninist theories of internationalism and the leading role of the Party - all of which tended to diminish the importance of the Matica. When the law of 1954 reduced the Matica to the single function of a national library and bibliographic institute, I think the fact that it kept exactly its literary relations - its archival, bibliographic, library, and museum activities - is not at all surprising and indicated its basic function from the beginning . But with this point, we are faced with the symbolic meaning, the psychological/spiritual effect, of the Matica slovenska apart from its physical existence . This brings us to the second kind of effect upon literature the Matica has had . In the extreme Magyar persecution at the time of the Matica's early life, it became a sort of guardian and protector of the Slovak nation, which specifically came to mean the guardian of Slovak self-expression, of literature and language. Historians have recognized and shown how closely the Slovak sense of identity, the sense of self, is tied to language ; Peter Brock, for example, has called the Slovaks a "culturallinguistic nation.' ' 19 The Matica was literally the defender in the battle with Czech linguists over the Pravidla , and in the gathering of signatures of 128 writers - essentially all the practicing writers of the time - on a petition to request revision of the Pravidla, Slovaks were completely united on the language issue. The petition caused such bad feelings on SLOVAKIA 53 co nfessional and political grounds between ''Czechoslovaks ' ' and "Slovaks" that the Catholic J.C . Hronsky (who had collected the signatures) and the Lutheran Elena Mar6thy-Soltesova published a soothing joint letter in N arodnie novin y. But there was no disagreement on the language issue itself. 20 This need to defend the Slovak la nguage stopped after the period of the Slovak R epublic a nd Czech acceptance of Slovak individuality in the Kosice Program of 1945 , and the linguistic " purism" stopped when it was no longer needed as a defense. 21 Although Slovak language and literature did not still have to be protected as such, the Literarny archfv and the Literarnomuzejne oddelenie were co ntinuing the guardianship of the past, as allowed by the law of 1954 . Such a narrow view of the Matica as guardian, howeve r, is apparently not sufficient to satisfy the Slovak image of the M atica, because demands were made for a change in the liberal 1960s , especially a t the hundred-year jubilee in 1963 . The restrictive law of 1954 was replaced by the law of 1968 , which resto red the Matica's membership base, gave it a biographical department, and made it responsible for cultural relations with foreigners of Slovak ancestry. The insults of Pres ident Antonfn Novotny against the M atica were taken by Slovaks as insults against the whole nation and used by the liberals (Czech as well as Slovak) in 1968-69 both to remove Novotny from office and to improve the status of the Matica . The book published then , Z vole l'udu obnovena, expresses this continuing view of the Matica as a response to the people's need . 22 Clearly, the hi sto rical and the current concept of the Matica includes its ability to propagate (not only to preserve) among Slovaks their sense of identity in their lan guage and literature. This mission can be seen in another way . I have said that one also has to co nsider the psychological effect of the M a tica as a moveable institute that can be established by Slovaks outside Slovakia. This first occurred in 1893 when the "Matica slovenska in America " was founded in Chicago by American Slovaks ce ntered around the R everend Stefan Furd ek 's j ednota and Gustav Marsall-Petrovsky's Slovak V Amerike . It published several works before it dissolved in 1897 , including a literary journal similar to Slovenske pohl'ady. 23 A "Matica slovenska in Yugoslavia" was established in 1932 in Petrovec, near Novi Sad, where a large and compact gro up of Slovaks had lived for two hundred years; it lasted until 1948. The Zahranicna Matica Slovenska , founded by Sta ni slav Meciar a nd J .C. Hronsky after World War II in Argentina , 54 SLOVAKIA with collaborators in the United States and Canada, still exists. In all three examples, the literary activity (both planned and actually carried out) followed the traditional lines ofMatica activity . For example, Meciar collected and published material on Martin Kukucfn while he lived in Chile and also reprinted and analyzed certain works by J .C. Hronsky . 24 Even while the Matica was closed from 187 5 to 1919, it seemed to produce various alternatives to fill its place . For example , the women's organization Zivena was founded in 1869, but it was not closed by Magyar officials since it was just a women's organization, and therefore was presumably insignificant. Its annual meeting occurred in August because it had been founded at the Matica general assembly, so the August m eetings of Zivena became a substitute for the banned August general assembly of the Matica. 2 5 Zivena also developed a publishing program and an almanach , L etopis Zi ven y, to fill the gap left by the closed Matica. This substitution became possible because the Slovak women's movement was primarily an arm of the national movem ent rather than a genuine feminist drive. In part this was true because the Slovak nationalists, such as Ambro Pietor, were instiga tors in founding the women's organization ; they were looking for help in the struggle against Magyar domination. But it was also true because the leader of the women's movement soon became Elena Mar6thy-Soltesova, daughter of a poet of the Stur school, and more of a nationalist herself than a feminist in her own fiction (unlike the fiction of Timrava, which was more nearly feminist). 26 Therefore, I think the work of Zivena can be said to belon g to the Matica tradition . In the same period, but outside Turciansky Sviity M a rtin , other nationalist centers began to develop among Rom a n Catholics, such as the Spolok sv. Vojtecha in Trnava . In addition, K arol Salva's press in Ruzomberok began to compete with the M atica, as did the journal Dennica, ed ited b y T erezia Vansova in Pila . 2 7 In referring to physical effects as opposed to symbolic effects, or maticas abroad and alternative institutions, it is clear that I am co nsidering a movement rather than only the maj or in stitute that movem ent produced . The Matica movement was and is bigger than the institute itself, and in fac t has spread, I think , much farther and deeper in Slovak literary life than the institute itself indicates . For exam ple, one can see evidence of the identification of Slovak selfhood with literature in the theory of comparativistics of Dionyz Durisin in the Institute of SLOVAKIA 55 Literature of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, and also in the analysis of specifically Slovak elements in lyricized prose by Jan Stevcek of Comenius University . 18 I do not think it is stretching the point too much to say there is something distinctively Slovak about the ambitious attempt of the "Nitra School" of literary theory to utilize and adapt concepts from Czech and Polish structuralism and the Tartu semioticians to create what Edward Mozejko has called "the introduction of a new discipline - the poetics of metatexts . .. a universal metalanguage of art ... the investigation of so-called intersemiotic translation ... a new communicative poetics of literature and art. " 19 To conclude, therefore, the Matica slovenska as an institute resulted from the particular political situation of the Slovaks in Hungary, but it continued and has been periodically renewed because it is a symbol and a symptom of the historical Slovak self-identification with its language and literature. NOTES ' Sta nl ey B. Kimball , " The Serbian Marica - Prototype of Austro-Slav Litera ry Foundat ion s: The First Fifty Yea rs 1826-76 ," East European Quarterly, III (September l 969) , 353-70; Peter H errity, "The R ole of the M a ti ca a nd Similar Societies in the Development of the Slavoni c Literary Languages ,'' Slavon ic and East European R eview, LI Oul y 1973), 368-386 . ' John A. Bert a helped to compile this list; see also his " The Marica slovenska and Its R ole in Slovak Cultural D evelopment, 19 19- 1939" (Ph .D . disse rt a tion , SUNY Bingha mton , l 983). ' " M a ti ca slovenska, " En cyklopedia Slovenska, Vol. III (Bra tislava: SA V , 1979). • Peter Liba, V ydava tel'sk e die/a M a tice slovensk ej 1863-1954 (M artin : M ati ca slovenska , 1962) . ' T omas Winkler , M a rica slovensk a v rok och 1919- 1945: z p roblem ov a dokum entov ustredia MS (Martin: M ati ca slovenska, 1971 ), p . 149. ' Ibid ., p. 150. ' "Literarn ovedn y ustav Slovens kej akademie vied ," Encyklopedia S/ovenska , Vol. III. 8 Winkler, pp. 150-53. ' Ibid, pp. 152-53. SLOVAKIA 56 10 L ' ubomir Durov ic, "Slovak, " in Th e Slavic Lieerary Languages: Formaeion and Developmene, eds. A .M . Schenker and E. Stankiewicz (New H ave n : Yale Conciliu m on Internati ona l and Area Studies, 1980), p . 222. Owen V. Johnson has shown to what ex tent an education class developed in thi s period in his " The slovak Intelligentsia 19 18- 1938" in Russian and Slavic Hisrory , ed . D .K . Rowney and G.E. Orchard (Columbu s: Slavica Publishers, Inc., 1977), and also in his Ph .D . dissertati on , " Sociocultural a nd National D evelo pment in Slovakia , 1918-1 938: Education and It s Impact" (University of Mi chigan , 1978). 11 Winkler, pp . 153-55. ll 13 Jan Misianik , "Uvodom," D ejin y searsej slo venskej lieerac ury, ed s. J a n Misianik , J ozef Mina rik, Milena Mi chalcova, and Andrej Melichercik , Vol. I (Bratislava: SAV, 1958) , 5-6. The introduction is dated Dece mber 30, 1956. See also Winkler, p . 155. P avo! Stevcek, Coneemporary Slovak Lieeraeure (Bra ti slava: Obzo r, 1980), p . 119 ; Stevcek says Bakos was th e "fou nd er of lit era ry theory ." See also Winkler , p. 156. " Vi ctor K ochol , in D ejin y slovenskej lit eratury: Lieeraeura narodn eho obrodenia , eds . Milan Pisut , K arol R ose nbaum , Victor Kochol, Vol. II (Bratislava: SAY , 1960) , pp . 466-67: "Hurban chcel v slovenskom kulturnom zivote dosled ne upl atn ova t' principy vedec kosti a kritickosti . . . . " 11 Winkler, pp . 157-59. See a lso V ladimir Petrik , "Slovenske pohl'ady 192 2- 1938 , " Slovenske pohl'ady , No. 7 (1964) , 8-14 , and Jozef Bzoch, "Slove nske pohl'ad y 1939- 1944, " Slo venske pohl'ady, o. 8 (1964), 6-9. 1 • See Liba , op . cir. 17 E.G., Iva n Ku sy, ed. , Timra va: Zobran e spisy, II (Bratisl ava: Slovenske vydavatel'stvo krasnej literatury , 1956), 287-88, and es pecially Marianna PridavkovaMinarikova , Textologicke a seylisticke problem y K.ukucinovho die/a (Bratislava: SA V, 1972), pp . 5, 13 , 15, and passim . " In 1935, for exa mpl e, th e lin guist r.udovit Novak argued for chan ges in th e Matica to provide greater finan cial support and to bring scientifi c freedom from political chan ges (Winkler , pp. 29-30 a nd 110- 12) ; in fact, th e J azy koved ny odbor had such ex treme organiza ti onal disagreements amo ng its members (especially Novak and H enri ch Ba rt ek) th a t once ( 1936) Hronsk y wanted to resign a nd later (1941) th e odbor was on th e verge of being di ssolved (see Winkler , pp . 30 a nd 131-32). On SA VU a nd SAV, see Slovenska ak adem ia vied (Bratislava: Vydavatcl'stvo SAV, 1969). " Peter Brock , The Slo,·ak National Awakenin g: An Essay in eh e lnt eJlecr ual Hiseory of Ease General Europe (Toronto a nd Buffalo: Universi ty of T oro nto Press, 1976), p. ix . Brock uses as a motto H ans Kohn's statement: " In Central and Eastern Europe it was the poe t, the phil ologist, and th e hi storian who crea ted th e nati onaliti es. " "' Elena Mar6th y-Soltcsova a nd J .C . H rons ky, " Slm-cnskej ve rej nos ti . Vysvetlenie vo veci podpisov pre navrh slov . spisova tcl'ov ," Narodnie novin y, May 1932 , p. 2. On th e Pra vidla , see Durovic, pp . 222-25 , and Robert Auty, " The R ole of Purism in th e Development of th e Sl avonic Lit erary Languages, " Slavonic R eview , LI Uul y 1973) , 335 -43. SLOVAKIA 57 " 6urovic, pp . 225-26. " Z vole I'udu obnovena, ed s. Ivan Gegus and Mil os K ovacka (M a rtin : Matica slovenska , 1968 - ac tu all y 1969), pp. 6-9 a nd p assim . Novotnfs petty a nd tas teless behavior is outlin ed here also. " '' Matica slove nska v Amerike '' and '' Matica slovenska v J uh oslav ii ,' ' En cyklopedia Slovenska , Vol. III. On th e American Matica, see also K ons ta ntin C ul en , Slovenske casopisy ,· Amerike (Cleveland: Prva katolicka sloven ska jednota, 1970), pp . 19-21 , 52-53 , 70-71. " Stanislav M ecia r , Kukucfn if.ivy , 2 vols. ( Bu enos Aires: Knizni ca Slobodna Slovenska Kultu ra , 1958 and 1960) - stri ctl y speaking th ese books were no t published by the Matica but within that trad itio n; J. C. Hronsky , Poh ar z bruseneho skla , ed. S. Mcciar (Buenos Aires: Zahranicn a M ati ca Slovenska, 1964), and Na kriinych cescach , cd. S. Meciar (Bu enos Aires: Zahranicna Matica Sloven ska, 1966). " Stefana Yotrubova, Zivena. j ej osudy a praca (Martin: Zivena, 1931) , pp . 22-23; see a lso J a rmil a Tkadleckova-Yantuchova, Zivena-Spolok slovensk ych zien (Bra ti slava : Epocha , 1969). " See th e compariso n in An In cipienc Feminise: Slovak Scories by Timra, ·a , ed it ed and translated by No rm a Leigh Rudinsk y (Columbus: Slavica Publishers, In c. , in prep.). " J a n Tibensky , ed ., Slovensko: Dejiny (Bratislava: Obzor, 197 1), p . 543. " Dionyz Duri sin , Problem y Jic erarn ej komparacistik y (Bratislava: SA V, 1967), and Z dcjin a ce6rie Jicerarn ej kompara cisrik y (Bratislava: SA V , 1970) ; J an Stevcck, Nez badane pr6zy (Bratislava: Slovensky spisova tel' , 197 1), a nd L yrizovan a pr6za (B ra ti slava : Tatran , 1973). " Edwa rd Mozejko, " Survey: Slovak Theory of Litera ry Co mmuni ca ti on : Notes on th e Nitra School of Lit erary Criticism,' ' PTL: A j ourn al for Descripri,·e Poetics and Theory of Lircrarure , 4 (1979) , 37 1-8 4.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Matica slovenská and Its Relation to the Development of Slovak Literature Description An account of the resource Norma L. Rudinsky Slovakia, Vol. 31 (No. 57), 1984 pp. 47-57 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rudinsky, Norma Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/cb665c54899f47f05f37ef860ea5effe.pdf 6eb41d4c74957911d3a1dacb3983faae PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 107 Broken Line Carol Towarnicky The day she found out her great-grandmother had died was the day she found out her great-grandmother had lived. It was when her father came from Chevy, and he always came home at exactly quarterto-four. She and her little brother Jeffie were watching '' American Bandstand . " Ali the girls in the sixth grade watched it , and Frankie Avalon was supposed to be on. Her mother was upstairs somewhere . When she and Jeffie had come home from school , they had found two slices of rye bread and a stick of butter on the kitchen table. The butter was hard. Jackie could hear her father stomping snow off his shoes. Daddy never wore rubbers, like fathers in her readers in school, but there were so many differences between her father and those in the books that she had long ago stopped wondering about them. The fathers in the readers wore suits and ties, and when they came home they put their briefcases on the table. Sometimes, on television, they had a drink. A martini . But Daddy wore gray pants and a gray suit, and he had this metal lunchbox that looked like a small black barn. Her mother spent a lot of time cooking chicken and ham for it. Daddy hated sandwiches. Sometimes Jackie would ask for peanut butter and jelly for lunch , but they always had soup and meat. When her father came home from work, the first thing he always did was wash his hands with cleanser. He would scrape under his nails with a nail file and wash again. But his hands never seemed really clean . Sometimes, like the day before her First Holy Communion, he washed and washed, and they looked better . But for everyday, he just did his best and let it go. But this day , Daddy did not stop to wash his hands. When he came into the living room, a strange expression was on his face, like the time Jackie had run into the street and you could hear the brakes screech all over the neighborhood, and Daddy had spanked her for the only time . "Where's your mother?" Jackie pointed upstairs. �SLOVAKIA "Hey, Marge," he called loudly, "you sick or something?" There was a muffled reply and a wail. Baby Janet was up. Her mother came down the steps quickly, without the baby. She had her coat on, which was strange because she usually kept it with the others in the downstairs closet. Her coat wouldn't button all the way. They were going to have a new baby around Valentine 's Day , and Jackie hoped it would be a boy. " My grandmother died," Mommy said softly . "Your grandmother? The one in the old country?" Mommy talked almost without opening her mouth. "Ktoru inu Babku mam? Mama dostala dnes dopis." Standing on the third stair from the bottom, Mommy looked much bigger than Daddy . Upstairs , Janet began to rock the crib. "You going over there?" "Well, Ma's real upset," her mother said. "She keeps saying that she should have known, that she should have felt it or something. She says she knew when her father died, but she didn't know when her mother died , I don't know.'' When Mommy got to the bottom step, Daddy put his arm around her shoulder and she leaned against him. "You want a ride?" "No, I don't want to bundle them up for just a block . Just fix them supper, okay? I couldn't do anything after Ma called." Daddy's voice was gentle . "Listen, tell your mom I'm sorry . " They stood at the front door . Mommy's hand was on the knob. "What did she die of?" Daddy asked. "Myslim, ze mala rakovinu ." Jackie hated it when her parents talked Slovak. Most of the grownups started talking it when they didn't want kids to hear. First Mommy would talk in English, and then, right in the middle, she would talk in Slovak . They always talked to Baba in Slovak, of course, because Baba didn't speak English very well at all. Baba had come to America with Mommy and Uncle John a long time ago from Slovakia, which was part of Czechoslovakia and behind the Iron Curtain. Right around Russia, which had Sputnik. Jackie had wanted to learn Slovak, so that she could really talk to Baba, but Daddy had said that it would be better to learn English good first. "Do you want people to think you're a D .P. ?" �SLOVAKIA 109 D.P. 's were funny-looking people who didn't talk right. Sometimes the little girls cried in school. They had gold earrings in their ears, even in the first grade. Jackie's friend Sandy said that they used needles to poke the holes. Daddy ' s mother had come to Cleveland from Slovakia, too, but she was dead now . Daddy knew Slovak , and French from the war, and Polish and Ukrainian and Russian because of all the people in his old neighborhood . He even spoke Jewish a little. But it made him mad that some people didn't speak English. He would make fun of Mister Hudak and Mister Zahradnik ; sometimes he would even make fun of Baba. " Been in this country how long," he would say to Mommy, "twentyfive years, and still can't speak the language." Daddy opened the refrigerator . He pulled out some wonderful big hot dogs, strung together like the beads on a necklace. Daddy never bought hot dogs in plastic packages. " How about hot dogs and pork and beans? Whaddya think?" " Oh, but Daddy it's Friday," Jackie said. "You know we can't eat meat on Friday . It's a mortal sin." Her father sighed . "Well, I guess we'll just have to have some Sister Imelde eggs.'' Daddy didn ' t eat meat on Fridays ever since the time in the second grade when he had been eating ham and Jackie had cried that Sister Imelde said that anybody who ate meat on Friday was going to hell and she didn't want Daddy to go to hell. But he always called it Sister Imelde eggs or Sister Imelde fish . It made Jackie feel funny, because she didn't know whether it was a sin to make fun of Sister Imelde and she couldn't ask anybody about it. When Jackie and Jeffie set the table, they put extra, smaller forks on the left side of the salad , and Jackie poured the milk for their tea into a small pitcher . Daddy had shown them the new way after he started being a handyman on Saturdays at Doctor Elliott's house, which was across from Lake Erie. Daddy and Mommy sometimes laughed at Doctor Elliott , who helped Mommy have babies but paid Daddy to put together hi s little boy's bicycle. Doctor Elliott's little boy's name was Carter. The eggs tasted different when they were scrambled by themselves with butter. She liked them better with little bits of bacon . " Daddy, why didn't Mommy's Baba come to America, too?" " Mommy's Baba?" �110 SLOVAKIA '' You know, the one who died.'' " C ' mon Jeffie, let's finish those eggs. Only two more bites." Jackie pushed her empty plate away. "I mean, why didn ' t she just come here to live with everybody else?" Her father sighed. "I don't know, honey . Maybe she was just too old. Maybe she didn't want to move ." "Do you think they have Requiem Masses in Slovakia like we have?" They sang Requiem Masses when the sixth grade was in choir. Jackie liked it. It gave her shivers. Re-e-qui-em Ae-e-te-e-e-er-na-am. Jeffie swallowed his eggs with a grimace . "Are they gonna put her in a coffin and bury her ?" "Now, let's now worry about that," Daddy said as he got up and nearly tripped on the way to the refrigerator. "How about some peaches for dessert?' ' Jackie felt that something had to be said . "I would never go real far away from you and Mommy , and I would never go to another country to live . I think America is the best country in the world ." Daddy smiled. "Here we are, nice cold peaches. My favorite." Jeffie speared an entire peach half with his fork and nibbled on it as if it were an ice cream bar. "What was her name?" he asked. "Her first name? I don't really know. It was probably Margaret. That's Baba's name and your mother's name. Margaret. That's probably it." * * * Since the pear tree fell down in the tornado last summer, Jackie could see the stars through her bedroom window much easier . She could tell Big Dipper and Orion 's Belt. "But you don't understand?" Her mother 's voice carried down the hall."She was my grandmother and I didn't know her. She lived a whole life and I lived a whole life and we didn't know each other. I can't even remember what she looked like. Ma never had a picture. All I remember was that she had a white babushka and a black apron. That's all. Johnny says he remembers her eyes. Brown eyes, like mine." "Listen, Marge, lots of people grow up not knowin g their grandmothe rs. She could have died when you were three, it would be the same.'' " But she didn 't die . Don 't you see? She was th ere all the time." �111 SLOVAKIA * * * In the morning , Mommy said they couldn't turn on cartoons. " You and J effi e a nd I are going to eight o'clock Mass, and we are going to pray for Baba 's mother , my Baba, who died. She lived in Slovakia, in Europe." " Right near Russia , where they've got Sputnik," Jackie toldJeffie . J effi e buttoned his jacket , but when he finished he had a button hole left over on top and a button left over on the bottom. Mommy bent down to redo it. " Do they have kids in Slo-vak-i-a?" " W ell , sure they do . Sure they have kids. Some of them are your cousins , just like Monica and Ricky." Jackie pulled on her left boot . " Do the little girls have earrings?" Mommy's lower lip seemed to move a little . " I don't know ," she said, and put on her gloves. Only old Mister Hudak had shoveled his walk this early. Mommy held on to Jeffie's hand and steadied herself on Jackie 's shoulder.Jackie wondered if it was snowing on top of her cousins in Slovakia, and if it looked the same, piled precariously on the bare trees. �� SLOVAKIA 107 Broken Line Carol Towarnicky The day she found out her great-grandmother had died was the day she found out her great-grandmother had lived. It was when her father came from Chevy, and he always came home at exactly quarterto-four. She and her little brother Jeffie were watching '' American Bandstand . " Ali the girls in the sixth grade watched it , and Frankie Avalon was supposed to be on. Her mother was upstairs somewhere . When she and Jeffie had come home from school , they had found two slices of rye bread and a stick of butter on the kitchen table. The butter was hard. Jackie could hear her father stomping snow off his shoes. Daddy never wore rubbers, like fathers in her readers in school, but there were so many differences between her father and those in the books that she had long ago stopped wondering about them. The fathers in the readers wore suits and ties, and when they came home they put their briefcases on the table. Sometimes, on television, they had a drink. A martini . But Daddy wore gray pants and a gray suit, and he had this metal lunchbox that looked like a small black barn. Her mother spent a lot of time cooking chicken and ham for it. Daddy hated sandwiches. Sometimes Jackie would ask for peanut butter and jelly for lunch , but they always had soup and meat. When her father came home from work, the first thing he always did was wash his hands with cleanser. He would scrape under his nails with a nail file and wash again. But his hands never seemed really clean . Sometimes, like the day before her First Holy Communion, he washed and washed, and they looked better . But for everyday, he just did his best and let it go. But this day , Daddy did not stop to wash his hands. When he came into the living room, a strange expression was on his face, like the time Jackie had run into the street and you could hear the brakes screech all over the neighborhood, and Daddy had spanked her for the only time . "Where's your mother?" Jackie pointed upstairs. �SLOVAKIA "Hey, Marge," he called loudly, "you sick or something?" There was a muffled reply and a wail. Baby Janet was up. Her mother came down the steps quickly, without the baby. She had her coat on, which was strange because she usually kept it with the others in the downstairs closet. Her coat wouldn't button all the way. They were going to have a new baby around Valentine 's Day , and Jackie hoped it would be a boy. " My grandmother died," Mommy said softly . "Your grandmother? The one in the old country?" Mommy talked almost without opening her mouth. "Ktoru inu Babku mam? Mama dostala dnes dopis." Standing on the third stair from the bottom, Mommy looked much bigger than Daddy . Upstairs , Janet began to rock the crib. "You going over there?" "Well, Ma's real upset," her mother said. "She keeps saying that she should have known, that she should have felt it or something. She says she knew when her father died, but she didn't know when her mother died , I don't know.'' When Mommy got to the bottom step, Daddy put his arm around her shoulder and she leaned against him. "You want a ride?" "No, I don't want to bundle them up for just a block . Just fix them supper, okay? I couldn't do anything after Ma called." Daddy's voice was gentle . "Listen, tell your mom I'm sorry . " They stood at the front door . Mommy's hand was on the knob. "What did she die of?" Daddy asked. "Myslim, ze mala rakovinu ." Jackie hated it when her parents talked Slovak. Most of the grownups started talking it when they didn't want kids to hear. First Mommy would talk in English, and then, right in the middle, she would talk in Slovak . They always talked to Baba in Slovak, of course, because Baba didn't speak English very well at all. Baba had come to America with Mommy and Uncle John a long time ago from Slovakia, which was part of Czechoslovakia and behind the Iron Curtain. Right around Russia, which had Sputnik. Jackie had wanted to learn Slovak, so that she could really talk to Baba, but Daddy had said that it would be better to learn English good first. "Do you want people to think you're a D .P. ?" �SLOVAKIA 109 D.P. 's were funny-looking people who didn't talk right. Sometimes the little girls cried in school. They had gold earrings in their ears, even in the first grade. Jackie's friend Sandy said that they used needles to poke the holes. Daddy ' s mother had come to Cleveland from Slovakia, too, but she was dead now . Daddy knew Slovak , and French from the war, and Polish and Ukrainian and Russian because of all the people in his old neighborhood . He even spoke Jewish a little. But it made him mad that some people didn't speak English. He would make fun of Mister Hudak and Mister Zahradnik ; sometimes he would even make fun of Baba. " Been in this country how long," he would say to Mommy, "twentyfive years, and still can't speak the language." Daddy opened the refrigerator . He pulled out some wonderful big hot dogs, strung together like the beads on a necklace. Daddy never bought hot dogs in plastic packages. " How about hot dogs and pork and beans? Whaddya think?" " Oh, but Daddy it's Friday," Jackie said. "You know we can't eat meat on Friday . It's a mortal sin." Her father sighed . "Well, I guess we'll just have to have some Sister Imelde eggs.'' Daddy didn ' t eat meat on Fridays ever since the time in the second grade when he had been eating ham and Jackie had cried that Sister Imelde said that anybody who ate meat on Friday was going to hell and she didn't want Daddy to go to hell. But he always called it Sister Imelde eggs or Sister Imelde fish . It made Jackie feel funny, because she didn't know whether it was a sin to make fun of Sister Imelde and she couldn't ask anybody about it. When Jackie and Jeffie set the table, they put extra, smaller forks on the left side of the salad , and Jackie poured the milk for their tea into a small pitcher . Daddy had shown them the new way after he started being a handyman on Saturdays at Doctor Elliott's house, which was across from Lake Erie. Daddy and Mommy sometimes laughed at Doctor Elliott , who helped Mommy have babies but paid Daddy to put together hi s little boy's bicycle. Doctor Elliott's little boy's name was Carter. The eggs tasted different when they were scrambled by themselves with butter. She liked them better with little bits of bacon . " Daddy, why didn't Mommy's Baba come to America, too?" " Mommy's Baba?" �110 SLOVAKIA '' You know, the one who died.'' " C ' mon Jeffie, let's finish those eggs. Only two more bites." Jackie pushed her empty plate away. "I mean, why didn ' t she just come here to live with everybody else?" Her father sighed. "I don't know, honey . Maybe she was just too old. Maybe she didn't want to move ." "Do you think they have Requiem Masses in Slovakia like we have?" They sang Requiem Masses when the sixth grade was in choir. Jackie liked it. It gave her shivers. Re-e-qui-em Ae-e-te-e-e-er-na-am. Jeffie swallowed his eggs with a grimace . "Are they gonna put her in a coffin and bury her ?" "Now, let's now worry about that," Daddy said as he got up and nearly tripped on the way to the refrigerator. "How about some peaches for dessert?' ' Jackie felt that something had to be said . "I would never go real far away from you and Mommy , and I would never go to another country to live . I think America is the best country in the world ." Daddy smiled. "Here we are, nice cold peaches. My favorite." Jeffie speared an entire peach half with his fork and nibbled on it as if it were an ice cream bar. "What was her name?" he asked. "Her first name? I don't really know. It was probably Margaret. That's Baba's name and your mother's name. Margaret. That's probably it." * * * Since the pear tree fell down in the tornado last summer, Jackie could see the stars through her bedroom window much easier . She could tell Big Dipper and Orion 's Belt. "But you don't understand?" Her mother 's voice carried down the hall."She was my grandmother and I didn't know her. She lived a whole life and I lived a whole life and we didn't know each other. I can't even remember what she looked like. Ma never had a picture. All I remember was that she had a white babushka and a black apron. That's all. Johnny says he remembers her eyes. Brown eyes, like mine." "Listen, Marge, lots of people grow up not knowin g their grandmothe rs. She could have died when you were three, it would be the same.'' " But she didn 't die . Don 't you see? She was th ere all the time." �111 SLOVAKIA * * * In the morning , Mommy said they couldn't turn on cartoons. " You and J effi e a nd I are going to eight o'clock Mass, and we are going to pray for Baba 's mother , my Baba, who died. She lived in Slovakia, in Europe." " Right near Russia , where they've got Sputnik," Jackie toldJeffie . J effi e buttoned his jacket , but when he finished he had a button hole left over on top and a button left over on the bottom. Mommy bent down to redo it. " Do they have kids in Slo-vak-i-a?" " W ell , sure they do . Sure they have kids. Some of them are your cousins , just like Monica and Ricky." Jackie pulled on her left boot . " Do the little girls have earrings?" Mommy's lower lip seemed to move a little . " I don't know ," she said, and put on her gloves. Only old Mister Hudak had shoveled his walk this early. Mommy held on to Jeffie's hand and steadied herself on Jackie 's shoulder.Jackie wondered if it was snowing on top of her cousins in Slovakia, and if it looked the same, piled precariously on the bare trees. �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1984, Vol. 31 Description An account of the resource Vol. 31 (No. 57), 1984. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 107 Broken Line Carol Towarnicky The day she found out her great-grandmother had died was the day she found out her great-grandmother had lived. It was when her father came from Chevy, and he always came home at exactly quarterto-four. She and her little brother Jeffie were watching '' American Bandstand . " Ali the girls in the sixth grade watched it , and Frankie Avalon was supposed to be on. Her mother was upstairs somewhere . When she and Jeffie had come home from school , they had found two slices of rye bread and a stick of butter on the kitchen table. The butter was hard. Jackie could hear her father stomping snow off his shoes. Daddy never wore rubbers, like fathers in her readers in school, but there were so many differences between her father and those in the books that she had long ago stopped wondering about them. The fathers in the readers wore suits and ties, and when they came home they put their briefcases on the table. Sometimes, on television, they had a drink. A martini . But Daddy wore gray pants and a gray suit, and he had this metal lunchbox that looked like a small black barn. Her mother spent a lot of time cooking chicken and ham for it. Daddy hated sandwiches. Sometimes Jackie would ask for peanut butter and jelly for lunch , but they always had soup and meat. When her father came home from work, the first thing he always did was wash his hands with cleanser. He would scrape under his nails with a nail file and wash again. But his hands never seemed really clean . Sometimes, like the day before her First Holy Communion, he washed and washed, and they looked better . But for everyday, he just did his best and let it go. But this day , Daddy did not stop to wash his hands. When he came into the living room, a strange expression was on his face, like the time Jackie had run into the street and you could hear the brakes screech all over the neighborhood, and Daddy had spanked her for the only time . "Where's your mother?" Jackie pointed upstairs. SLOVAKIA "Hey, Marge," he called loudly, "you sick or something?" There was a muffled reply and a wail. Baby Janet was up. Her mother came down the steps quickly, without the baby. She had her coat on, which was strange because she usually kept it with the others in the downstairs closet. Her coat wouldn't button all the way. They were going to have a new baby around Valentine 's Day , and Jackie hoped it would be a boy. " My grandmother died," Mommy said softly . "Your grandmother? The one in the old country?" Mommy talked almost without opening her mouth. "Ktoru inu Babku mam? Mama dostala dnes dopis." Standing on the third stair from the bottom, Mommy looked much bigger than Daddy . Upstairs , Janet began to rock the crib. "You going over there?" "Well, Ma's real upset," her mother said. "She keeps saying that she should have known, that she should have felt it or something. She says she knew when her father died, but she didn't know when her mother died , I don't know.'' When Mommy got to the bottom step, Daddy put his arm around her shoulder and she leaned against him. "You want a ride?" "No, I don't want to bundle them up for just a block . Just fix them supper, okay? I couldn't do anything after Ma called." Daddy's voice was gentle . "Listen, tell your mom I'm sorry . " They stood at the front door . Mommy's hand was on the knob. "What did she die of?" Daddy asked. "Myslim, ze mala rakovinu ." Jackie hated it when her parents talked Slovak. Most of the grownups started talking it when they didn't want kids to hear. First Mommy would talk in English, and then, right in the middle, she would talk in Slovak . They always talked to Baba in Slovak, of course, because Baba didn't speak English very well at all. Baba had come to America with Mommy and Uncle John a long time ago from Slovakia, which was part of Czechoslovakia and behind the Iron Curtain. Right around Russia, which had Sputnik. Jackie had wanted to learn Slovak, so that she could really talk to Baba, but Daddy had said that it would be better to learn English good first. "Do you want people to think you're a D .P. ?" SLOVAKIA 109 D.P. 's were funny-looking people who didn't talk right. Sometimes the little girls cried in school. They had gold earrings in their ears, even in the first grade. Jackie's friend Sandy said that they used needles to poke the holes. Daddy ' s mother had come to Cleveland from Slovakia, too, but she was dead now . Daddy knew Slovak , and French from the war, and Polish and Ukrainian and Russian because of all the people in his old neighborhood . He even spoke Jewish a little. But it made him mad that some people didn't speak English. He would make fun of Mister Hudak and Mister Zahradnik ; sometimes he would even make fun of Baba. " Been in this country how long," he would say to Mommy, "twentyfive years, and still can't speak the language." Daddy opened the refrigerator . He pulled out some wonderful big hot dogs, strung together like the beads on a necklace. Daddy never bought hot dogs in plastic packages. " How about hot dogs and pork and beans? Whaddya think?" " Oh, but Daddy it's Friday," Jackie said. "You know we can't eat meat on Friday . It's a mortal sin." Her father sighed . "Well, I guess we'll just have to have some Sister Imelde eggs.'' Daddy didn ' t eat meat on Fridays ever since the time in the second grade when he had been eating ham and Jackie had cried that Sister Imelde said that anybody who ate meat on Friday was going to hell and she didn't want Daddy to go to hell. But he always called it Sister Imelde eggs or Sister Imelde fish . It made Jackie feel funny, because she didn't know whether it was a sin to make fun of Sister Imelde and she couldn't ask anybody about it. When Jackie and Jeffie set the table, they put extra, smaller forks on the left side of the salad , and Jackie poured the milk for their tea into a small pitcher . Daddy had shown them the new way after he started being a handyman on Saturdays at Doctor Elliott's house, which was across from Lake Erie. Daddy and Mommy sometimes laughed at Doctor Elliott , who helped Mommy have babies but paid Daddy to put together hi s little boy's bicycle. Doctor Elliott's little boy's name was Carter. The eggs tasted different when they were scrambled by themselves with butter. She liked them better with little bits of bacon . " Daddy, why didn't Mommy's Baba come to America, too?" " Mommy's Baba?" 110 SLOVAKIA '' You know, the one who died.'' " C ' mon Jeffie, let's finish those eggs. Only two more bites." Jackie pushed her empty plate away. "I mean, why didn ' t she just come here to live with everybody else?" Her father sighed. "I don't know, honey . Maybe she was just too old. Maybe she didn't want to move ." "Do you think they have Requiem Masses in Slovakia like we have?" They sang Requiem Masses when the sixth grade was in choir. Jackie liked it. It gave her shivers. Re-e-qui-em Ae-e-te-e-e-er-na-am. Jeffie swallowed his eggs with a grimace . "Are they gonna put her in a coffin and bury her ?" "Now, let's now worry about that," Daddy said as he got up and nearly tripped on the way to the refrigerator. "How about some peaches for dessert?' ' Jackie felt that something had to be said . "I would never go real far away from you and Mommy , and I would never go to another country to live . I think America is the best country in the world ." Daddy smiled. "Here we are, nice cold peaches. My favorite." Jeffie speared an entire peach half with his fork and nibbled on it as if it were an ice cream bar. "What was her name?" he asked. "Her first name? I don't really know. It was probably Margaret. That's Baba's name and your mother's name. Margaret. That's probably it." * * * Since the pear tree fell down in the tornado last summer, Jackie could see the stars through her bedroom window much easier . She could tell Big Dipper and Orion 's Belt. "But you don't understand?" Her mother 's voice carried down the hall."She was my grandmother and I didn't know her. She lived a whole life and I lived a whole life and we didn't know each other. I can't even remember what she looked like. Ma never had a picture. All I remember was that she had a white babushka and a black apron. That's all. Johnny says he remembers her eyes. Brown eyes, like mine." "Listen, Marge, lots of people grow up not knowin g their grandmothe rs. She could have died when you were three, it would be the same.'' " But she didn 't die . Don 't you see? She was th ere all the time." 111 SLOVAKIA * * * In the morning , Mommy said they couldn't turn on cartoons. " You and J effi e a nd I are going to eight o'clock Mass, and we are going to pray for Baba 's mother , my Baba, who died. She lived in Slovakia, in Europe." " Right near Russia , where they've got Sputnik," Jackie toldJeffie . J effi e buttoned his jacket , but when he finished he had a button hole left over on top and a button left over on the bottom. Mommy bent down to redo it. " Do they have kids in Slo-vak-i-a?" " W ell , sure they do . Sure they have kids. Some of them are your cousins , just like Monica and Ricky." Jackie pulled on her left boot . " Do the little girls have earrings?" Mommy's lower lip seemed to move a little . " I don't know ," she said, and put on her gloves. Only old Mister Hudak had shoveled his walk this early. Mommy held on to Jeffie's hand and steadied herself on Jackie 's shoulder.Jackie wondered if it was snowing on top of her cousins in Slovakia, and if it looked the same, piled precariously on the bare trees.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Broken Line Description An account of the resource Carol Towarnicky Slovakia, Vol. 31 (No. 57), 1984 pp. 107-111 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Towarnicky, Carol Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/8db2a792fb292ff3053ab1e8cca1b257.pdf e05652a9ced880bbf4115561a359e20f PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 87 Excerpt from In Due Season Paul Wilkes "Is ... is he home? Pan Vlasek?" '' No, no, in the field,'' Dusan replied impatiently, stuffing two huge loaves of bread into a sack . "Stara?" "Yes, yes. Matka moja, what you girls won't do ; you are the third one today.'' ''Oh,'' she breathed, as if by her late arrival she might already have lost out. "I won't stay long. I have a heap of washing to do. So high I can't even see over the top of it.' ' "They are good to you, those Magyars?" "Oh yes, Pan Vlasek. When they have roast, we have roast. And as many potatoes as you can eat." "So you are happy up there on the hill?" "For now." "And?" '' Someday I want to live again in the valley in my own house and raise children; eight, ten, maybe an even dozen . I do not want a fancy life. " "For such a family you need a strong back and a wealthy husband . " "Just one who works hard, Pan Vlasek. I already know the one. And I am strong, stronger than the other girls. I will make a good wife.'' "You children. So eager to grow up . If you only knew . Well, Kubo will be back soon and he should not find you here. He is not used to the ways of females . " Dusan put on his hat and tossed the bag to his shoulder. "By the way," he said, lowering his voice, "is it true what they do up there ; the drinking, the sins of the flesh , all that?" "My parents tell me little , but in the morning, cleaning up the great hall, there are signs, Pan Vlasek," she said, lowering her eyes in shame. �88 SLOVAKIA ''Terrible , awful,'' Dusan said, and passing through the d oor added , "and worse yet not be able to a fford it. Good lu ck, girl." The old woman was sitting on a b ench in the corner of the room, lost in the shadows beneath the holy pictures. A s the rosary bead s slipped throu gh her fingers , her wrinkled lips m oved quickly, giving off the sound of something sizzling, like w et wood add ed to a hot fire. Step b y step Zu zka Tavelcako va a pproach ed he r , lookin g for som e sign that the woman kn ew she was there. She h a d grown in the years she'd lived with he r family in the castle of Count Szepesy a nd was indeed n ot only stron ger but considerably larger than other girls of her age, which was fifteen . H er shoulders were broad , he r hands , already red and calloused from hours of scrubbing clothes a nd peeling vege ta bl es and h auling wood to the many fireplaces , were so able that even her older broth er s would call upon Zuzka when they needed to pull a balking cow into a stall or when the last sacks of fl our h ad to be stacked near the crossp iece of the hu ge sypanec. But , as much as God ha d blessed her with a n abundan ce of good h ealth a nd strength , H e had not bee n so gen erou s with he r appearance. H er forehead was too large, and a certain puffiness above her eyes m ade h er appear to be con sta ntly scowlin g. Although her mouth was full a nd well formed, her upper lip had a tendency to pu sh up the skin b eneath her nose, the force of which formed two d eep lines that curled ben eath her ch eeks . Zuzka Tavelcakova was a good-natured , ch eerful girl in her heart a nd in her actio n s, but her face did not represent her justly. " I have brought a forint, P ani Micekova," Zuzka said softly, bendin g at the knee in a quick curtsy before the old woman . The old woman ' s eyes did not open; her lip s moved more quickly, as if she would h ave to be furt her coaxed from her religious reverie. "Teta? " she said with greatest respect. " Y ou are the o nly one who can help .'' " Did yo u d o exactly as I told yo u ? " the old woman snapped, continuing w ith her rosary as she awaited the suppli can t's reply. " Oh, yes, everyth in g," Zuzka said excitedly. She began her reci ta tion, graspin g first he r sm allest fin ger, holdin g it tightly as she savored h er exact ness, her fervidness, as she un abash edly displayed her girl ish hope . "Last night, in the moonlight , the brightest moonlight - I waited - I picked zemezlce by the river. I picked a nd I picked until my zajda was filled. �SLOVAKIA 89 "A littl e is all tha t is n eed ed ." She dismissed h e r exuberance . " I didn ' t want to take chances; I didn ' t think it would hurt." '' Then ?'' She grasped the n ext finger . " Then I went to the fi eld of konope wi th the other girls and I rolled and rolled . Each of us put a stick with a different-colored ribbon in the ground so we would know wh ere we h ad been .'' She ra n her h ands over the front of her apron . '' The konope sta nd s straight ... well , almost straight , thi s m ornin g." " Better tha t it is n ot perfect; tha t would m ean you m a rry in a year. T oo youn g ." " And we all m ad e wreath s with branches of the willow , a nd when we threw them in the rive r , pani , mine was the first to reach th e great rock . The first!" '' So you will m a rry first , but n ot n ext year. '' She grasped h er fourth fin ge r , but h er h ands soon slid toge ther , locked in their own praye r. " I knelt befo re the Virgin a nd p romised that if she heard m y plea I would n ot let Kubo tou ch a n ythin g more tha n m y a rm until we we re m a n a nd wife. I vowed it, teta, under p ain of m ortal sin 1 " The old wom an ' s eyes fli ckered open , glistenin g in their d a rk sockets. Zu zka could not look into those eyes; sh e peered down , intentl y foll owin g a ha irline crack in the dirt floo r. " You mu st swear it again , Zu zka, swear tha t n o impure thou ghts will co m e into your mind. T h a t if Kubo so mu ch as tou ches you a bove here," she said , layin g h er gna rl ed h a nd on the opposite elbow , "you will sla p him as if he we re the d evil him self. '' " Oh , I do swear it! Unde r pa in of th e etern al fi res of hell 1" " You h ave th ose la r ge breas ts." The old wom a n n odded gravely towa rd Zu zka's blouse. " The boys will wa n t to touch them; even him ." " T eta, I have dedicated them to the Virgin ; they a re hers, n ot his," she said , takin g in h er breath a nd pullin g he r ves t ti ghtly against her body. " Oh , I a m so rry they h ave grown so." " I don ' t know wh y you want the b oy a nyh ow ," the old wom a n said . '' H e is neither b ig nor clever.'' " I am stron g," a n d Zu zka's vo ice becam e so ft e r , th at of a m other spea kin g to her in fa nt , "and h e is kind a nd ge ntl e, n ot like the other boys ." T he to ne aga in was firm. " And I can pu sh him , help him to be a m a n , sta nd up ." �90 SLOVAKIA The old woman's hands, the rosary still entwined in her fingers, disappeared beneath her threadbare shawl. Zuzka stood still, her heart pounding, her breath escaping from her mouth in a series of sharp, moist gasps. "Please, God, please . . . " she whispered. ''Through . . . the . .. Christ . . . bring . . . '' Zuzka leaned forward, straining to hear, but she could only understand a few words as they rasped forth from deep in the old woman's throat. '' . . . drawn to . . . let his . . . Holy Ghost, Amen.'' Zuzka took a step forward, the forint in hand. "From the drippings at Our Lady's altar. The most blessed wax at Our Lady's feet, ' ' the old woman said with a certain pride of craftsmanship . But when she saw the hand stretched out to her with the coin, her own hand snapped shut. "So, little foolish girl, you think you can buy this? Pay the bosorka and laugh to your friends about the old fool? You have your nerve!'' "No, no, teta," Zuzka pleaded. "I know that. Look. I place the coin here, on the bench. I do not give it to you. No, nothing this sacred can be bought.'' "Leave no doubt about it." The hand opened again. Squarely in the middle of the old woman's palm lay the figure of a man, no bigger than a thumball, fashioned from pale yellow beeswax. When Kubo returned from the fields he found the house empty, the ashes in the fireplace cool. He splashed water on his face, neck , and arms and dressed hurriedly, silently cursing the hundreds of tiny shoots that had virtually sprung up overnight among the potato plants. His father had drummed into his head the old saying, ''Cut the weed today and spare the plant tomorrow , " and Kubo, whose main task at this time of the year was weeding, sometimes had to be prodded to maintain his vigilance against the tiny green enemies that sapped the nourishment of the crops . But not on that day, for Kubo wanted to impress upon his father how responsible, how serious he was about work. Although his family left early Kubo remained behind and made sure that the field was clean, the soil broken with his hoe to receive whatever rain might fall. Kubo shoved his blouse into the clean white woolen britches with the thick black embroidery and reached up to the shelf above the bed �SLOVAKIA 91 to take down his ciapka. He looked at the foolish little brimless pillbox , the two silken ribbons that trailed behind . A boy' s cap. A child's. As he plopped it on the back of his head, the dismal thought came to his mind that it could still be on his head when St. John 's Day came next year. By the time Kubo arrived, out of breath from his run , the pasture to the north of the village was already filled with people, and the Feast of St. John 's had begun. The cows, Gizela among them, grazed peacefully in the afternoon light, with wreaths of daisies over their horns, which Anna and the girls her age had made. The older, unmarried girls had woven a long chain of daisies and took turns flinging it up into the tall oak . It was an important ritual, for the number of branches the chain covered would be the years each maiden would have to wait for marriage . Up to a certain age, young girls threw the chain of daisies with all their might, but the older maidens, like Justina Marusakova, now twenty-three, whose half-closed eyes and stuttering, dull speech had failed to attract a spouse, aimed for a single low branch and prayed that the superstition bore truth . Everyone got a turn , even Zuzka's oldest sister , Dorota, who was past forty but whose brain had remained that of a child's. As Kubo walked by the group of girls, Zuzka eagerly took the chain of daisies in her large hands and puffed out the chest she had sworn hours before would not be violated. But marriage and carnal thoughts were the farthest things from his mind , and he did not look as the daisies and her prayers fluttered toward heaven . He went directly to the huge , square stack of neatly cut logs and bent his head back to take in the dozens of small fir trees that had been placed on top. As the sun set on this, the longest day of the year, the day of Jana, the pagan god who was Christianized into the good St. John , the dry wood would burst into flame and the yearly pageant would be performed. At its end, Kubo well knew, a brave few, who up to this night had been called boys and treated as such, would henceforth walk the village streets as men. Kubo gulped and stooped down, stretching the muscles of his legs . Off to the side of the huge stack the V adasz brothers and other boys just a year or two younger than Kubo were playing a game he had played many times himself. And even with some of them . One boy would bend down and another would leap upon him like a frog , and be carried for �92 SLOVAKIA as long a di stance as youn g legs could hold up . Still other boys were imitating the cows grazin g, complete with mooin g sounds . The young C ernetsky boy had borrowed the d a isy wreath from their cow , Sargula , and the other boys cla pped with glee at the silly sigh t. " Kubo, come , com e , " they called to him , but Kubo acted as if he could not hear them. H e threw his shoulders back, strainin g his bod y to be as tall as he possibly could , and walked to a spot near the tables of food and drink where his fa ther was sta ndin g, hi s pipe in ha nd , talkin g to som e men . '' This is m y Kubo ,'' Du san said to a short m an wh o wore a long ostrich feather in his hat, " the best weed puller south of the High T atras. M eet P an Bozek and hi s boy P avel, " he said, m otionin g to a boy a bout Kubo's age . On th e boy's head was a ha t and feather similar to his father 's, a nd he nodded withou t say in g a word. It was another humilia tin g reminder. " W e were ju st talking a bout the first m arket in Bard ejov," Du san said. '' P an Bozek is a great landowner in M ala M aca and plans to sell mu ch . " " N o, no, not a great landowner ," P an Bozek said . " Ju st a simple peasant like yourself, blessed with a few m eters of God's precious earth , who works hi s fool head off. '' '' For yourself, a nd if a neighbor need s a hand ... '' ' ' ... well , thi s is our way, it is nothing to b rag .. . '' ' ' .. . D o you hear of su ch things from those who have gone to A m erika? Answe r m e tha t one.' ' Du san j abbed at the space in fron t of P an Bozek 's nose. " They all work for them selves, neve r help a friend to ha rvest or give a loaf of b read to one who need s it. You , Pan Bozek , are a fine exam pie to put in the face of all those vypasen f A m ericania. T ake notice of this m an , Kubo.'' " L ast year we took three wagonload s of wheat and l'an to Bardej ov and sold everything," Pavel said , putting his hands on his hips. " Our horse d anced all the way hom e.'' " Ju st forin ts and crowns to bring hom e," Du san said . "A ligh t load ." " W ell . .. " P a n Bozek said , tryin g to a ppear modest. " I have neve r seen you at the m arket," Pavel said to Kubo . " M y boy is not yet ready," Dusan said before Kubo could answer. " There is no hurry. Som e d ay . . . Now , som e p alenka, m y fri end , and �SLOVAKIA 93 some of the fine kolace from the village o f Zbudza. You boys run off a nd play. '' A s the sun linge red capri ciou sly in the sky, P avel a nd Kubo w alked a mon g the revelers , drank the sweet berry juices and a te hu ge hunks of the la mb tha t Banfk had brought only to h ave so m e villagers refuse to to uch it , calling it a "guilt offering." Whe n the two boys came close to the group of young girls who had started to d a n ce with each othe r , Eta Min arovicova and Julia Vadaszova looked toward Kubo , but he knew it was for a n introdu ction to the h a ndsom e stra nge r a nd not for him self. R egardless, Kubo was more inte res ted in P avel's stories of the market a t Bardejov, of the hu ge wheels of cheese that the shepherds m ad e, of the m agnifice nt church th a t could hold all the people from five la rge vill ages. Pavel did n ot do it in the boastful fashion of Fra nko Hruscak , who made boys just a year o r two younger than him self feel like mere b a bies because they had never been to Bardejov and he had . P avel talked quietly , directly, but almost reli giou sly about the la nd t hat hi s fa mil y owned in M ala Maca, a nd how som ed ay, as the eldest son , it would be hi s. " And I will h ave more each year ," he said with suren ess in hi s voice. "There is no thing I love more than work. " H e add ed with a smile, " And a little slivovica n ow and then when m y fa the r doesn't fini sh hi s gla ss. All these p eople going to Amerika! Hah , m y father is right , yours too . Wh at cou ld be a b etter life than we have?" As Kubo tried not to loo k envious, P avel went on to tell him that he was coming hom e late r a nd la ter a t ni ght , and so m et imes his parents were a lready in bed , so he slept in the barn . Kubo had slept in the barn o fte n o n hot summ er ni ghts , but th e idea of slee pin g there a fter spe ndin g a ni ght in the foothills, sm okin g cigarettes with hi s friends, or after makin g wolf call s a t a girl' s window, was a forbidden pleasure so swee t he co uld not believe it would ever ha ppen . " Who ' s that?" P a vel motioned . " The little o ne? M y sister, Anna. Why? " " I' ve n eve r seen ha ir like he rs ; stra n ge color. " '' Baby h a ir , just a streak . '' " H ow old is she a n yhow ?" P avel said , hi s eyes n o t leav ing Anna until she disappeared into the crowd that h ad gathered a round the stack of wood. '' Almost eleve n .'' �94 SLOVAKIA "Skinny legs." ''I guess. She's a dreamer.'' '' AAAHHHH ! '' The sound echoed over the meadow to the tall junipers, sending a flock of bluejays into the purple night air. "AAAHHHH!" It rumbled down the slope to where the river Laborec wound its way through the thickets ofreeds. "AAAHHHH!" the chorus of voices breathed as the flames licked at the neatly stacked logs and suddenly burst skyward in a mammoth orange ball as the sap-filled branches, the needles and cones of the fur trees caught fire . Kubo's throat went dry. Pavel put his arm over the shoulder of the boy he'd met just a short time before. "Not yet . It will die down. There is time to be a man." Other boys, some Kubo's age, like Franko Hruscak andjozefKralik also stood around the fire, carefully eyeing the flames and casting sidelong glances to see if anyone was ready to try . Cyril Gasparovic was also there, a frail boy already three years older than Kubo, who had never danced or jumped over the fire and whose mother was known to be making a novena to the Blessed Lady . The firs burned off quickly, leaving shimmering red skeletons, but flames from the logs were still at least as high as the top of his head as Kubo walked a slow circle around the fire, eyeing it with the intensity and dread of a baca faced with a hungry wolf. It was a delicate issue, one, down through the centuries that the tradition had been practiced, that required the judgment only a mature man would have . There was a point, just one point, when the flames receded enough to be traversed but when a boy could be seriously burned or, as the story was told of the arrogant richtar 's son many years ago, killed . There would always be one person who knew that point, took the chance, and the others who followed would go through life remembering his bravery and bemoaning their lack of it. It was sometimes better to wait until the next St. John ' s Day rather than risk the humiliation of being one of the last, the least brave . For as the fire died down , even the tiny boys of the village would jump over the embers in childish practice for the day some years away when they would risk painful burns to gain their manhood. The gypsy band struck up the first tunes, and it was mostly the older people, singing and clapping their hands, who began to flatten the thick grass with their dancing feet . The rest of the people from Zbud- �SLOVAKIA 95 za, those with young sons and those from Mala Maca and V el'ka Maca who had made a pilgrimage for the feast days stayed close to that fire, talking among themselves, waiting, but making no reference to the drama that was building moment by moment. Kubo had made a complete circle, and finally he stood before his father, his arms at his sides, like a soldier in ranks. "Otec," he said, using the formal address, "will you please hold my ciapka?" Dusan looked over his son's shoulder to the leaping yellow and red flames of the fire. He squinted so that he could see it better. Then he extended his hand without saying a word, either of encouragement or caution, and took the hat from his son, placing it under his arm. One by one, the people moved to the side, clearing a path. Except for a low, haunting gypsy love song and the crackling of dry wood, the meadow was quiet, and nothing stood between Kubo Vlasek and the state he so desired, nothing but the fire that had purged and proven men of Zbudza for countless generations. His heart pounding, his mouth full of cotton, Kubo made the sign of the cross. His first steps were almost his undoing as his krpce slipped on grass, moist from spilled beer. But then he lengthened his stride and by the time he had reached the edge of the crowd, he was running as fast as he could. Logs tumbled together at the fire's core and a huge tongue of flame leaped out, but it was too late . Kubo 's krpce had left the ground. "AAAHHHH," the sound - a cheer, a moan - rose up from the lips of men and women and children as a form, black against the bright flames, seemed to hang in the air. The gypsy band stopped in mid-song . "AAAHHHH ! " Women crossed themselves and men's lips tightened . The mouths of small children gaped open . "AAAAAAHHHHHH !" The fire crackled angrily, spitting hot sparks into the cool night air. Dusan fingered the ciapka beneath his arm, then grasped it firmly . His son stood before him, eyebrows vanished from his pink face, his hair a mass of tiny burnt and frizzy curls, one leg of his while trousers browned , like the top of a loaf of bread. Dusan could smell the hair , the cloth, the flesh that had passed through the St. John's fire . He extended the ciapka to his son , looking at it , turning it in his hand . "Perhaps a bit too small, Kubo . I think in Bardejov they might �96 SLOVAKIA have some bigge r ones ; more like . . " Whateve r words follow ed were lost in the deafening accolade rendered to J a kub Vlasek . After hi s awesome display of b ravery, Kubo could seemingl y d o nothing wrong as the sun set and the evenin g of dancin g began in earnest. His krpce kicked hi gh in the a ir but la nd ed with a feather's li ghtness so close to the fl asks of vino a nd borovicka th a t gasps were heard from the young girls who stood in a group eyeing the b oys who would somed ay be th eir hu sbands . Even Eta Min arovicova a nd Julia Vad aszova, b y far the pretti es t a nd most choosy girls in Zbudza on feas t days in th e pas t acted as if Kubo Vl ase k had some co n tagious disease, co uld n ot kee p their eyes off him . Their hands behind th eir backs, th eir hips swayin g ge ntly to the musi c, they waited, as did all their girl fri ends, for the m ost impor tant d a nce in the li fe of eve ry b oy who jumped ove r the fire on St. J ohn 's D ay. The gy psies kn ew it. Their gold tee th fl ashin g beneath bl ack mu staches, they would tease with th e first ba rs of a popula r tun e . But the n they would break into a nothe r so n g th at onl y the boys cou ld dan ce to, a nd display their prowess st ill more, d elay in g th e mom ent when the eager young girls and the proud young boys would have a dance together. The b a nd stru ck up a d a nce don e entirely on one foot. Boys shoved and j ostl ed, feinted a nd du cked , a nd th e less agil e we re se n t sprawling into th e grass . And , a t the da n ce's e nd , the re was ju st one who h ad not resorted to u sin g hi s oth er foot , who had not bee n kn ocked ove r. Kubo Vl asek twirl ed a round on the b all of hi s foot, with a n agilit y eve n his fath er had to applaud. Th e gypse husle pl aye r kept Kubo dan cin g , in creas in g the beat , but Ku bo, lost in the ecstasy of th e m agic ni ght , would not lose hi s bal a nce. Hi s mind was already in Ba rdej ov, hi s head already cove red in a fin e n ew hat. H e could feel the jin gle of co ins in hi s pocket , straw und er hi s b ack in th e b a rn. Th e bea t cha n ged so su b tl y that Kubo was not even awa re o f it. H e kept twirlin g a nd twirlin g. It was alread y pitch d a rk , but logs had bee n h eaped on th e fire, a nd as Kubo 's eyes, fogged with pe rspiration , took in the blur of faces standin g aro und the dan cin g a rea, fl ashes of color sta rted swirlin g a bout him , in th e opposite d irection . Lik e great red a nd yell ow and gree n eels sw immin g in a shall ow strea m , the o rnate p arta stream in g dow n from th e braided heads of th e un married �SLOVAKIA 97 girls shimmered in the fire's light , each offerin g the ni ght 's h ero th e m a iden of his choosin g. All the rituals h e h ad prepared for , jumping over the fire, the o n elegged dan ce, but Kubo Vlasek had not , up to that very moment, decided whi ch girl would have the h onor of hi s first dan ce as a man . H e twirled faster a nd became dizzie r in hi s deliciou s mom ent of triumph , in his hour of indecision . The parta flutte red by, the tip s flickering a t his nose. The gypsy band picked up the beat. Faster and faster. His a rm reached out to the fl ashing colors. And it was soundly m et. " Oh , thank you , I would be m ost honored ." The vill agers applauded still louder while Kubo 's frie nds hooted a nd whistled . And Zu zka Tavelcakova, her great eyebrows arched over a huge smile, her free arm s swin ging in wild exultation , her huge breasts threatening release from the rest of h er body, d a n ced about the circle. She held on to Kubo tightly a nd , as they n eared the fire, reached into her apron pocket a nd withdrew a clenched fist , with which she bl essed herself. Then th e h a nd fl ew o pe n - and a small obj ect disappeared into th e flam es. Around, around h e twirled Zuzka until finally the gypsy playing the cymbal ran th e soft felt hammers from the low notes to the high, signaling the n ext dan ce would begin . But , befor e they could launch into it , several pa irs of ha nds reached out to Kubo , and sudde nl y he was be ing ho isted into th e a ir. ' ']eden! " " D va! 1 " " Tri 11 ! " And with th e third toss the loud est chee r - fu eled b y boro vicka and bee r and tradition - rippl ed across the m eadow and down to the ri ver whe re a fl ock of tin y doves bolted from the reed s a nd fl ew towa rd th e d a rkne ss of th e hu ge junipe rs . '' Y AAA Y AA AAA Y AAAAAAAAA 1 ' ' " And now th e new m a n bu ys th e nex t bottle of pa.lenka," Mlad en shouted at Kubo, whose wet, sin ged ha ir was bein g tou sled by hi s young fri e nd s, whose ha nd s were be in g pressed with ha nd sh akes . One ha ndsh a ke was stronge r , lo n ger than the others, a nd as Kubo blink ed through the sweat a nd ash in hi s eyes, he co uld see th at it was hi s fat he r who stood befo re him. Whe n at least he was released , Kubo had a k orun ak in hi s ha nd . �98 SLOVAKIA " You a re a m an , m y son , a nd you will from thi s day be pa id wages," Du san said, talkin g slowing so as not to slur hi s words. " You will inherit the land , you will care for this fam ily ... but now, first things first. Buy the palenka!" The fire died down and was fed with fresh logs. Boys sneaked off with girls and nuzzled in the darkness. The gypsy band played and drank and played still more . The old woman , Micekova, nodded without sayin g a word when Zuzka's mother said that her d au ghter a nd the young Vlasek boy made a fine couple. The young teacher danced with some of the v ill age women, but only when they asked him . And a small boy, whose emerald eyes glistened when the flame s rose, stood a top the hill in the shadow of the giant lindens , his thumb s locked in hi s belt. When it came time to return home, Kubo eventually found his father lyin g on the ground , a n empty bottle in his ha nd, his head propped against the thick exposed roots of an oak tree, hi s eyes barely visible through sm all slits. H e motioned for hi s son to sit b y him . " I have only a year , perhaps two in this vale of tears, " Dusan began, we ighing each word somberly and pattin g hi s so n on the knee. "You mu st rem ain stron g, my so n , my only son , and believe in what is right and decent , what has bee n ha nded down from generation to generation. " His eyes fli ckered open wider. " Father , why this talk? You a re healthy; you will live to be one hundred ." " Place your hand on my heart." '' Father ?'' " Your ha nd ." Kubo did as he was told. Dusan pressed the boy's hand onto the fa ncy embroidery of hi s shirt , now soaked with sweat and borovicka, stain ed wi th berry wines and grease from the lamb, tainted as it was. '' R epeat afte r me . . . " I .. . Ku bo Vlasek ... vow on m y father's heart ... on the day I became a man ... to love this land . . . never to turn from it ... To listen to God and not the foo lish tal es of the world outs ide ... To care for children and a nimals ... because each co m es from God ever to strike my woman without good reason ... To kee p this sac red pledge ... as pledged on my father's heart ... that the cursed word 'Amerika ' wi ll never ... never . . . be heard in the house ... �SLOVAKIA 99 our esteem ed Milos Vlasek built . .. with his bare hands ... years and years ago.'' Dusan ' s voice became lower and lower as if he were ready to cry. " Do you promise all this my son, unde r pain of mortal sin, eternal damnation and the fires of hell ?" "I do, Father ," Kubo said evenly, " I promise this before God ." "Good ." Dusan slumped back onto the roots . " Now, fetch the wagon. Your father is too tired to be walking this night." �� SLOVAKIA 87 Excerpt from In Due Season Paul Wilkes "Is ... is he home? Pan Vlasek?" '' No, no, in the field,'' Dusan replied impatiently, stuffing two huge loaves of bread into a sack . "Stara?" "Yes, yes. Matka moja, what you girls won't do ; you are the third one today.'' ''Oh,'' she breathed, as if by her late arrival she might already have lost out. "I won't stay long. I have a heap of washing to do. So high I can't even see over the top of it.' ' "They are good to you, those Magyars?" "Oh yes, Pan Vlasek. When they have roast, we have roast. And as many potatoes as you can eat." "So you are happy up there on the hill?" "For now." "And?" '' Someday I want to live again in the valley in my own house and raise children; eight, ten, maybe an even dozen . I do not want a fancy life. " "For such a family you need a strong back and a wealthy husband . " "Just one who works hard, Pan Vlasek. I already know the one. And I am strong, stronger than the other girls. I will make a good wife.'' "You children. So eager to grow up . If you only knew . Well, Kubo will be back soon and he should not find you here. He is not used to the ways of females . " Dusan put on his hat and tossed the bag to his shoulder. "By the way," he said, lowering his voice, "is it true what they do up there ; the drinking, the sins of the flesh , all that?" "My parents tell me little , but in the morning, cleaning up the great hall, there are signs, Pan Vlasek," she said, lowering her eyes in shame. �88 SLOVAKIA ''Terrible , awful,'' Dusan said, and passing through the d oor added , "and worse yet not be able to a fford it. Good lu ck, girl." The old woman was sitting on a b ench in the corner of the room, lost in the shadows beneath the holy pictures. A s the rosary bead s slipped throu gh her fingers , her wrinkled lips m oved quickly, giving off the sound of something sizzling, like w et wood add ed to a hot fire. Step b y step Zu zka Tavelcako va a pproach ed he r , lookin g for som e sign that the woman kn ew she was there. She h a d grown in the years she'd lived with he r family in the castle of Count Szepesy a nd was indeed n ot only stron ger but considerably larger than other girls of her age, which was fifteen . H er shoulders were broad , he r hands , already red and calloused from hours of scrubbing clothes a nd peeling vege ta bl es and h auling wood to the many fireplaces , were so able that even her older broth er s would call upon Zuzka when they needed to pull a balking cow into a stall or when the last sacks of fl our h ad to be stacked near the crossp iece of the hu ge sypanec. But , as much as God ha d blessed her with a n abundan ce of good h ealth a nd strength , H e had not bee n so gen erou s with he r appearance. H er forehead was too large, and a certain puffiness above her eyes m ade h er appear to be con sta ntly scowlin g. Although her mouth was full a nd well formed, her upper lip had a tendency to pu sh up the skin b eneath her nose, the force of which formed two d eep lines that curled ben eath her ch eeks . Zuzka Tavelcakova was a good-natured , ch eerful girl in her heart a nd in her actio n s, but her face did not represent her justly. " I have brought a forint, P ani Micekova," Zuzka said softly, bendin g at the knee in a quick curtsy before the old woman . The old woman ' s eyes did not open; her lip s moved more quickly, as if she would h ave to be furt her coaxed from her religious reverie. "Teta? " she said with greatest respect. " Y ou are the o nly one who can help .'' " Did yo u d o exactly as I told yo u ? " the old woman snapped, continuing w ith her rosary as she awaited the suppli can t's reply. " Oh, yes, everyth in g," Zuzka said excitedly. She began her reci ta tion, graspin g first he r sm allest fin ger, holdin g it tightly as she savored h er exact ness, her fervidness, as she un abash edly displayed her girl ish hope . "Last night, in the moonlight , the brightest moonlight - I waited - I picked zemezlce by the river. I picked a nd I picked until my zajda was filled. �SLOVAKIA 89 "A littl e is all tha t is n eed ed ." She dismissed h e r exuberance . " I didn ' t want to take chances; I didn ' t think it would hurt." '' Then ?'' She grasped the n ext finger . " Then I went to the fi eld of konope wi th the other girls and I rolled and rolled . Each of us put a stick with a different-colored ribbon in the ground so we would know wh ere we h ad been .'' She ra n her h ands over the front of her apron . '' The konope sta nd s straight ... well , almost straight , thi s m ornin g." " Better tha t it is n ot perfect; tha t would m ean you m a rry in a year. T oo youn g ." " And we all m ad e wreath s with branches of the willow , a nd when we threw them in the rive r , pani , mine was the first to reach th e great rock . The first!" '' So you will m a rry first , but n ot n ext year. '' She grasped h er fourth fin ge r , but h er h ands soon slid toge ther , locked in their own praye r. " I knelt befo re the Virgin a nd p romised that if she heard m y plea I would n ot let Kubo tou ch a n ythin g more tha n m y a rm until we we re m a n a nd wife. I vowed it, teta, under p ain of m ortal sin 1 " The old wom an ' s eyes fli ckered open , glistenin g in their d a rk sockets. Zu zka could not look into those eyes; sh e peered down , intentl y foll owin g a ha irline crack in the dirt floo r. " You mu st swear it again , Zu zka, swear tha t n o impure thou ghts will co m e into your mind. T h a t if Kubo so mu ch as tou ches you a bove here," she said , layin g h er gna rl ed h a nd on the opposite elbow , "you will sla p him as if he we re the d evil him self. '' " Oh , I do swear it! Unde r pa in of th e etern al fi res of hell 1" " You h ave th ose la r ge breas ts." The old wom a n n odded gravely towa rd Zu zka's blouse. " The boys will wa n t to touch them; even him ." " T eta, I have dedicated them to the Virgin ; they a re hers, n ot his," she said , takin g in h er breath a nd pullin g he r ves t ti ghtly against her body. " Oh , I a m so rry they h ave grown so." " I don ' t know wh y you want the b oy a nyh ow ," the old wom a n said . '' H e is neither b ig nor clever.'' " I am stron g," a n d Zu zka's vo ice becam e so ft e r , th at of a m other spea kin g to her in fa nt , "and h e is kind a nd ge ntl e, n ot like the other boys ." T he to ne aga in was firm. " And I can pu sh him , help him to be a m a n , sta nd up ." �90 SLOVAKIA The old woman's hands, the rosary still entwined in her fingers, disappeared beneath her threadbare shawl. Zuzka stood still, her heart pounding, her breath escaping from her mouth in a series of sharp, moist gasps. "Please, God, please . . . " she whispered. ''Through . . . the . .. Christ . . . bring . . . '' Zuzka leaned forward, straining to hear, but she could only understand a few words as they rasped forth from deep in the old woman's throat. '' . . . drawn to . . . let his . . . Holy Ghost, Amen.'' Zuzka took a step forward, the forint in hand. "From the drippings at Our Lady's altar. The most blessed wax at Our Lady's feet, ' ' the old woman said with a certain pride of craftsmanship . But when she saw the hand stretched out to her with the coin, her own hand snapped shut. "So, little foolish girl, you think you can buy this? Pay the bosorka and laugh to your friends about the old fool? You have your nerve!'' "No, no, teta," Zuzka pleaded. "I know that. Look. I place the coin here, on the bench. I do not give it to you. No, nothing this sacred can be bought.'' "Leave no doubt about it." The hand opened again. Squarely in the middle of the old woman's palm lay the figure of a man, no bigger than a thumball, fashioned from pale yellow beeswax. When Kubo returned from the fields he found the house empty, the ashes in the fireplace cool. He splashed water on his face, neck , and arms and dressed hurriedly, silently cursing the hundreds of tiny shoots that had virtually sprung up overnight among the potato plants. His father had drummed into his head the old saying, ''Cut the weed today and spare the plant tomorrow , " and Kubo, whose main task at this time of the year was weeding, sometimes had to be prodded to maintain his vigilance against the tiny green enemies that sapped the nourishment of the crops . But not on that day, for Kubo wanted to impress upon his father how responsible, how serious he was about work. Although his family left early Kubo remained behind and made sure that the field was clean, the soil broken with his hoe to receive whatever rain might fall. Kubo shoved his blouse into the clean white woolen britches with the thick black embroidery and reached up to the shelf above the bed �SLOVAKIA 91 to take down his ciapka. He looked at the foolish little brimless pillbox , the two silken ribbons that trailed behind . A boy' s cap. A child's. As he plopped it on the back of his head, the dismal thought came to his mind that it could still be on his head when St. John 's Day came next year. By the time Kubo arrived, out of breath from his run , the pasture to the north of the village was already filled with people, and the Feast of St. John 's had begun. The cows, Gizela among them, grazed peacefully in the afternoon light, with wreaths of daisies over their horns, which Anna and the girls her age had made. The older, unmarried girls had woven a long chain of daisies and took turns flinging it up into the tall oak . It was an important ritual, for the number of branches the chain covered would be the years each maiden would have to wait for marriage . Up to a certain age, young girls threw the chain of daisies with all their might, but the older maidens, like Justina Marusakova, now twenty-three, whose half-closed eyes and stuttering, dull speech had failed to attract a spouse, aimed for a single low branch and prayed that the superstition bore truth . Everyone got a turn , even Zuzka's oldest sister , Dorota, who was past forty but whose brain had remained that of a child's. As Kubo walked by the group of girls, Zuzka eagerly took the chain of daisies in her large hands and puffed out the chest she had sworn hours before would not be violated. But marriage and carnal thoughts were the farthest things from his mind , and he did not look as the daisies and her prayers fluttered toward heaven . He went directly to the huge , square stack of neatly cut logs and bent his head back to take in the dozens of small fir trees that had been placed on top. As the sun set on this, the longest day of the year, the day of Jana, the pagan god who was Christianized into the good St. John , the dry wood would burst into flame and the yearly pageant would be performed. At its end, Kubo well knew, a brave few, who up to this night had been called boys and treated as such, would henceforth walk the village streets as men. Kubo gulped and stooped down, stretching the muscles of his legs . Off to the side of the huge stack the V adasz brothers and other boys just a year or two younger than Kubo were playing a game he had played many times himself. And even with some of them . One boy would bend down and another would leap upon him like a frog , and be carried for �92 SLOVAKIA as long a di stance as youn g legs could hold up . Still other boys were imitating the cows grazin g, complete with mooin g sounds . The young C ernetsky boy had borrowed the d a isy wreath from their cow , Sargula , and the other boys cla pped with glee at the silly sigh t. " Kubo, come , com e , " they called to him , but Kubo acted as if he could not hear them. H e threw his shoulders back, strainin g his bod y to be as tall as he possibly could , and walked to a spot near the tables of food and drink where his fa ther was sta ndin g, hi s pipe in ha nd , talkin g to som e men . '' This is m y Kubo ,'' Du san said to a short m an wh o wore a long ostrich feather in his hat, " the best weed puller south of the High T atras. M eet P an Bozek and hi s boy P avel, " he said, m otionin g to a boy a bout Kubo's age . On th e boy's head was a ha t and feather similar to his father 's, a nd he nodded withou t say in g a word. It was another humilia tin g reminder. " W e were ju st talking a bout the first m arket in Bard ejov," Du san said. '' P an Bozek is a great landowner in M ala M aca and plans to sell mu ch . " " N o, no, not a great landowner ," P an Bozek said . " Ju st a simple peasant like yourself, blessed with a few m eters of God's precious earth , who works hi s fool head off. '' '' For yourself, a nd if a neighbor need s a hand ... '' ' ' ... well , thi s is our way, it is nothing to b rag .. . '' ' ' .. . D o you hear of su ch things from those who have gone to A m erika? Answe r m e tha t one.' ' Du san j abbed at the space in fron t of P an Bozek 's nose. " They all work for them selves, neve r help a friend to ha rvest or give a loaf of b read to one who need s it. You , Pan Bozek , are a fine exam pie to put in the face of all those vypasen f A m ericania. T ake notice of this m an , Kubo.'' " L ast year we took three wagonload s of wheat and l'an to Bardej ov and sold everything," Pavel said , putting his hands on his hips. " Our horse d anced all the way hom e.'' " Ju st forin ts and crowns to bring hom e," Du san said . "A ligh t load ." " W ell . .. " P a n Bozek said , tryin g to a ppear modest. " I have neve r seen you at the m arket," Pavel said to Kubo . " M y boy is not yet ready," Dusan said before Kubo could answer. " There is no hurry. Som e d ay . . . Now , som e p alenka, m y fri end , and �SLOVAKIA 93 some of the fine kolace from the village o f Zbudza. You boys run off a nd play. '' A s the sun linge red capri ciou sly in the sky, P avel a nd Kubo w alked a mon g the revelers , drank the sweet berry juices and a te hu ge hunks of the la mb tha t Banfk had brought only to h ave so m e villagers refuse to to uch it , calling it a "guilt offering." Whe n the two boys came close to the group of young girls who had started to d a n ce with each othe r , Eta Min arovicova and Julia Vadaszova looked toward Kubo , but he knew it was for a n introdu ction to the h a ndsom e stra nge r a nd not for him self. R egardless, Kubo was more inte res ted in P avel's stories of the market a t Bardejov, of the hu ge wheels of cheese that the shepherds m ad e, of the m agnifice nt church th a t could hold all the people from five la rge vill ages. Pavel did n ot do it in the boastful fashion of Fra nko Hruscak , who made boys just a year o r two younger than him self feel like mere b a bies because they had never been to Bardejov and he had . P avel talked quietly , directly, but almost reli giou sly about the la nd t hat hi s fa mil y owned in M ala Maca, a nd how som ed ay, as the eldest son , it would be hi s. " And I will h ave more each year ," he said with suren ess in hi s voice. "There is no thing I love more than work. " H e add ed with a smile, " And a little slivovica n ow and then when m y fa the r doesn't fini sh hi s gla ss. All these p eople going to Amerika! Hah , m y father is right , yours too . Wh at cou ld be a b etter life than we have?" As Kubo tried not to loo k envious, P avel went on to tell him that he was coming hom e late r a nd la ter a t ni ght , and so m et imes his parents were a lready in bed , so he slept in the barn . Kubo had slept in the barn o fte n o n hot summ er ni ghts , but th e idea of slee pin g there a fter spe ndin g a ni ght in the foothills, sm okin g cigarettes with hi s friends, or after makin g wolf call s a t a girl' s window, was a forbidden pleasure so swee t he co uld not believe it would ever ha ppen . " Who ' s that?" P a vel motioned . " The little o ne? M y sister, Anna. Why? " " I' ve n eve r seen ha ir like he rs ; stra n ge color. " '' Baby h a ir , just a streak . '' " H ow old is she a n yhow ?" P avel said , hi s eyes n o t leav ing Anna until she disappeared into the crowd that h ad gathered a round the stack of wood. '' Almost eleve n .'' �94 SLOVAKIA "Skinny legs." ''I guess. She's a dreamer.'' '' AAAHHHH ! '' The sound echoed over the meadow to the tall junipers, sending a flock of bluejays into the purple night air. "AAAHHHH!" It rumbled down the slope to where the river Laborec wound its way through the thickets ofreeds. "AAAHHHH!" the chorus of voices breathed as the flames licked at the neatly stacked logs and suddenly burst skyward in a mammoth orange ball as the sap-filled branches, the needles and cones of the fur trees caught fire . Kubo's throat went dry. Pavel put his arm over the shoulder of the boy he'd met just a short time before. "Not yet . It will die down. There is time to be a man." Other boys, some Kubo's age, like Franko Hruscak andjozefKralik also stood around the fire, carefully eyeing the flames and casting sidelong glances to see if anyone was ready to try . Cyril Gasparovic was also there, a frail boy already three years older than Kubo, who had never danced or jumped over the fire and whose mother was known to be making a novena to the Blessed Lady . The firs burned off quickly, leaving shimmering red skeletons, but flames from the logs were still at least as high as the top of his head as Kubo walked a slow circle around the fire, eyeing it with the intensity and dread of a baca faced with a hungry wolf. It was a delicate issue, one, down through the centuries that the tradition had been practiced, that required the judgment only a mature man would have . There was a point, just one point, when the flames receded enough to be traversed but when a boy could be seriously burned or, as the story was told of the arrogant richtar 's son many years ago, killed . There would always be one person who knew that point, took the chance, and the others who followed would go through life remembering his bravery and bemoaning their lack of it. It was sometimes better to wait until the next St. John ' s Day rather than risk the humiliation of being one of the last, the least brave . For as the fire died down , even the tiny boys of the village would jump over the embers in childish practice for the day some years away when they would risk painful burns to gain their manhood. The gypsy band struck up the first tunes, and it was mostly the older people, singing and clapping their hands, who began to flatten the thick grass with their dancing feet . The rest of the people from Zbud- �SLOVAKIA 95 za, those with young sons and those from Mala Maca and V el'ka Maca who had made a pilgrimage for the feast days stayed close to that fire, talking among themselves, waiting, but making no reference to the drama that was building moment by moment. Kubo had made a complete circle, and finally he stood before his father, his arms at his sides, like a soldier in ranks. "Otec," he said, using the formal address, "will you please hold my ciapka?" Dusan looked over his son's shoulder to the leaping yellow and red flames of the fire. He squinted so that he could see it better. Then he extended his hand without saying a word, either of encouragement or caution, and took the hat from his son, placing it under his arm. One by one, the people moved to the side, clearing a path. Except for a low, haunting gypsy love song and the crackling of dry wood, the meadow was quiet, and nothing stood between Kubo Vlasek and the state he so desired, nothing but the fire that had purged and proven men of Zbudza for countless generations. His heart pounding, his mouth full of cotton, Kubo made the sign of the cross. His first steps were almost his undoing as his krpce slipped on grass, moist from spilled beer. But then he lengthened his stride and by the time he had reached the edge of the crowd, he was running as fast as he could. Logs tumbled together at the fire's core and a huge tongue of flame leaped out, but it was too late . Kubo 's krpce had left the ground. "AAAHHHH," the sound - a cheer, a moan - rose up from the lips of men and women and children as a form, black against the bright flames, seemed to hang in the air. The gypsy band stopped in mid-song . "AAAHHHH ! " Women crossed themselves and men's lips tightened . The mouths of small children gaped open . "AAAAAAHHHHHH !" The fire crackled angrily, spitting hot sparks into the cool night air. Dusan fingered the ciapka beneath his arm, then grasped it firmly . His son stood before him, eyebrows vanished from his pink face, his hair a mass of tiny burnt and frizzy curls, one leg of his while trousers browned , like the top of a loaf of bread. Dusan could smell the hair , the cloth, the flesh that had passed through the St. John's fire . He extended the ciapka to his son , looking at it , turning it in his hand . "Perhaps a bit too small, Kubo . I think in Bardejov they might �96 SLOVAKIA have some bigge r ones ; more like . . " Whateve r words follow ed were lost in the deafening accolade rendered to J a kub Vlasek . After hi s awesome display of b ravery, Kubo could seemingl y d o nothing wrong as the sun set and the evenin g of dancin g began in earnest. His krpce kicked hi gh in the a ir but la nd ed with a feather's li ghtness so close to the fl asks of vino a nd borovicka th a t gasps were heard from the young girls who stood in a group eyeing the b oys who would somed ay be th eir hu sbands . Even Eta Min arovicova a nd Julia Vad aszova, b y far the pretti es t a nd most choosy girls in Zbudza on feas t days in th e pas t acted as if Kubo Vl ase k had some co n tagious disease, co uld n ot kee p their eyes off him . Their hands behind th eir backs, th eir hips swayin g ge ntly to the musi c, they waited, as did all their girl fri ends, for the m ost impor tant d a nce in the li fe of eve ry b oy who jumped ove r the fire on St. J ohn 's D ay. The gy psies kn ew it. Their gold tee th fl ashin g beneath bl ack mu staches, they would tease with th e first ba rs of a popula r tun e . But the n they would break into a nothe r so n g th at onl y the boys cou ld dan ce to, a nd display their prowess st ill more, d elay in g th e mom ent when the eager young girls and the proud young boys would have a dance together. The b a nd stru ck up a d a nce don e entirely on one foot. Boys shoved and j ostl ed, feinted a nd du cked , a nd th e less agil e we re se n t sprawling into th e grass . And , a t the da n ce's e nd , the re was ju st one who h ad not resorted to u sin g hi s oth er foot , who had not bee n kn ocked ove r. Kubo Vl asek twirl ed a round on the b all of hi s foot, with a n agilit y eve n his fath er had to applaud. Th e gypse husle pl aye r kept Kubo dan cin g , in creas in g the beat , but Ku bo, lost in the ecstasy of th e m agic ni ght , would not lose hi s bal a nce. Hi s mind was already in Ba rdej ov, hi s head already cove red in a fin e n ew hat. H e could feel the jin gle of co ins in hi s pocket , straw und er hi s b ack in th e b a rn. Th e bea t cha n ged so su b tl y that Kubo was not even awa re o f it. H e kept twirlin g a nd twirlin g. It was alread y pitch d a rk , but logs had bee n h eaped on th e fire, a nd as Kubo 's eyes, fogged with pe rspiration , took in the blur of faces standin g aro und the dan cin g a rea, fl ashes of color sta rted swirlin g a bout him , in th e opposite d irection . Lik e great red a nd yell ow and gree n eels sw immin g in a shall ow strea m , the o rnate p arta stream in g dow n from th e braided heads of th e un married �SLOVAKIA 97 girls shimmered in the fire's light , each offerin g the ni ght 's h ero th e m a iden of his choosin g. All the rituals h e h ad prepared for , jumping over the fire, the o n elegged dan ce, but Kubo Vlasek had not , up to that very moment, decided whi ch girl would have the h onor of hi s first dan ce as a man . H e twirled faster a nd became dizzie r in hi s deliciou s mom ent of triumph , in his hour of indecision . The parta flutte red by, the tip s flickering a t his nose. The gypsy band picked up the beat. Faster and faster. His a rm reached out to the fl ashing colors. And it was soundly m et. " Oh , thank you , I would be m ost honored ." The vill agers applauded still louder while Kubo 's frie nds hooted a nd whistled . And Zu zka Tavelcakova, her great eyebrows arched over a huge smile, her free arm s swin ging in wild exultation , her huge breasts threatening release from the rest of h er body, d a n ced about the circle. She held on to Kubo tightly a nd , as they n eared the fire, reached into her apron pocket a nd withdrew a clenched fist , with which she bl essed herself. Then th e h a nd fl ew o pe n - and a small obj ect disappeared into th e flam es. Around, around h e twirled Zuzka until finally the gypsy playing the cymbal ran th e soft felt hammers from the low notes to the high, signaling the n ext dan ce would begin . But , befor e they could launch into it , several pa irs of ha nds reached out to Kubo , and sudde nl y he was be ing ho isted into th e a ir. ' ']eden! " " D va! 1 " " Tri 11 ! " And with th e third toss the loud est chee r - fu eled b y boro vicka and bee r and tradition - rippl ed across the m eadow and down to the ri ver whe re a fl ock of tin y doves bolted from the reed s a nd fl ew towa rd th e d a rkne ss of th e hu ge junipe rs . '' Y AAA Y AA AAA Y AAAAAAAAA 1 ' ' " And now th e new m a n bu ys th e nex t bottle of pa.lenka," Mlad en shouted at Kubo, whose wet, sin ged ha ir was bein g tou sled by hi s young fri e nd s, whose ha nd s were be in g pressed with ha nd sh akes . One ha ndsh a ke was stronge r , lo n ger than the others, a nd as Kubo blink ed through the sweat a nd ash in hi s eyes, he co uld see th at it was hi s fat he r who stood befo re him. Whe n at least he was released , Kubo had a k orun ak in hi s ha nd . �98 SLOVAKIA " You a re a m an , m y son , a nd you will from thi s day be pa id wages," Du san said, talkin g slowing so as not to slur hi s words. " You will inherit the land , you will care for this fam ily ... but now, first things first. Buy the palenka!" The fire died down and was fed with fresh logs. Boys sneaked off with girls and nuzzled in the darkness. The gypsy band played and drank and played still more . The old woman , Micekova, nodded without sayin g a word when Zuzka's mother said that her d au ghter a nd the young Vlasek boy made a fine couple. The young teacher danced with some of the v ill age women, but only when they asked him . And a small boy, whose emerald eyes glistened when the flame s rose, stood a top the hill in the shadow of the giant lindens , his thumb s locked in hi s belt. When it came time to return home, Kubo eventually found his father lyin g on the ground , a n empty bottle in his ha nd, his head propped against the thick exposed roots of an oak tree, hi s eyes barely visible through sm all slits. H e motioned for hi s son to sit b y him . " I have only a year , perhaps two in this vale of tears, " Dusan began, we ighing each word somberly and pattin g hi s so n on the knee. "You mu st rem ain stron g, my so n , my only son , and believe in what is right and decent , what has bee n ha nded down from generation to generation. " His eyes fli ckered open wider. " Father , why this talk? You a re healthy; you will live to be one hundred ." " Place your hand on my heart." '' Father ?'' " Your ha nd ." Kubo did as he was told. Dusan pressed the boy's hand onto the fa ncy embroidery of hi s shirt , now soaked with sweat and borovicka, stain ed wi th berry wines and grease from the lamb, tainted as it was. '' R epeat afte r me . . . " I .. . Ku bo Vlasek ... vow on m y father's heart ... on the day I became a man ... to love this land . . . never to turn from it ... To listen to God and not the foo lish tal es of the world outs ide ... To care for children and a nimals ... because each co m es from God ever to strike my woman without good reason ... To kee p this sac red pledge ... as pledged on my father's heart ... that the cursed word 'Amerika ' wi ll never ... never . . . be heard in the house ... �SLOVAKIA 99 our esteem ed Milos Vlasek built . .. with his bare hands ... years and years ago.'' Dusan ' s voice became lower and lower as if he were ready to cry. " Do you promise all this my son, unde r pain of mortal sin, eternal damnation and the fires of hell ?" "I do, Father ," Kubo said evenly, " I promise this before God ." "Good ." Dusan slumped back onto the roots . " Now, fetch the wagon. Your father is too tired to be walking this night." �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1984, Vol. 31 Description An account of the resource Vol. 31 (No. 57), 1984. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 87 Excerpt from In Due Season Paul Wilkes "Is ... is he home? Pan Vlasek?" '' No, no, in the field,'' Dusan replied impatiently, stuffing two huge loaves of bread into a sack . "Stara?" "Yes, yes. Matka moja, what you girls won't do ; you are the third one today.'' ''Oh,'' she breathed, as if by her late arrival she might already have lost out. "I won't stay long. I have a heap of washing to do. So high I can't even see over the top of it.' ' "They are good to you, those Magyars?" "Oh yes, Pan Vlasek. When they have roast, we have roast. And as many potatoes as you can eat." "So you are happy up there on the hill?" "For now." "And?" '' Someday I want to live again in the valley in my own house and raise children; eight, ten, maybe an even dozen . I do not want a fancy life. " "For such a family you need a strong back and a wealthy husband . " "Just one who works hard, Pan Vlasek. I already know the one. And I am strong, stronger than the other girls. I will make a good wife.'' "You children. So eager to grow up . If you only knew . Well, Kubo will be back soon and he should not find you here. He is not used to the ways of females . " Dusan put on his hat and tossed the bag to his shoulder. "By the way," he said, lowering his voice, "is it true what they do up there ; the drinking, the sins of the flesh , all that?" "My parents tell me little , but in the morning, cleaning up the great hall, there are signs, Pan Vlasek," she said, lowering her eyes in shame. 88 SLOVAKIA ''Terrible , awful,'' Dusan said, and passing through the d oor added , "and worse yet not be able to a fford it. Good lu ck, girl." The old woman was sitting on a b ench in the corner of the room, lost in the shadows beneath the holy pictures. A s the rosary bead s slipped throu gh her fingers , her wrinkled lips m oved quickly, giving off the sound of something sizzling, like w et wood add ed to a hot fire. Step b y step Zu zka Tavelcako va a pproach ed he r , lookin g for som e sign that the woman kn ew she was there. She h a d grown in the years she'd lived with he r family in the castle of Count Szepesy a nd was indeed n ot only stron ger but considerably larger than other girls of her age, which was fifteen . H er shoulders were broad , he r hands , already red and calloused from hours of scrubbing clothes a nd peeling vege ta bl es and h auling wood to the many fireplaces , were so able that even her older broth er s would call upon Zuzka when they needed to pull a balking cow into a stall or when the last sacks of fl our h ad to be stacked near the crossp iece of the hu ge sypanec. But , as much as God ha d blessed her with a n abundan ce of good h ealth a nd strength , H e had not bee n so gen erou s with he r appearance. H er forehead was too large, and a certain puffiness above her eyes m ade h er appear to be con sta ntly scowlin g. Although her mouth was full a nd well formed, her upper lip had a tendency to pu sh up the skin b eneath her nose, the force of which formed two d eep lines that curled ben eath her ch eeks . Zuzka Tavelcakova was a good-natured , ch eerful girl in her heart a nd in her actio n s, but her face did not represent her justly. " I have brought a forint, P ani Micekova," Zuzka said softly, bendin g at the knee in a quick curtsy before the old woman . The old woman ' s eyes did not open; her lip s moved more quickly, as if she would h ave to be furt her coaxed from her religious reverie. "Teta? " she said with greatest respect. " Y ou are the o nly one who can help .'' " Did yo u d o exactly as I told yo u ? " the old woman snapped, continuing w ith her rosary as she awaited the suppli can t's reply. " Oh, yes, everyth in g," Zuzka said excitedly. She began her reci ta tion, graspin g first he r sm allest fin ger, holdin g it tightly as she savored h er exact ness, her fervidness, as she un abash edly displayed her girl ish hope . "Last night, in the moonlight , the brightest moonlight - I waited - I picked zemezlce by the river. I picked a nd I picked until my zajda was filled. SLOVAKIA 89 "A littl e is all tha t is n eed ed ." She dismissed h e r exuberance . " I didn ' t want to take chances; I didn ' t think it would hurt." '' Then ?'' She grasped the n ext finger . " Then I went to the fi eld of konope wi th the other girls and I rolled and rolled . Each of us put a stick with a different-colored ribbon in the ground so we would know wh ere we h ad been .'' She ra n her h ands over the front of her apron . '' The konope sta nd s straight ... well , almost straight , thi s m ornin g." " Better tha t it is n ot perfect; tha t would m ean you m a rry in a year. T oo youn g ." " And we all m ad e wreath s with branches of the willow , a nd when we threw them in the rive r , pani , mine was the first to reach th e great rock . The first!" '' So you will m a rry first , but n ot n ext year. '' She grasped h er fourth fin ge r , but h er h ands soon slid toge ther , locked in their own praye r. " I knelt befo re the Virgin a nd p romised that if she heard m y plea I would n ot let Kubo tou ch a n ythin g more tha n m y a rm until we we re m a n a nd wife. I vowed it, teta, under p ain of m ortal sin 1 " The old wom an ' s eyes fli ckered open , glistenin g in their d a rk sockets. Zu zka could not look into those eyes; sh e peered down , intentl y foll owin g a ha irline crack in the dirt floo r. " You mu st swear it again , Zu zka, swear tha t n o impure thou ghts will co m e into your mind. T h a t if Kubo so mu ch as tou ches you a bove here," she said , layin g h er gna rl ed h a nd on the opposite elbow , "you will sla p him as if he we re the d evil him self. '' " Oh , I do swear it! Unde r pa in of th e etern al fi res of hell 1" " You h ave th ose la r ge breas ts." The old wom a n n odded gravely towa rd Zu zka's blouse. " The boys will wa n t to touch them; even him ." " T eta, I have dedicated them to the Virgin ; they a re hers, n ot his," she said , takin g in h er breath a nd pullin g he r ves t ti ghtly against her body. " Oh , I a m so rry they h ave grown so." " I don ' t know wh y you want the b oy a nyh ow ," the old wom a n said . '' H e is neither b ig nor clever.'' " I am stron g," a n d Zu zka's vo ice becam e so ft e r , th at of a m other spea kin g to her in fa nt , "and h e is kind a nd ge ntl e, n ot like the other boys ." T he to ne aga in was firm. " And I can pu sh him , help him to be a m a n , sta nd up ." 90 SLOVAKIA The old woman's hands, the rosary still entwined in her fingers, disappeared beneath her threadbare shawl. Zuzka stood still, her heart pounding, her breath escaping from her mouth in a series of sharp, moist gasps. "Please, God, please . . . " she whispered. ''Through . . . the . .. Christ . . . bring . . . '' Zuzka leaned forward, straining to hear, but she could only understand a few words as they rasped forth from deep in the old woman's throat. '' . . . drawn to . . . let his . . . Holy Ghost, Amen.'' Zuzka took a step forward, the forint in hand. "From the drippings at Our Lady's altar. The most blessed wax at Our Lady's feet, ' ' the old woman said with a certain pride of craftsmanship . But when she saw the hand stretched out to her with the coin, her own hand snapped shut. "So, little foolish girl, you think you can buy this? Pay the bosorka and laugh to your friends about the old fool? You have your nerve!'' "No, no, teta," Zuzka pleaded. "I know that. Look. I place the coin here, on the bench. I do not give it to you. No, nothing this sacred can be bought.'' "Leave no doubt about it." The hand opened again. Squarely in the middle of the old woman's palm lay the figure of a man, no bigger than a thumball, fashioned from pale yellow beeswax. When Kubo returned from the fields he found the house empty, the ashes in the fireplace cool. He splashed water on his face, neck , and arms and dressed hurriedly, silently cursing the hundreds of tiny shoots that had virtually sprung up overnight among the potato plants. His father had drummed into his head the old saying, ''Cut the weed today and spare the plant tomorrow , " and Kubo, whose main task at this time of the year was weeding, sometimes had to be prodded to maintain his vigilance against the tiny green enemies that sapped the nourishment of the crops . But not on that day, for Kubo wanted to impress upon his father how responsible, how serious he was about work. Although his family left early Kubo remained behind and made sure that the field was clean, the soil broken with his hoe to receive whatever rain might fall. Kubo shoved his blouse into the clean white woolen britches with the thick black embroidery and reached up to the shelf above the bed SLOVAKIA 91 to take down his ciapka. He looked at the foolish little brimless pillbox , the two silken ribbons that trailed behind . A boy' s cap. A child's. As he plopped it on the back of his head, the dismal thought came to his mind that it could still be on his head when St. John 's Day came next year. By the time Kubo arrived, out of breath from his run , the pasture to the north of the village was already filled with people, and the Feast of St. John 's had begun. The cows, Gizela among them, grazed peacefully in the afternoon light, with wreaths of daisies over their horns, which Anna and the girls her age had made. The older, unmarried girls had woven a long chain of daisies and took turns flinging it up into the tall oak . It was an important ritual, for the number of branches the chain covered would be the years each maiden would have to wait for marriage . Up to a certain age, young girls threw the chain of daisies with all their might, but the older maidens, like Justina Marusakova, now twenty-three, whose half-closed eyes and stuttering, dull speech had failed to attract a spouse, aimed for a single low branch and prayed that the superstition bore truth . Everyone got a turn , even Zuzka's oldest sister , Dorota, who was past forty but whose brain had remained that of a child's. As Kubo walked by the group of girls, Zuzka eagerly took the chain of daisies in her large hands and puffed out the chest she had sworn hours before would not be violated. But marriage and carnal thoughts were the farthest things from his mind , and he did not look as the daisies and her prayers fluttered toward heaven . He went directly to the huge , square stack of neatly cut logs and bent his head back to take in the dozens of small fir trees that had been placed on top. As the sun set on this, the longest day of the year, the day of Jana, the pagan god who was Christianized into the good St. John , the dry wood would burst into flame and the yearly pageant would be performed. At its end, Kubo well knew, a brave few, who up to this night had been called boys and treated as such, would henceforth walk the village streets as men. Kubo gulped and stooped down, stretching the muscles of his legs . Off to the side of the huge stack the V adasz brothers and other boys just a year or two younger than Kubo were playing a game he had played many times himself. And even with some of them . One boy would bend down and another would leap upon him like a frog , and be carried for 92 SLOVAKIA as long a di stance as youn g legs could hold up . Still other boys were imitating the cows grazin g, complete with mooin g sounds . The young C ernetsky boy had borrowed the d a isy wreath from their cow , Sargula , and the other boys cla pped with glee at the silly sigh t. " Kubo, come , com e , " they called to him , but Kubo acted as if he could not hear them. H e threw his shoulders back, strainin g his bod y to be as tall as he possibly could , and walked to a spot near the tables of food and drink where his fa ther was sta ndin g, hi s pipe in ha nd , talkin g to som e men . '' This is m y Kubo ,'' Du san said to a short m an wh o wore a long ostrich feather in his hat, " the best weed puller south of the High T atras. M eet P an Bozek and hi s boy P avel, " he said, m otionin g to a boy a bout Kubo's age . On th e boy's head was a ha t and feather similar to his father 's, a nd he nodded withou t say in g a word. It was another humilia tin g reminder. " W e were ju st talking a bout the first m arket in Bard ejov," Du san said. '' P an Bozek is a great landowner in M ala M aca and plans to sell mu ch . " " N o, no, not a great landowner ," P an Bozek said . " Ju st a simple peasant like yourself, blessed with a few m eters of God's precious earth , who works hi s fool head off. '' '' For yourself, a nd if a neighbor need s a hand ... '' ' ' ... well , thi s is our way, it is nothing to b rag .. . '' ' ' .. . D o you hear of su ch things from those who have gone to A m erika? Answe r m e tha t one.' ' Du san j abbed at the space in fron t of P an Bozek 's nose. " They all work for them selves, neve r help a friend to ha rvest or give a loaf of b read to one who need s it. You , Pan Bozek , are a fine exam pie to put in the face of all those vypasen f A m ericania. T ake notice of this m an , Kubo.'' " L ast year we took three wagonload s of wheat and l'an to Bardej ov and sold everything," Pavel said , putting his hands on his hips. " Our horse d anced all the way hom e.'' " Ju st forin ts and crowns to bring hom e," Du san said . "A ligh t load ." " W ell . .. " P a n Bozek said , tryin g to a ppear modest. " I have neve r seen you at the m arket," Pavel said to Kubo . " M y boy is not yet ready," Dusan said before Kubo could answer. " There is no hurry. Som e d ay . . . Now , som e p alenka, m y fri end , and SLOVAKIA 93 some of the fine kolace from the village o f Zbudza. You boys run off a nd play. '' A s the sun linge red capri ciou sly in the sky, P avel a nd Kubo w alked a mon g the revelers , drank the sweet berry juices and a te hu ge hunks of the la mb tha t Banfk had brought only to h ave so m e villagers refuse to to uch it , calling it a "guilt offering." Whe n the two boys came close to the group of young girls who had started to d a n ce with each othe r , Eta Min arovicova and Julia Vadaszova looked toward Kubo , but he knew it was for a n introdu ction to the h a ndsom e stra nge r a nd not for him self. R egardless, Kubo was more inte res ted in P avel's stories of the market a t Bardejov, of the hu ge wheels of cheese that the shepherds m ad e, of the m agnifice nt church th a t could hold all the people from five la rge vill ages. Pavel did n ot do it in the boastful fashion of Fra nko Hruscak , who made boys just a year o r two younger than him self feel like mere b a bies because they had never been to Bardejov and he had . P avel talked quietly , directly, but almost reli giou sly about the la nd t hat hi s fa mil y owned in M ala Maca, a nd how som ed ay, as the eldest son , it would be hi s. " And I will h ave more each year ," he said with suren ess in hi s voice. "There is no thing I love more than work. " H e add ed with a smile, " And a little slivovica n ow and then when m y fa the r doesn't fini sh hi s gla ss. All these p eople going to Amerika! Hah , m y father is right , yours too . Wh at cou ld be a b etter life than we have?" As Kubo tried not to loo k envious, P avel went on to tell him that he was coming hom e late r a nd la ter a t ni ght , and so m et imes his parents were a lready in bed , so he slept in the barn . Kubo had slept in the barn o fte n o n hot summ er ni ghts , but th e idea of slee pin g there a fter spe ndin g a ni ght in the foothills, sm okin g cigarettes with hi s friends, or after makin g wolf call s a t a girl' s window, was a forbidden pleasure so swee t he co uld not believe it would ever ha ppen . " Who ' s that?" P a vel motioned . " The little o ne? M y sister, Anna. Why? " " I' ve n eve r seen ha ir like he rs ; stra n ge color. " '' Baby h a ir , just a streak . '' " H ow old is she a n yhow ?" P avel said , hi s eyes n o t leav ing Anna until she disappeared into the crowd that h ad gathered a round the stack of wood. '' Almost eleve n .'' 94 SLOVAKIA "Skinny legs." ''I guess. She's a dreamer.'' '' AAAHHHH ! '' The sound echoed over the meadow to the tall junipers, sending a flock of bluejays into the purple night air. "AAAHHHH!" It rumbled down the slope to where the river Laborec wound its way through the thickets ofreeds. "AAAHHHH!" the chorus of voices breathed as the flames licked at the neatly stacked logs and suddenly burst skyward in a mammoth orange ball as the sap-filled branches, the needles and cones of the fur trees caught fire . Kubo's throat went dry. Pavel put his arm over the shoulder of the boy he'd met just a short time before. "Not yet . It will die down. There is time to be a man." Other boys, some Kubo's age, like Franko Hruscak andjozefKralik also stood around the fire, carefully eyeing the flames and casting sidelong glances to see if anyone was ready to try . Cyril Gasparovic was also there, a frail boy already three years older than Kubo, who had never danced or jumped over the fire and whose mother was known to be making a novena to the Blessed Lady . The firs burned off quickly, leaving shimmering red skeletons, but flames from the logs were still at least as high as the top of his head as Kubo walked a slow circle around the fire, eyeing it with the intensity and dread of a baca faced with a hungry wolf. It was a delicate issue, one, down through the centuries that the tradition had been practiced, that required the judgment only a mature man would have . There was a point, just one point, when the flames receded enough to be traversed but when a boy could be seriously burned or, as the story was told of the arrogant richtar 's son many years ago, killed . There would always be one person who knew that point, took the chance, and the others who followed would go through life remembering his bravery and bemoaning their lack of it. It was sometimes better to wait until the next St. John ' s Day rather than risk the humiliation of being one of the last, the least brave . For as the fire died down , even the tiny boys of the village would jump over the embers in childish practice for the day some years away when they would risk painful burns to gain their manhood. The gypsy band struck up the first tunes, and it was mostly the older people, singing and clapping their hands, who began to flatten the thick grass with their dancing feet . The rest of the people from Zbud- SLOVAKIA 95 za, those with young sons and those from Mala Maca and V el'ka Maca who had made a pilgrimage for the feast days stayed close to that fire, talking among themselves, waiting, but making no reference to the drama that was building moment by moment. Kubo had made a complete circle, and finally he stood before his father, his arms at his sides, like a soldier in ranks. "Otec," he said, using the formal address, "will you please hold my ciapka?" Dusan looked over his son's shoulder to the leaping yellow and red flames of the fire. He squinted so that he could see it better. Then he extended his hand without saying a word, either of encouragement or caution, and took the hat from his son, placing it under his arm. One by one, the people moved to the side, clearing a path. Except for a low, haunting gypsy love song and the crackling of dry wood, the meadow was quiet, and nothing stood between Kubo Vlasek and the state he so desired, nothing but the fire that had purged and proven men of Zbudza for countless generations. His heart pounding, his mouth full of cotton, Kubo made the sign of the cross. His first steps were almost his undoing as his krpce slipped on grass, moist from spilled beer. But then he lengthened his stride and by the time he had reached the edge of the crowd, he was running as fast as he could. Logs tumbled together at the fire's core and a huge tongue of flame leaped out, but it was too late . Kubo 's krpce had left the ground. "AAAHHHH," the sound - a cheer, a moan - rose up from the lips of men and women and children as a form, black against the bright flames, seemed to hang in the air. The gypsy band stopped in mid-song . "AAAHHHH ! " Women crossed themselves and men's lips tightened . The mouths of small children gaped open . "AAAAAAHHHHHH !" The fire crackled angrily, spitting hot sparks into the cool night air. Dusan fingered the ciapka beneath his arm, then grasped it firmly . His son stood before him, eyebrows vanished from his pink face, his hair a mass of tiny burnt and frizzy curls, one leg of his while trousers browned , like the top of a loaf of bread. Dusan could smell the hair , the cloth, the flesh that had passed through the St. John's fire . He extended the ciapka to his son , looking at it , turning it in his hand . "Perhaps a bit too small, Kubo . I think in Bardejov they might 96 SLOVAKIA have some bigge r ones ; more like . . " Whateve r words follow ed were lost in the deafening accolade rendered to J a kub Vlasek . After hi s awesome display of b ravery, Kubo could seemingl y d o nothing wrong as the sun set and the evenin g of dancin g began in earnest. His krpce kicked hi gh in the a ir but la nd ed with a feather's li ghtness so close to the fl asks of vino a nd borovicka th a t gasps were heard from the young girls who stood in a group eyeing the b oys who would somed ay be th eir hu sbands . Even Eta Min arovicova a nd Julia Vad aszova, b y far the pretti es t a nd most choosy girls in Zbudza on feas t days in th e pas t acted as if Kubo Vl ase k had some co n tagious disease, co uld n ot kee p their eyes off him . Their hands behind th eir backs, th eir hips swayin g ge ntly to the musi c, they waited, as did all their girl fri ends, for the m ost impor tant d a nce in the li fe of eve ry b oy who jumped ove r the fire on St. J ohn 's D ay. The gy psies kn ew it. Their gold tee th fl ashin g beneath bl ack mu staches, they would tease with th e first ba rs of a popula r tun e . But the n they would break into a nothe r so n g th at onl y the boys cou ld dan ce to, a nd display their prowess st ill more, d elay in g th e mom ent when the eager young girls and the proud young boys would have a dance together. The b a nd stru ck up a d a nce don e entirely on one foot. Boys shoved and j ostl ed, feinted a nd du cked , a nd th e less agil e we re se n t sprawling into th e grass . And , a t the da n ce's e nd , the re was ju st one who h ad not resorted to u sin g hi s oth er foot , who had not bee n kn ocked ove r. Kubo Vl asek twirl ed a round on the b all of hi s foot, with a n agilit y eve n his fath er had to applaud. Th e gypse husle pl aye r kept Kubo dan cin g , in creas in g the beat , but Ku bo, lost in the ecstasy of th e m agic ni ght , would not lose hi s bal a nce. Hi s mind was already in Ba rdej ov, hi s head already cove red in a fin e n ew hat. H e could feel the jin gle of co ins in hi s pocket , straw und er hi s b ack in th e b a rn. Th e bea t cha n ged so su b tl y that Kubo was not even awa re o f it. H e kept twirlin g a nd twirlin g. It was alread y pitch d a rk , but logs had bee n h eaped on th e fire, a nd as Kubo 's eyes, fogged with pe rspiration , took in the blur of faces standin g aro und the dan cin g a rea, fl ashes of color sta rted swirlin g a bout him , in th e opposite d irection . Lik e great red a nd yell ow and gree n eels sw immin g in a shall ow strea m , the o rnate p arta stream in g dow n from th e braided heads of th e un married SLOVAKIA 97 girls shimmered in the fire's light , each offerin g the ni ght 's h ero th e m a iden of his choosin g. All the rituals h e h ad prepared for , jumping over the fire, the o n elegged dan ce, but Kubo Vlasek had not , up to that very moment, decided whi ch girl would have the h onor of hi s first dan ce as a man . H e twirled faster a nd became dizzie r in hi s deliciou s mom ent of triumph , in his hour of indecision . The parta flutte red by, the tip s flickering a t his nose. The gypsy band picked up the beat. Faster and faster. His a rm reached out to the fl ashing colors. And it was soundly m et. " Oh , thank you , I would be m ost honored ." The vill agers applauded still louder while Kubo 's frie nds hooted a nd whistled . And Zu zka Tavelcakova, her great eyebrows arched over a huge smile, her free arm s swin ging in wild exultation , her huge breasts threatening release from the rest of h er body, d a n ced about the circle. She held on to Kubo tightly a nd , as they n eared the fire, reached into her apron pocket a nd withdrew a clenched fist , with which she bl essed herself. Then th e h a nd fl ew o pe n - and a small obj ect disappeared into th e flam es. Around, around h e twirled Zuzka until finally the gypsy playing the cymbal ran th e soft felt hammers from the low notes to the high, signaling the n ext dan ce would begin . But , befor e they could launch into it , several pa irs of ha nds reached out to Kubo , and sudde nl y he was be ing ho isted into th e a ir. ' ']eden! " " D va! 1 " " Tri 11 ! " And with th e third toss the loud est chee r - fu eled b y boro vicka and bee r and tradition - rippl ed across the m eadow and down to the ri ver whe re a fl ock of tin y doves bolted from the reed s a nd fl ew towa rd th e d a rkne ss of th e hu ge junipe rs . '' Y AAA Y AA AAA Y AAAAAAAAA 1 ' ' " And now th e new m a n bu ys th e nex t bottle of pa.lenka," Mlad en shouted at Kubo, whose wet, sin ged ha ir was bein g tou sled by hi s young fri e nd s, whose ha nd s were be in g pressed with ha nd sh akes . One ha ndsh a ke was stronge r , lo n ger than the others, a nd as Kubo blink ed through the sweat a nd ash in hi s eyes, he co uld see th at it was hi s fat he r who stood befo re him. Whe n at least he was released , Kubo had a k orun ak in hi s ha nd . 98 SLOVAKIA " You a re a m an , m y son , a nd you will from thi s day be pa id wages," Du san said, talkin g slowing so as not to slur hi s words. " You will inherit the land , you will care for this fam ily ... but now, first things first. Buy the palenka!" The fire died down and was fed with fresh logs. Boys sneaked off with girls and nuzzled in the darkness. The gypsy band played and drank and played still more . The old woman , Micekova, nodded without sayin g a word when Zuzka's mother said that her d au ghter a nd the young Vlasek boy made a fine couple. The young teacher danced with some of the v ill age women, but only when they asked him . And a small boy, whose emerald eyes glistened when the flame s rose, stood a top the hill in the shadow of the giant lindens , his thumb s locked in hi s belt. When it came time to return home, Kubo eventually found his father lyin g on the ground , a n empty bottle in his ha nd, his head propped against the thick exposed roots of an oak tree, hi s eyes barely visible through sm all slits. H e motioned for hi s son to sit b y him . " I have only a year , perhaps two in this vale of tears, " Dusan began, we ighing each word somberly and pattin g hi s so n on the knee. "You mu st rem ain stron g, my so n , my only son , and believe in what is right and decent , what has bee n ha nded down from generation to generation. " His eyes fli ckered open wider. " Father , why this talk? You a re healthy; you will live to be one hundred ." " Place your hand on my heart." '' Father ?'' " Your ha nd ." Kubo did as he was told. Dusan pressed the boy's hand onto the fa ncy embroidery of hi s shirt , now soaked with sweat and borovicka, stain ed wi th berry wines and grease from the lamb, tainted as it was. '' R epeat afte r me . . . " I .. . Ku bo Vlasek ... vow on m y father's heart ... on the day I became a man ... to love this land . . . never to turn from it ... To listen to God and not the foo lish tal es of the world outs ide ... To care for children and a nimals ... because each co m es from God ever to strike my woman without good reason ... To kee p this sac red pledge ... as pledged on my father's heart ... that the cursed word 'Amerika ' wi ll never ... never . . . be heard in the house ... SLOVAKIA 99 our esteem ed Milos Vlasek built . .. with his bare hands ... years and years ago.'' Dusan ' s voice became lower and lower as if he were ready to cry. " Do you promise all this my son, unde r pain of mortal sin, eternal damnation and the fires of hell ?" "I do, Father ," Kubo said evenly, " I promise this before God ." "Good ." Dusan slumped back onto the roots . " Now, fetch the wagon. Your father is too tired to be walking this night."  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Excerpt from "In Due Season" Description An account of the resource Paul Wilkes Slovakia, Vol. 31 (No. 57), 1984 pp. 87-99 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Wilkes, Paul, 1938- Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/f4534c5c55ca7eeded195ef90f4bd3eb.pdf d8cb7f8c71034ded72ea4f91239ea526 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 11 3 Review Article THEODORIC J . ZUBEK , O.F.M. AUDI ALTERAM PARTEM Eva Slavkovska. " Vzt'ah statu k cirkvam v prvych rokoch vystavby socializmu na Slovensku ," Historick y casopis, XXX, 2 (1982), 223-49. In her article Eva Slavkovska attempts to give a comple te account of the mo st important events in the worsening relations between the Czechoslovak government and the Catholic Church in Slovakia during the two critical years following the Communist coup d'etat of February 1948 . She b ases he r work most! y on the official records of the Slovak Commissariat for Schools, Sciences, and Arts prese rved in the Central State Archives of the Slovak Socialist Republic. Furthermore, she quotes from the works of seve ral Communist authors who wrote about the same subject matter , as well as articles from the so-called Catholic press, which soon after the coup was subjected to complete Communist control. As a result , her evaluation of the religious situation in Slovakia is one-sided and biased by he r Communist perception . Slavkovska begins h er article with a falsely precon ce ived idea tha t the deep reli giou s co nvictions of the Slovak people stemmed from econom ic, social, a nd cultural backwardness , supported in great part b y the Catholic hie rarchy a nd the tradition al political clericalism which until the Communist ta keover in 1948 affected Slova k Catholics. Although quite frequently Slavkovska looks back to the years before the Comm uni st coup d'e tat in February , 1948, she n eglects to m ention that immed iately after the war ( 1945) the Catholic Church suffered much more in Slovakia than it did in Bohemia and Moravia (Czech territories). Wh ereas in the Czech lands Catholi cs were represe nted b y th eir own politi cal party (Msgr. J a n Sramek's Czech P eople's P arty), Slovak Catholi cs were branded as "cle ri co -fascists" a nd h ad no political representation. The decrees of the Slovak National Council, which was dominated by Communists, h ad the aut hority of law in th e territory �114 SLOVAKIA of Slovakia . By these decrees all Catholic schools, publications , and societies were suppressed immediately after the war, while during the same period their counterparts in Bohemia and Moravia remained untouched. Only the elections of May 25, 1946 (the last free elections) brought some relief to Slovak Catholics. In April, 1946, the representatives of Slovak Catholics who had showed some opposition to Dr. Jozef Tiso's regime and were acceptable in the new political situation made an agreement with the representatives of the Slovak Democratic Party, previously completely dominated by Lutherans. With the help of Slovak Catholics, the Democratic Party won in Slovakia 62 % of the votes, while the Communist Party of Slovakia received less than half of that amount (30 % ). As a result of these elections, Slovak Catholics gained some political influence . Several of their periodical publications and some of the strictly religious societies were restored . But no Catholic schools, except the nine theologates, were allowed. It was only after the Communist takeover that the restrictions against the Catholic Church were conducted on a national basis and applied in the same way to Catholics in the whole country. Not surprisingly, Slavkovska omits these important facts and distinctions. She then proceeds by chronologically describing protracted and frustrating negotiations between the government and Church representatives. The bishops asked for a guarantee of freedom in the admin istration of the dioceses and parishes, for the preservation of the remaining Catholic schools in Bohemia and Moravia and for their restoration in Slovakia , for the existence of a free Catholic press and religious societies - rights that graduall y had been restricted after the Communist coup d'etat. The government pressed the bishops for a public proclamation of their loyalty to the new regime , for a renewal of their loyalty oath to the Communist government, and for influencing pries ts and Catholic people in promoting a pro-governm ent spirit. At thi s stage the Catholic bishops of the Czech territories a nd Slovakia acted together for the defense of the basic rights of the Catholic Church. The State-Church negotiations ended in failure in March , 1949 . Slavkovska blames the bishops for this failure, accusing them of a n un yieldin g a nd insin cere stand toward the Communist regime. Actually, the Communist regime was interes ted only in subjugating the Church and not in a ny workable agreement. While the nego ti a tions were still �SLOVAKIA 11 5 going on, the Central Action Committee of the National Front in Prague and its branches throughout the whole country , together with other government agencies, systematically en croach ed ever m o re d eeply on the rights of the Church . In 1949 , under various pretex ts , the regime suppressed several monasteries and convents, confiscated man y church buildings , and imprisoned a number of Catholic priests, both diocesan and religious , and Catholic laymen . Secret agents spied on all Catholic priests and members of religious orders and congregations . On the basis of h er research , Slavkovska - perhaps unwittingly - gives an interesting report on this matter. She states that this surveillance of the priests by the state agencies resulted in putting the priests into four categories: reliable to the regime (13.21 % ); those with a positive stand toward the regime , but not unequivocally (15.65 % ); apolitical (28 .65%); and unreliable (42.41 %). According to Slavkovska, the Communist agents worked with the reliable priests and tried to influence those in the second a nd third categories . The main part of the article is devoted to the so-called P eople's Catholic Action . Since the pontificate of Pius XI Catholic Action was an important m eans used by the Church to activate the faithful toward a deeper Christian life and to help priests bring Christian principles into family life and the whole of society . There was a well-organized Catholic Action in the Slovak dioceses and parishes under the supervision of the bishops and priests . In their effort to destroy the Church organization in Czechoslovakia, the Communist agencies attempted to alienate the priests from their bishops and the lay people from the uncompromising pries ts . Since Catholic Action was basically a laymen' s organization, the Communists con voked on June 10 , 1949 a meeting of n ominally Catholic lay people and several " reliable" priests in Pragu e. They establish ed their own '' P eople's Catholic A ct ion.' ' I ts purported aim was to promote moral life in the family , support constru ct ive efforts of the Czechoslovak governm ent , prevent the persecuti on of priests loyal to the re gim e by their bishops , a nd elimin ate all foreign interfe ren ce in the Church m a tters of Czechoslovakia. In this vein they issu ed a M a nifesto which was publi shed in all n ewspap ers and b roadcast on the state radio . An inten sive campa ign for the signin g of the M a nifesto was cond u cted throughout the whole country. The bishops of Czechoslovakia were still able secretl y �116 SLOVAKIA to meet and to issue a pastoral letter warning the people of the schismatic character of this spurious organization . On June 20, 1949, the Holy Office in Rome published a declaration by which all organizers and active members of the schismatic "Catholic Action" were automatically penalized with the highest ecclesiastical censure ( excommunication reserved in a special way to the Holy See). Despite the frantic efforts of the Communist regime to win supporters for this anti-Church campaign, the "Catholic Action" movement soon became a complete fiasco . It caused a great turmoil throughout the whole country and in Slovakia strikes in several factories and confrontations with the state police . The Communist government had to retreat. It even called on the maligned bishops to send a letter to the faithful to calm them down and exhort them to return to their work. Slavkovska describes in detail the organizational structure of the "Catholic Action" and various meetings of its organizers, but fails to mention that almost from the beginning it was only a paper organization doomed to an early demise. Still, the Communist government was not ready and willing to stop its efforts to subjugate the Church. With the failure of its ''Catholic Action" it took a new approach in this direction. It decided to legalize its attempts to enslave the Church . In a Communist country the parliament is a rubber-stamp assembly which can be counted on to pass all legislation unanimously put before it by the Communist Party. On October 14, 1949 , the Czechoslovak parliament enacted two laws which put the Church under the complete control of the state: Law No . 217/1949, which set up a State Agency for Ecclesiastical Affairs, and Law No. 218/1949 on the economic safeguarding of churches and religious bodies by the state. The State Agency for Ecclesiastical Affairs (and in Slovakia the Slovak Agency for Ecclesiastical Affairs) took control over all religious activities in the country. The second law gave the government all buildings of the churches and religious denominations and the exclusive right to grant ( or take away) licenses to clergymen for performing their ministry after they had taken an oath of loyalty to the government, and to pay them salaries according to their rank, seniority, and efficiency. The bishops first vehemently protested against this legalized enslavement of the Church. In the chaotic situation resulting from this new situation , they finally permitted their priests to take the prescribed oath with the mental reservation that they did not intend thereby to act against �SLOVAKIA 117 the laws of God, the Church, and the legitimate ecclesiastical authorities. In that sense, several bishops in March and April of 1950 also took the oath of loyalty. In that year ( 1950) of crude pressure on and persecution of the Church, the Communists rapidly proceeded in their efforts completely to subjugate the Church . They imprisoned or interned on trumped-up charges, or without any charges, several bishops Uosef Beran, Stepan Trochta, Jan Vojtassak, Stanislav Zela, Stefan Barnas, Michal Buzalka, Pavel Gojdic, and Basil Hopko). In public trials in the national courts they condemned to long prison terms Bishops V ojtassak, Gojdic, Buzalka, and Zela. Several representatives of larger religious orders and prominent prelates of Czechoslovakia were also publicly tried and condemned during this reign of terror. Still others were imprisoned and tried secretly. In the same year all monasteries, convents, and houses of religious orders and congregations were suppressed, and their members were confined to concentration houses . The Greek Catholic diocese of Presov was fraudulently and forcibly taken over by Orthodox bishops .The legitimate bishops of the diocese, Pavel Gojdic and Basil Hopko, were imprisoned, and Greek Catholic priests, loyal to Rome, were dispersed throughout the country as manual workers. Meanwhile, the Communists intensively worked on priests who showed an inclination to collaborate with the regime. First they established the organization of so-called patriotic priests , which later changed its name to ''Peace Movement of the Catholic Priests .'' In the dioceses whose bishops were imprisoned they forced the elections of vicars capitular as heads of the dioceses. The remaining bishops were confined to their residences and were under the surveillance of government agents who controlled all the activities of ligitimate ordinaries. Priestcollaborators intruded into the administration of the dioceses as vicars general, chancellors, and similar high officials. Slavkovska hardly mentions these rude encroachments on the administration and the life of the Catholic Church in Slovakia. But she does try to justify all these cruel interferences of the Communist regime in the very structure of the Catholic Church and in the field of human rights of the Catholic clergy and people. In her evaluation, there was no persecution of the Church, only legitimate steps for eliminating political clericalism in Slovakia. She praises the anti-Church laws of 1949 because they granted adequate financial remuneration to the priests for �118 SLOVAKIA their work as state employees . Furthermore, she wantonly states that all these provisions were welcomed by the "lower clergy" and the Catholic people. Slavkovska does not realize, or does not want to admit, that the governmental mingling with the innermost Church affairs and the erection of the pro-Communist priestly organizations, established under government pressure and protected by it, brought about the grossest form of caesaropapism, incomparably more destructive to the Church than the purported political clericalism during the previous regimes. In her article Slavkovska does not go as far as to the late sixties, to the Dubcek era. As soon as the cruel pressure on the Church was lifted in 1968, the Catholics, led by their remaining bishops and priests loyal to the Church, publicly denounced the persecution of the past decades and demanded abolition of all the previous abuses against the Church. They were supported even by many high ranking Communists of that era (Ladislav Holdos, Daniel Okali, Erika Kadlecova, and others). They achieved the restoration of the Greek Catholic diocese of Presov, the only seemingly permanent correction of the anti-Church abuses of the early fifties. Unfortunately , the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August, 1968 , and Husak 's process of so-called normalization destroyed all other rights which the Church had regained during the short-lived period of the "Prague-Spring." � SLOVAKIA 11 3 Review Article THEODORIC J . ZUBEK , O.F.M. AUDI ALTERAM PARTEM Eva Slavkovska. " Vzt'ah statu k cirkvam v prvych rokoch vystavby socializmu na Slovensku ," Historick y casopis, XXX, 2 (1982), 223-49. In her article Eva Slavkovska attempts to give a comple te account of the mo st important events in the worsening relations between the Czechoslovak government and the Catholic Church in Slovakia during the two critical years following the Communist coup d'etat of February 1948 . She b ases he r work most! y on the official records of the Slovak Commissariat for Schools, Sciences, and Arts prese rved in the Central State Archives of the Slovak Socialist Republic. Furthermore, she quotes from the works of seve ral Communist authors who wrote about the same subject matter , as well as articles from the so-called Catholic press, which soon after the coup was subjected to complete Communist control. As a result , her evaluation of the religious situation in Slovakia is one-sided and biased by he r Communist perception . Slavkovska begins h er article with a falsely precon ce ived idea tha t the deep reli giou s co nvictions of the Slovak people stemmed from econom ic, social, a nd cultural backwardness , supported in great part b y the Catholic hie rarchy a nd the tradition al political clericalism which until the Communist ta keover in 1948 affected Slova k Catholics. Although quite frequently Slavkovska looks back to the years before the Comm uni st coup d'e tat in February , 1948, she n eglects to m ention that immed iately after the war ( 1945) the Catholic Church suffered much more in Slovakia than it did in Bohemia and Moravia (Czech territories). Wh ereas in the Czech lands Catholi cs were represe nted b y th eir own politi cal party (Msgr. J a n Sramek's Czech P eople's P arty), Slovak Catholi cs were branded as "cle ri co -fascists" a nd h ad no political representation. The decrees of the Slovak National Council, which was dominated by Communists, h ad the aut hority of law in th e territory �114 SLOVAKIA of Slovakia . By these decrees all Catholic schools, publications , and societies were suppressed immediately after the war, while during the same period their counterparts in Bohemia and Moravia remained untouched. Only the elections of May 25, 1946 (the last free elections) brought some relief to Slovak Catholics. In April, 1946, the representatives of Slovak Catholics who had showed some opposition to Dr. Jozef Tiso's regime and were acceptable in the new political situation made an agreement with the representatives of the Slovak Democratic Party, previously completely dominated by Lutherans. With the help of Slovak Catholics, the Democratic Party won in Slovakia 62 % of the votes, while the Communist Party of Slovakia received less than half of that amount (30 % ). As a result of these elections, Slovak Catholics gained some political influence . Several of their periodical publications and some of the strictly religious societies were restored . But no Catholic schools, except the nine theologates, were allowed. It was only after the Communist takeover that the restrictions against the Catholic Church were conducted on a national basis and applied in the same way to Catholics in the whole country. Not surprisingly, Slavkovska omits these important facts and distinctions. She then proceeds by chronologically describing protracted and frustrating negotiations between the government and Church representatives. The bishops asked for a guarantee of freedom in the admin istration of the dioceses and parishes, for the preservation of the remaining Catholic schools in Bohemia and Moravia and for their restoration in Slovakia , for the existence of a free Catholic press and religious societies - rights that graduall y had been restricted after the Communist coup d'etat. The government pressed the bishops for a public proclamation of their loyalty to the new regime , for a renewal of their loyalty oath to the Communist government, and for influencing pries ts and Catholic people in promoting a pro-governm ent spirit. At thi s stage the Catholic bishops of the Czech territories a nd Slovakia acted together for the defense of the basic rights of the Catholic Church. The State-Church negotiations ended in failure in March , 1949 . Slavkovska blames the bishops for this failure, accusing them of a n un yieldin g a nd insin cere stand toward the Communist regime. Actually, the Communist regime was interes ted only in subjugating the Church and not in a ny workable agreement. While the nego ti a tions were still �SLOVAKIA 11 5 going on, the Central Action Committee of the National Front in Prague and its branches throughout the whole country , together with other government agencies, systematically en croach ed ever m o re d eeply on the rights of the Church . In 1949 , under various pretex ts , the regime suppressed several monasteries and convents, confiscated man y church buildings , and imprisoned a number of Catholic priests, both diocesan and religious , and Catholic laymen . Secret agents spied on all Catholic priests and members of religious orders and congregations . On the basis of h er research , Slavkovska - perhaps unwittingly - gives an interesting report on this matter. She states that this surveillance of the priests by the state agencies resulted in putting the priests into four categories: reliable to the regime (13.21 % ); those with a positive stand toward the regime , but not unequivocally (15.65 % ); apolitical (28 .65%); and unreliable (42.41 %). According to Slavkovska, the Communist agents worked with the reliable priests and tried to influence those in the second a nd third categories . The main part of the article is devoted to the so-called P eople's Catholic Action . Since the pontificate of Pius XI Catholic Action was an important m eans used by the Church to activate the faithful toward a deeper Christian life and to help priests bring Christian principles into family life and the whole of society . There was a well-organized Catholic Action in the Slovak dioceses and parishes under the supervision of the bishops and priests . In their effort to destroy the Church organization in Czechoslovakia, the Communist agencies attempted to alienate the priests from their bishops and the lay people from the uncompromising pries ts . Since Catholic Action was basically a laymen' s organization, the Communists con voked on June 10 , 1949 a meeting of n ominally Catholic lay people and several " reliable" priests in Pragu e. They establish ed their own '' P eople's Catholic A ct ion.' ' I ts purported aim was to promote moral life in the family , support constru ct ive efforts of the Czechoslovak governm ent , prevent the persecuti on of priests loyal to the re gim e by their bishops , a nd elimin ate all foreign interfe ren ce in the Church m a tters of Czechoslovakia. In this vein they issu ed a M a nifesto which was publi shed in all n ewspap ers and b roadcast on the state radio . An inten sive campa ign for the signin g of the M a nifesto was cond u cted throughout the whole country. The bishops of Czechoslovakia were still able secretl y �116 SLOVAKIA to meet and to issue a pastoral letter warning the people of the schismatic character of this spurious organization . On June 20, 1949, the Holy Office in Rome published a declaration by which all organizers and active members of the schismatic "Catholic Action" were automatically penalized with the highest ecclesiastical censure ( excommunication reserved in a special way to the Holy See). Despite the frantic efforts of the Communist regime to win supporters for this anti-Church campaign, the "Catholic Action" movement soon became a complete fiasco . It caused a great turmoil throughout the whole country and in Slovakia strikes in several factories and confrontations with the state police . The Communist government had to retreat. It even called on the maligned bishops to send a letter to the faithful to calm them down and exhort them to return to their work. Slavkovska describes in detail the organizational structure of the "Catholic Action" and various meetings of its organizers, but fails to mention that almost from the beginning it was only a paper organization doomed to an early demise. Still, the Communist government was not ready and willing to stop its efforts to subjugate the Church. With the failure of its ''Catholic Action" it took a new approach in this direction. It decided to legalize its attempts to enslave the Church . In a Communist country the parliament is a rubber-stamp assembly which can be counted on to pass all legislation unanimously put before it by the Communist Party. On October 14, 1949 , the Czechoslovak parliament enacted two laws which put the Church under the complete control of the state: Law No . 217/1949, which set up a State Agency for Ecclesiastical Affairs, and Law No. 218/1949 on the economic safeguarding of churches and religious bodies by the state. The State Agency for Ecclesiastical Affairs (and in Slovakia the Slovak Agency for Ecclesiastical Affairs) took control over all religious activities in the country. The second law gave the government all buildings of the churches and religious denominations and the exclusive right to grant ( or take away) licenses to clergymen for performing their ministry after they had taken an oath of loyalty to the government, and to pay them salaries according to their rank, seniority, and efficiency. The bishops first vehemently protested against this legalized enslavement of the Church. In the chaotic situation resulting from this new situation , they finally permitted their priests to take the prescribed oath with the mental reservation that they did not intend thereby to act against �SLOVAKIA 117 the laws of God, the Church, and the legitimate ecclesiastical authorities. In that sense, several bishops in March and April of 1950 also took the oath of loyalty. In that year ( 1950) of crude pressure on and persecution of the Church, the Communists rapidly proceeded in their efforts completely to subjugate the Church . They imprisoned or interned on trumped-up charges, or without any charges, several bishops Uosef Beran, Stepan Trochta, Jan Vojtassak, Stanislav Zela, Stefan Barnas, Michal Buzalka, Pavel Gojdic, and Basil Hopko). In public trials in the national courts they condemned to long prison terms Bishops V ojtassak, Gojdic, Buzalka, and Zela. Several representatives of larger religious orders and prominent prelates of Czechoslovakia were also publicly tried and condemned during this reign of terror. Still others were imprisoned and tried secretly. In the same year all monasteries, convents, and houses of religious orders and congregations were suppressed, and their members were confined to concentration houses . The Greek Catholic diocese of Presov was fraudulently and forcibly taken over by Orthodox bishops .The legitimate bishops of the diocese, Pavel Gojdic and Basil Hopko, were imprisoned, and Greek Catholic priests, loyal to Rome, were dispersed throughout the country as manual workers. Meanwhile, the Communists intensively worked on priests who showed an inclination to collaborate with the regime. First they established the organization of so-called patriotic priests , which later changed its name to ''Peace Movement of the Catholic Priests .'' In the dioceses whose bishops were imprisoned they forced the elections of vicars capitular as heads of the dioceses. The remaining bishops were confined to their residences and were under the surveillance of government agents who controlled all the activities of ligitimate ordinaries. Priestcollaborators intruded into the administration of the dioceses as vicars general, chancellors, and similar high officials. Slavkovska hardly mentions these rude encroachments on the administration and the life of the Catholic Church in Slovakia. But she does try to justify all these cruel interferences of the Communist regime in the very structure of the Catholic Church and in the field of human rights of the Catholic clergy and people. In her evaluation, there was no persecution of the Church, only legitimate steps for eliminating political clericalism in Slovakia. She praises the anti-Church laws of 1949 because they granted adequate financial remuneration to the priests for �118 SLOVAKIA their work as state employees . Furthermore, she wantonly states that all these provisions were welcomed by the "lower clergy" and the Catholic people. Slavkovska does not realize, or does not want to admit, that the governmental mingling with the innermost Church affairs and the erection of the pro-Communist priestly organizations, established under government pressure and protected by it, brought about the grossest form of caesaropapism, incomparably more destructive to the Church than the purported political clericalism during the previous regimes. In her article Slavkovska does not go as far as to the late sixties, to the Dubcek era. As soon as the cruel pressure on the Church was lifted in 1968, the Catholics, led by their remaining bishops and priests loyal to the Church, publicly denounced the persecution of the past decades and demanded abolition of all the previous abuses against the Church. They were supported even by many high ranking Communists of that era (Ladislav Holdos, Daniel Okali, Erika Kadlecova, and others). They achieved the restoration of the Greek Catholic diocese of Presov, the only seemingly permanent correction of the anti-Church abuses of the early fifties. Unfortunately , the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August, 1968 , and Husak 's process of so-called normalization destroyed all other rights which the Church had regained during the short-lived period of the "Prague-Spring." � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1984, Vol. 31 Description An account of the resource Vol. 31 (No. 57), 1984. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 11 3 Review Article THEODORIC J . ZUBEK , O.F.M. AUDI ALTERAM PARTEM Eva Slavkovska. " Vzt'ah statu k cirkvam v prvych rokoch vystavby socializmu na Slovensku ," Historick y casopis, XXX, 2 (1982), 223-49. In her article Eva Slavkovska attempts to give a comple te account of the mo st important events in the worsening relations between the Czechoslovak government and the Catholic Church in Slovakia during the two critical years following the Communist coup d'etat of February 1948 . She b ases he r work most! y on the official records of the Slovak Commissariat for Schools, Sciences, and Arts prese rved in the Central State Archives of the Slovak Socialist Republic. Furthermore, she quotes from the works of seve ral Communist authors who wrote about the same subject matter , as well as articles from the so-called Catholic press, which soon after the coup was subjected to complete Communist control. As a result , her evaluation of the religious situation in Slovakia is one-sided and biased by he r Communist perception . Slavkovska begins h er article with a falsely precon ce ived idea tha t the deep reli giou s co nvictions of the Slovak people stemmed from econom ic, social, a nd cultural backwardness , supported in great part b y the Catholic hie rarchy a nd the tradition al political clericalism which until the Communist ta keover in 1948 affected Slova k Catholics. Although quite frequently Slavkovska looks back to the years before the Comm uni st coup d'e tat in February , 1948, she n eglects to m ention that immed iately after the war ( 1945) the Catholic Church suffered much more in Slovakia than it did in Bohemia and Moravia (Czech territories). Wh ereas in the Czech lands Catholi cs were represe nted b y th eir own politi cal party (Msgr. J a n Sramek's Czech P eople's P arty), Slovak Catholi cs were branded as "cle ri co -fascists" a nd h ad no political representation. The decrees of the Slovak National Council, which was dominated by Communists, h ad the aut hority of law in th e territory 114 SLOVAKIA of Slovakia . By these decrees all Catholic schools, publications , and societies were suppressed immediately after the war, while during the same period their counterparts in Bohemia and Moravia remained untouched. Only the elections of May 25, 1946 (the last free elections) brought some relief to Slovak Catholics. In April, 1946, the representatives of Slovak Catholics who had showed some opposition to Dr. Jozef Tiso's regime and were acceptable in the new political situation made an agreement with the representatives of the Slovak Democratic Party, previously completely dominated by Lutherans. With the help of Slovak Catholics, the Democratic Party won in Slovakia 62 % of the votes, while the Communist Party of Slovakia received less than half of that amount (30 % ). As a result of these elections, Slovak Catholics gained some political influence . Several of their periodical publications and some of the strictly religious societies were restored . But no Catholic schools, except the nine theologates, were allowed. It was only after the Communist takeover that the restrictions against the Catholic Church were conducted on a national basis and applied in the same way to Catholics in the whole country. Not surprisingly, Slavkovska omits these important facts and distinctions. She then proceeds by chronologically describing protracted and frustrating negotiations between the government and Church representatives. The bishops asked for a guarantee of freedom in the admin istration of the dioceses and parishes, for the preservation of the remaining Catholic schools in Bohemia and Moravia and for their restoration in Slovakia , for the existence of a free Catholic press and religious societies - rights that graduall y had been restricted after the Communist coup d'etat. The government pressed the bishops for a public proclamation of their loyalty to the new regime , for a renewal of their loyalty oath to the Communist government, and for influencing pries ts and Catholic people in promoting a pro-governm ent spirit. At thi s stage the Catholic bishops of the Czech territories a nd Slovakia acted together for the defense of the basic rights of the Catholic Church. The State-Church negotiations ended in failure in March , 1949 . Slavkovska blames the bishops for this failure, accusing them of a n un yieldin g a nd insin cere stand toward the Communist regime. Actually, the Communist regime was interes ted only in subjugating the Church and not in a ny workable agreement. While the nego ti a tions were still SLOVAKIA 11 5 going on, the Central Action Committee of the National Front in Prague and its branches throughout the whole country , together with other government agencies, systematically en croach ed ever m o re d eeply on the rights of the Church . In 1949 , under various pretex ts , the regime suppressed several monasteries and convents, confiscated man y church buildings , and imprisoned a number of Catholic priests, both diocesan and religious , and Catholic laymen . Secret agents spied on all Catholic priests and members of religious orders and congregations . On the basis of h er research , Slavkovska - perhaps unwittingly - gives an interesting report on this matter. She states that this surveillance of the priests by the state agencies resulted in putting the priests into four categories: reliable to the regime (13.21 % ); those with a positive stand toward the regime , but not unequivocally (15.65 % ); apolitical (28 .65%); and unreliable (42.41 %). According to Slavkovska, the Communist agents worked with the reliable priests and tried to influence those in the second a nd third categories . The main part of the article is devoted to the so-called P eople's Catholic Action . Since the pontificate of Pius XI Catholic Action was an important m eans used by the Church to activate the faithful toward a deeper Christian life and to help priests bring Christian principles into family life and the whole of society . There was a well-organized Catholic Action in the Slovak dioceses and parishes under the supervision of the bishops and priests . In their effort to destroy the Church organization in Czechoslovakia, the Communist agencies attempted to alienate the priests from their bishops and the lay people from the uncompromising pries ts . Since Catholic Action was basically a laymen' s organization, the Communists con voked on June 10 , 1949 a meeting of n ominally Catholic lay people and several " reliable" priests in Pragu e. They establish ed their own '' P eople's Catholic A ct ion.' ' I ts purported aim was to promote moral life in the family , support constru ct ive efforts of the Czechoslovak governm ent , prevent the persecuti on of priests loyal to the re gim e by their bishops , a nd elimin ate all foreign interfe ren ce in the Church m a tters of Czechoslovakia. In this vein they issu ed a M a nifesto which was publi shed in all n ewspap ers and b roadcast on the state radio . An inten sive campa ign for the signin g of the M a nifesto was cond u cted throughout the whole country. The bishops of Czechoslovakia were still able secretl y 116 SLOVAKIA to meet and to issue a pastoral letter warning the people of the schismatic character of this spurious organization . On June 20, 1949, the Holy Office in Rome published a declaration by which all organizers and active members of the schismatic "Catholic Action" were automatically penalized with the highest ecclesiastical censure ( excommunication reserved in a special way to the Holy See). Despite the frantic efforts of the Communist regime to win supporters for this anti-Church campaign, the "Catholic Action" movement soon became a complete fiasco . It caused a great turmoil throughout the whole country and in Slovakia strikes in several factories and confrontations with the state police . The Communist government had to retreat. It even called on the maligned bishops to send a letter to the faithful to calm them down and exhort them to return to their work. Slavkovska describes in detail the organizational structure of the "Catholic Action" and various meetings of its organizers, but fails to mention that almost from the beginning it was only a paper organization doomed to an early demise. Still, the Communist government was not ready and willing to stop its efforts to subjugate the Church. With the failure of its ''Catholic Action" it took a new approach in this direction. It decided to legalize its attempts to enslave the Church . In a Communist country the parliament is a rubber-stamp assembly which can be counted on to pass all legislation unanimously put before it by the Communist Party. On October 14, 1949 , the Czechoslovak parliament enacted two laws which put the Church under the complete control of the state: Law No . 217/1949, which set up a State Agency for Ecclesiastical Affairs, and Law No. 218/1949 on the economic safeguarding of churches and religious bodies by the state. The State Agency for Ecclesiastical Affairs (and in Slovakia the Slovak Agency for Ecclesiastical Affairs) took control over all religious activities in the country. The second law gave the government all buildings of the churches and religious denominations and the exclusive right to grant ( or take away) licenses to clergymen for performing their ministry after they had taken an oath of loyalty to the government, and to pay them salaries according to their rank, seniority, and efficiency. The bishops first vehemently protested against this legalized enslavement of the Church. In the chaotic situation resulting from this new situation , they finally permitted their priests to take the prescribed oath with the mental reservation that they did not intend thereby to act against SLOVAKIA 117 the laws of God, the Church, and the legitimate ecclesiastical authorities. In that sense, several bishops in March and April of 1950 also took the oath of loyalty. In that year ( 1950) of crude pressure on and persecution of the Church, the Communists rapidly proceeded in their efforts completely to subjugate the Church . They imprisoned or interned on trumped-up charges, or without any charges, several bishops Uosef Beran, Stepan Trochta, Jan Vojtassak, Stanislav Zela, Stefan Barnas, Michal Buzalka, Pavel Gojdic, and Basil Hopko). In public trials in the national courts they condemned to long prison terms Bishops V ojtassak, Gojdic, Buzalka, and Zela. Several representatives of larger religious orders and prominent prelates of Czechoslovakia were also publicly tried and condemned during this reign of terror. Still others were imprisoned and tried secretly. In the same year all monasteries, convents, and houses of religious orders and congregations were suppressed, and their members were confined to concentration houses . The Greek Catholic diocese of Presov was fraudulently and forcibly taken over by Orthodox bishops .The legitimate bishops of the diocese, Pavel Gojdic and Basil Hopko, were imprisoned, and Greek Catholic priests, loyal to Rome, were dispersed throughout the country as manual workers. Meanwhile, the Communists intensively worked on priests who showed an inclination to collaborate with the regime. First they established the organization of so-called patriotic priests , which later changed its name to ''Peace Movement of the Catholic Priests .'' In the dioceses whose bishops were imprisoned they forced the elections of vicars capitular as heads of the dioceses. The remaining bishops were confined to their residences and were under the surveillance of government agents who controlled all the activities of ligitimate ordinaries. Priestcollaborators intruded into the administration of the dioceses as vicars general, chancellors, and similar high officials. Slavkovska hardly mentions these rude encroachments on the administration and the life of the Catholic Church in Slovakia. But she does try to justify all these cruel interferences of the Communist regime in the very structure of the Catholic Church and in the field of human rights of the Catholic clergy and people. In her evaluation, there was no persecution of the Church, only legitimate steps for eliminating political clericalism in Slovakia. She praises the anti-Church laws of 1949 because they granted adequate financial remuneration to the priests for 118 SLOVAKIA their work as state employees . Furthermore, she wantonly states that all these provisions were welcomed by the "lower clergy" and the Catholic people. Slavkovska does not realize, or does not want to admit, that the governmental mingling with the innermost Church affairs and the erection of the pro-Communist priestly organizations, established under government pressure and protected by it, brought about the grossest form of caesaropapism, incomparably more destructive to the Church than the purported political clericalism during the previous regimes. In her article Slavkovska does not go as far as to the late sixties, to the Dubcek era. As soon as the cruel pressure on the Church was lifted in 1968, the Catholics, led by their remaining bishops and priests loyal to the Church, publicly denounced the persecution of the past decades and demanded abolition of all the previous abuses against the Church. They were supported even by many high ranking Communists of that era (Ladislav Holdos, Daniel Okali, Erika Kadlecova, and others). They achieved the restoration of the Greek Catholic diocese of Presov, the only seemingly permanent correction of the anti-Church abuses of the early fifties. Unfortunately , the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August, 1968 , and Husak 's process of so-called normalization destroyed all other rights which the Church had regained during the short-lived period of the "Prague-Spring."  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 'Audi Alteram Partem': Eva Slavkovská, "Vzťah štátu k cirkvám v prvých rokoch výstavby socializmu na Slovensku" Description An account of the resource Theodoric J. Zubek Slovakia, Vol. 31 (No. 57), 1984 pp. 113-118 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Zúbek, Teodorik J., 1914-1988 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Historickvý časopis, XXX, 2 (1982), 223-49 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/ca239dfe1cfd991cb72da0195dcdcfc9.pdf 60aaabae305589df9f830910050d2d99 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 157 CONTRIBUTORS JAMES BORCHERT, Ph.D. (University of Maryland) , teaches American history at the Cleveland State University. He is the author of Alley Life in Washington: Family, Community, Religion, and Folklife in th e City, 1850-1970 ( 1980). SUSAN DANZIGER BORCHERT, Ph.D. (Ohio State University), teaches sociology at Lake Erie College in Painesville, Ohio. OWEN V. JOHNSON, Ph.D. (University of Michigan), currently teaches journalism at Indiana University . His book on Slovakia, 1918-1938: Educa tion and the Making of a Nation will be published by Columbia University Press in 1985. PA TRICIA ONDEK LAURENCE is a graduate of the State University of New York at Stoney Brook and teaches English at the City College of New York. She recently published "A Slovak Immigrant 's View of Work," in the literary journal MELUS (1983). NORMAL. RUDINSKY, a graduate of Stanford University, teaches English at Oregon State University. She has published many articles in literary journals and is the leading authority in the West on the Slovak writer Martin Kukucfn . CAROL TOWARNICKY is Lifestyle Columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News . A graduate of Ohio University, she has practiced journalism since 1967 and has written several short stories . PAUL WILKES, Writer-in-Residence at the University of Pittsburgh, is the author of six books and of the two television series Six American Families ( 1978) and M erton ( 1984 ). H e is currently writing a massive saga on Slovak immigration to America. THE REVEREND THEODORIC ZUBEK, O.F .M. , received his S.T.D. degree from the University ofFribourg in 1940 . H e has written The Church of Silence in Slovakia ( 1956) and is the leading expert in the West on churchstate relations in his homeland . �158 SLOVAKIA Guidelines for Manuscripts Manuscripts of articles for possible publication should be sent to the editor. Articles should normally not exceed twenty-five pages in length, and should be submitted in triplicate, typed double-spaced, with generous margins for copyediting. Footnotes should also be typed doublespaced, numbered, and placed at the end of the paper. Text and format should adhere to the style outlined in Kate Turabian 's A Manual for Writers. Proper orthography and diacritical marks must be supplied for all foreign words. Manuscripts will not be returned unless specifically requested and postage is provided. Books for review are to be sent to the editor. Individuals who wish to review books should send the editor a cop y of their curriculum vitae and an indication of their areas of ex pertise and interest. ��THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA Organized in 1907 at Cleveland , Ohio EDWARD J . BEHUNCIK, K.S.G. President JOHN A. HOLY Secretary-Treasurer Vice Presidents ANNE Z. SAROSY DANIEL F. TANZONE MICHAEL BUCKO Executive Committee Edward J . Behuncik, John A . Holy, Andrew F. Hudak, Jr., George N. Kantor Michael J . Krajsa, Anna S. Granchay, Cecelia Sarocky, Margaret Pilosi, Joseph R. Kristofik, John F. Pitek Joseph Stefka , Stephen J. Kavulich Slovak League of America Ladies' Auxiliary Anna M . Vizza , President Regional Vi ce-Presidents : George Lupjan - New York , New Jersey, New England States John Herman - Eastern Pennsylvania John Gastan - Western Pennsylvania George Chura - Ohio Joseph Fecik - Michigan Ivan Kralik - Illinois Bernadine Wandke - Wisconsin Matthew Zvada - California Joseph Ondis - Florida John Hvasta - Washington , D.C., Virginia Joseph Valencik Auditors: Dolores J . Soska Paul Brunovsky SLOVAK FRATERNAL ORGANIZATIONS /Affiliated with the Slovak League of America) FIRST CATHOLIC SLOVAK LADIES ASSOCIATION Cleveland , Ohio FIRST CATHOLIC SLOVAK UNION OF THE U.S. AND CANADA Cleveland, Ohio SLOVAK CATHOLIC SOKOL Passaic, N.J . NATIONAL SLOVAK SOCIETY OF THE U.S.A. Pittsburgh , Pa . LADIES PENNSYLVANIA SLOVAK CATHOLIC UNION Wilkes-Barre, Pa . PENNSYLVANIA SLOVAK CATHOLIC UNION Wilkes-Barre, Pa . FIRST SLOVAK WREATH OF THE FREE EAGLE Bridgeport, Conn. SLOVAK NEWSPAPERMEN ' S ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA Joseph C. Krajsa , K.S.G ., President SLOVAKIA $6.00 per annum Printed By JEDNOTA PRINTERY Middletown , Pennsylvania 17057 U.S.A. � SLOVAKIA 157 CONTRIBUTORS JAMES BORCHERT, Ph.D. (University of Maryland) , teaches American history at the Cleveland State University. He is the author of Alley Life in Washington: Family, Community, Religion, and Folklife in th e City, 1850-1970 ( 1980). SUSAN DANZIGER BORCHERT, Ph.D. (Ohio State University), teaches sociology at Lake Erie College in Painesville, Ohio. OWEN V. JOHNSON, Ph.D. (University of Michigan), currently teaches journalism at Indiana University . His book on Slovakia, 1918-1938: Educa tion and the Making of a Nation will be published by Columbia University Press in 1985. PA TRICIA ONDEK LAURENCE is a graduate of the State University of New York at Stoney Brook and teaches English at the City College of New York. She recently published "A Slovak Immigrant 's View of Work," in the literary journal MELUS (1983). NORMAL. RUDINSKY, a graduate of Stanford University, teaches English at Oregon State University. She has published many articles in literary journals and is the leading authority in the West on the Slovak writer Martin Kukucfn . CAROL TOWARNICKY is Lifestyle Columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News . A graduate of Ohio University, she has practiced journalism since 1967 and has written several short stories . PAUL WILKES, Writer-in-Residence at the University of Pittsburgh, is the author of six books and of the two television series Six American Families ( 1978) and M erton ( 1984 ). H e is currently writing a massive saga on Slovak immigration to America. THE REVEREND THEODORIC ZUBEK, O.F .M. , received his S.T.D. degree from the University ofFribourg in 1940 . H e has written The Church of Silence in Slovakia ( 1956) and is the leading expert in the West on churchstate relations in his homeland . �158 SLOVAKIA Guidelines for Manuscripts Manuscripts of articles for possible publication should be sent to the editor. Articles should normally not exceed twenty-five pages in length, and should be submitted in triplicate, typed double-spaced, with generous margins for copyediting. Footnotes should also be typed doublespaced, numbered, and placed at the end of the paper. Text and format should adhere to the style outlined in Kate Turabian 's A Manual for Writers. Proper orthography and diacritical marks must be supplied for all foreign words. Manuscripts will not be returned unless specifically requested and postage is provided. Books for review are to be sent to the editor. Individuals who wish to review books should send the editor a cop y of their curriculum vitae and an indication of their areas of ex pertise and interest. ��THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA Organized in 1907 at Cleveland , Ohio EDWARD J . BEHUNCIK, K.S.G. President JOHN A. HOLY Secretary-Treasurer Vice Presidents ANNE Z. SAROSY DANIEL F. TANZONE MICHAEL BUCKO Executive Committee Edward J . Behuncik, John A . Holy, Andrew F. Hudak, Jr., George N. Kantor Michael J . Krajsa, Anna S. Granchay, Cecelia Sarocky, Margaret Pilosi, Joseph R. Kristofik, John F. Pitek Joseph Stefka , Stephen J. Kavulich Slovak League of America Ladies' Auxiliary Anna M . Vizza , President Regional Vi ce-Presidents : George Lupjan - New York , New Jersey, New England States John Herman - Eastern Pennsylvania John Gastan - Western Pennsylvania George Chura - Ohio Joseph Fecik - Michigan Ivan Kralik - Illinois Bernadine Wandke - Wisconsin Matthew Zvada - California Joseph Ondis - Florida John Hvasta - Washington , D.C., Virginia Joseph Valencik Auditors: Dolores J . Soska Paul Brunovsky SLOVAK FRATERNAL ORGANIZATIONS /Affiliated with the Slovak League of America) FIRST CATHOLIC SLOVAK LADIES ASSOCIATION Cleveland , Ohio FIRST CATHOLIC SLOVAK UNION OF THE U.S. AND CANADA Cleveland, Ohio SLOVAK CATHOLIC SOKOL Passaic, N.J . NATIONAL SLOVAK SOCIETY OF THE U.S.A. Pittsburgh , Pa . LADIES PENNSYLVANIA SLOVAK CATHOLIC UNION Wilkes-Barre, Pa . PENNSYLVANIA SLOVAK CATHOLIC UNION Wilkes-Barre, Pa . FIRST SLOVAK WREATH OF THE FREE EAGLE Bridgeport, Conn. SLOVAK NEWSPAPERMEN ' S ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA Joseph C. Krajsa , K.S.G ., President SLOVAKIA $6.00 per annum Printed By JEDNOTA PRINTERY Middletown , Pennsylvania 17057 U.S.A. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1984, Vol. 31 Description An account of the resource Vol. 31 (No. 57), 1984. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 157 CONTRIBUTORS JAMES BORCHERT, Ph.D. (University of Maryland) , teaches American history at the Cleveland State University. He is the author of Alley Life in Washington: Family, Community, Religion, and Folklife in th e City, 1850-1970 ( 1980). SUSAN DANZIGER BORCHERT, Ph.D. (Ohio State University), teaches sociology at Lake Erie College in Painesville, Ohio. OWEN V. JOHNSON, Ph.D. (University of Michigan), currently teaches journalism at Indiana University . His book on Slovakia, 1918-1938: Educa tion and the Making of a Nation will be published by Columbia University Press in 1985. PA TRICIA ONDEK LAURENCE is a graduate of the State University of New York at Stoney Brook and teaches English at the City College of New York. She recently published "A Slovak Immigrant 's View of Work," in the literary journal MELUS (1983). NORMAL. RUDINSKY, a graduate of Stanford University, teaches English at Oregon State University. She has published many articles in literary journals and is the leading authority in the West on the Slovak writer Martin Kukucfn . CAROL TOWARNICKY is Lifestyle Columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News . A graduate of Ohio University, she has practiced journalism since 1967 and has written several short stories . PAUL WILKES, Writer-in-Residence at the University of Pittsburgh, is the author of six books and of the two television series Six American Families ( 1978) and M erton ( 1984 ). H e is currently writing a massive saga on Slovak immigration to America. THE REVEREND THEODORIC ZUBEK, O.F .M. , received his S.T.D. degree from the University ofFribourg in 1940 . H e has written The Church of Silence in Slovakia ( 1956) and is the leading expert in the West on churchstate relations in his homeland . 158 SLOVAKIA Guidelines for Manuscripts Manuscripts of articles for possible publication should be sent to the editor. Articles should normally not exceed twenty-five pages in length, and should be submitted in triplicate, typed double-spaced, with generous margins for copyediting. Footnotes should also be typed doublespaced, numbered, and placed at the end of the paper. Text and format should adhere to the style outlined in Kate Turabian 's A Manual for Writers. Proper orthography and diacritical marks must be supplied for all foreign words. Manuscripts will not be returned unless specifically requested and postage is provided. Books for review are to be sent to the editor. Individuals who wish to review books should send the editor a cop y of their curriculum vitae and an indication of their areas of ex pertise and interest. THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA Organized in 1907 at Cleveland , Ohio EDWARD J . BEHUNCIK, K.S.G. President JOHN A. HOLY Secretary-Treasurer Vice Presidents ANNE Z. SAROSY DANIEL F. TANZONE MICHAEL BUCKO Executive Committee Edward J . Behuncik, John A . Holy, Andrew F. Hudak, Jr., George N. Kantor Michael J . Krajsa, Anna S. Granchay, Cecelia Sarocky, Margaret Pilosi, Joseph R. Kristofik, John F. Pitek Joseph Stefka , Stephen J. Kavulich Slovak League of America Ladies' Auxiliary Anna M . Vizza , President Regional Vi ce-Presidents : George Lupjan - New York , New Jersey, New England States John Herman - Eastern Pennsylvania John Gastan - Western Pennsylvania George Chura - Ohio Joseph Fecik - Michigan Ivan Kralik - Illinois Bernadine Wandke - Wisconsin Matthew Zvada - California Joseph Ondis - Florida John Hvasta - Washington , D.C., Virginia Joseph Valencik Auditors: Dolores J . Soska Paul Brunovsky SLOVAK FRATERNAL ORGANIZATIONS /Affiliated with the Slovak League of America) FIRST CATHOLIC SLOVAK LADIES ASSOCIATION Cleveland , Ohio FIRST CATHOLIC SLOVAK UNION OF THE U.S. AND CANADA Cleveland, Ohio SLOVAK CATHOLIC SOKOL Passaic, N.J . NATIONAL SLOVAK SOCIETY OF THE U.S.A. Pittsburgh , Pa . LADIES PENNSYLVANIA SLOVAK CATHOLIC UNION Wilkes-Barre, Pa . PENNSYLVANIA SLOVAK CATHOLIC UNION Wilkes-Barre, Pa . FIRST SLOVAK WREATH OF THE FREE EAGLE Bridgeport, Conn. SLOVAK NEWSPAPERMEN ' S ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA Joseph C. Krajsa , K.S.G ., President SLOVAKIA $6.00 per annum Printed By JEDNOTA PRINTERY Middletown , Pennsylvania 17057 U.S.A.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Back Matter, Slovakia, Vol. 31 (No. 57) Description An account of the resource includes Contributors; Guidelines for Manuscripts Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984