The Marxist Left in Slovakia and the Transcarpathian Ukraine () was a political organisation in eastern parts of the

First Czechoslovak Republic The First Czechoslovak Republic, often colloquially referred to as the First Republic, was the first Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovak state that existed from 1918 to 1938, a union of ethnic Czechs and Slovaks. The country was commonly called Czechosl ...

. It was one of the forerunners of the

Communist Party of Czechoslovakia The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( Czech and Slovak: ''Komunistická strana Československa'', KSČ) was a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. It was a member of the Com ...

. After the defeat of the

Hungarian Soviet Republic The Hungarian Soviet Republic, also known as the Socialist Federative Soviet Republic of Hungary was a short-lived communist state that existed from 21 March 1919 to 1 August 1919 (133 days), succeeding the First Hungarian Republic. The Hungari ...

, many revolutionary refugees arrived in Czechoslovakia and intermingled with the local political movements. The emergence of the Marxist Left originated in a split in the Slovak Social Democratic Party in 1920, among sections dissatisfied with the counterrevolutionary line of the Czechoslovak Social Democratic Workers Party towards the

. A communist split was also brewing in the

Hungarian-German Social Democratic Party The Hungarian-German Social Democratic Party (, ) was a social democratic political party in Slovakia (part of Czechoslovakia at the time). It was founded in 1919 by social democrats from ethnic minority communities. The party had a German and a H ...

. During the 1920 election campaign, the Hungarian-German social democrats in the Košice 20th electoral district ran a distinctively pro-communist campaign. The pro-communist forces gathered a majority at the September 1920 party congress of the Hungarian-German Social Democratic Party, declaring the Bratislava reformist leadership expelled.Duin, Pieter van.
Central European Crossroads: Social Democracy and National Revolution in Bratislava (Pressburg), 1867-1921
'. New York: Berghahn Books, 2009. pp. 367, 371. In the region of

Subcarpathian Rus' Transcarpathia (, ) is a historical region on the border between Central and Eastern Europe, mostly located in western Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast. From the Hungarian Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin, conquest of the Carpathian Basin ...

, the

International Socialist Party of Subcarpathian Rus' The International Socialist Party of Subcarpathian Rus' () was a political party in Subcarpathian Rus', eastern Czechoslovakia. The party was formed in March 1920, by supporters of the now defeated Hungarian Soviet Republic and prisoners of war ha ...

had emerged among supporters of the Hungarian Soviet Republic and returned prisoners of war from

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

The Marxist Left in Slovakia and the Transcarpathian Ukraine held its founding congress at the Kollár House in Ľubochňa on January 16, 1921. The founding congress had then been delayed for about two months, due to the December events.Institute of Marxism-Leninism of the CPCz CC, Institute of Marxism-Leninism of the CPS CC. ''An Outline of the History of the CPCz''.

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

: Orbis Press Agency, 1980. p. 99. The founding congress reportedly had 149 delegates (according to another account, 153), representing the different nationalities of

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

and the

. Reportedly 88 delegates were Slovaks (or 92, according to the other account), 36 Magyars, 15 Germans, 6 Ukrainians and 4 Jews (from

Poale Zion Poale Zion (, also romanized ''Poalei Tziyon'' or ''Poaley Syjon'', meaning "Workers of Zion") was a movement of Marxist–Zionist Jewish workers founded in various cities of Poland, Europe and the Russian Empire at about the turn of the 20th c ...

). Invited guests from the

Czech Lands The Czech lands or the Bohemian lands (, ) is a historical-geographical term which denotes the three historical regions of Bohemia, Moravia, and Czech Silesia out of which Czechoslovakia, and later the Czech Republic and Slovakia, were formed. ...

also participated in the proceedings. The congress approved a resolution on party organization elaborated by the Magyar section. The congress endorsed the

twenty-one conditions The Twenty-one Conditions, officially the Conditions of Admission to the Communist International, are the conditions, most of which were suggested by Vladimir Lenin, to the adhesion of the socialist parties to the Third International (Comintern) cr ...

of the

Communist International The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internationa ...

, with the exception of the 17th condition (which called on all sections of the International to adopt the name 'Communist Party'). The Ľubochňa congress was of the opinion that the name of the all-Czechoslovak party to be formed had to be decided at a national founding party congress of the new party. The proceedings of the Ľubochňa congress was broken up by the Gendarmerie. Some of the delegates secretly met the following day, January 17, at

Ružomberok Ružomberok (; ; ; ) is a town in northern Slovakia, in the historical Liptov region. It has a population of approximately 27,000. Etymology The name of the initial settlement located on today's Makovický street was ''Revúca'' ( Slovak "roaring ...

. The meeting adopted a programme of action and approved four central press organs of the party; ''Pravda chudoby'', ''Hlas ľudu'', ''Kassai Munkás'' and ''Volksstimme''. The Ružomberok meeting set up a Regional Action Committee, to be seated in Ružomberok. Under the Regional Action Committee, the Ružomberok meeting set up five District Executive Committees. One of the District Executive Committees, based in

Užhorod Uzhhorod (, ; , ; , ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality on the Uzh, Uzh River in western Ukraine, at the border with Slovakia and near the border with Hungary. The city is approximately equidistan ...

, was in-charge of the party activities in the Transcarpathian Ukraine. The Marxist Left in Slovakia and the Transcarpathian Ukraine sent 56 delegates to the May 14–16 founding conference of the

Leaders

The

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

ist Ivan Prechtl was a prominent labour leader of the party, and had participated in its founding.Lane, A. Thomas.
Biographical Dictionary of European Labor Leaders 2. M – Z.
'

Westport, Connecticut Westport is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. Located in the Gold Coast (Connecticut), Gold Coast along the Long Island Sound, it is northeast of New York City and is part of the Western Connecticut Planning Region, Connec ...

: Greenwood Press, 1995. p. 777.

References

{{reflist Political parties established in 1921 Communist parties in Czechoslovakia