Shortly after the beginning of the war the Hungarian authorities
suppressed the Slovak press almost in its entirety. Thus the Slovaks
came to depend upon the Czech newspapers of Bohemia for their political
and other information. On May 5 the Hungarian Government issued an
order forbidding Czech newspapers from Bohemia and Moravia to circulate
in Slovakia.
The whole Czech and Slovak population, indeed, was seething
with hostility to the Imperial Government and its war policies.
Prague, the capital of Bohemia, had become a centre for leaders of
the Czecho-Slovaks, Jugoslavs, and Poles in their agitation for
independence. Demonstrations of an anti-German character became
frequent, and Czechs and Jugoslavs paraded the streets shouting "Long
live Wilson, Clemenceau, and Lloyd George!" The manifestations against
the Austrian State began afresh on the evening of May 17, when the
police made arrests, and culminated on May 20, when the Government
declared Prague under martial law. All political meetings were
prohibited, and the police issued a proclamation announcing that any
further disorders would be met with violent measures.
One of the events that had aroused popular hostility was the
suppression of the Czech newspaper Narodni Listi. The last copy of
this paper contained the text of the oath taken at Prague by the
Czecho-Slovak, Jugoslav, and Polish journalists, as follows:
Gathered at Prague while the world war has made necessary a new
reorganization of the world on the basis of a higher authority
given to the people, we proclaim that we shall remain in the front
line of battle for the freedom of peoples, that we shall fight
together in favor of each other's interests, that we shall repulse
together any despotic measure, and that we shall denounce together
the oppression of the Austrian State.
We want to promote together the confidence of our people in the
achievement of their aspirations, to encourage them to express
their will more positively.
We raise our right hand and solemnly swear that we shall give
all that we own, all our strength, all our possessions, for the
liberation of our people and for the achievement of the political
unity of the Czecho-Slovak people, the political unity of the
Jugoslavs, and the political unity of the Polish people.