After the fall of Metternich's absolutism in the Revolution of 1848, there appeared on the scene a young generation preoccupied with urban life and contemporary social problems, and determined to reintroduce Czech as a literary language.
Politically they promoted the cause of liberty, democracy, and social justice, fighting the reactionary Bach government and making efforts to improve the status of the Czech nation within the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Named Máj ("May") after Mácha's great poem, it included contributions by Jan Neruda and Vítězslav Hálek, as well as Adolf Heyduk, Rudolf Mayer, Karolina Světlá, Jakub Arbes, Karel Sabina, Josef Václav Frič and Gustav Pfleger Moravský.
Their efforts were to a great extent responsible for bringing Czech literature into the European mainstream.
Newspapers and magazines associated with the Májovci include Národní listy, Čas, Lumír, and Květy.