Omladina Trial

In what was Austria-Hungary or the old Habsburg imperial lands, Bohemian rebels and their associates began to factionalize and represent many different political sects of the distinct, multi-ethnic nation emphasizing those enlightenment philosophies.

Furthermore, Jan Neruda brought his radicalist ideas as a spokesperson of the Young Czech Party from his days working at Národní listy, a successful, progressive newspaper of the mid-19th century.

[5] As Bohemian (Czech) radicalism reached its climax, many within the Central European region attached themselves to this growing ideology that sought to progressively incorporated all citizens into a political environment.

[6] Using periodicals and reformist newspapers, the educated, middle class liberals and radicals trumpeted their support for a sovereign parliament, freedom of the press and assembly, and implored vigorously for the protection of workers.

[7] Cooperation between these students and laborers in the movement flourished at unprecedented levels and progressive journals such as Omladina, Rozhledy, and Javnost began to call for workers reform incessantly.

Not surprisingly, the government and its church affiliates deemed Omladina and such reformist groups as illegal, imprisoned many protestors and editors, and even arrested students possessing progressive literature.

[8] The National Liberal Party began to develop a small backing in the Austrian-Hungarian Parliament; Young Czechs had an avenue for vocal opposition.

[9] They began to aggressively demand for universal suffrage due to their relationship with the workers but also acknowledged the fact that such legislation or change would bring the NLP thousands of adherents, including the working class.

June 18, 1893, saw a crowd of 30,000 while on May 15 (St. John's Day), a group of students draped a huge noose around a statue of Emperor Franz I. the straw that broke the camel's back occurred on December 23, 1893.

His hardline approach and the newly drawn Reichsrat (lower house of Cisleithanian parliament) voted 185 to 73 to uphold a state of emergency in Fürst von Thun's Bohemia.

Contemporary illustration of the Omladina trial
Alphonse Mucha 's The Slav Epic cycle No.18: The Oath of Omladina under the Slavic Linden Tree: The Slavic Revival (1926)
Svetozar Marković
Alois Rašín