Hnutí za samosprávnou demokracii – Společnost pro Moravu a Slezsko v počátcích formování českého stranického systému
Movement for Autonomous Democracy – Association for Moravia and Silesia in the Early Stages of the Formation of the Czech Party System

Summary/Abstract: This article analyzes the origin and development of the Movement for Autonomous Democracy – Association for Moravia and Silesia (HSD-SMS) in the early stages of the formation of the Czech political system. The article covers the period of Boleslav Bárta’s chairmanship. Bárta founded and defined HSD-SMS as a non-partisan political movement of all democratic Moravians and Silesians. HSD-SMS achieved surprising success in the first free parliamentary elections held in June 1990 (10 % of the total vote for the Czech National Council). However, the following events revealed the inability of HSD-SMS to become a stable part of the Czech political system. The movement had to cope with internal problems and its own unsuccessful parliamentary policy. HSD-SMS did not manage to push through any of their policy goals in the area of territorial and administrative reorganization of the state. The sudden death of the leader Boleslav Bárta accelerated the movement’s decline. In addition, HSD-SMS lacked the attributes of modern political parties.

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