Pride in Production: The Jubilee Exhibition of 1891 and Economic Competition between Czechs and Germans in Bohemia

Abstract

Adistinctive Feature of nineteenth-century Czech nationalism was its consistent promotion of Czech business and economic interests. Since the 1850s, Czech national leaders had argued that economic prosperity was a prerequisite for eventual political power and provincial autonomy within the Habsburg monarchy. They demanded equality for Czechs and for the Czech language not just in schools, courts, and the bureaucracy, but also in the business world, and they gradually established a wide network of cooperatives and voluntary associations to support Czech business.