Slovak politics spent the war years quiet: the Slovak National Party had declared its loyalty to the monarchy in August 1914 so that the government would have no excuse to dissolve it, and censorship did the rest. Then, on 24 May 1918, the party's leadership met privately in Martin to decide what to ask for when the war ended. Three drafts were on the table — Vavro Šrobár's, Emil Stodola's and Milan Hodža's — and only Šrobár's spoke of a common state with the Czechs. After Andrej Hlinka pressed them, the meeting came down for the Czechoslovak option, still without saying so in public. Five months later the same men said it out loud in the same town.Slovenská politika bola cez vojnu ticho: Slovenská národná strana v auguste 1914 vyhlásila lojalitu monarchii, aby vláda nemala zámienku ju rozpustiť, a o zvyšok sa postarala cenzúra. 24. mája 1918 sa však vedenie strany zišlo v Martine na dôvernej porade, aby sa dohodlo, čo bude žiadať po vojne. Na stole boli tri návrhy — Vavra Šrobára, Emila Stodolu a Milana Hodžu — a iba Šrobárov hovoril o spoločnom štáte s Čechmi. Po naliehaní Andreja Hlinku sa porada priklonila k česko-slovenskej ceste, zatiaľ bez verejného vyhlásenia. O päť mesiacov to tí istí ľudia v tom istom meste povedali nahlas.
