on 18 March 1906 by Skyčák, Milan Hodža and A. Ráth. However, following a decision in April 1906, the party contested elections as part of the Slovak National Party until 1913 in order to prevent splitting the Slovak vote. However, their programmes were nearly identical; the SĽS called for strong democratization and included liberal reforms such as freedom of speech and universal suffrage. Despite the frequent electoral manipulations in Hungary at that time, the SĽS won six deputies. and the SNS won one deputy. out of the 415 deputies of the Hungarian Diet in the 1906 parliamentary elections. The Hungarian government immediately reacted by implementing increasingly repressive measures to suppress the national and political consciousness and awareness of Slovaks. In 1912, the SĽS refused to support the strong Czechoslovakist orientation of the SNS prevailing at that time, and made a similar declaration as in 1905, again without formal effects. On 19 July 1913, the SĽS became a separate political party with Hlinka as chairman and Ferdiš Juriga and Skyčák amongst its leadership. During World War I, the SĽS (just like the SNS) went into abeyance in order to prevent any possible pretext for accusations of activities against the Austro-Hungarian state. In 1918, Hlinka and Juriga staunchly supported the idea of a common Czechoslovak state and signed the Martin Declaration which rejected Hungarian jurisdiction and rule over Slovakia. The party participated in the creation of the Second Slovak National Council that existed from October 1918 to January 1919 and its leaders helped to consolidate the situation in Czechoslovakia during the first weeks of its existence. First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–38) After the establishment of Czechoslovakia, the SĽS renewed its activities on 19 December 1918 in Žilina. On 17 October 1925, it was renamed the Hlinka's Slovak People's Party (HSĽS) to distinguish it from the Czechoslovak People's Party. During the majority of the whole interwar period, the HSĽS was the most popular party in Slovakia and until 1938, was a standard part of the democratic political spectrum. The party operated mostly in opposition but not as a destructive power and remained loyal to Czechoslovakia. All of its programs had religious, national, social and constitutional values, its ideology was based on papal encyclicals Rerum novarum and Quadragesimo anno, and was oriented mostly towards its Catholic electorate. The party rejected economic liberalism and the theory of class struggle popular among socialists and communists, who were