Commemorative plaque to the First Socialist Workers' Association in Slovakia

Three commemorative plaques are mounted at ground floor level on the façade of the building at 36 Dunajská Street: Federation of Workers' Physical Education Units, Constituent Congress of Young Communist Workers, and the Napred (Forward) Association.   

The building was constructed in the 1920s on the site of an older property that had been the quarters of the Napred – Vorwärts – Előre association, the first socialist workers' and educational organisation in Slovakia, between 1902 and 1918. Founded in 1869, it was based in Bratislava and its members were small-scale craftsmen, journeymen, and tradesmen. The association conducted its business in German and, to a lesser extent, Hungarian. From 1890, Karol Hanzlíček served as its chairman and organised Bratislava’s first workers' May Day parade at Železná Studnička, as well as others in Ovsište in 1891, the hall of the municipal brewery in 1892, and Slamená Búda in Koliba in 1893. These locations also feature memorials related to the theme of May Day celebrations.  

The association is commemorated by a memorial plaque by the sculptor V. Baďura situated to the west of the pedestrian entrance. The rectangular plaque, oriented vertically within a recessed profiled frame, has two sections. The upper part features a bronze medallion, probably the emblem of the association, which depicts an ornamentation of leaves around joined hands holding a hammer. The lower part bears the text: 

THIS HOUSE WAS HOME TO  

THE FIRST SOCIALIST 

WORKERS' ASSOCIATION 

IN SLOVAKIA – 

NAPRED – VORWÄRTS – ELŐRE 

FROM 1902 TO 1918

ZZ

Research status as of 15. 11. 2023.


Authorship


Years

  • 1970 – implementation

Type

Material

stone, marble, bronze

Technique

carving, casting

Dimensions

130 x 70 x 4 cm

Inscription

none

Condition

  • preserved, not maintained
Minor damage, weathering, dirt.

Registration

  • The building is National Cultural Monument number 271/1 in the Central List of Monuments of the Monuments Board of the Slovak Republic.
  • Located in Monument Zone Central Urban Area, Bratislava.

Owner

  • Bratislava Self-Governing Region

Administrator

  • Bratislava Self-Governing Region

Address

36 Dunajská Street

Location details

on the façade of the building

Plot number

8838

GPS

48.1452830, 17.1179590

Other works in the area

Commemorative plaque to the Federation of Workers' Physical Education Units

Vladimír Farár 1962 – 1965

Commemorative plaque to the Constituent Congress of the Union of Young Communist Workers of Slovakia

Ladislav Snopek 1956

Július Satinský Listens to the Sounds of Dunajská Street

Svetozár Ilavský 2006

Ear

Svetozár Ilavský 2006