Abstract
This article studies the controversy surrounding the revision of the election rule in the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Prague between Germany and Czech in 1883-84. Its aim is to position this controversy as a turning point in national relations in Prague, especially the formation of the modern Czech nation. The following two points are clarified. First, both industrialization and national tensions were the root of this controversy. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the Habsburg monarchy was one of the electoral bodies from which members of the Imperial Diet and state legislature were elected. Therefore the Czech demand to be given a larger say in the chamber not only reflected the socio-economic development of Czech, but also connoted the national interests that were directly related to the empire's politics. Second, the empire's government valued cooperation with Czech. While Germany refused the revision for reasons of autonomous rights of the chamber, the government ordered a reform and finally reached a solution in which the Czech demand was accepted. This indicates that Czech had developed enough to compete with Germany, and national relations within the monarchy reached a new level in which nations were on a more equal standing.
