The Young Czechs opposed the Old Czech alliance with the Bohemian nobility on principle due to the nobility's opposition of all democratic and anticlerical measures supported by the Party. Furthermore, the Party did not feel that the landowning nobility had the interests of ordinary Czech citizens in mind. The Young Czechs sought to advance the political and economic welfare of the peasants. Moving speeches and publications were made to remind the Czechs of the peasant's contribution to the preservation of their maternal language. This coincided with the party's nationalist outlook. The Young Czechs wished to realize Czech autonomy on the basis of historical and natural rights of the people. The Party also wished to institute universal manhood suffrage and civil liberties as part of their state rights program. More avidly anticlerical and anti-authoritarian than the Old Czechs, the Young Czechs sought to rid themselves of the Catholic Church’s influence and also supported Polish independence from authoritarian Russia. They advocated active and liberal politics and thus, favored a multiparty system as opposed to the one National Party under Palacký and Rieger.