The article focuses on a circle of fi ve friends and classmates from the state-run gimnazija in Maribor in the early 20th century, their activities, political paths and fates, as well as their embeddedness in the dynamic period before the dissolution of the monarchy and the emergence of the new state and, subsequently, in the inter-war period. This circle of friends included Franjo Pahernik, a forestry engineer and landowner from Vuhred, Franc Mravljak, a teacher of classical languages and headmaster of gimnazija in Celje, Lovro Petovar, a landowner and economist from Ivanjkovci, Ivan Prekoršek, a politician and general manager of the state hospital in Celje, and Miloš Štibler, a cooperative member and journalist. The paper highlights their joint operation in the National Radical Secondary-School Students, in the Sts. Cyril and Methodius’ Society, in the National Council, in the bourgeois liberal parties, ranging from the National Party of Styria (NSŠ) to the state-wide Yugoslav National Party (JNS), etc.