The Czechoslovak Review/Volume 2/The Secret of Czechoslovak Success

The Secret of Czechoslovak Success.

Many oppressed races of Europe raise their voices today, reciting their grievances and demanding the right to live their own life. The Czechoslovaks are but one of a dozen nations, similarly situated, ground down under the heel of German war machines, appealing to the Allies not to forget them, when the day of final reckoning comes. But none of the races inhabiting that peculiar zone of small nations, stretching from the Baltic to the Mediterranean Sea between the great nations on the west and the immense territory of Russia, has so well succeeded in arresting the attention of the world and winning its sympathy as the ten-million nation of the Czechoslovaks.

The very word “Czechoslovak” was known before the war to a few scholars only. Many had heard of Bohemians, and in the United States especially, where so many of the Bohemian emigrants had made their home, they were rather extensively and on the whole favorably known; but few people realized that this race called itself Czechs and that the Slovaks were a branch of the same race. Today everyone, the man in the street, as well as the journalist and statesman, admire the Czechoslovaks, and the governments of the League of Nations, opposed to the Central Powers, have committed themselves definitely to the policy of resurrecting the ancient state of Bohemia. Every one who has Czech blood in his veins is full of pride, when he sees the great statesmen of the Entente and the leaders of public opinion refer to his people as “those gallant Czechoslovaks” or “the brave Czechs”, or when he reads that on Bastile day in Paris the groups lining the streets cheered especially the American and the Czechoslovak troops.

What are the reasons that brought the Czechoslovaks into such an honorable place among the oppressed nations of Central and Eastern Europe? For one thing it is their excellent organization and discipline. These qualities appear equally in the great move ment that has been carried on among emigrants of their race in all parts of the world and in the attitude adopted by the people in the home lands. Take the matter of their organization in the United States. They have achieved here a complete unity and wonderful efficiency, while at the same time allowing full autonomy to certain sections that would have made harmony difficult in a strictly centralized organization. People of Czechoslovak descent in the United States, whether naturalized or not, have grouped themselves for the purpose of supporting the movement for Bohemia’s independence in two large bodies, each representing one branch of the old stock. There is the Bohemian National Alliance, which grew up almost spontaneously in the very first days of the war out of the instinctive feeling of the Czech immigrant that the Great War constituted a unique opportunity, which might never come again, to free the land of their fathers from the domination of the Germans. Today that organization numbers some 350 branches, and while its original purpose still remains its raison d’etre, it has also helped to line up the great body of Bohemian immigrants for loyal participation in the war on the side of their adopted country. The Slovak League, which was brought into being before the war, has done the same thing for the Slovak immigrants in the United States. And since among the Bohemians there had been for years a sharp difference between the Catholics and the non-Catholics, the Bohemian National Alliance, in the formation of which the Catholics had a very small part, allowed their Catholic brethren full internal autonomy, when they came later and asked to have a share in the work. And for more than three years these two principal organizations have reached every man and woman of their race in the United States. Before America entered into the war. they fought the German propaganda carried on with some measure of success among the less advanced immigrants from Austria-Hungary, though not the slightest impression had ever been made by the lavish expenditure of Austrian corruption funds upon the Czechoslovaks themselves. Since America has taken its rightful share in the great struggle, these bodies have seen to it that their people enlisted in the American army, bought Liberty Bonds and in general helped the war activities of the Government bv producing more and spending less. But all along the great emotional force at the back of this unusual organization was the burning desire in the heart of all these people that the Czechoslovak nation, which at one time played an honorable part in the history of Europe, had its share in defeating the German war machine and took once more its place in the great family of nations.

It was this enthusiasm, which gathered in hundreds of thousands of dollars for the support of the Czechoslovak independence campaign, which fired so many young men, technically subjects of Austria, to join the American Army in the spring of 1917, and which now induces elderly men to leave their families to go to France that they might fight in the ranks of the Czechoslovak Army against their ancient enemy. For internal organization purposes there are thus two distinct bodies, one of them with an autonomous subdivision; but as against the public opinion of America and the world the two organizations constitute mreely a branch of the supreme organ of the Czechoslovak revolutionary movement, namely the Czechoslovak National Council. Here we come to the second reason which accounts for much of the Czechoslovak success, and without which their thoroughly efficient organization would have been impossible. It is their splendid leadership which has brought to the fore the right men, both in America and in the other settlements of the Czechoslovaks, and which best of all is exemplified in the Czechoslovak National Council of Paris. It is said that great times always call forth great men, and the saying is certainly true is this great period of Bohemia’s history. The great leader of the Bohemian revolution, which began in 1914, is Masaryk, his age, his public career, his learning and wisdom, his high idealism, and at the same time his constant contact with realities, and the complete confidence with which all his countrymen had always looked upon him, had singled him out for the commander of the Czechoslovaks. Backed by a mandate from all the Czech deputies, he escaped from Austria a few months after the outbreak of the war and after establishing contact with the scattered emigrants of his race he planned the great campaign of convincing the enemies of Germany that in Bohemia they had an ally deserving of their trust and help. Today it is hardly necessary to say more of Masaryk, for he is as well known to the world as are the great statesmen of the Allied countries. But it is well to emphasize the fact that his leadership made the problem of organization and discipline in the revolutionary movement a simple affair. He stood out so high among his co-workers that there never could have arisen the slightest feeling of jealousy or rivalry. He is more than the leader; he is the universally acknowledged dictator.

Masaryk was fortunate in finding a number of very able co-workers. Dr. Milan R. Štefanik, vice-president of the Czechoslovak National Council, is the diplomat of the movement. A Slovak by birth he became a naturalized French citizen and gained a great name for himself in the scientific world as an astronomer. The outbreak of the war found him answering the call to arms. Entering the French Army as a private, he became soon an officer and a daring aviator. He flew along the entire Austro-Italian front, scattering proclamations calling on the Slovak soldiers not to fight against Italy, their friend. He was wounded on the Saloniki front and on the Western front. He was then given leave from active duty in the army. He devoted his time to the organization of Czechoslovak prisoners of war in France and Italy into a fighting army. The regiments that are now in the thick of the fight both on the French and Italian fronts owe their existence principally to him, and he also started the recruiting campaign for the Czechoslovak Army in the United States.

Dr. Edward Beneš, general secretary of the Council, has also shown remarkable diplomatic talents. It was due to him principally that the Allied answer to President Wilson in January, 1917, the first great success of the revolutionary movement, included a specific promise by the Allies to liberate the Czechoslovaks from foreign domination. Beneš and Štefanik secured the consent of the French and Italian Governments for the creation of the Czechoslovak National Army; it was their ceaseless work and their great ability which won from these two governments the full recognition of the Council as the supreme representative of Independent Bohemia.

While the Czechoslovak settlements all over the world organized and placed themselves at the disposal of the Paris Council, the people in the old country likewise put aside all that divided them before the war and ranged themselves unanimously in a most determined opposition to the Austrian government. Until the spring of 1917 the police rule in Bohemia was so severe that all political life was for the time being stifled. The Parliament was not called together, public meetings were prohibited, the leading deputies were in jail, newspapers were suppressed and those that remained had to publish what the military censor ordered, and there was the quiet of the grave all through the Czech lands. But if the Bohemians were not permitted to speak what was in their minds, they could not be made to say what would be pleasing to Austria. The most cruel persecutions, culminating in thousands of executions, could not extort from the Czech people or from their representatives a single declaration of loyalty to the Empire or to the cause of the Central Powers. The pressure brought to bear upon the parliamentary delegates and upon the city councils of Bohemia and Moravia was tremendous, but not a single deputy, not a single corporation, would join in the enthusiastic declarations of the Austro-Germans, nor would the people celebrate German victories. When, after the death of Francis Joseph and the revolution in Russia the reign of terror in Austria relaxed, the whole Czech nation was seen to be united against Austria and for the Czechoslovak independence. Political and religious differences were put aside and all the Czech deputies acted as one body. By solemn declarations in the Vienna Parliament, by popular demonstrations in Prague and other cities, by manifestos of authors, scholars, chambers of commerce, by resolutions of cities and villages and district councils, they made it plain that they were through with the Hapsburgs, that they would dare all for the sake of independence and that they were looking to the Allies for assistance.

The Czech nation, formerly broken into many quarreling parties, is absolutely united, standing as one man on the platform first given out by Masaryk in 1915 in the Bohemian Declaration of Independence.

But after all, in time of war more is demanded than solemn declarations and noble aspirations. He who deserves liberty must fight for it and must be ready to die for it. The Czechoslovaks have proved that they were worthy of liberty by raising armies to fight for it. But how could they fight, since they formed a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, being in the very center of Central Europe, as it were in the very deepest cell of the Pan-German jail? To fight in Bohemia would have meant a useless slaughter. The Czechs were willing to die, but not willing to throw away their lives uselessly. So the regiments surrendered to the Russians, to the Serbians and to the Italians, as soon as the work of the Czechoslovak National Council prepared the ground for it in the cabinets of the Allied Powers. They were organized into Czechoslovak forces to fight against their tyrants. In Russia their fortunes culminated into the most striking episode of the entire war. While the great Slav nation of Russia became utterly disorganized and fell a helpless prey to the German robbers, the Slavs of Bohemia and Slovakia scattered as prisoners of war through millions of square miles of territory managed to come together, secure arms, establish firm discipline, and may yet prove to be the salvation of Russia from German penetration.

Is there anyone today who can doubt the ability of the Czechoslovaks to govern themselves? Can anyone claim that they have not earned the right to complete independence? The past four years have proved that the nation which 500 years ago first raised the standard of liberty and democracy is still fired by a pasison for liberty and that it possesses in an abundant measure the sense of discipline and political maturity which an independent nation ought to have. Just as firmly as we believe in the final and complete victory of the Allies, so surely we are convinced that the Czechoslovaks will obtain that boon which is the highest possession of a people—political independence.

 

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The political status of the Czechoslovak revolutionary movement is now as follows:

France and Italy have recognized the Czechoslovak National Council as the supreme representative of the future Bohemian government, while England has recognized the Council as the supreme organ of the Czechoslovak movement in the Allied countries. All three of these Powers have recognized the Czechoslovak Army as a district part of the Allied forces. The United States Government is committed to the complete liberation of the Czechoslovaks and other Slavs from German and Austrian rule, but has not as yet extended recognition to the Czechoslovak National Council.

 

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In the name of our national honor, in the name of all that is most holy to us as Czechoslovaks, we swear that we will fight alongside of our Allies against all our enemies up to the time, when the Czechoslovak lands shall be united into an independent and completely free Czechoslovak State, and until our nation in its homeland shall be free to dispose of its own fortunes. From the oath of the Czechoslovak Army.