The Czechoslovak Review/Volume 3/Masaryk's Peace Program

by Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk

Masaryk’s Peace Program

During his sojourn in Russia in 1917 President Masaryk wrote a book which has just been published in London under the title “The New Europe”. The manuscript was re-written by Mr. Masaryk during his stay in Washington and represents his views on the fundamental problems raised by the war, as he saw them in October 1918. In the last pages of the book—which has been printed for private circulation only—is found Masaryk’s peace program. We are happy to be able to re-print it.

 

(1) The Congress of Peace could convene at once, the war being morally and strategically finished—the nations become convinced that force shall not decide the fate of nations and humanity; even militaristic Prussia must confess that, non-militaristic nations are equal to it in bravery, in the spirit of sacrifice and even in military ability.

(2) The Congress of Peace should be composed of representatives of all belligerent nations, not merely of the governments. Admission should be granted to the representatives of all nations whose fate is being decided and who have a claim to self-determination.

(3) The antiquated and insincere diplomatic rule that states should not interfere in the internal affairs of other states should not apply in the coming peace congress; if democracy is truly humanitarian and if the strengthening of international feeling is not to be a mere phrase, then political boundaries must not be a shield to arbitrariness. This terrible war arose just because states have for such a long time avoided interference in the internal affairs of their neighbors.

(4) All secret agreements must be excluded.

(5) Theocratism must be abolished in all the states of Europe; the churches must be free, they must not be abused for political purposes. The American way of arranging the relations of the state and the church can serve as a suitable model.

(6) All states must abolish standing armies and employ for their defence in case of necessity a system of militia (abolishment of militarism).

(7) Navigation of the seas outside of territorial waters must be made free to all nations. Exceptions are made by international agreement. To landlocked nations access to the sec; must be secured by an international agreement; an ex-territorial harbour and duty free passage of goods will be granted at the nearest shore.

(8) Commerce is free; protection of industry and commerce against unfair competition must be regulated by international agreement.

The doctrine of the old liberalism demanding absolute freedom of trade is often exacted in a very abstract way and is deduced from conditions prevailing in western, civilized industrial Europe (principally England and France). Freedom of trade may be abused by the stronger to the subjugation of the weaker, just as war can; the subjugation may be even worse and more demoralizing. In that manner Austria—Hungary threatened Roumania and Serbia by a tariff war. Every country in the agricultural state endeavors to be come an industrial country and to be economically independent; industrialization implies the growth of a railroad system and of means of communication in general, and that again presupposes a certain degree of scientific education of the nation, practical and theoretical. Every country will want to protect itself against exploitation. From this wider cultural standpoint we must consider the watchword of free trade, and international commerce must be wisely and justly regulated for all nations by international agreement.

(9) The most difficult task of the Congress will be the just settlement of territorial questions. Owing to German aggressiveness and the Pan-german push towards the East the national questions are most acute in the East of Europe: Prussia, Austria-Hungary, the Balkans and Russia must be politically reorganized. The re-construction of the East is the primary aim of the war and of the peace. In the West there are no acute disturbing national questions: the nations of the West have thir states and well-established forms of government, they have their old civilization—France and Belgium will have to rebuild their destroyed cities and villages, to repair their factories and fields, but in the East new states, new forms of governments must be created and the foundation of civilized life must be laid down.

The territorial readjustment of Eastern Europe will, as a rule, be carried out according to the principle of nationality; but in each case due regard must also be paid to present economic conditions, and to historical peculiarities. The great complexity of the national problem makes each concrete national question a distinct political problem of its own.

(10) Belgium must be completely restored; Germany must make compensation for the losses caused by its perfidious attack and occupation.

(11) The non-German nations of Prussia, Germany, must be liberated. In the first place, Alsace-Lorraine; though the majority of the population is German, they desire to be united with France, or at least to break away from Germany. Alsace-Lorraine was annexed to Germany in 1871 against the will of the people, and has never become reconciled to the annexation; on that occasion the representatives of the Czech nation alone protested officially against this deed of violence. True, the German Socialists of those days had enough courage to protest also.

The Danes in Schleswig must be united with Denmark, the Poles in Prussian Silesia and in Posnania with Danzig must be united with their countrymen of Russia and Austria. Eastern Prussia will thus become a German enclave having direct connection with Prussia by the sea.

The Lusatians, should they so wish, may be joined to Bohemia, the Lithuanians of East Prussia (with i few Letts) would be attached to Lithuania. Czechs in Prussian Silesia will be exchanged for German territory of the Austrian Silesia. Prussia and Germany would in that way become united nationally, something that the Pangermans themselves desire; that is no injury to the German nation, for it would merely compel the Germans to limit themselves to their own national resources, and give up exploiting non-German nations.

I have not the least doubt that the Pangermans will reject with the greatest indignation such a solution of the Prussian question—to free the Lusatians? To have within cannon shot of Berlin a free Slav territory? Yes—that would be a victory of justice and Nemesis: if the Allies win, a solution of the Prussian question in a democratic and truly national sense is possible and necessary.

The Germans will object to leaving Danzig to the Poles; they already proposed to give the Poles a free acceess to Danzig. The Polish population reaches to the gates of Danzig and the sea shore; the forcible, in human Germanization of the Slavs justifies such German losses.^[1]

(12) The entire Polish nation, in Russia, Austria, and Prussia, must be united into an independent state. It will have the access to the seas through its own territory (Danzig).

(13) The Bohemian Lands (Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia) with the Slovaks of Northern Hungary must form an independent state. The boundaries of the Bohemian Lands are given, for the Bohemian state is by law independent the so-called German territory in Bohemia (Moravia and Silesia) has many Czech inhabitants, therefore, it is just that the renewed state keep it; it would be unjust and inhuman to sacrifice hundred thousands of Bohemians to the furor teutonicus; as late as 1861 the Germans in Bohemia were one with the Czechs in demanding the coronation of Francis Joseph as King of Bohemia—no doubt, after this war the Germans in Bohemia will abandon the national fury into which they have been driven by the brutal Pan German agitation. Many Germans themselves more than once protested against the Pangerman policy of severing North and West of Bohemia and trying to establish a new capital in one of the German towns.

Respecting the Magyar minority, it must be emphasized that there are no Magyars in Slovakia, only Magyar-speaking individuals; the Magyars closed the Slovak schools, suppresed the Slovak literature, and are trying by all means to denationalize the Slovaks. It is only just to stop this brutal, inhuman policy and to force the Magyars to rely on their own national forces.

It was reported, that the Hungarian Ukrainians (the Uhro-Rusins and the Carpatho-Russians) wish to be incorporated as an autonomous unit in the Czecho-Slovak state. And it was also proposed to connect Slovakia with Jugoslavia by a kind of a corridor starting at Presburg and stretching south along the boundaries of Lower Austria and Styria to the River Mura; this area takes in Hungarian territory, but is inhabted by Germans, not Magyars, with Croatian colonies and a Slovene minority.

(14) The Ukrainians (in Galicia, Bukovina, Hungary) will become a part of the Russian Ukraine.^[2]

(15) The Magyar nation forms an independent state.

(16) The Roumanians of Austria, Hungary, Russia, will be united with Roumanians.

(17) Jugoslavs form an independent federation, led politically by Serbia. Montenegro will decide, through its parliament, whether it any longer wishes to be independent or united with Serbia.

(18) Bulgaria will be recognized within its boundaries before the war; it may be given part of Turkish territory.

(19) Albania will remain free. It has been proposed that she may federate with Serbia or Greece or Italy—but that must be decided by the Albanians themselves. Albania cannot have a German ruler or any prince connected with Austria or Germany.

(20) Turkey must no longer be allowed to keep any territory in Europe, the Allies agreed on this point in their Note to President Wilson. Constantinople and the Dardanelles will probably be administered by a commission of the Allies; a definite disposition will be made as experiences of the new states will be acquired.

The Turkish movement, known as Neo-Turanian, a very close analogy of Prussan Pangermanism and Austrian Imperialism, deserves sharp condemnation; the Neo-Turanians appeal to the memory of Djengis-Khan. In every encyclopedia you will find that this barbarian imperialist put to death five million people, a horrible figure, but still smaller than the number of victims of the two Pangermans, William and Francis Joseph.

(21) The Greek question (or rather questions) require a careful consideration; it would not be unjust to restore Constantinople and the Dardanelles to Greece—to some degree it is a question of finances, a question whether Greece could afford the cost of maintenance. There are many Greek cities, and scattered territories in Asia Minor; they should be restored to Greece.

(22) Italy will receive the Italian territories of Austria; Trieste will proably be a free city and port.

Italy points to the fact that her eastern coast in the Adriatic, is, owing to its straight shores, in a great disadvantage as against the many excellent harbors of Istria and Dalmatia; this fact and the fact that there is a small Italian minority in Dalmatia are adduced as reasons for annexing a great part of Dalmatia and the islands. Dalmatia would be dangerous to Italy in the hands of Austria led by Germany; it will not be dangerous in the hands of Serbia and the Jugoslavs, because they have no navy and will not be rich enough to build up a dangerous navy; neither have they any aggressive plans. Trieste and Pola will suffice to secure for Italy the supremacy of the Adriatic; Italy’s right to these was conceded by Serbia (Pašiči’s London Declaration); the main problem that Italy will have to solve is and will be problem of population and finances. Italy very soon will out-distance France with regard to population; if Italy develops its industries and increases its wealth, it will exercise a decisive influence on the Adriatic and the Balkans through its economic strength The eventual closing of the Adriatic in the Straits of Otranto depends mainly upon the size and efficiency of the navy. The disposition of the occupied islands in the Aegean Sea must be made by agreement at the Conference.

(23) The German provinces of Austria will become an independent state; they will decide whether or no they will join the German federation.

(24) Russia will organize itself in accordance with the principle of the self-determination of nations into a federation of nations. In this federation there could in the west (outside of the Poles) be the Esthonians, Letts, and Lithuanians; the Ukraine will be an autonomous part of Russia—their attempt to be entirely independent could sufficiently convince the Ukrainians that separation from Russia will turn them into slaves of the Germans.

The various small nations of the Caucasus and of other parts of Russia and Russian Asia will enjoy national autonomy in accordance with their degree of education, national consciousness and number. The Prussian part of Lithuanians (with a few Letts) will be united to Lithuania. The Roumanian part of Bessarabia will be joined to Roumania. Finland may be independent, if it reaches an agreement to that effect with Russia.^[3]

(25) In the Far East of Asia political supremacy belongs to the cultural nations of the Mongolian race; Western Asia has in fact been a part of Europe and will be organized by the agreement of Russia, France, England and Italy. Russian Asia will remain united to Russia, English and French colonies will continue to be English and French; nations under European rule will be secured, in accordance with their cultural development and their number, national autonomy and participation in the government.

(26) Africa will remain substantially under the rule of England and France; Germany may receive back its western colony, Italy will agree with England and France as to the increase of the colonial domain.

(27) America (Northern, Central and Southern) will not permit Germany to establish autonomous German colonies.

(28) With regard to colonies, their administration must have regard for the needs of the native peoples and educate them and extend to them self-government gradually.

(29) The German colonies in Polynesia will be given to England and Holland.

(30) The Jews among all nations will enjoy the same rights as other citizens; their national and Zionistic aims will receive after the example of England all possible support.

(31) The Congress will adopt a law with international guarantees securing to national minorities cultural and administrative self-government.

(32) Ethnographic rectifications of state boundaries may, with the consent of the nations concerned, be carried out from time to time according to the growth of national consciousness and experience. The Congress must urge an exact census of the population according to nationality, for the existing statistics are very partial and insufficient.

(33) The Congress should provide leading principles for eugenic supervision, secured from the point of view of hygiene, of be of great importance after war in all the states; policy in regard to population will be of great impartance after war in all the countries. Alcoholism, for instance, must be suppressed internationally.

(34) To secure the execution of the principles and decisions reached by the Congress of Peace, the Congress will transform itself into an international tribunal, controlling the cultural development of nations and the organization of international reciprocity. (League of Nations).

The leading principle of all decisions must be the endeavor to facilitate the international organization of all nations of Europe, and to bring them nearer to the nations of Asia, Africa, and America. If necessary, some closer unions of nations can be formed.

The political innovations proposed in this theme are neither many nor surprising. They are in harmony with the development of nations and their just demand of political freedom and unification. De facto only two independent states would be new, the Polish and Czecho-Slovak; Bohemia and Poland are not new states, for they had been free, their freedom will be merely restored. Bohemia is legally independent, Austria and Hungary oppressed it by force. The other states will remain, some enlarged, some diminished, or their independence will be strengthened (Finland, Hungary). Of course, Austria-Hungary will be radically changed, and so will Russia and partly Prussia. It is just the transformation of Eastern Europe which furnishes the strongest proof that the world war will end far differently then Pangermanism expected.

But the New Man, homo Europaeus, will be the result not merely of external politics, but principally of internal. All nations will be obliged, after the war, to devote all their thought to material and spiritual rebirth. Mutual slaughter is not a great action, the belligerent nations will realize the greatness of this moment, they will create a new historical epoch if they rightly appreciate the horrors of this war, if they overcome the war and orientate themselves as to where and how further development should proceed, and if they decide for permanent peace and for humanity. Democracy must become the faith of all, a world view. In Prussia the Germans organized a forcible germanization of the Poles, and a philosopher was found (Ed. V. Hartmann) who declared in the name of the Prussian ideal the necessity to exterminate the Poles (“ausrotten”); in Hungary the Magyar oligarchy maintained itself by shooting Slovak, Serbian and Roumanian voters and by the suppression of their schools, literature and press; in Austria the Pangermans publicly plotted their schemes of forcibly germanising whole nations; Russian tsarism followed the German example; civilized Europe remained quiet and acquiesced in all these political atrocities, until this war revealed the danger, under which the nations of Eastern Europe were languishing for years and years . . .

The political task of the democratic reconstruction of Europe must be attained and actually made possible by a moral reeducation of the nations—either democracy or dynastic militarism, either Bismarckism or rational and honest politics, either force or humanity, either matter or spirit!

Prussian and Austrian politicians, the German and Austrian Emperors louder than others, emphasize the religious foundation of their policy and their states; but this religion is political religion. Prussia and Austria are survivals of the theocratic, mediaeval imperialism; democracy is the antithesis of theocracy.

Religion will not lose thereby the weight of the authority, on the contrary it will gain, if it is freed from the state and the arbitrary will of deified dynasties: What was right in the medieval theocracy—the idea of catholicity, universality, mankind as an organized whole—will not be lost by democracy. Democracy also hopes and works to the end that there may be one sheepfold and one shepherd.

Caesar or Jesus—that is the watchword of democratic Europe, not Berlin-Bagdad, if Caesar is conceived as Mommsen constructed him, seeing in him the ideal of Pangerman imperialism.

---

---

1. The entire independence of the Baltic nations has been proclaimed after the German occupation and the Russian revolution; but representatives of the Lithuanians ,for instance, proposed until lately federation with Russia. A close union of the Lithuanians with the Letts has been proposed to facilitate the independence of both peoples.
   The Armenians proclaimed their republic and joined the Allies in fighting the Turks and Germans; similar attempts have been tried by some of the small nations in Russia.
2. The terminology in the case of the Ukrainians is embarrassing. Ukraine, Ukrainians has been used of the part of the nation living in the south of Russia; in Austria the name Ruthenians or Rusins has been used. The whole nation is often called Little Russians, in distinction of the Great (and White) Russians.
   Not all Ukrainians claim to be a separate nation distinct from the Russians ;in Austria and Hungary there has been a political party professing the national unity with the Russians and calling themselves Russians (vide the mentioned Carpatho-Russians).
3. The German professor Schaeffer in his ethnographical map (1916) gives the following statistics of non-German nations in Germany—Prussia; Poles, 3,746,000; French, 216,000; Danes, 147,000; Lithuanians, 106,000. These figures are estimated to be too low; Schaefer’s map conceals the fact that there are Lusatians and Czechs in Prussia. Some ethnographers, even Slavs, declare the Kashubs are a nation distinct from the Poles, and the Lusatians also are divided in two branches. A more detailed ethnographic exposition is here unnecessary. (There are in Prussia, just as in the Austrian Bukovina, Russian colonies, etc., but these questions are without political significance.)