The Czechoslovak Review/Volume 2/The Austrian Slavs and self-determination

THE AUSTRIAN SLAVS AND SELF-DETERMINATION

 

The German victory in Italy, followed by the betrayal of Russia and her Allies by the Bolshevik leaders, has freed the governments of Vienna and Budapest from all immediate military danger, and at once their spokesmen are beginning to revert from the fairspoken democratic phrases of the past nine months to the reactionary sentiments which come more naturally to them. Already the Joint Foreign Minister, Count Czernin, the Austrian Premier, Dr. von Seidler, and the Hungarian statesmen, Counts Tisza and Andrassy, have publicly repudiated the doctrine of self-determination as in any sense applicable to the Dual Monarchy. We shall have more to say when the full text of these speeches reaches us. In the meantime it is worth quoting the following communique issued as early as December 1st by the Czech, Southern Slav and Ukrainian Parliamentary Clubs at Vienna:

“The peace offer of the present Russian Government rests not only on the principle of No annexations or contributions’, but also on the principle of the right of self-determination of all nations—a fact suppressed by our government. We therefore point out that the basis upon which the Austrian Government, according to the Premier’s statement, is ready to enter into peace negotiations, stands on this essential point in direct conflict with the conditions of the peace manifesto of the present Russian Government to all belligerent peoples; for the offer preassumes guarantees for national self-determination, whereas the Austrian Premier’s statement, made in agreement with the Foreign Minister, seems by its silence directly to exclude this self-determination. In view of this conflict on the most important point in the offer of armistice, we find that the negotiations already begun cannot lead to peace, and we should have to hold the government fully responsible for this. From our standpoint we repeat that, in accordance with our declarations of May 30, 1917, we still adhere unreservedly to the demand of self-determination.”