The Czechoslovak Review/Volume 3/What We Have Accomplished

by Vojta Beneš

What We Have Accomplished

By Vojta Beneš.

The outbreak of the war caught the Czechoslovak people in America unprepared. Not that they failed to realize at once the tremendous significance of the cataclysm for their native land, as well as for the entire world, but they had no organization that could speak for them and gather into one channel the strong currents of indignation at German-Austrian crimes and the desire to help their brothers in the old country to get rid of the foreign yoke.

The Slovaks had an existing organization, the Slovak League, but this body was not prepared to take advantage of the revolutionary situation. The Czech speaking people in the United States had been for years divided into two principal camps—the liberals and the Catholics, while the Protestants formed a third camp numerically small. There had been no cooperation between these sharply separated parties, neither were the parties themselves organized to undertake an intensive campaign on behalf of their kinsmen in Bohemia. There were societies and organizations in plenty, social, beneficial, athletic, but all concerned themselves with their local or special interests only. But there were a great many individuals among the Czechoslovak immigrants and naturalized and native born citizens who realized at once, as soon as Austria declared war on Serbia, that there was a unique opportunity for the Czechs and Slovaks in Europe to gain that liberty which the Czechoslovaks of America enjoyed. And so the fight of our people in this country against Austria-Hungary and Germany is dated from the very first days of the war, and this fight assumed a real significance and began to make itself felt as soon as Thomas Masaryk from his retreat in Switzerland got in touch with his countrymen in America. Numerous local organizations which sprang up in the summer of 1914 for the purpose of collecting money for widows and orphans in Bohemia were quickly transformed into branches of the Bohemian National Alliance, and these undertook as their special task in the great campaign for Czechoslovak independence financial support of all the activities in Allied and ne- utral lands. From the foundation of the Bohemian National Alliance we may date the beginning of the organized fight of our people in America for the liberation of their brothers from the Hapsburg subjugation.

One of the first bodies bearing this name and having these aims was organized in Chicago in the fall of 1914. About the same time societies with similar names and generally with relief and political purposes combined sprang up in other centers of the Bohemian speaking people, like New York, Omaha, Cleveland, Detroit, etc. In February 1915 these local societies held a convention in Cleveland at which the name Bohemian National Alliance was accepted as the designation for the entire movement and the Chicago society was selected as the Central body of the organization which from that time on spread into the Czech settlements in America. There were a great many obstacles at first. Neutrality was the policy of the United States, and many timid men voiced the opinion that the Bohemian National Alliance by adopting a determined stand against the German side of the great quarrel was not observing the spirit of American neutrality. There were many also who remembered the wonderful efficiency of the German and Austrian armies and feared that the anti-Austrian attitude of the Czechs in America would make the difficult situation of the Czechs in Bohemia still more difficult, when Austria should have won the war. There were even a few men whose sympathies were with the German-Austrian side, and they gathered around Frank Iska, a leader of the freethought group in Chicago, whose wife was a German Jewess. At that time also the Austro-Hungarian consulates as a part of their work kept track of the activities of former Austrian subjects, and working together with the wide spread German propaganda and having the use of millions of dollars they made the efforts of discontented Austrian subjects look insignificant. One might also mention that among the less desirable qualities of our people is found a lack of confidence in their own leaders, and this distrust was adroitly worked upon by Iska and his few sympathizers. Thus during the first year of its existence the Bohemian National Alliance increased in strength but slowly. No news came from Bohemia, except official Austrian reports trying to make the world believe that the various nations of the dual empire supported loyally their emperor and his war. There was no one who could authoritatively expound the real sentiments of the people at home, as no one from Bohemia was allowed to get beyond the boundaries of the Central Powers. It was up to the clear thinking and politically mature men among our people here to convince the masses of their countrymen in America that they must take a part in the great struggle.
VOJTA BENEŠ,
Secretary of the American Czechoslovak Board and of the Bohemian National Alliance. Of these men the best known is Joseph Tvrzicky, who in the spring of 1915 became secretary of the Bohemian National Alliance and conducted the early fights against Austrian tools and against the men with little faith. Dr. L. J. Fisher was president of the Alliance from its foundation until the fall of 1918, when he joined the Czechoslovak army in France as medical officer, and James F. Štěpina served faithfully as treasurer four years.

The one great force which helped to strengthen the young movement was the appeal of Masaryk to the Czechs of America, to undertake the financing of the revolutionary campaign. This gave the organization a definite task and its workers something to do which they felt able to accomplish. If we could tell how small were the demands of Masaryk during the first year and even during the second year, our American friends, who seen the results obtained would be astonished. Where the Germans disposed of millions, nay, hundreds of millions for their propaganda in neutral lands and treachery in Allied lands, Masaryk had one a few thousands dollars, but he made a dollar go further than the Austrian Government accomplished with a fortune. But perhaps there exists no reason any longer why we could not say for the year of 1915 Masaryk asked us to send him $1 50,000 for his campaign; so small were our beginnings that many of our workers declared it impossible to collect so much money. And as a matter of fact we fell some what short of the sum expected of us during that first year of our campaign.

In the summer of 1915 I managed to leave Austria and came to New York on August 15th. I was sent to the United States by the political leaders of the nation to work for the revolutionary movement in America among my people. It was, of course, nesessary that my departure to America should have outwordly other reasons, and when I landed in this country I was not able to come out at once for the independence movement. Pro-Austrian elements thought that they would find in me a sympathizer and asked me to denounce the work carried on by the Bohemian National Alliance as dangerous and abnoxious to the Czech nation. I said nothing at first, but on November 8th, 1915, I came out publicly for Czechoslovak independence. Since that day I have had a constant fight with the Austrian tools, who were not very numerous, but who employed all sorts of weapons to pull me down and neutralize my activities.

In the fall of 1915 the organization work of the Alliance received a strong impulse. At that time it was still limited to the liberal element, although from the very first days the Czech protestants were strong supporters of the movement and rendered it valuable service. The principal task, as I have said, was to send money for the support of the campaign managed by Dr. Masaryk. There was no way of getting money from Bohemia; the Czechs in Bussia who were the next strongest immigrant branch had too many cares of their own, and Czech residents in Paris, London and elsewhere were too few and too poor to give substantial help. It was natural and logical that the share of the Czechoslovaks of America in the revolution should have been that of furnishing money. And that is what we did, according to our strength.

Of course the information activity of the Bohemian National Alliance was emphasized from the very beginning. But until America entered into the war, the political significance of acquainting America with the justice of the Czechoslovak claims was of a secondary order. This work had really greater effect on the workers and member ship of the organization than on the American public, for it made the body of the people see with their own eyes that the Alliance was accomplishing something definite, even though as a matter of fact the great work was done by Masaryk and his co-workers in Paris. London and Borne. At the same time the unanimously expressed sentiments of one million people of Czechoslovak birth or descent under the free institutions of America had their weight with the Allied statesmen who did not have the means to ascertain for themselves the sentiments of the people in Bohemia and Slovakia. Czechoslovak immigrants in America spoke for their brothers who could not speak for themselves and their great organization, the Bohemian National Alliance and Slovak League, made the voice of a million people heard.

The leaders of the movement were consistent democrats, and so they tried to get the money needed in Europe from the masses of the people, rather than collect it in large amounts from a few wealthy individuals. It would have been very difficult in any case to carry out this second plan, for the wealthier Czechs in America lagged behind the workingmen in enthusiasm and rather decried the Alliance and its leaders as impractical dreamers. The principal support, both financial and moral, came from the workingmen in the cities and the farmers of the central west and southwest. To gain the support of the large mass of the Czechoslovak immigrants and their children took an almost unbelievable amount of work and hardship. The organizer of the Bohemian National Alliance crossed the United States back and forth, over and over again, addressing hundreds and even thousands of meetings and visiting even the smallest settlements. He and other zealous workers like Em. Voska, J. Tuma, St. Serpen, V. and M. Vimmer, talked to the coal miners of Pennsylvania, the farmers of Texas and Nebraska, the workingmen of the East and Central West. As a result the Bohemian National Alliance has now more than 350 branches, each of them a center for collecting money and creating patriotic sentiment in favor of winning the war.

In organizing the National Alliance it was necessary to take into account the existing conditions among the Bohemian people in this country. Thus the organization was not perhaps as clean cut and logical as might have been desired, but it was wonderfully efficient. Its members were both individuals and Czech societies, beneficial, athletic, social and workingmen’s societies. It enrolled the great number of 100,000 direct members and almost that many indirect members through organizations which entered its membership with the Alliance. That included practically everybody born in Bohemia or descended from Bohemian parents. And when America finally decided to take part in the great fight for justice and right, the government did not have to worry over the attitude of Czech and Slovak immigrants. It did not have to start an educational campaign telling, how war came to America or why every citizen should do his best. Our Czech and Slovak boys rushed in thousands into the American army in April and May of 1917, and great was their disappointment when later on they were left to attend to the camps in this country, instead of being sent to France, just because they had been born under Austrian rule. In spite of many disappointments, in spite of the constant discrimination against Bohemians and Slovaks as suspected Austrians, the Czechoslovaks kept up their patriotic activities to win the war and their record is better than that of any other immigrant race. In the Third Liberty Loan Campaign they subscribed $37,000,000, far exceeding per capita their share, as compared to other foreign speaking elements. In the Fourth Loan they took over $40,000,000, in other words more than $40 to each man, woman and child, and there are no millionaires among them. It should go to the credit of the Bohemian National Alliance that the Bohemian speaking people in this country did their full duty and more than their duty as American citizens, and the same thing is true of the Slovak League. But going back to the participation of our people here in the struggle for Czechoslovak independence it should be emphasized that their scattered branches of the Alliance were centers of zealous and enthusiastic propaganda. All our people could read and write, all knew the history of Bohemia, all knew the true nature of Austria-Hungary and Germany. In all the northern and western states there were thus men who of their own accord and without the slightest idea of being paid for it tried to inform their American neigbors about the true conditions in Austria. They countered every piece of German propaganda, as far as their small strength would permit, and they took every opportunity in newspapers, public meetings and private conversation to tell their neighbors what the Czechoslovaks demanded and where they stood.

The common interests of Czechs and Slovaks brought together the organizations of the two branches of the Czechoslovak race at a very early stage of the fight. But a formal organization of the two did not take place until the spring of 1917. We both declared for the same aims and pursued these aims by similar means. In the summer of 1917 the Catholic camp which began organizing itself during the preceding year declared itself without any ambiguity for total independence of the Czechoslovak nation, and their organization became an autonomous part of the Bohemian National Alliance. For nearly two years all the Czech and Slovak organizations have been working in complete harmony.

In 1916 we were able to send to Professor Masaryk the full sum for which he asked. For by that time the distrust which at first made the collection of money difficult disappeared almost completely, and the one objection that was still frequently raised was the necessity of keeping confidential the amount of money sent to Europe. We did not want Austria to know who much or rather how little, we collected, and for what purpose the money was used. And out of this necessary secrecy the enemies of the organization, whether actuated by personal spite or influenced by the Austrian consulates, had a chance to create distrust. But after all our people in spite of the impossibility of furnishing detailed accounts knew that the men who had under taken the collection of this money were honest, and the amounts collected kept on increasing. In 1917 so much was collected that the Czechoslovak National Council could maintain offices in London, Paris, Rome and Washington, publish books and magazines.

Toward the end of 1917 a new task was laid upon the Czech and Slovak organizations in America, namely to furnish volunteers for the recently formed army in France. Up to this time it had been a question of furnishing money only, and for a short time, before the passage of the draft law, to stimulate volunteering for the United States Army. Now the leaders in Europe expected their people in America to furnish thousands of fighters for the Czechoslovak Army, and it was up to our people here also to create relief societies that would render to the Czechoslovak soldiers in France and Italy the same services as the American Red Cross, Y. M. C. A. and similar organizations render to the American Army. These necessities made a still closer joining of the three principal Czech and Slovak organizations necessary, and at a conference held in Chicago in February of 1918 the common sentiments and common aims of the Czechoslovaks in America, including Canada and South America, were embodied in a common organ consisting of 20 members and known as the National Council. This body had four departments through which its activities were exerted—political, press, military and relief. Charles Pergler, now commissioner of the Czechoslovak Republic in the United States, was made political representative with headquarters in Washington; his work consisted in making friends for the Czechoslovak cause among the leaders of the great public of the United States through lectures and by personal contact. Information through the medium of the press belonged to the press department. The military department was in charge of recruiting for the Czechoslovak Army in France; a camp was established at Stamford, Conn., where the volunteers were concentrated and trained, while waiting for their ship. The relief department was given over to the Czechoslovak women as their special trust and under the efficient leadership of Mrs. Libuše Moták accomplished great work for the young army. It sent necessaries and comforts to the value of tens of thousands of dollars to France, Italy and Siberia. Nor should one forget to record here the services rendered to our movement in the United States by a number of men who were sent here by the leaders from abroad—Captain [[Author:Ferdinand Písecký|Ferdinand Písecký, Lts. Holý, Španiel, Niederle, Horvath, Major Šípek, Col. Hurban and Jan Janček. Their work made itself especially felt in recruiting volunteers for the Czechoslovak army in France.

After our great leader Masaryk came to the United States in May of 1918, and after the great Allied Powers one after another recognized the Czechoslovak National Council as a belligerent government, the political department of the Czechoslovak National Council was transformed into an organ of the new government, and Mr. Pergler became the first representative of the Czechoslovak Government in this country. In place of this department a convention of the Czechoslovak organizations held in Cleveland in October of 1918, created a cultural department. At this convention also it was decided, in order to avoid using the same name as that under which the Czechoslovak Provisional Government had been recognized, to call the common organization of the Czechs and Slovaks in America the American Czechoslovak Board with headquarters in Chicago. Prof. B. Šimek is its president, and the writer of this article is the secretary. It was voted at this convention to collect all that relates to the history of our movement in this country, so that a careful account of it might be written. For the Czechoslovak people in the United States, Canada, and South America are proud of the share they had in winning independence for their brothers in the old country.

The Bohemian National Alliance during the four years and more of its existence published a number of pamphlets and books relating to the Bohemian question; the writers were Charles Pergler, J. F. Smetanka, Director of the Washington office of the American Czechoslovak Board, Thomas Čapek, who wrote a Bohemian Bibliography, Vojta Beneš, Prof. J. J. Zmrhal. Lectures and articles written by Dr. Masaryk and books and pamphlets published by the Czechoslovak National Council in Paris and London were sent out in thousands by the Bohemian National Alliance to public libraries and leaders of public opinion throughout the United States. An important part of this activity is the publication of the Bohemian Review, now the Czechoslovak Review, which has accomplished a great deal to wake up interest in and sympathy for the cause of Czechoslovak independence.

A great impression was made upon the American public by the wonderful posters, mostly recruiting posters, drawn by a Czech artist, Vojtech Preisig, professor at the Wentworth Institute in Boston. The Czechoslovak Arts Club of New York published with rare taste a number of booklets, among them Declaration of Independence of Czechoslovak Nation; Czech artists of Chicago have also applied their talents in the service of their people. The French bi-monthly, La Nation Tcheque, is received by the Alliance from Paris, and hundreds of copies are mailed regularly by the Chicago office to the principal libraries and to individuals who have manifested an interest in this valuable periodical. A great deal was also done through the medium of addresses. Hundreds of speeches in English were delivered before large audiences, prominent clubs, social gatherings, scientific and business societies. Charles Pergler has been foremost in this work, while Dr. Smetanka, Prof. B . Šimek, Prof. J. J. Zmrhal, Prof. Šárka Hrbkova, Albert Mamatey, John Straka, Rev. Oldřich Zlámal and Rev. Francis Jedlička have been doing faitfully and successfully the work of informing the American public about the aims and accomplishments of the Czechoslovaks. Joseph Martinek, a Czech socialist who spent six months in Russia and witnessed the evil effects of Bolshevism, delivered a number of lectures on the condition of the Czechoslovak Army in Russia and the unfortunate situation caused by the Bolshevik revolution. A great debt of gratitude is due to the Bohemian and Slovak press in America. All the other races had among their publications in this country numerous sheets fighting the interests of their own people from motives more or less creditable. But out of more than one hundred Bohemian periodicals only one small weekly served the interests of Austria—the ill-famed Vesmír which soon went down under the indignation of the people. All the rest of our press stood firmly by their people; without its steady and enthusiastic support the great work of the Bohemian National Alliance could not have been accomplished.

The past year is the culmination of our work not merely from the political point of view, but also in the matter of organization. The constantly growing scope of activities of the Czechoslovak National Council implied large demands upon our financial ability. At the beginning of 1918 the Central Committee of America of the Bohemian National Alliance, not including the Catholic branch, prepared a budget which provided for the collection of half a million dollars. It was no small task to gather such a large sum among our working people in the United States and Canada, for even in 1918 most of the gifts came in small amounts from the great mass of the people, rather than from the few wealthy men. The National Alliance is divided into sixteen districts, and the Central Committee determined the proportion which each district should raise of the total required. As the various districts sent in their collections month by month, they were advised of their standing, so that soon there was a rivalry among the various districts as to which would exceed its percentage by the biggest margin. All of them came up to what was expected of them, and some did unusually well. Thus the Pacific District with headquarters at San Francisco turned in 310 per cent of the amount expected of it, the farming district centering around Omaha collected 301 per cent. Chicago was first as far as the actual sum collected, for it turned over to the Central Committee over $200,000.

The best means of raising money were national bazaars. Thus the Chicago bazaar brought in $50,000 of net proceeds, the Texas bazaar netted $60,000 and the Omaha bazaar was first of them all with $70,000. There have been many bazaars held in this country in support of various war charities, but I feel sure that none of them were run with such a small proportionate expense. Our bazaars never paid out more than 8 per cent of the receipts for running expenses, and the bazaar of Cedar Rapids which turned in over $25,000 had not a cent of expense; all was done or donated free. These are only some of the larger bazaars, but similar fairs and national fetes were held in almost every Bohemian settlement in the United States.

Another undertaking, in which the Catholics took part, was the campaign for a national thanksgiving offering. It was scheduled for the Thanksgiving Day, but the collection went on during December. Its proceeds amount now to $320,000, while the total expense connected with this nation-wide campaign is only $2200, less than one per cent of what was collected. Recently one million francs out of this sum was sent to the Czechoslovak Foreign Minister in Paris for the purchase of food for Bohemia. Chicago gave over $100,000 toward this national tax or offering, Cleveland $40,000; all of it was collected in small sums, mostly in dollar bills. People who are very poor and some who are invalids came themselves and brought their offering; poor coal miners from Pennsylvania and small renters from Texas all gave more than they could afford. Farmers drove days and days over the muddy roads of Nebraska and Minnesota to visit every Czech farmer in their county. In North Dakota an old woman who is supported by public charity called in the collectors who wanted to pass her by and made them take 50c, all she had. Money came to Chicago headquarters from six hundred different local collecting centers. We are proud of our people, and America may be proud of such citizens who know how to give.

Our organization, even though very efficient, was always rather loose, for the policy was to leave as much freedom and dicretion to the various districts as possible. This resulted in the participation of large numbers of faithful and able workers, all volunteers. As to American politics, of course, the Bohemian National Alliance kept strictly aloof. Its attitude has been all along; absolute loyalty to the United States and the fullest participation by every citizen of Czechoslovak birth in all activities which may help to win the war. On July 4, 1918, when various immigrant races in this country manifested their devotion to the American Republic and its institutions, the Czechoslovaks took everywhere a prominent part and presented to President Wilson an address of loyalty which was read at every Czechoslovak celebration on that day along with the Declaration of Independence. Then again in September and October parades and celebrations were held to show the gratitude of our people for the recognition by America of Czechoslovak independence; the manifestatiions in Chicago, St. Louis, St. Paul, New York and elsewhere were particularly impressive.

Most impressive, however, were the wondeful receptions held in Chicago, New York and Cleveland for Masaryk upon his arrival in this country from Russia. It may be said that the size and enthusiasm of these demonstrations first made the American public realize, what a large figure Masaryk was.

The end of the year crowned this long campaign with victory; the Czechoslovaks are now free. Their brothers in America are proud that they have had a share in the fight and in the victory, and soon a delegation of the Bohemian National Alliance and the Slovak League will visit the land of their fathers to bring greetings and congratulations and to find out, what other help could be given to the newly born nation. The delegation will take with them a splendid flag to be presented to the 22nd Regiment of the Czechoslovak Army which fought bravely on the French front and which is composed principally of volunteers from this country.

Today, when the political struggles are over, the hearts of the Czechoslovaks in America, each of whom has relations in the old country, turn toward the great problem of giving some measure of relief to the misery brought on by the war, to the relief of the widows and orphans whose number reaches into millions.

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