The Czechoslovak Review/Volume 2/In Sight of the Goal

The Bohemian Review OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE BOHEMIAN (CZECH) NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF AMERICA
Jaroslav F. Smetanka, Editor. Published Monthly by the Bohemian Review Co., 2324 S. Central Park Ave., Chicago, Ill.
Vol. II, No. 10.	OCTOBER, 1918	10 cents a Copy $1.00 per Year

 

In Sight of the Goal.

The first stage on the road to independence has been reached. Czechoslovaks have been admitted to the ranks of the Allies as one of the belligerent nations, and the Czechoslovak National Council has been recognized by the Entente—and that means nine-tenths of the world—as a government carrying on war legitimately against the Central Powers. France on June 29th, Italy on June 30th, England on August 9th, the United States on September 3rd. and Japan on September 9th, gave official pledges to this effect. Even China has now extendad recognition to the Czechoslovaks, and the New York Times in a witty editorial told the Austrian Government that its efforts to bring together the warring sides around the green table could have no effect, since Austria omitted to extend an invitation to one of the governments most closely interested, namely the Czechoslovak National Council.

There are variations in the texts of the various official declarations extending recognition to the new nation. Thus the French who came first with an unqualified endorsement of the claims of the Czechoslovaks for a wholly independent state, speak of the National Council as the trustee of the national interests and the foundation of the future government. Italy chose its own way in extending a hand of friendship to its new Ally; instead of a formal announcement it concluded a treaty with the Czechoslovak National Council by which it recognized the right of the Council to command the Czechoslovak Armies, to make laws for Czechoslovak citizens and to enforce those laws on Italian soil. The British declaration has followed on the whole the tenor of the French recognition, but it is more explicit by stating directly that England looks upon the Czechoslovaks as an Allied and friendly power. The American statement does not go that far in this particular, and leaves the status of Czechoslovaks resident in the United States and not naturalized still in doubt, but on the other hand it goes further than the European Allies in giving the Czechoslovak National Council the status of a de facto belligerent government. The Japanese text, as one may expect from a distant Power, which comes into contact with the Czechoslovaks merely in the course of military operations in Siberia, deals with the status of the Czechoslovak Army| and of the Council as the organ in command of these armies. These differences, while not very serious, illustrate the lack of diplomatic leadership among the Powers of the Entente. There is one commander for all the Allied armies, there is a common war council sitting at Versailles, but the stage has not yet been reached of discussing the diplomatic questions and plans together and issuing a common statement on behalf of all the Allies.

What a difference between the fall of 1918 and the fall of 1914! Four years ago Masaryk left Bohemia with the determination to break up an empire of fifty-two million people into its component parts. He was practically alone. Now he is the president of one of the Allied Governments and the commander-in-chief of great armies. Four years ago a few thousand Bohemian and Slovak emigrants in France and England enlisted to strike a blow at the common enemy of their own nation and of their adopted land. But while they helped to hold up the foe’s march to Paris, they fought and died for the cause of the Allies in general and not for their own country in particular. Today 150,000 of their brothers fight the enemy on all fronts in their own armies, knowing that by dying they help to defeat the Germans and also to free their native land. Four years ago a few Bohemian and Slovak enthusiasts in the United States saw in the war a chance for doing something for the liberation of Bohemia from the German yoke, but they were like the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Today their countrymen in all the states have grouped themselves around them, and theirs is the great honor of supporting financially the first free Czechoslovak government until the time comes when that government will come to Prague and will have control of the resources of the Czechoslovak lands.

The Czechoslovak state is the first state to receive recognition by the Allies. This enviable distinction did not come to the people of the Bohemian and Slovak lands by chance; they earned it. It is said that President Wilson delayed the American recognition, even after the European Allies had granted it, because he wanted to make sure that the Czechoslovak National Council was entitled to speak for its people. He found that to be absolutely true. And that is no small matter. When one considers that the Czechoslovaks have been subject for four hundred years to alien rulers, that all their manhood was placed in the Austrian ranks, that their emigrants were scattered over all continents and countless jurisdictions, that there was no compelling authority, except the one of common affection for their native land and of hatred against the Germans the manner in which they lined up back of their leader deserves admiration. To be sure, they were fortunate in having for a leader a man whose claims to leadership were so manifest that no other man could possibly contest the honors with him. Masaryk had such a hold over the affections and respect of his people, he had such not able qualifications for the great task of representing his people before the Allies, that no organization opposed to him could arise in any settlement of the Czechoslovak people. In Russia, France and England, in the United States and Canada, in South America and South Africa Czechs and Slovaks organized themselves under various names, and under widely different conditions they have constructed widely differing organizations; but all of them endorsed Masaryk’s leadership and followed his guidance.

While the supreme leader never interfered in the internal administration of these far-flung bodies, he gathered around him in Paris and London several extremely able and patriotic coworkers. The most notable of them was General Milan R. Štefanik, who holds the position of vice-president of the Council, and Dr. Edward Beneš, who is the general secretary of the Council. Štefanik as soldier and diplomat, Beneš as publicist and diplomat, ably assisted Masaryk, while he was with them, and took his place and carried on his work in the important capitals of Paris, London and Rome, when he was in Russia and America. A less well-known worker, but one whose labors in England bore material fruit and who has been her father's most faithful and efficient colaborator, is Miss Olga Masaryk. And there are hosts of others who gave all their time and all their unbounded enthusiasm to the work for four long years and who will be one day gratefully remembered by free Bohemia.

But after all the lion’s share in the successes gained by the Czechoslovak cause during the war goes rightfully to the heroes of the Czechoslovak armies. No race is worthy of freedom, unless its men are ready to die for it. Six months ago the cause of free Bohemia could show to its credit many expressions of sympathy, but very little of solid achievement or of real guarantees by its friends. Since the Czechoslovaks in Russia and Siberia astounded the world by their adventure, and since the regiments in Italy and France took their places at the front as one of the Allied armies, the situation was changed. The Czechoslovak people at home might be in bonds and the National Council might be a government without a foot of Czechoslovak soil on which to raise its flag; but they have an army and that army one of fighters.

Marshall Foch said recently that the Allies had reached the top of the hill and that the going would now be easier—downhill. That applies with great force to the Czechoslovak fight for an independent position among the nations of the world. The great nations of the world are definitely pledged to this cause. An army of 150,000 men is in existence to liberate the Czechoslovak lands the very moment that the German military power is broken. After four hundred years of slavery and four years of fighting the Czechoslovaks are in sight of the goal. Masaryk at the head of an army will lead them to the promised land.

 

PROFESSOR MASARYK

AND HIS IDEAL.