Bohemia; a brief evaluation of Bohemia's contribution to civilization/The Bohemian Sokols

by Ludvík Fisher

Sokol’s Gymnastic Exhibition in Prague 1912.

The Bohemian Sokols

By Dr. L. J. Fisher

NE may safely assert that systematic physical training is an infallible sign of the high cultural level of a people. History abounds with examples proving that wherever national consciousness grew up, there also developed a fondness for serious and purposeful cultivation of the human body, so as to reach a harmony of physical and intellectual qualities which would serve as a foundation for mental equipoise and moral worth. Serious physical training implies necessarily a higher degree of intelligence and altruistic feeling in that it subordinates the pleasure of the individual to the interest of posterity, of the nation, of all humanity.

The aim of serious physical training was well brought out long ago by the Grecian philosopher Lucian in the dialogue of Anacharses and Solon: “In our public contests more is at stake than the prizes that are to be won; we aim at greater things both for the athletes and the country. Another contest, common to us all, awaits all brave citizens, and the crown is not made of pine branches, of laurel, or olive. It is a crown containing in itself all that a man values highest—the freedom of every individual and of country, well-being and glory, the preservation of families, in short, all the best things within the gift of the gods.”

So high a value did the Greeks put upon bodily training, in the days when the ancient Hellene started his hardy education in the gymnasium, when in the arena he exercised his muscles to acquire manly beauty and grace, when in the contests he practiced physical fitness and power which was united with a high degree of intellectual and moral cultivation. As long as that was true, ancient Hellas did not fear for its freedom, because her sons possessed matchless bravery and perseverance; and Greek art produced its most wonderful gems, while the learning of Greece enriched forever the entire human race.

Then the sun of Hellas set, and with it the noble striving for the cultivation of the body, until in the dark centuries of the Middle Ages asceticism was magnified into the highest virtue and the human body was treated as an evil thing. But as soon as nations began to lead a conscious life, as soon as the rights of man received some recognition, the cultivation of physical and mental forces received again proper attention. Athletics as a means to physical well-being came once more into its own. It was so in Germany, where Jahn's Turners were an important factor in the work of German unity; it was so in Italy, which saw the rise of gymnastic societies at the time of its fight of liberation; and France, too, created innumerable unions of gymnasts, as she gathered he forces together after the defeat and humiliation of 1871. Switzerland, Belgium, and not to go too far, America, all prove clearly that physical training is given an important place in the national scheme of education in every country where the people enjoy liberty and unhampered development.

It was from considerations such as these that Dr. Miroslav Tyrš called into life the Sokols (Falcons) of Bohemia.

At this point it is necessary to speak brisfly of Bohemia as it was before Sokols came into being, for otherwise we would not grasp fully the significance and the mission of this National Czech Organization called into the service of the nation that it might increase its strength and safeguard its future.

The year 1620 is a great milestone in Bohemian history. In November of that fateful year the rebellion of the Bohemian estates was crushed in the battle of the White Mountain and the people experienced the full vengeance of the victorious Hapsburgs. The leading men were executed or exiled, the greater part of the soil was confiscated, and the nation that had taken such a noble part in the history of Europe was beggared and decimated until its name almost disappeared from the roll of living nations. The peace of a churchyard prevailed in the Bohemian lands deprived of its leaders, and lying helpless under the most oppressive and reactionary regime of a foreign dynasty.

This frightful agony of an entire nation lasted more than two hundred years.

When the beneficent period of enlightenment preceding the French Revolution covered all Europe, even the autocratic Austria came under its influence. Two benefits principally it conferred upon the many races of Austria, which had a far-reaching influence upon the Czech nation: The edict of toleration permitting a certain amount of religious freedom, and the liberation of the peasants from the most galling wrongs of serfdom.

These two concessions created the initial impulse which set into play the great forces by which the nation awakened to a new life. When conscience was no longer violated, as it had been for the past two hundred years, when men could exercise their intelligence upon religious and philosophical questions, it was to be expected that the new generation would not have the souls of slaves or of hypocrites created invariably by fanatic persecutions. At the same time the peasant released from slavery to his feudal lord, breathed more ,freely after centuries of severe oppresion and became conscious that he was a man; the indifference and ignorance of serfdom gave place to a recognition of duties to the nation. All over the lands of the Bohemian crown, as persecution and oppresion were lifted, powers that had been lying dormant came to life and sap began after a long winter to circulate in the body of the nation.

On top of that came a sudden blow. The same Emperor who had loosened the spiritual and material bonds of his subjects, the enlightened Joseph II., planned like the benevolent despot he was, to forcibly make over the various races of his monarchy into Germans. He wanted to take from the Czechs the most essential part of their Slav Nationality—their tongue. And then the abiding vitality of the Bohemian people, persisting in spite of long lasting oppresion came to the surface. Men came forward in great numbers animated by the conviction that they must work hard to preserve the people’s language. The awakening of the nation began with the defense of the Czech language. Joseph Dobrovský, the gifted linguist, defined first the laws governing the correct use of the Bohemian language and gave the initial impulse for its further cultivation. So the old speech was saved, but there still existed a violent break between the present and the more glorious days of old Bohemia. It was necessary that the people of Bohemia should realize their heritage, should know again the great deeds of their ancestors, should join the nineteenth century with the fifteenth and sixteenth across two centuries of unconsciousness. František Palacký re-discovered Bohemian history and through his truly monumental work made the people proud of being members of the Czech race. The bright past gave the people confidence that the future also must be full of promise. Palacký’s history, besides recalling the days of Bohemian independence, introduced also into our “awakening” the political idea, so that the forties of the ninteenth century saw the birth of a new political life, identified most closely with the name of Karel Havlíček, the martyr dear to every Czech heart.

At the close of this period of regeneration the founder of Sokols, Miroslav Tyrš, commenced his labors on behalf of his people. And while Palacký proudly said to Vienna politicians who were transforming Austria into the Dual Monarchy: “We were before Austria and we will survive it,” Tyrš, the sober philosopher, examined the substance of national organism, discussed its right to live and determined its purpose.

“All history and all nature is an eternal struggle in which everything succumbs that does not establish its right to live.” From this starting point Tyrš takes up the solution of the problem of his nation. All that lives is subject to this inexorable law of nature: Either increase and flourish, or dissappear and make room for other forms of life. This hard law makes itself felt in the history of humanity and mercilessly destroys individuals and nations, whenever they fall from their high standards and cannot keep step with others in the world arena. Tyrš remembered Rome, once the mistress of many nations, later an easy prey in its decadence for the Teuton barbarians, the physical giants of the north. Why did Rome fall from its high estate? Because the rapid growth of wealth and its concentration in the hands of a few brought about luxury, immorality, corruption and stagnation, which in their turn undermined the foundation of the state. Rome stood still, became enervated, set herself against the spirit of eternal change and progress, and thus perished the nation that had done so much for humanity.

When Tyrš applied this law to his own nation, he saw a small people, recently awakened from death-like sleep, a nation that had demanded from its rulers the right to govern itself, but had been suppressed, a race that could point to a splendid past, but little else, a weak people standing alone and helpless against numberless dangers that might destroy it before it could gather its strength. Tyrš was persuaded that a nation manifesting so much vitality after centuries of oppression had a right to live, but the right must be defended and enforced. For that more was needed than pride of the past. It was necessary to work hard and well, to labor with diligence in the field of progress and enlightenment. “Not the most glorious past,” says Tyrš, “but an active and energetic present is a guarantee of the nation’s future.” True words, especially today, when the future of the Bohemian nation is at stake.

As a lonely rock in the sea against which stormy waves dash from all sides, so lies Bohemia in the heart of Europe, a little land of beauty surrounded by a German ocean. Tyrš realized fully, how difficult was made the very existence of the Czech nation by its geographical position, since evil neighbors ceaselessly pressed from all sides to put an end to Bohemia’s life.

A great discrepancy in strength. This was Tyrš’s solution of Bohemia’s problem: “The smaller the nation, the greater activity it must develop in order to remain, in spite of small numbers, an active and influential element of humanity; the small nation must pay the greatest attention to its healthy growth.” That is the purpose of every small nation and so of the Czech nation. Not an ounce of strength must be wasted; every individual must do his part, every Czech must see to it that his life and his work count—in short, what is lacking in quantity must be made up in quality.

Thus we come to the point which practically is the most important contribution of the whole program of Tyrš. He realizes that a weak people must become gradually accustomed to the heavy tasks awaiting them, that the energy of the individual must be raised and his character strengthened, that the practical efficiency of the Bohemian people must be increased so that the entire race may better withstand external attacks. All that, however, presupposes the physical well-being and strength of every component element. And how to reach such a desirable state of affairs, how to cultivate the nation’s energy, how to raise the health of a people?

To this question Tyrš found an answer in physical training, based on the model of ancient Greece. He was convinced that Greece owed its unparalelled excellence to the passionate cultivation of the physical training of her children, and that the bodily vigor created by athletic exercises was the cause of the devoted patriotism which preserved the nation’s liberty. And so Tyrš boldly went back to the classical era for the means to strengthen his own race that he might train the youth of his beloved Czech nation into a similar harmony of physical and mental faculties and instill into it an ardent patriotism—the desires of the individual to be subordinate to the interests of the nation.

The Sokol idea is the realization of this philosophy. Sokol—the falcon—is the bird that by his swiftness and energy best symbolizes the active, vigorous life which is the ideal of Sokol societies; the falcon who flies high in the free skies is also the symbol of freedom—and every Czech is born with a devotion to freedom. The ideas of Tyrš found many followers. The Sokol Unions gathered in them the best elements of Bohemia, and in a surprisingly brief time this organization became the pride of the nation, as the personification of the nation’s yearning after a more vigorous and untrammeled life. The Sokols came to be the first national institution, awakening Czech consciousness in weak and indifferent breasts and arousing the desire for a more distinctive racial life. In every great popular demonstration and manifestation the Sokols had the place of honor.

There was soon apparent a danger that such a sudden success might turn the heads of the membership and dissipate its strength in superficial parading of patriotism. Tyrš the founder was also the instructor and leader of the organization. An organizer, as well as a thinker, he directed the energy and loyalty of the Sokols into the gymnasium whence came the motive power for internal organization and for patriotic work.

Here, too, he was working in a new field. If physical training was to be the means for the cultivation of the nation’s energy, it was necessary to take into account racial characteristics; the method must be such as to fit the needs and temper of the people. That method had to be discovered by Tyrš. He gave his Sokols a purely Bohemian system of training, one that satisfied completely the instincts of the young body for exercise and at the same time gave heed to aesthetic considerations: the search for the true beauty of the body. The system of Tyrš includes training for various classes and occupations and makes provision for the needs of the whole people in the way of physical exercise.

It is in this rich variety of exercises for every age, calling and sex that the Bohemian method of physical training differs from other systems. The Sokol institution thus obtained a distinctive, solid foundation from which the further education of intelligent Bohemians could proceed. A sound and strong body, the primary requirement, fostered by the numberless Sokol societies, assists in the better development of the individual man’s higher faculties. For we know now that man’s mental processes are closely connected with his physical make-up; every thought, every emotion corresponds to some change in the body. Strength and nobility of mind and soul develop in connection with strength and efficiency of the body.

Regular gymnasium training has a beneficial effect on all the activities of the man who takes the Sokol idea seriously. He learns to submit to voluntary discipline which commends itself to him through its noble aims; he cultivates the sense of duty to himself, to his family, to his fellow-citizens, above all to his nation. Thus he strengthens and improves his character as he aims at Tyrš’s definition of an ideal Sokol-a well rounded, honest man and citizen.

The Sokol societies train not only young men, but also the older boys, especially those of the laboring classes. Before the organization of the Sokols the youngsters of the Bohemian cities were left to themselves and grew up undisciplined in miserable social conditions. The Sokols are entitled to credit, because they welcomed these neglected apprentices into their halls and through athletic exercises and brotherly intercourse toughened their physical and moral fibre. It was natural that sooner or later room would have to be made in the Sokol organization for the Bohemian women, for Tyrš planned for the education of the whole nation and especially for the strength of the future generations. Bohemian women have appreciated the importance of the teachings of Tyrš, and the intelligent Czech woman considers it her duty to join the Sokol society of her town. At the last great Sokol meet—one is held every five years and is looked upon as a great national holiday—over five thousand women and girls took part in the athletic exhibition in Prague. Women who are members of the Sokol organization give to the nation sound, healthy children, and teach them passionate devotion to Bohemia.

In other respects, too, Sokols make their influence felt. They take interest in popular education, fight corrupting literature and coarse entertainments, oppose reactionary tendencies in politics, agitate for equal rights. Not the least of the good effects of the Bohemian Sokol movement has been the closer contact and co-operation of the Slav nations. From the Bohemians the Sokol idea has spread to the Slovaks, the Poles, Russians, Croatians, Serbians, and everywhere it is a power making for progress, patriotism and liberty, and for common effort to make all Slav peoples free.

They say in Bohemia that to be a Czech is to be a Sokol. The Sokol idea penetrates all classes of the people and makes the entire nation democratic and liberty-loving. It is no wonder that in the present war the Bohemian people have taken an anti-Austrian stand, and that thousands of members of Sokol societies here have enlisted as soon as this country declared war on Germany. It is a fact that sheds clear light on the results of Sokol training that in Bohemia the gymnastic societies were promptly dissolved by the Austrian Government as hostile to it, while in the United States many Sokol societies had to close their physical training classes, because every younger member joined the American Army.

The great emergency for which Tyrš tried to prepare his people has come. The very existence of the Czech people is in the balance. But the Sokol idea has proved its soundness. In the forefront of the determined opposition to German tyranny are men trained in the Sokol halls of the Bohemian cities. The leaders of the people at home, men charged with high treason to Austria, because they are fired with love of their own land, the men who led Bohemian regiments over to the Russians, the heroes who created a Czecho-Slovak army in Russia, the workers who have organized the Bohemain National Alliance of America, are nearly all Sokols.

Will the Bohemian nation perish or will it emerge free from the awful, bloody contest? The Bohemians fight for their freedom and for the liberty of mankind. But they are not strong enough to win the fight alone. They look to the Allies, above all, to America, with hope and confidence.

One great president of the United States led his people into a great war in order that six million black people should become their own masters. Another great president brought the United States into the greatest war of all ages, that all nations of the earth might be free to live their own lives. The Czecho-Slovak nation of twelve millions looks to the United States and to President Wilson for help in their struggle to become free from the yoke of the Hapsburgs.