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The New Europe
Vol. II, No. 19.	February 22, 1917

 

The Future Status of Bohemia

“Before Austria was, we were, and when Austria no longer is, we still shall be.”—Palacky, on Bohemia.

[A small group in Parliament and the press is eagerly professing its complete ignorance on the subject of Bohemia and the Czecho-Slovaks, whose liberation has been proclaimed as one of the aims of the Entente. As a matter of fact there is an ample literature on Bohemia in both English and French. But for the benefit of those who desire a presentment of the political aspects of the problem in its immediate bearing on the war, we print the following authoritative article by the Bohemian statesman and philosopher, Professor Masaryk, at present a refugee in this country, and since 1915 Lecturer in Slavonic History and Sociology at King’s College, University of London.]

In a previous article, “Bohemia and the European Crisis,”^[1] an attempt was made to show by a succinct historical sketch the political meaning of the Bohemian question. Until the war broke out Western public opinion displayed little interest in the constitutional and political problems of the AustroHungarian Monarchy and its constituent countries, and even during the war attention has been mainly directed to Germany to the exclusion of Austria-Hungary. It was but natural that many political amateurs should fight against a recognition of the fact that Austria-Hungary was no less an enemy of Great Britain than Germany herself. Fortunately the leading statesmen of Britain and her Allies grasped the true situation, as has been clearly shown by their programme proclaiming the liberation of the non-German and non-Magyar nations of Austria-Hungary—in other words, the dismemberment of the Dual Monarchy. One of the nations to be liberated is the Czecho-Slovak, which, as I have tried to show, has the full right to independence. Bohemia is, indeed, in point of law, an independent State whose ancient rights are disputed and violated by the Germans and Magyars. The Bohemian question is not a mere question of nationality, and cannot be solved by granting a greater or less degree of home rule and autonomy; there are political considerations as well. Bohemia is struggling for independence, and the

1. The New Europe, No. 15.

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