Page:The Bohemian Review, vol2, 1918.djvu/116

 vaks, Jugoslavs and Italians, and in a lesser degree the Poles and Roumanians, are ready to overthrow their tyrants. German socialists and even Magyar workingmen are indifferent to the fate of the hybrid monarchy, and the army would promptly do, what the Russian army did—throw away arms and go home.

Why, then does not revolution break out on the Danube? The analogy between Austria and Russia stops here. There is a factor in the situation that worked one way in Russia and another way in Austria. That factor is Germany. The Kaiser favored the Russian revolution, because he knew that it would result to his benefit. But he is sure to use all his strength to put down any attempts at revolution in Austria. A successful revolution in Austria would mean his own downfall. The rebellious elements in Austria do not fear the army of Charles, but they are not ready to measure their strength with the legions of Germany.

Shall we then look upon the possibility of a successful revolution in Austria-Hungary as a chimera? The Allies would be overlooking a strong trump, if they did not count with this possibility. The Kaiser had made good use of smouldering elements in Russia, such good use that he came within sight of a complete victory. The Allies may make use of the tinder lying ready to their hands in Austria and build up a fire in the Kaiser’s rear that will bring about a decision. It will not do to watch with folded hands the growth of discontent in Austria and be resigned beforehand to the failure of any possible outbreak. The democratic governments must take an active part in fomenting an insurrection against the Hapsburgs, an insurrection which will result in taking Austria out of the war and opening a new way into Germany. The Allies should get busy. The Allies should take full advantage of the known hostility of the Slavs and Latins to their German-Magyar overlords. They can strengthen this enmity by pledging their word in an unequivocal manner that the defeat of Germany will bring full freedom to the oppressed. And what is equally important, they should take steps to organize the discontented elements in the Hapsburg dominions from the Adriatic to the Bohemian mountains, smuggle in arms and dynamite, and time the outbreak so that it would coincide with the expected great Allied offensive in the West. Should revolution break out in Austria as soon as Germany suffers the first defeat and will have its hands too full to spare any divisions for Austria, then we may hope to see the war end suddenly. Austria will collapse and Germany will follow close right after it.

During the last three months the Allies have taken steps by authoritative pronouncements to assure the revolutionary elements in Austria-Hungary, the Slavs and the Latins, that they would get full freedom after Germany is defeated. Whether the governments of France, Italy, England and the United States are doing anything in a material way to make the coming revolution successful, is something that we will not know, until it is all over. We sincerely hope that the governments of the Allies are alive to their opportunity.

Of other Bohemian artists whose talent blossomed out through the influence of Paris the greatest are Chittussi, Hynais, Marold, Mucha and Kupka.

Antonin Chittussi is the first modern Czech landscape painter. His Italian name indicates that some ancestor of his came to Bohemia from Italy and became a Czech. Antonin was born in Ronov in 1847. After graduating from the middle school he entered the Prague Polytechnic, but in 1866 he left the Technical School and enrolled in the Painters’ Academy; later he went to Munich where he was the pupil of Anschutz, then to Vienna and back to Prague. He left the Prague Academy in 1875 with a number of fellow-students as a protest against the gross insult of the Czech people by Professor Woltmann. He rented an atelier with Frank Ženíšek, but the occupation of Bosnia put him into the military uniform and dragged him to the south. After a discharge from the army service in 1879 he went to Paris and there for the first time found himself. Up to this time he was occupied with historical paintings, never dream-