Page:The Bohemian Review, vol2, 1918.djvu/137

 part in the history of Europe, had its share in defeating the German war machine and took once more its place in the great family of nations.

It was this enthusiasm, which gathered in hundreds of thousands of dollars for the support of the Czechoslovak independence campaign, which fired so many young men, technically subjects of Austria, to join the American Army in the spring of 1917, and which now induces elderly men to leave their families to go to France that they might fight in the ranks of the Czechoslovak Army against their ancient enemy. For internal organization purposes there are thus two distinct bodies, one of them with an autonomous subdivision; but as against the public opinion of America and the world the two organizations constitute mreelymerely [sic] a branch of the supreme organ of the Czechoslovak revolutionary movement, namely the Czechoslovak National Council. Here we come to the second reason which accounts for much of the Czechoslovak success, and without which their thoroughly efficient organization would have been impossible. It is their splendid leadership which has brought to the fore the right men, both in America and in the other settlements of the Czechoslovaks, and which best of all is exemplified in the Czechoslovak National Council of Paris. It is said that great times always call forth great men, and the saying is certainly true is this great period of Bohemia’s history. The great leader of the Bohemian revolution, which began in 1914, is Masaryk, his age, his public career, his learning and wisdom, his high idealism, and at the same time his constant contact with realities, and the complete confidence with which all his countrymen had always looked upon him, had singled him out for the commander of the Czechoslovaks. Backed by a mandate from all the Czech deputies, he escaped from Austria a few months after the outbreak of the war and after establishing contact with the scattered emigrants of his race he planned the great campaign of convincing the enemies of Germany that in Bohemia they had an ally deserving of their trust and help. Today it is hardly necessary to say more of Masaryk, for he is as well known to the world as are the great statesmen of the Allied countries. But it is well to emphasize the fact that his leadership made the problem of organization and discipline in the revolutionary movement a simple affair. He stood out so high among his co-workers that there never could have arisen the slightest feeling of jealousy or rivalry. He is more than the leader; he is the universally acknowledged dictator.

Masaryk was fortunate in finding a number of very able co-workers. Dr. Milan R. Štefanik, vice-president of the Czechoslovak National Council, is the diplomat of the movement. A Slovak by birth he became a naturalized French citizen and gained a great name for himself in the scientific world as an astronomer. The outbreak of the war found him answering the call to arms. Entering the French Army as a private, he became soon an officer and a daring aviator. He flew along the entire Austro-Italian front, scattering proclamations calling on the Slovak soldiers not to fight against Italy, their friend. He was wounded on the Saloniki front and on the Western front. He was then given leave from active duty in the army. He devoted his time to the organization of Czechoslovak prisoners of war in France and Italy into a fighting army. The regiments that are now in the thick of the fight both on the French and Italian fronts owe their existence principally to him, and he also started the recruiting campaign for the Czechoslovak Army in the United States.

Dr. Edward Beneš, general secretary of the Council, has also shown remarkable diplomatic talents. It was due to him principally that the Allied answer to President Wilson in January, 1917, the first great success of the revolutionary movement, included a specific promise by the Allies to liberate the Czechoslovaks from foreign domination. Beneš and Štefanik secured the consent of the French and Italian Governments for the creation of the Czechoslovak National Army; it was their ceaseless work and their great ability which won from these two governments the full recognition of the Council as the supreme representative of Independent Bohemia.

While the Czechoslovak settlements all over the world organized and placed themselves at the disposal of the Paris Council, the people in the old country likewise put aside all that divided them before the war and ranged themselves unanimously in a most determined opposition to the Austrian government. Until the spring of 1917 the police rule in Bohemia was so severe that all political life was for the time being stifled. The Parliament was not called to-