Page:The Bohemian Review, vol2, 1918.djvu/16

 rialism is crushed; the division of Austria-Hungary into its natural national parts is in itself a fundamental war aim. The danger of German Imperialism lies in the fact that it disposes of the Hapsburgs and their Empire.

“I hope that when I return to Petrograd the Executive Committee of the C. W. S. D. will enable me to explain more fully the views of the Czecho-Slovaks on the conditions of a really lasting, just and democratic peace.”

The most important event of the last month from the point of view of men of Bohemian descent was the declaration of war against Austria-Hungary. It was received in every settlement of Bohemians in this country with a tremendous enthusiasm, and mass meetings were held everywhere at which resolutions were adopted praising the President for his action. The White House must have been swamped with telegrams from Bohemian societies and mass meetings. Incidentally one may tell from the attitude of the former Austrian subjects toward this latest declaration of war what their real sentiments are. The Slavs of Austria-Hungary welcomed the open hostilities, the Germans and Magyars regretted them, while protesting volubly their attachment to the United States.

Naturally President Wilson’s reference to Austria-Hungary, temptying a hands-off attitude on the part of America, caused some disappointment and much argument about his motives and his real sentiments. At all events, the workers in the cause of Bohemian independence recognize that the concrete fact of hostilities between the United States and the Dual Empire far outweighs in importance a few words in the presidential address. On the other hand a great step forward in the campaign for independence was the official recognition by the French Government of the Czechoslovak National Council and a detailed announcement by the French embassy in Washington of the plans for the Czechoslovak army in France, a nucleus of which already exists. One can say truly now that independent Bohemia already exists, just as independent Belgium and Serbia exist. Though the soil of Bohemia is still subject to the enemy, Bohemia has its own revolutionary government, recognized by foreign powers, as well as its own revolutionary army, both on the eastern and the western front.

Russia, the center of interest for all the allied nations, is also in a narrower sense the center of interest for the Bohemians. What will become of the 60,000 Czechoslovak soldiers in Russia, is a question of unflagging concern to all members of the Bohemian National Alliance. When the Bolsheviki and the Germans get so far as to talk about prompt exchange of prisoners, the question becomes acute. Just at this time two delegates of this army, Captain Zdeňko Firlinger and John Janček, arrived in this country to tell the men here of the work done in Russia and to arouse interest in the new army in France. Captain Firlinger has been through three years of the war and commanded a battalion at Zborov in June, when the first Czechoslovak brigade gained so much glory. He has never been in America before, but it is of interest to his countrymen here that before the war he was in the employ of the International Harvester Company in Russia.

During the month of December the Bohemian cause received much atention in the newspapers of this country. The declaration of war against Austria-Hungary brought to the fore the question of immigrants from the Dual Empire. The results of the work done during the past three years by the Bohemian Alliance| were apparent in that the press unanimously referred to the Bohemians as an element about whose loyalty to the cause of the Allies there could be no doubt. Bulletins of the Slav Press Bureau, published in influential dailies, help to inform America of the real situation in Austria-Hungary and of the revolutionary part played in Austrian politics by the Bohemian delegation to the Vienna Reichsrat. Resolutions and telegrams to the President, approving of the declaration of war on Austria, have received publicity in the newspapers of every city where there is a settlement of Bohemians, and have thus helped to make clear the sentiments of the Bohemians in the eyes of the American people. The of the Bohemian Review has been quoted with approval in some half a dozen daily papers.

One of the warmest and most influential friends of Bohemian independence is Col. Theodore Roosevelt. He has taken a stand absolutely opposed to any compromise with the Central Empires. In his program of reconstruction which he continues to urge upon the public opinion of this country by pen and speech he always includes the creation of a Greater Bohemia as one of the essential conditions of a just and permanent peace. Bohemians owe a vast debt of gratitude to Col. Roosevelt.

Another strong friend of Bohemia is the Chicago Evening Post. In its editorials it has advocated over and over again the justice of Bohemia’s claims. In an editorial article on December 17th, entitled “The Importance of Bohemia”, based on Andre Charadame’s powerful discussion in the Atlantic Monthly, the Post says: “M. Cheradame believes it possible to give both moral and material impulse to the spirit of revolt that has never been extinguished in Bohemia and its Slavic co-vassals. Assuredly it seems folly to refrain from the word that would quicken the flames. Justice to peoples who have suffered much, as well as