Page:The Constitution of the Czechoslovak Republic (1948).pdf/13

 We, the Czechoslovak People, declare that we are firmly resolved to build up our liberated State as a People's democracy which will ensure to us a peaceful road to socialism.

We are determined to defend with all our strength the achievements of our national and democratic revolution against all the endeavours of domestic and foreign reaction, as we have proved afresh before the whole world by the action we took in defence of the People's Democratic Order in February 1948.

We mutually pledge ourselves that our two nations shall labour at this great task together, hand in hand, thus continuing the progressive and humanitarian traditions of our history.

''The Czechs and Slovaks, two brotherly nations, members of the great Slav family of nations, lived already a thousand years ago jointly in a single State, and jointly accepted from the East the highest achievement of the culture of that era—Christianity. As the first in Europe they raised on their standards, during the Hussite revolution, the ideas of liberty of thought, government of the people, and social justice.'' For centuries on the Czech and Slovak people fought the feudal exploiters and the German Hapsburg Dynasty for social and national

The term "nation" (národ) denotes throughout the linguistically and culturally distinct Czech and Slovak ethnic groups respectively; the term "People" (lid) denotes the entire population as a political unit. Hence, "national" (národní) means "pertaining to the Czech (or Slovak) nation" and is not synonymous, as in current English usage, with "of or pertaining to the State" (cf. also esp. Part V).—Tr. 

9