EAST EUROPEN QUARTERLY
the purpose of improving the level of Czech science and culture, without avoiding sharp and fundamental criticism and by informing its readers about European affairs.
Modern Czech culture has not yet seen a more sophisticated program, one so closely intertwined with the world and domestic affairs as the one realized by Palacký. His conception could compete with that of other European cultures. Moreover, the program proved to be stimulating even in periods after Palacký.
Palacký was vigorous in proving the truth of his ideas through his own scholarly and literary work. His History of the Czech Nation in Bohemia and Moravia and his publications of valuable documents of old Czech literature were concrete attempts to introduce ancient Bohemia into modern Europe. Palacký always realized that only cultural work could defend Bohemia against the expansive German world and in merciless international competition.
František Palacký was a spokesman for the whole of the national movement which, even before the Revolution of March, 1848, was anxious to liberate Bohemia from foreign cultural oppression and to return her to her ancient glory. The incentive was provided by an extreme form of Czech nationalism which was impoperly regarded as chauvinism by Palacký’s opponents and later by some German historians. The whole of Palacky’s activity clearly proves his aversion to the very limited, uncritical, and megalomanic form of nationalism. Preferring the “universally human” principle of liberty and truth to nationalism, Palacký was always an apostle of humanity and national tolerance. Even in the face of injustice, he appealed to the nation: “Let us be moral and avoid injustice.” Palacký refused the ideology of the chosen nation. He felt that every nation lived and acted in dependence on other nations. No nation had been founded or lived in isolation. The fate of the Czech nation confirmed this notion. Czech culture reached the peak of its development under the direct influence of Western civilization during the reign of Charles IV.
Palacký struggled for genuine and high national consciousness because he considered it the bridge between primitive egoism and morality and humanity. Therefore, Palacký regarded national consciousness as an important cultural and moral factor and a prerequisite of a nation. It is logical that Palacký’s concept of art was always connected with a nation. Literature supported a nation, and a nation, in turn, determined its literature: the origin of Czech literature had been closely connected with the love of nation.
People were to be led by literature, not in the direction of national hatred or contempt for foreign culture, but toward understanding real
