were strictly Marxist in theory, I did not approve. I continued, however, to be a contributor to Právo Lidu up to the beginning of the war, even after I had entered Masaryk’s party. I had always been on good terms with the Social Democratic Party, in which I had close friends and excellent opportunities for working.
In the Progressive Party,[1] which I entered shortly afterwards, but in which, on the whole, I did little practical work, I belonged to a kind of moderate opposition. I had always been opposed to “diehard Realism,” which seemed to me to lack political and vital qualities, besides being rigid, doctrinaire, and sometimes petty. In its essence it was non-revolutionary and non-radical, despite the fact that it was uncompromising in the forms it assumed. I worked with the younger men and sought a closer co-operation with the radical elements in our public life, aiming at the formation of a large group with progressive tendencies in political and social matters.
(b) My Philosophical Preparations
3
My scientific and philosophical study during these years had confronted me with the necessity of adjusting the struggle within me to a definite philosophical attitude and system. This was what I had been striving after throughout my ten years of study and preparation. The four years of war supplemented in a practical manner what I had studied theoretically; they brought my theories into harmony with the realities of life.
When I joined the University I had already devoted some time to the study of Socialism and Masaryk’s Realism. From this I had retained what I was then capable of absorbing. In the case of Realism this consisted more of the negative side, such as the objection to exaggerated nationalism, to demagogy, to jingoism, to superficiality in all political, literary, and social questions, the objection to political and literary romanticizing. It had provided me also with the realistic method of working. As regards Socialism, I acquired, above all, a leaning towards
- ↑ The Progressive (Realist) Party, founded 1900 from among the adherents of Professor Masaryk. It was recruited mainly from intellectual circles, and although not numerically strong it had a considerable influence on other parties.
