I saw the impossibility of convincing Dr. Šmeral. I had an unpleasant impression, by no means due only to Šmeral. He, after all, was looked upon at that time as a serious and prominent politician and everybody without exception counted upon him. He was a decisive personality in the Czech camp, and there were not many who were his equal. But what I felt then and what I feel to-day is this: How gross was the ignorance of conditions, how defective the philosophical and political training in our ranks!
I attempted to explain to Dr. Šmeral that the Czech working classes must also desire the destruction of Austria and Hungary and the establishment of a Czech State, in which they would be better off than they were then. Šmeral’s reply to this was: “I agree. But I shall wait until your political ideas and your plans have met with success. I pledge you my word that if you are successful all my endeavours after the war will be directed to ensure that the Czech proletariat shall abstain from class-warfare for a period of ten years and shall help to develop the State.”
We parted and did not meet again for the rest of the war. But Dr. Šmeral continued to follow my activities, and he obtained much information from various sources. Twice in the spring of 1915 he sent me a message that the police were after me, and he warned me to be careful as I should be arrested. I was grateful to him for the genuine interest he took in me.
I did not meet Dr. Šmeral again until 1920, just before his first visit to Russia. We talked about the past. He admitted that he had been wrong and I had been right.
(c) Professor Masaryk Leaves for Abroad
8
At the beginning of December 1914 Professor Masaryk decided to go to Italy to view the situation abroad once more. He established further points of contact and prepared a definite plan of activity abroad. He intended to return to Bohemia once more, to organize his connections with Prague, to talk matters over finally with various persons in the political world, and then to leave once and for all.
Before his departure Professor Masaryk gave me a detailed{C}
