funds, and I once more promised that I myself would also send money. I was particularly to emphasize the fact in Prague that the political émigrés of other nations, notably the Poles, were well off, while ours would be faced with considerable difficulties. Professor Masaryk intended to apply to acquaintances in America, but he insisted that some serious step in this respect must be taken at home, for without money no political action could be carried on abroad.
Another point was the selection of people and methods of work. Masaryk asked me to lay stress upon the need for somebody else among our politicians to leave home, however difficult this might be, in order that our political émigrés could acquire more significance by reason of their numbers. He pointed out how many Jugoslav émigrés there were. In addition we should need political workers and journalists because our colonies abroad did not contain many suitable persons for this purpose, and even those who were available were imperfectly acquainted with our conditions at home.
Finally, he agreed with Svatkovsky to send me with a message to Dr. Kramář. Svatkovsky had previously been indirectly in touch with the entourage of Dr. Kramář, whose political tendencies he had shared at the beginning of the war. It had been his endeavour to bring our affairs into a purely Russian sphere of influence, and he was anxious for Russian troops to reach Prague and attend to our interests there. At the same time, however, he was familiar with the conditions in Petrograd and he regarded them with the more critical eye of a Western European observer. He agreed with many of Masaryk’s criticisms and misgivings, and during this first conversation he quite openly expressed to me his own fears. In particular, even at that time what he demanded from our people, with their Slavonic and Russian sympathies, was to be energetic, hardworking, venturesome, and unselfish, for he did not suppose that the victory of Russia would be an easy and simple matter. Moreover, he was aware of the alarm in Western Europe with regard to the expansion of Russia, and he was therefore cautious about all those political plans in which Russia was involved.
Since then it has developed into a national movement, with a membership of over 350,000. The Sokol funds, here referred to, consist of the subscriptions of the members, which are used for the purpose of establishing gymnasiums, libraries, and other centres of physical and intellectual culture.
