able organizations like the “Czech Heart” was political as well as philanthropic.
The education which our people had enjoyed since our national renascence, came out in this work of detail and in their general discipline. The efforts of Dobrovský, Jungmann, Kollár, Palacký, Šafařík and Havlíček as well as those of Rieger, Sladkovský and their younger disciples, together with the influence of our literature, art and, above all, of our schools, had spread a political culture and a national consciousness of which the result was an imposing unanimity. Encouragement and strength were derived from Smetana’s music, for Smetana himself had, in his youth, taken part in the revolution of 1848 and his operas foreshadowed our liberation. His “Libuša” is more than a prophecy; it is the musical festival of a nation inwardly set free. Or, to take another example. In those days at Prague Palacký’s writings were sold out. Thinking people immersed themselves in his national programme and in the testament of the Father of the Nation—an eloquent proof of political maturity. The quality and the level of our education I measure by the fact that neither at home nor, I believe, abroad, was a traitor to be found. Štefánik’s probably baseless suspicion I have already mentioned; and I need only say that whereas, according to the latest estimates, 285 Germans were condemned for high treason, only 140 such cases are recorded in Allied countries.
Nor should the influence of our national institutions for physical and moral culture, such as the Sokols and other associations, be overlooked. A nation is an organized whole. These agencies, together with our political parties, organized it. Yet it needs a centre for union and cohesion if not for leadership. In our case leadership was supplied by the press, particularly by those journals which, with tactical skill, withstood the military terrorism. By purposeful adroitness they revived sinking spirits, using language incomprehensible to the enemy though comprehensible to every Czech; and the necessary point of cohesion was provided by a few political leaders working in unison. The so-called “Maffia” played an important part from the outset, directing the struggle at home, keeping up communications with us abroad, maintaining the fighting spirit and, at the same time, disseminating news from the Allied world.
As regards the political parties themselves, the lack of unity, the personal and political dispersion that were so noticeable before the war, continued for some time after the war.
Y
