Until we stopped them they tried to disseminate “patriotic untruths, forgetting that falsehoods can be exposed. Our enemies used these untruths against us as, for instance, in the case of the falsification of a speech which a Czech Member of Parliament, Stříbrný, had made.
A third rule is not to praise one’s own goods, like inferior commercial travellers. Intelligent and honest policy must accompany intelligent and honest propaganda.
In the chief cities of Allied countries I spoke to big audiences and small. Opponents and pacifists I visited personally, and got into touch with the Universities, particularly with historians and economists. In England, as I have said, the name of Hus helped us. In a word, a policy of culture needs cultivated propaganda. Newspapers were influenced by discussions with their proprietors and editors, and also by writing for them. I wrote many articles and gave interviews myself. We established press bureaux to keep in touch with and inform newspapers and agencies, e.g. the Czech Press Bureau at the end of 1916 in London, and the Slav Press Bureau in America from May 1918 onwards. As early as possible I sought to promote the publication of periodicals which, while political in character, should be scientifically edited. Such an one was Denis’s “La Nation Tchèque.” Later on we had in Paris a strictly scientific review, “La Monde Slave.” In Great Britain and elsewhere Seton-Watson’s excellent weekly “The New Europe,” which appeared from October 1916 onwards, was of the greatest assistance. I urged Seton-Watson to publish it because I recognized his uncommon capacity, political keenness and breadth of view. As regards Europe its standpoint was identical with ours though, in Italian policy, I was more moderate than its editor. The “New Europe” was eagerly read in France and Italy as well as in Great Britain, and it served as a guide for our organs abroad.
Nor was our propaganda solely literary. We took a shop in Piccadilly Circus, one of the busiest corners of London, fitted it up like a bookseller’s window, showed maps of our country and of Central Europe, together with the latest news about ourselves and the enemy and denials of untrue rumours and reports. We founded an Anglo-Czech Society and used Chambers of Commerce for special purposes. In short, we left no stone unturned.
My whole past proved advantageous to me, especially my controversy with Aehrenthal over the “Friedjung” forgeries and my work for the Southern Slavs in general. My book
