The Czechoslovak Review/Volume 1/The movement for independence

THE MOVEMENT FOR INDEPENDENCE

The evil turn of affairs in Russia has affected the cause of Bohemia even more unfavorably than it has hurt the general cause of the Allies. Separate peace by Russia would leave the Czechoslovak army at the mercy of the Germans, just as it would spell the ruin of the Roumanian army. The Bolsheviki revolt came at the very time when the Bohemians and Slovaks in Russia had achieved a splendid organization which would have made its influence felt on the eastern front. Six months of work by Masaryk in Russia smoothed out all differences among the Bohemian settlers in Russia and the 300,000 Czechoslovak prisoners of war. The army has grown to 40,000 men in the field with hundreds volunteering every day and with the highest income tax in the world paid monthly by every member of the Czechoslovak nation in Russia. Due to the great work of Masaryk and his coadjutors in the Czechoslovak National Council Bohemia secured a position analogous to that of Belgium or Serbia—the home country under the heel of the oppressor, but a temporary government with its own army and independent finances in existence on the territory of an allied country, helping to defeat the common enemy and establish the independence of Bohemia.

 

Czechoslovak Soldiers, Former Prisoners of War, Training in France.

Czechoslovak Soldiers, Former Prisoners of War, Training in France.

 

What will become of the great work accomplished in Russia, of the fighters, of the other prisoners working in munition factories and supporting by their voluntary tax the Bohemian army and government depends on the outcome of the Russian muddle. Bohemians are thankful that their great leader, at least, is safe and well and that his personal ity will surely make itself felt in the difficult Russian situation. It appears from a cablegram recently received by the Bohemian National Alliance| in Chicago that Professor Masaryk was for a number of days in great danger of life in Moscow. He arrived there on November 10th from Petrograd and reached with difficulty the Hotel Metropole. As it happened, this hotel became the headquarters of the cadets in their fight for the control of Moscow. The bolsheviki troops occupied the great theatre on the other side of the square on which the hotel is located. For four days the cadet headquarters were under fire of machine guns and rifles and had to surrender on the fifth day, when the bolsheviki brought up heavy guns. There were five hundred guests in the hotel and during Thursday and Friday negotiations were carried on by them with the victors for their release. Masaryk was made the spokesman of fifty foreigners, including British air men and three Americans, and on Friday all were released.

During the earlier disorders in Russia previous to the bolsheviki revolution Masaryk observed strictly the principle that the Czechs and their army were only guests on Russian soil and could not take part in the internal quarrels of Russia. Whether any subsequent developments would make him change this attitude we are unable to say. The possibility, however, must be kept in mind that if the rule of the fanatics now in control remains unshaken and they succeed in making peace with Germany, then the Czechoslovak army will have to cut their way through to freedom. In the eyes of Austria all the prisoners who enlisted in this army or supported the anti-Austrian movement are traitors subject to capital punishment. None of them will surrender to the Austrians without a fight. The developments in Russia are watched with extreme anxiety by Bohemians and Slovaks in this country. They are thankful that Masaryk is there to guide the people who look up to him for guidance.

The formation of a Czechoslovak army in France is proceeding at a satisfactory pace. There is great enthusiasm for it in the camps of Bohemian prisoners of war in Italy and France, who are eager to strike a blow for the liberation of their motherland. The picture shown here is one of Bohemian prisoners of war who surrendered to the Roumanians and were subsequently transported to France, where they volunteered for service against Germany. More than a thousand volunteers from the United States have by this time joined the war prisoner volunteers in the training camps in France, and more are coming in continually.

The Czechoslovak army in France claims naturally the largest share of interest among the workers in the cause of Bohemian independence in the United States. The regular work of keeping up enthusiasm for war among people of Czech blood, collecting subscriptions for the support of the movement and bringing home to America the danger of Pan-German Central Europe is kept up by the Bohemian National Alliance. A number of largely attended mass meetings were held in November under the auspices of the Alliance, to hear M. Marcel Knecht, assistant editor of the Paris Matin, who hails from Lorraine, and in his public addresses in this country couples the redemption of Alsace-Lorraine with the redemption of Bohemia.