The Czechoslovak Review/Volume 2/The May Demonstrations in Prague

The May Demonstrations in Prague.

The fiftieth anniversary of the laying of the cornerstone for the Czech National Theatre in Prague came to be more than merely a milestone in the history of the Czech great theatre. It was made the occasion of the second congress of Austro-Hungarian oppressed nationalities, similar to the one held at Rome a month earlier.

All the Slavs of Austria, excepting the Ukrainians, were fully represented. The May meeting of 1918 was a far more representative Slav congress than the first gathering of Slavs held in Prague in 1848. Of especial importance was the strong Polish delegation, numbering 60 members. At its head were the following deputies: ex-Minister Dr. Glombinski, Count Adam Skarbek, Witos, Bojko, Wladimir Temajer, a very popular deputy and prominent painter, leaders of the Polish Socialist deputies, delegates of the two chief cities Lemberg and Gracow and of both the Polish Universities, many authors, journalists and decorative artists. Outside of the official Polish delegates of Galicia, a few unofficial delegates from Russian Poland and from Posnania managed to get across the German lines. Naturally, these men received a specially rousing welcome.

There were over 200 Jugoslav guests; 6 Slovenian deputies; 5 Croatian deputies from Austria; 7 from Hungary, mayors of Laibach and Agram; deputies Kristan and Demetrovic for the Slovenian and Croatian Socialists, a Serbian Socialist deputy from Bosnia, and representatives of various organizations and corporations and cities. There were 22 guests from Slovakland and delegates even from Prussian Silesia; only the Ukrainians and the Lusatian Serbs were prevented from reaching Prague. Of course, guests from Serbia were not expected, but greetings from Belgrade did reach Prague any way.

The most important feature, however, was the presence of Italian delegates. Prague had always been the gathering place of all Slavs from all parts of Austria, but co-operation among the Slav and Latin subjects had been lacking, until war and the news of the Congress of Rome taught them that they must combine against their common oppressors.

The main celebration was held on May 16th in the National Museum on the St. Vaclav Square. It was presided over by Dr. Karel Kramář, a man who had spent two years in jail merely because he had been the parliamentary leader of the Czechs before the war. After welcoming the Slav and Italian guests he struck the keynote of the celebration in a speech, the character of which is indicated by the following quotations:

“We will not be satisfied with what Vienna graciously concedes to us. We want to be in full control of all our national life; we need no one for master or guardian; we can stand firmly on our own feet and follow resolutely after ideals of liberty and justice; we have enough strength and perseverance and fear no threats; we demand for our nation full liberty of national life, for the whole nation, including the millions of our tortured brothers in the Tatra Mountains. We demand liberty for our brothers, the Slovaks . . . The hearts of all who today all over the Bohemian lands celebrate this memorable day are full of oyful confidence that we shall live long enough to hear in our national theatre the sound of jubilee over our freedom, of the final victory of justice and right and free determination of all nations.”

The Slovaks could not send their parliamentary deputies, for their have none, but they sent their most distinguished man, the poet Orsag-Hviezdoslav, who said:

“I do not come to you as an official delegate for I have not the credentials, I come as an ordinary, but enthusiastic bearer of hearty greetings of the modest Slovak branch to you, the strong Czech branch. So near are the two branches and yet so distant . . . I bring you a simple wreath whose very blossom burns with a passionate love, and lay it at the feet of Mother Prague . . . I come to catch the spark of enthusiasm and determination that leap from your eyes, I come to pluck from your garden blossoms of hope and carry it all back home.”

After him came the spokesman of the Poles, John Kasprowicz, professor of literature at the University of Lemberg, the eloquent poet of Polish democracy. He brought greetings from the entire Polish nation and assured the Czechs that the Polish and the Czechoslovak aspirations were closely united and would win.

The deputy Conci spoke for the oppressed Italian people of Austria and said:

“"Nothing brings people so closely together as common persecution, which steels the character of the nation so that both you and we may write upon our shields “frangor non flector“ (I will break before I will bend). When I saw with what determined perseverance you opposed unjust persecution, when I saw with what warm devotion and enthusiasm the whole nation gathered around its persecuted leaders, I realized that your nation could not die, but that its just cause would win. It is my devout wish that this may happen soon. It is the wish of the oppressed for the oppressed, the wish of the representative of a people that suffered and still suffers under heavy injuries.”

For the Slovenians spoke Dr. Ivan Tavcar of Laibach; for the Croatians Dr. Stefan Srkulj, mayor of the capital city of Agram, and for the Serbians Vojislav Sola, vice-presidet of the dissolved Bosnian diet. The whole tone of the speeches of which, of course, the most radical parts have been eliminated by the censor, was in favor of a new Slav Triple Alliance: the Czechoslovak, Polish and Jugo-slav States free and independent in close alliance with western democracies and in full understanding with Roumania and Italy.

After the official celebration there were secret conferences of the spokesmen of the different races of Austria-Hungary and it was decided the publish a common Slav-Latin declaration setting forth the unshakable will of these races to accomplish a free national life on the basis of the right of each nation to settle its own destinies. The declaration condemns completely all treaties made between states, when they are not based upon the will of the peoples. The delegates whose names are appended to the declaration pledge themselves to act with energy and complete harmony for the realization of their aims, and in the name of their peoples promise each other full support. The text of the declaration has not yet reached beyond the boundaries of Austria, but the world has already heard by telegraph that during the celebration the people of Prague cheered for the Entente, for Clemenceau, Lloyd George and President Wilson, and that the police were powerless to stop the singing of the “Marseillaise”. “Masaryk’s shadow was present”, say the German papers. Not his shadow only, but his spirit—the spirit of the revolution, the consciousness that the Allies are with them, was what filled Prague during the May meetings.

The man who was condemned by the Austrian Government to death as traitor was cheered over and over again, and the monuments, the walls and sidewalks all over Prague were marked with gigantic inscriptions: “Hurrah for Masaryk! Hurrah for Kramář! Long Live the Entente!” The government went as far as it dared. The police tried to break up the crowds and a number were killed and wounded, and the jails were crowded. The foreign guests were all ordered to leave Prague at once, the “Národní Listy” was suppressed. All that will not change the fact that the Slavs and Latins of Austria-Hungary, under the leadership of the Czechs, are in open revolt against the monarchy and the dynasty. They are opposed to the German cause and they look for deliverance to the Allies.

 

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