Part 23

In the fourth year of this terrible war, which has already cost the nations numberless sacrifices in blood and treasure, the first peace efforts have been inaugurated. We, the Czech members of the Austrian Reichsrat, which, through the verdicts of incompetent military tribunals, has been deprived of a number of its Slav Deputies and Czech Deputies to the dissolved and as yet unsummoned Diet of the Kingdom of Bohemia, and to the equally unsummoned Diets of Moravia and Silesia, recognize the declarations of the Czech Deputies in the Reichsrat, and deem it our duty emphatically to declare, in the name of the Czech Nation and of its oppressed and forcibly silenced Slovak branch of Hungary, our attitude toward the reconstruction of international relations.

When the Czech Deputies of our regenerated nation expressed themselves during the Franco-Prussian war on the international European problems they solemnly declared in their memorandum of Dec. 8, 1870, that "all nations, great or small, have an equal right to self-determination, and their complete equality should always be respected. Only from the recognition of the equality of all nations and from mutual respect of the right of self-determination can come true equality and fraternity, a general peace and true humanity."

We, the Deputies of the Czech Nation, true even today to these principles of our ancestors, have, therefore, greeted with joy the fact that all States based upon democratic principles, whether they are belligerent or neutral, now accept with us the right of nations to free self-determination as a guarantee of a general and lasting peace.

Also the new Russia accepted the principle of self-determination of nations during its attempts for a general peace as a fundamental condition of peace. The nations were freely to determine their fate and decide whether they want to live in an independent State of their own or whether they choose to form one State in common with other nations.

DEMANDS INDEPENDENCE

On the other hand, the Austro-Hungarian delegate declared, in the name of the Quadruple Alliance, that the question of the self-determination of those nations which have not hitherto enjoyed political independence should be solved in a constitutional manner within the existing State. In view of this declaration we deem it our duty to declare, in the name of the Czecho-Slovak Nation, that this point of view of the Austro-Hungarian representative is not our point of view. On the contrary, we have in all our declarations and proposals opposed this solution, because we know, from our own numberless bitter experiences, that it means nothing but the negation of the principle of self-determination. We indignantly express our regret that our nation was deprived of its political independence and of the right of self-determination, and that by means of artificial electoral statutes we were left to the mercy of the German minority and of the Government of the centralized German bureaucracy.

Our brother Slovaks became the victims of Magyar brutality and of unspeakable violence in a State which, notwithstanding all its apparent constitutional liberties, remains the darkest corner of Europe, and in which the non-Magyars, who form the majority of the population, are ruthlessly oppressed by the ruling minority, extirpated, denationalized from childhood, unrepresented in Parliament and civil service, deprived of public schools, as well as of all private educational institutions.

The Constitution, to which the Austro-Hungarian representative refers, falsified even the justice of the general suffrage by an artificial creation of an over-representation of the German minority in the Reichsrat, and its utter uselessness for the liberty of nations was clearly demonstrated during the three years of unscrupulous military absolutism during this war. Every reference to this Constitution, therefore, means, in reality, only a repudiation of the right of self-determination for the non-German nations of Austria who are at the mercy of the Germans; and it means an especially cruel insult and injury to the non-Magyar nations in Hungary, where the Constitution is nothing but a means of shameful domination by the oligarchy of a few Magyar aristocratic families, as was again proved by the recent electoral reform proposal.

THE SLAVS IN ALL PARTS OF AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, SINCE THE SIGNING OF THE BREST-LITOVSK TREATY, HAVE DEVELOPED AN ORGANIZED OPPOSITION TO THE RULE OF THE GERMAN MINORITY AT VIENNA. IN THE NORTHWEST THE CZECHS OF BOHEMIA AND THE SLOVAKS OF MORAVIA, CONSTITUTING THE CZECHOSLOVAK MOVEMENT, HAVE TAKEN PART IN SERIOUS RIOTS AT PRAGUE AND ELSEWHERE ON BEHALF OF INDEPENDENCE. THE POLES AND RUTHENIANS OF GALICIA AND BUKOWINA ARE SUPPORTING THEM POLITICALLY. IN THE SOUTHWEST THE SLOVENES, CROATS, AND SERBIANS HAVE DEVELOPED A STRONG JUGOSLAV MOVEMENT, DEMANDING THE CREATION OF A NEW STATE HEADED BY THE KING OF SERBIA. THIS MOVEMENT RECENTLY GAINED THE SUPPORT OF THE ITALIANS BOTH IN AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND IN ITALY.

SELF-DETERMINATION

Our nation longs with all the democracies of the world for a general and lasting peace. But our nation is fully aware that no peace can be permanent except a peace which will abolish old injustice, brutal force, and the predominance of arms, as well as the predominance of States and nations over other nations, and which will assure a free development to all nations, great or small, and which will liberate especially those nations which still are suffering under foreign domination. That is why it is necessary that this right of free national development and to self-determination of nations, great or small, to whatever State they may belong, should become the foundation of future international right, a guarantee of peace, and of a friendly co-operation of nations, as well as a great ideal which will liberate humanity from the terrible horrors of a world war.

We, deputies of the Czech nation, declare that a peace which would not bring our nation full liberty could not be and would not mean a peace to us, but only a beginning of a new, desperate, and continuous struggle for our political independence, in which our nation would strain to the utmost its material and moral forces. And in that uncompromising struggle it would never relax until its aim had been achieved. Our nation asks for independence on the ground of its historic rights, and is imbued with the fervent desire to contribute toward the new development of humanity on the basis of liberty and fraternity in a free competition with other free nations which our nation hopes to accomplish in a sovereign, equal, democratic, and socially just State of its own, built upon the equality of all its citizens within the historic boundaries of the Bohemian lands and of Slovakia, guaranteeing full and equal national rights to all minorities.

Guided by these principles, we solemnly protest against the rejection of the right of self-determination at the peace negotiations, and demand that, in the sense of this right, all nations, including, therefore, also the Czecho-Slovaks, be guaranteed participation and full freedom of defending their rights at the Peace Conference.

WAGRAM GATHERING

On March 2 a gathering of Jugoslavs met at Zagrub (Wagram) which included the Jugoslav Deputies of the Reichsrat, practically the entire membership of the Croatian Sabor, (the Legislature which exercises a limited amount of local autonomy,) and other representatives of the nation. According to the Hrvatska Drzhava, extracts from whose accounts have been translated by the Serbian Press Bureau in Geneva, they contained the following statement:

After having discussed the general political and national situation the assembly has agreed on the necessity of a concentration of all parties and groups which, from the point of view of national self-government, demand the creation of a national and independent States of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs founded on the principle of democracy.

The language of this passage parallels the Declaration of Corfu, by which exiled leaders of the Jugoslav movement demanded the union of the Jugoslav territories in Austria-Hungary with Serbia and Montenegro into one kingdom under the Karageorgevitch dynasty. Austrian papers at once became agitated because there was no reference to the carrying out of this aim within the framework of the Hapsburg Empire. The fact that many, if not most, of those present were known to be in accord with the Declaration of Corfu, and the suspicion that practically all of them favored it at heart, caused many protests against the "introduction of the policy of Belgrade" in the Viennese press.

The matter was further complicated by the activity of the police in the affair, they having broken up the first session of the assembly and posted a guard around the hall. Demonstrations of the students against this, which seem to have gone no further than parading up and down the streets singing Slavic national songs, were broken up by the police with the utmost violence, and many were arrested.

This did not prevent a large gathering, principally of students, at the station the next day to bid farewell to Dr. Koroshetz, leader of the Jugoslav Club in the Reichsrat. Dr. Koroshetz is taking the lead in the organization of a Jugoslav National Council of some twenty-four members, whose aims are euphemistically described for the present as "to arrange the tactics of the general Jugoslav policy."

The economic conditions which contribute to the revolutionary ferment in the Jugoslav countries were set forth in a speech in the Reichsrat in the course of a budget discussion just before this assembly by Dr. Matko Leginja, Deputy from Istria and Vice Chairman of the Jugoslav Club. He quoted the appeal from an Istrian commune which ended:

We beg, ask, and demand bread, peace, and the return of our brethren, fathers, and sons to console us, to see that our fields are worked properly, and that there should be some one with us to close the eyes of the dying parents.

Of many instances of starvation which he gave was one of a parish in which in 1912 there were 67 births and 23 deaths. In 1917 there were 23 births and 68 deaths, without counting those who died in military service.

CONFERENCE AT ROME

The significance of the whole movement was deepened by the Conference of Oppressed Austrian Nationalities held at Rome on April 10, when a full understanding with Italy was reached. The territorial and other questions at issue between the Italians and Jugoslavs were settled, and the Poles joined the other delegates in the demand for a complete overthrow of the present Austrian Empire, declaring that the future of Poland lay in a firm alliance with the reconstituted nations of the Czecho-Slovaks, the Jugoslavs, and the Rumanians. The text of the formal declaration then adopted, is as follows:

1. Every people proclaims it to be its right to determine its own nationality and national unity and complete independence.

2. Every people knows that the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy is an instrument of German domination, and a fundamental obstacle to the realization of its rights to free development and self-government.

3. The Congress recognizes the necessity of fighting against the common oppressors.

The representatives of the Jugoslavs agree:

That the unity and independence of the Jugoslav Nation is considered of vital importance by Italy.

That the deliverance of the Adriatic Sea and its defense from any enemy is of capital interest to the two peoples.

That territorial controversies will be amicably settled on the principle of nationality, and in such a manner as not to injure the vital interests of the two nations; interests which will be taken into account at the peace conferences.

The Polish delegates added their declaration that they considered Germany to be Poland's chief enemy, and that they believed the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to be indispensable for the obtaining of their independence from Germany.

ITALY'S ACTIVE HELP

As a result of this important conference, a separate section was established by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to look after the propaganda in favor of the Allies in the Austro-Hungarian countries and in their armies. The Austrian Premier, Dr. von Seidler, stated in his last speech before the adjourning of the Reichsrat that the Austro-Hungarian Government was fully aware of this propaganda and had taken measures to combat it. A Slovene paper, the Slovenic, commented as follows:

The German newspapers have begun at the same time to call the attention of the Jugoslavs to Italian imperialistic aims and to show all at once great devotion to our country, which, they say, is menaced by the Italian peril. With a special affection for our people, an affection never known before, they urge us to beware of our Italian neighbors, enumerating all the points of the London understanding with regard to our territory.

In publishing this agreement the Grazer Tagblatt, that ultra national German organ, wished to give us a political lesson of which they might have saved themselves the trouble. It was superfluous, if for no other reason, because it came from German nationalists, whose counsels we can never follow.

The Austrian Government and the German newspapers are troubling themselves in vain as to how to circumvent the Italian propaganda. It would be of more importance if they would take care to improve their system of government, the oppression and injustice of which only help the work of the propaganda. (Further thirty lines censored.)

PROTEST IN REICHSRAT

The Czecho-Slovak Deputies in the Reichsrat introduced a motion on April which was suppressed by the Vienna censorship. In the name of the Slovak Parliamentary Union, the motion, introduced by Deputy Kalinov, demanded that the Reichsrat refuse to sanction the imperial ordinance of May 1, 1915, which extended the age of service in the Landsturm from 43 to 50 years. The arguments presented in support of this demand, as summarized by a Berne correspondent of the Paris Temps, constitute a protest of all the Czecho-Slovak nations:

1. Against the war.

2. Against the militarism which, directed by the absolute will of the monarch, has enchained the free will of nations.

3. Against the military tyranny that has installed itself in Bohemia, and which is militarizing every stratum of society.

4. Against the spirit and tendencies of the army leaders, who have made of the army an instrument of Germanization and Magyarization.

5. Against absolutism, because the law has been interpreted in an unconstitutional manner, without the consent of the Reichsrat.

6. Against the dual system and the will for annexation, against peace based on violence, and, still more emphatically, against the shameful exploitation of Czecho-Slovak territory through requisitions and incessant contributions.

The Czecho-Slovak Deputies added:

An attempt is being made to starve our country, which was the granary of the whole Hapsburg Monarchy, and whose population, alike in villages and cities, is now suffering atrociously from famine and misery.

Our declaration is, above all, a unanimous manifestation of the collective will of the nation. It proves:

That the Czecho-Slovak Nation is firmly resolved to dispose henceforth of its own life and goods and children by the sole agency of its freely elected representatives.

That our nation and, first and foremost, our women demand a general and just peace, which alone can bring liberty and independence to the nation, and which alone can cause justice to reign in the whole world.

That we wish henceforth to live our own life in a State of our own, as a member of a society of free nations, a society that will solve without violence the questions that arise between peoples, depending upon a friendly understanding, and thus bringing happiness to liberated humanity.

When the Austro-Hungarian Government under Premier von Seidler found itself confronted by a hostile Slavic majority in the Reichsrat, threatening the defeat of its war budgets, Emperor Charles empowered the Premier to "adjourn Parliament forthwith and inaugurate measures to render impossible the resumption of its activities." This was done on May 4. The Parliament had been composed of 233 Germans, 108 Czechs, 92 Poles, 33 Ruthenians, 42 Jugoslavs, and 19 Italians. The Germans had considerably less than a majority.

In another respect the suppression of Parliament was viewed as a concession to the Magyars. Those holding reign in Hungary since 1867 had been resentful at the claims of the Czechs and the Jugoslavs, fearing that the Government would be forced to make some concessions to them. If the project of unity were realized Hungary would be reduced to about half of its present size. On several occasions the Magyars had called on the Government at Vienna to suppress the Parliamentary agitation, threatening to form a separate Hungarian army and impose restrictions on the exportation of foodstuffs.

The Government, in a public statement, ascribed its action to the food crisis, which was very acute, adding: "The Government will devote its entire strength to the economic problem and will try to create conditions required to enable the population to hold out."

THE PREMIER'S ADMISSION

A Vienna dispatch stated that the Premier, addressing a conference of party leaders, had demanded that the Parliamentary sittings be postponed, and added that, unless they took this step, the Government would prevent the sessions by force. In the debate that followed he had admitted the existence of many problems which must receive consideration, especially that of the agitation for a South Slavic State, but had added:

Discussion of this problem, however, is impossible at present, because it concerns not only Austria but also Hungary and Bosnia. But one thing is certain--if such a State were created it could be only under the sceptre of his Majesty, as a component part of the monarchy. It could not include those parts of Austrian territory which border on the Adriatic and are closely connected with districts where the German language is spoken. But national aspirations exist also in these districts, and it is only natural that the national wishes of the Southern Slavs be duly considered.

In the course of discussion of the question of revising the Constitution on the basis of national autonomy, Premier von Seidler announced that in Bohemia the Government would speedily issue regulations providing for the appointment of administrators for districts inhabited by distinct nationalities. After sounding a warning against inciting nationalities against one another, he said:

Our entire military and political situation has reached a climax. The next few months will bring a big decision. I am firmly convinced the decision on the battlefield will be in favor of Austria and her allies. Our economic, especially our food, conditions are very serious, but they are not at all desperate. To hold on now to a final happy decision is the vital question for the State. It therefore is necessary that, unhampered by Parliamentary confusion, the Government be left in a position to devote all its strength to these tasks.

FOOD SHORTAGE

The Austro-Hungarian Empire was at that time facing a dozen different crises, all aggravated by the problem of food. Even the racial animosities, always threatening to overturn the unstable rule of the German and Magyar minority over the Slavic majority, was inflamed into bitterness by sectional jealousies over food distribution. These crises reached a culmination in the decision of the Government to prorogue Parliament.

What straits the empire had reached were partially revealed by the Premier's speech to the party leaders, and also by the German official statement that all food supplies from the Ukraine during the month of May would be given to Austria-Hungary, on account of its greater need. Still more significant was Dr. von Seidler's admission, made public on May 4, that Austria was unable to feed the populations of North Tyrol and Northern Bohemia, and that he had, therefore, consented that the former be attached for provisioning purposes to Bavaria, and the latter to Saxony. This concession, the dispatch added, had been wrung from him by leaders of the German parties after a conference lasting six hours. It meant that for food supply purposes these portions of Austria were being annexed to Germany. The Austrian Government yielded with the greatest reluctance, realizing that the political consequences might be far-reaching. It was pointed out that this would accentuate the feud between the German and non-German races in Austria-Hungary, since the provinces affected are German-speaking, and would strengthen the agitation for the incorporation of Austria into a German federation.

The meeting of the German and Austrian Emperors at the German Great Headquarters on May 12 did not tend to allay fears of this nature. Though the results of the meeting remained secret, the belief was expressed in many quarters that it had constituted a formal acknowledgment of the subservient relations of Austria-Hungary toward the German Empire.

MARTIAL LAW IN PRAGUE

Shortly after the beginning of the war the Hungarian authorities suppressed the Slovak press almost in its entirety. Thus the Slovaks came to depend upon the Czech newspapers of Bohemia for their political and other information. On May 5 the Hungarian Government issued an order forbidding Czech newspapers from Bohemia and Moravia to circulate in Slovakia.

The whole Czech and Slovak population, indeed, was seething with hostility to the Imperial Government and its war policies. Prague, the capital of Bohemia, had become a centre for leaders of the Czecho-Slovaks, Jugoslavs, and Poles in their agitation for independence. Demonstrations of an anti-German character became frequent, and Czechs and Jugoslavs paraded the streets shouting "Long live Wilson, Clemenceau, and Lloyd George!" The manifestations against the Austrian State began afresh on the evening of May 17, when the police made arrests, and culminated on May 20, when the Government declared Prague under martial law. All political meetings were prohibited, and the police issued a proclamation announcing that any further disorders would be met with violent measures.

One of the events that had aroused popular hostility was the suppression of the Czech newspaper Narodni Listi. The last copy of this paper contained the text of the oath taken at Prague by the Czecho-Slovak, Jugoslav, and Polish journalists, as follows: