‘Our People is Free and Independent!’

Abstract

I, too, trust the Lord that after the storms of wrath, brought upon our heads through our own sins, the rule over things will return to thee, o Czech people. In this hope I name thee heir to everything I have inherited from my forefathers and preserved through troublesome, difficult times, as well as everything that has thrived through the good work of my sons and the blessing of the Lord. All this I bequeathe to thee.

The prophecy and prayer of Comenius has now been completely fulfilled. Our people is free and independent and is joining the society of European nations, respected and cheered by universal sympathy.

On 21 December 1918, after an absence of four years, Masaryk returned to Prague as the undisputed leader of the liberation movement and the elected first president of Czechoslovakia. The next day he addressed his first message to the members of the revolutionary National Assembly. The address, a remarkable historical document, is noteworthy as Masaryk’s own description and intrpretation of his revolutionary activities in Western Europe, Russia, and America, presented with his typical poignancy and matter-of-factness. The following text is the complete translation of the speech, as it was published in the collection Cesta demokracie (The Road of Democracy) in 1934.