Czechs and Their Awakening

Abstract

The European movement that brought about the French Revolution and resulting unrest had a profound influence on all Slavic peoples, including our own. This movement coincided with the beginning of our national revival.

Masaryk’s first experience with practical politics in the Vienna parliament ended in frustration. Disappointed with the radical, but aimless rhetoric of many of the Czech politicians and looking for a stronger theoretical base for his public activities, Masaryk resigned his parliamentary seat in 1893 and concentrated his energies on writing. In an amazing creative thrust in the years 1895-98 he produced several books dealing with the Czech problems. The best known of these works is Česká otázka (The Czech Question) in which Masaryk undertook an evaluation of the Czech renascence in the nineteenth century and outlined his political programme. The book, both inspiring and controversial, contained Masaryk’s principal statements onthe main trends of Czech history. With proselytising fervour Masaryk expounded his basic conviction that the Czechs have been directed on their historical path by a moral and religious ideal which found its best expression in the Czech Reformation. Česk otázka was published in the first edition in 1895 and republished at least five times until 1969. Substantial portions of the book appeared in an English translation in the anthology The Meaning of Czech History in 1974. The following text, selected from the anthology, includes parts of chapters one, two, three, and five. The excerpts show Masaryk’s interpretation of the Czech national revival and his characterisation of the leaders of this movement.