Bohemia under Hapsburg Misrule: A Study of the Ideals and Aspirations of the Bohemian and Slovak Peoples, as They Relate to and Are Affected by the Great European War
History
Bohemia under Hapsburg Misrule: A Study of the Ideals and Aspirations of the Bohemian and Slovak Peoples, as They Relate to and Are Affected by the Great European War
The Germans have succeeded in making the Bohemian culture almost
identical with theirs, and it is difficult to find in the German any
traits that can be called specifically Bohemian. Only a long future
can tell whether there are actually inherent psychological differences
which can account for aggressiveness in the one and passivity in the
other. We may assume, however, that we have not had time to test
the subtle forces which work on social groups and give them a cast
of thought that seems biologically inherent. No Slavic people has
exhibited the individualistic character of the Teuton, but we have no
assurance that this Teuton habit of mind is the result of anything
except the history and the philosophy which have been appropriated
in comparatively modern times. There are two ways of explaining the
relative passivity of the Slavic mind. One is the fact that having
been for so long a subject people they have no traditions of success.
Even the Russians are ruled by a bureaucracy with which they have no
sympathy. The other is that the Bohemians and the others have retained
the democratic characteristics which are common to the Slavs. There has
been some influence from both.
One peculiarity of Bohemians both in America and Bohemia is the habit
of criticising any of their own people who acquire any eminence or
leadership in any field. One never feels free to speak with enthusiasm
about a successful Bohemian lest he invite a dash of cold water. There
seems to be universal suspicion of the motives or methods underlying
the success. If a leader were to appear he would not get followers.
Such a habit of mind can never bring anything that corresponds to
imperialistic success. Count Lützow says “that the evil seed of hatred
and distrust sown by the oppressors in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries bears evil fruit up to the present day. Bohemian peasants
even now instinctively distrust the nobles of their own race who are in
full sympathy with the national cause. This antagonism has frequently
contributed to the failure of the attempts of the Bohemians to recover
their autonomy.”
There is a great difference in an individual or a people that has been
accustomed to accomplishment. The attitude in Bohemia has been that of
pessimistic resignation. Their devotion to certain ideals and causes
is magnificent, but the inability to organize unanimously is indicated
by the eleven political parties, most of which are nationalistic and
none of which has the active co-operation of the masses. They follow
an ideal rather than a person, and the symbol of the ideal is always
a person who is dead. The look is thus backward rather than hopefully
forward. Hus is the great hero, but also Comenius, Palacký, Havlíček,
and many others of more or less remoteness are the real leaders, and
the reinstatement of national self-direction and the Bohemian language
are the ideal objects.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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