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THE CZECHOSLOVAK REPU BUC, 1918-1938

the profound polilical and social changcs brought about by thc war, bul there was no olher solution that would bc niorc objcctivc.^a0 The invita-tion cxtcndcd to a few outstanding Czech national ligures witlioul pro-nounced political preferencc to join the National Committee was likcwisc based on party dccision, and thc members thus added werc allottcd to thc quotas of the individual polilical partics. The way the National Com-mittec was constitutcd clcarly foreshadowed thc futurę dccisivc role that polilical parties would play at thc expcnse of independent pcrsonalilics.

Party loyalty was traditionally paramount particularly in thc Czech provinces. Political parties werc relativcly little indueneed by shifts in public opinion and by events. A strong party discipline madę the position of the party leadership almost invulnerable. Moreover, thc existence of numerous Czech parties and the conscquent ncccssity to rcach a settlc-nient by compromise strengthened a pragmatic and realistic appraisal of the given possibililies and prevented ideology from becoming thc main criterion of Czech political life.

The National Conunittee, in which the agrarians and the Naticnal Democrals (State-Rights Dcmocrats) predominated, was faced with a host of extremely diilicult problems. Not onły did it have to organizc the administration and the armed forces of the new republic, but it was also całled upon to give the country generał polilical direction. By stressing the necessity of national unity, the committee managed to harmonize the radical dcmand of the socialist with thc morę conscrvativc oudook of the nonsocialist parties. Despite its revolutionary naturę, the National Com-mittee laid great stress on the maintenance of public order, which was achieved to a large degree by establishing legał continuity with thc de-funct Austro-Hungarian empire. The first act promulgatcd by the National Committee on Octobcr 28, 1918, stipulated that all Austro-Hungarian laws and ordinances should remain provisionally in force and that State and local administrativc and judicial organs inherited from thc old monarchy should carry on their activities under the authority of the National Committee.*⁷

The installation of the new power structure in Czechoslovakia did not represent any departure from the traditional model of Czech politics. The permanence of the Czech party system tended to reassure the Czedi people, fevercd with national enthusiasm and social unrest. Weil awarc that the formation of a legitimatc governmcnt was the first step toward consolidation, the National Committee procecdcd rapidly toward nor-malization of thc situation in the country. It feared the consequcnces of

*• Peroul ka, Budovani stńtu, i, 18.

27 Alois Kocman et al. (eds.), Boj o smer vyvoje ceskoslovenskeho statu [Struggle for the Direction of the Development of the Czechoslovak State) (2 yols.; Prague, 1965-69), 1, 113.

DEMOCRACY AND 1TS PROBLEMS, 1918-1920

a rcvoluUonary climatc in Europę, suspccting that many of the neighbor States migiit be willing to use thc threat of Bolshevism to win territorial conccssions from the Allicd pcaccmakcrs in Paris at Czechoslovakia’s cxpense. The founding of reprcscntativc dcmocratic institutions was yiewed as a prcrcquisite to thc successful conclusion of the futurę set-tlcmcnt of thc boundaries. The National Committee also fclt that its own security and aulhority reąuircd utmost stability and internal peace, for without public order it could hardly put up an effective fight against the increasingly yirulcnt influence of thc radicals.

In acting upon the country’s most urgent problems, thc National Committee showed aflirmative, crcativc, and responsible leadership. On Oeto-ber 29, 1918, it took over the majority of the formerly Austrian cml servants and the police forces in the Czech provinces, which assured con-tinucd smooth functioning of thc State administralion and public order in those provinces. On Novcmber 9, 1918, to satisfy popular clamor for land reform, the National Committee issued a decree suspending the right of great landowners to dispose of their estates until the futurę Czcchoslovak National Assembly decided the land question.ⁱ⁸

Whatevcr their errors, it would be unfair to minimize the ellorts of the leadcrs of the National Committee aiming at internal stabilizalion and cconomic prosperity wilhin thc framework of a deraocratic system of government. Despite their insistence on a centralized govemment, they recognizcd and respected the pluralistic way of life as the sole means by which unity out of diversily could be achicved.

The Provisional Constitution

The most eflective dcmonstration of Czech national consensus was the adoption of a proyisional constitution on November 13, 1918.¹⁹ The documcnt vested all power in a unicameral national assembly, which as-sumed undivided authority similar to that of revolutionary constituent assemblies. The prime minister and thc cabinet were to be elected by the National Assembly and, in fact, were to be little morę than its executive committee. The rights of the head of State (president) were striedy lim-ited and subordinated to the National Assembly. He had no say in the sclcction of the members of the cabinet, could not dissolve the legislative, and was denied the right of legis!ative initiative. The curtailing of the powers of the president was due—apart from the principle of radical democracy which distrusted the individual and favored the collectiye— to two factors. The first was that Masaryk, who was the only candidate for the officc of president, had not yet returned hornc from cxile and,

Otahal, Zapas o pozemkoyou reformu, pp. 145-46.

¹⁹ Kocm.au, Boj o stner, i, 133-35.

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