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During the subsequent session of the Reichsrat, various Czech deputies, representing all the Czech parties, made declarations, some of which we will quote in order to show the remarkable unanimity of the Czechs in their opposition to Austria and in their demand for independence.
Stransky, leader of the Moravian People's Party, delivered a long speech in the Reichsrat on June 12, 1917, from which we quote the following significant passages: "The Germans say that germanisation is not carried out except where it is in the interests of the state. We do not think that the interests of the state should go first.
The Germans raised a fierce opposition, supported by the Socialists, and the Reichsrat became the scene of violent attempts on the part of the Germans to obstruct sittings by throwing inkstands at the leader of the House and using whistles and bugles to make all proceedings impossible. Badeni lost his head and resigned, and his decrees were rescinded.
Professor Masaryk clearly saw that Austria aimed at the conquest of the Balkans and intended at all costs to crush Serbia. In 1911 new elections to the Reichsrat took place with the following result for the Czechs: They demanded full independence for Bohemia, some of them laying greater stress on her historical rights, some on the natural right of Czecho-Slovaks to liberty.
Only after the Russian Revolution, when Austria began to totter and her rulers were apprehensive lest events in Russia should have a repercussion in the Dual Monarchy, did the Czechs decide to speak out and exerted pressure to bring about the opening of the Reichsrat, where they boldly declared their programme, revealed Austria's rule of terror during the first three years of war, and by their firm opposition, which they by and by induced the Poles and Yugoslavs to imitate, they brought about a permanent political deadlock, menacing Austria's very existence internally and weakening her resistance externally.
Speaking in the Reichsrat, deputy Stanek declared in the name of the Union of Czech Deputies on October 2, 1918: "This terrible war, started against the will and despite the warnings of the Czecho-Slovaks, has now reached the culminating point. Two worlds have been struggling in this war.
As regards the horrors of the internment camps, in which over 20,000 innocent Czechs, men, women and children, were confined, we will only quote the revelations of the Czech National Socialist deputy Stribrny, who declared in the Reichsrat on June 14, 1917: "This war was begun by the Austrian Government without the consent of the Austrian Parliament, against the will of the Czech people.
But the real influence of the various new parties began to appear only in 1907, after the introduction of the universal suffrage which deprived the Young Czechs of their predominance. The Reichsrat elected in 1907 consisted of 257 non-Slav and 259 Slav members, of whom 108 were Czechs. The result of the election in Bohemia, Moravia and Austrian Silesia was as follows:
Although being a member of the delegations and therefore enjoying immunity, he was arrested on September 7, 1914, and has been imprisoned ever since. A charge was hurriedly prepared against him on May 24, 1917, that is when the Reichsrat was to be opened. Both Dr. Kramar and Klofac were prosecuted by the Vienna court-martial under the direction of Colonel Gliwitzki and Dr.
The organ of the Austrian Foreign Office, the Fremdenblatt, expressed regret that the Slav parties in the Reichsrat "place obstacles in the way of peace." It also regretted that "some parties in the Austrian Parliament should take up an attitude incompatible with our state's self-preservation."
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