THOMAS MASARYK, DEMOCRAT
Ripka, Hubert
Thomas Masaryk, Democrat Centennial of Czeth Founder's Birth Commtmormed By HUBERT RIPKA THE FACT THAT Thomas G. Masaryk was the chief archi• tect of the independent and democratic Republic...
...a member of tha Csechoslovak National Committee, and a contributor io periodicals all over the continent...
...In practice, this means a system under which many individualities, unequally endowed by nature physically and mentally, may unfold...
...To me," he writes, "neither private nor common property is sacred...
...pubUsbed br OelUnes in 1 London, is "Csecbosiavakia Enslavadt I The Communist Putsch in Prague...
...For ihe strong will always help thems^lvea...
...His conception of democracy was based on ethical principles whose value, in his belief, was not relative but absolute...
...Humanity moves, not toward uniformity, but toward unity and ii»depend6nce...
...He accepted the practical virtues of, and borrowed freely from, the institutions of Western democracy as it developed in the nmeteenth century...
...And how prophetic he was in 1921 on the course of the Soviet regime, when he declared: "By its innermost evolution...
...Although not all of Masaryk's ideas are thoroughly defined, his great merit is that he drew attention to problems which are more pressing today than they were in his time...
...At the same time, Masaryk proclaimed Willi great emphasis, "In a democracy, it must never become possible for individuals or castes to exploit fellow citizens—in a democracy man must never become a means...
...Among his boeka that have been pubUAed In Engtlsh are "RusaU and the Weat' "The 8maU and Qraat Nattens...
...People forqel thit nationalization could mean but another form of capitalism—namely a slate capitalism, or ^. bureaucratic capitalism...
...He then delivered what was many decades later to become tlie most telling, the most urgent fetatement of the day: "Democraqr wtthout freedom la unthinkable...
...bureaucratic, and even bourgeois...
...corporations, classea, nations or aiates—that is the miaaion of modern times...
...It is evident from his conception of democracy that Masaryk's international and national policies, both, proceeded from substantially the same postulates: Freedom and social security for the Individual, and freedom for all nations, great and small, in a federative amalgamation to ensure peace...
...To Masaryk Iricmocracy meant the merger of ifrecdom with order in a single de1-ign intended to realize the liighest jJRnd most ambitious goals ever per^feived by humanity...
...His I latest book...
...Without a strong individualism," he wrote, "without free initiative on the part of individuals, society cannot attain a normal political and social condition...
...But he would not fix democracy into any rigid mold...
...n DEMOCRACY, conceived of as synonymous with the idea of putling humanitarian ideals into effect, was the central, unifying force in Masaryk's thought and action, at home and abroad...
...LUove ^ovlHt (laao-isat...
...THOMAS MASARYK was, sbova ell, a determined individualist...
...t i;, LONG BEFORE the niamli of events proved him correct, Masaryk pointed out that the Russian Bolsheviks were not introducing a communist form of society in which everyone would be equal, but "at best, socialism or slate capitalism...
...wUI rtgnifr the mptakmUaa of thia princtpl...
...In 1920, the founder of the democratic Czechoslovakian republic wrote...
...i"East and Wast" and "CiaebadoIvakia and the New Europe...
...In his book, New Euiopv, he observed: "The problem of the small nation is th't of the so-called small man: the stake is that human worth and human individuality be recognized without reqsrd to material differences...
...While appreciating "the capacity of capitalism where economic productivity is concerned," he accused it of adopting a mode of distribution which is harmful and apt to culminate in a "highly uneconomical" state of affairs...
...This century has not produced many statesmen who piave practised the ideals of demoicracy with as much intensity or atlTectiveness as he did...
...Masaryk viewed "the manifold forms of ownership and their evolution primarily from a utilitarian angle, i. e., as means to an end...
...Italics supplied...
...Previous to Ihet he was fereion editor of the lar«ast Csach newspaper...
...Western civilization will be destroyed if it proves unable to find satisfactory solutions to its problems in the spirit of Ma.sarykian democracy, ^ Hubert Ripka was Minister of Trade of the Csachodovak Republic from April IMS through Februarr IMS...
...He subscribed, therefore, neither to the doctrine of liberal capitalism (based exclusively on private property), nor to Marxism (which advocates expropriation of all means of production by the state, meaning, whoever controls the government...
...The accomplishment of such aims, at a time when elementary democratic ideas are in grave jeopardy, is tremendously difficult, representing as they do the pinnacle of organized human endeavor...
...With the world facing an expanding Bolshevist totalitarianism—the newest and most dangerous form of absolutism and imperiaiisni—Masaryk's ideas are more, not lesS' valid than they were when he first expounded them...
...But he demanded the just distribution of property, the elimination of differences that are too flagrant...
...Free tuitions will be able to form an organic association and federation, first of Europe, then of all humanity...
...We have deeper reason, however, for commemorating Masaryk and his achievements...
...Wherever the weak, the oppresaod, the imposed-upon, unite, there you have the noble program of the preaant...
...So Masaryk differed fundamentally from other democratic thinkers and politicians, in reiterating constantly, "Democracy is not merely a form of state and of administration...
...Thomas Masaryk, Democrat Centennial of Czeth Founder's Birth Commtmormed By HUBERT RIPKA THE FACT THAT Thomas G. Masaryk was the chief archi• tect of the independent and democratic Republic of Czechoslovakia would alone be sufficient :ause to remember the centenary jf his birth with reverence and adnniration...
...Masaryk strongly opposed the abolition of private property, being convinced that "personal relations" —that "pretium affectionis" linking the owner to his posessions—were a good and expedient factor in economic progress...
...eaaorlng the pwoaeful erganUntiea of hunanity...
...Masaryk played a mighty role in European affairs, and during his seventeen years as President of Czechoslovakia his country noved firmly toward progressive democracy...
...In its name he fought for the liberation of his people and of otlier small Central European nations...
...These "huynanistic ideals," as he called them, .combined tiie best traditions of anMiquity and Christianity with the Jpirit of tlie French and American ^involutions of the eighteenth century...
...Masaryk saw many years ago that a "federation of Europe without freedom was impossible...
...Modern humanitarianism acknowledges the right of tbo weak—it is the essence of the struggle for progress, for recognition of human dignity...
...but the protection of the weaker, the protection of the leaser —be they individuala...
...It is a philosophy of life, an outlook upon the world...
...TtdKmOm* tk* free fadoration of aaaall nattena tad siatee...
...BolslioYism must becom* militariatic...
Vol. 33 • March 1950 • No. 10
