The Czechoslovak Review/Volume 2/Bold Speaking in the Reichsrat
Bold Speaking in the Reichsrat.
The Czech motion for the impeachment of premier Seidler and his Minister of the Interior, Count Toggenburg, was supported by a speech of deputy Stránský. He exceeded in boldness anything spoken so far by any Czech deputy in the Vienna Parliament. Stránský said:
“We are determined to show to the foreign nations, how unbearable has become the German domination over the peoples of Austria and what violence is being committed in Austria under the guise of decrees, illegal in every respect. We bring a charge against this premier that he is a typical representative of the Prussianized Austria whose very existence means a prolongation of war and constitutes one of the greatest obstacles preventing a conclusion of peace by the liberation of the smaller, hitherto oppressed nations.
“In place of conciliating the various nationalities and races, Seidler adopts German policies and attempts to crown fifty years of German terrorism by forging slave fetters on these nationalities and binding them to the wheels of the revengeful German Moloch. The Germans undoubtedly begin to see that their domination is nearing the end and so they attempt to legalize the robberies they committed by the establishment of a German province in Bohemia; the partition of this country is their first step for this end. Austria will exist only so long as its peoples desire it. We now declare that we will hate Austria with its German backbone forever and with God’s help we hope some day to smash it. Austria embodies century-old crimes against the liberty of mankind. The highest national duty of the Czech people is to harm Austria wherever and whenever it is possible. This we owe to the Czech people and to our loyalty to the Bohemian crown, which loyalty can only be put in practice by opposing and even betraying Seidler’s Austria. So we are determined to be prepared with all means within our power. Austria is not a state, but a nightmare centuries old, an Alp mountain of tyranny and nothing else. Austria is a state without patriots and without patriotism; it is an absurdity, it is such a state that Czech soldiers sent against the enemy to embrace him and join him for the formation of new regiments and divisions against Austria.”
At this point policemen appeared and cleared the galleries, so that outsiders might not hear such treasonable talk and took possession of the records with a view to striking out the objectionable sentences. The impeachment was defeated by a vote of 215 to 162.
This work is a translation and has a separate copyright status to the applicable copyright protections of the original content.
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This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929. The longest-living author of this work died in 1931, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 92 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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This work was published before January 1, 1929 and is anonymous or pseudonymous due to unknown authorship. It is in the public domain in the United States as well as countries and areas where the copyright terms of anonymous or pseudonymous works are 95 years or less since publication.
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