Státnost česká a československá

The main speech “The Czech and Czechoslovak Statehood – Tradition and Continuity” was delivered by Professor JUDr. Václav Pavlíček, CSc., head of the Department of Constitutional Law at the Faculty of Law in Prague. In the introduction of his paper Professor Pavlíček remembered the words that President Edvard Beneš had said on the occasion of the 600th anniversary of Charles University and followed it up with a reflection on mutual relationship of Czech statehood and civilization. He considers the Czechoslovak state to be a stage or a form of development of the Czech state. When reflecting on the nature of statehood as such, he finds in it both objective and subjective factors. Objectively the statehood means first of all the existence and lasting of an independent state. The subjective side of statehood is the mental relationship of the citizens to their state, their will to keep it, the consciousness of state and, last but not least, the citizens’ identification with the state and its values. It is necessary that an individual identifies with his/her state. The Czechoslovak republic arose as a modem state, the main idea of which was freedom of thinking, freedom of will and democracy. Only these ideas made it possible to unite the members of different nations living in the territory of the new state. It was also a reflection of the fact, that already in his “Social Issue (Otázka sociální)” T. G. Masaryk had seen the meaning of the state in a spiritual and moral sphere. So the new state in its constitution provides national minorities on the one hand with above-standard rights, but on the other hand – and this fact is crucial – the state does so in a chapter which at the same time deals with the position of other minorities: racial and religious. It is obvious that in such a state patriotism or relationship to motherland could and was supposed to grow from the relationship to general human values. The humanist ideal of democracy and freedom is the essential content and source of liveliness of the tradition with which the idea of Czechoslovak and Czech statehood has been connected up to now. This is the spirit of the Declaration of Independence of October 18, 1918, the spirit of the Constitution of 1920, this is the spirit of Masaryk’s relation to minorities in a democratic state, and the spirit of Masaryk’s understanding of a state as such. The author of the main paper also highlights the brief, but in many respects humiliating period (referred to by some speakers) of so-called “Second Republic”. What matters is not only monitoring the consequences of a ruthless pressure exerted by Germany, but also the fact, that it was also the home ground (and not always the scum) from where all poisonous agents emerged and started to act in society (defeatism, antisemitism, finding democracy to be the culprit of everything, narrow-mindedness and pseudo-patriotism). Unilateral inclusion in to the German Reich in the form of a Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, which was performed in accordance with Hitler’s order of March 16, 1939, is a real negation of Czech statehood. The state continued its existence abroad. Among its manifestations are the decrees by President Beneš, which represent a substitute form of legislative activity of state, forced by circumstances. Many significant legislative provisions were realised by means of such decrees before liberation and shortly after it. The decision to expunge Sudeten Germans, however, was not and could not be a matter of Czechoslovak domestic law, it was not taken by means of decrees by President Beneš. It was a decision of superpowers, represented at Potsdam conference in 1945. Thus it is not a unilateral provision of the Czechoslovak Republic and its domestic law, but a provision of international law. Subsequently, professor Pavlíček discusses the development of Czechoslovak statehood after World War II and after liberation from Nazi occupation. Czechoslovak statehood became stronger in international relations because it belonged among the establishing members of UNO and also played an important role in other international organizations. Even after the expulsion of Germans it was necessary to tackle the problems of nations and nationalities, first and foremost the issues of Czecho-slovak relations. After February 1948, however, the development of Czechoslovak statehood was not determined by changes of the effective constitution, but by the appurtenance of Czechoslovakia to the Soviet Block, and in the first period by war psychosis and the Soviet political system. The dominant role was performed by the Communist Party, whose centralised power structure represented the constitution de facto. The leading role of the Party in fact superimposed federalization of the relationship between Czechs and Slovaks, between Czech and Slovak Republics, which was chosen later. Moreover, after the intervention of August 1968, Czech statehood was limited by a so-called Brežněv doctrine, which was based upon the idea of limited sovereignty of countries belonging to the Soviet Block. The proclaimed idea of “socialist internationalism” was in fact presented as full subordination of national interests to the interests of hegemonist power of the block. It resulted in a situation; in which it was on the one hand impossible for citizens to identify with the state, and on the other, as a reaction to alleged internationalism, feelings were born that could become a motivation for real patriotism. The social and political situation after the end of a bipolar world, however, evolved in such a way that patriotism, which was (together with desire for freedom and democracy) one of the leverages of struggle with the former regime, did not become a leverage of building a new society and a new state. The spirit of collective resistance against totality was substituted by free space for unlimited realization of individual and group interests. Our nations, liberated from totality and foreign rule, made use of the new freedom only to split and abolish the common state. So the tradition of Czechoslovak statehood became an appreciated precondition for the creation of new Czech statehood and – unfortunately – not so appreciated precondition for the creation of Slovak statehood.