Leader of an independent party

pp. 49-63

in: Harald G. Skilling, T. G. Masaryk, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 1994

Abstract

Up to the end of the century Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk had stood for a non-political politics and opposed making Realism into a political party. In spite of his criticisms of other parties for not offering a satisfactory political programme, he had not set forth a clearcut and substantial programme of his own. The reaction to his writings, however, indicated that the time had come for open political action. Especially after the adoption of the Nymburk programme in 1897, Masaryk was increasingly hostile to the Young Czechs. Čas, soon to become a daily newspaper, provided a vehicle for vehement criticism of that party. Meanwhile differences between Masaryk and his two Realist colleagues, Kaizl and Kramář, had mounted and led to the breakup of the movement. Realism came to be represented by the person of Masaryk and a small band of devoted younger followers, such as Jan Herben, Josef Gruber and František Drtina. It was this group which drafted the first "framework" programme of the People's (Realist) party, which was adopted at a founding conference in March and April 1900.¹ This programme, revised somewhat in 1906, and then elaborated in 1912, as the programme of the Progressive party, remained the basis of Masaryk's political actions down to the end of the Monarchy.