Masaryk The Democrat

New Zealand Listener, Volume 10, Issue 248, 24 March 1944, Page 16

Masaryk The Democrat

If he had lived, President T. G. Masaryk, the creator of Czechoslovakia, would have been 94 years old this month, His influence is still strong, and just what that influence is may perhaps be better understood by reading this condensation of an address given the other day by a woman member of the Czechoslovak Association in Wellington. O talk about Masaryk is an extremely pleasing as well as a very hard task. For seldom in history do we find a man who crowds into the narrow space of a lifetime such an enormous amount of achievement, both practical and spiritual. For is it not usually a lifetime job to become a good teacher, or a wise philosopher? A clever politician or a constructive statesman? Or the beloved leader of a cultured nation? Is it not, therefore, astonishing to find a human being who achieved all that, and who at the same time remained modest, kind, gentle and social, and who lacked all the negative qualities of a dictator, such as cynicism, cruelty, egoism and narrowmindedness. Thus we have before us a democrat in the word’s purest meaning. I want to bring you a few of Masaryk’s ideas on democracy. This is important. For to my mind, to live democratically does not only apply to a large group such as a nation, but to any small community of people such as a family or a club. "Democracy allows criticism and is tolerant," said Masaryk. "It is an outlook on life according to which each citizen as an individual must respect his fellow-citizen. Democracy signifies equality of right. It demands absolute honesty." To understand this great man’s whole life and deeds, we have to realise that all his actions and ail his thinking were guided by a very deep and true religious feeling. The famous words "Jesus, not Cesar" which he repeatedly wrote and spoke were characteristic of his moral attitude. He was fundamentally more a believer than a philosopher and a practical Christian more than a believer. But let us listen to him for just a moment, when he speaks about the subject that meant more to him than any other: "T think every day about religion. Jesus is my religion. I have adopted His supreme commandments as my rule of life. Love God and love thy neighbour. Love for one’s neighbour is for me, naturally, sympathy with the men who stand beside me, my fellowmen." In these simple sentences, a few out of thousands he wrote about religion, the great humanitarian combines theism with a practical philosophy of living, and makes religion the absolute basis for a democratic life. I want also to mention briefly Masaryk’s views about women and their position in a democracy. The President was always working for equality on their behalf. He never found women in any way inferior in intelligence. He maintained that they should be given the opportunity to learn and develop. He believed that in all epochs of history women and men had contributed 50-50 to human development. He believed in a one-man-one-woman-for-life marriage, and he thought that the problem of over-population should not be solved by means of wars, abortion or mechanical inventions, but by enlightening education through school, church and State: birth control through moral restraint.